306. Mij werd uit de hemel medegedeeld dat de alleroudste volken onmiddellijke openbaring hadden, omdat hun innerlijk naar de hemel gekeerd was en dat daardoor de Heer destijds in vereniging met het menselijk geslacht was, maar dat later de onmiddellijke openbaring ophield en werd opgevolgd door een middellijke openbaring door overeenstemmingen. Ook dat alle Goddelijke eredienst van het volk, dat de oudste volken opvolgde, bestond in overeenstemmingen en dat daarom hun kerken zinnebeeldige kerken werden genoemd. Want wat overeenstemming en zinnebeeld was, wist men toen nauwkeurig en ook dat alle dingen op aarde overeenstemden met geestelijke dingen in de hemel en in de kerk of, wat hetzelfde is, dat zij daarvan beelden zijn. En daarom dienden hen de natuurlijke dingen die het uitwendige van de eredienst waren als verbindingsmiddel om geestelijk te denken, dus met de engelen te denken. Nadat de wetenschap van overeenstemmingen en uitbeeldende dingen vergeten was, werd het Woord geschreven, waarin al de uitdrukkingen en eveneens de zin ervan in alle vormen, overeenstemmingen zijn en daardoor een geestelijke of innerlijke zin hebben, waarin ook de engelen zijn. Wanneer daarom de mens het Woord leest en het opvat volgens de letterlijke zin, die de uitwendige zin is, begrijpen de engelen het volgens de innerlijke of geestelijke zin. Want alle gedachten van de engelen zijn geestelijk; maar de gedachte van de mens is natuurlijk, en ofschoon de geestelijke en de natuurlijke gedachten zeer verschillend schijnen, vormen zij toch een geheel, daar zij overeenstemmen. Daarom werd, toen de mens zich van de hemel afwendde en de band verbrak, een nieuw middel tot verbinding door de Heer verschaft, namelijk het Woord.

351. Verse 1. And I saw, signifies the manifestation of the states of those who are of the church where the Word is. This is evident from the things that John saw, which are described in this chapter and in what follows, as being the manifestations of the state of those who are in the church, where the Word is: for there is here treated "the opening of the seals of the book" that was in the Lord's hand, and what was then seen, namely, "four horses, one white, another red, the third black, and the fourth pale," and afterwards "the souls of those that were slain for the Word of God," also "an earthquake," and finally "seven angels who had seven trumpets." All these things signify the manifestations of the state of those who are of the church, as can be seen from the particulars viewed in the internal sense. It is said, the church where the Word is, because the Lord's church is in the whole world, but in a special sense where the Word is, and where the Lord is known through the Word. The state of those who are of this church is especially treated of in this prophetic book, here in general, but afterwards particularly. This church is especially treated of because the Lord, and thus the angels of heaven, are present with the men of this earth by means of the Word; for the Word is written by pure correspondences: from this it comes that the Lord and the angels of heaven are present also with those who are around or outside the church, who are called Gentiles [nations] (as can be seen from the things mentioned and shown in the work on Heaven and Hell, on the Conjunction of Heaven with the Man of the Church by Means of the Word n. 114, 303-310; and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 244, 246, 255-266).

[2] For the church in the whole world is before the Lord as One Man, for it makes a one with the angelic heaven. (That it is before the Lord as One Man, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 59-102.) In this Man the church where the Word is and where the Lord is known thereby is like the heart and the lungs; with those who are in celestial love the church is like the heart, and with those who are in spiritual love like the lungs; consequently, as all the members, viscera, and organs of the body live from the heart and from the lungs, and from their influx and consequent presence, so all in the whole earth, who constitute the church universal, live from the church where the Word is; for the Lord flows in therefrom with love and with light, and vivifies and enlightens all who are in any spiritual affection for truth, wherever they are. The light of heaven, or the light in which are the angels of heaven who are from this earth, is from the Lord by means of the Word; from this as from a center light is diffused into the circumferences in every direction, thus to those who are there, who, as was said, are the Gentiles that are outside of our church. But this diffusion of light is effected in heaven by the Lord, and what is done in heaven flows also into the minds of men, for the minds of men make one with the minds of spirits and angels. It is for this reason that those are especially treated of in this prophetical book who are of the church where the Word is; then those also are treated of who are of the church where the Word is not, although not proximately, for the arrangement of those who are in the circumferences follows according to the order in which those are who are in the center.