Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8931

Previous Number Next Number Next Translation See Latin 

8931. 'You have seen that I have spoken to you from heaven' means all things in the Word coming through influx from God by way of heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'speaking from heaven', when done by Jehovah addressing members of the Church, who are represented by 'the children of Israel', 8930, as God's truth, or the Word coming from God by way of heaven. For what is spoken by Jehovah is God's truth, thus the Word existing within the Church; and what He speaks comes by way of heaven.

[2] It should be recognized that heaven does not exist in some fixed and exact location; that is, it is not up on high, as it is commonly thought to be. Rather heaven exists wherever the Divine is present. This being so, it exists with and within everyone possessing charity and faith, since charity and faith are what constitute heaven, because they are what come from the Divine. There also angels live. The truth that heaven is where the Divine, that is, the Lord, is present is evident from the fact that Mount Sinai, from which the Lord spoke, is called 'heaven' here. This also is the reason why 'Mount Sinai' means heaven, from which Divine Truth Rows, 8805.

[3] The reason why all things in the Word are meant is that Jehovah or the Lord now begins to reveal the Word that is to serve the human race in what they teach and the way they live, first through Moses and later on through the Prophets. In order therefore that people might know that the Word came from the Divine by way of heaven, the Lord Himself was willing to come down and declare the Ten Commandments vocally, and in doing this to show that everything else which comes after them in the law, that is, in the Word, came in the same way through influx from the Divine by way of heaven.


This page is part of the Writings of Emanuel Swedenborg

© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church