Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 (1-67)

Chapter 2 (68-153)

Chapter 3 (154-224)

Chapter 4 (225-255)

Chapter 5 (256-294)

Chapter 6 (295-341)

Chapter 7 (342-386)

Chapter 8 (387-417)

Chapter 9 (419-463)

Chapter 10 (464-484)

Chapter 11 (485-531)

Chapter 12 (532-566)

Chapter 13 (567-611)

Chapter 14 (612-655)

Chapter 15 (656-675)

Chapter 16 (676-716)

Chapter 17 (717-752)

Chapter 18 (753-802)

Chapter 19 (803-839)

Chapter 20 (840-875)

Chapter 21 (876-926)

Chapter 22 (932-962)

Preface

There are many who have labored in the explanation of the Apocalypse; but, as the spiritual sense of the Word had been hitherto unknown, they could not see the arcana which lie concealed therein, for the spiritual sense alone discloses these; on which account expositors have conjectured various things, and the most of them have applied the things that are therein to the states of empires, intermingling also some things about ecclesiastical affairs. But the Apocalypse, like the whole Word, does not in the least, in its spiritual sense, treat of worldly, but of heavenly things; thus not of empires and kingdoms, but of heaven and the church. It is to be known, that after the Last Judgment, which was accomplished in the spiritual world in the year 1757, concerning which see in a small work by itself, published at London in 1758, there was formed a New Heaven from Christians; but from those only who could receive the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, according to His words in Matthew 28:18, and who at the same time in the world had repented of their evil works. From this heaven the New Church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem, is descending and will descend. That this Church will acknowledge the Lord alone, is manifest from these passages in the Apocalypse:

There came unto me one of the seven angels, and spake with me, saying, Come I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife; and he showed me the great city, holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:9-10).

And in another place:

Let us rejoice and exult; for the time of the Marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready. Happy are they that are called unto the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, (Revelation 19:7, 9).

That there is to be a New Heaven, and that the New Church on earth will descend therefrom, is manifest from these words there:

I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth; and I saw the holy city Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband. He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new; and He said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful, (Revelation 21:1-2, 5).

“The New Heaven” is a New Heaven from Christians: “the New Jerusalem” is the New Church on earth, which will act as one with that New Heaven. “The Lamb” is the Lord as to the Divine Human.

To this something shall be added for illustration. The Christian Heaven is below the Ancient Heavens. Into it, from the time of the Lord, when He was in the world, were admitted those who worshiped one God under three Persons, and who at the same time had not the idea of three Gods; and this because the Trinity of Persons has been received in the whole Christian world. But they who cherished no other idea of the Lord’s Human than as the human of another man, could not receive the faith of the New Jerusalem; which is, that the Lord is the only God, in whom is the Trinity. These were for that reasons separated, and were sent away to the extremes: it was given me to see the separations and the removals after the Last Judgment. For the whole heaven is founded upon a just idea of God, and the whole church on earth, and in general all religion; since by that idea there is conjunction, and by conjunction light, wisdom, and eternal happiness.

Everyone can see that the Apocalypse can by no means be explained but by the Lord alone; for each word therein contains arcana, which could never be known without particular enlightenment, and thus revelation; wherefore it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and to teach me. Do not believe, therefore, that I have taken anything therein from myself, nor from any angel, but from the Lord alone. The Lord also said to John through the angel:

Seal not the words of the prophecy of this Book, (Revelation 22:10).

By which is meant that they are to be made manifest.

A SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH AND RELIGION.

SINCE Babylon, which is the Roman Catholic Religion, is also treated of in the Apocalypse, chapters 17, 18, and 19, in the beginning of these explanations, its doctrinal tenets must be laid open, and in the following order: Of Baptism, the Eucharist or Holy Supper, Masses, Repentance, Justification, Purgatory, the Seven Sacraments, the Saints, and Power.

“I. Of Baptism, they teach: That Adam, after the offense of transgression was wholly changed for the worse, both as to body and soul; that this sin was transfused into the whole human race; that this original sin is taken away only by the merit of Christ; and that the merit of Christ is applied by the sacrament of Baptism; and that thus the whole guilt of original sin is taken away by Baptism; that nevertheless lust remains in the baptized as an incentive to sins, but not sin itself; that thus they put on Christ, become new creatures, and obtain a full and complete remission of sins. Baptism is called the laver of regeneration and of faith. That the baptized, when grown up, are to be questioned concerning the promises made by their sponsors; which is the SACRAMENT OF CONFIRMATION. That by reason of lapses after Baptism, the Sacrament of Repentance is necessary.

“II. THE EUCHARIST OR HOLY SUPPER. That immediately after consecration, the true body and the true blood of Jesus Christ are really and substantially contained under the form of bread and wine, together with His Soul and Divinity; the body under the form of bread, and the blood under the form of wine, by virtue of the words: but the body itself under the form of wine, and the blood under the form of bread, and the soul under both, by virtue of a natural connection and alliance, whereby the parts of the Lord Christ are united together, and the Divinity by reason of its admirable hypostatic union with the body and the soul; thus that they are as fully contained under one form as under both; in a word, that the whole and entire Christ exists under the form of the bread and under every part of that form; and the whole also under the form of the wine and its parts; that therefore the two forms are separated, and the bread is given to the laity, and the wine to the clergy. That water is to be mixed with wine in the cup. That the laity are to receive the communion from the clergy, and the clergy from themselves. That the true body and the true blood of Christ, after consecration, are in the host in the consecrated particles; and that therefore the host is to be adored when it is shown and carried about. That this wonderful and particular conversion of the whole substance of the bread into body, and of the whole substance of the wine into blood, is called transubstantiation. That the communion of both forms, under certain conditions, may be granted by the Pontiff. It is called supersubstantial bread, and the bread of angels, which these eat without any veils; it is also called spiritual food; also the antidote by which they are freed from sins.

“III. MASSES. It is called the sacrifice of the mass, because the sacrifice by which Christ offered up Himself to God the Father, is represented thereby under the form of the bread and wine; that thence it is a sacrifice truly propitiatory, pure, and there is nothing in it except what is holy. That if the people do not commune sacramentally, but only the minister, then the people commune spiritually, because the ministers do it, not for themselves only, but for all the faithful who appertain to the body of Christ. The masses ought not to be performed in the vulgar tongue, because they contain the great learning of the faithful people; but that the ministers may declare some thing concerning it on the Lord’s days. That it is ordained, that some things which are mystical should be pronounced with a lower, and other things with a louder, voice; and, for the purpose of giving majesty to so great a sacrifice which is offered to God, there should be lights, incense, garments, and other like things. That it is to be offered for the sins, penalties, satisfactions, and all the necessities of the living, and also for the dead. That masses in honour of the saints are thanksgivings because they intercede when they are implored.

“IV. REPENTANCE. That besides baptism there is the Sacrament of Repentance, whereby the benefit of the death and merit of Christ is applied to those who lapse after baptism; therefore it is called a kind of laborious baptism. That the parts of repentance are contrition, confession, and satisfaction. That CONTRITION is the gift of God, and the impulse of the Holy Spirit, not yet indwelling, but only moving, therefore it is a disposing. That CONFESSION ought to be made of all mortal sins, even the most secret, and of the intentions; that sins which are withheld from confession are not forgiven, but that those which after search do not occur, are included in confession; that confession ought to be made at least once a year: that absolution of sins is to be given by the ministers of the keys, and that they are forgiven on their saying, I ABSOLVE; that absolution is like the act of a judge when sentence is pronounced; that the more grievous sins are to be absolved by bishops, and the still more grievous by the pontiff. SATISFACTION is made by satisfactory punishments imposed by the ministry at discretion, according to the measure of the offence; that when eternal punishment is remitted, then temporal punishment is remitted also. That the power of INDULGENCES was left by Christ to the church, and that the use of them is most salutary.

“V. JUSTIFICATION. That the change from that state in which man is born a son of Adam, cannot be effected into a state of grace through the second Adam the Saviour, without the washing of regeneration and faith, or without baptism. That the second beginning of justification is from preventing grace, which is a calling, with which man cooperates by converting himself. That disposition is produced by faith, when man believes those things to be true which are revealed, to which he is freely moved; also by hope, when he believes that God is propitious for the sake of Christ; and by charity, in consequence whereof he begins to love his neighbour, and to hate sin. That justification, which follows, is not only remission of sins, but sanctification, and renovation of the interior man; that then they are not reputed just, but that they are just, receiving justice in themselves; and because they receive the merit of Christ’s passion, justification is inserted by faith, hope, and charity. That faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of justification, and that this is to be justified by faith: and because none of those things which precede justification, whether they be of faith or works, merit the grace of justification, that this is being justified gratis, for it is a preventing grace; and that still man is justified by works, and not so much by faith. That the just may fall into light and venial sins, and still be just; and that therefore the just ought continually to labour by prayers, oblations, alms, and fastings, lest they should fall, because they are born again into the hope of glory, and not into glory. That the just, if they fall from the grace of justification, may be justified again by the sacrament of repentance: that by any mortal sin grace is lost, but not faith, but that faith also is lost by infidelity, which is a receding from religion. That the works of a justified man are merits; and that the justified merit eternal life by those that are done by them through the grace of God and the merit of Christ. That FREE-WILL was not lost and extinguished after the sin of Adam; and that man co-operates by assenting to the calling of God; and that otherwise he would be an inanimate body. They establish PREDESTINATION, by saying that no one knows whether he is in the number of the predestined, and among those whom God has elected to Himself, except by special revelation.

“VI. PURGATORY. That all the guilt from which men are to be purified by temporal punishment is not blotted out by justification, and therefore all come into purgatory to be purified, before the entrance into heaven is open. That the souls there detained are assisted by the suffrages of the faithful, and particularly by the sacrifice of the mass; and that this is diligently to be taught and preached.” The torments there endured are variously described, but they are inventions, and in themselves fictions.

“VII. THE SEVEN SACRAMENTS. That there are seven sacraments, Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, Repentance, Extreme Unction, Order, and Matrimony; that there are neither more nor less: that one is of greater dignity than another; that they contain grace; and that from the work operated by them grace is conferred; that there were the same number of sacraments of the ancient Law. Baptism, Confirmation, the Eucharist, and Repentance have been treated of above. THE SACRAMENT OF EXTREME UNCTION: That it is founded on the epistle of James 5:14-15; that it is to be administered to the sick near the end of life, whence it is called the sacrament of the departing; that if they recover, it may be applied again; that it is performed with oil blessed by the bishop, and with these words: May God grant thee indulgence for whatsoever offence thou hast committed through the fault of the eyes, the nostrils, or the touch. ‘THE SACRAMENT OF ORDER: That there are seven orders in the ministry of the priesthood, which differ in dignity, and all together are called the ecclesiastical hierarchy, which is like the order of an encampment; that inaugurations into the ministry are to be effected by anointings, and by transferring of the Holy Spirit into them. That the secular power or consent, calling or authority of the magistrate is not required for the ordination of bishops and priests; that they who ascend to the ministry being appointed by a calling from them only, are not ministers, but thieves and robbers, who do not enter in by the door. THE SACRAMENT OF MATRIMONY: That the dispensation of degrees and divorces belongs to the church. That the clergy are not to contract matrimony. That all of them may have the gift of chastity, and if anyone saith he cannot, when nevertheless he has vowed, let him be anathema, because God does not refuse it to those who seek it in a right way, and does not suffer anyone to be tempted beyond what he is able to bear. That a state of virginity and celibacy is to be preferred to the conjugial state; besides other things.

“VIII. THE SAINTS. That the saints reigning together with Christ offer up their prayers to God for men; that Christ is to be adored, and the saints to be invoked; that the invocation of saints is not idolatrous, nor derogatory to the honour of the one Mediator between God and men; it is called Latria. That images of Christ, of Mary the God-bearer and of the saints, are to be revered and honoured; not that it is to be believed that there is Divinity or virtue in them, but because the honour which is paid to them is referred to the prototypes which they represent; and that through the images which they kiss, and before which they kneel and uncover their heads, they adore Christ and venerate the saints. That the miracles of God are performed through the saints.

“IX. POWER. That the Pope of Rome is the successor of the apostle Peter, and vicar of Jesus Christ, the head of the church, and the universal bishop; that he is above councils; that he has the keys to open and shut heaven, consequently the power of remitting and retaining sins; that therefore he, as key-bearer of everlasting life, hath a right at once to earthly and heavenly empire; that moreover bishops and priests have such a power from him, because it was given also to the rest of the apostles, and that therefore they are called ministers of the keys. That it belongs to the church to judge of the true sense and interpretation of the Sacred Scripture, and that they who oppose them are to be punished by penalties established by law. That it is not fitting for the laity to read the Sacred Scripture, because the sense of it is only known to the church; thence its ministers make traffic of their knowledge of it.”

X. The above are from councils and bulls, particularly from the council of Trent, and the papal bull confirming it, wherein all who think, believe, and act contrary to what was there decreed, which in general is as above adduced, they condemn by anathema.

A SUMMARY OF THE DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH AND RELIGION OF THE REFORMED

Since the Reformed are much treated of in the Apocalypse in its spiritual sense, therefore, before entering upon the explanations, their doctrinal tenets are also to be laid open, and in this order: Of God, of Christ the Lord, of Justification by Faith, and of God Works, of the Law and the Gospel, of Repentance and Confession, of Original Sin, of Baptism, of the Holy Supper, of Free-Agency, and of the Church.

“I. OF GOD. Of God they believe according to the Athanasian Creed, which, as it is in the hand of everyone, is not here quoted. That they believe in God the Father as the Creator and Preserver; in God the Son as the Saviour and Redeemer; and in the Holy Spirit as the Enlightener and Sanctifier, is also known.

“II. OF CHRIST THE LORD. Concerning the Person of Christ, the same doctrine is not taught by all the Reformed. The Lutherans teach that the Virgin Mary not only conceived and brought forth a real man, but also the real Son of God, whence she is rightly called, and truly is, the mother of God. That in Christ there are two natures, the Divine and the Human, the Divine from eternity, and the human in time; that these two natures are personally united, altogether in such a manner, that there are not two Christs, one the Son of God, and the other the Son of man; but that one and the same is the Son of God and the Son of man, not that these two natures are mixed together into one substance, nor that one is changed into the other, but that both natures retain their essential properties, which are also described as to their qualities; that their union is hypostatic, and that this is the most perfect communion, like that of the soul and body; that therefore it is rightly said, that in Christ God is Man and Man God; that He did not suffer for us as mere man only, but as such Man, whose Human nature hath so strict and ineffable a union and communion with the Son of God, as to become one Person with Him; that the Son of God truly suffered for us, but yet according to the properties of the human nature; that the Son of man, by whom is meant Christ as to the Human nature, was really exalted to the right hand of God when He was taken into God, which was the case as soon as He was conceived of the Holy Spirit in the womb of the mother; that Christ always had that majesty by reason of the personal union, but that, in the state of exinanition, He only exercised it so far as seemed good to Him; but that after the resurrection He fully and entirely put off the form of a servant, and established the Human nature or essence in the plenary possession of the Divine majesty; and that in this manner He entered into glory; in a word, Christ is, and remains to all eternity, perfect God and Man in one indivisible Person; and the true, omnipotent and eternal God; being, also with respect to His Human, present at the right hand of God, He governs all things in the heavens and on earth, and also fills all things, is with us, and dwells and operates in us. That there is no difference of adoration, because through the nature which is seen, the Divinity which is not seen, is adored. That the Divine essence communicates and imparts its own excellences to the Human nature, and performs its Divine operations through the body as through its organ; that thus all the fullness of the Divinity dwells in Christ bodily, according to Paul. That the Incarnation was accomplished that He might reconcile the Father to us, and become a sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, as well original as actual; that He was incarnated from the substance of the Holy Spirit, but that His Human nature was produced from the Virgin Mary, which, as the Word, He assumed and united to Himself; that He sanctifies those who believe in Him, by sending the Holy Spirit into their hearts, to rule, comfort, and vivify them, and defend them against the devil and the power of sin. That Christ descended to those below, and destroyed hell for all believers; but in what manner these things were effected, He does not wish them to scrutinize too curiously, but that the knowledge of this matter may be reserved for another age, when not only this mystery, but many other things also will be revealed.” These particulars are from Luther; the Augustan Confession; the Nicene Council, and the Smalcaldic Articles. See The Formula Concordiae.

“By another part of the Reformed, who are also treated of in The Formula Concordiae, it is believed that Christ, according to His Human nature, by exaltation, received only created gifts and finite power, therefore that He is a man like any other, retaining the properties of the flesh; that therefore as to His Human nature He is not omnipresent and omniscient; that although absent He governs, as King, things remote from Himself; that as God from eternity He is with the Father, and as Man born in time, He is with the angels in Heaven; and that when it is said, in Christ God is Man and Man God, it is only a figure of speech; besides other things of a like nature.

“But this disagreement is adjusted by the Athanasian Creed, which is received by all in the Christian world, where these words occur: “The true faith is, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man; God, from the substance of the Father, born before the world, and Man, from the substance of the mother, born in the world; perfect God and perfect Man: who, although He be God and Man, yet they are not two but one Christ: one, not by the conversion of the Divine essence into body, but by the taking of His Human into God; one altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of Person; for as the rational soul and the body is one man, so God and Man is one Christ. ‘

“III. OF JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH, AND OF GOOD WORKS. The justifying and saving faith of the clergy is this: That God the Father turned Himself away from the human race on account of their iniquities, and so, from justice, condemned them to eternal death, and that He therefore sent the Son into the world to expiate and redeem them, and to satisfy and reconcile; and that the Son did this by taking upon Himself the condemnation of the law, and suffering Himself to be crucified, and that thus by obedience He entirely satisfied God’s justice, even to becoming justice Himself; and that God the Father imputes and applies this, as His merit, to believers, and sends the Holy Spirit to them, who operates charity, good works, and repentance, as a good tree produces good fruits; and justifies, renews, regenerated, and sanctifies; and that this faith is the only means of salvation, and that by it alone a man’s sins are forgiven. They distinguish between the act and the state of justification: by the act of justification they understand the beginning of justification, which takes place in a moment, when man by that faith alone takes hold of the merit of Christ with confidence; by the state of justification they understand the progress of that faith, which takes place by the interior operation of the Holy Spirit, which does not manifest itself except by certain signs, concerning which they teach various things. They speak also of manifest good works, which are done from the man and his will, and follow that faith; but they exclude them from justification, because the proprium and therefore the merit of the man is in them. This is a summary of modern faith, but its confirmations and the traditions concerning it are numerous and manifold; some of which also shall be adduced; which are, that men cannot be justified before God by their own strength, merits, and works, but gratuitously for Christ’s sake, by faith; that by this faith they believe that they are received into grace, and their sins are remitted for His sake, who by His death made satisfaction for us, and that God the Father imputes this to believers for righteousness before Him; that this faith, that Christ suffered and died for us, is not only the historical knowledge, but also a cordial assent, confidence and trust that sins are gratuitously remitted for Christ’s sake, and that they are justified; and that then these three things concur, gratuitous promise, the merit of Christ as a price, and propitiation. That faith is the righteousness by which we are reputed just before God on account of the promise; and that to be justified is to be absolved from sins, and that it may also be called being vivified and regenerated; that faith is reckoned to us for justice, not because it is so good a work, but because it takes hold of the merit of Christ. That the merit of Christ is His obedience, passion, death, and resurrection; that it is necessary that there should be something by which God can be approached, and that this is nothing else but faith, by which reception is effected. That faith, in the act of justification, enters through the Word and the hearing, and that it is not the act of man, but that it is the operation of the Holy Spirit, and that then man does not co-operate any more than a statue of salt, a stock, or a stone, doing nothing from himself, and knowing nothing of it; but that after the act he co-operates, yet not with any will of his own in spiritual things; in things natural, civil, and moral, it is otherwise: but that they can so far proceed in things spiritual as to will what is good, and to feel delight in consequence, yet this is not from their own will, but from the Holy Spirit, and that thus they co-operate, not from their own powers, but from new powers and gifts begun in them by the Holy Spirit in their conversion; and that in true conversion a change, renovation, and motion are produced in the understanding and heart of man. That charity, good works, and repentance, do not enter into the act of justification, but that in the state of justification they are necessary, especially by reason of God’s command, and that by them they merit the corporeal rewards of this life, but not the remission of sins, and the glory of eternal life, because faith alone, without the works of the law, justifies and saves. That faith in act justifies man, but faith in state renovates him; that in renovation by reason of God’s command, the works reputed good, as commanded by the Decalogue, are necessary to be performed, because it is the will of God that carnal lusts should be restrained by civil discipline, for which reason He has provided doctrine, laws, magistrates, and punishments; that, therefore, it is consequently false, that by works we merit remission of sins and salvation, and that works have any effect in preserving faith, and that it is also false, that man is reputed just on account of the justice of his reason; and that reason can, from its own powers, love God above all things and do His law; in a word, that faith and salvation are not preserved and retained in men by good works, but only by the Spirit of God and by faith; but still that good works are testimonies that the Holy Spirit is present and dwells in them. They condemn as pernicious, the expression that good works are hurtful to salvation; because the interior works of the Holy Spirit are to be understood, which are good, not the exterior ones proceeding from man’s own will, which are not good but evil, because meritorious. They teach, moreover, that Christ at the Last Judgment will pronounce sentence upon good and evil works as effects proper and not proper to the faith of man. This faith reigns at this day in the whole Reformed Christian world with the clergy, but not with the laity, except a very few; for the laity by faith understand nothing else but to believe in God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and that he who lives well and believes well, will he saved; and of the Lord that He is the Saviour; for they are ignorant of the mysteries of justification of their preachers, who, although they preach such things, yet, with the laity who hear them, they enter in at one ear and go out at the other; their teachers, indeed, think themselves learned, from knowing them, and labor much in their schools and universities to acquire them; therefore it is said above, that this faith is the faith of the clergy. But yet the teachers teach this same faith differently in the different kingdoms in which the Reformed Church is established; in Germany, Sweden, and Denmark, they say that the Holy Spirit operates by that faith, and justifies and sanctifies men, and afterwards successively renovates and regenerates them, but without the works of the law; and they who are in that faith from trust and confidence, are in grace with God the Father; and that then the evils which they do, appear indeed, but are constantly remitted. In England, they teach that this faith produces charity without man’s knowing it, and that when man feels the Holy Spirit operate interiorly in himself, this operation also is the good of charity; and if he does not feel it, and yet does good for the sake of salvation, that it may be called good, but still that it derives somewhat from man, in that there is merit in it. Moreover, that such faith can operate this at the last hour of death, yet it is not known how. In Holland, they teach, that God the Father, for the sake of the Son, justifies and purifies man interiorly by the Holy Spirit through that faith, but even to His own will, from which He turns back without touching it; some teach that He touches it lightly, and that thus the evils of man’s will do not appear before God. But few of the laity know anything of these mysteries of the clergy; nor are they willing to publish them as they are in themselves, because they know that the laity do not relish them.

“IV. OF THE LAW AND THE GOSPEL. That the law was given by God, that it may be known what sin is, and that thus it may be restrained by threats and by fear, and afterwards by the promise and the announcement of grace; therefore the special office of the law is, to reveal original sin and all its fruits, and to make known to what a horrible degree the nature of man is fallen and how deeply it is depraved; by this means it terrifies, humbles, and prostrates man so that he despairs for himself, and anxiously desires help. This effect of the law is called contrition, which is not active or factitious, but passive, and the torment of conscience. But the Gospel is the whole doctrine concerning Christ and faith; and thus concerning the remission of sins; consequently, a most gladdening messenger, not reproving and terrifying, but comforting. By the law the wrath of God against all impiety is revealed, and man is condemned, therefore it causes man to look to Christ, and to the Gospel; they must both be preached, because they are connected. The Gospel teaches that Christ took upon Himself the curse of the law and expiated all sins, and that we consequently obtain remission by faith. That the Holy Spirit is given and received, and the heart of man renewed, not by the preaching of the law, but of the Gospel; and that the Spirit afterwards makes use of the ministry of the law, to teach and show in the Decalogue, what the good will and pleasure of God is; thus the Spirit makes dead and makes alive. That a distinction is to be made between the works of the law, and the works of the Spirit, therefore the faithful are not under the law, but under grace, for that very reason. That the justice of the law does not justify, that is, does not reconcile nor regenerate, nor, by itself, make men accepted of God; but when the Holy Spirit is given, the fulfilling of the law follows. That the works of the second table of the Decalogue do not justify, because by it we act with men, and not properly with God, and yet in justification we must act with God. That Christ, because without sin suffered the punishment of sin, and was made an offering for us, whereby He took away that right of the law, that it might not condemn believers, because He is a propitiation for them, for the sake of which they are reputed just.

“V. OF REPENTANCE AND CONFESSION. That repentance consists of two parts; one is contrition, or terror struck into the conscience by reason of sin; the other faith, which is conceived from the Gospel, and by the remission of sins, comforts the conscience and delivers from terrors. He who confesses that he is wholly sin, comprehends all sins, excludes none, and forgets none; thus sins are purged away, and man is purified, rectified, and sanctified; because the Holy Spirit does not suffer sin to have dominion, but represses and restrains it. That the enumeration of sins ought to be free, as the person may choose or not choose; and that great stress is to be laid upon private confession and absolution; therefore if anyone chooses, be may confess his sins, and receive absolution from the confessor, and the sins are then remitted. The words which the minister is to make use of on this occasion are, May God be propitious to thee, and confirm thy faith; be it unto thee as thou believest, and I, by the commandment of the Lord, remit to thee thy sins;’ but others say, I announce to thee the remission of thy sins:’ that still, however, sins are not forgiven by repentance any more than by works; but by faith. Therefore, the repentance of the clergy is only a confession before God that they are sinners, and a prayer that they may persevere in faith That expiations and satisfactions are not necessary, because Christ is the expiation and satisfaction.

“VI. OF ORIGINAL SIN, they teach: That after the fall of Adam all men propagated according to nature are born with sin, that is, without the fear of God, and with lusts; and that this condemns and brings eternal death upon those who are not born again by Baptism and the Holy Spirit; that it is a privation of original justice, and at the same time an inordinate disposition of the parts of the soul, and a corrupt habit. That there is a difference between the nature itself into which man was created, which exists even after the fall, and remains a creature of God, and original sin; therefore, that there is a difference between corrupt nature, and the corruption which is inherent in nature, and by which nature is corrupted; that no one but God alone can separate the corruption of nature from nature itself; that this will manifestly be done in the blessed resurrection, because then nature itself, which man bears around in the world, will rise again without original sin, and enjoy eternal felicity; that the difference is as between the work of God and the work of the devil; that this sin did not invade nature in such a manner, as if Satan had created any evil substantially and commixed it with nature, but that concreated and original justice was lost: that original sin is an accident; and that by reason of it, man is, as it were, spiritually dead before God: that this evil is covered and pardoned by Christ alone: that the seed itself from which man is formed, is contaminated by that sin: that hence also it is, that man receives from his parents depraved inclinations and internal uncleanness of heart.

“VII. OF BAPTISM. That Baptism is not simply water, but that it is water taken by the Divine command, and sealed with the Word of God, and thus sanctified: that the virtue, work, fruit, and end of Baptism is, that men may be saved and admitted into the Christian communion. That by Baptism victory is offered over death and the devil; remission of sins; the grace of God; Christ with all His works; and the Holy Spirit with all His gifts; and eternal blessedness to all and every believer. Whether faith be given to infants, also, by Baptism, is a question too deep to be solicitously inquired into. That immersion in water signifies the mortification of the old man, and the resurrection of the new; that therefore it may be called the laver of regeneration; and the true laver in the Word; also in the death and burial of Christ. That the life of a Christian is a daily Baptism once begun in this manner; that the water does not effect this, but the Word of God, which is in and with the water, and the faith of God’s Word added to the water; that hence it follows, that Baptism in the name of God, is performed by men indeed, but is not from them, but from God Himself. That Baptism does not take away original sin by extinguishing depraved lust, but only the guilt of it.

“But others of the Reformed believe, that Baptism is an external laver of water, whereby an internal ablution from sins is signified; that it does not confer regeneration, faith, the grace of God, and salvation, but only signifies and seals them; and that they are not conferred in and with Baptism, but afterwards as the person grows up; and that the elect alone obtain the grace of Christ and the gift of faith: and because salvation does not depend upon Baptism, that therefore it is permitted to be performed by another in the lack of a regular minister.

“VIII. OF THE LORD’S SUPPER. They of the Reformed Church, who are called Lutherans, teach that in the Holy Supper or Sacrament of the Altar, the body and blood of Christ are really and substantially present, and are actually distributed and received with the bread and wine; that therefore the real body and the real blood of Christ are in, with, and under the bread and wine and are given to Christians to eat and drink; and that therefore they am not simply bread and wine, but are included and bound to the Word of God, and that this causes them to be the body and blood of Christ; for when the Word accedes to the element, it becomes a Sacrament; but yet that there is no transubstantiation, such as is that of the papists; that it is the food of the soul, nourishing and strengthening the new man: that it was instituted, to the end that faith might repair and receive its strength, to give remission of sins, and a new life, which Christ merited for us: that thus the body and blood of Christ are not only taken spiritually by faith, but also by the mouth, in a supernatural way, by reason of their sacramental union with the bread and wine: that the worthiness of this Supper consists in obedience alone, and in the merit of Christ, which is applied by true faith. In a word, that the Sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and of Baptism are testimonies of the will and grace of God towards men; and that the Sacrament of the Supper is a promise of remission of sins through faith; that it may move the heart to believe; and that the Holy Spirit may operate through the Word and the Sacraments: that the consecration of the minister does not produce these effects, but that they are attributed to the sole omnipotent virtue of the Lord. That the unworthy, as well as the worthy, receive the real body and blood of Christ, as He hung upon the cross; but the worthy to salvation, the unworthy to condemnation; that they are worthy who have faith; that no one is to be forced to that Supper, but everyone may approach when urged by spiritual hunger.

“Others, however, of the Reformed Church teach, that in the Holy Supper the body and blood of Christ are taken only spiritually, and that the bread and wine are only signs, types, symbols, marks, figures, and similitudes; that Christ is not bodily present, but only in virtue and operation from His Divine essence; but that in heaven there is a conjunction according to the individual communion: that the worthiness of this Supper depends not only upon faith, but also upon preparation: that the worthy alone receive its virtue, but the unworthy bread and wine only. Although there are these disagreements, yet all the Reformed agree in this: that it is altogether necessary that they should do the work of repentance who desire to receive that Holy Supper worthily; the Lutherans insist that if they do not do repentance from evil works, and yet approach, they are eternally condemned; and the English, that otherwise the devil will enter into them as he did into Judas; this is evident from the prayers read before the communion.

“IX. OF FREE WILL. They make a distinction between the state before the fall, after the fall, after the reception of faith and renovation, and after the resurrection. That man since the fall is entirely incapable of beginning, thinking, understanding, believing, willing, operating or cooperating anything from his own power in spiritual and Divine things; or of applying or accommodating himself to grace; but that his natural will is only for those things which are contrary to God, and displease Him; thus that man in spiritual things is like a stock, but that still he has a capacity, not active, but passive, whereby he can be turned to good by the grace of God; that nevertheless there remains in man since the fall, the freewill and power either to hear or not to hear the Word of God, and that thus a spark of faith may be kindled in his heart, which embraces the remission of sins for Christ’s sake, and imparts consolation. That nevertheless the human will enjoys the liberty of doing civil justice, and of making choice of such things as are within the province of reason.

“X. OF THE CHURCH. That the church is the congregation and communion of saints, and that it is spread through the entire world among those who have the same Christ, and the same Holy Spirit, and the same Sacraments, whether they have similar or dissimilar traditions: and that it is principally a society of faith; and that this church alone is the body of Christ, and that the good are both in reality and in name the church, but the wicked only in name; that the evil and hypocrites, because they are intermixed, are members of the church according to its external signs, provided they are not excommunicated, but that they are not members of the body of Christ. That ecclesiastical rites, which are called ceremonies, are matters of indifference (adiaphori), and that they are not the worship of God, nor a part of the worship of God; that therefore the church is at liberty to institute, change, and abrogate them, as, for instance, the distinctions of vestments, times, days, foods, and the like; and that therefore one church ought not to condemn another on account of things of this nature.”

These are the doctrinal tenets of the Reformed Church and Religion in brief; but those which are taught by the Schwengfeldians, Pelagians, Manichaeans, Donatists, Anabaptists, Arminians, Cinglians, Antitrinitarians, Socinians, Arians, and, at this day, by the Quakers and Moravians, are passed over, because they are reprobated and rejected by the Church of the Reformed as heretical.

Chapter 1 (1-67)

1. Revelation 1 1. The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto Him, to show unto His servants things which must shortly come to pass; and He signified, sending by His angel to His servant John,

2. Who testified the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, whatsoever he saw.

3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear, the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written therein: for the time is near.

4. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven spirits who are before His throne;

5. And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To Him that loveth us, and washeth us from our sins in His blood:

6. And He maketh us kings and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be glory and might for ever and ever.

7. Behold He cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they who pierced Him: and all the tribes of the earth shall wail because of Him. Even so; Amen.

8. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.

9. I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in affliction, and in the kingdom and patient expectation of Jesus Christ, was in the island called Patmos, for the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.

10. I became in the spirit on the Lord’s day; and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,

11. Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last: and, what thou seest, write in a book, and send to the churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and Smyrna, and Pergamos, and Thyatira, and Sardis, and Philadelphia, and Laodicea.

12. And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me: and, having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands;

13. And in the midst of the seven lampstands One like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.

14. And His head and His hairs were white as white wool, like snow; and His eyes as a flame of fire;

15. And His feet like unto fine brass, as if glowing in a furnace; and His voice as the voice of many waters;

16. And having in His right hand seven stars; and out of His mouth a sharp two-edged sword going forth; and His face was as the sun shineth in His power.

17. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the First and the Last;

18. And am He that liveth, and was dead; and behold I am alive for ages of ages. Amen; and I have the keys of hell and of death.

19. Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.

20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches; and the seven lampstands, which thou sawest, are the seven churches.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

That this Revelation is from the Lord alone, and that it is received by those who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, and acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth; the Lord is also described as to the Word.

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “The Revelation of Jesus Christ” signifies predictions from the Lord concerning Himself and His Church, what the latter will be in its end, and what it will be afterwards (n. 2). “Which God gave unto Him to show unto His servants,” signifies for those who are in faith from charity (n. 3). “Things which must shortly come to pass,” signifies that they will certainly be, lest the Church perish (n. 4). “And He signified, sending by His angel, to His servant John,” signifies the things which are revealed by the Lord through heaven to those who are in the good of life from charity and its faith (n. 5).

Verse 2. “Who testified the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ,” signifies, who from the heart and thus in the light receive Divine truth from the Word, and acknowledge the Lord’s Human to be Divine (n. 6). “Whatsoever he saw,” signifies their enlightenment in all the things which are in this Revelation (n. 7).

