Arcana Coelestia #47
47. That these words contain arcana concerning regeneration becomes additionally clear from the fact that verse 24 above spoke of the earth bringing forth 'living creatures, beasts, and wild animals of the earth', while in the verse that followed the order was different, namely that God made the wild animals of the earth first and then the beasts. Indeed a person does first produce things so to speak from himself, and continues to do so until he becomes celestial. And so regeneration begins with the external man and moves on to the internal. This is why there is a different order here, with external things coming first.
Heaven and Hell #73
73. THEREFORE EVERY ANGEL IS IN A COMPLETE HUMAN FORM.
In the two preceding chapters it has been shown that heaven in its whole complex, and likewise each society in heaven, reflects a single man. From the sequence of reasons there set forth it follows that this is equally true of each angel. As heaven is a man in largest form, and a society of heaven in a less form, so is an angel in least. For in the most perfect form, such as the form of heaven is, there is a likeness of the whole in the part and of the part in the whole. This is so for the reason that heaven is a common sharing, for it shares all it has with each one, and each one receives all he has from that sharing. Because an angel is thus a recipient he is a heaven in least form, as shown above in its chapter; and a man also, so far as he receives heaven, is a recipient, a heaven, and an angel (see above, 57). This is thus described in the Apocalypse:-
He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty and four cubits, the measure of a man, which is that of an angel (Apocalypse 21:17).
"Jerusalem" means here the Lord's church, and in a more eminent sense, heaven; 1 the "wall" means truth, which is a defence against the assault of falsities and evils; 2 "a hundred and forty and four" means all goods and truths in the complex; 3 "measure" means what a thing is, 4 a "man" means one in whom are goods and truths in general and in particular, thus in whom is heaven. And as it is from this that an angel is a man, it is said "the measure of a man, which is that of an angel." This is the spiritual meaning of these words. Without that meaning how could it be seen that "the wall of the Holy Jerusalem" is "the measure of a man, which is that of an angel?" 5
Footnotes:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] "Jerusalem" means the church (Arcana Coelestia 402, 3654, 9166).
2. [Swedenborg's footnote] The "wall" means truth defending against the assault of falsities and evils (6419).
3. [Swedenborg's footnote] "Twelve" means all truths and goods in the complex (577, 2089, 2129-2130, 3272, 3858, 3913).
Likewise "seventy-two," and "a hundred and forty-four," since this comes from twelve multiplied into itself (7973).
All numbers in the Word signify things (482, 487, 647-648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 5265).
Multiplied numbers have a like signification as the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication (5291, 5335, 5708, 7973).
4. [Swedenborg's footnote] "Measure" in the Word signifies the quality of a thing in respect to truth and good (3104, 9603).
5. [Swedenborg's footnote] In regard to the spiritual or internal sense of the Word see the explanation of The White Horse in the Apocalypse, and the Appendix to The Heavenly Doctrine.
