Table of Contents

Sacred Scripture, or the Word, Is Divine Truth Itself 1

To free people from any doubt that this is the nature of the Word, the Lord has revealed to me an inner meaning of the Word, a meaning that is essentially spiritual and that dwells within the outer meaning, which is earthly, the way a soul dwells within a body. 4

1. What the spiritual meaning is. The spiritual meaning is not the meaning that shines forth from the Word's literal meaning when we study and interpret the Word in order to confirm some dogma of the church. That meaning is the literal meaning of the Word. 5

2. There is a spiritual meaning throughout the Word and in all its details. There is no better way to make this clear than by using examples, such as the following. 9

3. The spiritual meaning is what makes the Word divinely inspired and makes every word in it holy. We hear it said in the church that the Word is holy, but this is because Jehovah God spoke it. 18

4. The spiritual meaning of the Word has not been recognized before. It was explained in Heaven and Hell 87-105 that absolutely everything in the physical world corresponds to something spiritual, as does absolutely everything in the human body. 20

5. From now on the spiritual meaning of the Word can be given only to people who are focused on genuine truths that come from the Lord. This is because we cannot see the spiritual meaning unless we are given it by the Lord alone and unless we focus on genuine truths from him. 26

The Literal Meaning of the Word Is the Foundation, the Container, and the Support of Its Spiritual and Heavenly Meanings 27

Divine Truth, in All Its Fullness, Holiness, and Power, Is Present in the Literal Meaning of the Word 37

As for the truths of the literal meaning of the Word being meant by the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, this follows from the fact that the New Jerusalem means a new church in regard to its teachings, as demonstrated in Teachings on the Lord 63, 64. 43

The good and true elements of the literal meaning of the Word are meant by the Urim and Thummim. 44

Truths of the literal meaning of the Word are meant by the precious stones in the Garden of Eden where the king of Tyre was said to live, according to Ezekiel. 45

The literal meaning of the Word is symbolized by the veils and curtains of the tabernacle. 46

The outer attributes of the Word, which are its literal meaning, are represented by the decorated surfaces inside the Jerusalem temple. 47

The Word in its glory was represented by the Lord when he was transfigured. 48

The Church’s Body of Teaching Is to Be Drawn from the Literal Meaning of the Word and Is to Be Supported by It 50

1. The Word is not understandable without a body of teaching. This is because in its literal meaning the Word is entirely made up of correspondences, to allow spiritual and heavenly matters to be gathered within it in such a way that each word can be their container and support. 51

2. A body of teaching must be drawn from the literal meaning of the Word and supported by it. This is because there and only there the Lord is present with us, enlightening us and teaching us the truths of the church. 53

3. The genuine truth that a body of teaching should have can be seen in the literal meaning of the Word only when we are being enlightened by the Lord. Enlightenment comes only from the Lord and for people who love truths because they are true and who put them to use in their lives. 57

By Means of the Literal Meaning of the Word We Unite with the Lord and Form a Companionship with Angels 62

UNTIL the present time, people have not known that the Word exists in heaven, and they could not know this as long as the church did not realize that angels and spirits are people just as we are in this world - like us in every respect except solely for the fact that they are spiritual and that 70

The Existence of the Church Rests on the Word, and Its Quality Depends on the Quality of Its Understanding of the Word 76

There Is a Marriage of the Lord and the Church in the Details of the Word and a Consequent Marriage of Goodness and Truth 80

It Is Possible to Wrench Heretical Ideas from the Literal Meaning of the Word, but What Is Damning Is to Convince Ourselves [That They Are True] 91

The Lord Came into the World to Fulfill Everything in the Word and So to Become Divine Truth or the Word Even on the Outermost Level 98

Before the Word That We Have in the World Today, There Was a Word That Has Been Lost 101

By Means of the Word, There Is Light Even for People Who Are outside the Church and Do Not Have the Word 104

If There Were No Word, No One Would Know about God, Heaven and Hell, Life after Death, and Least of All, about the Lord 114

26. 5. From now on the spiritual meaning of the Word can be given only to people who are focused on genuine truths that come from the Lord. This is because we cannot see the spiritual meaning unless we are given it by the Lord alone and unless we focus on genuine truths from him. The spiritual meaning of the Word is all about the Lord and his kingdom, and is the meaning that engages his angels in heaven. It is actually his divine truth there. We can do violence to it if we have some knowledge of correspondences and try to use that knowledge to explore the spiritual meaning of the Word with our own brain power. This is because we can distort that meaning with the few correspondences familiar to us and twist them to support what is actually false. This would be doing violence to both divine truth and heaven. So if our efforts to open that meaning come from ourselves and not from the Lord, heaven is closed to us; and once it is closed, we either see nothing or lose our spiritual sanity.

[2] Another reason is that the Lord teaches everyone by means of the Word; and he teaches using the truths that we have and does not pour new truths directly in. This means that if we are not focused on divine truths or if the few we have are tangled in distortions, we can use these few to distort truths. This, as is commonly known, is what happens with heretics in their use of the literal sense of the Word. So to keep anyone from gaining access to the spiritual meaning of the Word or from distorting the genuine truth of that meaning, the Lord has stationed the guards meant in the Word by the angel guardians.

[3] This is how the stationing of those guardians was represented to me:

I was shown some big purses that looked like bags, in which an ample supply of silver was stored; and since they were open, it seemed as though anyone could take out the silver stored in them - could in fact steal it. However, there were two angels sitting near the purses, serving as guards. The place where the purses were stored looked like a manger in a stable. In a nearby room I could see some modest young women together with a chaste wife. There were two little children standing near the room. I was told that I was to play with them, but wisely, not childishly. After that a prostitute appeared, and then a horse lying dead.

[4] After I had seen all this, I was told that this scene represented the literal meaning of the Word in which spiritual meaning was contained. The big purses full of silver meant an abundant supply of knowledge about what is true. Their being open but guarded by angels meant that anyone could draw knowledge of truth from them but care had to be taken to prevent anyone from distorting the spiritual meaning, in which there was nothing but truths. The manger in the stable where the purses were meant spiritual teaching for the sake of our understanding. That is what a manger means because horses, which eat from mangers, mean an understanding.

[5] The modest young women whom I saw in the nearby room meant desire for what is true, and the chaste wife meant the union of good actions and truth. The little children meant an innocence of wisdom within. They were angels from the third heaven, all of whom look like little children. The prostitute with the dead horse meant the distortion of the Word by so many people nowadays, a distortion that leads to the death of all understanding of truth - the prostitute meaning the distortion and the dead horse the total absence of any understanding of truth.