Verse 3. “Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things written therein,” signifies the communion of those with the angels of heaven, who live according to the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem (n. 8). “ For the time is near,” signifies that the state of the Church is such that it can no longer continue so as to have conjunction with the Lord (n. 9).

Verse 4. “John to the seven churches,” signifies to all who are in the Christian world, where the Word is, and by it the Lord is known, and who draw near to the Church (n. 10). “Which are in Asia,” signifies to those who are in the light of truth from the Word (n. 11). “Grace be unto you, and peace,” signifies the Divine salutation (n. 12). “From Him who is, and who was, and who is to come,” signifies from the Lord, who is eternal and infinite, and Jehovah (n. 13). “And from the seven spirits who are before His throne,” signifies from the whole heaven, where the Lord is in His Divine truth (n. 14).

Verse 5. “From Jesus Christ,” signifies the Divine Human (n. 15). “The faithful witness,” signifies that He is the Divine truth itself (n. 16). “The first-born from the dead,” signifies that He is also the Divine good itself (n. 17). “And the Prince¹  of the earth,” signifies from whom is all truth from good in the church (n. 18). “That loveth us, and washeth us from our sins,” signifies who from love and mercy reforms and regenerates men by His Divine truths from the Word (n. 19).

Verse 6. “And He maketh us kings and priests,” signifies who gives to those who are born of Him, that is, regenerated, to be in wisdom from Divine truths and in love from Divine goods (n. 20). “Unto God and His Father,” signifies and thus images of His Divine wisdom and His Divine love (n. 21). “To Him be glory and might into the ages of ages,” signifies who alone has Divine majesty and Divine omnipotence to eternity (n. 22). “Amen,” signifies the Divine confirmation from truth, thus from Himself (n. 23).

Verse 7. “And He cometh with the clouds of heaven,” signifies that the Lord will reveal Himself in the literal sense of the Word, and will open its spiritual sense, at the end of the church (n. 24). “And every eye shall see Him,” signifies that all will acknowledge Him, who, from affection, are in the understanding of Divine truth (n. 25). “And they who pierced Him,” signifies that they also will see, who are in falsities in the church (n. 26). “And all the tribes of the earth shall wail,” signifies that this will be when there are no longer any goods and truths in the church (n. 27). “Even so, Amen,” signifies the Divine confirmation that thus it will be (n. 28).

Verse 8. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” signifies Who is the Self-existing and the Only from firsts to ultimates, from Whom all things are; thus who is Love Itself and the Only Love, Wisdom Itself and the Only Wisdom, and Life Itself and the Only Life in Himself, and thus the Creator Himself and the only Creator, Saviour, and Enlightener from Himself, and thence the All in all of heaven and the church (n. 29). “Saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come,” signifies who is eternal and infinite, and Jehovah (n. 30). “The Almighty,” signifies who is, lives, and has power, from Himself, and who governs all things from firsts by ultimates (n. 31).

Verse 9. “I, John, who am your brother and companion,” signifies those who are in the good of charity and thence in the truths of faith (n. 32). “In affliction, and in the kingdom, and the patient expectation of Jesus Christ,” signifies who in the church are infested by evils and falsities, but these are to be removed by the Lord, when He comes (n. 33). “I was in the island called Patmos,” signifies a state and place in which he could be enlightened (n. 34). “For the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ,” signifies in order that the Divine truth from the Word may be received from the heart and thus in the light, and that the Lord’s Human may be acknowledged to be Divine (n. 35).

Verse 10. “I became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day,” signifies a spiritual state at that time from Divine influx (n. 36). “And I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet,” signifies the manifest perception of Divine truth revealed from heaven (n. 37).

Verse 11. “Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” signifies who is the Self-existing and the Only from firsts to ultimates, from whom all things are; and more as above (n. 38). [“What thou seest write in a book”]² signifies that they might be revealed to posterity (n. 39). “And send unto the churches that are in Asia,” signifies for those in the Christian world who are in the light of truth from the Word (n. 40). “Unto Ephesus and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia and unto Laodicea,” signifies in particular according to the state of each one’s reception (n. 41).

Verse 12. “And I turned to see the voice which was speaking with me,” signifies the inversion of the state of those who are in the good of life as to the perception of truth in the Word, when they turn themselves to the Lord (n. 42). “And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,” signifies the New Church which will be in enlightenment from the Lord out of the Word (n. 43).

Verse 13. “And in the midst of the seven lampstands One like unto the Son of Man,” signifies the Lord as to the Word, from whom is that church (n. 44). “Clothed with a garment down to the foot,” signifies the proceeding Divine, which is the Divine truth (n. 45). “And girded at the paps with a golden girdle,” signifies the proceeding and at the same time conjoining Divine, which is the Divine good (n. 46).

Verse 14. “And His head and hairs were white³  as wool, like snow,” signifies the Divine love of the Divine wisdom in firsts and in ultimates (n. 47). “And His eyes as a flame of fire,” signifies the Divine wisdom of the Divine love (n. 48).

Verse 15. “And His feet like unto fine brass, as if glowing in a furnace,” signifies the Divine good natural (n. 49). “And His voice as the voice of many waters,” signifies the Divine truth natural (n. 50).

Verse 16. “And having in His right hand seven stars,” signifies all the knowledges of good and truth in the Word from Him (n. 51). “And out of His mouth a sharp two-edged sword going forth,” signifies the dispersion of falsities by the Lord through the Word and through doctrine therefrom (n. 52). “And His face was as the sun shining in power,” signifies the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, which are Himself, and proceed from Him (n. 53).

Verse 17. “And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead,” signifies the failing of his own life from such presence of the Lord (n. 54). “And He laid His right hand upon me,” signifies life then inspired from Him (n. 55). “Saying unto me, Fear not,” signifies resuscitation, and adoration then from the deepest humiliation (n. 56). “I am the First and the Last,” signifies that He is Eternal and Infinite, and thus the Only God (n. 57).

Verse 18. “And am He that is living,” signifies who alone is life, and from whom alone life is (n. 58). “And was dead,” signifies that He was neglected in the church, and His Divine Human not acknowledged (n. 59). “And behold, I am alive for ages of ages,” signifies that He is life eternal (n. 60). “Amen,” signifies the Divine confirmation that it is the truth (n. 61). “And I have the keys of Hell and of death,” signifies that He alone can save (n. 62).

Verse 19. “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter,” signifies in order that all the things which are now revealed may be for posterity (n. 63).

Verse 20. “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands,” signifies arcana in the visions concerning the New Heaven and the New Church (n. 64). “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,” signifies the New Church in the heavens, which is the New Heaven (n. 65). “And the seven lampstands which thou sawest are the seven churches,” signifies the New Church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem descending from the Lord out of the New Heaven.

THE EXPLANATION

What the spiritual sense is, has been hitherto unknown. That there is such a sense in every particular of the Word, and that without it, the Word in many places cannot be understood, has been shown in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 5-26). This sense does not appear in the literal sense, for it is in it as the soul in its body. It is known that there is the spiritual and the natural, and that the spiritual flows into the natural, and presents itself to be seen and felt in the forms which fall under the sight and touch, and that the spiritual, without such forms, is not perceived otherwise than as affection and thought, or as love and wisdom which are of the mind. That affection and thought, or love whose property it is to be affected, and wisdom whose property it is to think, are spiritual, is acknowledged. That these two faculties of the soul present themselves in the body in forms which are called the organs of sense and motion, is known; also, that they make one, and such a one as that when the mind thinks, the mouth in an instant speaks, and when the mind wills, the body in an instant acts; hence it is evident, that there is a perfect union of things spiritual and natural with man.

[2] It is similar in each and everything in the world; there is in them the spiritual, which is the inmost of the cause, and there is the natural, which is its effect, and these two make one; and the spiritual does not appear in the natural, because it is in it as the soul in the body, and as the inmost of the cause in the effect, as was said before. It is similar with the Word; that this in its bosom is spiritual, because it is Divine, can be denied by no one; but as the spiritual does not appear in the sense of the letter, which is natural, therefore the spiritual sense has been hitherto unknown; nor could it have been known before genuine truths were revealed by the Lord, for that sense is in these. For this reason Revelation has not been understood before. But lest there should be doubt that such things are within it, the particulars must be explained, and demonstrated by similar passages elsewhere in the Word. The explanation and demonstration now follow.

2. Verse 1. The revelation of Jesus Christ, signifies predictions from the Lord concerning Himself and His church, what the latter will be in its end, and what it will be afterwards, as well in the heavens as upon earth. By “the revelation of Jesus Christ” are signified all predictions, which because they are from the Lord, are called the Revelation of Jesus Christ; that they relate to the Lord and His church, will appear from the explanations. In Revelation it does not treat of the successive states of the church, still less of the successive states of kingdoms, as some have hitherto believed, but there from beginning to end it treats of the last state of the church in the heavens and on the earth; and then concerning the Last Judgment; and after this of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. That this New Church is the end of this work, is evident, wherefore those things which precede refer to the state of the church, as to its quality just before it. But in what series these are treated of, may be seen from the contents of each chapter; and more distinctly from the explanation of each particular verse.

3. Which God gave unto Him to show unto His servants, signifies for those who are in faith from charity, or in truths of wisdom from the good of love. By “showing” is signified to manifest, and by “servants” are here signified those who are in faith from charity; to them these things are manifested, because they understand and receive them. By servants, in the spiritual sense, are meant those who are in truths; and because truths are from good, by servants are meant those who are in truths from good, thus also, those who are in wisdom from love, because wisdom is of truth, and love is of good; also those who are in faith derived from charity, because faith also is of truth and charity is of good; and as the genuine spiritual sense is abstracted from person, therefore in it by servants are signified truths. Now as truths are serviceable to good by teaching it, therefore, in general, and properly, by “servant” in the Word is meant what is serviceable, or he or that which serves; in this sense not only the prophets are called the servants of God, but also the Lord as to His Human; that the prophets are called the servants of God is evident from the following passages:

Jehovah hath sent unto you all His servants the prophets, (Jeremiah 25:4).

He revealeth His secret unto His servants the prophets, (Amos 3:7).

He set before you⁴ by the hand of His servants the prophets, (Daniel 9:10);

And Moses is called “The servant of Jehovah” (Malachi 4:4).

The reason is that by a prophet in the spiritual sense is meant the truth of doctrine, as explained below.

[2] And because the Lord was the Divine truth itself, which also is the Word, and from this was Himself called the Prophet; and served in the world, and serves all to eternity by teaching, therefore, He also, in many places, is called the servant of Jehovah; as in the following passages:

He shall see of the labor of His soul, and shall be satisfied; by His knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, (Isaiah 53:11).

Behold, my servant shall deal prudently, He shall be extolled and exalted and be lifted up greatly, (Isaiah 52:13).

Behold, my servant, on whom I lean, mine elect, in whom my soul hath good pleasure, I have put my spirit upon Him, (Isaiah 42:1, 19);

this is spoken of the Lord: in like manner David is called a servant, where, by him, the Lord is meant; as in the following passages:

And I Jehovah will be their God, and My servant David a prince in the midst of them, (Ezekiel 34:24).

My servant, David, shall be king over them, that there may be one shepherd to them all, (Ezekiel 37:24).

I will protect this city to preserve it, for My sake and My servant David’s, (Isaiah 37:35).

So also in Psalms 78:70-72; 89:3-4, 20. That by David in these places is meant the Lord, may be seen in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord 43-44. The Lord Himself says the same of Himself:

Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister, and whosoever will be first let him be your servant, as the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, (Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-44; Luke 22:27; likewise Luke 12:37).

This the Lord says, because by servant and minister is meant one who serves and ministers by teaching, and abstractly from person, the Divine truth, which was Himself.

[3] Since, therefore, by servant is meant he who teaches Divine truth, it is evident that by servants in this place in Revelation are meant those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity, because these can teach from the Lord, that is, the Lord can teach and minister through them. In this sense they are called servants in Matthew:

In the consummation of the age, who is the faithful and prudent servant, whom his Lord shall set over his household, to give them their food in its season; blessed is that servant whom the Lord when He cometh, shall find so doing, (Matthew 24:45-46).

And in Luke:

Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when He cometh, shall find watching: verily, I say unto you, that He shall gird Himself, and make them to recline, and shall Himself come near and minister unto them, (Luke 12:37).

In heaven all are called servants of the Lord who are in his spiritual kingdom; but they who are in his celestial kingdom are called ministers; the reason is, that they who are in his spiritual kingdom, are in wisdom from Divine truth; and they who are in his celestial kingdom are in love from Divine good; and good ministers and truth serves. But in the opposite sense, by servants are meant those who serve the devil; these are in a state of servitude itself; but they who serve the Lord are in a state of liberty; as the Lord also teaches, (John 8:32-36).

4. Things which must shortly come to pass signifies that they will certainly be, lest the church perish. By coming to pass shortly, is not meant that the things which are foretold in Revelation, will happen immediately and speedily, but certainly; and that unless they do happen the church must perish. In the Divine idea, and thence in the spiritual sense, there is no time, but instead of time there is state; and because shortly relates to time, by it is signified certainly, and that it will come to pass before its time, for Revelation was given in the first century, and since that seventeen centuries have now elapsed, from which it is evident, that by shortly is signified that which corresponds to it, and that is, certainly.

[2] The like is also involved in these words of the Lord:

Except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved; but for the elect’s sake, those days shall be shortened, (Matthew 24:22);

by which also is meant that unless the church should come to an end before its time, it would altogether perish; in that chapter the consummation of the age and the Lord’s coming are treated of; and by the consummation of the age is meant the last state of the old church, and by the Lord’s coming, the first state of the new church.

[3] It was said that in the Divine idea there is not time, but the presence of all things past and future; wherefore it is said in David:

A thousand years in Thy sight are as yesterday, (Psalms 90:4);

I will declare the decree, Jehovah hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee, (Psalms 2:7).

“This day” is the presence of the Lord’s advent. Thence also it is, that an entire period is called day in the Word, and its first state the dawning and the morning, and the last evening and night.

5. And He signified, sending by, His angel to His servant John, signifies the things which are revealed from the Lord through heaven to those who are in the good of life from charity and its faith. By “He signified, sending by His angel,” in the spiritual sense, is meant the things which are revealed from heaven, or through heaven by the Lord: for by “angel” in the Word is everywhere meant the angelic heaven, and in the supreme sense the Lord Himself; the reason is, that no angel ever speaks with man separate from heaven; for there is such a conjunction there of each with all, that everyone speaks from the communion, although the angel is not conscious of it. For heaven in the sight of the Lord is as one man, whose soul is the Lord Himself; wherefore the Lord speaks with man through heaven, as man does from his soul through his body with another; and this is done in conjunction with all and each of the things of his mind, in the midst of which are the things which he speaks. But this arcanum cannot be unfolded in a few words. It is partly unfolded in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom. Hence it is evident, that by “an angel” is signified heaven, and in the supreme sense the Lord. The reason why by “angel” the Lord is meant in the supreme sense, is, because heaven is not heaven from the things proper to the angels, but from the Divine of the Lord, from which is derived their love and wisdom, yea, their life. Hence it is that the Lord Himself is called “Angel” in the Word. From these things it is manifest that the angel did not speak from himself with John; but the Lord by means of heaven through him.

[2] By these words is meant, that they were revealed to those who are in the good of life from charity and its faith, because these are meant by “John.” For by the “twelve disciples” or “apostles” of the Lord, are meant all who are of the church in truths from good; and in the abstract sense, all things of the church; and by “Peter,” all who are in faith, and, abstractly, faith itself; by “James,” they who are in charity, and, abstractly, charity itself; by “John,” they who are in the good of life from charity and its faith, and, abstractly, the good of life itself therefrom. That these things are meant by “John,” “James,” and “Peter” in the Word of the evangelists, may be seen in the small work on The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, published at London in the year 1758, (122).

[3] Since the good of life from charity and its faith makes the church, therefore through the apostle John were revealed the arcana concerning the state of the church which are contained in his visions. That by all the names of persons and places in the Word are signified things of heaven and the church, is shown in many places in Arcana Coelestia, also published at London. From these things it may appear, that by “He signified, sending by His angel to His servant John,” is meant in the spiritual sense, what is revealed by the Lord through heaven to those who are in the good of life from charity and its faith; for charity through faith operates good, and not charity by itself, nor faith by itself.

6. Verse 2. Who testified the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, signifies who, from the heart, and thus in the light, receive the Divine truth from the Word, and acknowledge the Lord’s Human to be Divine. It is said of John that “he testified the Word of God,” but as by John are meant all who are in the good of life from charity and its faith, as was said above, (5), therefore in the spiritual sense all these are meant. The angels, who are in the spiritual sense of the Word, never know any name of a person mentioned in the Word, but only that which the person represents and thence signifies, which, instead of John, is the good of life, or good in act; consequently all in the aggregate who are in that good. These “testify,” that is, see, acknowledge, receive from the heart in the light, and confess the truths of the Word, especially that truth therein that the Lord’s Human is Divine; which may be evident from the passages quoted from the Word in great abundance in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord. By “Jesus Christ” and by “the Lamb” in the Apocalypse is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, and by “God,” the Lord as to His Divine, from which are all things.

[2] With regard to the spiritual signification of “testifying,” this is predicated of truth, because in the world the truth is to be testified, and when it is testified, it is acknowledged. But in heaven truth testifies of itself because it is itself the light of heaven. For when the angels hear the truth, they immediately know and acknowledge it; and because the Lord is the truth itself, as He Himself teaches in John 14:6, He is in heaven the testimony of Himself. Hence it may appear what is meant by “the testimony of Jesus Christ;” wherefore the Lord says:

Ye sent unto John, and he testified unto the truth; but I receive not testimony from man, (John 5:33-34).

And in another place:

John came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light; he was not that Light; the Word which was with God, and was God, and became flesh, was the true Light, which lighteth every man, (John 1:1-2, 7-8, 14, 34).

And in another place:

Jesus said, Though I testify of Myself, yet My testimony is true, for I know whence I came, and whither I go, (John 8:14.

When the Comforter has come, even the Spirit of truth, He shall testify of Me, (John 15:26).

By the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is meant the truth itself proceeding from the Lord, wherefore it is said of it that it will not speak from itself, but from the Lord, (John 16:13-15).

7. Whatsoever he saw, signifies their enlightenment in all things which are in this Revelation. By “whatsoever he saw,” in the spiritual sense, are not meant what John saw, for they were only visions, but the things which they see who are meant by John, who are those who are in the good of life from charity and its faith, as was said above. These see in the visions of John, the arcana concerning the state of the church, not so much when they read them, but when they see them revealed. Moreover to see signifies to understand; on this account in common discourse it is said, that one sees a thing, and he sees that it is the truth; for man has sight as to his spirit as well as to his body. But man with his spirit sees spiritual things, because from the light of heaven, but with his body he sees natural things; because this sees from the light of the world, and spiritual things are real, but natural things are their forms. It is the spiritual sight of man which is called the understanding. From these things it is evident what is meant, in the spiritual sense, by “whatsoever things he saw;” in like manner in what follows, where it is said that he saw.

8. Verse 3. Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things which are written therein, signifies the communion of those with the angels of heaven, who live according to the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem. By “blessed,” is here meant one who, as to his spirit, is in heaven; thus, one who, while he lives in the world, is in communion with the angels of heaven; for as to his spirit he is in heaven. By “the words of the prophecy” nothing else is meant than the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, for by “prophet,” in the abstract sense, is signified the Doctrine of the church derived from the Word, thus here the Doctrine of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem; the same is signified by “prophecy.” By “reading, hearing, and keeping the things which are written therein,” is signified, to desire to know that doctrine; to attend to the things which are in it, and to do the things which are therein; in short, to live according to it. That they are not blessed who only read, hear and keep or retain in the memory the things which were seen by John, is evident (see below, 944).

[2] The reason why “a prophet” signifies the Doctrine of the church from the Word, and “prophecy” the same, is, because the Word was written through prophets, and in heaven a person is regarded according to that which belongs to his function and office. From this, also, is every man, spirit, and angel, named there. Therefore, when a prophet is mentioned, because his function was to write and teach the Word, the Word is meant as to doctrine, or doctrine from the Word. Hence it is, that the Lord, because He is the Word itself, was called the Prophet, (Deuteronomy 18:15-20, Matthew 13:57; Matthew 21:11; Luke 13:33). To show that by “prophet” is meant the doctrine of the church from the Word, some passages shall be adduced, from which this may be collected.

In Matthew:

In the consummation of the age many false prophets shall rise up, and shall seduce many. There shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and, if it were possible, they shall lead into error the elect, (Matthew 24:11, 24).

“The consummation of the age” is the last time of the church, which is now, when there are not false prophets, but falsities of doctrine.

[3] In the same:

He that receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet, shall receive a prophet’s reward; and he that receiveth a just man in the name of a just man, shall receive a just man’s reward, (Matthew 10:41).

“To receive a prophet in the name of a prophet,” is to receive the truth of doctrine because it is true; and “to receive a just man in the name of a just man,” is to receive good for the sake of good; and “to receive a reward,” is to be saved according to reception. It is evident that no one receives a reward, or is saved, because he receives a prophet and a just man in the name of such. Those words cannot be understood by anyone, without a knowledge of what “a prophet” and “a just man” signify; nor can those which follow:

Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, shall not lose his reward, (Matthew 10:42).

By a “disciple” is meant charity, and at the same time faith from the Lord.

[4] In Joel:

I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, so that your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, (Joel 2:28).

This is concerning the church which was to be established by the Lord, in which they would not prophesy, but receive doctrine, which is to “prophesy.”

In Matthew:

Jesus said, Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? but then will I confess unto them, I have not known you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity, (Matthew 7:22-23).

Who does not see, that they will not say that they have prophesied, but that they knew the doctrine of the church, and taught it?

In Revelation:

The time is come for judging the dead and for giving reward to the prophets, (Revelation 11:18);

and in another place:

Exult, O heaven, and holy apostles and prophets, for God hath judged your judgment, (Revelation 18:20).

It is evident that a reward would not be given to the prophets alone, and that the apostles and prophets would not alone exult at the Last Judgment, but all who have received the truths of doctrine, and have lived according to them. These, therefore, are meant by “apostles” and “prophets.”

[5] In Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet, (Exodus 7:1);

“a god” here means the Divine truth as to reception from the Lord, in which sense the angels are also called gods, and by “prophet” is meant one who teaches and speaks it, therefore Aaron is there called a prophet. The same is signified by “prophet” in other places, as in the following:

The law shall not perish from the priest, nor the Word from the prophet, (Jeremiah 18:18).

From the prophets of Jerusalem hath gone forth hypocrisy into all the land, (Jeremiah 23:15-16).

The prophets shall become wind, and the Word is not in them, (Jeremiah 5:13).

The priests and the prophets err through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they stagger in judgment, (Isaiah 28:7).

The sun setteth over the prophets, and the day groweth dark over them, (Micah 3:6).

From the prophet even unto the priest, everyone doeth a lie, (Jeremiah 8:10).

[6] In these passages, by “prophets” and “priests,” in the spiritual sense, are not meant prophets and priests, but the entire church; by “prophets,” the church as to the truth of doctrine, and by “priests” the church as to the good of life, both of which were destroyed; these things are so understood by the angels in heaven; while by men in the world they are understood according to the sense of the letter. That the prophets represented the state of the church as to doctrine, and that the Lord represented it as to the Word itself, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord 15-17.

9. For the time is near, signifies that the state of the church is such, that it cannot endure any longer as to its conjunction with the Lord. There are two essentials by which conjunction with the Lord, and thence salvation is effected, the acknowledgment of one God, and repentance of life; but at this day, instead of the acknowledgment of one God, there is an acknowledgment of three, and instead of repentance of life, there is repentance of the mouth only that one is a sinner; and by these two there is not any conjunction; therefore unless the New Church should arise, which acknowledges these two essentials, and lives accordingly, no one can be saved; on account of this danger the time is shortened by the Lord, according to His words in Matthew:

For then shall be great affliction, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, nor shall be; yea, except those days should be shortened, no flesh should be saved, (Matthew 24:21-22).

That near or nearness of time is not meant, may be seen below, (947).

10. Verse 4. John to the seven churches, signifies to all who are in the Christian world where the Word is, and by it the Lord is known, and who draw near to the church. By the “seven churches” are not meant seven churches, but all who are of the church in the Christian world; for numbers, in the Word, signify things, and “seven,” all things and all, and thence, also, what is full and perfect, and it occurs in the Word where anything holy is treated of, and in the opposite sense, of anything profane; consequently, this number involves what is holy, and, in the opposite sense, what is profane. The reason why numbers signify things, or rather resemble certain adjectives to substantives adding some quality to the things, is, because number is, in itself, natural; for natural things are determined by numbers, but spiritual things by things and their states. Therefore, he who does not know the signification of numbers in the Word, and especially in Revelation, cannot know the many arcana which are contained therein. Now, since “seven” signifies all things and all, it may appear that by the “seven churches” are meant all who are in the Christian world where the Word is, and by it the Lord is known. These, if they live according to the Lord’s precepts in the Word, make the church itself.

[2] Hence it is that the Sabbath was instituted on the seventh day, and the seventh year was called the sabbatical year; and the seven times seventh year the Jubilee, by which was signified everything holy in the church: for this cause, also, a week, in Daniel, and elsewhere, signifies an entire period from beginning to end, and is predicated of the church. Similar things are signified by seven in the following passages, as by:

The seven golden lampstands, in the midst of which was the Son of Man, (Revelation 1:13).

The seven stars in his right hand, (Revelation 1:16, 20).

The seven spirits of God, (Revelation 1:4; 4:5).

The seven lamps of fire, (Revelation 4:5).

The seven angels, to whom were given seven trumpets, (Revelation 8:2).

The seven angels having the seven last plagues, (Revelation 15:5-6).

The seven vials full of the seven last plagues, (Revelation 16:1; 21:9).

The seven seals with which the book was sealed, (Revelation 5:1).

In like manner in the following places that:

Their hands should be filled seven days, (Exodus 29:35).

They should be sanctified seven days, (Exodus 29:37).

When they were consecrated they should go clothed in the garments of holiness seven days, (Exodus 29:30).

They were not to go out of the door of the tent seven days, when they were initiated into the priesthood, (Leviticus 8:33, 35).

An atonement was to be made seven times upon the horns of the altar, (Leviticus 16:18-19).

The altar was to be sanctified with oil seven times, (Leviticus 8:11).

The blood was to be sprinkled seven times before the veil, (Leviticus 4:16-17).

And also seven times toward the east, (Leviticus 16:12-15).

The water of separation was to be sprinkled seven times towards the tent, (Numbers 19:4).

The passover was celebrated seven days; and unleavened bread was eaten seven days, (Exodus 12:15; Deuteronomy 16:4-7).

In like manner:

The Jews were to be punished seven times more for their sins, (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28).

Wherefore David says:

Recompense unto our neighbor sevenfold into their bosom, (Psalms 79:12).

[3] Sevenfold is fully. Likewise in these places:

The sayings of Jehovah are pure sayings, silver purified in the furnace seven times, (Psalms 12:6).

The hungry ceased, so that the barren hath borne seven, but she that hath many children lacketh, (1 Samuel 2:5).

“The barren” is the church of the Gentiles, who had not the Word; “she that hath many children” is the church of the Jews, who had the Word.

She who had borne seven languisheth, she shall breathe out her soul, (Jeremiah 15:9).

In like manner:

They that dwell in the cities of Israel shall set on fire and burn up the arms, and they shall kindle them with fire seven years: they shall bury Gog, and seven months shall they be cleansing the land, (Ezekiel 39:9, 11-12).

The unclean spirit will take with him seven other spirits worse than himself, (Matthew 12:45).

Profanation is here described, and by “the seven spirits” with which he would return, are signified all the falsities of evil; thus the plenary extinction of good and truth. By “the seven heads of the dragon,” and “the seven diadems upon his heads” (Revelation 12:3), is signified the profanation of all good and truth. From these things it is evident, that “seven” involves what is holy or profane, and signifies all and full.

11. Which are in Asia, signifies to those who are in the light of truth from the Word. Since, by all the names of persons and places in the Word, the things of heaven and the church are meant, as was said before; thus also they are meant by “Asia” and by the names of the seven churches therein, as will appear from what follows. The reason why they who are in the light of truth from the Word, are meant by “Asia,” is, because the Most Ancient Church, and, after it, the Ancient, and then the Israelitish church, were in Asia; also, because the ancient Word, and, afterwards the Israelitish, were with them; and all the light of truth is from the Word. That there were ancient churches in the Asiatic world and that they had a Word which was afterwards lost, and, lastly, the Word which is extant at this day, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (101-103). On this account it is, that by “Asia” are here signified all who are in the light of truth from the Word.

[2] “Concerning this Ancient Word, which was in Asia before the Israelitish Word, it is fitting to relate this news: That it is still reserved there among the people who are in Great Tartary; I have spoken with spirits and angels in the spiritual world who came thence, who said that they possess a Word, and have possessed it from ancient times; and that their Divine worship is performed according to this Word; and that it consists of mere correspondences. They said that it also contains the book of Jasher, which is mentioned in Joshua 10:12-13, and 2 Samuel 1:17-18, and also, that with them are the books mentioned by Moses, as The Wars of Jehovah and the Propheticals, (Numbers 21:14-15, 27-30); and when I read to them the words quoted thence by Moses, they examined whether they were extant there, and found them. From these things it was manifest to me that the Ancient Word is still with them. While speaking with them they said that they worship Jehovah, some as an invisible, and some as a visible God. Moreover they related that they do not suffer foreigners to come among them, except the Chinese, with whom they cultivate peace, because the emperor of China is from their country. And further, that they are so populous, that they do not believe any region in the whole world to be more populous; which is very credible from the wall so many miles long, which the Chinese formerly constructed as a safeguard against invasion from them. Seek for it in China, and peradventure you will find it there among the Tartars.

12. Grace be unto you and peace, signifies Divine salutation. What is understood specifically by “grace and peace,” will be explained in what follows; that “peace be unto you” was the Lord’s salutation to His disciples, thus the Divine salutation, may be seen in Luke 24:36-37; John 20:19-21; and by command of the Lord, it was the salutation of the disciples to all to whom they should enter in, (Matthew 10:11-15).

13. From Him who is, who was, and is to come, signifies, from the Lord who is eternal and infinite, and Jehovah. That it is the Lord, appears clearly from what follows in this chapter, where it is said that he heard a voice from the Son of man, saying:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, (Revelation 1:11, Revelation 1:13);

and afterwards:

I am the First and the Last, (Revelation 1:17);

and in the following chapter, (Revelation 1:8); and afterwards, (Revelation 21:6; 22:13); and in Isaiah:

Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts: I am the First, and I am the Last, and besides Me there Is no God, (Isaiah 44:6; 48:12); and He who is the First and the Last, is He who is, and who was, and who is to come.

[2] This also is meant by Jehovah; for the name Jehovah signifies is; and He who is, or who is Esse itself, the same is also He who was, and is to come, for in Him the past and the future are present; hence He is without time eternal, and without place infinite. This also is acknowledged by the church in the Doctrine of the Trinity, called Athanasian, in which are these words: “The Father is eternal and infinite, the Son is eternal and infinite, and the Holy Spirit is eternal and infinite, but yet there are not three eternals and infinites, but one;” that this one is the Lord, is demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord.

14. And from the seven spirits who are before His throne, signifies, from the whole heaven where the Lord is in His Divine truth, and where His Divine truth is received. By “seven spirits” are meant all who are in the Divine truth, and in the abstract sense, the Divine true or Divine truth itself. That “seven” in the Word means all and all things, may be seen above, (10); and that by “throne” is meant the whole heaven, will be seen presently. Hence by “before His throne,” is meant where His Divine truth is; for heaven is not heaven from anything proper to the angels, but from the Divine of the Lord, as is shown in many places in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence and the Divine Love and Wisdom. That “the Lord’s throne” signifies heaven, is evident from the following passages:

Jehovah saith, The heavens are My throne, (Isaiah 66:1).

Jehovah hath made firm His throne in the heavens, (Psalms 103:19).

He that sweareth by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by Him who sitteth thereon, (Matthew 23:22).

Above the expanse that was over the head of the cherubim, was as it were, the appearance of a sapphire stone, the likeness of a throne, and upon it the appearance of a Man, (Ezekiel 1:26; 10:1).

By “the expanse over the head of the cherubim” is meant heaven.

And in Revelation:

He that overcometh, I will give him to sit on My throne, (Revelation 3:21).

“On my throne,” is in heaven; specifically, where His Divine truth reigns; thus also, where judgment is treated of, it is said that the Lord will sit upon a throne, for judgment is performed by truths.

15. Verse 5 (Revelation 1:5). And from Jesus Christ, signifies the Divine Human. That by “Jesus Christ” and by “the Lamb” in the Word, is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, may be seen above, (6).

16. Who is the faithful witness, signifies that He is the Divine Truth itself. That “witness” is predicated of truth, and that the truth testifies of itself, thus the Lord, who is the Divine Truth itself, and the Word, may be seen above, (6).

17. The first-born from the dead, signifies that He is the Divine Good itself. What “the first-born from the dead” means, no one as yet knows; and the ancients disputed what it signifies. They knew that by “the first-born” is signified what is first and primary, from which is the all of the church; and it was believed by many, that it was truth in doctrine and in faith; but by few, that it was truth in act and work, which is the good of life. That this is the first and primary of the church, and thence in the proper sense is meant by “the first-born,” will be seen presently. But first something shall be said concerning the opinion of those who believed, that truth in doctrine and in faith is the first and primary of the church, thus the first-born. They believed this, because it is learned first, and because a church is a church by means of truth, though not before it is of the life. Previously it is only in the thought of the understanding, and in the memory, and not in the act of the will; and truth, which is not truth in act or work, does not live. It is only like a luxuriant tree having branches and leaves without fruit. And it is like knowledge without application to use; and like the foundation upon which a house is built in which one is to dwell. These things are first in time, but they are not first in end; and what are first in end are primary; for habitation in the house is the first in end, but the foundation is the first in time; use also is first in end, and knowledge is first in time; in like manner the first in end, when a tree is planted, is the fruit, but the first in time are the branches and leaves.

[2] With the understanding it is similar, which is formed in man first, but to the end that what a man sees with his understanding, he may do; otherwise the understanding is like a preacher, who teaches well, but lives wickedly. Moreover all truth is sown in the internal man, and rooted in the external; wherefore, unless the truth that is inseminated takes root in the external man, which is effected by doing, it becomes like a tree planted, not in the soil, but upon it, which immediately withers on exposure to the heat of the sun. The man who has done the truth, takes this root with him after death; but not the man who had only known and acknowledged it in faith. Now because many of the ancients made that which is first in time, the first also in end, that is, primary; therefore they said, that the first-born signified truth in doctrine and faith in the church; not knowing that this is the first-born apparently, but not actually.

