164 HEAVEN and HELL §304
a. Nothing arises from itself, but only from something prior to itself; so all things come from a
fi rst, and endure by connection with what they originated from, so that existing is a constant
becoming: 2886 , 2888 , 3627 , 3628 , 3648 , 4523 , 4524 , 6040 , 6056. The divine pattern does not stop
in the middle but keeps on to its limit, and its limit is in us; so the divine pattern ends in us: 634 ,
2853 , 3632 , 5897 , 6239 , 6451 , 6465 , 9216 , 9217 [ 9215 ], 9824 , 9828 , 9836 , 9905 , 10044 , 10329 , 10335 ,
10548. The inner elements fl ow sequentially into the outer all the way to the end or limit, and
there they take form and endure: 634 , 6239 , 6465 , 9216 , 9217 [ 9215 ]. The inner elements take form
and endure in the outer in a simultaneous arrangement, which is described: 5897 , 6451 , 8603 ,
10099. So all the inner elements are kept connected together from the First to the ultimate: 9828.
For this reason, “the First and the Last” means everything in detail, the whole: 10044 , 10329 ,
10335 ; and for this reason, strength and power are in ultimate things: 9836.
b. The Word in its literal sense is natural: 8783 ; because the natural level is the ultimate level in
which spiritual and heavenly things (which are more inward) come to rest, and on which they
rest like a house on its foundation: 9430 , 9433 , 9824 , 10044 , 10436. In order to be of this nature,
the Word was written in pure correspondences: 1404 , 1408 , 1409 , 1540 , 1615 [ 1619 ], 1659 , 1709 ,
1783 , 8615 , 10687. Since the Word is like this in its literal meaning, it is a vessel for spiritual and
heavenly meaning: 9407 ; and it is adapted to us and to angels at the same time: 1769 – 1772 , 1887 ,
2143 , 2157 , 2275 , 2333 , 2396 [ 2395 ], 2540 , 2541 , 2545 , 2553 , 7381 , 8862 , 10322. It is what unites
heaven and earth: 2310 , 2495 , 9212 , 9216 , 9357 , 9396 , 10375. The Lord’s union with us through the
Word by means of its inner meaning: 10375. This union takes place by means of every detail in
the Word, so it is more marvelous than any other writing: 10632 , 10633 , 10634. Now that the
Word has been written, the Lord speaks to us through it: 10290. Relative to people outside the
church, who do not have the Word and know the Lord, the church where the Word is and where
the Lord is known is like the human heart and lungs relative to the other parts of the body, which
derive their life from the heart and lungs as from a wellspring: 637 , 931 , 2054 , 2853. The whole
church throughout the world is like a single person in the Lord’s sight: 7395 [ 7396 ], 9276. This is
why the human race would perish if there were not a church in our world where the Word was
found and the Lord was known: 468 , 637 , 931 , 4545 , 10452.chain with a link removed, and heaven without the human race would be
like a house without a foundation.a305 However, since we have broken this connection by turning our
inward natures away from heaven and toward the world and ourselves
through our self-love and love of the world and have so pulled away that
we no longer serve heaven as its basis and foundation, the Lord has pro-
vided a medium to serve in place of that basis and foundation and to
maintain the union of heaven with humanity. That medium is the Word.
Just how the Word serves as that medium, though, has been shown
at length in Secrets of Heaven, and all of the pertinent material has been
collected in the booklet The White Horse Described in the Book of Revela-
tion and also in the appendix to The [New Jerusalem and Its] Heavenly
Teachings. Some of these references are cited in the footnote below.b306 I have been told from heaven that the earliest people had direct reve-
lation because their inner natures were turned toward heaven, and that