The White Horse Described in Revelation 19, Followed by Material on the Word and Its Spiritual or Inner Meaning Drawn from Secrets of Heaven

Table Of Contents

Concerning the White Horse in the Apocalypse Chapter 19, 1-5

The Word and Its Spiritual or Inner Meaning from Secrets of Heaven, 6

The Word is understood only by people who are enlightened. 7

The Word is understood only by means of a body of teaching drawn from the Word. 8

There is a spiritual meaning in the Word that is known as “the inner meaning.” 9

The inner meaning of the Word is primarily for angels, but it is also for us. 10

There are countless treasures hidden in the inner or spiritual meaning of the Word. 11

The Word was composed using correspondences and therefore representations. 12

The literal meaning or outer form of the Word. 13

The Lord is the Word 14

People who are hostile to the Word. 15

The books that are books of the Word. 16

More on the Word. 17

14. The Lord is the Word. The sole subject of the deepest meaning of the Word is the Lord, and it describes all the phases of the glorification of his human nature (that is, of its union with the divine nature itself), as well as all the phases of his taking control of the hells and setting in order everything there and in the heavens: 2249, 7014. So in this meaning there is a description of the Lord’s whole life in our world, and by means of this there is a constant presence of the Lord with the angels: 2523. At the very center of the Word there is only the Lord, and this is the source of what is divine and holy in the Word: 1873, 9357. The Lord’s saying that the Scripture about him was fulfilled [Luke 18:31; 24:44] was referring to everything in the deepest meaning of the Word: 7933.

“The Word” means divine truth: 4692, 5075, 9987. The Lord is the Word because he is divine truth: 2533. The Lord is the Word also because the Word comes from him and is about him (2859); and in its deepest meaning is about no one but the Lord, so the Lord himself is there (1873, 9357); and also because there is a marriage of divine goodness and divine truth throughout the Word and in its every detail, a marriage found only in the Lord (3004, 3005, 3009, 4137, 5194, 5502, 6343, 7945, 8339, 9263, 9314). Divine truth coming from divine goodness is the sole reality, and only what it dwells in—which comes from what is divine—is substantial: ¹ 5272, 6880, 7004, 8200. And because divine truth emanating from the Lord as the sun in heaven is heaven’s light and divine goodness is its warmth, and because everything there comes into being from that light and warmth the way everything in this world comes into being from earthly light and warmth (which are also present in earthly substances and work through them), and because this earthly world as a whole comes into being by means of heaven or the spiritual world, we can see that everything that has been created has been created from divine truth—that is, from the Word, just as it says in John: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things that were made were made through him. And the Word became flesh” (John 1:1, 2, 3, 14): 2803, 2894, 5272, 7678. (See Heaven and Hell 137 for more on the creation of everything by divine truth and therefore by the Lord; §§116–125 for more about the fact that the sun in heaven is the Lord and that it is his divine love; and §§126–140 on divine truth being light and divine goodness being warmth, both from that sun in heaven.)

A joining together of the Lord and us is accomplished through the Word, by means of its inner meaning: 10375. Absolutely everything in the Word is a means to this joining together, and this is why the Word is more wondrous than anything else that has been written: 10632, 10633, 10634. Now that the Word has been written, the Lord speaks to us through it: 10290. (See also the information presented in Heaven and Hell 303–310 about the union of heaven with us by means of the Word.)

Fotnoter:

2533. That 'now return the man's wife' means that the spiritual truth of doctrine was by him to be brought back untouched from the rational is clear from the meaning of 'a wife' as spiritual truth, dealt with in 2507, 2510, and from the meaning of 'a man' as doctrine itself. Actually when Abraham who represents the Lord in that state is called 'a man' he means celestial truth, which is the same as doctrine from a celestial origin; for 'man' in the internal sense means the understanding part of the mind, see 158, 265, 749, 915, 1007, 2517. From this it is evident that 'resuming the man's wife' means bringing back the spiritual truth of doctrine untouched. Its being brought back untouched from the rational is meant because 'Abimelech' who was required to return her means doctrine that has regard to rational things, or what amounts to the same, means the rational things comprising doctrine, 2510.

[2] It has been stated above that although the doctrine of faith is in itself Divine and so stands above all human, even angelic, range of understanding, it has nevertheless been expressed in the Word in a rational manner in accordance with man's range of understanding. It is like a parent who is teaching small boys and girls. When teaching them he explains every single thing in accordance with their own mentality, even though he himself thinks from what is more interior or higher. Otherwise he would be teaching without their learning, or it would be like casting seed on bare rock. The same applies also to the angels who in the next life instruct the simple in heart. Although the angels possess celestial and spiritual wisdom they nevertheless do not go above the heads of those they are teaching but use simple ideas to talk to them, yet advance by degrees to higher ideas as the instruction advances. For if they were to speak from angelic wisdom the simple would not grasp anything at all and so would not be led on to the truths and goods of faith. Much the same would happen if in the Word the Lord had not taught in a rational manner in accordance with man's range of understanding. Nevertheless in its internal sense the Word is raised up to angelic understanding. But even so, that highest level of meaning on which the Word exists with angels is infinitely lower than the Divine. This shows what the Word is like in origin, and so what it is in itself, and thus that at every point it embodies more than the whole of heaven is capable of comprehending, even as to one small part, though in the letter it seems so ordinary and so crude.

[3] The fact that the Lord is the Word, because the Word derives from Him and He is in the Word, is clear in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 4, 14.

See also Revelation 19:11, 13, 16. And because the Lord is the Word, He is doctrine also, for no other doctrine exists which is itself Divine.