[3] But all those who have made truth in doctrine and in faith the primary, are condemned, because there is nothing of deed or work, or nothing of life in that truth. Therefore Cain, who was the first-born of Adam and Eve, was condemned. That by him is signified truth in doctrine and in faith, may be seen in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (242). Therefore, also Reuben, who was the first-born of Jacob, was condemned by his father, (Genesis 49:3-4), and his birthright was taken from him, (1 Chronicles 5:1). That by “Reuben” in the spiritual sense, is meant truth in doctrine and in faith, will be seen presently. By “the first-born of Egypt,” who were all smitten, because condemned, nothing else is meant in the spiritual sense, than truth in doctrine and in faith separate from the good of life, which truth is in itself dead. By the “goats” in Daniel and in Matthew, no others are meant than those who are in faith separate from life, concerning whom see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith, (61-68). That those who were in faith separate from life, were rejected and condemned about the time of the Last Judgment, may be seen in The Continuation concerning the Last Judgment, (16, seq.).

[4] From these few things it may appear that truth in doctrine and in faith is not the first-born of the church; but truth in act or work, which is the good of life; for the church is not with man until the truth becomes of the life, and when the truth becomes of the life, then it is good; for the thought of the understanding, and the memory, do not flow into the will, and through the will into act; but the will flows into the thought of the understanding, and into the memory, and acts. And what proceeds from the will, through the understanding, proceeds from affection, which is of love, through the thought, which is of the understanding, and all this is called good, and it enters into the life; wherefore the Lord saith, that:

He who doeth the truth, doeth it in God, (John 3:21).

[5] Because John represents the good of life, and Peter the truth of faith, as may be seen above, (5), therefore:

John leaned on the Lord’s breast, and followed Jesus, but not Peter, (John 21:18-21).

The Lord also said of John, that “he should tarry till He came” (verse 22-23); thus to this day, which is the Lord’s coming; the good of life is therefore now taught by the Lord⁵ for those who will be of His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. In a summary, that is the first-born which the truth first produces from good, thus what the understanding produces from the will; because truth is of the understanding, and good is of the will: this first is primary, because it is as the seed from which the rest proceed.

[6] As to the Lord He is the First-born from the dead, because He, as to His Human, is the truth itself united to the Divine good, from whom all men live, who in themselves are dead. The same is meant in David:

I will make Him the first-born higher than the kings of the earth, (Psalms 89:27).

This is concerning the Lord’s Human. Thence it is that Israel is called the first-born, (Exodus 4:22-23). By “Israel” is meant the truth in act, and by “Jacob” the truth in doctrine; and because there is no church from the latter alone, therefore Jacob was named Israel; but in the supreme sense by “Israel” is meant the Lord. On account of this representation of the “first-born,” all the first-born and all the first fruits were sanctified to Jehovah, (Exodus 13:2, 12; 22:28-29).

[7] On account of this representation of the “first-born,” the Levites were taken instead of all the first-born in the Israelitish church; and it is said that thereby they belonged to Jehovah, (Numbers 3:12-13, 40-46; 18:15-18): for by “Levi” is signified truth in act, which is the good of life; and therefore the priesthood was given to his posterity, which will be treated of below. For the same reason a double portion of the inheritance was given to the first-born, and he was called “the beginning of strength” (Deuteronomy 21:15-17).

[8] The “first-born” signifies the primary of the church, because in the Word by natural births, spiritual births are signified, and then what first produces them in man, is meant by his “first-born;” for there is no church with him, until the truth of doctrine conceived in the internal man is born in the external.

18. And the prince of the kings of the earth, signifies from whom is all truth from good in the church. This follows from what has gone before, because by faithful witness, the Lord as to the Divine truth is signified; and by first-born the Lord as to the Divine good; therefore by “the prince of the earth,” is signified, that all truth from good in the church is from Him. The reason why this is signified by “the prince of the kings of the earth,” is, that by “kings” in the spiritual sense of the Word, are meant those that are in truths from good, and abstractly, truths from good; and by “earth” is meant the church. That this is the signification of “kings” and “earth,” may be seen below, (20, 285).

19. To Him that loveth us and washeth us from our sins, signifies, who out of love and mercy reforms and regenerates men by His Divine truths from the Word. That “to wash us from our sins” is to purify us from evils, thus to reform and regenerate, is evident; for regeneration is spiritual washing. But that by “His blood,” is not meant the passion of the cross, as many believe, but the Divine truth proceeding from Him, may appear from many passages in the Word, which it would be too prolix to adduce here, but they will be adduced below, (379[1-7], 653). In the meantime, see what is said and shown concerning the signification of the Lord’s flesh and blood in the Holy Supper, as set forth in The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, published at London in the year 1758 (210-222); and concerning spiritual washing, which is regeneration, in the same, (202-209).

20. Verse 6. And maketh us kings and priests, signifies who gives to those who are born of Him, that is, who are regenerated, to be in wisdom from Divine truths, and in love from Divine goods. It is known that in the Word the Lord is called “king,” and also “priest;” He is called “king” from Divine wisdom, and “priest” from Divine love; therefore, they who are in wisdom from the Lord are called “sons of the king,” and also “kings;” and they who are in love from Him, are called “ministers” and “priests;” for the wisdom and love with them is not from themselves, thus not their own, but the Lord’s. Hence it is that these are meant in the Word by “kings” and “priests;” not that they are such, but that the Lord is such in them, and causes them to be so called. They are also called “born of Him,” “sons of the kingdom,” “sons of the Father,” and “heirs;” “born of him” (John 1:12-13), that is, born again, or regenerated, (John 3:3 seq.); “sons of the kingdom” (Matthew 8:12; 13:38); “sons of the Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:45); “heirs” (Psalms 127:3; 1 Samuel 2:8; Matthew 25:34); and because they are called heirs, sons of the kingdom, and born of the Lord as their Father, they are called “kings and priests;” then also it is said that:

They all sit with the Lord upon His throne, (Revelation 3:21).

[2] There are two kingdoms into which the entire heaven is distinguished, the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom; the spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord’s royalty, and as all who are therein are in wisdom from truths, therefore they are meant by “the kings,” which the Lord will make those men who are in wisdom from Him; and the celestial kingdom is what is called the Lord’s priesthood, and because all who are there, are in love from goods, therefore they are meant by “priests,” which the Lord will make those men who are in love from Him: in like manner, the Lord’s church upon earth is distinguished into two kingdoms; concerning those two kingdoms, see the work on Heaven and, (Heaven and Hell 24) (Heaven and Hell 226) Hell, published in London in the year 1758 (24, 226).

[3] He who does not know the spiritual signification of “kings and priests,” may be hallucinated⁶ by many things which are related concerning them in the prophets and in Revelation; as in these in the prophets:

The sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee; thou shalt suck the milk of the Gentiles, yea thou shalt suck the breasts of kings; that thou mayest know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, (Isaiah 60:10, 16).

Kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their princesses thy nursing mothers, (Isaiah 49:23). And in other places, as in, (Genesis 49:20; Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26; 4:9; 19:3; Lamentations 2:6 (, 9); Ezekiel 7:26-27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8). By “kings” in these passages, kings are not meant, but those who are in Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly Divine truths, from which is wisdom. Neither are kings meant by “the king of the south” and “the king of the north” who waged war with each other, (Daniel 11:1); but by “the king of the south” are meant those who are in truths, and by “the king of the north” those who are in falsities.

[4] In like manner in Revelation, where kings are frequently mentioned; as in these passages:

The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared, (Revelation 16:12).

The kings of the earth have committed whoredom with the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters, (Revelation 17:2).

All nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of the whoredom of Babylon, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her, (Revelation 18:3).

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies gathered together to make war with Him that sitteth on the white horse, (Revelation 19:19).

And the nations which are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into the New Jerusalem, (Revelation 21:24);

and in other places (as in Revelation 16:14; 17:2, 9-14; 18:9-10). By kings are here meant those who are in truths, and, in the opposite sense those who are in falsities; and abstractly, truths or falsities. By “the whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth” is meant the falsification of the truth of the church; that Babylon, or the woman who sat upon the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with the kings, but that she falsified the truths of the Word, is evident.

[5] From this it is evident that by “kings,” that the Lord will make those who are in wisdom from Him, is not meant that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. That this is so, enlightened reason also sees. So in the following:

Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, that we may reign upon the earth, (Revelation 5:10).

That the Lord, by “a king,” meant truth, is evident from his own words to Pilate:

Pilate said unto Him, Art thou not a king then? Jesus answered, Thou hast said that I am a king. For this was I born, and for this I came into the world, that I should give testimony to the truth; everyone that is of the truth heareth My voice. Pilate saith unto Him, What is truth? (John 18:37-38).

“To bear witness unto the truth,” means that He Himself is the truth; and because from it He called Himself “a king,” Pilate said, “What is truth,” that is, is truth a king? That “priests” signify those who are in the good of love, and abstractly the goods of love, will appear in what follows.

21. Unto God and his Father signifies thus images of His Divine wisdom, and of His Divine love. By “God and Father,” in the spiritual sense, two persons are not meant; but by “God” is meant the Divine as to wisdom, and by “Father” the Divine as to love; for there are two things in the Lord, the Divine wisdom and the Divine love, or the Divine truth and the Divine good; these two are meant in the Old Testament by “God” and “Jehovah,” and here, by “God” and “Father.” Now because the Lord teaches, that He and the Father are one, and that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, (John 10:30; 14:10-11), by God and the Father are not meant two persons, but the Lord alone. The Divine also is one and indivisible, therefore by “Jesus Christ made us kings and priests unto God and His Father” is signified, that they appear before Him as images of His Divine wisdom and of His Divine love; for in these two consists the image of God in men and angels. That the Divine, which in itself is one, is designated by various names in the Word, may be seen in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord. That the Lord Himself is also the Father, is evident from the following places. In Isaiah:

For unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given, and His name shall be called Wonderful, God, Hero, the Father of eternity, the Prince of Peace, (Isaiah 9:6).

Thou, Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, Thy name is from an age, (Isaiah 63:16);

and in John:

If ye had known Me, ye should have known My Father also, and from henceforth ye know Him, and have seen Him. Philip saith unto Him, Lord, show us the Father. Jesus saith unto him, he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father, therefore how sayest thou, Show us the Father? Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, (John 14:7-9, 11)

see 962, below.

22. To Him be glory and might unto the ages of ages, signifies, to whom alone belong Divine majesty and Divine omnipotence to eternity. By “glory” in the Word, where the Lord is treated of, is meant the Divine majesty; this being predicated of His Divine wisdom; and by “might,” is meant the Divine omnipotence, this being predicated of His Divine love; and by “ages of ages,” is meant eternity. That such is the meaning of “glory,” “might,” and “ages of ages,” when spoken of Jehovah or the Lord, may be confirmed from many passages in the Word.

23. Amen, signifies Divine confirmation from the truth, thus from Himself. “Amen” signifies truth; and because the Lord was truth itself, He so often said, “Amen, I say unto you,” (as in Matthew 5:18, 26; 6:16; 10:23, 42; 17:20; 18:13, 18; 25:12; 28:20; John 3:11; 5:19, 24-25; 6:26, 32, 47, 53; 8:34, 51, 58; 10:7; 13:16, 20-21; 21:18, 25); and in the following passage in Revelation:

These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, (Revelation 3:14);

that is, the Lord. That the Lord is the truth itself, He Himself teaches in John 14:6; 17:19.

24. Verse 7. Behold He cometh with the clouds of heaven, signifies that the Lord will reveal Himself in the literal sense of the Word, and will open its spiritual sense in the end of the church. He who does not know anything of the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, cannot know what was meant by the Lord that “He will come in the clouds of heaven;” for He said to the high priest, who adjured Him to say whether He was the Christ the Son of God:

Thou hast said I am; and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming with the clouds of heaven, (Matthew 26:63-64; Mark 14:61-62).

And where the Lord speaks to His disciples of the consummation of the age, He says:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, (Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26).

By “the clouds of heaven” in which He is to come, nothing else is meant but the Word in its literal sense; and by “the glory” in which they will see Him, the Word in its spiritual sense. That this is the case, is difficult to be believed by those who do not think beyond the sense of the letter of the Word; with such, “a cloud” is a cloud, and thence is their belief that the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven, when the Last Judgment is at hand. But this idea falls, when it is known what “a cloud” is, and that it is the Divine truth in ultimates, thus the Word in the sense of the letter.

[2] In the spiritual world there appear clouds as well as in the natural world; but the clouds in the spiritual world appear beneath the heavens, with those who are in the sense of the letter of the Word, darker or brighter according to their understanding and reception of the Word; the reason is, that the light of heaven there is the Divine truth, and darkness there is falsities; consequently “bright clouds” are the Divine truth veiled in appearances of truth, such as the Word is in the letter with those who are in truths; and “dark clouds” are the Divine truths covered with fallacies and confirmed appearances, such as the Word is in the letter with those who are in falsities. I have often seen those clouds, and it was evident whence and what they are. Now because the Lord, after the glorification of His Human, was made the Divine truth, or the Word, even in ultimates, He said unto the high priest, that, “Hereafter they should see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven.”

[3] But His saying to His disciples, that “in the consummation of the age the sign of the Son of man should appear, and that they should see Him coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory,” signifies that at the end of the church, when the Last Judgment shall take place, He will appear in the Word, and reveal the spiritual sense, which is also accomplished at this day, because now is the end of the church, and the Last Judgment has taken place, as may appear from the small works recently published. This, therefore, is what is meant in Revelation, by “behold He cometh with clouds”: also in the following passages:

I saw, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat like unto the Son of man, (Revelation 14:14).

As also in Daniel:

I saw in the night visions, and behold the Son of man coming with clouds, (Daniel 7:13).

That by “the Son of man” is meant the Lord as to the Word, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (19-28).

[4] That also by “clouds” in other parts of the Word, is meant the Divine truth in ultimates, and thence the Word in the letter, may be seen in other passages where clouds are mentioned; as in these:

There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven, and in magnificence upon the clouds, (Deuteronomy 33:26).

Sing unto God, praise His name, extol Him that rideth upon the clouds, (Psalms 68:4).

Jehovah rideth upon a light cloud, (Isaiah 19:1).

“To ride upon the clouds,” signifies to be in the wisdom of the Word, for “a horse” signifies the understanding of the Word; who cannot see that Jehovah does not ride upon the clouds?

God rode upon a cherub, and placed the clouds of the heavens His tent, (Psalms 18:10-11).

Here there is a similar signification; “cherubs” also signify the Word, as may be seen below, (239, 672); tent signifies a habitation.

[5] Jehovah layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters, He maketh the cloud His chariot, (Psalms 104:3).

“Waters” signify truths, “chambers” signify doctrinals, and “chariot” doctrine, all which, because they are from the sense of the letter of the Word, are called “clouds.”

He bindeth up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud is not broken under them; He spreadeth His cloud over His throne, (Job 26:8-9 In like manner:

God caused the light of His cloud to shine, (Job 37:15).

Give ye strength unto God, strength upon the clouds, (Psalms 68:34).

“The light of a cloud” signifies the Divine truth of the Word, and “strength” signifies Divine power there.

[6] Thou, O Lucifer, hast said in thine heart, I will ascend above the heights of the cloud; I will become like the Most High, (Isaiah 14:14).

Forsake ye, Babylon, for she hath lifted herself up even to the clouds, (Jeremiah 51:9).

By “Lucifer,” and “Babylon” are signified those who profane the goods and truths of the Word, therefore these truths are meant there by “clouds.”

Jehovah spread a cloud for a covering, (Psalms 105:39).

Jehovah createth upon every habitation of Zion a cloud by day, for upon all the glory shall be a covering, (Isaiah 4:5).

Here, also, by “cloud,” is meant the Word in the sense of the letter, which sense, as it includes and covers the spiritual sense, is called “a covering upon the glory.” That the literal sense of the Word is a covering, lest its spiritual sense should be injured, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (33); and that it is a guard, (97).

[7] The Divine truth in ultimates, which is the same with the Word in the sense of the letter, is also represented by the “cloud,” in which Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai, and promulgated the law, (Exodus 19:9; 34:5). Also by the “cloud” which covered Peter, James, and John, when Jesus was transfigured, concerning which it is written:

While Peter yet spake, behold a cloud overshadowed them, and behold a voice out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved Son, hear ye Him, (Matthew 17:5; Mark 9:7; Luke 9:34-35).

The Lord in this transfiguration, caused Himself to be seen as the Word; therefore a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice was heard out of the cloud, that He is the Son of God; “the voice out of the cloud” is out of the Word. That by “cloud,” in the opposite sense, is meant the Word as to the sense of the letter falsified, will be seen elsewhere.

25. And every eye shall see Him, signifies that all who are in the understanding of Divine truth from affection will acknowledge Him. In the spiritual sense, by “eye” is not meant the eye, but the understanding; therefore, “every eye shall see Him,” signifies that all who are in the understanding of Divine truth from affection will acknowledge Him, because they alone understand and acknowledge. The rest see indeed and also understand, but do not acknowledge; the former, then, are signified, because it follows, that “they also who pierced Him” will see Him, by whom are meant those who are in falsities. That “the eye” signifies the understanding, will be seen below, (48).

26. And they also who pierced Him, signifies that they also will see who are in falsities in the church. By “piercing” Jesus Christ nothing else is meant than to destroy His Divine truth in the Word. This, also, is meant by:

One of the soldiers pierced His side, and there went forth blood and water, (John 19:34)

“Blood and water” are the Divine truth, spiritual and natural, thus the Word in its spiritual and in its natural sense; and “to pierce the Lord’s side” is to destroy both by falsities, as was also done by the Jews; for all things of the Lord’s passion represented the state of the Jewish church as to the Word, on which subject, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (15-17). The reason why “piercing” Him, signifies to destroy the Word by falsities, is, because this is said of Jesus Christ, who presently is called the Son of man, and by the Son of man is meant the Lord as to the Word, therefore “to pierce the Son of man,” is to do the same to the Word.

27. And all the tribes of the earth shall wail, signifies that this will be when there are no longer any goods and truths in the church. That “the tribes of the earth” signify the goods and truths of the church, will be seen in the explanation of the seventh chapter, where the twelve tribes of Israel are treated of; “wailing” signifies lamentation that they are dead. The same is meant here as by the Lord’s words in Matthew:

After the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man, and then shall all the tribes of the earth wail, (Matthew 24:29-30).

These things are said of the consummation of the age, which is the end of the church; “the sun shall be darkened,” signifies that there is no longer any love and charity; “the moon shall not give her light,” signifies that there is no longer any intelligence and faith; “the stars shall fall from heaven,” signifies that there are no longer any knowledges of good and truth; “all the tribes of the earth shall wail,” signifies that there are no longer any goods and truths; “affliction” signifies that state of the church.

28. Even so, Amen, signifies the Divine confirmation that so it will be. This is evident from what was explained above, (23).

29. Verse 8. And I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, signifies Who is the Self-existing and the Only from firsts to ultimates, from Whom all things are; thus Who is Love Itself and the Only Love, Wisdom Itself and the Only Wisdom, Life Itself and the Only Life in Himself, and thus the Creator Himself and the Only Creator, Saviour and Enlightener from Himself, and thence the All in all of heaven and the church. These and many more things besides are contained in the above words, by which the Lord is described. That they are spoken of the Lord, and, indeed, of His Human, is very evident, for it follows that John heard a voice, saying:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last; and He turned to see the voice that spake with him, and saw the Son of man in the midst of seven lampstands, (Revelation 1:10-13).

Who, also, a little further on, says:

I am the First and the Last, I am He that liveth and was dead, (Revelation 1:17-18, (2:8)).

But that all the particulars above enumerated are contained in these words cannot be confirmed briefly, for to confirm them fully would require many sheets; still they are in part confirmed in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, recently published in Amsterdam, which see. The Lord calls Himself “the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” because “Alpha and Omega” refer to His Divine love, and “Beginning and End,” to His Divine wisdom; for there is, in every particular of the Word, a marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth; on which subject, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (80-90).

[2] The Lord is called “the Alpha and the Omega,” because Alpha is the first letter and Omega the last in the Greek Alphabet, and therefore they signify all in the aggregate. The reason is, that every letter of the alphabet, in the spiritual world, signifies something; and a vowel, because it is serviceable for sound, something of affection or love. From this origin, spiritual and angelic speech, and, also, the Scriptures, are derived; but this is an arcanum hitherto unknown. For there is a universal language in which all angels and spirits are; and this has nothing in common with any language of men in the world. Every man comes into this language after death; for it is implanted in every man from creation, therefore they all can understand each other in the whole spiritual world. It has been granted me frequently to hear that language, and also to speak it; and I have compared it with the languages in the world, and have found that it does not, even in the smallest particular, make one with any natural language on the earth. It differs from these in its first principle, which is, that each letter of every word has a sense and signification peculiar to itself, as well in speaking as in writing. Therefore it is that the Lord is called the Alpha and the Omega, which signifies that He is the All in all of heaven and the church; and as these two letters are vowels, they have relation to love, as was said above. Concerning this language, and the writing of it, flowing from the spiritual thought of the angels, something may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (295).

30. Saith the Lord, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come. That this signifies who is eternal and infinite, and Jehovah, may be seen above, (13), where this is explained.

31. The Almighty, signifies who is, lives, and has power from Himself, and who rules all things from firsts by ultimates. Since all things are from the Lord, and are created from the firsts which are from Him; and nothing is given which does not exist therefrom, as is abundantly shown in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, it follows, that He is omnipotent. Suppose One from whom are all things; are not all things of that One, upon whom they depend in order, like the links of a chain upon their hook; or like the blood vessels of the whole body upon the heart; or as each and everything in the universe on the sun? Thus do all things depend on the Lord, who is the sun of the spiritual world, from whom is all the essence, life, and power, with those who are under that sun. In a word, “from Him we live, and move, and have our being” (Acts of the Apostles 17:28). This is the Divine omnipotence. That the Lord rules all things from firsts by ultimates, is an arcanum never before revealed; but it is now explained in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord and Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture in many places; and also in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (124); and Divine Love and Wisdom, (221). It is known that the Divine because it is infinite, does not fall into the ideas of the thought of any man nor of any angel, because they are finite, and the finite does not have the capacity of perceiving the infinite; still, that it may in some manner be perceived, it has pleased the Lord to describe His infinity by these words:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End; Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, the Almighty.

These words, therefore, include all things which angel and man can ever think, spiritually and naturally, concerning the Divine; which things, in general, are what were adduced above universally.

32. Verse 9. I, John, who also am your brother and companion, signifies those who are in the good of charity, and thence in the truths of faith. It was said above, (5), that the apostle John represented those who are in the good of charity; and those who are in the good of charity are also in the truths of faith, because charity is the soul and life of faith; hence it is, that John calls himself the brother and companion of those in the church to whom he writes, for he wrote to the seven churches. By “brother,” in the spiritual sense of the Word, is meant one who is in the good of charity; and by “companion” one who is thence in the truths of faith; for all are, as it were, in consanguinity by charity, but in affinity by faith; for charity conjoins; not so faith, except it be from charity. When faith is from charity, then charity conjoins, and faith consociates; and since they make one, therefore the Lord commanded that all should be “brethren,” for he says:

One is your Teacher, Christ, but all ye are brethren, (Matthew 23:8).

[2] The Lord, also, calls those “brethren” who are in the good of charity, or in the good of life; for He said:

My mother and my brethren are these, who hear the Word of God, and do it, (Luke 8:21; Matthew 12:49; Mark 3:33-35).

By “mother,” is meant the church, and by “brethren,” those who are in charity; and because the good of charity is a “brother,” therefore the Lord calls those who are in it “brethren,” also in Matthew 25:40, and so also disciples, (28:10; John 20:17). But we do not read that the disciples called the Lord brother, because “brother” is the good which is from the Lord; this is comparatively as it is with a king, prince, and magnate, who call their relatives and neighbors brethren, but yet the latter do not in their turn call them so; for the Lord says:

One is your Teacher, Christ, but all ye are brethren, (Matthew 23:8);

also:

Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say rightly, for so I am, (John 13:13).

[3] The sons of Israel called all those brethren who were from their father Jacob; and in a more extensive sense, those also who were from Esau; but such as were not from them they called companions. But because the Word, in its spiritual sense, treats only of those who are in the Lord’s church, therefore in that sense, by “brethren,” are meant those who are in the good of charity from the Lord, and by “companions,” those who are in the truths of faith; as in the following passages:

Thus shall ye say everyone to his companion, and everyone to his brother, What hath Jehovah answered? (Jeremiah 23:35).

Ye have not proclaimed liberty everyone to his brother, and everyone to his companion, (Jeremiah 34:17).

Let no one press his companion, nor his brother, (Deuteronomy 15:1-2).

For my brethren and companions’ sakes, I will now say, (Psalms 122:8).

Everyone helpeth his companion, and saith to his brother, Strengthen thyself, (Isaiah 41:6).

And in the opposite sense:

Take ye heed everyone of his companion, and trust not in any brother; for every brother will supplant, and every companion slandereth, (Jeremiah 9:4).

I will mingle Egypt with Egypt, that one may fight against his brother, and against his companion, (Isaiah 19:2);

and in other places. These are adduced, that it may be known why John calls himself “brother and companion;” and that by “brother” in the Word, is meant one who is in charity or in good, and, by “companion” one who is in faith or in truth. But because charity is from faith, therefore none are called “companions” by the Lord, but “brethren” or “neighbor;” everyone also is a neighbor according to the quality of good, (Luke 10:36-37).

33. In affliction and in the kingdom and patient expectation of Jesus Christ, signifies which in the church are infested by evils and falsities, but which will be removed by the Lord when He comes. By “affliction” is meant the state of the church when there are no longer any goods of charity and truths of faith, but in place of them evils and falsities; by “the kingdom,” is meant the church; and, by “patient expectation of Jesus Christ,” is meant the Lord’s coming; therefore these words, “In affliction and in the kingdom and patient expectation of Jesus Christ,” when collated into one sense, signify when the goods and truths of the church are infested by evils and falsities, but which will be removed by the Lord when he comes. That by “affliction” is meant the state of the church when it is infested by evils and falsities, is evident from the following:

In the consummation of the age, they shall deliver you up into affliction, and shall kill you. There shall be great affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the world, nor shall be. After the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, (Matthew 24:9, 21, 29; Mark 13:19, 24).

That “the kingdom” signifies the church, will be seen in what follows.

34. I was in the island called Patmos, signifies a state and place in which he could be enlightened. The reason that the Revelation was made to John in Patmos, was, because it was an island in Greece, not far from the land of Canaan, and between Asia and Europe; and by “islands” are signified the Gentiles more remote from the worship of God, but yet which are about to draw near to it, because they can be enlightened. The same is signified by Greece; but the church itself is signified by “the land of Canaan;” by “Asia,” those of the church who are in the light of truth from the Word; and, by “Europe,” those to whom the Word is about to come; thence it is, that by “the island of Patmos,” is signified a state and place in which he could be enlightened. That by “islands” in the Word are signified the nations which are more remote from the worship of God, but which yet will draw near to it, is evident from these passages:

Honor Jehovah in the Urim, the name of the God of Israel in the Islands of the sea, (Isaiah 24:15).

He shall not extinguish nor break until He set judgment in the earth, and let the islands hope in His law. Sing unto Jehovah a new song, the islands and the inhabitants thereof shall give glory unto Jehovah; and proclaim His praise in the islands, (Isaiah 42:4, 10, 12).

Attend O Islands unto Me; and ye peoples from afar, (Isaiah 49:1).

The islands shall hope in Me, and on Mine arm shall they trust, (Isaiah 51:5).

The islands shall trust in Me, and the ships of Tarshish, (Isaiah 60:9).

Hear the Words of Jehovah, O ye nations, and proclaim it in the Islands from afar, (Jeremiah 31:10).

And that they should adore Jehovah everyone in his place, all the Islands of the nations, (Zephaniah 2:11);

and elsewhere. That the same is signified by “Greece,” is not so evident from the Word, because Greece is mentioned only in Daniel 8:21; 10:20; 11:2; as also in John 12:20; Mark 7:26. That by “the land of Canaan” is meant the Lord’s church, which is thence called “the Holy Land,” and “the heavenly Canaan,” is evident from many passages in the Word; that by “Asia” are meant those in the church who are in the light of truth from the Word, may be seen above, (11); and that by “Europe,” those to whom the Word is about to come, is evident.

35. For the Word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ, signifies that the Divine truth from the Word may be received from the heart and so in the light, and that the Lord’s Human might be acknowledged to be Divine; this was explained above, (6).

36. Verse 10. I became in the spirit on the Lord’s day, signifies a spiritual state then from Divine influx. “I became in the spirit,” signifies the spiritual state in which he was when he was in visions, which state is treated of in what follows. “On the Lord’s day,” signifies influx then from the Lord; for on that day the Lord is present, because the day is holy. From which it is evident, that “I became in the spirit on the Lord’s day,” signifies a spiritual state then from Divine influx. Of the prophets we read that they were “in the spirit” or “in vision,” also that the Word came to them from Jehovah. When they were in the spirit or in vision, they were not in the body, but in their spirit, in which state they saw such things as are in heaven; but when the Word came to them, then they were in the body, and heard Jehovah speaking. These two states of the prophets are to be carefully distinguished. In the state of vision the eyes of their spirit were opened, and the eyes of their body shut; and then they heard what the angels spoke; or what Jehovah spoke through the angels, and they also saw the things which were represented to them in heaven; and then they sometimes seemed to themselves to be carried from place to place, the body remaining in its place.

[2] In this state was John when he wrote Revelation; and sometimes also Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel; and then it is said that they were “in vision,” or “in the spirit;” for Ezekiel says:

The spirit took me up, and brought me back into Chaldea to the captivity in a vision of God, in the Spirit of God; thus the vision which I saw went up upon me, (Ezek 11:1, 24).

It is said also that the spirit took him up, and he heard behind him an earthquake, and other things, (Ezekiel 3:12, 24); also that:

The spirit lifted him up between the earth and heaven, and brought him in the visions of God to Jerusalem, and he saw abominations, (Ezekiel 8:3).

In like manner he was in a vision of God, or in the spirit, when he saw the four animals which were cherubs, (Ezekiel 1:10); as also when he saw the new earth and the new temple, and the angel measuring them (Ezekiel 40-48); and it is said that he was in the visions of God, (Ezekiel 40:2); and that the spirit took him up, (Ezekiel 43:5).

[3] The same was the case with Zechariah, with whom there was an angel at the time, when he saw the man riding among the myrtle trees, (Zechariah 1:8); when he saw four horns, and afterwards a man, in whose hand was a measuring line, (Zechariah 2:1, 5 seq.); when he saw Joshua, the high priest, (Zechariah 3:1 seq.); when he saw the lampstand and the two olive trees, (Zechariah 4:1); when he saw the flying roll and the ephah, (Zechariah 5:1, 6); and when he saw the four chariots coming out from between two mountains, and horses, (Zechariah 6:1). In a similar state was Daniel; when he saw four beasts coming up out of the sea, (Daniel 7:1 seq.). And when he saw the battle of the ram and the he-goat, (Daniel 8:1). That he saw these things in visions, he himself said, (Daniel 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8), and that the angel Gabriel was seen by him in a vision, (Daniel 9:21).

[4] It was the same with John; as when he saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven lampstands (Revelation 1); when he saw a throne in heaven, and Him that sat thereon, and four animals round about the throne (Revelation 4); when he saw the book sealed with seven seals (Revelation 5); when he saw the four horses going forth out of the book that was opened (Revelation 6); when he saw the four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth (Revelation 7); when he saw the locusts going forth out of the bottomless pit (Revelation 9); when he saw the angel in whose hand was a little book, which he gave him to eat (Revelation 10); when he heard the seven angels sound with their trumpets (Revelation 11); when he saw the dragon, and the woman whom the dragon persecuted, and the combat of the latter with Michael (Revelation 12); and afterwards, two beasts coming up, one out of the sea, and the other out of the earth (Revelation 13); when he saw the seven angels having the seven last plagues (Revelation 15-16); when he saw the harlot sitting upon the scarlet beast (Revelation 17-18); and afterwards, a white horse, and One sitting thereon (Revelation 19); and lastly, a new heaven and a new earth, and then the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven (Revelation 21-22). That John saw these things “in the spirit,” and “in vision,” he himself says, (Revelation 1:10; 4:2; 9:17; 21:10); this also is meant by “I saw” wherever it occurs.

[5] From these things it is evident that to be “in the spirit” is to be “in vision;” which is effected by the opening of the sight of man’s spirit; which, when it is opened, the things which are in the spiritual world appear as clearly as the things which are in the natural world appear before the sight of the body. I can testify that it is so, from the experience of many years. In this state the disciples were when they saw the Lord after His resurrection, wherefore it is said that: “Their eyes were opened” (Luke 24:30-31). Abraham was in a similar state when he saw the three angels, and spoke with them. So were Hagar, Gideon, Joshua, and others, when they saw the angels of Jehovah; and, in like manner, the boy of Elisha, when he saw the mountain full of chariots and horses of fire round about Elisha; for:

Elisha prayed and said, Jehovah, I pray, open his eyes that he may see; and Jehovah opened the eyes of the boy, and he saw, (2 Kings 6:17).

But as to the Word, it was not revealed in a state of the spirit or in vision, but was dictated to the prophets by the Lord by the living voice; therefore, it is nowhere said that they spoke it from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah; see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (53).

37. And I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, signifies manifest perception of the Divine truth revealed from heaven. “A great voice,” when heard from heaven, signifies the Divine truth, of which presently; it was heard “as a trumpet,” because when the Divine truth descends from heaven, it is sometimes so heard by the angels of the lowest heaven, and then is manifestly perceived. Therefore, by “a voice as of a trumpet,” is signified manifest perception; of the signification of trumpet, more will be seen below, (397, 519). That “a great voice” when heard from heaven signifies Divine truth is evident from these passages:

The voice of Jehovah is upon the water, the voice of Jehovah is in power, the voice of Jehovah is with honor, the voice of Jehovah breaketh the cedars, the voice of Jehovah falleth as a flame of fire; the voice of Jehovah maketh the wilderness to tremble; the voice of Jehovah maketh the hinds to bring forth, (Psalms 29:3-9).

Sing psalms to the Lord ye kingdoms of the earth, behold He will give forth His voice, a voice of strength, (Psalms 68:32-33).

Jehovah gave forth His voice before His army, for numberless, it doeth His Word, (Joel 2:11).

Jehovah will give forth His voice from Jerusalem, (Joel 3:16).

And since “voice” signifies the Divine truth from the Lord, therefore the Lord said that:

The sheep hear His voice; they know His voice; and other sheep I have, them also I must bring, and they shall hear My voice; My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, (John 10:3-4, 16, 27).

