Spiritual Meaning of Heaven

Spiritual Meaning of

Heaven

That in the internal sense heaven denotes the angelic heaven, is from correspondence, and also from the appearance. Hence it is that when mention is made in the Word of the heavens, and also of the heavens of heavens, in the internal sense are meant the angelic heavens. For the ancients had no other idea of the visible heaven than that the heavenly inhabitants dwell there, and that the stars are their habitations. Similar also at this day is the idea of the simple, and especially of little children. From this also men look upward to heaven when praying earnestly to God. This also is from correspondence; for in the other life a heaven with stars appears, yet not the heaven that appears to men in the world; but a heaven that appears in accordance with the state of intelligence and wisdom of the spirits and angels. The stars there are knowledges of good and truth; and the clouds which are sometimes seen beneath the heaven are of various signification according to their colors, their translucence, and their movements; the blueness of heaven is truth transparent from good. From all this it can be seen that by the heavens are signified the angelic heavens; but by the angelic heavens are signified truths Divine, because the angels are receptions of the truth Divine that proceeds from the Lord.

[3] Similar things are signified by the heavens in the following passages:--

Praise Jehovah ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that are above the heavens (Ps. 148:4).

Sing psalms to the Lord that rideth upon the heaven of heaven which is of old (Ps. 68:32, 33).

By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the army of them (Ps. 33:6).

The heavens are telling the glory of God; and the firmament declareth the works of His hands (Ps. 19:1).

Jehovah, when Thou wentest forth out of Seir, the earth trembled; the heavens also dripped, the clouds also dripped water (Judges 5:4).

The horn of the he-goat grew, even to the army of the heavens; and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the earth, and trampled upon them (Dan. 8:10).

The Lord Jehovih buildeth in the heavens His steps (Amos 9:6).

If there be food in My house I will open the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing (Mal. 3:10).

Look forth from the heavens, and behold from the habitation of Thy holiness and of Thy comeliness (Isa. 63:15).

Blessed of Jehovah be the land of Joseph, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew (Deut. 33:13).

Jesus said, Swear not by the heaven; for it is the throne of God. He that sweareth by the heaven sweareth by the throne of God, and by Him that sitteth thereon (Matt. 5:34; 23:22).

[4] In these passages, and in many others, by the heavens are signified the angelic heavens; and as the Lord's heaven on earth is the church, by heaven is also signified the church; as in the following passages:--

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth were passed away (Rev. 21:1).

Behold I create new heavens and a new earth; therefore the former things shall not be remembered, nor come up upon the heart (Isa. 65:17).

The heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment (Isa. 51:6).

I clothe the heaven with blackness, and I make sackcloth a covering (Isa. 50:3).

I will cover the heavens, and I will blacken the stars thereof; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine; and I will blacken all the luminaries of light in the heaven, and will set darkness upon the land (Ezek. 32:7, 8).

After the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (Matt. 24:29).

What is here signified by the sun, moon, stars, and the powers of the heavens, see (AR 4056-4060). In Isaiah:--

O Jehovah the God of Israel, Thou alone art the God over all the kingdoms of the earth; Thou hast made heaven and earth (Isa. 37:16).

I am Jehovah, that maketh all things; that spreadeth out the heavens alone; that stretcheth out the earth by Myself (Isa. 44:24).

Jehovah that createth the heavens, that formeth the earth and maketh it, and prepareth it, He created it not an emptiness (Isa. 45:18).

[5] That by heaven and earth in these and in other passages is signified in the internal sense the church; by heaven the external church, and by earth the external church, may be seen above (AR 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535), from which it is evident that by the creation in the first chapters of Genesis, where it is said, In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth (Gen. 1:1); and the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the army of them (Gen. 2:1), is meant a new church; for the creation there denotes a new regeneration, which is also called a new creation, as can be seen from what was shown in the explications at these chapters.

AC 9408

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Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.