9408. 'And it was like the substance of the sky for clearness' means the translucence of the angelic heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sky (or heaven)' as the angelic heaven, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'clearness' or purity of substance, when said of the sky, as translucence. What the translucence of the angelic heaven is when the Word is the subject must be stated briefly. The angelic heaven is said to be translucent when God's truth shines through; for the whole of heaven is nothing other than a receptacle of God's truth. Each angel is an individual recipient of it, so that all the angels or heaven as a whole is a general recipient. This explains why heaven is called 'God's dwelling-place' and also 'God's throne'. For 'dwelling-place' means God's truth emanating from the Lord and received in the inmost heaven, which in comparison is good, 8269, 8309; and 'throne' means God's truth emanating from the Lord and received in the middle heaven, 5313, 6397, 8625, 9039. Since that which shines through, out of the sense of the letter of the Word, is God's truth as it exists in the heavens, it is the angelic heaven that shines through. For the Word is Divine Truth adjusted to all the heavens, and as a consequence of this it joins the heavens to the world, that is, angels to men, 2143, 7153, 7381, 8920, 9094 (end), 9212 (end), 9216 (end), 9357, 9396. From all this it is evident what the words 'the translucence of the angelic heaven' are used to mean.

[2] The reasons why in the internal sense 'the sky (or heaven)' means the angelic heaven lie with correspondence and also with the appearance. So it is that where the words 'heavens' and 'heavens of heavens' occur in the Word the angelic heavens are meant in the internal sense. For the ancients had no other idea of the visible sky than this, that the inhabitants of heaven lived there and that the stars were their dwelling-places. At the present day too, simple people - especially young children - have the same idea. So it is also that people look upwards to the sky or heaven when they worship God. This action too arises from correspondence; for a sky with stars appears in the next life, but this is not the sky seen by people in the world. Instead it is a sky that takes on an appearance which accords with the spirits and angels' state of intelligence and wisdom. The stars in it are cognitions or knowledge of goodness and truth, and the clouds which are sometimes seen in the sky vary in meaning according to their colours, translucence, and movements, the blue of the sky being truth transparent with good. All this goes to prove that by 'heavens' the angelic heavens are meant. But by the angelic heavens God's truths are meant, because angels are recipients of God's truth emanating from the Lord.

[3] Similar things are meant by 'heavens' in David,

Praise Jehovah, heavens of heavens, and waters that are above the heavens! Psalms 148:4.

In the same author,

Make melody to the Lord who rides above the heaven of the heaven of old. Psalms 68:33.

In the same author,

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the spirit ¹ of His mouth. Psalms 33:6.

In the same prophet,

The heavens recount His glory, and the firmament declares the works of His hands. Psalms 19:1.

In the Book of Judges,

O Jehovah, when You went forth from Seir, the earth trembled, the heavens also dropped, the clouds indeed dropped water. Judges 5:4.

In Daniel,

The horn of the he-goat grew right on towards the host of the heavens, and cast down to the earth some of the host, and of the stars, and trampled on them. Daniel 8:10.

In Amos,

The Lord Jehovih, who builds His steps in the heavens ... Amos 9:6.

In Malachi,

If there is food in My house I will open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing for you. Malachi 3:10.

In Isaiah,

Look out from the heavens, and see from the dwelling-place of Your holiness and of Your glory. Isaiah 63:15.

In Moses,

Blessed by Jehovah is the land of Joseph, in regard to the precious things of heaven, to the dew. Deuteronomy 33:13.

In Matthew,

Jesus said, You shall not swear by heaven, for it is God's throne. He who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by Him who sits on it. Matthew 5:32; 23:22.

[4] In these and very many other places 'heavens' means the angelic heavens. And since the Lord's heaven on earth is the Church, the Church too is meant by 'heaven', as in the following places: In John,

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away. Revelation 21:1.

In Isaiah,

Behold, I am creating new heavens and a new earth; therefore the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. ² Isaiah 65:17.

