“Heaven” and “heavens” are used many times in the Bible. When it is linked to the Lord (“our Father, who art in the heavens,” for instance). Swedenborg generally offers a relatively literal interpretation — that it simply means heaven, the eternal home for people who chose to do what is good in this life and let the Lord lead them to a love of being good. In some other references, particularly when heaven is paired with “earth” or other lesser ideas (“in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth,” for instance), “heaven” or “heavens” means our internal life as opposed to our external life.
In a way, these two meanings are really the same. If you think about the importance of your deepest thoughts and feelings, you can see that they are the “real” you, much more than your body is. The relationship Swedenborg describes between the spiritual world and the natural world is similar; the spiritual world is the “real” one, and controls the natural world the same way our thoughts and feeling control our actions. And when our bodies die, we are essentially freed from the natural world so we can live in the reality of our thoughts and feelings — a reality that is heaven (or hell, depending on the nature of our thoughts and feelings).
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 1733
- ‘Possessor of heaven and earth’ means the conjunction of the Internal Man, or Jehovah, with the Interior and the Exterior Man. This is clear from the meaning of ‘heaven and earth’. That which is interior in man is called ‘heaven’, and that which is exterior ‘earth’. The reason heaven means that which is interior in man is that man as regards interior things is an image of heaven, and so a miniatureheaven. The Lord’s Interior Man primarily is heaven, for the Lord is the All in all of heaven, and thus heaven itself. The exterior man’s being called ‘the earth’ follows as a consequence of this. Here also is the reason why ‘the new heaven and the new earth’ described in the Prophets and in the Book of Revelation is used to mean nothing other than the Lord’s kingdom and every person who is the Lord’s kingdom, that is, who has the Lord’s kingdom within him. As regards heaven and earth having these meanings, see 82, 911, for heaven, and 82, 620, 636, 913, for earth.
[2] That ‘God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth’ here means the conjunction of the Internal Man with the Interior and Exterior Man in the Lord becomes clear from the consideration that the Lord as regards the Internal Man was Jehovah Himself; and because the Internal Man or Jehovah guided and instructed the External Man – as the Father did the Son – the External Man considered in relation to Jehovah is therefore called the Son of God, but in relation to the mother the Son of Man. The Lord’s Internal Man, which is Jehovah Himself, is that which is here called ‘God Most High’, and until complete conjunction or union had taken place it is called ‘Possessor of heaven and earth’, that is, Possessor of all that resided in the Interior and Exterior Man, which, as has been stated, is here meant by ‘heaven and earth’.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7568
- ‘Stretch out your hand towards heaven’ means attention drawn to heaven, which would then come nearer. This is clear from the meaning of ‘stretching out the hand’ as drawing attention to something, for an outstretched hand is used to draw attention to something and point it out; and from the meaning of ‘heaven’ as the angelic heaven.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7572
- ‘And Moses stretched out his rod towards heaven’ means communication with heaven. This is clear from the meaning of ‘stretching out the rod towards heaven’ as drawing attention to, thus communicating, in accordance with the explanation above in 7568, ‘heaven’ meaning the angelic heaven.
AC 24 [2]
Verses 7, 8, And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expense and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expense Heaven.
[3] The second thing therefore that a person notices when being regenerated is that he is starting to become aware of the existence of the internal man, or that what reside in the internal man are goods and truths which are the Lord’s alone. And since the external man during regeneration is such as still imagines that he is the source of the good deeds he performs, or of the truth he utters, and since such a person, by means of them, is led by the Lord to do good and to speak truth as if they were his own, therefore the identification of those under the expanse comes first, and the identification of those above the expanse follows. It is also a heavenly arcanum that the Lord uses those things that are man’s own – both his illusions of the senses and his desires – to lead and direct him towards the things that are goods and truths. Every single movement of regeneration is accordingly a progression from evening to morning – from external man to internal, that is, from earth to heaven. This is why the expanse, or internal man, is now called ‘heaven’.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 25
- ‘Spreading out the earth and stretching out the heavens’ is a common expression in the Prophets when the subject is man’s regeneration, as in Isaiah,
Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb, I am Jehovah who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens Alone, and who spreads out the earth by Myself. Isa. 44:24.
Also, when it is speaking of the Lord’s Coming,
A bruised reed He does not break off and a smoking wick He does not quench; He brings forth judgement towards truth;
that is, He neither shatters man’s illusions nor stifles his desires. Instead He bends them towards truth and good. This verse in Isaiah continues,
The God Jehovah creates the heavens and stretches them out: He spreads out the earth and what comes from it: He gives breath* to the people upon it, and spirit to those who walk on it. Isa. 42:3-5.
