89. Since a marriage of the Lord and the church is present in each and every particular of the Word, it can be seen that each and every particular of the Word has the Lord as its subject, as we demonstrated to begin with in The Doctrine Regarding the Lord 1-7.

The Word also has the church as its subject, and the church likewise embodies the Lord; for the Lord teaches that a person of the church is in Him, and He in that person (John 6:56, 14:20-21, 15:5, 7).

5. 1. What the spiritual meaning is. The spiritual meaning is not the sense that shines from the literal one when one is studying the Word and interpreting it in order to confirm some dogma of the church. This sense is the Word’s literal sense. Rather its spiritual meaning is one not apparent in the literal one. The spiritual meaning lies within the literal one, like the soul within the body, like thought within the eyes, and affection within the face, which operate in concert, like cause and effect.

That spiritual meaning is what principally causes the Word to be spiritual, not only for people, but also for angels. Consequently that meaning is the means by which the Word communicates with the heavens.