And in another place:

The hour cometh, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of man, and they that hear shall live, (John 5:25).

“Voice” here is the Divine truth of the Lord from his Word.

38. Verse 11. Saying, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, signifies Who is the self-existing, and the Only from firsts to ultimates, from whom are all things; thus Who is love itself and the only love, wisdom itself and the only wisdom, and the life itself and the only life in Himself; and thus the Creator Himself and the only Creator, Saviour, and Enlightener from Himself; and thence the All in all of heaven and the church: Who alone is infinite and eternal, and Jehovah; and that He is the Lord. That all these things, and infinitely more, are contained in these words, may be seen above, (13, 29). It was there said, that all the syllables or letters of the alphabet, in the spiritual world, signify things; and that their speech and writing there are thence; and that therefore the Lord describes His Divinity and infinity by Alpha and Omega; by which is signified that He is the All in all of heaven and the church. Since every letter signifies a thing in the spiritual world, and thence in the angelic language; therefore David wrote the 119th Psalm, in order, according to the letters of the alphabet, beginning with Aleph and ending with Thau, as may appear from the initials of the verses there; the like appears in Psalm 111 but not so evidently. Therefore, also, Abram was called Abraham, and Sarai was called Sarah; which was done for the reason that in heaven by Abraham and Sarah, they should not be understood, but the Divine, as is also the case; for the letter “H” involves infinity, because it is only an aspirate; more on this subject may be seen above, (29).

39. And what thou seest, write in a book; that this signifies that it may be revealed to posterity, is evident without explanation.

40. And send to the churches which are in Asia, signifies for those in the Christian world, who are in the light of truth from the Word. That they are meant by the “churches in Asia,” may be seen above, (10, 11).

41. Unto Ephesus, and Smyrna, and Pergamos, and Thyatira, and Sardis, and Philadelphia, and Laodicea, signifies in particular according to the state of reception of each. That all the states of reception of the Lord and of His church are signified by those seven names, in the spiritual sense, will be seen below; for John, when he received this command, was in a spiritual state, and in that state nothing is mentioned by name which does not signify some thing or state; therefore these things which were written by John, were not sent to any church in those places, but were told to their angels, by whom are meant those who receive. That by all the names of places and persons throughout the whole Word, are meant spiritual things, is shown in many places in Arcana Coelestia, published in London, as what is meant by “Abraham,” “Isaac,” and “Jacob;” also by “Israel,” and by the names of his twelve sons; as also, what is meant by various places in the land of Canaan, and by places in the vicinity of that land; as what by Egypt, Syria, Assyria, and other places. It is the same with these seven names. But he who wishes to remain in the sense of the letter, let him remain, since that sense conjoins; only let him know, that by those names the angels perceive things and states of the church.

42. Verse 12. And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me, signifies inversion of the state of those who are in the good of life, as to the perception of truth in the Word, when they turn themselves to the Lord. John says that he heard a voice behind him (verse 10), and now, that he turned to see the voice; and again, that being turned, he saw seven lampstands; from which it is evident, that he heard a voice from behind, and that he turned himself, to see from whence it proceeded; that there is an arcanum in this, is evident. The arcanum is that before man turns himself to the Lord, and acknowledges Him as the God of heaven and earth, he cannot see the Divine truth in the Word. The reason is, that God is one, both in Person and in essence, in whom there is the Trinity; and that God is the Lord. Therefore, they who acknowledge a Trinity of Persons, look primarily to the Father, and some to the Holy Spirit, and rarely to the Lord, and if to the Lord, they think of His Human as of an ordinary man. When a man does this, he can by no means be enlightened in the Word, for the Lord is the Word, for it is from Him and concerning Him. Therefore they who do not approach the Lord alone, see Him and His Word behind them, and not before them; or backward, and not in front. This is the arcanum which lies concealed in these words: “That John heard a voice behind him, and that he turned to see the voice, and, being turned, saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of them the Son of man;” for the voice which he heard came from the Son of man, who is the Lord.

[2] That the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, He now teaches in a manifest voice, for He says:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, saith the Lord, Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come, (Revelation 1:8);

and here:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, (Revelation 1:11);

and afterwards:

I am the First and the Last, (Revelation 1:17; 2:8).

That by a “voice,” when from the Lord is meant the Divine Truth, may be seen above, (37). And that by “John” are meant those of the church, who are in the good of life, (5, 6). From these things it may now appear, that by these words:

And I turned to see the voice which spake with me, is signified an inversion of the state of those who are in the good of life, as to the perception of truth in the Word, when they turn themselves to the Lord.

43. And having turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, signifies the New Church, which will be in enlightenment from the Lord out of the Word. That the “seven lampstands” are the seven churches, is said in the last verse of this chapter; and that by the seven churches are meant all who are in the Christian world, and draw near to the church, may be seen above, (10); and in particular according to the state of reception of each, (41). The reason why the New Church is meant by “the seven lampstands” is, because in it, and in the midst of it, the Lord is; for it is said, that “in the midst of the seven lampstands he saw one like unto the Son of man,” and by “the Son of man” is meant the Lord as to the Word. The lampstands were seen to be golden, because gold signifies good, and every church is a church from good which is formed by truths; that “gold” signifies good, will be seen in what follows.

[2] Those lampstands were not placed one close to another, or in contact, but at certain distances, forming a kind of circle, as is evident from these words in the subsequent chapter:

These things saith He, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, (Revelation 2:1).

Nothing is said of the lamps of those lampstands; but in what follows it is said, that:

The Holy Jerusalem (that is, the New Church), hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, for its lamp is the Lamb, and the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it, (Revelation 21:23-24).

And further:

They need no lamp, for the Lord God giveth them light, (Revelation 22:5);

for they who will be of the Lord’s New Church, are only lampstands which will give light from the Lord.

[3] By the “golden lampstand in the tabernacle,” nothing else was represented than the church as to enlightenment from the Lord, concerning which lampstand see, (Exodus 25:31; 37:17-24; Leviticus 24:3-4; Numbers 8:2-4). That it represented the Lord’s church as to Divine spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, published at London, (9548, 9555, 9558, 9561, 9570, 9783); also, below, (493). By the “lampstand” in Zechariah 4 is also signified the New Church to be established by the Lord, because it signifies the new house of God, or the new temple; as is evident from what follows there; and by “the house of God,” or “the temple,” the church is signified, and in the highest sense, the Lord’s Divine Human, as He Himself teaches, (John 2:19-21 elsewhere). But it shall be told what is signified in its order, in Zech. (chap. 4), when “the lampstand” was seen by him.

[4] By those things contained from verses 1-7, is signified the enlightenment of the New Church by the Lord, from the good of love by truth, “the olive trees” there signify the church as to the good of love; by the things there from verse 8-10, is signified that these things are from the Lord; by “Zerubbabel,” who is to build the house, thus the church, the Lord is represented; by the things from verse 11-14, is signified that in that church there will also be truths from a celestial origin. This explanation of that chapter was given me by the Lord through heaven.

44. Verse 13. And in the midst of the seven lampstands One like unto the Son of man, signifies the Lord as to the Word, from whom that church is. It is known from the Word, that the Lord called Himself “the Son of God,” and also “the Son of man;” that by “the Son of God” He meant Himself as to the Divine Human, and by the “Son of man,” Himself as to the Word, is fully demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (19-28); and as it is there fully confirmed from the Word, it is unnecessary to add any further confirmation here. Now, because the Lord represented Himself before John as the Word, therefore as seen by him, He is called “the Son of man.” He represented Himself as the Word, because the New Church is treated of, which is a church from the Word, and according to the understanding of it. That the church is from the Word, and that such as its understanding of the Word is, such is the church, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (76-79). As the church is a church from the Lord through the Word, therefore the Son of man was seen in the midst of the lampstands; “in the midst” signifies in the inmost, from which the things which are round about, or which are without, derive their essence, here, their light or intelligence. That the inmost is the all in the things which are round about, or without, is shown in many places in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom; it is like light and flame in the midst, from which all the circumferences receive light and heat.

[2] “In the midst,” has the same signification in the following passages in the Word:

Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee, (Isaiah 12:6).

God is my King working salvation in the midst of the earth, (Psalms 74:12).

God doing mercy in the midst of the temple, (Psalms 48:9).

God standeth in the assembly of God; he will judge in the midst of the gods, (Psalms 82:1).

They are called “gods” who are in Divine truths from the Lord, and, abstractly, the truths themselves:

Behold, I send an angel before thee; beware of his face, for My name is in the midst of him, (Exodus 23:20-21).

“The name of Jehovah” is all the Divine; “in the midst,” is in the inmost, and thence in everything of it. “The midst” also signifies the inmost, and thence the all, in many other passages in the Word, where evils are also treated of, as in Isaiah 24:13; Jeremiah 23:9; Psalms 5:9; Jeremiah 9:4-5; Psalms 36:1; 55:4; 62:4. These passages are adduced in order to show, that “in the midst of the lampstands” signifies in the inmost, from which the church and everything of it is derived; for the church and everything of it is from the Lord through the Word. That “lampstands” signify the New Church, may be seen above, (43).

45. Clothed with a garment down to the foot, signifies the proceeding Divine, which is the Divine truth. The reason why “a garment down to the foot” signifies the proceeding Divine, which is the Divine truth, is, because garments in the Word, signify truths, thence “a garment down to the foot” [talaris], which is an outer garment, when the Lord is treated of, signifies the proceeding Divine truth. That garments in the Word signify truths is because in heaven they are clothed according to the truths proceeding from their good, concerning which see in the work on Heaven and Hell, published in London in the year 1758 (177-182). In what follows it will also be seen, that nothing else is meant by garments in the Word in its spiritual sense; therefore that nothing else is meant by the Lord’s garments, when He was transfigured, which appeared white as the light, (Matthew 17:1-4; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). Nor is anything else meant by the Lord’s garments which the soldiers divided, (John 19:23-24). That similar things are represented, and thence signified, by the garments of Aaron, may be seen in The Arcana Coelestia, published at London, (9814, 10068); particularly what is signified by “the ephod” (9477, 9824, 10005); what by “the robe” (9825, 10005); what by “the tunic” (9826, 9942); and what by “the miter” (9827): for Aaron represented the priestly office of the Lord. Concerning the signification of garments from the Word, see below, (166, 328). 46. And girt about the paps with a golden girdle, signifies the proceeding, and, at the same time, the conjoining Divine, which is the Divine good. That “a golden girdle” has this signification, is, because by “the Lord’s breast,” and especially by “the paps,” His Divine love is signified; thence, by “the golden girdle” which girded them, is signified the proceeding and at the same time the conjoining Divine, which is the Divine good of the Divine love: moreover “gold” signifies good; see below, (913). “A zone” or “girdle,” in the Word, also signifies the common bond, whereby all things are held together in order and connection; as in Isaiah:

There shall go forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, justice shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs, (Isaiah 11:1, 5).

“The rod going forth out of the stem of Jesse” is the Lord. That the girdle of the ephod and the belt of Aaron’s coat, signified conjunction, may be seen in The Arcana Coelestia, published at London (n. (9837) (9944). 9837, 9944). Since “a girdle” signifies the bond conjoining the goods and truths of the church, therefore when the church with the sons of Israel was destroyed, Jeremiah the prophet was commanded:

To buy himself a girdle, and put it upon his loins, and then to hide it in a hole of a rock near the Euphrates; and at the end of days, when he took it, behold it was rotten, and was profitable for nothing, (Jeremiah 13:1-12).

By this was represented that at that time there was no good in the church, and thence that truths were dissipated. The like is signified by “girdle” in Isaiah:

Instead of a girdle there shall be a rent, (Isaiah 3:24);

and elsewhere. That by the “paps” or “breasts” the Divine love is signified, is evident from those passages in the Word where they are named, as also from their correspondence with love.

47. Verse 14. And his head, and hairs, were white as wool, like snow, signifies the Divine love of the Divine wisdom in firsts and in ultimates. By the head of man is signified the all of his life; and the all of man’s life has relation to love and wisdom, therefore by “the head” is signified wisdom, and also love. But as there is no love without its wisdom, nor wisdom without its love, therefore it is the love of wisdom, which is meant by “the head;” and when the Lord is spoken of, it is the Divine love of the Divine wisdom. But the signification of “the head” will be shown from the Word, below, (538, 568). Since, therefore, by “the head” is meant love and at the same time wisdom in their firsts, it follows that by “hair” is meant love and wisdom in their ultimates; and because “hairs” are here spoken of the Son of man, who is the Lord as to the Word, by His “hairs” are signified the Divine good which is of love, and the Divine truth which is of wisdom, in the ultimates of the Word; and the ultimates of the Word are what are contained in the sense of its letter.

[2] That the Word in this sense is signified by “the hairs of the Son of man,” or of the Lord, seems a paradox, but yet it is true; this may appear from the passages in the Word quoted in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (35-49) where it is also shown, that the Nazarites in the Israelitish church represented the Lord as to the Word in ultimates, which is the sense of its letter. For “Nazarite,” in the Hebrew language is hair, or lock of hair; hence Samson, who was a Nazarite from the womb, had power in his hairs. That in like manner the Divine truth is in its power, in the sense of the letter of the Word, may be seen in the above-mentioned Doctrine concerning the Sacred Scripture, (37-49). Therefore, also, the high priest and his sons were severely prohibited from shaving the head. For this reason, forty-two boys were torn in pieces by two bears, because they called Elisha, “bald.” Elisha, like Elijah, represented the Lord as to the Word; “bald” signifies the Word without its ultimate, which, as was observed, is the sense of the letter, and “bears” signify that sense of the Word separated from its internal sense. They who separate them, appear also in the spiritual world, at a distance, like bears, whence it is evident why it was so done with the boys. Therefore also to induce baldness was the greatest disgrace, and a mark of extreme mourning.

[3] For which reason, when the Israelitish nation had perverted all the sense of the letter of the Word, this lamentation was made over them:

Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, bright white above milk; their form was darkened more than blackness, they are not known in the streets, (Lamentations 4:7-8).

Also:

Every head was made bald, and every shoulder was plucked of its hair, (Ezekiel 29:18).

Shame shall be upon all faces, and baldness upon all heads, (Ezekiel 7:18).

In like manner,Isaiah 15:2; Jeremiah 48:37; Amos 8:10. Because the sons of Israel dispersed by falsities all the sense of the letter of the Word, therefore the Prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent it by this, that:

He should shave the head with a razor, and burn with fire a third part of the hairs, a third part he should smite with a sword, and scatter a third part in the wind, and bind up some in his skirts, and afterwards cast them also into the fire, (Ezekiel 5:1-4).

[4] Therefore, also, it is said in Micah:

Induce baldness and poll thee for sons of thy delights, enlarge thy baldness as the eagle; for they are removed from thee, (Micah 1:16).

The “sons of delights” are the genuine truths of the church from the Word. And as Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, represented the Babylonian falsification of the Word, and destruction of all truth therein, therefore it came to pass that:

His hairs were grown like eagles’ feathers, (Daniel 4:33).

By reason that “hairs” signified that holiness of the Word it is said of the Nazarite that:

They should not shave the hair of his head, because that is the Naziriteship of God upon their head, (Numbers 6:1-21);

and therefore it was ordained that:

The high priest and his sons should not shave their head, lest they should die, and lest wrath should come upon the whole house of Israel, (Leviticus 10:6).

[5] Now as by “hairs” is signified the Divine truth in ultimates, which, in the church, is the Word in the sense of the letter, therefore, also the like is said of “the Ancient of Days” in Daniel:

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, his garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head like clean wool, (Daniel 7:9).

That “the Ancient of Days” is the Lord, appears evidently in Micah:

Thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall go forth unto Me He who shall be ruler in Israel, and whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity, (Micah 5:2).

And in Isaiah, where He is called “the Father of Eternity” (Isaiah 9:6).

[6] From these passages, and many others, which are not adduced by reason of their abundance, it may appear, that by the “head” and “hairs” of the Son of man, which were “bright white like wool, like snow” is meant the Divine of love and wisdom, in firsts and in ultimates. And as by the Son of man, the Lord is meant as to the Word, it follows, that this also is meant in firsts and in ultimates. Otherwise to what purpose would the Lord here in Revelation, and the Ancient of Days in Daniel, be described as to the hair? That by “hair,” the sense of the letter of the Word is signified, appears evidently from those who are in the spiritual world; they who have held the sense of the letter of the Word in contempt, appear bald there; and on the contrary, they who have loved the sense of the letter of the Word, appear there with becoming hair. It is said “as wool,” and “as snow,” because “wool” signifies good in ultimates, and “snow,” truth in ultimates; as also in Isaiah 1:18; for “wool” is from sheep, by which is signified the good of charity, and “snow” is from water, by which are signified the truths of faith.

48. And His eyes were as a flame of fire signifies the Divine wisdom of the Divine love. By “eyes,” in the Word, is meant the understanding, and thence, by the sight of the eyes, intelligence; therefore, when spoken of the Lord, the Divine wisdom is meant; but by a “flame of fire” is signified spiritual love, which is charity; wherefore, when spoken of the Lord, the Divine love is meant; hence, then, by “His eyes were like a flame of fire” is signified the Divine wisdom of the Divine love. That the “eye” signifies the understanding is because they correspond; for as the eye sees from natural light, so does the understanding from spiritual light; wherefore “to see” is predicated of both. That by “eye” in the Word, the understanding is signified, is evident from the following passages:

Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears, (Isaiah 43:8).

In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness, (Isaiah 29:18).

Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf, (Isaiah 35:5).

I will give thee for a light of the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind, (Isaiah 42:6-7).

This is spoken of the Lord, who, when He comes, will open the understanding of those who are in ignorance of the truth.

[2] That this is meant by “opening the eyes” is further evident from these passages:

Make the heart of this people fat, and smear their eyes, lest they perchance see with their eyes, (Isaiah 6:9-10; John 12:40).

Jehovah hath poured out upon you the spirit of deep sleep, and hath closed your eyes; the prophets, and your heads, the seers, hath He covered, (Isaiah 29:10; 30:10).

Who shutteth his eyes lest he should see evil, (Isaiah 33:15).

Hear ye this, O foolish people, which have eyes and see not, (Ezekiel 12:2).

The punishment of the shepherd that deserteth the flock; the sword shall be upon his right eye, and his right eye shall be utterly darkened, (Zechariah 11:17).

The plague with which Jehovah shall smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; their eyes shall consume away in their sockets, (Zechariah 14:12).

I will smite every horse with amazement, and every horse of the people with blindness, (Zechariah 12:4).

“Horse,” in the spiritual sense, is the understanding of the Word, (298).

Hear me, O Jehovah, my God, enlighten mine eyes, lest I sleep death, (Psalms 13:3).

[3] That in these passages, by “eyes” is signified the understanding, everyone sees. Hence it is evident what the Lord meant by “eye” in these places:

The lamp of the body is the eye; if thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be light; if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be darkened. If therefore the light [lumen] that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness, (Matthew 6:22-23; Luke 11:34).

If thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee; for it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast out into the Gehenna of fire, (Matthew 5:29; 18:9).

By “eye” in these places is not meant the eye, but the understanding of truth. Since by “eye” is signified the understanding of truth, therefore it was among the statutes of the sons of Israel, that:

One blind, or disordered in the eye from the seed of Aaron, should not come nigh to offer sacrifice; nor enter within the veil, (Leviticus 21:18, 20);

Then that anything blind should not be offered in sacrifice, (Leviticus 22:22; Malachi 1:8).

[4] From these things it is evident what is meant by “eye,” when predicated of a man; hence it follows, that by “eye,” when predicated of the Lord, His Divine wisdom is meant, as also His Divine omniscience and providence; as in these passages:

Open thine eyes, O Jehovah, and see, (Isaiah 37:17).

I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will build them, (Jeremiah 24:6).

Behold the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear Him, (Psalms 33:18).

Jehovah is in the temple of holiness, His eyes behold, His eyelids try the sons of man, (Psalms 11:4).

Since by “cherubs” is signified the guard and providence of the Lord lest the spiritual sense of the Word should be injured; therefore it is said of the four animals which were cherubs, that:

They were full of eyes before and behind, and their wings were likewise full of eyes, (Revelation 4:6, 8);

The wheels upon which the cherubs were drawn, were full of eyes round about, (Ezekiel 10:12).

[5] That by “a flame of fire” is meant His Divine love, will be seen in what follows, where “flame” and “fire” are mentioned; and because it is said, that “His eyes were as a flame of fire,” the Divine wisdom of the Divine love is signified. That in the Lord there is the Divine love of the Divine wisdom, and the Divine wisdom of the Divine love, and thus a reciprocal union of both, is an arcanum disclosed in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (34-39).

49. Verse 15. And His feet were like unto fine brass, as if glowing in a furnace, signifies the Divine good natural. “The feet” of the Lord signify His Divine natural; “fire” or “glowing” signifies good; and “fine brass” signifies the good of natural truth; therefore, by “the feet of the Son of man like unto fine brass, as if glowing in a furnace,” is signified the Divine good natural. That “His feet” signify this is from correspondence. There is in the Lord, and therefore from the Lord the Divine celestial, the Divine spiritual, and the Divine natural; the Divine celestial is meant by the “head” of the Son of man; the Divine spiritual, by His “eyes,” and by the “breast,” which was girt about with a golden girdle; and the Divine natural, by His “feet.”

[2] Because these three are in the Lord, therefore also they are in the angelic heaven; the third or highest heaven is in the Divine celestial; the second or middle heaven is in the Divine spiritual; and the first or ultimate heaven in the Divine natural. In like manner, the church on the earth; for the whole heaven before the Lord is as one man, in which they who are in the Lord’s Divine celestial make the head; they who are in the Divine spiritual make the body; and they who are in the Divine natural make the feet. Hence, also, in every man, because he was created in the image of God, there are these three degrees, and, as these are opened, he becomes an angel either of the third, or of the second, or of the ultimate heaven. Hence, also it is, that in the Word there are three senses; the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural. This may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, particularly in chapter 3, which treats of these three degrees. That the feet, the soles, and the heels, correspond to natural things with man, and therefore in the Word signify things natural, may be seen in The Arcana Coelestia, published in London, (2162[1-16], 4938-4952).

[3] The Divine natural good is also signified by feet in the following places; in Daniel:

I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, behold a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz; His body was like the beryl, and His eyes as torches of fire, His arms and His feet like the splendor of polished brass, (Daniel 10:5-6).

In Revelation:

I saw an angel come down from heaven, his feet as pillars of fire, (Revelation 10:1).

And in Ezekiel:

The feet of the cherubs were sparkling like the splendor of polished brass, (Ezekiel 1:7).

The reason why the angels and cherubs were seen thus, was because the Divine of the Lord was represented in them.

[4] The Lord’s church being under the heavens, thus under the Lord’s feet, it is therefore called “the footstool of His feet” in the following places:

The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, to decorate the place of My sanctuary; and I will render the place of My feet honorable; and they shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet, (Isaiah 60:13-14).

The heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet, (Isaiah 66:1).

God remembereth not the footstool of His feet in the day of anger, (Lamentations 2:1).

Adore Jehovah at the footstool of His feet, (Psalms 99:5).

Lo, we heard of Him in Ephratah [Bethlehem]. We will go into His habitations; we will bow ourselves down at the footstool of His feet, (Psalms 132:6-7).

Thence it is that:

They fell down at the Lord’s feet adoring, (Matthew 28:9; Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41; John 11:32).

Also that:

They kissed His feet and wiped them with their hairs, (Luke 7:37-38, 44-46; John 11:2; 12:3).

[5] As by “feet” is signified the natural, therefore the Lord said to Peter, when He washed his feet:

He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, and the whole is clean, (John 13:10).

“To wash the feet” is to purify the natural man; and when this is purified, the whole man is also purified; as is shown in many passages in The Arcana Coelestia and in The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. The natural man, which is also the external man, is purified, when he shuns the evils which the spiritual or internal man sees to be evils and that they ought to be shunned.

[6] Now since the natural of man is meant by “feet,” and this perverts all things if it be not washed or purified; therefore the Lord says:

And if thy foot offend thee cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life halt, than having two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire, (Mark 9:45).

Here the foot is not meant, but the natural man. The same is meant by “trampling under foot the good pasture,” and by “troubling the waters with their feet” (Ezekiel 32:2; 34:18-19; Daniel 7:7, 19 and in other places).

[7] Since by the Son of man is meant the Lord as to the Word, it is evident, that by His “feet” is also meant the Word in its natural sense; which is much treated of in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture; as also that the Lord came into the world, that He might fulfill all things of the Word, and thereby be made the Word also in ultimates, (98-100). But this arcanum is for those who will be in the New Jerusalem.

[8] The Lord’s Divine Natural is also signified by:

The brazen serpent, which was set up by the command of Moses in the wilderness; by looking upon which, all who had been bitten by serpents were healed, (Numbers 21:6, 8-9). This signified the Lord’s Divine natural, and that they are saved who look to it, the Lord Himself teaches in John:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life, (John 3:14-15).

The reason why the serpent was made of brass, is because brass, as also fine brass signifies the natural as to good, see below, (775).

50. And His voice as the voice of many waters, signifies the Divine truth natural. That a “voice” when from the Lord signifies the Divine truth, may be seen above, (37); that “waters” signify truths, and, specifically, natural truths, which are knowledges from the Word, is evident from many passages in the Word; of which only the following are adduced:

The earth is full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea, (Isaiah 11:9).

Therefore, with joy shall ye draw waters out of the fountains of salvation, (Isaiah 12:3).

He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightness bread shall be given him, and water shall be sure, (Isaiah 33:15-16).

The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue faileth for thirst; I will open rivers on the hillsides, and I will put fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of waters, that they may see, acknowledge, attend and understand, (Isaiah 41:17-18, 20).

I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, I will pour out my spirit, (Isaiah 44:3).

Thy light shall rise in darkness and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of waters whose waters fail not, (Isaiah 58:10-11).

My people have committed two evils; they have deserted me, the fountain of living waters, to cut out for themselves pits, that can hold no waters, (Jeremiah 2:13).

And their great men sent their little ones for the waters, they came to the pits and found no waters, they returned with their vessels empty, (Jeremiah 14:3).

They have deserted Jehovah, the fountain of living waters, (Jeremiah 17:13).

They shall come with weeping; and with weeping will I lead them, I will lead them to the fountain of waters in a straight way, (Jeremiah 31:9).

I will break the staff of bread; and they shall drink waters by measure and with astonishment, that they may consume away for their iniquities, (Ezekiel 4:16-17; 12:18-19; Isaiah 51:14).

Behold the days shall come, in which I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for waters, but for hearing the words of Jehovah; and they shall wander from sea to sea; they shall run to and fro to hear the Word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. In that day shall the virgins and youths fail for thirst, (Amos 8:11-13).

And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, (Zechariah 14:8).

Jehovah is my shepherd, He will lead me to the waters of quietness, (Psalms 23:1-2).

They shall not thirst, He will make waters to flow out of the rock for them, He will cleave the rock that the waters may flow forth, (Isaiah 48:21).

O God, I seek thee in the morning, my soul thirsteth, I am weary without waters, (Psalms 63:1).

Jehovah sendeth the Word, He causeth the wind to blow, that the waters may flow, (Psalms 147:18).

Praise Jehovah, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters above the heavens, (Psalms 148:4).

Jesus, sitting at the fountain of Jacob, said unto the woman, Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give, shall not thirst to eternity; and the water that I shall give, shall be in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life, (John 4:7-15).

Jesus said, If anyone thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow streams of living water, (John 7:37-38).

I will give unto him that thirsteth of the fountain of the water of life freely, (Revelation 21:6).

He showed me a river of water of life, going out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb, (Revelation 22:1).

The Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that thirsteth come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely, (Revelation 22:17).

By “waters” in these passages are meant truths; hence it is evident that by “the voice of many waters” is meant the Divine truth of the Lord in the Word; as, also, in these places:

Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the voice of many waters; and the earth was lighted by His glory, (Ezekiel 43:2).

I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters, (Revelation 14:2).

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters, Jehovah is upon many waters, (Psalms 29:3).

When it is known that by “waters” in the Word are meant truths in the natural man, it may appear what was signified by washings, in the Israelitish church; and also what is signified by baptism; and likewise by these words of the Lord, in John:

Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God, (John 3:5).

To be born “of water” signifies to be born by truths; and “of the Spirit” signifies by a life according to them. That “waters” in the opposite sense signify falsities, will be seen in what follows.

51. Verse 16. And having in His right hand seven stars, signifies all the knowledges of good and truth in the Word, which are thence with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church. Around the angels, when they are below the heavens, there appear, as it were, little stars in great abundance; and in like manner, around spirits, who, when they lived in the world, had acquired to themselves knowledges of good and truth, or truths of life and doctrine from the Word. These stars appear fixed, with those who are in genuine truths from the Word; but wandering with those who are in falsified truths. Concerning those little stars, as also concerning the stars which appear there in the firmament, I could relate wonderful things, but it does not belong to this work: hence it is evident that by “stars” are signified the knowledges of good and truth from the Word. “The Son of man had them in His right hand,” signifies, that they are from the Lord alone through the Word. That “seven” signify all, may be seen above, (10).

[2] That the knowledges of good and truth from the Word, are signified by “stars,” may also appear from these passages:

I will lay the earth waste; The stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not give their light, (Isaiah 13:9-10).

“The earth” which shall be laid waste, is the church; which being vastated, the knowledges of good and truth in the Word do not appear:

And when I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens and make the stars thereof dark: All the luminaries of light will I make dark over thee, and I will set darkness upon the land, (Ezekiel 32:7-8).

“Darkness upon the land,” means falsities in the church:

The sun and the moon have been darkened, and the stars have withdrawn their splendor, (Joel 2:10; 3:15).

After the affliction of those days shall the sun be obscured, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24).

The stars of heaven fell to the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, (Revelation 6:13).

A star fell from heaven to the earth, (Revelation 9:1).

By “stars falling from heaven” are not meant stars, but that the knowledges of good and truth will perish.

[3] This is still more evident from its being said, that:

The dragon drew down the third part of the stars from heaven, (Revelation 12:4).

Also that:

The he-goat cast down some of the stars and trampled them, (Daniel 8:9-11).

Therefore in the next verse in Daniel it is also said that:

It cast down the truth to the earth, (Daniel 8:12).

The knowledges of good and truth are also signified by “stars,” in these passages:

Jehovah telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by names, (Psalms 147:4).

Praise Jehovah, all ye stars of light, (Psalms 148:3).

The stars fought in their ways, (Judges 5:20).

From hence it appears what is meant by these words in Daniel:

And the intelligent shall be resplendent as the splendor of the expanse, justifying many as the stars for ages of ages, (Daniel 12:3).

The “intelligent” are those who are in truths; “justifying” those who are in goods.

52. And out of his mouth a sharp two-edged sword going forth, signifies the dispersion of falsities by the Word, and by doctrine thence from the Lord. Mention is very often made in the Word of “sword,” “saber,” and “long sword,” and by them nothing else is signified but truth fighting against falsities and destroying them; and, also, in the opposite sense, the falsity fighting against truths; for by “wars” in the Word, are signified spiritual wars, which are wars of truth against falsity, and of falsity against truth; wherefore, by “the arms of war,” such things are signified as are made use of in spiritual wars. That the dispersion of falsities by the Lord is here meant by sword [romphoea] is evident, because, it was seen “to go out of his mouth;” and to go out of the mouth of the Lord, is to go out of the Word, for this the Lord spoke with His mouth; and as the Word is understood by doctrine, thence this is also signified. It is called “a sharp two-edged sword,” because it penetrates the heart and soul.

[2] To show that by “sword” is here meant the dispersion of falsities by the Word from the Lord, some passages shall be adduced in which sword [gladius] is mentioned:

A sword against Babylon, her princes, and her wise ones; O sword against the liars that they may become foolish; O sword against the mighty, that they may be dismayed; O sword against her horses, and her chariots; O sword against her treasures, that they may be despoiled. A drought is upon her waters, that they may be dried up, (Jeremiah 50:35-38).

These things are said of Babylon, by which those are meant who falsify and adulterate the Word, therefore by the “liars” who will become foolish, and the “horses and chariots” upon whom there is a sword, and the “treasures” which will be despoiled, are signified the falsities of their doctrine. That the “waters” upon which is a drought that they may be dried up, signify truths, may be seen above, (50).

[3] Prophesy, and say, A sword is sharpened, and also furbished, sharpened to make a great slaughter; and let the sword be repeated the third time; the sword of the pierced; the sword of a great piercing, penetrating the inner parts, that stumbling blocks may be multiplied, (Ezekiel 21:9-20).

By “sword” is here also meant the devastation of truth in the church.

Jehovah will plead by His sword with all flesh, and the pierced of Jehovah shall be multiplied, (Isaiah 66:16).

They are called “the pierced of Jehovah” here, and in other parts of the Word, who perish by falsities.

The wasters are come upon all the hills in the wilderness; the sword of Jehovah is devouring from the end of the earth, even to the end of the earth, (Jeremiah 12:12).

We get our bread with the peril of our lives, because of the sword of the wilderness, (Lamentations 5:9).

Woe to the worthless shepherd that deserteth the flock; the sword shall be upon his arm and upon his right eye, (Zechariah 11:17).

The sword upon the right eye of the shepherd is the falsity of his understanding.

The sons of men are inflamed, their tongue is a sharp sword, (Psalms 57:4).

Behold they belch out with their mouth; a sword is in their lips, (Psalms 59:7).

The workers of iniquity whet their tongue like a sword, (Psalms 64:3).

The same is signified by sword in other places, as in Isaiah 13:13, 15; 21:14-15; 27:1; 31:7-8; Jeremiah 2:30; 5:12; 11:22; 14:13-18; Ezekiel 7:15; 32:10-12.

[4] Hence it may appear what the Lord meant by “sword” in the following passages:

Jesus said, He came not to send peace on earth, but a sword, (Matthew 10:34).

Jesus said, He that hath not a purse and a scrip, let him sell his garments and buy a sword. The disciples said, Lord, behold, here are two swords. And He said unto them, It is enough, (Luke 22:36, 38).

All they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword, (Matthew 26:51-52).

Jesus says, concerning the consummation of the age:

They shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations, and at length Jerusalem shall be trodden down, (Luke 21:24).

“The consummation of the age” is the last time of the church; “the sword” is falsity destroying truth; the “nations” are evils; “Jerusalem” which shall be trodden down, is the church.

[5] Hence, then, it is evident, that by “a sharp sword going out of the mouth of the Son of man,” is signified the dispersion of falsities by the Lord by means of the Word. The same is signified in the following passages in Revelation:

And there was given unto him who sat upon the red horse a great sword, (Revelation 6:4).

And out of the mouth of Him who sat upon the white horse goeth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations. And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, (Revelation 19:15, 21).