Such phrases recur several times elsewhere.
* lit. soul
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8328
- ‘The place for You to dwell in’ means where the Lord is. This is clear from the meaning of ‘the place’ as a state, dealt with just above in 8325, at this point a state of good originating in the Divine since it is used to mean heaven; and from the meaning of ‘Jehovah’s dwelling-place’ or ‘for You to dwell in’ as where the Lord is. For ‘dwelling in’ has reference to good, see 2712, 3613; ‘Jehovah’s dwelling-place’ means good and consequently heaven, 8269, 8309; and ‘Jehovah’ in the Word means the Lord, see above in 8261. The Lord refers many times to ‘the Father who is in theheavens’, and when He does so the Divine within heaven is meant, and so the good from which heaven exists. Considered by Himself the Divine is above the heavens; but the Divine within the heavensis the Good present within the Truth that emanates from the Divine. This is what ‘Father in the heavens’ is used to mean, in Matthew,
… so that you may be sons of the Father who is in the heavens…. so that you may be perfect, as your Father who is in the heavens is perfect. Matt. 5:44, 48; 6:1.
Our Father who is in the heavens, may Your name be kept holy. Matt. 6:9. … he who does the will of the Father who is in theheavens. Matt. 7:21.
And in addition, Matt. 10:32, 33; 16:17; 18:10, 14, 19.
[2] The Divine within the heavens is Good within Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord; but the Divine above the heavensis Divine Good itself. ‘The place for You to dwell in’ means heaven where Divine Truth emanating from the Lord resides; for this Truth composes heaven and is meant by ‘Father in the heavens’, and it exists there as the good which constitutes the life of those who are in heaven. Light may be shed on this, on how Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord becomes good in heaven, by comparison with the sun and the light radiating from it. Inwardly the sun is fire, but the radiation from the sun is light. This light holds within itself heat which causes gardens to grow and become paradise-like. The actual fire of the sun does not pass over to the planet, for it would scorch and burn everything up; rather, light in which heat is present flows from the fire of the sun. In the spiritual sense that light is Divine Truth, its heat is the good within Truth springing from Divine Good, and the paradise it produces is heaven.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 8871
- ‘Which are in the heavens above, and which are on the earth beneath’ means which exist in spiritual light’ and which exist in natural light. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a likeness of those things which are in the heavens above’ as the things which are visible to the eye in spiritual light, all of which are connected with goodness and truth, and so are aspects of faith, charity towards the neighbour, and love to the Lord (feigning and simulating these virtues is meant by ‘making a likeness of those things which are in the heavens above’); and from the meaning of ‘a likeness of those things which are on the earth beneath’ as the things which are visible to the eye in natural light, which are the kind that belong to goodness and truth on the level of people’s public life and on that of their private life.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 751
- Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them.- That this signifies the salvation and consequent joy of those who become spiritual by the reception of Divine Truth, is evident from the signification of rejoicing, as denoting joy on account of salvation; from the signification of the heavens, as denoting those who are spiritual (concerning which we shall speak presently); and from the signification of ye that dwell, as denoting those who live, here spiritually. That to dwell signifies to live, may be seen above (n. 133, 479, 662). The heavens signify those who are spiritual, because all who are in the heavens are spiritual, and because men who have become spiritual are also in the heavens, although they are in the world as to the body; therefore ye that dwell in theheavens means not only angels, but also men, for every man with whom the interior mind, which is called the spiritual mind, has been opened, is in the heavens, indeed, he also sometimes appears amongst the angels there. That this is so, has not been known in the world up to the present time. It must therefore be understood, that man as to his spirit is among spirits and angels, and indeed in that society of them into which he is to come after death. The reason of this is that the spiritual mind of man is formed exactly according to the image of heaven, and in such a way that it is a heaven in least form; consequently that mind, although still in the body, must nevertheless be where its form is. But this has been more fully dealt with in Heaven and Hell (n. 51-58), where it is shown that every angel, and also every man as to his interiors, if he be spiritual, is a heaven in its least form, corresponding to heaven in its greatest form. For this reason where the Word treats of the creation of heaven and earth, the internal and external church is in general meant, and, in particular, the internal and external man, that is the spiritual and natural man. From these things it is evident that the heavens and those that dwell in them signify all who are there, and also those men who are becoming spiritual by the reception of Divine Truth in doctrine and life.