We tend to think of "fruit" in two ways in natural language. One is as food that grows on trees and vines, sweet and delicious, and able to be eaten without harming the plant in any way. Another is as the things we produce, what our work yields for the betterment of the world. These are obviously connected: we are like trees, producing things that "feed" the world in some way, just as the tree produces fruit that feeds us. It makes sense, then, that the idea of fruit in the Bible is bound closely to the idea of goodness. Fruits that are eaten represent the desire for good and the energy to do what is good; fruit that is produced is the actual good that we go into the world and do.

751. Verse 12. For this rejoice, ye heavens and ye that dwell in them, signifies the salvation and consequent joy of those who become spiritual by the reception of Divine truth. This is evident from the signification of "rejoicing," as being joy on account of salvation; also from the signification of "heavens," as being those who are spiritual (of which presently); also from the signification of "ye that dwell," as being those who live, here spiritually. (That "to dwell" signifies to live, see above, n. 133, 479, 662.) "The heavens" signify those who are spiritual, because all who are in the heavens are spiritual; and because men who have become spiritual are likewise in the heavens, although in respect to the body they are in the world, so "ye that dwell in the heavens" means not only angels, but also men. For every man with whom the interior mind, which is called the spiritual mind, has been opened, is in the heavens, yea, sometimes he even appears among the angels in the heavens. That this is so has not been known heretofore in the world; let it be known, therefore, that man in respect to his spirit is among spirits and angels, and even in that society of them into which he is to come after death. This is because the spiritual mind of man is formed wholly to the image of heaven, even so that it is a heaven in least form; consequently that mind, although it is still in the body, must nevertheless be where its form is. But this has been more fully illustrated in the work on Heaven and Hell 51-58, where it is shown that every angel and also every man, in respect to his interiors, if he be spiritual is a heaven in least form, corresponding to heaven in its greatest form. For this reason, where the Word treats of the creation of heaven and earth the church internal and external is meant in general, as also in particular the internal and external man, or the spiritual and natural man. From this it can be seen that "the heavens and those that dwell in them" signify all who are there, also men who are becoming spiritual by the reception of Divine truth in doctrine and life.