By “Him who sat upon the white horse,” the Lord as to the Word, is meant, which is plainly declared (verses 13, 16). The same is meant in David:

Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O Mighty One. Ride upon the word of truth. Thine arrows are sharp, (Psalms 45:3-5);

speaking of the Lord. And in another place:

The saints shall exult, and the sword of their mouths is in their hand, (Psalms 149:5-6).

And in Isaiah:

Jehovah hath made my mouth a sharp sword, (Isaiah 49:2).

53. And His face was as the sun shineth in His power, signifies the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, which are Himself, and proceed from Himself. That by “the face of Jehovah,” or of the Lord, is meant the Divine Himself in His Essence, which is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom thus Himself, will be seen in the explanations below, where mention is made of “the face of God.” The same is signified by “the sun shining in His power.” That the Lord is seen as a sun in heaven before the angels, and that it is His Divine love together with His Divine wisdom, which so appear, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758 (116-225); and in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (83-172).

[2] It remains here only to be confirmed from the Word, that the “sun,” when mentioned in reference to the Lord, signifies His Divine love, and at the same time His Divine wisdom; this may appear from the following places:

In that day the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, it shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days, (Isaiah 30:26).

“That day” is the advent of the Lord when the old church is destroyed, and a new one is about to be established; “the light of the moon” is faith from charity, and “the light of the sun” is intelligence and wisdom from love, and thus from the Lord.

Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah shall be an everlasting light, (Isaiah 60:20).

The sun which shall not set, is love and wisdom from the Lord.

The rock of Israel spake unto me, as the light of the morning when the sun ariseth, (2 Samuel 23:3-4).

The “rock of Israel” is the Lord:

His throne shall be as a sun, (Psalms 89:36-37).

This is said of David; but by “David” is there meant the Lord.

They shall fear thee with the sun. In his days shall the just flourish, and abundance of peace until there is no moon; the name of the Son shall be before the sun; and all nations shall be blessed in Him, (Psalms 72:5, 7, 17).

[3] This also is said of the Lord. Because the Lord appears as a sun in heaven before the angels, therefore:

When He was transfigured, His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment became as the light, (Matthew 17:1-2).

And it is said of the strong angel who came down from heaven, that:

He was clothed with a cloud, and His face was as it were the sun, (Revelation 10:1);

and of the woman, that:

She was seen clothed with the sun, (Revelation 12:1).

“The sun” in these passages also signifies love and wisdom from the Lord; “the woman” is the church, which is called the New Jerusalem.

[4] Since, by “the sun,” is meant the Lord as to love and wisdom, it is evident what is signified by “the sun” in the following places:

Behold the fierce day of Jehovah cometh; the sun shall be darkened in its rising, and the moon shall not make her light to shine; I will visit upon the world its wickedness, and upon the impious their iniquity, (Isaiah 13:9-11; see also Isaiah 24:21, 23).

And when I shall have extinguished thee, I will cover the heavens, and I will make the stars thereof dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine, and I will set darkness upon thy land, (Ezekiel 32:7-8).

The day of Jehovah cometh, a day of darkness, the sun and the moon shall not make their light to shine, and the stars have withdrawn their splendor, (Joel 2:10).

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great day of Jehovah cometh, (Joel 2:31).

The day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. The sun and the moon shall be darkened, (Joel 3:14-15).

The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, the third part of the stars, and the day shone not for a third part of it (Revelation 8:12).

The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, (Revelation 6:12).

The sun was obscured by the smoke of the pit, (Revelation 9:2).

In these passages by “sun” is not meant the sun of this world, but the sun of the angelic heaven, which is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom of the Lord; these are said to be “obscured,” “darkened,” “covered,” and “blackened” when there are evils and falsities with man.

[5] Hence it is evident, that similar things are meant by the Lord’s words, where He speaks of the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church:

Immediately after the affliction of those days shall the sun be obscured, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25).

And in like manner in the following passages:

And the sun shall go down over the prophets, and the day shall grow black over them, (Micah 3:5-6).

In that day I will cause the sun to set at noon, and I will darken the earth in the day of light, (Amos 8:9).

She that hath borne seven shall breathe out her soul; her sun is set while it is yet day, (Jeremiah 15:9).

This is said of the Jewish church, which was “to breathe out its soul,” that is, would perish; “the sun shall set,” signifies that there will be no longer any love and charity.

[6] It is said in Joshua, that:

The sun stood still in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Ajalon, (Joshua 10:12-13).

This appears as if it was historical, but it is prophetic, being quoted from the book of Jasher, which was a prophetic book; for it is said:

Is not this written in the book of Jasher? (Joshua 10:13).

The same book is also mentioned as prophetic by David, (2 Samuel 1:17-18); something similar is also said in Habakkuk:

The mountains were moved, the sun and moon stood in their seat, (Habakkuk 3:10-11).

Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon be withdrawn, (Isaiah 60:20).

For to make the sun and moon stand still would be to destroy the universe.

[7] Since the Lord as to the Divine love and the Divine wisdom is meant by “the sun,” therefore the ancients in their holy worship turned their face to the rising of the sun; and also their temples, which custom still continues. That the sun of the world is not meant in these places by “the sun,” is evident from its having been considered profane and abominable to adore the sun and moon of the world, as may be seen in Numbers 25:1-4; Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3, 5; Jeremiah 8:1-2; 43:10, 13; 44:17-19, 25; Ezekiel 8:16; for by “the sun of the world” is meant the love of self and the pride of one’s own intelligence; and the love of self is diametrically opposite to the Divine love; and the pride of one’s own intelligence is opposite to the Divine wisdom. To adore the sun of the world is also to acknowledge nature as the creator, and one’s own prudence to be effective of all things, which involves the denial of God, and the denial of the Divine providence.

54. Verse 17. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead, signifies that from such presence of the Lord there was a defect or deprivation of his own life. A man’s own life cannot sustain the presence of the Lord, such as the Lord is in Himself, yea, such as He is in the inmosts of His Word; for His Divine love is altogether like the sun, which no one can bear as it is in itself, without being consumed. This is what is meant by saying that:

No one can see God and live, (Exodus 33:20; Judges 13:22).

This being the case, therefore the Lord appears to the angels in heaven as a sun, at a distance from them, as the sun of this world is from men; the reason is, because the Lord in Himself is in that sun. But yet the Lord so moderates and tempers His Divine that man can sustain His presence. This is effected by veilings. It was so done when He revealed Himself to many in the Word. Yea, by veilings He is present with everyone who worships Him; as He Himself says in John:

He that doeth My commandments, with him I will make My abode, (John 14:21, 23).

That He will be in them, and they in Him, (John 15:4-5).

Hence it is evident why John, when he saw the Lord in such glory, fell at His feet as dead; and also, why the three disciples, when they saw the Lord in glory, were heavy with sleep, and a cloud covered them, (Luke 9:32, 34).

55. And He laid His right hand upon me, signifies life then inspired from Him. The reason why the Lord “laid His right hand upon him,” is, because communication is effected by the touch of the hands. The reason is that the life of the mind, and thence of the body, puts itself forth into the arms, and through them into the hands. On this account:

The Lord touched with His hands those whom He restored to life and healed, (Mark 1:31, 41; 7:32-33; 8:22-26; 10:13, 16; Luke 5:12-13; 7:14; 18:15; 22:51).

And in like manner:

After His disciples saw Jesus transfigured, and they fell on the face, (Matthew 17:6-7).

The origin of this is, because the presence of the Lord with man is adjunction, and thus conjunction by contiguity; and this contiguity is near and fuller in proportion as man loves the Lord, that is, does His commandments. From these few things it may appear, that by “laying His right hand upon him,” is signified inspiring him with His life.

56. Saying unto me, Fear not, signifies resuscitation, and then adoration from the deepest humiliation. That it is resuscitation to life, is a consequence of what went before, (55); and that it is adoration from the deepest humiliation, is evident, for he fell at the Lord’s feet. And as a holy fear seized him, the Lord said, on his being resuscitated, “Fear not.” Holy fear, which sometimes is joined with a sacred tremor of the interiors of the mind, and sometimes with horripilation, supervenes, when life enters from the Lord in place of one’s own life. One’s own life is to look from one’s self to the Lord, but life from the Lord is to look from the Lord to the Lord and yet as if from himself. When man is in this latter life, he sees that he himself is not anything, but the Lord only. Daniel also was in this holy fear, when:

He saw the man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz, his body like the beryl, his face like lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and feet as the splendor of polished brass, upon seeing whom Daniel also became as dead, and a hand touched him, and it was said, Fear not, Daniel, (Daniel 10:5-12).

Something similar occurred to Peter, James, and John, when the Lord was transfigured, and was seen:

As to His face like the sun, and His garments as the light, upon which they also fell upon their faces, and feared for themselves greatly, and then Jesus coming near, touched them, saying, Fear not ye, (Matthew 17:2, 6-7.

The Lord also said unto the women who saw Him at the sepulcher, Fear not, (Matthew 28:10).

Likewise the angel, whose face appeared like lightning, and his garment as snow, said unto those women, Fear not ye, (Matthew 28:3-5).

The angel said to Zechariah also, Fear not, (Luke 1:12-13).

In like manner the angel said to Mary, Fear not, (Luke 1:30).

The angels said to the shepherds also, when the glory of the Lord shone round about them, Fear not, (Luke 2:9-10).

A similar holy fear seized Simon, by reason of the draught of fishes; therefore he said:

Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord; but Jesus said unto him, Fear not, (Luke 5:8-10 besides other places).

These are adduced that it may be known why the Lord said to John, “Fear not,” and that by it is meant resuscitation, and then adoration from the deepest humiliation.

57. I am the First and the Last, which signifies that He alone is infinite and eternal, thus the only God, may appear from the explanation above, (13, 29, 38).

58. Verse 18. And am He that liveth, signifies who alone is life, and from whom alone life is. Jehovah, in the Word of the Old Testament, calls Himself the living, and He that liveth, because He alone lives; for He is love itself and wisdom itself, and these are life. That there is one only life, which is God, and that angels and men are recipients of life from Him, is abundantly shown in Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Wisdom. Jehovah calls Himself “the living” and “He that liveth” (Isaiah 38:18-19; Jeremiah 5:2; 12:16; 16:14-15; 23:7-8; 46:18; Ezekiel 5:11). The Lord as to His Divine Human also is life, because the Father and He are one; therefore He says:

As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, (John 5:26).

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, (John 11:25).

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, (John 14:6).

In the beginning was the Word, and God was the Word; in Him was life; and the Word became flesh, (John 1:1-4, 14).

Because the Lord is the only life, it follows that from Him alone life is derived; therefore He says:

Because I live, ye shall live also, (John 14:19).

59. And was dead, signifies that He was neglected and His Divine Human not acknowledged. By “his becoming dead” is not meant that He was crucified, and so died, but that He was neglected in the church, and His Divine Human not acknowledged, for so He is dead with men. His Divine from eternity is indeed acknowledged, but this is Jehovah Himself; but His human is not acknowledged to be Divine, although the Divine and the Human in Him are like soul and body, and therefore are not two but one, yea, one Person, according to the doctrine received throughout the whole Christian world, which has its name from Athanasius. When, therefore, the Divine in Him is separated from the Human, by saying that His Human is not Divine, but like the human of another man, in this case He is dead with men. But concerning this separation and thus making dead the Lord, more may be seen in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord; and in Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Providence, (262-263).

60. And behold, I am alive for ages of ages, signifies that He is life eternal. Now as, “Who am living” signifies that He alone is life, and from Him alone life is (as above, (58), 58), it follows that “Behold I am alive for ages of ages” signifies that He alone is life to eternity, and consequently that eternal life is from Him alone; for eternal life is in Him, and consequently from Him. “Ages of ages” signifies eternity. That eternal life is from the Lord alone is plain from the following passages:

Jesus said, Whosoever believeth in Me shall not perish, but shall have eternal life, (John 3:16).

Everyone that believeth in the Son hath eternal life, but he who believeth not in the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him, (John 3:36; 6:40, 47-48).

Verily, I say unto you, he that believeth in Me hath eternal life, (John 6:47).

I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he die, shall live; and whosoever believeth in Me, shall not die to eternity, (John 11:25-26; and in other places).

Hence, then, the Lord is called, “He that liveth for ages of ages;” as also in the following passages:Revelation 4:9-10; 5:14; 10:6; Daniel 4:34.

61. Amen, signifies the Divine confirmation that it is the truth. That “amen” is the truth, which is the Lord, may be seen above, (23).

62. And I have the keys of hell and death, signifies that He alone can save. By “keys” is signified the power of opening and shutting; here the power of opening hell, that man may be brought forth, and of shutting, lest, when he is brought forth, he should enter again. For man is born in evils of all kinds, thus in hell, for evils are hell; he is brought out of it by the Lord, to whom belongs the power of opening it. That by “having the keys of hell and death,” is not meant the power of casting into hell, but the power of saving, is because it immediately follows after these words:

Behold, I am alive for ages of ages;

by which is signified that He alone is eternal life, (60); and the Lord never casts anyone into hell, but man casts himself. By “keys” is signified the power of opening and shutting, in Revelation also, (Revelation 3:7; 9:1; 20:1; also in Isaiah 22:21-22; in Matthew 16:19; and in Luke 11:52). The power of the Lord is not only over heaven, but also over hell; for hell is kept in order and connection by oppositions against heaven; for which reason, He who rules the one must necessarily rule the other; otherwise man could not be saved; to be saved is to be brought out of hell.

63. Verse 19. Write the things which thou hath seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter, signifies that all the things now revealed are for the use of posterity; as may appear without explanation.

64. Verse 20. The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, signifies arcana in visions concerning the New Heaven and the New Church. That by “seven stars” is signified the church in the heavens, and by “seven lampstands” the church on the earth, will be seen in what now follows.

65. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, signifies the New Church in the heavens, which is the New Heaven. The church is in the heavens equally as on the earth; for the Word is in the heavens equally as it is on the earth, and there are doctrines from it, and preachings from it; on which subject see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (70-75, 104-113). That church is the New Heaven, concerning which something is said in the preface. The reason why the church in the heavens, or the New Heaven, is meant by “the seven stars,” is, because it is said, that “the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,” and by “angel” is signified a heavenly society. In the spiritual world there appears an expanse full of stars, as in the natural world, and this appearance is from the angelic societies in heaven. Each society there shines like a star before those who are below; hence they there know in what situation the angelic societies are. That “seven” does not signify seven, but all who are of the church there according to the reception of each, may be seen above, (10, 14, 41); therefore, by “the angels of the seven churches,” is meant the entire church in the heavens, consequently the New Heaven in the aggregate.

66. And the seven lampstands which thou sawest are the seven churches, signifies the New Church upon earth, which is the New Jerusalem descending from the Lord out of the New Heaven. That “the lampstands” are the church, may be seen above, (43); and because “seven” signify all, (10), by “the seven lampstands” are not meant seven churches, but the church in the aggregate, which in itself is one, but various according to reception. Those varieties may be compared to the various diadems in the crown of a king; and they may also be compared to the various members and organs in a perfect body, which yet make one. The perfection of every form exists from various things being suitably arranged in their order. Hence it is, that the whole New Church is described as to its varieties by “the seven churches,” in what follows.

67. THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH, IN ONE UNIVERSAL IDEA, is this, that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world that He might subjugate the hells, and glorify His Human; and that without this no mortal could be saved; and that they are saved who believe in Him.

[2] It is said, in a universal idea, because this is the universal of faith, and the universal of faith is what must be in each and every thing of it. It is a universal of faith, that God is one in Person and in essence, in whom there is the Trinity, and that the Lord is that God. It is a universal of faith, that no mortal could be saved unless the Lord came into the world. It is a universal of faith, that He came into the world that He might remove hell from man; and that He did remove it by combats against it and by victories over it; thus He subjugated it, and reduced it into order, and under obedience to Himself. It is also a universal of faith, that He came into the world to glorify the Human, which He assumed in the world, that is, might unite it with the Divine from which it was; thus having subjugated hell, He keeps it in order and under obedience to Himself to eternity. Now as neither of these could have come to pass except by means of temptations, even to the last of them; and the last of them was the passion of the cross, therefore He endured that. These are the universals of faith concerning the Lord.

[3] The universal of the Christian faith on man’s part, is, to believe in the Lord; for by believing in Him conjunction is effected with Him, and by conjunction, salvation. To believe in Him is to have confidence that He saves, and because no one can have confidence but he who lives well, therefore this also is meant by believing in Him.

[4] These two universals of the Christian faith have been specifically treated of; the first, which relates to the Lord, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord; and the second, which relates to man, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Charity and Faith, and in The Doctrine of Life; and both now in the explanations of Revelation.

Chapter 2 (68-153)

68. Revelation 2

1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.

2. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy endurance, and that thou canst not bear the evil, and hast tried them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars;

3. And hast borne, and hast endurance, and for My name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted.

4. But I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity.

5. Remember therefore from whence thou hast fallen; and repent, and do the first works; but if not I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent.

6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

8. And unto the angel of the church of Smyrna write; These things saith the First and the Last, who was dead, and is alive.

9. I know thy works, and affliction, and poverty, and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan.

10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil will cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried: and ye shall have affliction ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, These things saith He that hath the sharp two-edged sword.

13. I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, even where Satan’s throne is; and thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith, even in those days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth.

14. But I have a few things against thee, that thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumblingblock before the sons of Israel, to eat idol-sacrifices, and to commit whoredom.

15. So thou hast, even thou, them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate.

16. Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight with them with the sword of My mouth.

17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh I will give to eat of the hidden manna; and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it.

18. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write; These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass.

19. I know thy works, and charity, and ministry, and faith, and thy endurance, and thy works; and the last to be more than the first.

20. But I have a few things against thee, that thou permittest that women Jezebel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce My servants to commit whoredom, and to eat idol-sacrifices.

21. And I gave her time to repent of her whoredom, and she repented not.

22. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great affliction, except they repent of their works.

23. And I will kill her sons with death. And all the churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the reins and hearts; and I will give unto each one of you according to your works.

24. But unto you, I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak; I will put upon you none other burden.⁷

25. Nevertheless, that which ye have, hold fast till I come.

26. And he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations;

27. And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in pieces; even as I have received from My Father.

28. And I will give him the morning star.

29. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

THE CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER. To the churches in the Christian world: To those there who primarily regard truths of doctrine and not goods of life, who are meant by the church of Ephesus, (73-90). To those there who are in goods as to life and in falsities as to doctrine, who are meant by the church of Smyrna, (91-106). To those there who place the all of the church in good works, and not anything in truths, who are meant by the church in Pergamos, (107-123). And to those there who are in faith from charity, as also to those who are in faith separated from charity, who are meant by the church in Thyatira, (124-152). All these are called to the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write,” signifies to those and concerning those who primarily regard truths of doctrine, and not goods of life, (73). “These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand,” signifies the Lord, from whom through the Word, are all truths, (74). “Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands,” signifies from whom enlightenment is to those who are of His church, (75).

Verse 2. “I know thy works,” signifies that He sees all the interiors and exteriors of man at once, (76). “And thy labor and thy endurance,” signifies their study and patience, (77). “And that thou canst not bear the evil,” signifies that they cannot bear that evil should be called goods and the reverse, (78). “And hast tried them that say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars,” signifies that they scrutinize those things which are called goods and truths in the church, which nevertheless are evils and falsities, (79).

Verse 3. “And hast borne and hast endurance,” signifies patience with them, (80). “And for My name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted,” signifies their study and endeavor to procure the things which belong to religion and its doctrine, (81[1-4]) verse 4. “But I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity,” signifies that this is against them, that they do not hold the goods of life in the first place, (82).

Verse 5. “Remember therefore from whence thou hast fallen,” signifies remembrance of their error, (83). “And repent, and do the first works,” signifies that they ought to invert the state of their life, (84). “But if not I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent,” signifies that otherwise, of a certainty, enlightenment will not be given them to see truths any longer, (85).

Verse 6. “But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate,” signifies that they know this from their truths, and thence are not willing that works should be meritorious, (86).

Verse 7. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” signifies that he that understands, ought to obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, (87). “To him that overcometh,” signifies he who fights against evils and falsities, and is reformed, (88). “Will I give to eat of the tree of life,” signifies appropriation of the good of love and charity from the Lord, (89). “Which is in the midst of the paradise of God,” signifies interiorly in the truths of wisdom and faith, (90).

Verse 8. “And unto the angel of the church of Smyrna write,” signifies to those and concerning those who are in goods as to life, but in falsities as to doctrine alone, (91). “These things saith the First and the Last,” signifies the Lord, that He alone is God, (92). “Who was dead and is alive,” signifies that He is neglected in the church, and His Human not acknowledged to be Divine, when yet as to that also He alone is life, and from Him alone is eternal life, (93).

Verse 9. “I know thy works,” signifies that the Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once, (94). “And affliction and poverty,” signifies that they are in falsities, and thence not in goods, (95). “And the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and are not,” signifies the false assertion that they are in the goods of love, when yet they are not, (96). “But are the synagogue of Satan,” signifies, because they are in falsities as to doctrine, (97).

Verse 10. “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer,” signifies, despair not when infested by evils and assaulted by falsities, (98). “Behold the devil will cast some of you into prison,” signifies that their good of life will be infested by evils from hell, (99). “That ye may be tried,” signifies by falsities fighting against them, (100). “And ye shall have affliction ten days,” signifies that it will endure its full time, (101[1-3]). “Be thou faithful unto death,” signifies reception of truths until falsities are removed, (102). “And I will give thee a crown of life,” signifies that they will then have eternal life, the reward of victory, (103).

Verse 11. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” signifies here, as before, (104). “He that overcometh,” signifies he that fights against evils and falsities, and is reformed, (105). “Shall not be hurt of the second death,” signifies that afterwards they will not succumb to evils and falsities from hell, (106).

Verse 12. “And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write,” signifies to those and concerning those who place the all of the church in good works, and not anything in truths of doctrine, (107). “These things saith He that hath the sharp two-edged sword,” signifies the Lord as to the truths of doctrine from the Word, by which evils and falsities are dispersed, (108).

Verse 13. “I know thy works,” signifies here, as before, (109). “And where thou dwellest,” signifies their life in darkness, (110). “And thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith,” signifies when yet they have religion and worship according to it, (111). “Even in those days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth,” signifies when all truth was extinguished by falsities in the church, (112).

Verse 14. “But I have a few things against thee,” signifies that the things which follow are against them, (113). “That thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol-sacrifices, and to commit whoredom,” signifies that there are some among them who do hypocritical works, by which the worship of God in the church is defiled and adulterated, (114).

Verse 15. “So thou hast, even thou, them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate,” signifies that there are some among them also who make works meritorious, (115).

Verse 16. “Repent” signifies that they should take heed of such works, (116). “Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight with them with the sword of My mouth,” signifies, if not, that the Lord will contend with them from the Word, (117).

Verse 17. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” signifies here, as before, (118). “To him that overcometh,” signifies here, the same as before, (119). “I will give to eat of the hidden manna,” signifies the appropriation then of the good of celestial love, and thus conjunction of the Lord with those who work, (120) “And I will give him a white stone,” signifies truths favoring and united to good, (121). “And in the stone a new name written,” signifies that thus they will have good of a quality such as they had not before, (122). “Which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it,” signifies that it does not appear to anyone, because it is inscribed on their life.

Verse 18. “And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write,” signifies to those and concerning those who are in faith from charity, and thence in good works; and also to those and concerning those, who are in faith separated from charity, and thence in evil works, (124). “These things saith the Son of God who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire,” signifies the Lord as to the Divine wisdom of His Divine love, (125). “And His feet like fine brass,” signifies Divine good natural, (126).

Verse 19. “I know thy works,” signifies here, as before, (127). “And charity and ministry,” signifies the spiritual affection which is called charity, and its operation, (128). “And faith, and thy endurance,” signifies truth and the desire of acquiring and teaching it, (129). “And⁸ the last to be more than the first,” signifies the increase thereof from the spiritual affection of truth, (130).

Verse 20. “But I have a few things against thee,” signifies what follows, (131). “That thou permittest that woman Jezebel,” signifies that among them there are some in the church who separate faith from charity, (132). “Who calleth herself a prophetess,” signifies, and who make the doctrine of faith alone the doctrine of the church, (133). “To teach and to seduce My servants to commit whoredom,” signifies, from which it comes to pass that the truths of the Word are falsified, (134). “And to eat idol-sacrifices,” signifies the defilement of worship, and profanations, (135).

Verse 21. “And I gave her time to repent of her whoredom, and she repented not,” signifies that they who have confirmed themselves in that doctrine do not recede, although they see things contrary to it in the Word, (136).

Verse 22. “Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great affliction,” signifies that therefore they will be left in their doctrine with falsifications, and that they will be grievously infested by falsities. “Except they repent,”⁹ signifies if they will not desist from separating faith from charity, (138).

Verse 23. “And I will kill her sons with death,” signifies that all the truths of the Word will be turned into falsities, (139). “And all the churches shall know that I am He that searcheth the reins and hearts,” signifies that the church may know that the Lord sees the quality of everyone’s truth, and the quality of his good, (140). “And I will give unto each one according to his works,” signifies that He gives unto everyone according to the charity and its faith which is in the works, (141).

Verse 24. “But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine,” signifies to those with whom the doctrine of faith is separated from charity, and to those with whom the doctrine of faith is joined with charity, (142). “And who have not known the depths of Satan,”¹⁰ signifies they who do not understand their interiors, which are mere falsities, (143). “I will put upon you none other burden,” signifies only that they should beware of them, (144).

Verse 25. “Nevertheless, that which ye have, hold fast till I come,” signifies that they should retain the few things which they know concerning charity, and thence concerning faith from the Word, and live according to them until the Lord’s coming, (145).

Verse 26. “And he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end,” signifies those who are in charity and thence actually in faith, and remain in them to the end of their lives, (146). “To him will I give power over the nations,” signifies that they shall overcome the evils in themselves which are from hell, (147).

Verse 27. “And he shall rule them with a rod of iron,” signifies by truths from the literal sense of the Word, and at the same time by rational things from natural light, (148). “As the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in pieces,” signifies as of little or no account, (149). “Even as I have received from My Father,” signifies this from the Lord, who, when He was in the world, procured to Himself all power over the hells, from His Divine which was in Him, (150).

Verse 28. “And I will give him the morning star,” signifies intelligence and wisdom then, (151[1-3]).

Verse 29. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” signifies here, as before, (152).

69. THE EXPLANATION.

This and the following chapter treat of the seven churches, by which are described all those in the Christian church who have any religion, and out of whom the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, can be formed; and this is formed of those who approach the Lord alone, and at the same time perform repentance from evil works. The rest, who do not approach the Lord alone, from the confirmed denial of the Divinity of His human, and who do not perform repentance from evil works, are indeed in the church, but have nothing of the church in them.

70. Since the Lord alone is acknowledged as the God of heaven and earth by those who are of His New Church in the heavens, and by those who will be of His New Church upon earth; therefore, in the first chapter of Revelation the Lord alone is treated of; and in the two following chapters, it is He alone who speaks to the churches, and He alone who will give the happy things of eternal life. That it is He alone who speaks to the churches is evident from these passages:

Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, These things saith He who holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, (Revelation 2:1).

Unto the angel of the church of Smyrna write, These things saith the First and the Last, (Revelation 2:8).

To the angel of the church of Pergamos write, These things saith He which hath the sharp two-edged sword, (Revelation 2:12).

Unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write, These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass, (Revelation 2:18).

Unto the angel of the church in Sardis write, These things saith He that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars, (Revelation 3:1).

To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, (Revelation 3:7).

And unto the angel of the church in Laodicea write, These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, (Revelation 3:14).

These are taken from the first chapter, in which the Lord alone is treated of, and He Himself is there described by all these things.

71. That the Lord alone will give the happy things of eternal life to those who are and will be of His church is evident from these passages:

The Lord said to the church of Ephesus, To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God, (Revelation 2:7).

Unto the church in Smyrna, I will give thee a crown of life. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death, (Revelation 2:10-11).

Unto the church in Pergamos, To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new¹¹ name written, which no man knoweth but he that receiveth it, (Revelation 2:17).

Unto the church in Thyatira, To him will I give power over the nations, and I will give him the morning star, (Revelation 2:26, 28).

Unto the church in Philadelphia, Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God; and I will write upon him the name of My God, the name of the New Jerusalem, and My new name, (Revelation 3:12).

Unto the church in Laodicea, To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in my throne, (Revelation 3:21).

From these passages it is also evident, that the Lord alone is acknowledged in the New Church. Hence it is that this church is called the Lamb’s wife, (Revelation 19:7, 9; 21:9-10).

72. That the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, is formed of those who repent of evil works is also manifest from the Lord’s words to the churches:

To Ephesus; I know thy works; I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity. Repent, and do the former works; or else I will remove thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent, (Revelation 2:2, 4-5).

To the church in Pergamos; I know thy works, repent, (Revelation 2:13, 16).

To the church in Thyatira; I will deliver her into affliction, except they repent of their works, I will give unto everyone of you according to his works, (Revelation 2:19, 22-23).

To the church in Sardis; I have not found thy works perfect before God, repent, (Revelation 3:1-3).

To the church in Laodicea; I know thy works, be zealous, and repent, (Revelation 3:15, 19).

Now follows the explanation itself.

73. Verse 1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write, signifies, to those and concerning those, who primarily regard the truths of doctrine and not the goods of life. It was shown above, (66), that by “the seven churches” are not meant seven churches, but the church in the whole complex, which in itself is one, but various according to reception; and that those varieties may be compared with the various members and organs in a perfect body, which yet make one. They may also be compared with the various diadems in a king’s crown; and hence it is that the whole New Church, with its varieties, is described, in what now follows, by “the seven churches.” That by the church of Ephesus, are meant those in the church who primarily regard the truths of doctrine and not the goods of life, is clear from the things written to that church, when understood in the spiritual sense. It is written to “the angel” of that church, because by an angel is meant an angelic society which corresponds to a church consisting of such, as above, (65).

74. These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, signifies the Lord, from whom through the Word are all truths. That “He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand,” is the Lord, and that “the seven stars in His right hand” are all the knowledges of good and truth in the Word, which are thence from the Lord, with the angels of heaven and the men of the church, may be seen above, (51). The knowledges of good and truth from the Word are truths.

75. Who walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, signifies, from whom all those who are of His church have enlightenment. That “the seven lampstands, in the midst of which was the Son of man,” signify the church, which is in enlightenment from the Lord, may be seen above, (43, 66). He is here said “to be walking,” because “to walk” signifies to live, (167[1-2]), and “in the midst,” signifies in the inmost and thence in all, (44[1-2], 383).

76. Verse 2. I know thy works, signifies that He sees all the interiors and exteriors of man at once. “Works” are often mentioned in Revelation, but few know what is meant by works. This is known, that ten men can do works which externally appear alike, but which yet are dissimilar with them all; and this because they proceed from different ends and different causes, the end and the cause rendering the works either good or evil; for every work is a work of the mind, therefore, such as is the quality of the mind, such is the work. If the mind is charity, the work becomes charity; but if the mind is not charity, the work does not become charity; still, however, they may both appear alike in externals. Works appear to men in external form, but to angels in internal form; and to the Lord their quality is apparent from inmost to outmosts. Works in their external form appear like the outside of fruits, but works in their internal form appear like the inside of fruits, where there are innumerable edible parts, and in the midst seeds, in which there are also things innumerable, which are too minute for the keenest eye to discern, yea, which are above the intellectual sphere of man. Such are all works, the internal quality of which the Lord alone sees, and which the angels also perceive from the Lord, when man is doing them. But on this subject more may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (209-220, 277-281; and also below, 141, 641, 688). From these things it may appear, that by “I know thy works,” is signified that the Lord sees all the interiors and exteriors of man at once.

77. And thy labor and endurance; that this signifies their study and patience, is evident without explanation.

78. And that thou canst not bear the evil, signifies that they cannot bear that evils should be called goods, and the reverse, because this is contrary to the truths of doctrine. That this is the signification of these words, is evident from what follows, by which is signified that they scrutinize those things in the church which are called goods and truths, when yet they are evils and falsities. To know goods, whether they are goods or evils, is of doctrine, and is among its truths, but to do goods or evils is of the life; this is said, therefore, of those who primarily regard the truths of doctrine, and not the goods of life, (73). By “the evil” in the spiritual sense, are not meant the evil but evils, because this sense is abstracted from persons.

79. And has tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars, signifies that they scrutinize those things which are called goods and truths in the church, which nevertheless are evils and falsities. That this is what is signified, cannot be seen except by the spiritual sense, and unless it is thence known what is meant by “apostles” and by “liars”: by “apostles” are not meant apostles, but all who teach the goods and truths of the church, and, in the abstract sense, the goods and truths themselves of its doctrine. That apostles are not meant by “apostles,” clearly appears from these words addressed to them:

When the Son of man shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30).

Who does not see that the apostles are not to judge anyone, and cannot, much less the twelve tribes of Israel, but that the Lord alone will do this according to the goods and truths of the doctrine of the church from the Word? In like manner from this passage:

The wall of the city New Jerusalem had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, (Revelation 21:14).

Because by the “New Jerusalem” is signified the New Church, (880, 881), and by its “foundations,” all the goods and truths of its doctrine, (902, and following numbers).

[2] And also from this passage:

Exult O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, (Revelation 18:20).

What can the exultation of the apostles and prophets signify, unless by them are meant all who are in the goods and truths of doctrine in the church? By the Lord’s disciples are meant those who are instructed by the Lord in the goods and truths of doctrine; but by apostles they who, after they are instructed, teach them; for it is said:

Jesus sent His twelve disciples to preach the kingdom of God, and the apostles, when they were returned, told Him all that they had done, (Luke 9:1-2, 10; Mark 6:7, 30).

That by “liars” are meant they who are in falsities, and, abstractly, the falsities themselves, may appear from many places in the Word, where “liars” and “lies” are mentioned, which, if they were adduced, would fill pages; “lies” in the spiritual sense, are nothing else than falsities. From these considerations it may appear, that by “thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars,” is signified that they scrutinize those things in the church which are called goods and truths, but which nevertheless are evils and falsities.

80. Verse 3. And hast borne and hast endurance. That it signifies the patience with them is evident without explanation.

81. And for My name’s sake hast labored, and hast not fainted, signifies their study and endeavor to procure for themselves and also to teach the things which are of religion and its doctrine. By the “name” of Jehovah or of the Lord, in the Word is not meant His name, but everything by which He is worshiped. And because He is worshiped in the church according to doctrine, by His “name” is meant the all of doctrine, and, in the universal sense, the all of religion. The reason why these things are meant by “the name” of Jehovah is because in heaven no other names are given but what involve the quality of anyone, and the quality of God is all that by which He is worshiped. He who does not know this signification of “name” in the Word, can only understand name; and in this alone there is nothing of worship and religion.

