9596. 'From fine twined linen and violet and purple and twice-dyed scarlet' means the spiritual and celestial realities from which those truths are derived. This is clear from the meaning of 'fine twined linen' as truth from a celestial origin, dealt with in 9469; from the meaning of 'violet' as the celestial love of truth, dealt with in 9466; from the meaning of 'purple' as the celestial love of good, dealt with in 9467; and from the meaning of 'twice-dyed scarlet' as spiritual good or the good of truth, dealt with in 9468. Such is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities, or the truths and forms of good, present with a person or an angel who is in the middle or second heaven follow one another. For truth from a celestial origin, meant by 'fine twined linen' comes first; then the love of or affection for truth, meant by 'violet'; after that the resulting love of or affection for good, meant by 'purple'; and finally spiritual good, meant by 'twice-dyed scarlet'.

[2] Because this is the order in which the spiritual and celestial realities follow one another 'fine twined linen' is here mentioned first; but in the case of the veil that hung between the dwelling-place and the ark, or between the holy place and the holy of holies, dealt with in verse 31 of the present chapter, it is mentioned last. The reason why 'fine twined linen' is mentioned last in the case of the veil is that 'the veil' means the intermediary uniting the inmost heaven to the middle heaven, and therefore within this intermediary it must come last, in order that - to link the two heavens - it may then be first in the second of them.

[3] But properly 'fine twined linen' means the understanding part of the mind as it exists with the spiritual man or with an angel in the Lord's spiritual heaven. The reason why the understanding part is meant by 'fine twined linen' is that with the spiritual man a new will part is implanted by the Lord within the understanding part of his mind, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113; and since the understanding part in the spiritual man is meant by 'fine twined linen', so too is spiritual truth meant. This is because all truth belongs to the understanding part, and all good to the will part, 3623, 9300; for the understanding part is the receiver (subjectum) or container and the truth is what belongs to it, and these two make one. From these considerations also it may be seen that the actual understanding part of the mind with those who belong to the Lord's spiritual kingdom is in the strict sense 'the dwelling-place', 9296, 9297, and that the spreading out of the curtains serves to describe it.

[4] From all this what 'spreading and stretching out the heavens' means in the following places may be recognized, such as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, spreads out the earth, gives breath ¹ to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isaiah 42:5.

In the same prophet,

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

In the same prophet,

It was I that made the earth and created man on it. It was I - My hands - that stretched out the heavens. Isaiah 45:12.

In Jeremiah,

... He who makes the earth by His power, prepares the world by His wisdom, and stretches out the heavens by His intelligence. Jeremiah 51:15.

In Zechariah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens, and founds the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. Zechariah 12:1.

[5] 'Stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' is plainly similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains. And by this is meant regenerating a person and thereby creating or forming a new understanding in which there is a new will, which is the spiritual person's actual heaven in which the Lord dwells with that person. The fact that the regeneration or the formation of a new understanding, and of a new will within it, and so of a new person, is what 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' means is evident from actual explanations provided in the places quoted above. For they speak of Him who gives breath to the people on the earth, and spirit to those who walk on it, and also of Him who forms the spirit of man within him. 'Heaven and earth' means the Church, internal and external, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535, and 'the earth' in general means the Lord's kingdom and the Church, 9334; and these meanings too are plainly apparent in those places. For if 'the earth' did not have that meaning what sense could be made of 'spreading out the earth' and 'founding the earth', or 'forming the spirit of man within him ² '?

[6] The fact that 'stretching out the heavens and spreading out the earth' here is similar in meaning to stretching and spreading out a dwelling-place by the use of curtains is clear from other places where the same idea is stated even more plainly, as in Isaiah,

Jehovah is He who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in. Isaiah 40:22.

In the same prophet,

Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling-places. Isaiah 54:2.

And in David,

Jehovah covers Himself with light, as if with a garment; He stretches out the heavens as a curtain. Psalms 104:2.

These places also show what 'the expanse' or that which is spread out means in the first chapter of Genesis,

God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters. And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse, And God called the expanse Heaven. Genesis 1:6-8.

That first chapter describes the regeneration of a member of the celestial Church, 'the expanse' describing his new will and understanding. 'The waters under the expanse and those above the expanse' are the truths of the external man and those of the internal man. For the meaning of 'waters' as truths, see 2702, 3058, 3424, 4976, 8568, 9323.

