Heaven and Hell/11
XI
It is From the Lord's Divine Human that Heaven as a Whole and in Part Reflects Man
78. That it is from the Lord's Divine Human that heaven as a whole and in
part reflects man, follows as a conclusion from all that has been
stated and shown in the preceding chapters, namely: (i) That the God
of heaven is the Lord. (ii) It is the Divine of the Lord that makes
heaven. (iii) Heaven consists of innumerable societies; and each
society is a heaven in a smaller form, and each angel in the smallest
form. (iv) All heaven in the aggregate reflects a single man. (v)
Each society in the heavens reflects a single man. (vi) Therefore
every angel is in a complete human form. All this leads to the
conclusion that as it is the Divine that makes heaven, heaven must be
human in form. That this Divine is the Lord's Divine Human can be
seen still more clearly, because in a compendium, in what has been
collected, brought together and collated from the Arcana Coelestia
and placed as a supplement at the end of this chapter. That the
Lord's Human is Divine, and that it is not true that His Human is not
Divine, as those with in the church believe, may also be seen in the
same extracts, also in the chapter on The Lord, in The New Jerusalem
and its Heavenly Doctrine, at the end.
79. That this is true has been proved to me by much experience, about
which something shall now be said. No angel in the heavens ever
perceives the Divine as being in any other than a human form; and
what is remarkable, those in the higher heavens are unable to think
of the Divine in any other way. The necessity of thinking in this way
comes from the Divine itself that flows in, and also from the form of
heaven in harmony with which their thoughts spread forth. For every
thought of an angel spreads forth into heaven; and the angels have
intelligence and wisdom in the measure of that extension. It is in
consequence of this that all in heaven acknowledge the Lord, because
only in Him does the Divine Human exist. Not only have I been told
all this by angels, but when elevated into the inner sphere of heaven
I have been able to perceive it. From this it is evident that the
wiser the angels are the more clearly they perceive this truth; and
it is from this that the Lord is seen by them; for the Lord is seen
in a Divine angelic form, which is the human form, by those who
acknowledge and believe in a visible Divine Being, but not by those
who believe in an invisible Divine. For the former can see their
Divine Being, but the latter cannot.
80. Because the angels have no perception of an invisible Divine,
which they call a Divine devoid of form, but perceive only a visible
Divine in human form, they are accustomed to say that the Lord alone
is man, and that it is from Him that they are men, and that each one
is a man in the measure of his reception of the Lord. By receiving
the Lord they understand receiving good and truth which are from Him,
since the Lord is in His good and in His truth, and this they call
wisdom and intelligence. Everyone knows, they say, that intelligence
and wisdom make man, and not a face without these. The truth of this
is made evident from the appearance of the angels of the interior
heavens, for these, being in good and truth from the Lord and in
consequent wisdom and intelligence, are in a most beautiful and most
perfect human form; while the angels of the lower heavens are in
human form of less perfection and beauty. On the other hand, those
who are in hell appear in the light of heaven hardly as men, but
rather as monsters, since they are not in good and truth but in evil
and falsity, and consequently in the opposites of wisdom and
intelligence. For this reason their life is not called life, but
spiritual death.
81. Because heaven as a whole and in part, from the Lord's Divine
Human, reflects a man, the angels say that they are in the Lord; and
some say that they are in His body, meaning that they are in the good
of His love. And this the Lord Himself teaches, saying,
Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me. For apart from Me ye can do nothing. Abide in My love. If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love (John 15:4-10).
82. Because such a perception of the Divine exists in the heavens, to
think of God as in a human form is implanted in every man who
receives any influx from heaven. Thus did the ancients think of Him;
and thus do the moderns think of Him both outside of the church and
within it. The simple see Him in thought as the Ancient One in
shining light. But this insight has been extinguished in all those
that by self-intelligence and by a life of evil have rejected influx
from heaven. Those that have extinguished it by self-intelligence
prefer an invisible God; while those that have extinguished it by a
life of evil prefer no God. Neither of these are aware that such an
insight exists, because they do not have it; and yet it is the Divine
heavenly itself that primarily flows into man out of heaven, because
man is born for heaven, and no one without a conception of a Divine
can enter heaven.