[2] He that keeps in mind, therefore, this signification of the “name of Jehovah” wherever it occurs in the Word, will understand of himself what is signified by it in the following places:

In that day shall ye say, confess Jehovah, call upon His name, (Isaiah 12:4).

O Jehovah, we have waited for Thee: the desire of our soul is to Thy name, by Thee only will we make mention of Thy name, (Isaiah 26:8, 13).

From the rising of the sun shall he call upon My name, (Isaiah 41:25).

From the rising of the sun even unto its setting, My name shall be great among the nations; and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name; for My name shall be great among the nations; ye have profaned My name, when ye say, the table of Jehovah is polluted; and ye puff at My name when ye bring that which is torn, and lame, and sick, (Malachi 1:11-13).

All people walk in the name of his God, and we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God, (Micah 4:5).

Everyone that is called by My name, I have created him in my glory, I have formed him, (Isaiah 43:7).

Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him innocent that taketh His name in vain, (Deuteronomy 5:11).

They shall worship Jehovah in one place where He will put His name, (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 13-14, 18; 16:2, 6, 11, 15-16 and other places).

Who cannot see that in these, name alone is not meant?

[3] The same is signified in the New Testament by the name of the Lord, as in the following:

Jesus said, Ye shall be hated of all for My name’s sake, (Matthew 10:22; 24:9-10).

Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them, (Matthew 18:20).

And everyone that hath forsaken houses, brethren, sisters, for My name’s sake, shall receive an hundred-fold, and eternal life, (Matthew 19:29).

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, to them that believe on His name, (John 1:12).

Many believed in His name, (John 2:23).

He that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God, (John 3:17-18).

They who believe will have life in His name, (John 20:31).

Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, (Matthew 21:9; 23:39; Luke 13:35; 19:38).

[4] That the Lord as to His Human is the name of the Father, appears in these places:

Father, glorify Thy name, (John 12:28).

Hallowed be Thy name, Thy kingdom come, (Matthew 6:9; also Exodus 23:20-21; Jeremiah 23:6; Micah 5:4).

That name, applied to others, signifies the quality of worship, appears in the following passages:

The shepherd of the sheep calleth his own sheep by their name, (John 10:3).

Thou hast a few names in Sardis, (Revelation 3:4).

I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, and My new name, (Revelation 3:12).

From these passages it may appear, that “for my name’s sake thou hast labored, and hast not fainted” signifies the study and endeavor to procure for themselves, and also to teach, the things which are of religion and its doctrine.

82. Verse 4. But I have against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity, signifies that this is against them, that they do not hold goods of life in the first place, which, nevertheless, was and is done in the beginning of every church. This is said to this church, because by it are meant those in the church who primarily or in the first place regard the truths of doctrine, and not the goods of life, (73); when yet the goods of life are to be regarded in the first place, that is, primarily; for in proportion as a man is in the goods of life, in the same proportion he is really in the truths of doctrine, but not the reverse. The reason is, that the goods of life open the interiors of the mind, and these being opened, truths appear in their own light, whence they are not only understood, but also loved. It is otherwise when doctrinals are regarded primarily or in the first place. Truths may indeed then be known, but they are not seen interiorly and loved from spiritual affection; but this may be seen illustrated above, (17). Every church in its beginning, regards the goods of life in the first place, and the truths of doctrine in the second; but as the church declines, it begins to regard the truths of doctrine in the first place, and the goods of life in the second; and at length in the end it regards faith alone, and then it not only separates the goods of charity from faith, but also omits them. From these things it may now appear, that by, “Thou hast left thy first charity,” is signified that they do not hold the goods of life in the first place, which nevertheless is, and has been done in the beginning of every church.

83. Verse 5. Remember therefore whence thou hast fallen; that this signifies remembrance of their error, is plain from what has just been said.

84. And repent, and do the first works, signifies that they ought to invert the state of their life. Every man regards the truths of doctrine in the first place, yet so long as he does this, he is like unripe fruit; but he who is regenerated, after he has imbibed truths, regards the goods of life in the first place, and in proportion as he does so, he grows ripe like fruit; and in proportion as he grows ripe, and as far as he grows ripe, so far the seed in him becomes prolific. These two states have been seen by me, among men who had become spirits. In the first state, they appeared turned to the valleys which are above hell; and in the second, to the paradises which are in heaven. This turning of the state of life is what is here meant. That this is effected by repentance, and after it by the good of life, is meant by “Repent, and do the first works.”

85. Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent, signifies that otherwise of a certainty enlightenment will not be given them to see truths any longer. By “quickly” is signified certain, (4, 947); and by “lampstand,” the church as to enlightenment, (43, 66); hence, by “removing it out of its place,” is signified to remove enlightenment, that they may not see truths in their light, and at length, that they may not see them any more. This follows from what was said above, (82), namely, that if truths of doctrine are regarded primarily, or in the first place, they may indeed be known, but not seen interiorly, and loved from spiritual affection, therefore they successively perish; for to see truths from their own light, is to see them from man’s interior mind, which is called the spiritual mind, and this mind is opened by charity; and when it is opened, light and the affection of understanding truths flow in out of heaven from the Lord. Thence is enlightenment. The man who is in this enlightenment, acknowledges truths as soon as he reads or hears them; but not he whose spiritual mind is not opened, who is one that is not in the goods of charity, however he may be in the truths of doctrine.

86. Verse 6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate, signifies that they know this from their truths, and thence are not willing that works should be meritorious, because this is contrary to the merit and justice of the Lord. That “the works of the Nicolaitans” are meritorious works, it has been given to know from revelation. It is said, that they hate those works, because the church from the truths of its doctrine knows this, and thence does not will it; therefore it is said, “this thou hast.” Yet all those make works meritorious who put the truths of faith in the first place, and the goods of charity in the second; but not those who put the goods of charity in the first place. The reason is, that genuine charity does not wish to merit, for it loves to do good, for it is in it and acts from it; and from good it looks to the Lord; and from truths it knows that all good is from Him; it therefore has an aversion to merit. Now because they who regard the truths of faith in the first place, cannot do any other works than such as are meritorious, and yet know, from their truths, that these are to be hated, therefore this follows after it was said, that if they do not hold charity in the first place, they do works which ought to be held in aversion. It is said that it is contrary to the merit and justice of the Lord; for they who place merit in works, ascribe justice to themselves, for they say justice is on their side because they have merited, when yet it is the greatest injustice, because the Lord alone has merit, and alone does good in them. That the Lord alone is justice is taught in Jeremiah:

Behold, the days shall come, when I will raise up a just branch unto David, and this is His name which they shall call Him, Jehovah our justice, (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16).

87. Verse 7. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, signifies that he who understands, ought to obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. By “hearing” is signified both to perceive and to obey; because one attends that he may perceive and obey; that both these are signified by “hearing” is evident from common discourse, in which one speaks of hearing and of hearkening to anyone; the latter signifying to obey, and the former to perceive. That “hearing” has these two significations is from correspondence; for those are in the province of the ears in heaven, who are in perception and at the same time in obedience. As both these things are signified by “hearing” therefore the Lord so often said:

He that hath an ear to hear let him hear, (Matthew 11:15; 13:43; Mark 4:9, 23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35).

And the same is likewise said to all the churches, as is evident from verses 11, 17, 29, of this chapter, and from verses 6, 13, 22, of the following. But by the “Spirit” which speaks to the churches is signified the Divine truth of the Word; and by “the churches” the entire church in the Christian world. That by “the Spirit of God” which is also the Holy Spirit is meant the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, may be seen in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (51); and as the entire church is meant, it is not said, what the Spirit saith to the church, but “what the Spirit saith to the churches.”

88. To him that overcometh, signifies he that fights against his evils and falsities, and is reformed. Now since in what is written to the seven churches is described the state of all in the Christian church who can receive the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and live according to it, thus who by combats against evils and falsities can be reformed; therefore it is said to each, “He that overcometh” as here:

To the church of Ephesus: to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, (Revelation 2:7).

To the church in Smyrna; he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death, (Revelation 2:11).

To the church in Pergamos: to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, (Revelation 2:17).

To the church in Thyatira: to him that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end I will give power over the nations, (Revelation 2:26).

To the church in Sardis; he that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, (Revelation 3:5).

To the church in Philadelphia; he that overcometh, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, (Revelation 3:12).

And to the church in Laodicea: to him that overcometh will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, (Revelation 3:21).

“He that overcometh” in these places signifies he who fights against evils and falsities, and thus is reformed.

89. I will give to eat of the tree of life, signifies appropriation of the good of love and charity from the Lord. “To eat” in the Word signifies to appropriate; and “the tree of life” signifies the Lord as to the good of love; therefore by “eating of the tree of life” is signified the appropriation of the good of love from the Lord. “To eat” signifies to appropriate, because as natural food when it is eaten is appropriated to the life of man’s body, so spiritual food when it is received is appropriated to the life of his soul. “The tree of life” signifies the Lord as to the good of love, because nothing else is signified by the tree of life in the garden of Eden; also because man has celestial and spiritual life from the good of love and charity which is received from the Lord. “Tree” is mentioned in many places, and by it is meant the man of the church, and in the universal sense the church itself, and by its “fruit” the good of life; the reason is, that the Lord is “the tree of life,” from whom comes all good with the man of the church, and in the church; but of this in its own place. It is said the good of love and charity, because the good of love is celestial good, which is that of love to the Lord, and the good of charity is spiritual good, which is that of love towards the neighbor. What and of what quality the one and the other good is will be told in what follows. Something may be seen concerning them in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, (13-19).

90. Which is in the midst of the paradise of God, signifies interiorly in the truths of wisdom and faith. “In the midst” signifies the inmost, (44[1-2], 383), here, the interior; “the paradise of God” signifies the truths of wisdom and faith; therefore “the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God,” signifies the Lord with the good of love and charity interiorly in the truths of wisdom and faith; good is also within truths, for good is the esse of life, and truth is the existere of life thence derived, as is abundantly shown in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom. That the paradise of God is the truth of wisdom and of faith, is evident from the signification of “garden” in the Word; “garden” there signifies wisdom and intelligence, because “trees” signify the men of the church, and their “fruits” the goods of life; nothing else is signified by “the garden of Eden,” for by it is described the wisdom of Adam.

[2] The like is meant by “the garden of God” in Ezekiel:

In thy wisdom and intelligence Thou hadst made for thyself wealth; thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, (Ezekiel 28:4, 13).

This is concerning “Tyre,” by which is signified the church as to the knowledges of truth and good, thus as to intelligence; therefore it is said, “In thy wisdom and intelligence thou hadst made for thyself wealth.” By “the precious stones which were a covering” are signified the truths of intelligence.

[3] In the same:

Assyria is a cedar in Lebanon; the cedars in the garden of God did not hide it; nor was any tree in the garden of God equal to it in beauty. All the trees of Eden that were in the garden of God emulated it, (Ezekiel 31:3, 8-9).

This is said of Egypt and Ashur, because by “Egypt” is signified science, and by “Assyria” rationality, by which comes intelligence; the like is signified by “cedar.” But because by his rationality he came into the pride of his own intelligence, therefore it is said of him:

To whom art thou thus like in glory and in greatness among the trees of Eden? Since thou shalt be brought down with the trees of Eden unto the lower earth; and thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, (Ezekiel 31:18).

“The uncircumcised” are they who are without the good of charity.

[4] In Isaiah:

Jehovah shall comfort Zion; and He shall make her wilderness into Eden, and her desert into the garden of Jehovah, (Isaiah 51:3).

“Zion” there is the church; “the wilderness” and the “desert” are the defect and ignorance of truth; “Eden” and “the garden of God” are wisdom and intelligence. Wisdom and intelligence are also signified by “garden” in Isaiah 58:11; 61:11; Jeremiah 31:12; Amos 9:14; Numbers 24:6.

[5] The man of the church is also like a garden as to intelligence, when he is in the good of love from the Lord, because the spiritual heat which vivifies him is love, and the spiritual light is intelligence therefrom. It is known that gardens in this world flourish by means of heat and light; it is the same in heaven. In heaven there appear paradisal gardens, with fruit trees according to their wisdom from the good of love from the Lord; and around those who are in intelligence and not in the good of love, there do not appear gardens, but grass; but around those who are in faith separated from charity, not even grass, but sand.

91. Verse 8. And unto the angel of the church of Smyrna write, signifies to those and concerning those, who are in goods as to life, but in falsities as to doctrine. That these are meant by “the church of Smyrna,” is clear from the things written to it when understood in the spiritual sense.

92. These things saith the First and the Last, signifies the Lord, that He alone is God. That the Lord calls Himself “the First and the Last,” also “the beginning and the End,” and “Alpha and the Omega,” and “He Who is, and Who was, and Who is to come,” may be seen (chapter 1:4, 8, 11, 17); and what they signify above, (13, 29-31, 38, 57), where it is evident that by it is also meant, that He alone is God.

93. Who was dead and is alive, signifies that He is neglected in the church, and His Human is not acknowledged to be Divine, when yet as to that also He alone is life, and from Him alone is eternal life. That this is meant by these words, may be seen above, (58-60), where they are explained. Why these and the preceding things are said, is, because the primary falsity of those who are described by this church, is, that they do not acknowledge the Lord’s Divine Human, and therefore do not approach Him.

94. Verse 9. (Revelation 2:9) I know thy works; that this signifies that the Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once, is evident from the things explained above, (76); here that He sees that they are in falsities, and yet as to life in goods, which they believe to be the goods of life, when yet they are not.

95. And affliction and poverty, signifies that they are in falsities and thence not in goods. “To know their affliction” signifies to see that they are in falsities, and “to know their poverty” signifies to see that they are not in goods, for in the Word, “affliction” is predicated of falsities (as above, 33); and “poverty” of the lack of goods; spiritual poverty is nothing else. “The poor and needy” are often mentioned in the Word, and in the spiritual sense by “poor” is meant one who is not in truths, and by “needy” one who is not in goods. These words are also added, “yet thou art rich,” but in a parenthesis, and this because in some codices they are omitted.

96. And the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and are not, signifies the false assertion that the goods of love are with them, when yet they are not. “Blasphemy” here signifies a false assertion; by “Jews” are not signified Jews, but they who are in the good of love, and, abstractly, the goods of love; so by “the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not,” is signified the false assertion that the goods of love are with them, when yet they are not. By “Jews” are meant they who are in the good of love, because in the Word by “Judah,” in the supreme sense, is meant the Lord as to the Divine good of Divine love, and by “Israel” the Lord as to the Divine truth of Divine wisdom; hence by “Jews” are signified they who are in the good of love from the Lord, and by “Israel” they who are in Divine truths from the Lord. That these are meant by “Jews,” may appear from many passages, which will be adduced below, (350); something may also be seen on this subject in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (51).¹² In the abstract sense the goods of love are meant by “Jews,” because the spiritual sense is abstracted from persons, as may be seen above, (78, 79). He who does not know that by “Jews,” in the Word, are meant those who are of the Lord’s celestial church, who are they that are in love to Him, may fall into many mistakes when reading the Word in the prophets; but see below, (350).

97. But are the synagogue of Satan, signifies because they are in falsities as to doctrine. It is called “synagogue,” because the Jews are mentioned, and as they taught in synagogues, by “synagogue” is signified doctrine; and because by “Satan” is meant the hell of those who are in falsities, therefore it is called “the synagogue of Satan.” Hell is called “the Devil” and “Satan,” and by the hell which is called “the Devil,” are meant such there as are in evils, properly who are in the love of self; and by the hell which is called “Satan,” are meant such there as are in falsities, properly who are in the pride of their own intelligence. The hells are called the “Devil” and “Satan,” because all who are in them are called devils and satans. Hence then it may appear, that by their being “the synagogue of Satan,” is signified that as to doctrine they are in falsities.

[2] But as they who are in good as to life, and in falsities as to doctrine, are here treated of, and as such know no other than that they are in good, and that their falsities are truths, something shall be said respecting them. All the good of worship is formed by truths, and all truth is formed from good, therefore good without truth is not good, neither is truth, without good, truth; they appear indeed in external form to be so, but still they are not. The conjunction of good and truth is called the heavenly marriage; from this is the church with man, and it is heaven with him. If therefore there are falsities instead of truths with man, then he does the good of falsity, which is not good, for it is either pharisaical or meritorious, or innate natural good.

[3] But examples will illustrate this. He who is in this falsity, that he believes he does good from himself, because he has the faculty of doing good; his good is not good, because he himself is in it, and not the Lord. He who is in this falsity, that he can do good which is in itself good, without a knowledge of what evil is in himself, thus without repentance, although he appears to do good, yet he does not do good, because without repentance he is in evil. He who is in this falsity, that good purifies him from evils, and does not know anything of the evils in which he is, he does no other good than spurious good, which is inwardly contaminated by his evils. He who is in this falsity, that there are many gods, and confirms himself in this, the good which he does is divided good, and divided good is not good. He who is in this falsity, that he believes the Divine in the Lord’s Human is not like the soul in the body, cannot do good from Him, and good not from the Lord is not good, for it is contrary to these words of the Lord:

Except one abide in Me and I in Him, he cannot bring forth any fruit; for without Me ye cannot do anything. Except one abide in Me, he is cast forth as a dried branch, and is cast into the fire and burned, (John 15:4-6).

For good derives its quality from truths, and truths derive their esse from good.

[4] Who does not know, that the church is not a church without doctrine; and doctrine must teach how a man shall think of God and from God; and how he shall act from God and with God; therefore doctrine must be from truths, to act according to which is called good; whence it follows, that to act according to falsities is not good. It is believed, that in the good which a man does, there is not anything from truths or falsities, when yet the quality of good is from no other source, for they cohere together like love and wisdom, and also like love and foolishness; it is the love of the wise which does good, but the love of the foolish does what is like good in externals, but totally unlike it in internals; therefore the good of the wise is like pure gold, but the good of the foolish is like gold covering over dung.

98. Verse 10. Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer, signifies, despair not when ye are infested by evils and assaulted by falsities, since with those who are in goods as to life, and in falsities as to doctrine, it cannot be otherwise. This is plain from what now follows.

99. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, signifies that their good of life will be infested by evils which are from hell. That this is signified by “being cast into custody” or into “prison” by the devil, is, because by “the devil” is meant the hell where they are who are in evils, and thus, abstractly, the evil which is there and from thence, (97). To be cast “into custody” or “prison,” is to be infested, because they who are infested by evils from hell are as if they were bound in prison, for they cannot think anything but evil, when yet they will good; hence there is combat and interior anxiety, from which they cannot be released, being scarcely otherwise than like persons who are in chains; the reason is, that their good is not good so far as it coheres with falsities, and so far as it coheres with falsities evil is in it; therefore this is what is infested.

[2] But this infestation does not exist in the natural world, but in the spiritual world, thus after death. It has often been granted me to see their infestations. They lament, saying that they have done good, and wish to do good, and yet now they cannot, because of the evils which surround them. But still they are not all infested alike, but more severely according as they have confirmed themselves in falsities, therefore it is said “the devil shall cast some of you into prison.” That the confirmation of what is false is hurtful, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (91-97).

[3] In the Word, by “the bound” the like is signified as here by those “cast into prison,” as in these places:

I will give thee for a covenant of the people, to bring out the bound from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house, (Isaiah 42:6-7; 49:8-9).

Jehovah hath sent me to preach liberty to the captives, and to the bound, (Isaiah 61:1).

By the blood of Thy covenant I will send forth the bound out of the pit, (Zechariah 9:11).

God bringeth out those which are bound with fetters, (Psalms 68:6).

Let the groaning of the bound come before thee, (Psalms 79:11).

To hear the groaning of the bound, to open to the sons of death, (Psalms 102:20).

Jehovah who looseth the bound, (Psalms 146:7).

It is plain that by “the bound” in these places are not meant those who are bound in the world, but those who are bound by hell, thus by evils and falsities. Similar is the signification of these words of the Lord:

I was in prison, and ye came not unto Me, (Matthew 25:43).

As the Lord “brings out of prison,” or delivers from infestation, those who have been in good as to life, though in falsities as to doctrine, He says: “Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer;” also, “Be thou faithful, and I will give thee a crown of life.”

100. That ye may be tried, signifies by falsities fighting against them. The reason why this is signified is, because all spiritual temptation is a combat of the devil and the Lord, which shall have possession of man. The devil or hell brings out his falsities, and reproaches and condemns him; but the Lord brings out his truths, and withdraws him from falsities, and delivers him. It is this combat which appears to man as in himself, because it is from evil spirits who are with him, and is called temptation. That spiritual temptation is nothing else, I know from experience, because in my temptations I have seen the infernals who induced them, and have perceived the influx from the Lord, who liberated.

101. And ye shall have affliction ten days, signifies that this will endure its full time, that is, as long as they are willing to remain in falsities. “Affliction” here signifies infestation (of which above, 33, 95), thus temptation; and “ten days” signify the duration of that state to the full; therefore it follows, “Be thou faithful unto death,” by which is signified the reception and acknowledgment of truths, until by their means falsities are removed, and as it were abolished. That “ten days” signify duration of state even to the full is, because “days” signify states, and “ten” what is full: for times in the Word signify states, (947), and numbers describe their quality, (9).

[2] As “ten” signify what is full, they also signify much and many, also each and all, as may appear from these passages which follow:

The men who have seen My glory, have tempted Me ten times, (Numbers 14:22).

These ten times have ye treated me with ignominy, (Job 19:3).

Daniel was found ten times wiser than the astrologers, (Daniel 1:20).

Ten women shall bake bread in one oven, (Leviticus 26:26).

Ten men out of all languages of the nations shall take hold of the skirt of a man a Jew, (Zechariah 8:23).

Because “ten” signifies many, and also all, therefore the things which were written upon the tables of the Decalogue by Jehovah, are called the “Ten Words” (Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4); the “Ten Words” signify all truths, for they include them. And because “ten” signifies all and all things, therefore the Lord compared the kingdom of the heavens to “ten virgins” (Matthew 25:1). Likewise in the parable He said of the nobleman, that he gave his servants “ten pounds” to trade with, (Luke 19:12-27). Many are also signified by:

The ten horns of the beast which came up out of the sea, (Daniel 7:7);

And by the ten horns and the ten diadems upon the horns of the beast coming up out of the sea, (Revelation 13:1);

Also by the ten horns of the dragon, (Revelation 12:3);

And by the ten horns of the scarlet-colored beast, upon which the woman sat, (Revelation 17:3, 7, 12).

[3] By “ten horns” is signified much power. From the signification of the number “ten,” as being what is full, much, and all, it may be seen why it was ordained, that:

A tenth part of all the produce of the earth was given to Jehovah, and by Jehovah to Aaron and the Levites, (Numbers 18:24, 28; Deuteronomy 14:22);

also, why Abram gave Melchizedek tithes of all, (Genesis 14:18, 20); for by this was signified that thus all they had was from Jehovah, and was sanctified (see Malachi 3:10). From these things, it may now appear, that by having “affliction ten days,” is signified that temptation will last its full time, that is, so long as they are willing to remain in falsities; for falsities are never taken away from a man against his will, but with it.

102. Be thou faithful unto death, signifies reception and acknowledgment of truths, until falsities are removed, and as it were abolished. By “be thou faithful unto death,” in the natural sense, is meant, that they must not depart from fidelity even to the end of life; but in the spiritual sense, that they must receive and acknowledge truths, even until falsities are removed by them, and as it were abolished; for this sense is properly for those who are in the spiritual world, for whom there is no death. Therefore by “death” is here meant the end of their temptation. It is said, until they are, as it were, abolished, because falsities and evils with man are not abolished, but removed, and when they are removed they appear as if they were abolished, because when evils and falsities are removed, man is kept in goods and truths by the Lord.

103. And I will give thee a crown of life, signifies that they will then have eternal life, the reward of victory. Because temptations even unto death are here treated of, it is said that a crown of life will be given them, such as the martyrs had, who were faithful even unto death; and because the martyrs wished for it, therefore after death crowns were given them, by which was signified the reward of victory; they still appear in their crowns in heaven, which it has been granted me to see.

104. Verse 11. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; that this signifies that he who understands these things, ought to obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, is evident from the explanation of like words above, (87).

105. He that overcometh; that this signifies he that fights against evils and falsities, and is reformed, is evident from the explanation, (88), where like words occur.

106. Shall not be hurt of the second death, signifies that afterwards they shall not succumb to the evils and falsities from hell. By the first death is meant the death of the body, and by the “second death” is meant the death of the soul, which is damnation (see below, (853), 853, 873); and because “Be thou faithful unto death,” signifies that they ought to acknowledge truths till by their means falsities are removed, (102), it follows, that by “not being hurt of the second death,” is signified that afterwards they shall not succumb under evils and falsities from hell, for thereby they are exempted from damnation.

107. Verse 12. And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write, signifies to those and concerning those who place the all of the church in good works, and not anything in the truths of doctrine. That these are meant by “the church in Pergamos,” is evident from what is written to it, when understood in the spiritual sense. But something must be premised concerning these, that it may be known who they are in the church, and what is their quality. There are two kinds of men of whom the Christian church at this day for the most part consists; one, who are in works alone, and in no truths; the other, who are in worship alone, and neither in works nor in truths; the former are here treated of; the latter in what is written to the church in Sardis, (154). They who are in works alone and in no truths, are like those who act and do not understand, and deeds without understanding are inanimate. They appear before the angels like images carved out of wood; and they who have placed merit in their works, appear like those carved images, naked, without any covering whatever; they appear also like sheep without wool; and they who place merit in them, like such sheep covered with dung; for all works are done from the will by the understanding, and in the understanding they receive life, and at the same time clothing; hence it is, as was said, that they appear to the angels as things inanimate and naked.

108. These things saith He that hath the sharp two-edged sword, signifies the Lord as to the truths of doctrine from the Word, by which evils and falsities are dispersed. In the preceding chapter, where the Son of man is described, Who is the Lord as to the Word, it is said that:

A sharp two-edged sword was seen to go out of His mouth, (Revelation 2:16).

That by this is signified the dispersion of falsities by the Word, and by doctrine thence from the Lord, may be seen above, (52). This is said to those and concerning those, who place the all of the church in works alone, and not anything in the truths of doctrine; to whom, because they omit or lightly esteem truths of doctrine which yet are necessary, it is said in what follows:

Repent, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight with them with the sword of My mouth, (Revelation 2:16).

109. Verse 13. I know thy works; that this signifies that the Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once, may be seen above, (76), where the same is explained; here that the Lord sees that they are in works alone, and not in doctrinals.

110. And where thou dwellest, where Satan’s throne is, signifies their life in thick darkness. That by “Satan” is meant the hell of those who are in falsities may be seen above, (97); and to be in falsities is to be in spiritual thick darkness. “Spiritual thick darkness,” “the shadow of death,” and “darkness” are nothing else but the states of those in hell, who are in the falsities of evil; therefore, in the Word, falsities are described by them; from which it may appear, that by “Satan’s throne” is signified mere thick darkness. But by thick darkness here is not meant that they are in mere falsities, but that they are in no truths of doctrine; for truths of the doctrine, which are from the Word, are in light, therefore not to be in truths is not to be in light, consequently to be in thick darkness. That truths are in the light of heaven, may be seen in Heaven and Hell, (126-140); and in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Sacred Scripture, (73, 104-113).

[2] The Word in many places treats of those who are in “darkness,” in “the shadow of death,” and in “thick darkness,” whose eyes the Lord will open; and by them are meant the Gentiles, who were in good works, but not in any truths, because they did not know the Lord, nor did they have the Word. Exactly similar to these are they in the Christian world, who are in works alone and in no truths of doctrine, therefore they cannot be called anything else than Gentiles; they know the Lord indeed, but yet do not approach Him, and they have the Word, but yet do not search for the truths therein. By “I know where thou dwellest” is signified to know their quality, because in the spiritual world everyone dwells according to the quality of his affection. Hence it may appear, that by “thou dwellest where Satan’s throne is” is signified the life of their good in thick darkness.

[3] Satanic spirits also have power through those in the spiritual world who are in works alone, but without them they have none; for they adjoin them to themselves, provided one of them says, I am thy neighbor, and on this account good offices ought to be extended to me; on hearing this they approach, and give aid; nor do they inquire who and what he is, because they do not have truths, by which alone one can be distinguished from another. This also is signified by “thou dwellest where satan’s throne is.”

111. And thou holdest fast My name, and hast not denied My faith, signifies when yet they have religion and worship according to it, and also acknowledge the Word to be the Divine truth. That by the “name” of Jehovah, or of the Lord is meant all by which He is worshiped, thus the all of religion, may be (81[1-4]) seen above; here therefore it signifies that they have religion, and, according to religion, worship. By “faith,” here is not meant that which exists in the church at this day, but the Divine truth, because faith is of truth and truth is of faith; nothing else is meant by “faith” in heaven, nor by the “faith of God” in the Word; hence it is that faith and truth are expressed in the Hebrew language by one and the same word, and are called Amuna. Since then by “the faith of God” is meant the Divine truth, and the Word is Divine truth itself, it is evident that by “thou hast not denied My faith,” is meant, that they acknowledge that the Word is the Divine truth.

112. Even in those days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you where Satan dwelleth, signifies when all truth was extinguished by falsities in the church. By “martyr” is signified confession of the truth, the same as by “a witness” (above, 6, 16), because “martyr” and “witness” are expressed in the Greek language by one expression. “Antipas” is named from the spiritual or angelic language. Since by “Antipas the martyr” is signified a confessor of the truth, and, abstractly, the truth itself, it is evident that, by “in the days wherein Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleth,” is signified, when truth was extinguished by falsities in the church. That by “Satan” is meant the hell where and from whence falsities are, may be seen above, (97).

113. Verse 14. But I have a few things against thee, signifies that the things which follow are against them, as is evident without explanation.

114. Because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to cast a stumbling-block before the sons of Israel, to eat idol-sacrifices, and to commit whoredom, signifies that there are some among them who do hypocritical works, by which the worship of God in the church is defiled and adulterated. That by these things are meant they who do works by which worship is defiled and adulterated, is evident from the historical parts of the Word concerning Balaam and Balak king of Moab. For Balaam was a hypocrite, and a diviner; for he spoke well of the sons of Israel from Jehovah, when yet he cherished in his heart a desire to destroy them, and also he did destroy them by the counsel he gave Balak; from which it was evident that his works were hypocritical. That he was a diviner we read in Numbers 22:7; 24:1; Joshua 13:22. That he spoke in favor of the children of Israel, by blessing them (see Numbers 23:7-15, 18-24; 24:5-9, 16-19). But that he spoke these things from Jehovah (see Numbers 23:5, 12, 16; 24:13). That he cherished in his heart a desire to destroy them, and also did destroy them by the counsel given to Balak (see Numbers 31:16). The counsel which he gave is in Numbers 25:1, 9, 18. This was the stumbling block which he cast before the sons of Israel, concerning which it is thus written:

In Shittim the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab, and they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; the people did eat and bowed themselves down to their gods, especially they adjoined themselves unto Baalpeor: therefore there were slain of Israel twenty-four thousand, (Numbers 25:1-3, 9, 18).

By “the sons of Israel” is signified the church; by eating of their sacrifices, is signified the appropriation of what is holy; therefore by eating of the sacrifices of other gods, or idol-sacrifices, is signified the defilement and profanation of what is holy; by “committing whoredom,” is signified to adulterate and pervert worship; that by “Moab,” and therefore by its king, and its daughters, are also signified they who defile and adulterate worship, may be seen in The Arcana Coelestia, published at London, (2468). From hence it is evident, that this is the spiritual sense of these words.

115. Verse 15. So thou hast, even thou, them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which I hate, signifies that there are some among them also who make works meritorious. That the “works of the Nicolaitans” are meritorious works, may be seen above, (86). Among those who place the all of the church and of salvation in good works, and not anything in truths of doctrine, who are those who are meant by “the church in Pergamos,” there are some who do hypocritical works and also meritorious works, but still not all; therefore it is said, “Thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam;” as also, “So thou hast, even thou, them that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans;” and all works of worship are either good, or meritorious, or hypocritical, therefore the two latter are here spoken of, and good works afterwards in what follows.

116. Verse 16. Repent, signifies that they should guard themselves against such works, and do works which are good. That these things are signified by “repent,” is, because it now treats of meritorious and hypocritical goods, against which they should guard themselves who place the all of the church and of salvation in good works, and not anything in the truths of doctrine; when yet the truths of doctrine teach how and what is to be willed and thought, or loved and believed, that the works may be good.

117. Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight with them with the sword of my mouth, signifies, if not, that the Lord will contend with them from the Word, and convince them that their works are evil. But the explanation of these words may be seen above, (108).

118. Verse 17. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, signifies that he who understands these things, ought to obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, as appears above, (87), where similar words are explained.

119. To him that overcometh, signifies he that fights against his evils and falsities and is reformed, as is also evident from the explanation given above, (88).

120. I will give to eat of the hidden manna, signifies wisdom, and at the same time the appropriation of the good of celestial love in works, and thus conjunction of the Lord with those who work. By “the hidden manna,” which they will have who are in good works, and who at the same time adjoin the truths of doctrine to works, is meant hidden wisdom of a quality like that which they have who are in the third heaven. For these, because they were in good works, and at the same time in truths of doctrine in the world, are in wisdom above other angels, but in hidden wisdom, for it is written in their life and not so much on their memory; therefore they are of such a nature that they do not talk of the truths of doctrine, but do them, and they do them because they know them, and also see them when others speak them. That the good of love is appropriated to them, and the Lord conjoins Himself with those who adjoin truths of doctrine to good works, and thus gives them wisdom in their good, and that this is “giving to eat of the hidden manna,” may appear from these words of the Lord:

The bread of God is He which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world. I am the bread of life; your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that he who eateth thereof may not die. I am the living bread, that came down from heaven; if anyone eat of this bread he shall live forever, (John 6:31-51).

From which it is evident, that the Lord Himself is “the hidden manna” which will be in their works, if they approach Him alone. Whether you say “the Lord” or “the good of celestial love,” and “the wisdom of that love,” it is the same. But this is an arcanum which enters with difficulty into the natural idea of anyone, so long as it is veiled over with a cloud from worldly things; but it does enter when the mind is serene and in the sunshine, as may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom from beginning to end.

121. And I will give him a white stone, signifies truths favoring and united to good. “A white stone” signifies this because in judgments votes were collected by stones, and by white stones those which were affirmative; that it is affirmative truths which are signified is, because “white” is predicated of truths, (167[1-2], 379[1-7]). Once it is, that by a “white stone” are signified truths favoring good; the reason why they are also united to good, is, because good invites and unites them to itself; for all good loves truth and conjoins to itself such as agrees with itself, especially the good of celestial love; this so unites truths to itself, that they altogether make a one. Hence it is, that they see truths from good alone. These are meant by “those who have the law written in their hearts,” of whom it is said in Jeremiah:

I will put My law in the midst of them, and I will write it on their heart; neither shall they teach any longer everyone his neighbor, and everyone his brother, saying, Know ye Jehovah, for all shall know Me, (Jeremiah 31:33-34).

