18. Het Goddelijke van de Heer in de hemel is liefde, want liefde is het reservoir van alle hemelse dingen, zoals vrede, intelligentie, wijsheid, en gelukzaligheid. Liefde is ontvankelijk voor alles wat met haar harmonieert. Zij verlangt ernaar, zoekt ernaar, neemt het als het ware uit eigen beweging in zich op, want zij wil constant daardoor verrijkt en vervolmaakt worden. Dit is uiteraard de mens algemeen bekend, want bij hem werpt liefde als het ware een blik in de voorraden van zijn geheugen en put daaruit alles wat harmonieert, verzamelt en schikt dit in en onder zich. In zich, zodat ze van haar zijn, en onder zich, opdat zij haar van dienst zijn. Al het overige echter dat niet overeenstemt, verwerpt en verbant zij. Het is overduidelijk aangetoond door sommigen die in de hemel werden opgenomen, dat in liefde ieder vermogen aanwezig is om de ware dingen op te nemen die met haar harmoniëren en het verlangen om ze met zich te verbinden. Alhoewel zij in de wereld eenvoudigen van geest waren geweest, kwamen ze bij de engelen in de wijsheid van engelen en in de gelukzaligheid van de hemel. Dit was omdat zij het goede en het ware hadden liefgehad ter wille van het goede en het ware zelf en deze in hun leven hadden ingeplant, en daardoor in staat waren de hemel aan te nemen met alle onbeschrijfelijke dingen daar. Maar zij die in eigenliefde en liefde van de wereld verkeren, hebben niet het vermogen om deze dingen op te nemen; daar hebben ze een afkeer van en ze verwerpen ze en zodra ze deze aanraken en influx ontvangen, vluchten zij weg en zoeken het gezelschap op van hen die in de hel zijn met dezelfde liefden als zij. Er waren geesten die betwijfelden of de hemelse liefde zulke vermogens in zich had en zij verlangden te weten of het zo was. Zij werden daarom in een staat van hemelse liefde gebracht, met allerlei belemmeringen tijdelijk verwijderd. Toen werden zij een zekere afstand naar voren gebracht waar een engelenhemel was en daarvandaan spraken ze met mij en zeiden dat ze een innerlijke gelukzaligheid gewaar werden die zij niet onder woorden konden brengen en dat zij het ten zeerste betreurden dat zij in hun vorige staat terug zouden keren. Anderen werden ook in de hemel opgenomen en hoe meer innerlijk of hoger zij werden verheven, hoe meer ze in intelligentie en wijsheid werden gebracht, zodat zij dingen gewaar konden worden die daarvoor onbegrijpelijk voor hen waren geweest. Daaruit blijkt dat de liefde die uit de Heer voortgaat, het reservoir is van de hemel en alles wat daarin is.

219. Verse 12. He that overcometh I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, signifies that those who are steadfast will be in Divine truth in heaven. This is evident from the signification of "overcoming," as being to be steadfast in the genuine affection of truth (See above n. 128); here in faith from charity, since that faith is treated of in what is written the angel of this church see 203; also from the signification of "pillar" as being Divine truth sustaining; also from the signification of "the temple of God" as being in the highest sense, the Lord's Divine Human, and in the relative sense, the Lord's spiritual kingdom, thus the heaven that constitutes that kingdom (of which presently). "A pillar in the temple" means Divine truth sustaining, because "temple" signifies heaven, and heaven is heaven from the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord; for by heaven all angels are meant, because heaven is made up of angels, and from them is called heaven: and angels are angels in the measure in which they receive the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord; and for this reason angels in the Word also signify Divine truths (See above, n. 130, 200).

