40. There were some spirits who had been told from heaven that the spirits of the world of Mercury had once been promised that they would see the Lord. So they were asked by the spirits around me whether they remembered that promise; they said that they did, but they did not know if the promise had been made in such terms that there was no doubt attached to it. While they were discussing this among themselves, the sun of heaven appeared to them. (The only ones who see the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, are those in the innermost or third heaven; the rest only see the light from it.) On seeing the sun they said that this was not the Lord God, because they had not seen His face. Meanwhile the spirits went on talking among themselves, but I did not hear what they said. Then the sun suddenly appeared again, with the Lord in its midst surrounded by a solar halo. On seeing this the spirits of Mercury made a profound obeisance and sank down. Then the Lord also appeared out of that sun to the spirits of this world also who, when people on earth, had seen Him in the world. Each of these, one after the other in a long series, asserted that it was the Lord Himself; this they did in the presence of all assembled. Then the Lord also appeared out of the sun to the spirits of the planet Jupiter; they asserted in plain terms, that it was He whom they had seen in their own world, when the God of the universe appeared to them.# # The Lord is the sun of heaven, the source of all light there (AC 1053, 3636, 4060). The Lord appears thus to those who are in His celestial kingdom, where love to Him is dominant (AC 1521, 1529-31, 1837, 4696). He is to be seen at middle height above the level of the right eye (AC 4321, 7078). The sun in the Word therefore means the Lord as regards the Divine love (AC 2495, 4060, 7083). The sun of the world is not visible to spirits and angels, but its place is taken by a dark mass behind the back, opposite the sun of heaven, that is, opposite the Lord (AC 9755).