What man thinks when these words are read, and what the angels think, can be seen from the sense of the letter of the Word and from its internal sense.  Man from the sense of the letter thinks that the Egyptians and Assyrians are to be converted to God and accepted, and are then to become one with the Israelitish nation; but angels in accordance with the internal sense think of the man of the spiritual church who is here described in that sense, whose spiritual is “Israel,” whose natural is the “Egyptian,” and whose rational, which is the middle, is the “Assyrian."{1} Nevertheless, these two senses are one because they correspond; and therefore when the angels thus think spiritually and man naturally they are conjoined almost as body and soul are; in fact, the internal sense of the Word is its soul and the sense of the letter is its body.  Such is the Word throughout.  This shows that it is a medium of conjunction of heaven with man, and that its literal sense serves as a base and foundation.

{Footnote 1} In the Word “Egypt” and “Egyptian” signify the natural and its knowledge (n. 4967, 5079, 5080, 5095, 5160, 5460, 5799, 6015, 6147, 6252, 7355, 7648, 9340, 9391).  “Assyria” signifies the rational (n. 119, 1186).  “Israel” signifies the spiritual (n. 5414, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833, 5879, 5951, 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 7957, 8234, 8805, 9340).

308.  There is also a conjunction of heaven by means of the Word with those who are outside of the church where there is no Word; for the Lord’s church is universal, and is with all who acknowledge the Divine and live in charity.  Moreover, such are taught after death by the angels and receive Divine truths;{1} on which subject more may be seen below, in the chapter on the heathen.  The universal church on the earth in the sight of the Lord resembles a single man, just as heaven does (see n. 59-72); but the church where the Word is and where the Lord is known by means of it is like the heart and lungs in that man.  It is known that all the viscera and members of the entire body draw their life from the heart and lungs through various derivations; and it is thus that those of the human race live who are outside of the church where the Word is, and who constitute the members of that man.  Again, the conjunction of heaven with those who are at a distance by means of the Word may be compared to light radiating from a center all around.  The Divine light is in the Word, and there the Lord with heaven is present, and from that presence those at a distance are in light; but it would be otherwise if there were no Word.  This may be more clearly seen from what has been shown above respecting the form of heaven in accordance with which all who are in heaven have affiliation and communication.  But while this arcanum may be comprehended by those who are in spiritual light, it cannot be comprehended by those who are only in natural light; for innumerable things are clearly seen by those who are in spiritual light that are not seen or are seen obscurely as a single thing by those who are only in natural light.