83. For this reason he that has no conception of heaven, that is, no
conception of the Divine from which heaven is, cannot be raised up to
the first threshold of heaven. As soon as such a one draws near to
heaven a resistance and a strong repulsion are perceived; and for the
reason that his interiors, which should be receptive of heaven, are
closed up from their not being in the form of heaven, and the nearer
he comes to heaven the more tightly are they closed up. Such is the
lot of those within the church who deny the Lord, and of those who,
like the Socinians, deny His Divinity. But the lot of those who are
born out of the church, and who are ignorant of the Lord because they
do not have the Word, will be described hereafter.
84. That the men of old time had an idea of the Divine as human is
evident from the manifestation of the Divine to Abraham, Lot, Joshua,
Gideon, Manoah and his wife, and others. These saw God as a man, but
nevertheless adored Him as the God of the universe, calling Him the
God of heaven and earth, and Jehovah. That it was the Lord who was
seen by Abraham He Himself teaches in John (8:56); and that it was He
who was seen by the rest is evident from His words:
No one hath seen the Father, nor heard His voice, nor seen His form (John 1:18; 5:37).
85. But that God is man can scarcely be comprehended by those who judge all things from the sense-conceptions of the external man, for the sensual man must needs think of the Divine from the world and what is therein, and thus of a Divine and spiritual man in the same way as of a corporeal and natural man. From this he concludes that if God were a man He would be as large as the universe; and if He ruled heaven and earth it would be done through many others, after the manner of kings in the world. If told that in heaven there is no extension of space as in the world, he would not in the least comprehend it. For he that thinks only from nature and its light must needs think in accord with such extension as appears before his eyes. But it is the greatest mistake to think in this way about heaven. Extension there is not like extension in the world. In the world extension is determinate, and thus measurable; but in heaven it is not determinate, and thus not measurable. But extension in heaven will be further treated of hereafter in connection with space and time in the spiritual world. Furthermore, everyone knows how far the sight of the eye extends, namely, to the sun and to the stars, which are so remote; and whoever thinks deeply knows that the internal sight, which is of thought, has a still wider extension, and that a yet more interior sight must extend more widely still. What then must be said of Divine sight, which is the inmost and highest of all? Because thoughts have such extension, all things of heaven are shared with everyone there, so, too, are all things of the Divine which makes heaven and fills it, as has been shown in the preceding chapters.
86. Those in heaven wonder that men can believe themselves to be
intelligent who, in thinking of God, think about something invisible,
that is, inconceivable under any form; and that they can call those
who think differently unintelligent and simple, when the reverse is
the truth. They add, "Let those who thus believe themselves to be
intelligent examine themselves, whether they do not look upon nature
as God, some the nature that is before their eyes, others the
invisible side of nature; and whether they are not so blind as not to
know what God is, what an angel is, what a spirit is, what their soul
is which is to live after death, what the life of heaven in man is,
and many other things that constitute intelligence; when yet those
whom they call simple know all these things in their way, having an
idea of their God that He is the Divine in a human form, of an angel
that he is a heavenly man, of their soul that is to live after death
that it is like an angel, and of the life of heaven in man that it is
living in accord with the Divine commandments." Such the angels call
intelligent and fitted for heaven; but the others, on the other hand,
they call not intelligent.
Extracts from the Arcana Coelestia relating to the Lord and His Divine
[edit][2] The Divine was in the Lord from very conception (n. 4641, 4963, 5041, 5157, 6716, 10125).
The Lord alone had a Divine seed (n. 1438).
His soul was Jehovah (n. 1999, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025).
Thus the Lord's inmost was the Divine Itself, while the clothing was from the mother (n. 5041).
The Divine Itself was the Being [Esse] of the Lord's life, and from this the Human afterwards went forth and became the outgo [existere] from that Being [Esse] (n. 3194, 3210, 10269, 10738).
[3] Within the church where the Word is and by it the Lord is known, the Lord's Divine ought not to be denied, nor the Holy that goes forth from Him (n. 2359).
Those within the church who do not acknowledge the Lord have no conjunction with the Divine; but it is otherwise with those outside of the church (n. 10205).
The essential of the church is to acknowledge the Lord's Divine and His union with the Father (n. 10083, 10112, 10370, 10730, 10738, 10816-10820).
[4] The glorification of the Lord is treated of in the Word in many passages (n. 10828).
And in the internal sense of the Word everywhere (n. 2249, 2523, 3245).
The Lord glorified His Human, but not the Divine, since this was glorified in itself (n. 10057).
The Lord came into the world to glorify His Human (n. 3637, 4287, 9315).
The Lord glorified His Human by means of the Divine love that was in Him from conception (n. 4727).