Such are all who are in the third heaven. They do not speak of truths from any memory, but clearly see them when they hear others speaking of them, especially when they are reading the Word; the reason is, because they are in the very marriage of good and truth. Such do they become in the world, who have approached the Lord alone, and have done good works, because they are according to the truths of the Word; concerning whom something may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, (25-26, 270-271).

122. And in the stone a new name written, signifies that thus they will have good of a quality such as they had not before. That “name” signifies the quality of a thing, may be seen above, (81[1-4]) therefore here the quality of good. All the quality of good is from the truths that are united to it; for good without truths is like bread and food without wine and water, which do not nourish; and also like fruit in which there is no juice. It appears also like trees stripped of the leaves, on which there hang a few dry apples left from the autumn. This is also meant by these words of the Lord:

For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, (Mark 9:49-50).

Salt here is the desire of truth.

123. Which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it, signifies that it does not appear to anyone, because it is inscribed on their life. That truths united to good are not inscribed on their memories, but on their lives, may be seen above, (121, 122), and what is inscribed on the life alone, and not on the memory, does not appear to anyone, not even to themselves, except from this, that they perceive whether it is true, and what is true, when they hear and read; for the interiors of their mind are open even unto the Lord; and because the Lord is in them, and He sees all things, therefore He causes them to see as from themselves; but yet from their wisdom they know that they do not see truths from themselves, but from the Lord. Hence, it may appear what is meant by all this, “I will give him to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no one knoweth but he that receiveth it:” the sum of its signification is, that they will be angels of the third heaven, if they read the Word, draw therefrom truths of doctrine, and approach the Lord.

124. Verse 18. And unto the angel of the church in Thyatira write, signifies, to those and concerning those, who are in faith from charity, and thence in good works; and also to those and concerning those, who are in faith separate from charity, and thence in evil works. That both the former and latter are described by “the church in Thyatira,” is evident from what is written to it, when understood in the spiritual sense.

125. These things saith the Son of God, who hath His eyes like unto a flame of fire, signifies the Lord as to the Divine wisdom of His Divine love. That this is the signification, may be seen explained above, (48).

126. And His feet like fine brass, signifies the Divine good natural, as is evident from the explanation given above, (49[1-8]).

127. Verse 19. I know thy works, signifies that the Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once, as may be seen above, where these words are explained, (76).

128. And charity and ministry, signifies the spiritual affection which is called charity, and its operation. Charity is a spiritual affection, because charity is love towards the neighbor, and love towards the neighbor is that affection: that “ministry” is its operation, follows from their being called “ministers” in the Word who do the things which are of charity. The man who is a worshiper of God is sometimes called “a servant,” and sometimes a “minister,” and he is called “a servant of God” who is in truths, and “a minister of God” who is in goods; the reason is, because truth serves good, and good ministers to truth. That he is called “a servant” who is in truths, may be seen above, (3[1-3]) but that he is called “a minister” who is in good, is evident from these passages:

Ye shall be called the priests of Jehovah, the ministers of our¹³ God, (Isaiah 61:6).

My covenant shall not be broken with the Levites My ministers, (Jeremiah 33:21).

They are called “ministers,” because priests represented the Lord as to Divine good.

Bless Jehovah all His hosts, ye ministers of His that do His will, (Psalms 103:21-22).

Jehovah maketh His angels spirits; His ministers a flaming fire, (Psalms 104:4).

“Angels spirits” are they who are in truths, and “angels ministers” they who are in goods; “flaming fire” also signifies the good of love. Jesus said:

Whosoever will be great, let him be your minister; and whosoever will be first, let him be your servant, (Matthew 20:26-27; 23:11-12).

“Minister” is here predicated of good, and “servant” of truth. The same is signified by “ministering” and “ministry” in Isaiah 61:6; John 12:26; Luke 12:37 and other places. Hence it is evident, that by “charity” and “ministry,” is signified spiritual affection and its operation; for good is of charity, and truth is of faith.

129. And thy faith and endurance, signifies truth, and the study to procure and teach it. That “faith” signifies truth, may be seen above, (111); and that in such case endurance signifies study and labor of procuring and teaching it, follows as a consequence.¹⁴

130. And the last to be more than the first, signifies the increase thereof from the spiritual affection of truth, which is charity. By “the last works more than the first,” are meant all things of their charity and faith, for these are the interior things from which are works, (73, 76, 94). These things increase when charity is in the first place and faith in the second; for charity is the spiritual affection of doing good, and from it comes the spiritual affection of knowing truth, for good loves truth as food does drink, for it desires to be nourished, and is nourished, by truths; hence it is, that they who are in genuine charity have a continual increase of truth. This then is what is signified by “I know thy works the last more than the first.”

131. Verse 20. But I have a few things against thee, signifies that the following things may possibly be a stumbling block to them. For what now follows relates to faith separated from charity, which may be a stumbling block to those who are in faith from charity.

132. That thou permittest the woman Jezebel, signifies that among them there are some in the church who separate faith from charity, and make faith alone saving. That faith separated from charity is meant by “the woman Jezebel” is evident from the things which now follow, when they are unfolded in series by means of the spiritual sense and when they are compared with that faith; for these were the evil deeds of Jezebel the wife of Ahab:

That she went and served Baal, and built him an altar in Samaria, and made a grove, (1 Kings 16:31-33).

That she slew the prophets of Jehovah, (1 Kings 18:4, 13).

That she wished to kill Elijah, (1 Kings 19:1-2).

That through deceit by substituting false witnesses, she took away the vineyard from Naboth, and killed him, (1 Kings 21:6-7 That on account of these evil deeds, it was foretold to her by Elijah, that the dogs should eat her, (1 Kings 21:23).

That she was thrown down from the window where she stood painted, and that some of her blood was sprinkled upon the wall, and upon the horses which trampled her, (2 Kings 9:30-33).

[2] As all the historical as well as the prophetical parts of the Word signify the spiritual things of the church, so also do these; and they signify faith separated from charity is evident from the spiritual sense, and from collating them together; for by “going and serving Baal” and “building him an altar” and “making a grove” is signified to serve lusts of all kinds, or what is the same, the devil, not thinking of any evil lust, nor of any sin, as they do who have no doctrine of charity and life, but of faith only. By “slaying the prophets” is signified to destroy the truths of doctrine from the Word. By “wishing to kill Elijah” is signified to wish to do the same to the Word itself. By “taking away the vineyard from Naboth and killing him” is signified the church, for “the vineyard” is the church: by “the dogs” which ate her, are signified lusts. By “casting from the window, sprinkling the blood on the wall, and being trampled by the horses” is signified their destruction, for the particulars signify that also; “window” signifies truth in the light; “blood” falsity; “wall” truth in ultimates, “horse” the understanding of the Word. Hence it may be concluded, that these things, collated together, coincide with faith separated from charity, as may further appear from what follows in Revelation, where this faith is treated of.

133. Who calleth herself a prophetess, signifies and who make it the very doctrine of the church, and found all theology upon it. That by “prophet” in the Word is signified the doctrine of the church, may be seen above, (8); therefore the like is signified by “prophetess.” It is known that in the Reformed Christian church faith alone has been accepted as the only means of salvation, and that thence the works of charity have been separated from faith, as not saving; hence it is that the entire doctrine of the salvation of man, which is called theology, at this day is that faith, consequently “the woman Jezebel.”

134. To teach and to seduce My servants to commit whoredom, signifies, from which it comes to pass that the truths of the Word are falsified. By “to teach and to seduce the servants of the Lord,” is meant those who are able and willing to be instructed in truths from the Word; that they are called “servants of the Lord” who are in truths, may be seen above, (3[1-3], 128); and by “committing whoredom,” is signified to adulterate and falsify the Word: that this is signified by “committing whoredom,” is, because in every particular of the Word there is the marriage of good and truth, and this marriage is broken when good is separated and taken away from truth. That in every particular of the Word there is the marriage of the Lord and the church, and thence the marriage of good and truth, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (80-90). From this it is, that “to commit whoredom” signifies to adulterate the goods and falsify the truths of the Word; and because this is spiritual whoredom, therefore also they who from their own reason have falsified the Word, after death, when they come into the spiritual world, become whoremongers: and, what has hitherto been concealed from the world, they who have confirmed themselves in faith alone to the exclusion of works of charity, are in the lust of committing the adultery of a son with his mother. That they are in the lust of committing so abominable a kind of adultery, has often been perceived in the spiritual world. Remember this, and inquire after death, and you will be confirmed.

[2] I have not ventured to reveal this before, because it offends the ears. This adultery is signified by the adultery of Reuben with Bilhah his father’s concubine, (Genesis 35:22); for by “Reuben” that faith is signified, for which cause he was cursed by his father Israel, and afterwards his birthright was taken away from him; for his father Israel, prophesying concerning his sons, said of Reuben:

Reuben my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my power, light as water, thou shalt not excel, because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then thou didst profane it: he went up to my couch, (Genesis 49:3-4).

Therefore his birthright was taken from him.

Reuben was the firstborn of Israel; but because he polluted his father’s couch, his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph, (1 Chronicles 5:1).

That by “Reuben” was represented truth from good, or faith from charity, and afterwards truth separated from good, or faith separated from charity, will be seen in the explanation of chapter 7:5.

[3] That by “whoredoms” are signified adulterations of good and falsifications of truth in the Word, may appear from the following passages:

When Joram saw Jehu, he said, Is it peace, Jehu? Who said, What peace, so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and her incantations are so many? (2 Kings 9:22).

By “the whoredoms of Jezebel” are not meant any whoredoms, but her deeds, of which above, (132).

Your sons shall be pasturing in the wilderness forty¹⁵ years, and they shall bear your¹⁶ whoredoms, (Numbers 14:33).

And I will cut off the soul that looketh back to pythons and soothsayers to go a whoring after them, (Leviticus 20:6).

Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, (Exodus 34:15-16).

Jerusalem, thou didst trust in thy beauty, and didst commit whoredom on account of thy fame, even so that thou didst pour out thy whoredoms on everyone that passed by. Thou didst commit whoredom with the sons of Egypt, thy neighbors, great of flesh, and didst multiply thy whoredom. Thou didst commit whoredom with the sons of Assyria even when there was no satiety to thee with whom thou didst commit whoredom. Thou hast multiplied thy whoredom even to Chaldea. A woman, an adulteress, that taketh strangers instead of her husband. All give reward to their harlots; but thou hast given rewards to all, that they may come unto thee on every side in thy whoredoms. Wherefore, O harlot, hear the word of Jehovah, (Ezekiel 16:15-16, 26, 28-29, 32-33, 35 seq.).

“Jerusalem” in this passage is the Israelitish and Jewish church; by her “whoredoms” are meant adulterations and falsifications of the Word; and because in the Word by “Egypt” is signified the science of the natural man, by “Assyria” ratiocination thence, by “Chaldea” profanation of truth, and by “Babylon” profanation of good, therefore it is said that she committed whoredom with them.

[4] There were two women, the daughters of one mother; they committed whoredom in Egypt; they committed whoredom in their youth; one committed whoredom under Me, and she doted on her lovers, the Assyrians her neighbors. Thus she gave her whoredoms with them; yet she did not abandon her whoredoms in Egypt. The other corrupted her love more than she, and her whoredoms more than the whoredoms of her sister. She added to her whoredoms, she loved the Chaldeans. The sons of Babel came to her to the bed of loves, and they polluted her by their whoredoms, (Ezekiel 23:2-3, 5, 7-8, 11, 14, 16-17).

Here “the two daughters of one mother” are likewise the Israelitish and Jewish church, whose adulterations and falsifications of the Word are here described as above by “whoredoms.”

[5] So in the following passages:

Thou hast committed whoredom with many companions; thou hast profaned the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness. Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done? going up upon every high mountain, and committing whoredom. Also perfidious Judah went and committed whoredom. So that by the voice of her whoredom, she hath profaned the land; she hath committed adultery with stone and wood, (Jeremiah 3:1-2, 6, 8-9 and in other places).

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, seek if you can find a man, who doeth judgment, and seeketh the truth. When I had satiated them, they committed whoredom and came into the harlot’s house in a crowd, (Jeremiah 5:1, 7).

I have seen thy adulteries, thy neighings, the crime of thy whoredoms, thy abominations on the hills in the field. Woe unto thee, O Jerusalem, wilt thou not be made clean? (Jeremiah 13:27).

I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem a horrible stubbornness, in committing adultery and walking in lies, (Jeremiah 23:14).

They have committed foolishness in Israel, they committed whoredom and spoke My word in My name with lying, (Jeremiah 29:23).

They sinned against Me, I will turn their glory into reproach; they committed whoredom, because they have forsaken Jehovah. Whoredom occupied their heart. Your daughters commit whoredom, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery, (Hosea 4:7, 10-11, 13).

I know, Ephraim, that he hath altogether committed whoredom, and Israel is polluted, (Hosea 5:3).

I have seen a foul thing in the house of Israel; there Ephraim committeth whoredom; Israel is polluted, (Hosea 6:10).

“Israel” here is the church, and “Ephraim” is the understanding of the Word, from which, and according to which, the church is; therefore it is said “Ephraim hath committed whoredom, and Israel is polluted.”

[6] Because the church had falsified the Word, the prophet Hosea was commanded to take unto himself a harlot to wife, saying:

Take unto thee a woman of whoredoms, and children of whoredoms; for the land, by committing whoredom, hath committed whoredom against Jehovah, (Hosea 1:2).

Again:

Love a woman beloved of her companion, and an adulteress, (Hosea 3:1).

As the Jewish church was such, therefore the Jewish nation was called by the Lord “an adulterous generation” (Matthew 12:39; 16:4; Mark 8:38); and in Isaiah, “a seed of adulterers” (57:3); and in Nahum:

Woe to the city of bloods, wholly in a lie, a multitude of those pierced, above the multitude of the whoredoms of the harlot, that selleth nations by her whoredoms, (3:1, 3-4).

[7] Since “Babylon” adulterates and falsifies the Word more than others in the Christian world, she is therefore called “the great harlot,” and the following is said of her in Revelation:

Babylon hath made all nations to drink of the wine of the anger of her whoredom, (14:8).

For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her whoredom, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her, (18:3).

The angel said, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great harlot, with whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, (Revelation 17:1-2).

He hath judged the great harlot, which did corrupt the earth with her whoredom, (Revelation 19:2).

From these passages it manifestly appears, that “to commit adultery” and “to commit whoredom” signify to adulterate and falsify the goods and truths of the Word.

135. And to eat idol-sacrifices, signifies the defilement of worship thence, and profanations, as is clear from the explanation given above, (114); for they who adulterate goods appropriate to themselves unclean things, by which they defile and profane worship.

136. Verse 21. And I gave her time to repent of her whoredom, and she repented not, signifies that they who have confirmed themselves in that doctrine, will not recede, although they see things contrary to it in the Word. By receding from whoredom, is here signified to recede from falsifying the Word. That they see things contrary to their doctrine, is evident from a thousand passages in the Word, where it is said that evils are to be shunned, and that goods are to be done; also that they who do goods come into heaven, and they who do evils into hell, as also that faith without works is dead and diabolical. But it may be asked, what part of the Word have they falsified, or where have they spiritually committed whoredom with the Word? It may be answered, that they have falsified the whole Word; for the whole Word is nothing else but the doctrine of love to the Lord, and of love towards the neighbor, for the Lord says, that on the commandments concerning those two loves hang all the law and the prophets, (Matthew 22:40). There is also in the Word the doctrine of faith, yet not of such faith, but of the faith of love.

137. Verse 22. Behold I will cast her into a bed, and them that commit adultery with her into great affliction, signifies that thus they will be left in their doctrine with the falsifications, and that they will be grievously infested by falsities. That by “bed” is signified doctrine, will be seen presently; that by “committing adultery” falsifications of truth are signified, may be seen above, (134, 136); and that by “affliction” is signified infestation from falsities, (33, 95, 101[1-3]); and hence by “great affliction” is signified grievous infestation. That “a bed” signifies doctrine is from correspondence, for as the body rests in its bed, so does the mind rest in its doctrine. But by “bed” is signified the doctrine which everyone acquires to himself either from the Word, or from his own intelligence, for therein the mind rests and, as it were, sleeps. The beds in which they lie in the spiritual world, are from no other origin; for there everyone’s bed is according to the quality of his science and intelligence, magnificent for the wise, mean for the unwise, and filthy for falsifiers.

[2] This is signified by “a bed” in Luke:

I say unto you, in that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other left, (Luke 17:34).

This is concerning the Last Judgment; “two in one bed” means two in one doctrine, but not in similar life. In John:

Jesus saith unto the sick man, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk; and he took up his bed, and walked, (John 5:8-9);

and in Mark:

Jesus said unto the palsied, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee; and He said unto the Scribes, Whether is it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, take up thy bed, and walk? then He said, Arise, take up thy bed, and walk; and he took up the bed, and went forth from them, (Mark 2:5, 9, 11-12).

That here something is signified by “bed” is evident, because Jesus said, “Whether is it easier to say, thy sins be forgiven thee, or to say, take up thy bed and walk?” By “carrying his bed and walking” is signified to meditate in doctrine; it is so understood in heaven.

[3] Doctrine is also signified by “bed” in Amos:

As the shepherd rescueth from the mouth of the lion, so shall the sons of Israel be rescued that dwell in Samaria, in the corner of a bed, and in the extremity of a couch, (Amos 3:12).

“In the corner of a bed” and “in the extremity of a couch” means what is more remote from the truths and goods of doctrine. “Bed” and “couch” and “bed chamber” have a similar signification in other places (as in Isaiah 28:20; 57:2, 7-8; Ezekiel 23:41; Amos 6:4; Micah 2:1; Psalms 4:4; Psalms 36:4; Psalms 41:3; Job 7:13; Leviticus 15:4-5. Since by “Jacob” in the Propheticals of the Word is signified the church as to doctrine, therefore it is said of him, that:

He bowed himself upon the head of the bed, (Genesis 47:31).

That when Joseph came, he sat upon the bed, (Genesis 48:2).

That he gathered up his feet upon the bed, and expired, (Genesis 49:33).

The doctrine of the church is signified by “Jacob” therefore sometimes when I have thought of Jacob, there has appeared to me above, in front, a man lying in a bed.

138. Except they repent of their works, signifies if they will not desist from separating faith from charity, and from falsifying the Word, as may appear without further explanation.

139. Verse 23. And I will kill her sons with death, signifies that all the truths of the Word with them will be turned into falsities. By “sons” in the Word, are signified truths, and in the opposite sense, falsities; therefore “to kill sons” signifies to turn truths into falsities, for thus they perish; neither is anything else meant by “the slain and pierced of Jehovah;” by “killing her sons with death” is also signified to condemn their falsities. That “sons” signify truths, and in the opposite sense falsities is because in the spiritual sense of the Word by generations, are meant spiritual generations, and in like manner by consanguinities and affinities; thus by their names, as by father, mother, sons, daughters, brethren, sisters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and the rest; neither does spiritual generation give birth to any other sons and daughters, than truths and goods. See, (542, 543), below.

140. And all the churches shall know that I am He which searcheth the reins and hearts, signifies that the church shall know that the Lord sees the quality of everyone’s truth and the quality of everyone’s good. By “the seven churches” is signified the whole church, as before; and by “searching the reins and hearts,” is signified to see all the things which a man believes and loves, thus the quality of his truth and of his good. That this is the signification of “searching the reins and hearts,” is from correspondence, for the Word in its literal sense consists of mere correspondences. The correspondence is from this, that as the reins purify the blood from the impurities which are called urinous, and the heart purifies the blood from the unclean things which are called foul, so the truth of faith purifies man from falsities, and the good of love from evils.

[2] Thence it is that the ancients placed love and its affections in the heart, and intelligence and its perceptions in the reins; as may appear from these passages in the Word:

Behold, thou desirest truth in the reins, and in the hidden part thou makest wisdom known to me, (Psalms 51:6).

Thou possessest my reins, my bone was not hid from thee when I was made in secret, (Psalms 139:13, 15).

My heart was grieved, and I was pricked in my reins, but I am stupid, I do not know, (Psalms 73:21-22).

I Jehovah search the heart, and try the reins, even to give everyone according to his ways, (Jeremiah 17:10).

Thou art near in their mouth, and far from their reins; Thou, O Jehovah, wilt see me, and try my heart, (Jeremiah 12:2-3).

Jehovah is a judge of justice, trying the reins and the heart, (Jeremiah 11:20; 20:12).

Confirm the just, for it is the just God who trieth the hearts and reins, (Psalms 7:9).

Prove me, O Jehovah, and try me, explore my reins and my heart, (Psalms 26:2).

By “reins” in these places are signified truths of intelligence and faith, and by “heart,” the good of love and charity. That “heart” signifies the love and its affections, may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (371-393).

141. And I will give unto everyone according to his works, signifies that He gives unto everyone according to the charity and its faith which are in his works. That “works” are the containers of charity and faith, and that charity and faith without works are only like airy images, which vanish as soon as they have appeared, may be seen above, (76).

142. Verse 24. But unto you I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, signifies both to those with whom the doctrine of faith is separated from charity, and to those with whom the doctrine of faith is joined with charity, is evident from what is said above, without further explanation.

143. And who have not known the depths of Satan, as they speak, signifies they who do not understand their interiors, which are mere falsities. That by “Satan” is meant the hell of those who are in falsities, and abstractly, falsities, may be seen above, (97); therefore by its “depths” are signified the interiors of the doctrine separated from charity, which are mere falsities. The depths and interiors of that doctrine are what are delivered in their books and lectures in the universities, and thence in their preachings, the nature of which is pointed out in what is prefixed to the first chapter, where their doctrines are quoted; and particularly in what is there adduced concerning Justification by Faith and concerning Good Works; where it may be seen stated that the clergy alone know the arcana of that doctrine, but not the laity, therefore the latter principally are meant by those “who have not known the depths of Satan.”

144. I will put upon you none other burden, signifies, only that they should beware of them. The reason is, because they confirm their falsities by reasonings from the natural man, and by some things from the Word which they falsify, for by these they can seduce. They are like serpents in the grass which bite those that pass by; or like concealed poisons which kill the unwary.

145. Verse 25. Nevertheless, that which ye have, hold fast till I come, signifies that they should retain the few things which they know from charity and faith, thence from the Word, and live according to them, until the New Heaven and the New Church are formed, which are the Lord’s coming. For these and no others receive the things which the doctrine of the New Jerusalem teaches concerning the Lord and charity.

146. Verse 26. And he that overcometh and keepeth My works unto the end, signifies those who fight against evils and falsities and are reformed, and are actually in charity, and thence faith, and remain in them to the end of life. That “to overcome” is to fight against evils and falsities, may be seen above, (88); and that “works” are charity and thence faith in act, (76, 141); that “to keep them unto the end,” is to be in them, and remain in them to the end of life, is evident.

147. To him will I give power over the nations, signifies that they shall overcome evils in themselves which are from hell. That by “nations” in the Word are meant those who are in good, and in the opposite sense, those who are in evil, thus, abstractly, goods and evils, may be seen below, (483); therefore here by “giving power over the nations,” is signified to give them to overcome the evils from hell in themselves.

148. Verse 27. And He shall rule them with a rod of iron, signifies by truths from the literal sense of the Word, and at the same time by rational things from natural light. These things are signified by “a rod or staff of iron” because “a rod or staff” in the Word signifies power, and “iron” signifies natural truth, consequently the natural sense of the Word, and at the same time the natural light of man; in these two consists the power of truth. That Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of its letter is in its power, may be seen in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 37-49; from this cause the literal sense is the basis, container, and support of its spiritual sense, (27-36). And that all power is in the ultimates which are called things natural, may be seen in Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Wisdom 205-221; consequently in the natural sense of the letter of the Word, and in the natural light of man. These, therefore, are “the rod of iron” by which He shall “rule the nations” that is, overcome the evils which are from hell. The like is signified by a “rod of iron” in these passages:

Thou shalt break the nations in pieces with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, (Psalms 2:9).

The woman brought forth a male who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron, (Revelation 12:5).

Out of the mouth of Him that sat upon the white horse went a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; but He shall rule them with a rod of iron, (Revelation 19:15).

Jehovah shall smite the wicked with the rod of His mouth, (Isaiah 11:4).

149. As the vessels of a potter shall they be broken in pieces, signifies, as of little or no account. It is said “the vessels of a potter” because by them are signified the things which are of one’s own intelligence, which are all falsities, and in themselves of no account; so in David:

Thou shall break the nations in pieces with a rod of iron, Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel, (Psalms 2:9).

150. Even as I have received from My Father, signifies that they have this from the Lord, who, when He was in the world procured to Himself all power over the hells, from His Divine which was in Himself. That the Lord, when He was in the world, by admitting temptations into Himself, and finally by the last of them, which was the passion of the cross, subjugated the hells and glorified His Human, may be seen in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (29-36); as also above, (67); from which it may appear, that “to receive from His Father” is to receive from the Divine which was in Him, for He said that “the Father is in Him and He in the Father;” that “the Father and He are one;” as also “the Father who is in Me;” and more.

151. Verse 28. And I will give him the morning star, signifies intelligence and wisdom then. That by “stars” are signified the knowledges of good and truth, may be seen above, (51); and because by them is intelligence and wisdom, therefore these are signified by “the morning star.” It is called “the morning star” because intelligence and wisdom will be given them by the Lord, when He shall come to establish the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem; for He says:

That which ye have, hold fast till I come, (Revelation 2:25).

By which is signified, that they must retain the few truths which they know concerning charity and its faith from the Word, and live according to them, even until the New Heaven and the New Church are formed, which is the Coming of the Lord, (145).

[2] It is called “the morning star” because by “morning” is signified the Coming of the Lord, when there is a New Church. That this is meant by “morning” in the Word, appears from the following passages:

Until the evening and morning two thousand three hundred; then shall the sanctuary be justified; the vision of the evening and morning is truth, (Daniel 8:14, 26).

He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night, (Isaiah 21:11-12).

By “the evening” and “the night” is signified the last time of the old church, and by “the morning” the first time of the New Church.

The end is come, the morning is come upon thee, O thou inhabitant of the earth; behold the day it is come, the morning hath gone forth, (Ezekiel 7:6-7, 10).

Jehovah in the morning, in the morning He will give His judgment in light, He faileth not, (Zephaniah 3:5).

God is in the midst of her, God shall help her when the morning appeareth, (Psalms 46:5).

I have waited for Jehovah; my soul doth wait for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning, that watch for the morning; for with Him is plenteous redemption, and He shall redeem Israel, (Psalms 130:5-8 and other places).

[3] By “morning” in these passages is meant the Lord’s Coming, when He came into the world and established a New Church; in like manner now. And because the Lord alone gives those who will be of His New Church intelligence and wisdom; and all things which the Lord gives are Himself because they are of Himself, therefore the Lord says that He Himself is “the morning star”:

I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star, (Revelation 22:16).

He is called also “the morning” in 2 Samuel:

The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spoke to me, He is as the light of the morning, a morning without clouds, (2 Samuel 23:3-4).

152. Verse 29. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, signifies that he who understands these things, ought to obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, as above, (87).

153. To the above I will add something Memorable, concerning the lot of those after death, who have confirmed themselves in faith alone even to justification, both in doctrine and life.

1. When they are dead and revive as to the spirit, which generally takes place on the third day after the heart has ceased to beat, they appear to themselves in a body like that which they had before in the world, even so that they know no otherwise than that they are living in the former world; yet they are not in a material body, but in a spiritual body, which appears before their senses, which are also spiritual, as if it was material, although it is not.

2. After some days they see that they are in a world where there are various societies instituted, which world is called the world of spirits, and is intermediate between heaven and hell. All the societies there, which are innumerable, are wonderfully arranged according to natural affections, good and evil. The societies arranged according to good natural affections communicate with heaven, and the societies arranged according to evil affections communicate with hell.

3. The novitiate spirit, or the spiritual man, is conducted and introduced to various societies, both good and evil, and is explored whether he is affected by truths, and how; and whether he is affected by falsities, and how.

4. If he is affected by truths, he is withdrawn from evil societies, and introduced into good societies, and also into various ones, until he comes into a society corresponding with his Own natural affection, and there he enjoys the good which agrees with that affection; and this until he has put off his natural affection and has put on a spiritual affection, and then he is elevated into heaven. But this takes place with those who in the world have lived a life of charity, and thus also a life of faith, which consists in believing in the Lord, and shunning evils as sins.

5. But they who have confirmed themselves in doctrine and life even to justification by faith alone, by reason of their not being affected by truths, but by falsities, and because they have rejected the goods of charity, which are good works, from the means of salvation, are withdrawn from good societies, and introduced into evil societies, and also into various ones, until they come into the society corresponding to the concupiscences of their love; for he who loves falsities cannot but love evils.

6. But because in the world they had feigned good affections in externals, although in their internals there was nothing but evil affections or concupiscences, they are at first kept by turns in externals; and they who in the world presided over companies of men, are here and there set over societies in the world of spirits, in general or in part according to the extent of the offices they had exercised: but because they neither love truth nor justice, nor are capable of being enlightened so as to know what truth and justice are, therefore after some days they are dismissed. I have seen such transferred from one society to another, and some administration given them in each, but after a short time as often are dismissed.

7. After frequent dismissals, some out of weariness will not, and others from the fear of losing reputation dare not, seek for offices anymore, therefore they withdraw, and sit sad, and then they are led away into a desert, where there are cottages, into which they enter, and work of some kind is given them to do, and as they do it, they receive food, and if they do not do it, they are hungry and receive none, wherefore necessity compels. Food there is similar to the food in our world, but it is from a spiritual origin, and is given from heaven by the Lord to all according to the uses they perform; to the idle, nothing is given, because they are useless.

8. After some time they loathe work, and then they go out of the cottages; and if they have been priests, they desire to build; and there appear then immediately heaps of hewn stones, bricks, rafters, and boards, also heaps of reeds and bulrushes, clay, lime, and bitumen, which when they see, the lust of building is kindled, and they begin to construct a house, taking now a stone, and then wood, now a reed, and then clay, and placing them one upon another without order; but in their own sight in order. But what they build by day falls down by night; and the next day they collect from the rubbish, and build again, and this they continue to do, until they are tired of building. This is done, because they have collected together falsities to confirm salvation by faith alone, and such falsities do not build up the church in any other manner.

9. Afterwards from weariness they go away, and sit solitary and idle; and as the idle have no food given them from heaven, as was before observed, they begin to hunger, and they think of nothing else than how they may get food and satisfy their hunger. When they are in this state, there come to them some of whom they ask alms; and they say, Why do ye thus sit idle? come with us to our houses, and we will give you work to do, and we will feed you. And then they rise up gladly, and go with them to their houses, and there each has his work given him, and food for his work. But because all who have confirmed themselves in falsities of faith are unable to do works of good use, but only works of evil use, neither do they do these faithfully, but only so as to appear for the sake of honor or gain; therefore they leave their works, and only love to converse, talk, walk about, and sleep. And then, because they cannot any longer be induced by their masters to work, they are cast out as useless.

10. When they are cast out, their eyes are opened, and they see a way leading to a certain cavern. When they are come thither, the door is opened, and they enter, and inquire whether there is any food there; and when they receive for answer that there is, they ask leave to remain, and are told that they may, and are introduced and the door shut after them. And then the overseer of that cavern comes and says to them, Ye cannot go out hence any more; behold your companions, they all labor, and as they labor food is given them from heaven. I tell you this that ye may know. And their companions also say, Our overseer knows what work each one is fitted for, and assigns it to each one daily; on the day you finish it, food is given you, but if you do not, neither food nor clothing is given; and if anyone does evil to another, he is cast into a corner of the cavern, upon a certain bed of accursed dust, where he is miserably tormented, until such time as the overseer sees signs of repentance in him, and then he is released, and commanded to do his work. He is told also, that everyone after his task is done is permitted to walk about, to converse, and afterwards to sleep. And he is led into an interior part of the cavern, where there are harlots, from among whom each is permitted to take one for his woman, and promiscuous whoredom is forbidden under punishment. Of such caverns, which are nothing but eternal workhouses, the entire hell consists. It has been granted to me to enter into and have a view of some of them, to the end that I might make it known, and they all were seen to be vile, neither did anyone of them know who, or in what office he had been in the world. But the angel who was with me, told me, that this one had been a servant in the world, this a soldier, this a governor, this a priest, this one in dignity, and that in opulence, and yet that none of them knew otherwise than that they had always been servants and had similar companions, for this reason, because they were all interiorly alike, although they had been unlike exteriorly, and interiors consociate all in the spiritual world. Such is the lot of those who have removed the life of charity, and who thence have not lived that life in the world.

11. With respect to the hells in general, they consist merely of such caverns and workhouses, but those inhabited by satans are different from those inhabited by devils. Satans are they who have been in falsities and thence in evils, and devils are they who have been in evils and thence in falsities. Satans appear in the light of heaven like corpses, and some of them black like mummies; and devils appear in the light of heaven of a dark and fiery color, and some of them black like soot; but they are all as to their faces and bodies, monstrous; yet in their own light, which is like the light of a coal fire, they appear not as monsters, but men: this is granted them that they may be consociated.

Chapter 3 (154-224)

154. Revelation 3

1. And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write: these things saith He that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead.

2. Be watchful and strengthen the remaining things which are about to die: for I have not found thy works full before God.

3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard; and observe, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee.

4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, which have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white; because they are worthy.

5. He that overcometh shall be clothed in white garments; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life; and I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels.

6. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

7. And unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: these things saith He that is holy, He that is true, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no one shutteth, and shutteth and no one openeth.

8. I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door and no one is able to shut it: because thou hast a little power, and hast kept My Word, and hast not denied My name.

9. Behold, I will give from the synagogue of Satan, those who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and adore at thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

10. Because thou hast kept the word of My endurance, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.

11. Behold, I come quickly; hold fast that thou hast, that no one take thy crown.

12. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the name of My God; and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God; and My new name.

13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

14. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: these things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the work of God.

15. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot.

16. Therefore because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit thee out of My mouth.

17. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.

18. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white garments that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see.

19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten; be zealous, therefore, and repent.

20. Behold, I stand at the door and knock: If anyone hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.

21. To him that overcometh will I give to sit with Me on My throne, as I overcame, and sit with the Father on His throne.

22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

This chapter treats of those in the Christian world who are in dead worship, which is without charity and faith; who are described by the church in Sardis, (154-171). Those who are in truths from good from the Lord; who are described by the church in Philadelphia, (172-197). Those who alternately believe from themselves, and from the Word, and thus profane holy things; who are described by the church in Laodicea, (198-223). All of these likewise are called to the New Church of the Lord.

