18 HEAVEN and HELL §28
a. All the elements of the divine design are gathered into the human, and by creation the human
is, structurally, the divine design: 4219 , 4220 [ 4222 ], 4223 , 4523 , 4524 , 5114 , 5368 [ 4839 ], 6013 ,
6057 , 6605 , 6626 , 9706 , 10156 , 10472. Within the human individual, the inner person is struc-
tured in the likeness of heaven and the outer in the likeness of earth, which is why the ancients
called the human a microcosm: 4523 , 5368 [ 3628 , 5115 ], 6013 , 6057 , 9279 , 9706 , 10156 , 10472. So
by creation, the human being is a miniature heaven as to inward things, a mirror of the macro-
cosm, and so too is the person who has been created anew or regenerated by the Lord: 911 , 1900 ,
1982 [ 1928 ], 3624 – 3631 , 3634 , 3884 , 4041 , 4279 , 4523 , 4524 , 4625 , 6013 , 6057 , 9279 , 9632.28 Since there will be a good deal of material on the angels of each king-
dom in the pages that follow, I forego details at this point.There Are Three Heavens
29
T
HERE are three heavens, very clearly distinguished from each other.
There is a central or third heaven, an intermediate or second one,
and an outmost or fi rst. These follow in sequence and are interdepen-
dent, like the highest part of the human body, the head; the middle, or
torso; and the lowest, or feet; or like the highest, middle, and lowest
parts of a house. The divine life that emanates and comes down from the
Lord is in this kind of pattern as well. It is this necessity of design that
determines the tripartite arrangement of heaven.30 The deeper levels of the human mind and disposition are in a similar
pattern as well. We have a central, intermediate, and outmost nature.
This is because when humanity was created the whole divine design was
gathered into it, to the point that as to structure, the human being is the
divine design and is therefore a heaven in miniature.a For the same rea-
son we are in touch with heaven as to our inner natures and come into
the company of angels after death—of angels of the central or the inter-
mediate or the outmost heaven depending on our acceptance of divine
good and truth from the Lord during our earthly lives.31 The divine nature that fl ows from the Lord and is accepted in the third^
or central heaven is called heavenly, and the angels there are consequently