Footnotes:

611. To this I will append the following account:

People are prepared for heaven in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and at the end of that time they all to some degree or other long for heaven. Presently then their eyes are opened and they see a path leading to some society in heaven. They set out on the path and ascend, and as they ascend they come upon a gate, with a guard there. The guard opens the gate, and so they enter.

An inspector then comes to meet them, who tells them from the governor that they may go on in and look to see whether there are any houses there that they recognize as their own, for every new angel has a new house awaiting him. If newcomers find one then, they report this and remain there. But if they do not find one, they return and say that they did not find one.

At that some wise person then examines them there, to see whether the light that they possess accords with the light found in the society, and especially with the warmth in it. For the light in heaven is, in its essence, Divine truth, and the warmth in heaven is, in its essence, Divine good, both emanating from the Lord as the sun there. If the newcomers possess another light and another warmth than the light and warmth in that society, that is, a different truth and a different goodness, they are not admitted.

Therefore they leave that place and travel along paths that open between societies in heaven, and this until they find a society in complete harmony with their affections. And there they find their abode to eternity. For they are then among people like themselves, as though among relatives and friends, whom they love with a heartfelt love, because they share the same affection; and there they experience their life's bliss and a delight that fills their whole breast, because their soul is at peace. For in the warmth and light of heaven there is an indescribable delight, in which they share.

[2] Such is the case with people who become angels. But not with people caught up in evils and falsities. They are given permission to ascend into heaven, but when they enter, they begin to draw breath or breathe with difficulty, and soon their vision dims, their intellect darkens so that they can no longer think, and death hovers before their eyes. And so they stand like wooden posts. Their heart then also begins to pound, their breast to be constricted, and their mind to be seized with anguish and to be more and more tortured; and in that state they writhe like a snake placed near a fire. Consequently they roll away from there and throw themselves over a cliff that then appears to them. Nor do they rest until they are in hell with people like themselves, where they can breathe and where their heart beats freely.

After that they hate heaven and reject truth, and at heart blaspheme the Lord, believing that the torture and torment they experienced in heaven came from Him.

[3] From these few particulars it can be seen what the lot is like of people who place little value in truths, even though truths constitute the light which angels have in heaven, and who place little value in goodness, even though goodness constitutes the warmth which angels have in heaven.

It can also be seen from this how wrong those people are who believe that everyone can enjoy the bliss of heaven just by being admitted into heaven. For it is today's faith that to be received into heaven is to be received out of pure mercy, and that acceptance into heaven is like people's entrance into a wedding reception and at the same time into the joys and delights there. Let them know, however, that there is a communication of affections in the spiritual world, since a person is then a spirit, and the life of the spirit is affection, and his thinking springs from it and accords with it. Let them also know that a homogeneous affection unites, and a heterogeneous one drives apart, and that something heterogeneous causes torment, such as to a devil in heaven, and to an angel in hell. People are therefore justly separated in accordance with the diversities, varieties, and differences in the affections of their love.

[4] I was given to see more than three hundred clergy from the Protestant Reformed world, all of them learned men, because they knew how to defend faith alone to the point of its being the means of justification, and some on beyond that. And because they also shared the belief that heaven is simply a matter of admittance by grace, they were given permission to ascend into a society of heaven, though not one of the higher ones. And as they ascended together, they looked from a distance like calves, and when they entered heaven, the angels received them politely. But as they were talking together, they were seized with a trembling, then a shuddering, and finally a torment as though of impending death; and at that they cast themselves down headlong, and in their descent they looked like dead horses.

They looked like calves as they ascended because the natural affection for seeing and knowing appears, by correspondence, as frolicking about like a calf. And in their descent they looked like dead horses because an understanding of the truth in the Word appears, by correspondence, as a horse, and an understanding devoid of any truth in the Word as a dead horse.

[5] There were some boys below who saw the clergymen descending, who in their descent looked like dead horses. And at that the boys turned their faces away and said to their teacher, who was with them, "What portent is this? We saw men, and now dead horses instead. And because we could not bear to look at them, we turned our faces away. Master, let us not tarry in this place, but depart."

