also still extant today among the nations in Great Tartary, as you can see
from the third memorable occurrence after this treatment on the Sacred
Scripture [§ 279 ].13
Because of the Word,
Even People Who Are outside the Church
and Who Do Not Have the Word
Have Light267 No connection to heaven is possible unless somewhere on earth there is
a church where the Word exists and where the Lord is known through
that Word. This is because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth—
without the Lord there is no salvation. (For the Word providing a con-
nection to the Lord and association with angels, see §§ 234 – 239 above.) It
is enough if there is one church where the Word exists. Even if this
church consists of comparatively few people, still the Lord is present
throughout the world by means of the Word, since heaven is connected
to the human race through the Word.
268 Now to say how the Word allows people throughout all parts of the
world to experience the presence of, and a connection to, the Lord and
heaven. To the Lord the entire angelic heaven is like one person. The same
is true for the church across the earth. (For heaven and the church actually
appearing as a human, see Heaven and Hell 59 – 86 ). The church where the
Word is read and where the Lord is therefore known is like the heart and
the lungs in that human being. The Lord’s heavenly kingdom is like the
heart, and his spiritual kingdom is like the lungs. Just as all the other
limbs, internal organs, and parts of the human body have life and contin-
ued existence because of these two fountains of life, so too all the people
around the world who have a religion, worship one God, and live good
lives have life and continued existence because the church is connected to
the Lord and heaven through the Word. Non-Christians are in that
human being and play the part of its limbs and internal organs outside the
thorax that holds the heart and lungs. Non-Christians have life from the
Lord through heaven because of the Word in the Christian church, just as
the limbs and organs throughout the body have life because of the heart
and lungs. There is also a similar exchange between them.