In the same prophet,

The heavens will vanish away like smoke, and the earth will grow old like a garment. Isaiah 51:6.

In the same prophet,

I clothe heaven with darkness, and I make sackcloth its covering. Isaiah 50:3.

In Ezekiel,

I will cover the heavens, and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. And all the bright lights in heaven I will make dark, and I will put darkness over the land. Ezekiel 32:7-8.

In Matthew,

After the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Matthew 24:29.

What the meaning is of 'sun', 'moon', 'stars', and 'in the heavens', see 4056-4060.

In Isaiah,

O Jehovah God of Israel, You are God alone over all the kingdoms of the earth. You have made heaven and earth. Isaiah 37:16.

In the same prophet,

[I am] Jehovah who makes all things, who spreads out the heavens Alone, who stretches out the earth by Myself. Isaiah 44:24.

In the same prophet,

Jehovah who created the heavens, who formed the earth, and made it, and prepared it, did not create it an emptiness. Isaiah 45:18.

[5] In the internal sense 'heaven and earth' in these and other places means the Church, the internal Church being meant by 'heaven' and the external Church by 'earth', see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535. From all this it is evident that by creation in the earliest chapters of Genesis, where it says, In the beginning God created heaven and earth, Genesis 1:1, And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, Genesis 2:1, a new Church is meant. For creation there describes regeneration, which is also called the new creation, as has been shown and may be seen in the explanations of those chapters.

1142. Precious stone and pearl.- That these signify the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, profaned, is evident from the signification of precious stone, which denotes the knowledges of truths from the Word (concerning which see above, n. 717); and from the signification of pearl, as denoting the knowledges of good (concerning which see above, n. 1044). And because those knowledges are (vera scientifica) truths scientific, or truths of the natural man, therefore precious stones signify truths, by means of which goods are procured, and pearls goods, by means of which truths are procured; for in every part of the Word there is a marriage of truth and good. The reason is, that truth is not truth unless it has regard to good, or proceeds from good, and good is not good unless it is regarded from truths or exists by means of truths, for thus truths and goods are conjoined as it were in a marriage, and goods and truths exist as if from marriage. This is why here, as well as in other parts of the Word, things are mentioned in pairs, one of which signifies good, and the other truth, as gold and silver, precious stones and pearls, fine linen and crimson, silk and scarlet, vessels of ivory and vessels of precious wood, brass, iron, and marble, where gold, pearls, crimson, scarlet, precious wood and brass, signify goods of various kinds, and silver, precious stones, fine linen, silk, ivory, iron, and marble, signify truths, also of different kinds; and so in other places. But all these things here signify goods and truths profaned, thus evils and falsities, as stated just above in treating of the signification of gold and silver.

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- First, then, it shall be shown of whom hell consists. Hell consists of spirits, who, while they were men in the world, denied God, acknowledged nature, lived contrary to Divine Order, loved evils and falsities, although, for the sake of appearance, such was not their conduct before the world. These were, consequently, either insane in regard to truths, or they despised and denied them, if not with the mouth, still at heart - of those who have been of this description since the creation of the world, hell consists. All such are there called either devils or satans; devils, if the love of self predominated in them, satans, if the love of the world predominated in them. The hell where devils are is meant in the Word by the Devil, and the hell where satans are is meant by Satan. The Lord also so conjoins the devils, that they are as it were one, in like manner the satans; for this reason the hells are called, in the singular, the Devil and Satan.

[3] Hell does not consist of spirits created such at once, neither does heaven consist of angels so created; but hell consists of men born in the world, who of themselves became devils or satans, and, similarly, heaven consists of men born in the world, who were there made angels by the Lord. All men, as to the interiors which belong to their minds, are spirits, clothed in the world with a material body, which is subject to the control of the thought of the spirit and to the decision of their affection; for the mind, which is spirit, acts, and the body, which is matter, is acted upon. Every spirit, after the rejection of the material body, is a man, in a form similar to that which he had when he was a man in the world. From these things it is evident of whom hell consists.