14. The Word in Heaven
The Word exists in all the heavens, and it is read there and preached from as in the world. For it is the Divine truth from which angels have their intelligence and wisdom. Indeed, without the Word no one would know anything about the Lord, about love and faith, redemption, or any of the other secrets of heavenly wisdom. In fact, without the Word there would not be a heaven, just as in the world there would not be a church without the Word. Thus there would be no conjunction with the Lord.
We have already shown above that a natural theology is not possible apart from revelation, and in the Christian world apart from the Word.* If a natural theology is not possible in the world, neither would it be possible for anyone after death, since every person on becoming a spirit after death is in the same condition with respect to religion as he was with respect to his religion in the world. Nor does heaven consist of any class of angels created before the world or together with the world, but it consists entirely of people who were once people in the world and who inwardly then became angels. These come by means of the Word in heaven into spiritual wisdom, which is an interior wisdom, because the Word there is spiritual.
[2] The Word in the Lord's spiritual kingdom is not the same as the Word in the world. The Word in the world is natural, while in the spiritual kingdom it is spiritual. The difference is like that between the Word's natural meaning and its spiritual meaning. The nature of the spiritual meaning has been shown many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), where the entire contents of Genesis and Exodus have been expounded according to that meaning. The difference is such that not one expression is the same. Instead of names, the Word in the spiritual kingdom has concepts. So, too, in place of numbers. And instead of historical narratives it contains matters having to do with the church. But surprisingly, when an angel reads that Word, he does not know it is not the same as the Word he read in the world. The reason is that he no longer possesses any natural ideas, but spiritual ideas in their stead, and natural things and spiritual things by correspondence are so joined that, in a way, they constitute one and the same thing. As a result, when an angel comes from natural things into spiritual things, the spiritual things seem no different to him. In fact, an angel is not aware that he is wiser than he had been in the world, even though he has a wisdom so far superior to his former wisdom that it is indescribable in comparison. Nor can he know the difference, because in his spiritual state he knows nothing of his natural state, the state he was in in the world. And because he does not go back to that state, he cannot examine the two states together and see the differences and so make a comparison. Nevertheless, an angel is still continually being perfected in his wisdom-in heaven more so than in the world, because he has a purer spiritual affection for truth.
[3] In the Lord's celestial kingdom, moreover, the Word is much more excellent and full of wisdom than the Word in His spiritual kingdom. These two differ in the same measure as the natural Word in the world and the spiritual Word just described. For that Word has in it an inmost meaning, called celestial, and everything of the Word in that meaning has to do with the Lord alone. In place of "Jehovah" this Word says "the Lord"; and the Lord is named instead of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, also instead of David, and instead of Moses, Elijah, and the rest of the prophets. The particular Divine attribute of the Lord meant by each of these persons is specified by its own sign or mark. Instead of the names of the tribes of Israel-the twelve tribes-and also instead of the names of the apostles, the Word in the celestial kingdom refers to some aspect of the Lord in relation to the church. And so on in respect to everything else in it. It was apparent to me from this that the Holy Scripture from beginning to end in its inmost meaning has to do with the Lord alone.
The difference that exists between these two Words, the spiritual and the celestial, is like that between thoughts of the intellect and affections of the will. For angels of the celestial kingdom are motivated by love for the Lord and thus have an affection for good, while angels of the spiritual kingdom are motivated by faith in the Lord and thus have a perception of truth.
[4] The spiritual Word and the celestial Word differ as well in respect to their style of writing. The writing of the spiritual Word consists of letters similar to printed letters in our world, but every letter carries a meaning. Consequently, if you saw that writing, you would not understand a single word. For the letters are written one after another in an unbroken series, with little lines and points above and below. This is the style of writing, because it accords with spiritual speech, which has nothing in common with natural speech. The wiser angels are, the more interior the secrets which they see from their Word thus written-secrets more interior than simpler angels see. The secrets hidden there are clearly apparent to the eyes of the wise, but not to the eyes of the simple. It is the same-only more so-as in the case of our Word, in which the wise also see more than the simple.
