the church, or any knowledge of the Lord, which is why it is called a day
of darkness and blackness.
The Lord spoke in correspondences when he was in the world. While 199
he was talking in an earthly way, he was also talking in a spiritual way.
This is clear from his parables. Every word of them has a spiritual mean-
ing inside.
Take, for example, the parable of the ten young women. He said,
The kingdom of the heavens is like ten young women who took their
lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were prudent
and five were foolish. When the foolish women took their lamps, they
did not take any oil. The prudent women took oil in their lamps. When
the bridegroom was delayed, they all became drowsy and fell asleep. In
the middle of the night there was a shout: “Behold, the bridegroom is
coming! Go out to meet him.” At that, all the women woke up and
trimmed their lamps. The foolish women said to the prudent ones,
“Give us some of your oil, because our lamps are going out.” The pru-
dent women replied, “There might not be enough for us all. Go instead
to the sellers and buy yourselves some.” But as they were going away to
buy some, the bridegroom arrived and the women who were prepared
walked in with him to the wedding and the door was closed. Later the
other women came along and said, “Lord, Lord, open up for us.” But
he answered and said, “I tell you truly, I do not know you.” (Matthew
25 : 1 – 12 )
The only people who see that in each of these details there is a spiri-
tual meaning and therefore something holy and divine are those who
have a general awareness of the existence and nature of spiritual meaning.
In the spiritual meaning, the kingdom of the heavens means heaven
and the church. The bridegroom means the Lord. The wedding means
the Lord’s marriage to heaven and the church through the good that love
does and the truth that faith perceives. The young women mean people
who are in the church. Ten means all. Five means a part. Lamps mean
beliefs. Oil means loving what is good. Sleeping and awakening mean
our life in the world, which is an earthly life, and our life after death,
which is a spiritual life. Buying means acquiring for ourselves. Going to
the sellers and buying oil means trying after we have died to acquire from
others a love for what is good. Since we can no longer acquire a love for
what is good after we die, therefore although they brought their lamps
§199 sacred scripture 279