New Church Life May/June 2017 | Page 27

     thought make one only by correspondence. It is this that prevents people and spirits from knowing anything of each other. (Apocalypse Explained 1182) So although angels have an acute perception of our states, and work ceaselessly to help us, this perception is at a discretely higher level than that of our conscious thought. They do not know about or think specifically about the events taking place on the earth, despite the fact that they play a role in all of them. But given the opportunity within their own world to reflect on the subject and ask the question, they were interested to know what Swedenborg could tell them. What would you tell them? Is there a difference between what would be of interest from an angelic perspective and what is most important? Would you describe political events? Would you talk about the internet? Would you talk about moral and spiritual issues troubling the human race? Why this information is important: Swedenborg talked about the things that the Lord revealed through him. He stresses how important this revelation is: If the Lord had not come into the world no one could have been saved. The situation today is similar. Therefore if the Lord does not come into the world again in the form of divine truth, which is the Word, no one can be saved. (True Christianity 3) This is about saving the human race! According to this, and many other statements in the Heavenly Doctrine, the Lord’s Second Coming into the world is in the form of Divine Truth, which is the Word, consistent with the words of John: “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1) In John He also says that the purpose of His coming is to bear witness to the truth: For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. (Ibid. 18:37) If this is the purpose of His coming then it follows that the information is crucial to our salvation and to the sustainability of life on this planet. One explanation of this is given in True Christianity 24: The oneness of God is written into each human mind at the deepest level, since it is central to all things that flow from God into our souls. It has not yet come down from there into our intellect, however, because we have been lacking concepts we need in order to go up toward God. Each of us needs to make a pathway for God [Isaiah 40:3], meaning we need to prepare ourselves to receive God, and this preparation requires certain concepts. This is saying that in order to have a clear pathway for our God we need to be aware of certain concepts, and that these have been lacking. As a consequence humanity has been unclear in its understanding of God, and has 207