Now as heaven is Divine truth, and "temple" signifies heaven, it follows that all things of the temple signify such things as pertain to Divine truth, and that the "pillars" therein signify Divine truths sustaining. Divine truths sustaining are in general lower truths, because these sustain the higher; for there are lower and higher Divine truths, as there are lower and higher heavens. (There are degrees of these, on which see in the work on Heaven and Hell 38, 208, 209, 211.) The heavens that belong to a lower degree sustain those that belong to a higher degree; here, therefore, by the Lord's making him that overcometh "a pillar in the temple" is meant that such will be in a lower heaven. They who are in the faith of charity are also in the lower heaven, which is called the spiritual heaven; while those who are in love to the Lord are in the higher heaven, which is called the celestial heaven, and this is sustained by the lower or spiritual heaven. (But a clearer idea can be had of these things from what is shown in three chapters in the work on Heaven and Hell, namely, in the chapter where it is shown that The Divine of the Lord in Heaven is Love to Him and Charity towards the Neighbor, n. 13-19; in another where it is shown that Heaven is distinguished into Two Kingdoms, Celestial and Spiritual, n 20-28; and in a third where it is shown that There are Three Heavens, n. 29-40.)

[2] "Pillars" are here and there mentioned in the Word, and they signify lower truths, because they sustain the higher. That lower truths are signified by "pillars" in the Word can be seen from the following. In Jeremiah:

Behold I have given thee this day for a fenced city, and for a pillar of iron, and for walls of brass against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes and against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land, that they may fight against thee and not prevail (Jeremiah 1:18-19).

These things were said to the prophet, because all prophets signify the doctrines of Divine truth, and because the church in which Divine truths are falsified is here treated of it is therefore said, "Behold I have given thee this day for a fenced city, for a pillar of iron, and for walls of brass against the whole land;" "a fenced city" signifies the doctrine of truth; "a pillar of iron" truth sustaining it; "walls of brass" good defending, and "land" the church. It is said, also, "against the kings of Judah, against the princes, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land;" and "the kings of Judah," and "princes," signify truths falsified; "priests," goods adulterated, and "the people of the land," falsities in general; of these it is said, that they will fight against truths themselves, but shall not prevail.

[3] In the same:

Set thee up signs, place for thee high pillars, set thine heart to the highway, the way thou mayest go; return, O virgin of Israel, return to thy cities (Jeremiah 31:21).

The restoration of the church is here treated of. "The virgin of Israel" signifies the church; "to set up signs, and to place high pillars," signifies instruction in such things as are the fundamentals of the church, which are called "high pillars" because they sustain: "to set the heart to the highway, the way thou mayest go," signifies the affection of truth leading to life.

[4] In David:

I will judge in uprightness; the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved; I will make firm the pillars of it (Psalms 75:2-3).

"The earth dissolving" signifies those of the church who are not in truths but yet long for them; "to make firm the pillars" of it signifies to sustain the church by those truths upon which it is founded. Again, in Job:

Who causeth the earth to shake out of its place, so that the pillars thereof tremble (Job 9:6).

"The earth" here signifies the church, and "pillars" the truths that sustain it. That:

The pillars of the court of the tabernacle (mentioned in Exodus 27:10-12, 14-17);

also signify the ultimate truths sustaining the higher ones, see Arcana Coelestia, in the explanation of that chapter and those verses. Like truths are signified by:

The pillars of the house of the forest of Lebanon built by Solomon (mentioned in 1 Kings 7:2, 6).

[5] Similar also is the signification of:

The two pillars that Solomon set up in the porch of the temple, and that are described in the first book of Kings. He fashioned two pillars of brass, eighteen cubits was the height of each pillar; and a line of twelve cubits compassed the second pillar. And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars; seven chains for the one chapiter, and seven chains for the other chapiter. And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple; and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar and called the name thereof Boaz (1 Kings 7:15-21).

Since "the temple" signified heaven (as will be shown presently), therefore all things of the temple signified such things as are of heaven, thus of Divine truth there; for, as said above, heaven is heaven from the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord; therefore "the porch of the temple" signified the things pertaining to the ultimate heaven, and as this sustains the two higher heavens, those two pillars were placed in the porch.