The writing of the celestial Word, on the other hand, is composed of letters unknown in the world. They are, indeed, alphabetical letters, but each consists of curved lines with little hornlike projections above and below, and the letters have dots or points in them and also above and below them. I have been told that the most ancient people on this earth had writing like this. In certain respects it is like Hebrew writing, but only a little. This style of writing expresses affections which have to do with love, so that it involves more secrets than the angels themselves can put into words. Any secrets they perceive in their Word that they cannot put into words they express by means of representations. The wisdom that lies hidden in this Word exceeds a thousand times and more the wisdom hidden in the spiritual Word.
[5] In order to understand the difference between the three Words, natural, spiritual and celestial, take for example the first chapters of Genesis, containing the story of Adam, his wife, and the Garden of Eden. In the natural Word, the Word that exists in the world, these chapters describe the creation of the world, the first creation of man, and his earthly enjoyments and delights. By the names of the persons after him down to the Flood are meant his descendants, and by the numbers the ages of those descendants.
In the spiritual Word, however-the Word as it exists among angels in the spiritual kingdom-these things are not perceived. Instead, the first chapter describes the reformation and regeneration of the people of the Most Ancient Church, which is also called a new creation. By the Garden of Eden in the second chapter is described the intelligence of the people of that church. By Adam and his wife, the church itself. By their descendants then down to the Flood are described the changes in state of that church until it came to an end, and by the Flood, finally, its death.
In the celestial Word, on the other hand, or in the Word as it exists among angels in the Lord's celestial kingdom, the first chapter describes the glorification of the Lord's humanity. Instead of the Garden of Eden, His Divine wisdom is described. By Adam himself there is meant the Lord in respect to the Divine itself and at the same time in respect to His Divine Humanity. And by his wife is meant the church, called Eve from a word meaning "life," because the church has life from the Lord. So, too, Adam says of her that she was his bone and his flesh, and that they were one flesh, because the church is from the Lord and exists from Him and with Him as in a union. By the names listing the descendants of Adam are described in that Word the reception of the Lord and conjunction with Him by the people of that church in succeeding states, until finally there was no reception at all and thus no conjunction.
[6] As a result, when the first chapters of our Word are read by upright people, and especially by little boys and girls, and they are affected with joy over the state at the time of the creation of everything and over the Garden of Eden, then these other meanings are unfolded before the angels, and spiritual angels understand the things said in accordance with their Word, and celestial angels in accordance with theirs, without their being aware that a person or young child is reading it. For these meanings are unfolded in turn because they correspond, and the nature of correspondent things is such from creation. It is apparent from this what the character of the Word is within, namely, that it has three meanings. The first is an outmost one for people, which is natural, which for the most part deals with worldly matters; and even when it deals with Divine matters, It puts them in terms of the kinds of things found in the world. The second meaning is an intermediate one, which is spiritual, in which are described such matters as have to do with the church. And the third meaning is an inmost one, which is celestial, which contains things having to do with the Lord. For all of nature is a theater representative of the Lord's kingdom; and the Lord's kingdom, or heaven and the church, is a theater representative of the Lord Himself. Moreover, as the Lord glorified His humanity, so He also regenerates mankind; and as He regenerates mankind, so He also created them.
[7] It can be seen from this what the character of the Word is within. The natural Word as it exists in this world among Christians contains within it both a spiritual Word and a celestial Word. For the spiritual meaning of our Word is the Word in the heavens that make up the Lord's spiritual kingdom, and the celestial meaning of our Word-its inmost meaning-is the Word in the heavens that make up the Lord's celestial kingdom. Therefore our natural Word contains both the spiritual Word and the celestial Word, but the spiritual and celestial Words do not contain the natural Word. Consequently the Word in our world is the most full of Divine wisdom, and so is holier than the Words in the heavens. * See no. 6.