526. I have at times talked with angels about this and have said that many people in the world who have lived intent on evil and have talked with others about heaven and eternal life say only that getting into heaven is simply a matter of being let in on the basis of pure mercy. This is true especially of people who make faith the only means of salvation, since from this fundamental tenet of their religion they do not focus on life or on the deeds of love that make up one's life. As a result, they do not focus on the other means the Lord uses to instill heaven into us and render us open to heavenly joy. So since they reject all the actual means, the necessary corollary of their premise is that we enter heaven on the basis of pure mercy, believing God the Father to be moved to it through the intercession of the Son.

[2] Angels have responded that they know this kind of dogma follows necessarily from acceptance of the principle of salvation by faith alone and that this dogma is the head of the others, a head into which no light from heaven can flow, because it is not true. It is therefore the source of the ignorance the church is mired in nowadays - ignorance about the Lord, heaven, life after death, heavenly joy, the essential nature of love and thoughtfulness, and in general about what is good and its union with what is true. This results in ignorance about human life, its source, and its quality. Life is never gained by mere thought, but only by intent and consequent deeds. It is the result of thought to the extent that the thought derives from intent, so it is from faith only to the extent that faith derives from love. Angels grieve that these people do not realize that faith alone cannot exist in anyone because faith apart from its source, which is love, is only information, or for some a secondhand belief that counterfeits faith (see above, 482). This belief is not part of our life but is outside it, since it is separated from us if it is not coherent with our love.

[3] Angels have also said that people who are caught up in this kind of principle concerning the essential means of our salvation cannot help believing in straight mercy because they can tell from natural light and from visual experience that faith by itself does not constitute human life - people who are leading evil lives can think and convince themselves of the same principles. This is why they believe that evil people can be saved just like good ones, provided in the hour of their death they talk about intercession and mercy obtained by it.

The angels kept insisting that they have never yet seen people who lived an evil life accepted into heaven out of straight mercy, no matter how fervently they had spoken in the world from faith, or from the trust that is meant by faith in its primary sense.

[4] When they have asked about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and David, about the apostles, whether they were not accepted into heaven out of straight mercy, angels have answered that none of them was. Each one was accepted on the basis of his life in the world. They should realize where they were. No one had more prestige than anyone else. They said that the reason these individuals were mentioned in the Word with such respect was that they referred in the deeper meaning to the Lord - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to the Lord in respect to his divine nature and his divine human nature, David to the Lord as to the regal divine nature, and the apostles to the Lord as to divine truths. The angels do not pay any attention to these individuals when the Word is being read by people on earth because their names do not cross over into heaven. They are conscious of the Lord instead, as just noted. So the Word that is in heaven (described above in 259) never mentions them, since that Word is the inner meaning of the Word that exists in the world. ¹

Footnotes:

169. Throughout the created universe, both in its grandest constituents and in its most infinitesimal, we find these three ingredients, namely, end, cause and effect. These three are found in the grandest and most infinitesimal constituents of the universe for the reason that the same three exist in God the Creator, who is the Lord from eternity. However, because He is infinite, and because the infinite elements in an infinite being are, in a distinct combination, one (as demonstrated above in nos. 17-22), therefore in Him these three also, and the three in His infinite elements, are, in a distinct combination, one.

It is in consequence of this that the universe - which was created from His being, and which regarded in terms of its functions is an image of Him - acquired these three ingredients in each and all of its constituents.

10087. 'And you shall take the breast' means the Divine Spiritual in the heavens, which those in heaven make their own. This is clear from the meaning of 'the breast' as the good of charity, and in the highest sense as the Divine Spiritual, dealt with below. The reason why its being made their own by those in the heavens is meant is that the subject in what follows next is the flesh from the ram and the bread from the basket which were not burned on the altar but were left as a portion for and were eaten by Moses, Aaron, and his sons. By this is meant making it their own, the process of which is described in what follows next. The origin of the meaning of 'the breast' as the good of charity, and in the highest sense as the Divine Spiritual, lies in correspondence. For the human head corresponds to the good of love to the Lord, which is the good of the inmost heaven and is called the Divine Celestial, whereas the breast corresponds to the good of charity, which is the good of the middle or second heaven and is called the Divine Spiritual; and the feet correspond to the good of faith, thus to the good of obedience, which is the good of the lowest heaven and is called the Divine Natural. Regarding this correspondence, see what has been shown above in 10030.

