and the oil they had purchased to the door where the wedding was taking
place, the bridegroom told them, “I do not know you.” The reason is that
after our life in the world, the way we have lived in the world remains.
This makes it clear that the Lord spoke entirely in correspondences
because he spoke from the divine nature that was in him and was his.
Young women mean people who are in the church. This is why the
prophetic Word says the virginor daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, of Judah,
of Israelso many times. Oil means love for what is good. This is why all
the church’s sacred objects were anointed with oil.
This correspondent nature applies to all the other parables and all the
other words that the Lord spoke. This is why the Lord says that his words
are spirit and are life (John 6 : 63 ).200 3. It is the spiritual meaning that makes the Word divinely inspired and
holy in every word.People in the church say that the Word is holy because
the Lord Jehovah spoke it. In the literal meaning by itself, however, the
Word’s holiness is not apparent. Therefore once people come to doubt its
holiness, afterward when they read the Word they find many things in it
that convince them to doubt further. They say to themselves, “Is this
holy? Is this divine?” Thoughts like this, flowing into many people and
growing stronger, create the risk that the Word may be rejected as a
worthless document and that the Lord’s connection to these people may
come to an end. The Lord has chosen to reveal the Word’s spiritual
meaning now so as to prevent this, and so that people will know where in
the Word the divine holiness lies.
Examples will illustrate: In one verse the Word will mention Egypt;
in another, Assyria; in others, Edom, Moab, the children of Ammon,
the Philistines, Tyre and Sidon, and Gog. If people do not realize that
the names of these places and people mean aspects of heaven and the
church, they could be misled to think that the Word has much to say
about peoples and nations and only a little to say about heaven and the
church; that it has much to say on worldly topics and little to say on
heavenly topics. When people know what those places and their names
mean, however, they can be brought back from their error to the truth.
[ 2 ] Likewise people see that the Word frequently mentions gardens,
groves, and forests, as well as trees such as olives, grapevines, cedars,
poplars, and oaks. It often mentions lambs, sheep, goats, calves, and
oxen; and also mountains, hills, and valleys; and springs, rivers, bodies of
water, and other such things. Those who know nothing about the Word’s