In the sanctuaries where their copies of the Word are kept, the light is
fiery or shining white. There is more light in such places than anywhere
else in heaven.
The wisdom of heavenly angels goes almost as far beyond the wisdom
of spiritual angels as the wisdom of spiritual angels goes beyond our
human wisdom. The reason for this is that heavenly angels have a love
from the Lord for what is good, while spiritual angels have wisdom from
the Lord about what is true. Where love for what is good exists, there
dwells wisdom also. Where truths exist, there dwells only as much wisdom
as there is love for what is good. This is why the Word is written one way
in the Lord’s heavenly kingdom and another in his spiritual kingdom. The
heavenly kingdom’s form of the Word expresses loving forms of goodness
in letters and conveys the specific types of love with diacritical marks. The
spiritual kingdom’s form of the Word expresses truths of wisdom in letters
and conveys inner perceptions of truth with diacritical marks.
From all this you can imagine what kind of wisdom lies hidden in
the Word that we have in this world. Inside it there lies all angelic wis-
dom, which is inexpressible. If we are made angels by the Lord through
the Word, we will come into that wisdom after death.8
The Church Is Based on the Word;
the Nature of the Church in Individuals Depends
on Their Understanding of the Word243 The church is unquestionably based on the Word—I have shown above
that the Word is divine truth (§§ 189 – 192 ); that the church’s body of
teaching is based on the Word (§§ 225 – 233 ); and that we are connected to
the Lord through the Word (§§ 234 – 239 ). The idea that the understand-
ing of the Word shapes the church is something that could be called into
question, however, since there are people who believe they are part of the
church because they have the Word, because they read it or hear it from a
preacher, and because they know something of its literal meaning,
although they do not know how to understand this or that saying in the
Word and some of them do not care. Therefore I will present support for