Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 352heaven. It is said in corresponding truths, because each and allthings in the sense of the letter of the Word are correspondences,for they correspond to the truths that angels have. But theknowledges derived from other books, which set forth and byvarious means establish the doctrines of the church, do not effectcommunication with heaven except by the knowledges from theWord they contain; such knowledges do give communication ifthey are rightly understood and are applied to life, and not to faithalone. Everyone can see that this is so from this, that the Word initself is Divine, and what is Divine in itself can become Divine withman by his applying it to life. Becoming Divine with man meansthat the Lord can have His abode with man (John 14:23), thusdwelling with him in what is His own (that the Lord dwells in Hisown with man and angel, and not in what is their own (proprioillorum), see in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 12). The Lorddwells in His own when He dwells in those things with man thatare from the Word, for the Lord is the Word (John 1:1, 2, 14); andthe words that He spoke, that is, that are in the Word:Are spirit and life (John 6:63, 68; 12:50).195b. [5] That “garments” signify the things that are in thenatural man, which are knowledges (scientifica), true or false, orcognitions, is from the spiritual world; for in the spiritual world all,however many, appear clothed according to their moral life;consequently those who have lived a moral life from a spiritualorigin appear clothed in shining white garments, like fine linen; butthose who have lived a moral life from a natural origin only, appearaccording to the nature of that life, those who have polluted theirlife by evils and falsities appearing in dark garments, mean, torn,and hideous to behold (see the work on Heaven and Hell, n.177–182). From this now it is that “garments” in the Word signifytruths from good, and in the contrary sense falsities from evil, bothof them in the natural man; truths and falsities in the natural manare called knowledges (scientifica) and cognitions.[6] That “garments” in the Word signify truths or falsities can beclearly seen from the following passages. In Isaiah: