he Word is the basis of
Divine truth in the heavens, and without such a basis Divine truth would
be like a house without a foundation; and without such a basis the
wisdom of the angels would be like a house in the air. It is the sense
of the letter of the Word in which the power of Divine truth consists.
It is the sense of the letter of the Word through which man is
enlightened by the Lord, and through which he receives answers when he
wishes to be enlightened. It is the sense of the letter of the Word by
which everything of doctrine on the earth must be established. In the
sense of the letter of the Word is Divine truth in its fullness. In the
sense of the letter of the Word Divine truth is in its holiness. (A.E.,
n. 1066.)

That the Word is Divine truth itself, which gives wisdom to angels and
enlightens men, can be perceived or seen only by a man enlightened. For
to a worldly man, whose mind has not been raised above the sensual
sphere, the Word in the sense of the letter appears so simple that
scarcely anything could be more simple; and yet Divine truth, such as it
is in the heavens and from which angels have their wisdom, lies
concealed in it as in its sanctuary. For the Word in the letter is like
the adytum [sanctum] in the midst of a temple covered with a veil,
within which lie deposited mysteries of heavenly wisdom such as no ear
hath heard. For in the Word and in every particular of it there is a
spiritual sense, and in that sense a Divine celestial sense, which
regarded in itself is Divine truth itself, which is in the heavens and
which gives wisdom to angels and enlightenment to men.

The Divine truth that is in the heavens is light going forth from the
Lord as a Sun, which is Divine love. And as the Divine truth that goes
forth from the Lord is the light of heaven, so it is the Divine wisdom.
It is this that illuminates both the minds and the eyes of angels, and
it is this also that enlightens the minds of men, but not their eyes,
and that enables them to understand truth and also to perceive good when
man reads the Word from the Lord and not from self; for he is then a
participator with angels, and has an inward perception like the
spiritual perception of angels; and that spiritual perception which the
angel-man has flows into his natural perception which is his own while
in the world and enlightens it. Consequently the man who reads the Word
from an affection for truth has enlightenment through h