10124. In making thy propitiation upon it. That this signifies thereby the capacity for receiving good from the Lord, is evident from the signification of "making propitiation upon the altar," as being the implantation of good from the Lord, and its reception by a man of the church and by an angel of heaven, after the removal of evils and the derivative falsities (see n. 9506); for by "the altar" (as shown just above, n. 10123) is signified heaven and the church in respect to the reception of good from the Lord. As by "the altar" is signified heaven and the church where celestial good reigns, which is the good of love from the Lord to the Lord, it must be briefly told how the case is with the reception of good in the celestial kingdom. That heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms, one of which is called the celestial kingdom, and the other the spiritual kingdom, has been frequently said above. In each kingdom good is implanted by means of truth, but with those who are in the spiritual kingdom good is implanted by means of truth in the intellectual part, whereas with those who are in the celestial kingdom good is implanted by means of truth in the will part. The implantation of good by means of truth with those who are in the spiritual kingdom is effected in another way than it is with those in the celestial kingdom. With those who are in the spiritual kingdom truth is implanted in the external or natural man, and there first becomes memory-knowledge, and insofar as the man is affected by it, and forms his life according to it, it is called forth into the understanding, and becomes faith, and at the same time charity toward the neighbor. This charity constitutes his new will, and this faith his new understanding, and both, his conscience.
[2] But with those who are in the celestial kingdom truth does not become memory-knowledge, nor faith, nor conscience; but it becomes reception in the good of love; and insofar as the life is according to it, it becomes perception, which grows and is perfected with them in accordance with the love, and this day by day while they are unaware of it, almost as with infants. This is done while they are unaware of it because the truth does not stay as knowledge in the memory, neither does it tarry as something intellectual in the thought, but it passes straightway into the will, and becomes of the life; and therefore these do not see truth, but perceive it; and the amount and quality of their perception of it is in accordance with that of the good of love from the Lord to the Lord in which they are; consequently there is much difference in these respects. And because they perceive truth from good, they never confirm it by reasons; but when truths are in question, they merely say, Yea, yea, or Nay, nay.
[3] These are they who are meant by the Lord in Matthew:
Let your discourse be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: that which is beyond these is from evil (Matt. 5:37);
for to reason about truths as to whether such is the case, is not from good, because then the truth is not perceived, but is only believed from authority, and thence from confirmation by one's self. What a man believes from authority belongs to others in himself, and is not his own; and what is merely believed from this source by virtue of confirmation appears after confirmation as truth, even although it is false; as can be very plainly seen from the faith of every religion, and from the variety of this in the whole world. This shows what is the nature and amount of the difference between those who are in the celestial kingdom of the Lord and those who are in His spiritual kingdom. The cause of the difference is that by their life the former turn the truths of the church immediately into goods, but the latter remain in truths, and set faith before life. They who turn the truths of the church immediately into goods by their life, thus who are of the celestial kingdom, are described by the Lord in Mark 4:26-29, and many times elsewhere. (Concerning the difference between the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom, see the places cited in n. 9277.)