AC 6333, 6343 - The Word

AC 6333 [3-4]

The Word is given in order to

unite heaven and earth, or angels with men;

and therefore it has been so written

that it may be spiritually apprehended by the angels,

when naturally understood by man,

and that in this way

what is holy may flow in through the angels,

by which means union is effected.

Such is the Word

in both the historical and the prophetical parts;

but the internal sense is less apparent

in the historical than in the prophetical parts,

because the historical parts

have been written in a different style,

yet still by means of significatives.

The historical parts have been given

in order that infants and children

may thereby be initiated into the reading of the Word;

for the historical parts are delightful,

and rest in their minds,

whereby communication is given them with the heavens;

and this communication is grateful,

because they are in a state

of innocence and mutual charity.

This is the reason why there is an historical Word.

There is a prophetical Word,

because when it is read,

it is not understood by man except obscurely,

and when it is understood obscurely

by such men as there are now,

it is perceived clearly by the angels . . ..

AC 6343 [2]

That the Word is holy,

and in its interiors most holy,

is very evident from that fact

that in every detail of the Word

there is the heavenly marriage,

that is, the marriage of good and truth, thus heaven;

and that in every detail of the inmost sense

there is the marriage of

the Lord's Divine Human with His kingdom and church;

indeed, in the supreme sense

there is the union of

the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in the Lord.

These most holy things

are in every detail of the Word --

a manifest proof 

that the Word has descended from the Divine.