People know that in the Word the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband, and the church bride and wife. The reason the Lord and the church are so designated comes from the conjunction of good and truth in everyone who is in heaven, or who. is in the church and has the church within him. For the Lord flows into angels and people of the church from the goodness of their love and charity; and angels or people of the church receive the Lord-who is in the goodness of love and charity-in the truths of doctrine and faith that they have from the Word. A conjunction is thus formed, which is called the heavenly marriage. This marriage exists in every particular of the Word, and because it is in every particular, the Word itself may be called a heavenly marriage.

The existence of such a marriage in every particular of the Word has been shown many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), and also in The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine where it deals with the Word.* That there is such a marriage in the Word can be seen solely from the studies of those who look for its internal or spiritual meaning. For everywhere in the Word, and clearly in the Prophets, two expressions for the same thing occur, one of which relates to good, thus to the Lord, and the other to truth, thus to the church. One who knows correspondences sees this plainly, for he finds phrases and words which correspond to goodness, and phrases and words which correspond to truths. This, now, is the reason there is a conjunction of the Lord with heaven and the church through the Word.

[2] Because there is such a marriage in the Word, therefore the Word has within It a spiritual meaning and a celestial meaning. The spiritual meaning is for those who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom, who make up all the lower heavens, and the celestial meaning is for those who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom, who make up all the higher heavens. Angels of the spiritual kingdom are concerned with the Word's truths, while angels of the celestial kingdom are concerned with its goodness. Consequently when a person reads the Word with reverence, spiritual angels perceive the truths in it, according to correspondences, and celestial angels perceive its goodness.

What is a secret, however, is that celestial angels do not perceive the goodness in the Word directly from a person, but indirectly through spiritual angels. The reason is that scarcely anyone in the Christian world today is concerned with the goodness of celestial love, but only some with truths. Consequently, the goodness of love cannot be transmitted directly from people to celestial angels, who make up the third heaven, but it is transmitted indirectly through spiritual angels, who make up the second heaven. In this way a marriage of the Lord with the church takes place also by means of the Word in the heavens. For the Word in its spiritual meaning has to do with the church, while in its celestial meaning it has to do with the Lord. Spiritual angels therefore apply everything to the church, whereas celestial angels apply everything to the Lord. That is why heaven is likened by the Lord to a marriage, and is also called a marriage;** and that is why the Word effects that marriage. However, this is a secret which can be perceived only dimly by people, but which is clearly perceived by an angel of heaven.

[3] Celestial angels are able to apply to the Lord everything that spiritual angels apply to the church, because the Lord is the all in all of the church. * See The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, nos. 249-266. ** See Matthew 22:1-14, 25:1-13.