1. The Sacred Scripture, or Word, Is Divine Truth Itself

Everyone says that the Word comes from God, is Divinely inspired, and so is holy. But even so, no one has known before this wherein the Divinity in it lies. For in its letter the Word appears as though written in the ordinary way, in a foreign style, neither as sublime or nor as lucid as writings of the present age seem to be.

As a result, a person who worships nature as God, or in preference to God, and so thinks prompted by self and his own self-interest, and not prompted by heaven in response to the Lord, may easily fall into error regarding the Word, and into scorning it, and when reading it, saying to himself, “What is this? What is that? Is this Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak so? Where is the holiness in it, and what makes it holy, other than some teaching of religion and so conviction?”

43. Truths in the Word’s literal sense are meant by the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21. This follows from the fact that the New Jerusalem means a new church in respect to doctrine, as shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 62, 63. Its wall, therefore, and the foundations of the wall, can only mean the outer component of the Word, which is its literal sense; for that is the origin of doctrine, and through doctrine, the church. Moreover, doctrine is like a wall which, with its foundations, surrounds a city and protects it.

Respecting the wall of the New Jerusalem and its foundations, we read in the book of Revelation the following:

(The angel) measured (the city Jerusalem’s) wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, (which was) the measure of a person, that is, of an angel. (Revelation 21:17)

And the wall had twelve foundations, “adorned with all kinds of precious stones”:

The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. (Revelation 21:19-20)

The number 144 symbolizes all the truths and goods of the church drawn from the Word’s literal sense, and so does the number 12. A person symbolizes intelligence; an angel, Divine truth from which that intelligence originates; measuring, their character; the wall and its foundations, the Word’s literal sense; and precious stones, the Word’s truths and goods in their sequence, from which doctrine originates, and through doctrine, the church.

20. 4. The spiritual sense of the Word has been previously unknown. Every single thing found in nature corresponds to something spiritual. So, too, every single thing found in the human body. This is something we showed in the book Heaven and Hell 87-115. But what correspondence is has been previously unknown, even though in very ancient times it was quite well known. For people who lived then, the study of correspondences was the supreme study, and so universal that all their manuscripts and books were written in terms of correspondences.

[2] The book of Job, which is an ancient book, is full of correspondences.

Egyptian hieroglyphics, and also the fables of antiquity, were full of them too.

The ancient churches were all representative of things pertaining to heaven. Their rites and likewise their statutes, in accord with which their worship was instituted, consisted of nothing but correspondences.

So, too, everything connected with the church among the descendants of Jacob. Their whole burnt offerings and other sacrifices in their every particular were correspondent forms. Likewise the Tabernacle, with everything in it. And their feasts as well, such as the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Tabernacles, and the Feast of Firstfruits.

So also the priesthood of Aaron and the Levites, including the holy vestments of Aaron and his sons. And all the statutes and judgments as well which had to do with their worship and life.

[3] And because Divine emanations in the world manifest themselves in correspondent forms, therefore the Word was written solely in terms of correspondences. Because the Lord spoke in accordance with His Divinity, He consequently spoke in terms of correspondences. For whatever emanates from the Divine, descends into such expressions in nature as correspond to their Divine origins, and these expressions then conceal within them the Divine contents called celestial and spiritual.