The Lord's life in the world was His love towards the whole human race (n. 2253).
The Lord's love transcends all human understanding (n. 2077).
The Lord saved the human race by glorifying His Human (n. 4180, 10019; 10152, 10655, 10659 10828).
Otherwise the whole human race would have perished in eternal death (n. 1676).
The state of the Lord's glorification and humiliation (n. 1785, 1999, 2159, 6866).
Glorification in respect to the Lord is the uniting of His Human with the Divine; and to glorify is to make Divine (n. 1603, 10053, 10828).
When the Lord glorified His Human He put off everything human that was from the mother, until at last He was not her son (n. 2159, 2574, 2649, 3036, 10830).
[5] The Son of God from eternity was the Divine truth in heaven (n. 2628, 2798, 2803, 3195, 3704).
When the Lord was in the world He made His Human Divine truth from the Divine good that was in Him (n. 2803, 3194, 3195, 3210, 6716, 6864, 7014, 7499, 8127, 8724, 9199).
The Lord then arranged all things in Himself into a heavenly form, which is in accord with Divine truth (n. 1928, 3633).
For this reason the Lord was called the Word, which is Divine truth (n. 2533, 2813, 2859, 2894, 3393, 3712).
The Lord alone had perception and thought from Himself, and this was above all angelic perception and thought (n. 1904, 1914, 1919).
The Divine truth which was Himself, the Lord united with Divine good which was in Himself (n. 10047, 10052, 10076). The union was reciprocal (n. 2004, 10067).
[6] In passing out of the world the Lord also made His Human Divine good (n. 3194, 3210, 6864, 7499, 8724, 9199, 10076).
This is what is meant by His coming forth from the Father and returning to the Father (n. 3194, 3210). Thus He became one with the Father (n. 2751, 3704, 4766).
Since that union Divine truth goes forth from the Lord (n. 3704, 3712, 3969, 4577, 5704, 7499, 8127, 8241, 9199, 9398). How Divine truth goes forth, illustrated (n. 7270, 9407).
It was from His own power that the Lord united the Human with the Divine (n. 1616, 1749, 1752, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2523, 3141, 5005, 5045, 6716).
From this it is clear that the Lord's Human was not like the human of any other man, in that it was conceived from the Divine Itself (n. 10125, 10825, 10826).
His union with the Father, from whom was His soul, was not as between two persons, but as between soul and body (n. 3737, 10824).
[7] The most ancient people could not worship the Divine being [esse], but could worship only the Divine Outgo [existere], which is the Divine Human; therefore the Lord came into the world in order to become the Divine Existere from the Divine Esse (n. 4687, 5321).
The ancients acknowledged the Divine because He appeared to them in a human form, and this was the Divine Human (n. 5110, 5663, 6845, 10737).
The Infinite Being [Esse] could flow into heaven with the angels and with men only by means of the Divine Human (n. 1676, 1990, 2016, 2034).
In heaven no other Divine than the Divine Human is perceived (n. 6475, 9303, 10067, 10267).
The Divine Human from eternity was the Divine truth in heaven and the Divine passing through heaven; thus it was the Divine Outgo [existere] which afterwards in the Lord became the Divine Being [Esse] per se, from which is the Divine Existere in heaven (n. 3061, 6280, 6880, 10579).
What the state of heaven was before the Lord's coming (n. 6371-6373).
The Divine was not perceptible except when it passed through heaven (n. 6982, 6996, 7004).
[8] The inhabitants of all the earth worship the Divine under a human form, that is, the Lord (n. 6700, 8541-8547, 10736-10738).
They rejoice when they hear that God actually became Man (n. 9361).
All who are in good and who worship the Divine under the human form, are received by the Lord (n. 9359).
God cannot be thought of except in human form; and what is incomprehensible does not fall into any idea, so neither into belief (n. 9359, 9972).
Man is able to worship that of which he has some idea, but not that of which he has no idea (n. 4733, 5110, 5663, 7211, 9356, 10067, 10267).
Therefore the Divine is worshiped under a human form by most of the inhabitants of the entire globe, and this is the effect of influx from heaven (n. 10159).
All who are in good in regard to their life, when they think of the Lord, think of the Divine Human, and not of the Human separate from the Divine; it is otherwise with those who are not in good in regard to their life (n. 2326, 4724, 4731, 4766, 8878, 9193, 9198).
