§307 union through the word 165
this was the source of the Lord’s union with the human race at that time.
After those times, though, there was not the same kind of direct revela-
tion, but an indirect revelation through correspondences. All their divine
worship consisted of these; so the churches of those times were called
symbolic churches. They knew what correspondences and representa-
tions were and that everything on earth answered to spiritual things in
heaven and the church (or represented them, which amounts to the same
thing). In this way, the natural elements that constituted their outward
worship served them as means for thinking spiritually and therefore
thinking with angels.
Once all knowledge of correspondences and representations had
been lost, then a Word was written in which all the words and the mean-
ings of the words are correspondences and therefore contain that spiri-
tual or inner meaning in which angels are engaged. So when we read the
Word and grasp it in its literal or outward meaning, angels grasp it in its
inner or spiritual meaning. In fact, all the thought of angels is spiritual,
while ours is natural. These two kinds of thought do seem different, but
they are one because they correspond.
This is why, after we had moved away from heaven and broken the
connection, the Lord provided that there should be a means of union of
heaven with us through the Word.
I should like to use a few passages to show how heaven is united with 307
us through the Word. The New Jerusalem is described in the Book of
Revelation as follows:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and the former heaven and former
earth had passed away. And I saw the holy city Jerusalem coming down
from God out of heaven. The city was foursquare, its length equal to
its breadth. And the angel measured the city with the reed at twelve
thousand stadia; the length, breadth, and height were equal; and he
measured its wall, 144 cubits, the measure of a human being, which was
that of the angel. The construction of the wall was jasper, but the city
itself was pure gold and like pure glass; and the foundation of the wall
was decorated with every precious stone. The twelve gates were twelve
pearls, and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.
(Revelation 21 : 1 , 2 , 16 , 17 , 18 )People who read this understand it simply according to its literal mean-
ing, namely, that this visible sky and earth are going to perish and that a
new heaven is going to be established, that on a new earth the holy city