The WORD in the Sense of the Letter

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The Word is Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angels and enlightens men. As Divine truth proceeds from the Lord, and as what proceeds is Himself out of Himself, the same as light and heat proceed from the sun and are the sun, that is, are of the sun out of it, and as the Word is the Divine truth, it is also the Lord, as it is called in John 1:1-3, 14:—

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

Inasmuch as the Divine truth, which is the Word, in its descent into the world from the Lord, has passed through the three heavens, it has become accommodated to each heaven, and lastly to men also in the world. This is why there are in the Word four senses, one outside of the other from the highest heaven down to the world, or one within the other from the world up to the highest heaven. These four senses are called:—

• the celestial
• the spiritual
• the natural from the celestial and the spiritual
• the merely natural

This last is for the world, the next for the lowest heaven, the spiritual for the second heaven, and the celestial for the third. These four senses differ so greatly from one another that when one is exhibited beside the other no connection can be recognized; and yet they make one when one follows the other; for one follows from the other as an effect from a cause, or as what is posterior from what is prior; consequently as an effect represents its cause and corresponds to its cause, so the posterior sense corresponds to the prior; and thus it is that all four senses make one through correspondences.

From all this, these truths follow:—

The ultimate sense of the Word, which is the sense of its letter, and the fourth in order, contains in itself the three interior senses, which are for the three heavens when a man on the earth is reverently reading the Word. Therefore the sense of the letter of the Word is that from which and through which there is communication with the heavens, also from which and through which man has conjunction with the heavens. The sense of the letter of the Word is the basis of Divine truth in the heavens, and without such a basis the Divine truth would be like a house without a foundation; and without such a basis the wisdom of the angels would be like a house in the air.

• It is the sense of the letter of the Word in which the power of Divine truth consists.
• It is the sense of the letter of the Word through which man is enlightened by the Lord and through which he receives answers when he wishes to be enlightened.
• It is the sense of the letter of the Word by which everything of doctrine on the earth must be confirmed. In the sense of the letter of the Word is the Divine truth in its fullness.
In the sense of the letter of the Word the Divine truth is in its holiness.

(Apocalypse Explained 1066:3,4)

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The Word is such because in its origin it is the Divine itself that proceeds from the Lord, and is called the Divine truth. When this descended to men in the world it passed through the heavens in their order according to their degrees, which are three. In each heaven it was written there in accommodation to the wisdom and intelligence of the angels. Finally it was brought down from the Lord through the heavens to men, and there it was written and promulgated in adaptation to man's understanding and apprehension. This, therefore, is the sense of its letter, and in this, the Divine truth such as it is in the three heavens, lies stored up in distinct order.

From this, it is clear that all the wisdom of the angels in the three heavens has been imparted by the Lord to our Word, and in its inmost there is the wisdom of the angels of the third heaven, which is incomprehensible and ineffable to man, because full of arcana and treasures of Divine verities. These lie stored up in each particular and in all the particulars of our Word.

As the Divine truth is the Lord in the heavens, so the Lord Himself is present, and may be said to dwell in all the particulars and each particular of His Word, as He does in His heavens. In the same way as He has said of the ark of the Covenant, in which were deposited only the Ten Commandments written on the two tables, the first fruits of the Word, for He said that He would speak there with Moses and Aaron, that He would be present there, that He would dwell there, and that it was His holy of holies, and His dwelling place as in heaven.

(Apocalypse Explained 1073:2)

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The Word in the sense of the letter appears very simple, and yet there is stored up in it the wisdom of the three heavens, for each least particular of it contains interior and more interior senses — an interior sense such as exists in the first heaven, a still more interior sense such as exists in the second heaven, and an inmost sense such as exists in the third heaven. These senses are in the sense of the letter, one within the other, and are evolved therefrom one after the other, each from its own heaven, when a man who is led by the Lord reads the Word. These interior senses differ in the degree of light and wisdom according to the heavens, and yet they make one by influx, and thus by correspondences.

All this makes clear how the Word was inspired by the Divine, and that it was written from such an inspiration to which nothing else in the world can in anywise be compared. The arcana of wisdom of the three heavens contained in it are the mystical things of which many have spoken.

(Apocalypse Explained 1079:2)