The same thing is meant by these words: “I am the First and the Last, the
Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega” (Isaiah 44 : 6 and Rev-
elation 1 : 8 , 11 ; 22 : 13 ). This means that on every level of existence he is the
one and only entity, the source of all things. [ 2 ] God is called the Alpha
and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, because alpha is the first let-
ter in the Greek alphabet and omega is the last; so together they mean all
things as a whole.
In the spiritual world, every alphabetical letter has a meaning. A
vowel, because it carries tone, means a feeling or some kind of love. Spir-
itual and angelic speech, and also writing, depends on these meanings—
but this is a mystery that has not been known until now. There is in fact
a universal language shared by all angels and spirits. It has nothing in
common with any human language in our world. After death everyone
inherits that language, because it is latent in everyone from creation. In
the spiritual world, then, everyone can understand everyone else. I have
often been allowed to hear that language. I have compared it with lan-
guages in the physical world and have ascertained that it has not even the
least thing in common with any earthly language. It differs by its very
origin, which is that every letter of every word has a meaning. This is
why God is here called the Alpha and the Omega, meaning that on every
level of existence he is the one and only entity, the source of all things.
(For more on how this language and its written form flow from angels’
spiritual thought, see the work Marriage Love 326 – 329 ; see also what fol-
lows in this work [§ 280 ].)20 2. The one God is substance itself and form itself. Angels and people are
substances and forms from him. To the extent that they are in him and he is
in them, to that extent they are images and likenesses of him.Because God
is the underlying reality, he is also substance. Unless the underlying real-
ity becomes substance it is a figment of the imagination; but as a sub-
stance it becomes an entity. And one who is substance is also form, for
substance without form is another figment of the imagination. We can
attribute both of these to God, provided he is seen as the sole, the only,
and the archetypal substance and form.
The work Divine Love and Wisdom,published in Amsterdam in 1763 ,
demonstrates that God’s form is the human form itself, that is, that God
is the Human Being, and all God’s attributes are infinite. That work also
shows that angels and people are substances and forms that have been cre-
ated and arranged to receive divine qualities flowing into them through
heaven. In the Book of Creation they are called images and likenesses of