In the church at this day those that are in evil in regard to their life, and those that are in faith separate from charity, think of the Human of the Lord apart from the Divine, and do not even comprehend what the Divine Human is,-why they do not (n. 3212, 3241, 4689, 4692, 4724, 4731, 5321, 6872, 8878, 9193, 9198).
The Lord's Human is Divine because it is from the Being [Esse] of the Father, and this was His soul,--illustrated by a father's likeness in children (n. 10269, 10372, 10823).
Also because it was from the Divine love, which was the very Being [Esse] of His life from conception (n. 6872). Every man is such as his love is, and is his love (n. 6872, 10177, 10284). The Lord made all His Human, both internal and external, Divine (n. 1603, 1815, 1902, 1926, 2083, 2093).
Therefore, differently from any man, He rose again as to His whole body (n. 1729, 2083, 5078, 10825). [9] That the Lord's Human is Divine is acknowledged from His omnipresence in the Holy Supper (n. 2343, 2359).
Also from His transfiguration before His three disciples (n. 3212).
Also from the Word of the Old Testament, in that He is called God (n. 10154); and is called Jehovah (n. 1603, 1736, 1815, 1902, 2921, 3035, 5110, 6281, 6303, 8864, 9194, 9315).
In the sense of the letter a distinction is made between the Father and the Son, that is, between Jehovah and the Lord, but not in the internal sense of the Word, in which the angels of heaven are (n. 3035).
In the Christian world the Lord's Human has been declared not to be Divine; this was done in a council for the pope's sake, that he might be acknowledged as the Lord's vicar (n. 4738).
[10] Christians were examined in the other life in regard to their idea of one God, and it was found they held an idea of three gods (n. 2329, 5256, 10736-10738, 10821).
A Divine trinity or trine in one person, constituting one God, is conceivable, but not in three persons (n. 10738, 10821, 10824).
A Divine trine in the Lord is acknowledged in heaven (n. 14, 15, 1729, 2004, 5256, 9303).
The trine in the Lord is the Divine Itself, called the Father, the Divine Human, called the Son, and the Divine going forth, called the Holy Spirit and this Divine trine is a One (n. 2149, 2156, 2288, 2319, 2329, 2447, 3704, 6993, 7182, 10738, 10822, 10823).
The Lord Himself teaches that the Father and He are One (n. 1729, 2004, 2005, 2018, 2025, 2751, 3704, 3736, 4766); also that the Holy Divine goes forth from Him and is His (n. 3969, 4673, 6788, 6993, 7499, 8127, 8302, 9199, 9228, 9229, 9264, 9407, 9818, 9820, 10330).
[11] The Divine Human flows into heaven and makes heaven (n. 3038). The Lord is the all in heaven and is the life of heaven (n. 7211, 9128). In the angels the Lord dwells in what is His own (n. 9338, 10125, 10151, 10157).
Consequently those who are in heaven are in the Lord (n. 3637, 3638).
The Lord's conjunction with angels is measured by their reception of the good of love and charity from Him (n. 904, 4198, 4205, 4211, 4220, 6280, 6832, 7042, 8819, 9680, 9682, 9683, 10106, 10810).
The entire heaven has reference to the Lord (n. 551, 552). The Lord is the common center of heaven (n. 3633, 3641).
All in heaven turn themselves to the Lord, who is above the heavens (n. 9828, 10130, 10189).
Nevertheless angels do not turn themselves to the Lord, but the Lord turns them to Himself (n. 10189).
It is not a presence of angels with the Lord, but the Lord's presence with angels (n. 9415).
In heaven there is no conjunction with the Divine Itself, but conjunction with the Divine Human (n. 4211, 4724, 5663).
[12] Heaven corresponds to the Divine Human of the Lord; consequently heaven in general is as a single man, and for this reason heaven is called the Greatest Man (n. 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3745, 4625).
The Lord is the Only Man, and those only are men who receive the Divine from Him (n. 1894).
So far as they receive are they men and images of Him (n. 8547).
Therefore angels are forms of love and charity in human form, and this from the Lord (n. 3804, 4735, 4797, 4985, 5199, 5530, 9879, 10177).
[13] The whole heaven is the Lord's (n. 2751, 7086).
He has all power in the heavens and on earth (n. 1607, 10089, 10827).
As the Lord rules the whole heaven He also rules all things depending thereon, thus all things in the world (n. 2025, 2026, 4523, 4524).
The Lord alone has the power to remove the hells, to withhold from evils, and to hold in good, thus to save (n. 10019).