[2] Since the breast because of its correspondence means the good of charity, and the good of charity results from the will to do good, John - who represented that good - leaned on the Lord's breast or in His bosom, John 13:23, 25, by which the Lord's love of that good is meant. For 'leaning on the breast' or 'in the bosom' means loving. Anyone who knows this may also know what the meaning is of the following words which the Lord addressed to Peter and to John,

Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me? He said, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My lambs. He said to him again, Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me? He said, Yes, Lord, You know that I love You. He said to him, Feed My sheep. He said to him a third time, Simon son of Jonah, do you love Me? Peter was grieved, therefore he said, Lord, You know all things; You know that I love You. Jesus said to him, Feed My sheep. Truly I say to you, When you were younger you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish. When He had said this He said to him, Follow Me. Having turned round Peter saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper. Seeing him Peter said, Lord, what about him? Jesus said to him, If I will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me. John 21:15-22.

None can know what these words mean except through the internal sense. This teaches that the Lord's twelve disciples represented all aspects of faith and love in their entirety, just as the twelves tribes of Israel did, and that Peter represented faith, James charity, and John the works or good deeds that flow from charity.

The Lord's twelve disciples represented all aspects of faith and love in their entirety, see 3488, 3858 (end), 6397.

The twelve tribes of Israel had the same representation, 3858, 3926, 4060, 6335, 6640.

Peter represented faith, James charity, and John the works that flow from charity, Prefaces to Genesis 18, 22, and 3750, 4738, 6344 (end).

'The rock', as Peter is also called, means the Lord in respect of faith, 8581.

[3] Faith without charity does not love the Lord; nevertheless it is able to teach about things connected with faith and love, and the things that are the Lord's. This was why the Lord said three times, 'Do you love Me?', and then, 'Feed My lambs' or 'Feed My sheep'. For the same reason He says, 'When you were younger you girded yourself and walked where you wished; but when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish', meaning that in its early stages the Church's faith had possessed the good of innocence, like a young child; but when it was in decline, which is the final phase of the Church, faith would not possess that good any longer nor the good of charity, at which point evil and falsity would lead it. All this is what is meant by 'when you are old you will stretch out your hands and another will gird you and lead you where you do not wish', that is, you will pass from freedom into bondage. 'Girding' means being acquainted with and seeing truths in light that flows from good, 9952, and 'walking' leading a life in accord with those truths, 8417, 8420, so that 'girding himself and walking where he wished' means acting in freedom; and people act in freedom when an affection for truth springing from good governs their actions, 2870-2893, 9585-9591, and they are led by the Lord, 9096, 9586, 9589-9591. But 'being girded by another and being led where he did not wish' means being in bondage, and people are in bondage when evil governs their actions, and so they are led by hell, 9096, 9586, 9589-9591. 'Lambs', which the Lord mentions first, are those in whom the good of innocence is present, see 3994; 'sheep', which the Lord mentions the second and third times, are those in whom the good of charity, and faith springing from this, are present, 4169, 4809. Also three means the whole period from beginning to end, 2788, 4495, 7715, 9198; consequently, since the Lord spoke to Peter regarding the Church from its early stages to when it was in decline, He said three times, Do you love Me?

[4] As regards John's following the Lord, this was a sign of the truth that those who perform the good deeds of charity follow the Lord, are loved by the Lord, and do not leave Him, whereas those whose faith is separated from charity not only fail to follow the Lord but are also angered by that truth, as Peter was then; not to mention many more arcana within the words contained in that passage.

From all this it is evident also that leaning on the Lord's breast or in His bosom means being loved by Him, and that this expression is used in reference to those who perform the good deeds of charity. Much the same is meant by carrying in the bosom, Isaiah 40:10-11, and lying in the bosom, 2 Samuel 12:3.