So they departed. And their teacher then taught them on the way what a dead horse means, saying, "A horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word. All the horses that you saw had this symbolic meaning. For when a person goes meditating on the Word, his meditation then appears from a distance like a horse - a thoroughbred and live horse as long as he ponders the Word spiritually, but a wretched and dead horse as long as he does so materially."

[6] At that the boys asked, "What does it mean to meditate on the Word spiritually or materially?"

And the teacher replied, "I will illustrate the difference by examples. Who, when he reads the Word, does not think about God, the neighbor, and heaven? Everyone who thinks about God solely in terms of His person and not in terms of His essence, thinks materially. Everyone who thinks about the neighbor in terms of his appearance and not in terms of his character, thinks materially. And everyone who thinks about heaven solely in terms of a place, and not in terms of the love and wisdom of which heaven consists, also thinks materially."

But the boys said, "We think about God in terms of His person, about the neighbor in terms of his appearance, that he is a human being, and about heaven in terms of a place. When we would read the Word, did we then look to anyone like dead horses?"

Their teacher said, "No. You are still boys and could not think otherwise. But I have perceived in you an affection for knowing and understanding, and because that is a spiritual affection, you thought at the same time spiritually.

[7] "However, I will go back to what I said earlier, that anyone who thinks materially when he reads the Word or meditates on the Word, looks from a distance like a dead horse, but that someone who does so spiritually, looks like a live horse. Moreover, that anyone who thinks about God and about the trinity in God solely in terms of His person and not in terms of His essence, thinks about them materially. For the Divine essence has many attributes, like omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, mercy, grace, eternity, and others. And the Divine essence has attributes emanating from it, namely, creation and preservation, salvation and redemption, enlightenment and guidance. Everyone who thinks about God solely in terms of His person supposes three gods, saying that one god is the creator and preserver, another the savior and redeemer, and a third the enlightener and guide. But everyone who thinks about God in terms of His essence supposes one God, saying that God created us and preserves us, redeems us and saves us, and enlightens and guides us.

"That is why people who think about the trinity in God in terms of His person, and thus materially, cannot help but be drawn by the ideas in their thinking, which is material in nature, to make three gods out of one. But still the same people are bound, contrary to their thought, to say that in each there is a communion of all their attributes, and this only because they have thought dimly about God in terms of His essence, as though through a screen.

"Therefore, my pupils, think about God in terms of His essence and from that about His person, and do not think in terms of His person and from that about His essence. For to think about His essence in terms of His person is to think materially also about His essence, whereas to think about His person in terms of His essence is to think spiritually also about His person.

"Because gentiles of old thought materially about God and also about the attributes of God, they imagined not only three gods, but even more, as many as a hundred.

"Know then that something material does not flow into something spiritual, but that something spiritual flows into something material.

"The same is the case with thought about the neighbor in terms of his appearance and not in terms of his character, and also with thought about heaven in terms of a place and not in terms of the love and wisdom of which heaven consists.

"The same is the case with each and every particular in the Word. Consequently it is impossible for someone who entertains a material idea of God, and also of the neighbor and heaven, to understand anything in it. For him the Word is a dead letter, and when he reads it or meditates on it, he looks at a distance like a dead horse.

[8] "Those people you saw descending from heaven, who became in your eyes as though dead horses, were people who had closed the rational sight in themselves and in others by the peculiar dogma that the intellect must be held captive in obedience to their faith. They did so not thinking that an intellect closed by religion is as blind as a mole, and has in it nothing but darkness - such darkness as repels from itself any spiritual light, obstructs any influx of it from the Lord and heaven, and in matters of faith sets a barrier to it in the carnally sensual mind, far below the rational one. In other words, they put a barrier alongside the nose and fix it in its cartilage, so that afterward they cannot even catch a scent of spiritual matters. Some of those people are therefore of such a character that when they catch a whiff of spiritual matters, they fall into a swoon. By a whiff I mean a perception.

"These are the people who make God into three gods. They say, indeed, that in terms of His essence there is one God, but still, when they pray in accordance with their faith, namely, that God the Father may have mercy for the sake of the Son and send the Holy Spirit, they clearly suppose three gods. They cannot do otherwise, for they pray to one god to have mercy for the sake of another, and to send a third."

And the teacher then taught his pupils about the Lord, that He is one God, in whom is the Divine trinity.