1. THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

A statement of faith, set out in both universal and particular terms, is placed at the beginning to serve as a preface to the book which follows, to be like a doorway leading into a church, and a summary presenting in a short compass what follows at more length. It is called the faith of the new heaven and the new church, because heaven, where the angels are, and the church among men form a single unit, just as the internal and external sides of the personality make up a single individual. This is why a member of the church who possesses the good of love which arises from the truths of faith, and possesses the truths of faith which arise from the good of love, is, so far as the interiors of his mind are concerned, an angel of heaven. Therefore too after dying he comes into heaven, and there enjoys happiness depending upon how far the good and truth are linked. It should be known that in the new heaven, which is at the present time being established by the Lord, this statement of faith serves as its preface, doorway and summary.

248. IX. The details of the Word all contain a marriage of the Lord and the church, and so a marriage of good and truth.

Up to now it has not been seen that the details of the Word contain a marriage of the Lord and the church, and so a marriage of good and truth. Nor could this be seen, because the spiritual sense of the Word has not before been revealed, and that marriage can only be seen by means of that sense. The Word has two senses hidden in its literal sense; these are called the spiritual and the celestial senses. In the spiritual sense the contents of the Word refer chiefly to the church, and in the celestial sense chiefly to the Lord. Again in the spiritual sense its contents refer to Divine truth, and in the celestial sense to Divine good. Hence there is this marriage in the Word. But this is not apparent except to those who have learned from the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word the meanings of the words and names. For certain words and names are used of good, and certain of truth, and some include both. So without this knowledge it was impossible to see this marriage in the details of the Word. This is the reason this secret was not previously revealed.

It is because this kind of marriage is contained in the details of the Word, that it so often uses two expressions which appear to repeat the same thing. Yet they are not really repetitions, but one refers to good, the other to truth; and the two taken together make this link and so form a single unit. This too is the source of the Divine holiness of the Word; for in every Divine act good is joined with truth and truth with good.

63. (v) GOD IS PRESENT EVERYWHERE FROM FIRST TO LAST IN HIS ORDER.

It is the heat and light of the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which God is, which makes Him present everywhere from first to last in His order. By means of this sun order came into existence, and from it He sends forth heat and light, which penetrate the universe from first to last and produce the life possessed by every human being and animal, and also the vegetative soul which every plant on earth has. Its heat and light act upon every single thing and cause each to live and grow in accordance with the order imposed on them from creation. Since God has no extent, yet fills all the space in the universe, He is omnipresent. It has been shown elsewhere [30] that God is non-spatially in all space and non-temporally in all time, as a result of which the universe is in respect of its essence and its order the fulness of God. This being so, God by His omnipresence perceives everything, by His omniscience provides everything, and by His omnipotence performs everything. This makes it plain that omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence make one, in other words, one supposes the other and thus they cannot be divided.