This is also the reason why Christians who read the Word make up
the chest of that [giant] human being. They are in fact central among all
people. Surrounding them are Catholics. Surrounding the Catholics are
Muslims who acknowledge the Lord as the greatest prophet or the Son of
God. Farther out than these are Africans. People and nations in the Mid-
dle East and the Indies make up the farthest circumference.
One can determine that the whole of heaven is like this from a simi- 269
lar situation that exists in every individual community in heaven. Every
community is a heaven in a smaller form, but a form that is nonetheless
human. (On this situation, see §§ 41 – 86 in the work Heaven and Hell.) In
every community in heaven, angels who are at the center of the commu-
nity similarly play the role of the heart and the lungs. They have the
most light. That light and a resulting awareness of truth spread out
toward the edges in every direction—to all who are in the community—
and give them spiritual life. It was once demonstrated that when the
angels at the center, who constitute the realm of the heart and the lungs
and who have the most light, were taken away, the angels around them
came into an intellectual shadow and into so little awareness of truth that
they started lamenting. As soon as the central angels returned, however,
the others saw the light again and had the awareness of truth they had
had before.
You could draw a comparison with heat and light from the sun in
our world. They give trees and shrubs the power to grow even if the sun
is low or behind a cloud, provided it is above the horizon. It is the same
for the light and heat of heaven that come from the Lord as the sun
there. That light is essentially the divine truth, the source of all the intel-
ligence and wisdom that angels and people have. This is why we read
that the Word was with God and was God, that it enlightens everyone
who comes into the world, and that this light shines even in the dark-
ness (John 1 : 1 , 5 , 9 ). “The Word” here means the Lord in his role as
divine truth.
You can see then that the Word that exists among Protestants and the 270
Reformed enlightens all nations and peoples through a spiritual commu-
nication. You can also see that the Lord ensures that there is always a
church on earth where the Word is being read and the Lord is becoming
known through it. When the Word was virtually rejected by Catholics,
in the Lord’s divine providence the Reformation took place. As a result,
the Word was taken from its hiding places, so to speak, and put to use.
In fact, when the Word among the Jewish nation had been thoroughly
falsified and contaminated, and more or less ceased to be the Word, then
§270 sacred scripture 335