166 HEAVEN and HELL §307
Jerusalem is going to descend, and that all its measurements will be as
described. But the angels who are with us understand it very differently,
understanding spiritually what we take in a natural sense. [ 2 ] For them,
the new heaven and the new earth mean a new church; the city Jerusalem
descending from God out of heaven means its heavenly doctrine revealed
by the Lord; its length, breadth, and height, which are equal at twelve
thousand stadia, mean all the good and true elements of that doctrine
grasped as a single whole; the wall means the truths that protect it; the
measure of the wall being 144 cubits, which was the measure of a human
being, that is, of the angel, means all those protective truths grasped as a
single whole, and their quality; the twelve gates made of pearls mean
introductory truths (pearls mean that kind of truth); the foundations of
the wall that were of precious stones mean the acknowledgments on
which that doctrine is based; and the gold like pure glass of which the
city and its streets were made means the good of love that makes doctrine
and its truths transparent. This is how angels understand all these things,
so it is not the way we do. This is how our natural concepts are trans-
formed into spiritual concepts among angels without their knowing any-
thing about the literal meaning of the Word—about the new heaven and
the new earth, for example, or the new city Jerusalem, its wall, the foun-
dations of the wall, and its measurements. Still, the angels’ thoughts form
a unity with ours because they correspond. They form a single whole
almost like the words of a speaker and the understanding of those words
by a listener who is focused not on the words themselves but on under-
standing them. This may enable us to see how heaven is united to us
through the Word.
[ 3 ] For another example from the Word,
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria
will come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will
serve the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be a third for Egypt and
Assyria, a blessing in the middle of the land, whom Jehovah of hosts
will bless, saying, “Blessed is my people Egypt, and the work of my
hands Assyria, and my inheritance Israel.” (Isaiah 19 : 23 , 24 , 25 )We can see how people on earth think and how angels think when they
read this if we look at the literal meaning of the Word and at its inner
meaning. We think, on the basis of its literal meaning, that Egypt and
Assyria are going to be converted to God and received, and that they will
become united to the Israelite nation. The angels, though, think on the