73. IEDERE ENGEL HEEFT DAAROM EEN VOLLEDIG MENSELIJKEVORM

Inde twee voorafgaande hoofdstukken is getoond dat de hemel in zijn volledigheid een mens weergeeft, en dat iedere gemeenschap in de hemel dit ook doet. Uit de opeenvolging van redenen die daar gegeven zijn volgt dat iedere engel er ook als een mens uitziet. Aangezien de hemel de mens in de grootste vorm is en een gemeenschap van de hemel dit in een kleinere vorm is, is een engel dit in de kleinste vorm. Want in de meest volmaakte vorm, zoals die van de hemel dat is, bestaat er een gelijkenis van het geheel in het onderdeel en van het onderdeel in het geheel. Dat dit het geval is, komt omdat de hemel een gemeenschap is, want het deelt alles wat het bezit met iedereen en iedereen ontvangt alles wat hij heeft uit die gemeenschap. Een engel is een ontvangbekken en zodoende een hemel in de kleinste vorm, zoals hierboven eveneens in het betreffende gedeelte werd uitgelegd. Voor zover iemand de hemel in zich opneemt, is hij ook een ontvangbekken, een hemel en een engel (zie nr. 57). it wordt in de Apocalyps als volgt beschreven: En hij mat de muur op van het heilige Jeruzalem, honderdvierenveertig el, mensen maat, die engelenmaat is. (Apocalyps 21:17) Jeruzalem is hier de kerk van de Heer, en in hogere betekenis de hemel; de muur is het ware, dat een bescherming is tegen de onjuistheden en zonden; de honderdvierenveertig zijn alle waarheden en al het goede bij elkaar genomen; de maat is de hoedanigheid; mensen maat is iemand in wie al het goede en ware in het algemeen en in het bijzonder aanwezig is, dat is, in wie de hemel is; en omdat een engel door deze dingen ook een mens is, wordt er gezegd mensenmaat, wat ook de maat van een engel is. Dit is de geestelijke betekenis van die woorden. Wie zou zonder die betekenis kunnen begrijpen dat de muur van het heilige Jeruzalem de maat van een mens is, dat is, van een engel?

1222. Verse 8. And it hath been given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright, signifies that that church should be instructed by the Lord in truths from the Word. This is evident from the signification of "to be clothed," as meaning to be instructed in truths, for in the Word, "garments" signify truths that invest goods, consequently "to be clothed," signifies to be instructed in truths. (That this is the signification of "garments" and "to be clothed," see n. 64, 65, 195, 271, 395, 951.) It is evident also from the signification of "linen or fine linen," as being truths from a celestial origin (See n. 1143). But as truth from that origin is Divine truth, and all Divine truth is from the Lord, and is the Word, so "linen and fine linen" signifies truth from the Word. This truth is called "clean" from celestial good, and "bright" from spiritual good. All truth is from good, and there are two most general goods, from which are all truths, namely, celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, and spiritual good, which is the good of love towards the neighbor. Truth from this good is meant by "bright fine linen," and truth from the former good is meant by "clean fine linen," both from the Word; for the Word in all its particulars is such that truth from celestial good and truth from spiritual good are conjoined, and within these truths celestial good is conjoined with spiritual good.

[2] All the angels of heaven and all the men on the earth who constitute the church are as one man, and the Lord is the life of that man. This you will see confirmed in the work on Heaven and Hell, in the following articles:

The whole Heaven in the complex has relation to one Man (n. 59-67);

Each Society in the heavens has relation to one Man (n. 68-72);

Consequently each Angel is in a perfect Human Form (n. 73-77);

Heaven as a whole and in part has relation to Man, and this is from the Lord's Divine Human (n. 78-86);

There is a correspondence of all things of Heaven with all things of Man (n. 87-102;

The same may be said of the Lord's church on the earth (n. 57).

That heaven is like one man I have been taught by experience and am taught by reason. Experience: It has been granted me to behold a society consisting of thousands of angels as one man of a medium stature, and societies consisting of fewer angels in like form. This is seen, however, not by the angels in that society, but by angels outside of that society at a distance, and at the time when a society is to be purified of those who are foreign to it. When this is done all who constitute the life of that society are within that man, while those who do not are outside of him; and these are removed, but the former remain. It is the same with the whole heaven in the presence of the Lord. For this reason and no other every angel and spirit is a man, in a form like that which a man on earth has.

[3] I have not seen but I have heard that the church on earth also before the Lord is like one man; and that it is also divided into societies, and that each society is a man; furthermore, that all who are within that man are within heaven, while those who are outside of him are in hell; and the reason has been stated, namely, that every man of the church is also an angel of heaven, for he becomes an angel after death. Moreover, not only does the church on earth together with the angels constitute the interiors of that man, the church constitutes also the exteriors, which are called the cartilaginous and bony parts; this the church constitutes, because the men of the earth are provided with a body in which the lowest spiritual is clothed with the natural. This is what constitutes the conjunction of heaven with the church and of the church with heaven.

[4] From reason: Heaven and the church are a man, in the greatest, the lesser, and the least sum or complex, for the sole reason that God is Man, and consequently the Divine proceeding, which is the Divine from Him, is the same in every least and greatest respect, which is man. For it has been said above that the Divine is not in space and extension, but causes spaces and extensions to exist in the ultimates of His creation, in the heavens apparently, in the world actually. Nevertheless spaces and extensions are not spaces and extensions before God, ¹ for He is in His Divine everywhere. This is clearly manifest from this, that the whole angelic heaven with the church is as one man before God; and so is a society consisting of thousands of angels, although their habitations appear extended through much space. The same is evident also from this, that the whole heaven, also an entire society in heaven, can appear at the good pleasure of the Lord, as a man, great or small, as a giant or as an infant. But it is not the angels that so appear, but the Divine in them; for the angels are only recipients of the Divine from the Lord, and it is the Divine in them that constitutes what is angelic in them and thus heaven. As angels are only recipients, and the Divine in them constitutes what is angelic and heaven, it is clear that the Lord is the life of that man, that is, of heaven and the church.

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