Heaven and Hell (Harley) n. 73

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73. THEREFORE EACH ANGEL IS IN A COMPLETE HUMAN FORM

In the two preceding sections it has been shown that heaven in its whole complex resembles one man, as does any one society in heaven. From the sequence of reasons there set forth, it follows that this is equally true of each angel. As heaven is man in the greatest form, and a society of heaven in a less form, so is an angel in the least form. For, in the most perfect form such as that of heaven is, there is a likeness of the whole in the part and of the part in the whole. This is the case for the reason that heaven is a communion, for it communicates all it has with each one, and each one receives all he has from that communion. An angel is a receptacle, and by virtue of this, a heaven in least form, as was also shown above in the appropriate section. A man, too, so far as he receives heaven, is also a receptacle, a heaven and an angel (see above n. 57). This is described in the Revelation as follows,

He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is of an angel. Rev. xxi. 17.

"Jerusalem"# there is the Lord's Church, and, in a higher sense, heaven; the "wall"## is the truth that is a defence against the assault of falsities and evils; the "hundred and forty-four" are all truths and goods in the complex;### the "measure"#### is the quality; a "man" is one in whom are all goods and truths in general and particular, that is, in whom is heaven, and as it is from these that an angel also is a man, it is said, the "measure of a man" which is that of an angel. This is the spiritual sense of the words. Without that sense, who could understand that the wall of the Holy Jerusalem is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel?##### # "Jerusalem" is the Church (n. 402, 3654, 9166). ## A "wall" is truth defending against the assault of falsities and evils (n. 6419). ### "Twelve" stands for all truths and goods in the complex (n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913). Likewise "seventy-two", and "a hundred and forty-four", since 144 comes from 12 multiplied into itself (n. 7973). All numbers in the Word signify things (n. 482, 487, 647, 648, 755, 813, 1963, 1988, 2075, 2252, 3252, 4264, 4495, 5265). Multiplied numbers have a like signification as the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication (n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973). #### "Measure" in the Word signifies the quality of a thing in respect of truth and good (n. 3104, 9603). ##### In regard to the spiritual or internal sense of the Word see the explanation of THE WHITE HORSE in the Apocalypse, and the Appendix to THE HEAVENLY DOCTRINE.


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