§255 how angels talk with us 131
common center (§ 124 ), or toward ourselves and therefore away from the
Lord. The ones that are turned toward the Lord are also turned toward
heaven, while the ones that are turned toward ourselves are also turned
toward this world; and the ones that are turned in this latter direction are
hard to raise up. Still, they are raised up by the Lord to the extent that
they can be, through a turning of our love; and this is accomplished by
means of truths from the Word.
I have been told how the Lord spoke to the prophets through whom 254
the Word was written. He did not talk with them the way he did with
the early people, by an infl ow into their deeper natures, but through spir-
its sent to them whom the Lord fi lled with his appearance. In this way,
he inspired them with the words that they in turn told to the prophets,
so that it was not a case of infl ow but of direct command. Since at that
time the words were coming directly from the Lord, the very details are
fi lled with the Divine and contain within themselves an inner meaning
of such nature that heaven’s angels take them in a heavenly and spiritual
meaning while we are taking them in a natural meaning. In this way, the
Lord unites heaven and earth through the Word.
I have also been shown how the Lord fi lls spirits with his divine
nature by means of his appearance. Spirits fi lled with the Divine by the
Lord have no sense whatever that they are not actually the Lord or that it
is not the Lord who is speaking, which lasts as long as they are talking.
Afterward they realize and admit that they are spirits and that they were
not talking on their own, but from the Lord.
Because this was the state of the spirits who talked with the prophets,
they themselves said that Jehovah was talking. The spirits actually called
themselves “Jehovah,” as can be seen not only in the prophetic books but
also in the historical books of the Word.
To illustrate what the union of angels and spirits with us is like, I 255
may cite a few memorable instances that will serve to illuminate the sub-
ject and enable some conclusions to be drawn. When angels and spirits
turn toward us, it seems to them exactly as though our language were
their own and that they have no other. This is because they are involved
in our language at such times, and do not even remember their own. The
moment they turn away from us, though, they are back in their own
angelic and spiritual language and have no knowledge whatever of ours.
The same thing has happened with me when I have been in the company
of angels and in a state like theirs. Then I have talked with them in their
language and knew nothing of my own. I could not even remember it.