From all this these truths follow.  The outmost sense of the Word, which is the sense of the letter, and the fourth in order, contains in itself the three interior senses, which are for the three heavens.  These three senses are unfolded and exhibited in the heavens when a man on the earth is reverently reading the Word.  Therefore the sense of the letter of the Word is that from which and through which there is communication with the heavens, also from which and through which man has conjunction with the heavens.  The sense of the letter of the 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 heaven from the Lord. (A.E., n. 1067.)