§82 the lord’s divine human 43
We can see, then, that the wiser angels are, the more clearly they
perceive this, which is why the Lord is visible to them. The Lord does
appear in a divine angelic form, which is a human form, to people who
acknowledge and trust in a visible Divine Being, but not to people
who acknowledge and trust in an invisible Divine Being. The former
can see the Lord’s divine [form], but the latter cannot.
Since angels do not perceive an invisible Divine Being (which they 80
call a formless Divine) but a visible Divine Being in human form, it is
common practice for them to say that only the Lord is a person, and that
they are people because of him. They also say that each of us is human in
proportion to our acceptance of him. By “accepting the Lord” they
understand accepting what is good and true that comes from him,
because the Lord is present in everything good and true that comes from
himself. Angels call this wisdom and intelligence. They say everyone
knows that intelligence and wisdom are what make us human, not sim-
ply the outward form by itself.
The truth of this is actually visible to angels of the inner heavens. Since
the Lord keeps them engaged in what is good and true and therefore in
wisdom and intelligence, they are in the loveliest and most perfect human
form; while the angels of lower heavens are in a less perfect and lovely form.
Everything is inverted in hell. In heaven’s light, the people who are
there hardly look human at all. They look like monsters. They are caught
up in what is evil and false and not in what is good and true, and are
therefore in the opposite of wisdom and intelligence. As a result, their
life is not called life, but spiritual death.
Since heaven in its entirety and in its parts does refl ect a person 81
because of the Lord’s divine human, angels say that they are “in the
Lord” and even that they are “in his body,” meaning that they are in the
very substance of his love. This is also what the Lord is teaching us when
he says, “Abide in me, and I [will abide] in you. As the branch cannot
bear fruit on its own unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you unless
you abide in me; for without me you can do nothing. Abide in my love.
If you keep my precepts, you will abide in my love” (John 15 : 4 – 10 ).
Since this is how the Divine Being is perceived in the heavens, it is 82
instinctive in everyone who accepts any infl ow from heaven to think of
the Lord in a human guise. The ancients did so and even modern people
do, both outside and inside the church. Simple people see him in thought
as an ancient one, in glory.
But this instinct has been stifl ed by all the people who have distanced
themselves from the heavenly infl ow by pride in their own intelligence