The contents of each verse:

Verse 1. “And unto the angel of the church in Sardis write,” signifies to those and concerning those, who are in dead worship, or in worship which is without the goods of charity, and without the truths of faith, (154). “These things saith He that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars,” signifies the Lord, from whom are all truths, and all the knowledges of good and truth, (155). “I know thy works,” signifies that the Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once, (156). “That thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead,” signifies that it may be seen and believed by themselves and by others, that they are spiritually alive, when yet they are spiritually dead, (157).

Verse 2. “Be watchful,” signifies to be in truths and in a life according to them, (158). “And strengthen the remaining things which are about to die,” signifies that the things which pertain to their worship may receive life, (159). “For I have not found thy works full before God,” signifies that the interiors of their worship are not conjoined with the Lord, (160).

Verse 3. “Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard,” signifies that they should consider that all worship in the beginning is natural, and afterwards by truths becomes spiritual, besides many other things, (161). “And observe and repent,” signifies that they should attend to these things, and give life to their dead worship, (162). “If therefore thou shalt not watch,” signifies here the same as above, (163). “I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee,” signifies that the things which are of worship shall be taken from them, and that they shall not know when and how this is done, (164).

Verse 4. “Thou hast a few names even in Sardis,” signifies that among them there are also some who have life in their worship, (165). “Which have not defiled their garments,” signifies who are in truths, and have not defiled worship by evils of life and falsities thence derived, (166). “And they shall walk with Me in white,”¹⁷ signifies that they shall live with the Lord, because they are in truths from Him, (167[1-2]). Verse 5. “He that overcometh shall be clothed in white garments,” signifies that he who is reformed becomes spiritual, (168). “And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life,” signifies that he shall be saved, (169). “And I will confess his name before My Father, and before His angels,” signifies that they will be received who are in Divine truths from the Lord, (170).

Verse 6. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” signifies here, as before, (171).

Verse 7. “And unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,” signifies to those and concerning those, who are in truths from good from the Lord, (172). “These things saith He that is holy, He that is true,” signifies the Lord as to the Divine truth, (173). “He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no one shutteth, and shutteth and no one openeth,” signifies who alone has omnipotence to save, (174).

Verse 8. “I know thy works,” signifies here, as above, (175). “Behold, I have set before thee an open door,” signifies that heaven is open to those who are in truths from good from the Lord, (176). “And no one is able to shut it,” signifies that hell cannot prevail against them, (177). “Because thou hast a little power,” signifies because they know that they can do nothing from themselves, (178). “And hast kept My Word,” signifies because they live according to the Lord’s commandments in His Word, (179). “And hast not denied My name,” signifies that they are in the worship of the Lord, (180).

Verse 9. “And I will give from the synagogue of Satan,” signifies those who are in falsities as to doctrine, (181). “Who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie,” signifies who say that the church is with them, and yet it is not, (182). “Behold I will make them to come and adore at thy feet,” signifies that many who are in falsities as to doctrine, will receive the truths of the New Church, (183). “And to know that I have loved thee,” signifies that they shall see that they are loved and received into heaven by the Lord, (184).

Verse 10. “Because thou hast kept the Word of My endurance,” signifies because they have fought against evils, (185). “I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth,” signifies that they will be protected and preserved in the day of the Last Judgment, (186).

Verse 11. “Behold I come quickly,” signifies the Lord’s coming, (187). “Hold fast that thou hast,” signifies that in the meantime they should remain in their truths and goods, (188). “That no one take thy crown,” signifies lest wisdom should perish, from which is eternal felicity, (189).

Verse 12. “Him that overcometh,” signifies they who persist in truths from good, (190). “Will I make a pillar in the temple of My God,” signifies that truths from good from the Lord, with those in whom they abide, sustain the church, (191). “And he shall go no more out,” signifies that they shall remain there to eternity, (192). “And I will write upon him the name of My God,” signifies that Divine truth shall be inscribed on their hearts, (193[1-2]) and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem,” signifies that the doctrine of the New Church shall be inscribed on their hearts, (194[1-4]). “Which cometh down out of heaven from My God,” signifies which will be from the Divine truth of the Lord such as it is in heaven, (195). “And My new name,” signifies the worship of the Lord alone, with new things which were not in the former church, (196).

Verse 13. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” signifies here, as before, (197).

Verse 14. “And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,” signifies to those and concerning those, in the church, who alternately believe from themselves, and from the Word, and thus profane things holy, (198). “These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true Witness,” signifies the Lord as to the Word, which is the Divine truth from Him, (199). “The beginning of the work of God,” signifies the Word, (200).

Verse 15. “I know thy works,” signifies here, as before, (201). “That thou art neither cold nor hot,” signifies that they who are such, sometimes deny that the Word is Divine and holy, and at other times acknowledge it, (202). “I would thou wert cold or hot,” signifies that it is better for them either from the heart to deny the holy things of the Word and of the church, or from the heart to acknowledge them, (203).

Verse 16. “Therefore because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit thee out of My mouth,” signifies profanation and separation from the Lord, (204).

Verse 17. “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased in goods,” signifies that they believe they possess in all abundance the knowledges of good and truth, which are of heaven and the church, (206). “And have need of nothing,” signifies that they have no need of more wisdom, (207). “And knowest not that thou art wretched,” signifies that all things which they know concerning them do not at all cohere, (208). “And miserable and poor,” signifies that they are without the understanding of truth, and without the will of good, (209). 2Verse 18. “I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich,” signifies an admonition to acquire to themselves the good of love from the Lord by means of the Word, that they may become wise, (211). “And white garments that thou mayest be clothed,” signifies that they should acquire to themselves the genuine truths of wisdom, (212). “And that the shame of thy nakedness may not appear,” signifies lest the good of celestial love should be profaned and adulterated, (213[1-4]). “And anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see,” signifies that their understanding may be healed, (214).

Verse 19. “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,” signifies that because they are now beloved, they cannot but be admitted into temptations, (215). “Be zealous, therefore, and repent,” signifies that this should be done from the affection of truth, (216).

Verse 20. “Behold I stand at the door, and knock,” signifies that the Lord is present to everyone in the Word, and is there pressing to be received, and He teaches how, (217). “If anyone hear My voice, and open the door,” signifies he who believes in the Word and lives according to it, (218). “I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me,” signifies that the Lord conjoins Himself with them and they with Him, (219).

Verse 21. “To him that overcometh,” signifies such as are in conjunction with the Lord by a life according to His precepts in the Word, (220). “Will I give to sit with Me in My throne,” signifies that they will have conjunction with the Lord in heaven, (221). “As I overcame, and sit with the Father in His throne,” signifies as He and the Father are one and are heaven, (222).

Verse 22. “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches,” signifies here, as before, (223).

155. These things saith He that hath the seven spirits of God, and the seven stars, signifies the Lord, from whom are all truths, and all the knowledges of good and truth. That by “the seven spirits of God” is meant the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, or the Divine verity, may be seen above, (14); and that by “the seven stars” are meant all the knowledges of good and truth from the Word, (51), from which is the church in heaven, (65). These things are now said by the Lord, because the subject treated of is concerning dead worship and concerning living worship, and worship lives from truths, and from a life according to them.

156. I know thy works, signifies that the Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once, as above, (76).

157. That thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead, signifies that it may be seen and believed by themselves and by others, that they are spiritually alive, when yet they are spiritually dead. By “having a name,” is signified to seem and to be believed to be such; here that they are alive, when yet they are dead; for spiritual life, which is properly life, does not consist in worship alone, but is inwardly in worship, and inwardly there ought to be Divine truths from the Word, and when man lives according to them, there is life in the worship; the reason is, because the external derives its quality from internals, and the internals of worship are truths of life. These are they who are meant by these words of the Lord:

Then shall ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open unto us; but he shall answer and say, I know you not whence you are. And ye shall begin to say, We have eaten before Thee and drank before Thee and Thou hast taught in our streets; but I will say to you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity, (Luke 13:25-27).

[2] I have also been permitted to hear many in the spiritual world say, that they have often gone to the holy communion, and thus have eaten and drunk what is holy, and have as often been absolved from their sins; that every Sabbath day they have hearkened to their teachers; and have devoutly prayed at home morning and evening, besides other things. But when the interiors of their worship were laid open, they appeared full of iniquities and infernal things, therefore they were rejected. And when they asked the reason of it, they had for answer, that they were not at all solicitous about Divine truths. And yet a life not according to Divine truths, is not life such as they have who are in heaven; and they who are not in the life of heaven, cannot bear the light of heaven, which is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as the sun there; still less can they bear the heat of heaven, which is the Divine love. But although they heard and also understood these things, yet when they were let into themselves and their own worship, they said, “What need is there of truths, and what are truths?” But as they were no longer able to receive truths, they were left to their concupiscences, which were within their worship, and these at length rejected from them all their worship of God. For the interiors accommodate the exteriors to themselves, and reject the things which do not agree with themselves; for with all after death the exteriors are rendered analogous to the interiors.

158. Verse 2. Be watchful, signifies that they should be in truths and in a life according to them. By “watching,” in the Word, nothing else is signified; for he who learns truths and lives according to them, is like one who is awakened out of sleep and becomes watchful. But he who is not in truths, but only in worship, is like one who sleeps and dreams. Natural life, considered in itself, or without spiritual life, is nothing else but sleep; but natural life, in which there is spiritual life, is watchfulness; and this cannot be acquired otherwise than by truths, which are in their own light and in their own day, when man is in the life according to them. Such is signified by “watching” in the following passages:

Watch, for ye know not in what hour the Lord will come, (Matthew 24:42).

Happy are those servants whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: Be ye therefore ready, for the Son of man will come at an hour when ye think not, (Luke 12:37, 40).

Watch ye, for ye know not when the lord of the house shall come; lest coming suddenly, he find you sleeping; what I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch, (Mark 13:35-37).

While the bridegroom tarried, the virgins slumbered and slept, and the five foolish came and said, Lord, open to us; but the lord shall answer, I know you not; watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man will come, (Matthew 25:1-13).

Because the Lord’s coming is called “morning” (151[1-3]), and then truths are opened, and there is light, therefore that time is called “the beginning of the watches” (Lamentations 2:19); and the Lord is called “a Watcher” (Daniel 4:13); and it is written in Isaiah:

Thy dead shall live; Awake, ye that dwell in the dust, (Isaiah 26:19).

But that the state of a man who is not in truths is called “slumbering” and “sleeping,” may be seen, (Jeremiah 51:39, 57; Psalm 13:3; Psalm 76:6; Luke 8:23).

159. And strengthen the remaining things which are about to die, signifies, that the things which pertain to their worship may receive life, and not be extinguished. How these things are to be understood shall be stated. Dead worship is altogether similar to living worship in its external form, because they who are in truths do the same things, for they hear preachings, go to the Holy Supper, pray on their knees morning and evening, besides other things which are common and customary in worship; therefore they who are in dead worship, have need of nothing more than to learn truths and live according to them; so that “the remaining things which are ready to die” may be confirmed.

160. For I have not found thy works full before God, signifies that the interiors of their worship are not conjoined with the Lord. That by “works” are meant the interiors and exteriors, and that by “I know thy works,” is signified that the Lord sees all the interiors and exteriors of man at once, may be seen above, (76); which are called “full before God,” when they are conjoined with the Lord. It must be known, that dead worship or worship which is only external, causes the Lord’s presence, but not conjunction; but external worship, in which the interiors live, causes both presence and conjunction. For the conjunction of the Lord is with the things with man which are from the Lord, which are truths from good, and unless these are in worship, the works are not full before God, but are empty. A man is said to be “empty” in the Word, in whom there are nothing but falsities and evils (as in Matthew 12:44, and in other places). Hence a man is said to be “full,” in whom there are truths and goods.

161. Verse 3. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, signifies that it should come into the thought that all worship in its beginning is natural, and afterwards by truths out of the Word, and by a life according to them, becomes spiritual, besides many other things. These are the things that are to be understood by these words; as also, that everyone may know from the Word, from the doctrines of the church from the Word, and from preachings, that truths ought to be learned, and that by truths man has faith, charity, and all things of the church.

[2] That this is the case, is abundantly shown in The Arcana Coelestia; published at London; that by truths comes faith, (4353, 4977, 7178, 10367). That by truths comes love towards the neighbor, or charity, (4368, 7623, 7624, 8034). That by truths comes love to the Lord, (10, 10143, 10153, 10310, 10578, 578, 10645). That by truths come intelligence and wisdom, (3182, 3190, 3387, 10064). That by truths regeneration is effected, (1555, 1904, 2046, 2189, 9088, 9959, 10028). That by truths there is power against evils and falsities, and against hell, (3091, 4015, 10488). That by truths there is purification from evils and falsities, (2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 10229, 10237). That by truths the church exists, (1798, 1799, 3963, 4468, 4672). That by truths heaven exists, (6690, 9832, 9931, 10303). That by truths comes the innocence of wisdom, (3183, 3494, 6013). That by truths there is conscience, (1077, 2053, 9113). That by truths there is order, (3316, 3417, 3470, 4104, 5339, 5343, 6028, 10303). That by truths is the beauty of angels, and also of men as to the interiors which are of their spirit, (553, 3080, 4985, 5199). That by truths man is man, (3175, 3387, 8370, 10298). But all this by truths from good, and not by truths without good, and good is from the Lord, (2434, 4070, 4736, 5147). That every good is from the Lord, (1614, 2016, 2904, 4151, 5147, 9981).

[3] But who thinks this? Is it not at this day a matter of indifference what truths a man knows, provided he is in worship? And because few search the Word for the purpose of learning truths and living according to them, therefore nothing is known concerning worship, whether it be dead or living, and yet according to the quality of worship man himself is either dead or living. Otherwise of what use would the Word be, and doctrine thence, or what would be the use of sabbaths and preachings, as well as of books of instruction, yea to what purpose would the church and religion be? That all worship in its beginning is natural, and afterwards by truths from the Word, and a life according to them, becomes spiritual, is known; for man is born natural, but is educated in order that he may become civil and moral, and afterwards spiritual, for thus he is born again. These things therefore are signified by “Remember how thou hast received and heard.”

162. And observe and repent, signifies that they should attend to these things and vivify their dead worship. That “to observe” is to attend to those things which are meant by “Remember how thou hast received and heard,” is evident; and that “to repent” is to vivify dead worship, by truths from the Word, and by a life according to them, follows therefrom.

163. If therefore thou shalt not watch, signifies, if they are not in truths and in a life according to them, as is evident from the explanation above, (158).

164. I will come upon thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee, signifies that the things which are of worship shall be taken away from them, and that they shall not know when and how. It is said that the Lord “will come like a thief,” because from the man, who is in dead worship, the external good of worship is taken away. For there is something of good in dead worship, because they think of God and of eternal life; but still good without its truths is not good, but meritorious or hypocritical, and evils and falsities take it away like a thief. This is done successively in the world, and after death fully, and also the man not knowing when and how. It is attributed to the Lord that “He will come like a thief,” but, in the spiritual sense, it is meant that hell will take away and steal it. This is similar to its being said in the Word, that God does evil to man, vastates him, avenges, is wrathful, and leads into temptation; when yet hell does them, for it is so said from the appearance before man. That the talent and pound to trade with, is taken away from the man if nothing is gained by it, may be seen in Matthew 25:26-30; Luke 19:24-26. “To trade” and “to gain” signifies to acquire to one’s self truths and goods.

[2] Since good and truth are taken away from those who are in dead worship, as if it were done by a thief in the dark, therefore in the Word the same is sometimes likened to a thief, as in the following passages:

Behold, I come as a thief. Happy is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, (Revelation 16:15).

Watch therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord will come. But know this, that if the householder had known in what hour the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken through, (Matthew 24:42-43).

If thieves came to thee, if destroyers by night, how wilt thou be cut off, would they not have stolen till they had enough? (Obadiah 1:5).

They shall run to and fro in the city, they shall run upon the wall, they shall go up upon the houses, they shall enter in through the windows like a thief, (Joel 2:9).

They have done a lie, and the thief cometh in, and the troop spreadeth itself without, (Hosea 7:1).

Lay not up treasures upon earth, but in heaven, where thieves do not come nor steal, (Matthew 6:19-20).

The reason why man must watch, and not know the hour in which the Lord cometh, is, that man may think and act as from himself, thus in freedom according to his reason, and lest any fear intrude; for everyone, if he knew, would be in fear; and what man does from himself in freedom remains to eternity; but what he does from fear, does not remain.

165. Verse 4. Thou hast a few names even in Sardis, signifies that among them there are also some who have life in their worship. By “a few names” are signified some who are such, as now follows, for “name” signifies the quality of anyone; the reason is that everyone in the spiritual world is named according to his quality, (81[1-4]) the quality of those who are now treated of, is, that they have life in their worship.

166. Who have not defiled their garments, signifies, who are in truths, and have not defiled worship by evils of life, and falsities thence derived. By “garments” in the Word are signified truths which clothe good, and in the opposite sense, falsities which clothe evil; for man is either his own good or his own evil, the truths or falsities thence proceeding are his “garments.” All angels and spirits appear clothed according to the truths of their good, or according to the falsities of their evil; on which subject see the work concerning Heaven and Hell, published at London, (177-182);from which it is evident, that by “not defiling their garments,” is signified to be in truths, and not to defile worship by evils of life and falsities thence derived.

[2] That in the Word “garments” signify truths, and, in the opposite sense, falsities appears from the following passages:

Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy comeliness, O Jerusalem, (Isaiah 52:1).

O Jerusalem, I have clothed thee with needlework, I have shod thee with badger’s skin, I have girded thee with fine linen, and adorned thee with ornaments; thou art arrayed in gold and silver, and thy garments are fine linen, silk, and needlework, whence thou hast become exceedingly beautiful. But thou hast taken off thy garments, and hast made for thyself high places with divers colors, that thou mightest commit whoredom upon them; thou hast also taken thy garments of needlework, and hast made images of a male, with which thou committedst whoredom, (Ezekiel 16:10-18).

The Jewish church is here described, that to it were given truths, because it had the Word; but that they falsified them; “to commit whoredom” is to falsify, (134).

[3] The king’s daughter is all glorious within, and her clothing is of woven gold; in needlework shall she be brought to the king, (Psalms 45:13-14).

“The king’s daughter” is the church as to the affection of truth.

Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who arrayed you in scarlet double-dyed with delights, and put an ornament of gold upon your garment, (2 Samuel 1:24).

This is said of Saul because by him as king the Divine Truth is signified, (20).

I will visit upon the princes and upon the king’s sons, and upon all that are clothed in the garments of the stranger, (Zephaniah 1:8).

The enemies shall put off thy garments from thee, and shall take away thy adornments, (Ezekiel 23:26).

Joshua was clothed in polluted garments, and stood so before the angel; who said, Remove ye the polluted garments from him, and clothe him with other garments, (Zechariah 3:3-5).

The king came in, and saw them that were reclining; and he saw a man not clothed with a wedding garment; and he said unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment, (Matthew 22:11-12).

“The wedding garment” is the Divine truth from the Word.

[4] Beware of false prophets, who come unto you in sheep’s clothing, (Matthew 7:15).

No one putteth a piece of a new garment on an old garment; otherwise the new rendeth the old, and the piece from the new agreeth not with the old, (Luke 5:36).

Because “a garment” signifies truth, the Lord therefore compares the truths of the former church, which were external and representative of spiritual things, to “a piece of an old garment;” and the truths of the new church, which were internal and spiritual, to “a piece of a new garment.”

Upon the thrones were twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments, (Revelation 4:4).

They who were standing before the throne and in the sight of the Lamb, were arrayed in white robes; who washed their robes and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb, (Revelation 7:9, 13-14).

There were given to everyone of those who were under the altar white robes, (Revelation 6:11).

The armies of Him that sat upon the white horse followed Him clothed in fine linen white and clean, (Revelation 19:14).

[5] Because “angels” signify Divine Truths, therefore:

The angels seen in the Lord’s sepulcher appeared in garments white and shining, (Matthew 28:3; Luke 24:4).

Because the Lord is the Divine good and the Divine truth, and truths are meant by “garments,” therefore when He was transfigured:

His face shone as the sun, and His garments became as the light, (Matthew 17:2).

And were white, glistening, (Luke 9:29).

And shining white as snow, such as no fuller upon earth could whiten, (Mark 9:3).

Concerning the Ancient of Days, who also is the Lord, it is said that:

His garment was white as snow, (Daniel 7:9).

And these things are said of the Lord besides:

He hath anointed all thy garments with myrrh, and aloe, and cassia, (Psalms 45:8).

He washeth His garment in wine, and His covering in the blood of grapes, (Genesis 49:11).

Who is this that cometh from Edom, sprinkled as to His garments from Bozrah? this that is honorable in His apparel; wherefore art Thou red as to Thy garment? Thy garments are as of one that treadeth in the winepress. Victory is sprinkled upon My garments; and I have polluted all My raiment, (Isaiah 63:1-3).

This is also concerning the Lord. His “garments” here are the truths of the Word.

He that sat upon the white horse, was clothed in a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God, (Revelation 19:13, 16).

[6] From the signification of “garments,” it may be seen why:

The Lord’s disciples laid their garments upon the ass and the colt, when the Lord entered into Jerusalem; and why the people then strewed their garments in the way, (Matthew 21:7-9; Mark 11:7-8; Luke 19:35-36).

And what is signified by:

The soldiers divided the Lord’s garments into four parts, (John 19:23-24).

And thus what is signified by these words in David:

They divided My garments, and upon my vestment they cast a lot, (Psalms 22:18).

[7] From the signification of “garments” it is also manifest why they rent their garments, when anyone spoke against the Divine truth of the Word, (Isaiah 37:1, and elsewhere); also why they washed their garments, that themselves might be purified, (Exodus 19:4; Leviticus 11:25, 40; 14:8-9; Numbers 19:11); and why, on account of transgressions against Divine truths, they put off their garments, and put on sackcloth, (Isaiah 15:3; 22:12; 37:1-2; Jeremiah 4:8; 6:26; 48:37; 49:3; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 27:31; Amos 8:10; Jonah 3:5-6, 8). He who knows what “garments” signify in general and in particular can know what was signified by the garments of Aaron and his sons, which were the ephod, the robe, the checkered coat, the belt, the breeches, and the miter. Because “light” signifies the Divine truth, and “garment” likewise, therefore it is said in David:

Jehovah covereth Himself with light as with a garment, (Psalms 104:2).

167. And they shall walk with me, in white,¹⁸ signifies that they will live with the Lord in His spiritual kingdom, because they are in truths from Him. That this is the meaning of these words is because “to walk,” in the Word signifies to live, and “to walk with God” signifies to live from Him; and because “in white” signifies in truths; for in the Word, “white” is predicated of truths, because it draws its origin from the light of the sun; and “red” is predicated of goods, because it draws its origin from the fire of the sun; and “black” is predicated of falsities, because it draws its origin from the darkness of hell. They who are in truths from the Lord, because they are conjoined with Him are called “worthy,” for all worth in the spiritual world is from conjunction with the Lord. From these things it is evident, that “they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy” signifies that they shall live with the Lord, because they are in the truths from Him. It is said that they will live with the Lord in the spiritual kingdom, because the whole heaven is divided in two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual, and they are in the celestial kingdom who are in the good of love from the Lord, and they are in the spiritual kingdom who are in the truths of wisdom from the Lord; and the latter are said “to walk with the Lord in white;” and they are also clothed in white garments.

[2] That “to walk” signifies to live, and “to walk with God” signifies to live with Him because from Him, appears from the following passages:

He walked with me in peace and rectitude, (Malachi 2:6).

Thou hast delivered my feet from stumbling, to walk before God in the light of the living, (Psalms 56:13).

David hath kept My commandments, and hath walked after Me with the whole heart, (1 Kings 14:8).

O Jehovah, remember that I have walked before Thee in truth, (Isaiah 38:3).

If ye will walk contrary to Me, and will not obey My voice, I also will walk contrary to you, (Leviticus 26:23-24, 27-28).

They would not walk in the ways of Jehovah, (Isaiah 42:24; Deuteronomy 11:22; 19:9; 26:17).

All peoples walk in the name of their god, and we will walk in the name of Jehovah, (Micah 4:5).

Yet a little while is the light with you; walk while ye have the light; believe in the light, (John 12:35-36; 8:12).

The scribes asked, Why walk not the disciples according to the tradition of the elders? (Mark 7:5).

“To walk” is also said of Jehovah that “He walks among them,” that is, lives in them and with them.

I will give my habitation in the midst of them,¹⁹ and will walk in the midst of you, and will be unto you for God, (Leviticus 26:11-12).

From these passages it is manifest what is meant above by:

These things saith he that walketh in the midst of the seven golden lamp stands, (Revelation 2:1).

168. Verse 5. He that overcometh, shall be clothed in white garments signifies that he who is reformed becomes spiritual. That “he that overcometh” signifies he who is reformed, may be seen above, (88); and that “to be clothed in white garments” signifies to become spiritual by means of truth, (166, 167). All those become spiritual who are in truths, and in a life according to them.

169. And I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, signifies that he shall be saved. What the signification of “name” is, has been shown before, and what “the book of life” is, will be explained below. That “not to blot out his name out of the book of life,” is to be saved, is evident to everyone.

170. And I will confess His name before the Father, and before His angels, signifies that they will be received who are in Divine good and in Divine truths from the Lord, thus who have the life of heaven in themselves. That “to confess the name” is to acknowledge the quality of anyone, or that he is such, is evident from the signification of “name,” as given above, (81[1-4], 122). By “Father,” is meant Divine good, and by “angels” are meant Divine truths, both from the Lord. In the Word of the evangelist “the Father” is often mentioned by the Lord, by whom is everywhere meant Jehovah, from Whom and in Whom He was, and Who was in Him, and never any Divine separate from Him: this is abundantly proved indeed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord; and also in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (262, 263); that the Lord Himself is the Father, may be seen, (21, 960). The Lord made mention of the Father, because by “Father” in the spiritual sense is signified good, and by “God the Father” the Divine good of Divine love; the angels never understand anything else by “Father” when it is read in the Word, nor can they understand anything else, because no one in the heavens knows any Father, of whom they are said to be born, and whose sons and heirs they are called, except the Lord; this is meant by the Lord’s words, (Matthew 23:9). Hence it is evident that by “confessing His name before the Father,” is signified that they will be received among those who are in Divine good from Him. The reason why by “angels” are meant those who are in Divine truths from the Lord, and, abstractly, Divine truths, is because angels are the recipients of Divine good in the Divine truths which are with them from the Lord.

171. Verse 6. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, signifies that he who understands these things, should obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, as above, (87).

172. Verse 7. And unto the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, signifies to those and concerning those who are in truths from good from the Lord. That these are meant by “the church in Philadelphia” is clear from what is written to it, when understood in the spiritual sense.

173. These things saith He that is holy, He that is true, signifies the Lord as to the Divine truth. That it is the Lord, is evident; the reason why “He that is holy, He that is true,” is the Lord as to the Divine truth, is because the Lord is called “holy” from His Divine truth, and “just” from His Divine good; hence it is, that His Divine proceeding, which is the Divine truth, is called “the Holy Spirit,” and the Holy Spirit here is “He that is holy, He that is true.”

[2] “Holy” often occurs in the Word, and everywhere relates to truth, and as all truth, which in itself is truth, is from good, and is from the Lord, it is that truth which is called holy; but good from which the truth is, is called just. Hence it is, that the angels who are in the truths of wisdom, and are called spiritual, are said to be “holy,” and the angels who are in the good of love, and are called celestial, are said to be “just;” in like manner men in the church. It is also from this, that the prophets and apostles are called “holy,” for by “the prophets” and “apostles,” are signified the truths of doctrine of the church. For the same reason also the Word is called holy, for the Word is the Divine truth; the law in the ark in the tabernacle was also called the Holy of Holies, and also “the Sanctuary.” In like manner Jerusalem is called holy, for by “Jerusalem” is signified the church, which is in Divine truths. So likewise the altar, the tabernacle, and the garments of Aaron and his sons were called holy after they were anointed with oil, for oil signifies the good of love, and this sanctifies, and everything sanctified has relation to truth.

[3] That the Lord alone is holy, because He is the Divine truth itself, is evident from the following passages:

Who shall not glorify Thy name, O Lord, for Thou only art holy, (Revelation 15:4).

Thy Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called, (Isaiah 54:5).

Thus saith Jehovah the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, (Isaiah 49:7).

As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, the Holy One of Israel, (Isaiah 47:4).

Thus saith Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, (Isaiah 43:14).

In that day they shall lean upon Jehovah the Holy One of Israel in truth, (Isaiah 10:20).

Besides other places;Isaiah 1:4; 5:19; 12:6; 17:7; 29:19; 30:11-12; 41:16; 45:11, 15; 48:17; 55:5; 60:9; Jeremiah 50:29; Daniel 4:13, 23; Psalms 78:41. As the Lord is holiness itself, therefore the angel said unto Mary:

The Holy One that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, (Luke 1:35).

And the Lord said of Himself:

Father, sanctify them in the truth, Thy Word is truth; for their sakes I sanctify Myself; that they also might be sanctified in the truth, (John 17:17, 19).

[4] Hence it appears, that the truth, which is from the Lord, is holiness itself, because He alone is holy; on which subject the Lord says:

When He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He will lead you into all truth; for He shall not speak from Himself, for He shall receive of mine and shall announce it unto you, (John 16:13-15).

The Comforter, the Holy Spirit, He shall teach you all things, (John 14:26).

That the “Holy Spirit” is the life of the Lord’s wisdom, thus the Divine truth, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (51). From hence it may appear, that “He that is holy, He that is true,” is the Lord as to His Divine truth. That “holy” is said of truth, and “just” of good, is evident from those passages in the Word where both expressions occur; as from the following:

He that is just let him be justified still, and he that is holy let him be sanctified still, (Revelation 22:11).

Just and true are Thy ways, Thou King of saints, (Revelation 15:3).

To serve Him in holiness and justice, (Luke 1:75).

Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just man and holy, (Mark 6:20).

Fine linen is the justice of the saints, (Revelation 19:8).

174. He that hath the key of David, and that openeth and no one shutteth, and shutteth and no one openeth, signifies, who alone is omnipotent to save. By “David” is meant the Lord as to the Divine truth; by “key” is signified the Lord’s omnipotence over heaven and hell; and by “opening that no one can shut,” and by “shutting that no one can open,” is signified to lead forth out of hell and introduce into heaven, thus to save, in like manner as above, (62), where it is explained. That by “David” is meant the Lord as to the Divine truth, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (43, 44). The same, which is here signified by “the key of David,” is also signified by “the keys of Peter” (Matthew 16:15-19); which may be seen explained below, (798[1-5]) also by these words to all the disciples:

Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven, (Matthew 18:18).

For the twelve disciples represented all things of the church as to its goods and truths, and Peter represented it as to truth, and truths and goods save man, consequently the Lord alone from whom they are. The same is also signified by the “key of David which was given to Eliakim,” concerning which it is thus written:

I will give the government into his hands, and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah, and I will give the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, so he shall open and none shall shut, and he shall shut and none shall open, (Isaiah 22:21-22).

He was over the king’s house, and by “the king’s house” is signified the church as to the Divine truth.

175. Verse 8. I know thy works, signifies that the Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once, as above, (76).

176. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, signifies that heaven is open to those who are in truths from good from the Lord. That by “an open door” is signified admission, is evident. The door is said to be open to those who are of the church in Philadelphia, because by that church are meant those who are in truths from good from the Lord, and to them the Lord opens heaven. But on this subject something not before known shall be declared. The Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, (Matthew 28:18); they therefore who do not directly approach Him, cannot see the way to heaven, nor can they find the door, and if haply they are permitted to approach it, it is shut, and if they knock it is not opened. In the spiritual world there are actually ways which lead to heaven, and there are here and there gates, and they who are led to heaven by the Lord, take the ways which lead thither, and enter through the gates. That there are ways there, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, (479, 534, 590); and also gates, (429-430, 583-584). For all things which are seen in the heavens are correspondences, thus also, ways and gates; for ways correspond to truths, and thence signify them, and gates correspond to admission, and thence signify it.

[2] Since the Lord alone leads man to heaven, and opens the door, therefore He calls Himself “the way” and also “the door”: “the way” in John:

I am the way, the truth, and the life, (John 14:6).

The door in the same Evangelist:

I am the door of the sheep, by Me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, (John 10:9). (John 10:7) (John 10:9)

Since there are both ways and doors in the spiritual world, and angelic spirits actually go in those ways, and enter into heaven by doors, therefore “doors,” “gates,” and “portals” are frequently mentioned in the Word, by which is signified entrance; as in these places:

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, lift them up, ye doors of the world, and the King of Glory shall come in, (Psalms 24:7, 9).

Open ye the gates, that the just nation, which doeth fidelity, may enter in, (Isaiah 26:2).

The five prudent virgins went in to the wedding, and the door was shut; and the five foolish virgins came and knocked, but it was not opened, (Matthew 25:10-12).

Jesus said, Strive to enter in at the straight gate, for many will seek to enter in, and shall not be able, (Luke 13:24 besides others).

Since “a door” signifies entrance, and “the New Jerusalem” signifies the church consisting of those who are in truths from good from the Lord, therefore the New Jerusalem is described also as to “its gates, upon which there were angels,” and it is said, They should not be shut, (Revelation 21:12-13, 25).

177. And no one is able to shut it, signifies that hell cannot prevail against it. For the Lord alone opens and shuts the doors to heaven, and the door, which He opens, is perpetually open to those who are in truths from good from the Lord, and perpetually shut to those who are in falsities from evil; and since the Lord alone opens and shuts, it follows that hell cannot prevail against them: more may be seen on this subject above, (174).

178. Because thou hast a little power, signifies because they know that they can do nothing from themselves. They who are in truths from good from the Lord, know that they have not any power against evils and falsities, thus against hell, from themselves, and they also know that they cannot, out of any power from themselves, do good and introduce themselves into heaven, but that all power is the Lord’s, and thus is in them from the Lord, and in proportion as they are in truths from good, in the same proportion they are in power from the Lord, which yet appears to them as their own. This then is what is meant by “For thou hast a little power.”

179. And hast kept My Word, signifies because they live according to the Lord’s commandments in His Word, as is evident without any explanation.

180. And hast not denied My name, signifies that they are in the worship of the Lord. That “the name of Jehovah,” or of the Lord, in the Word, signifies all by which He is worshiped, thus every doctrine of the church, and universally the whole of religion, may be seen above, (81[1-4]) from which it is plain what is here signified by “thou hast not denied My name.”

181. Verse 9. And I will give from the synagogue of Satan, signifies those who are in falsities as to doctrine, as may be seen above, (97).

182. Who say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie, signifies who say that the church is with them, when yet there is no church with them. By “Jews” here are meant they who are of the church, because the church was instituted among them, therefore also by their Jerusalem is still meant the church as to doctrine: but, especially, by “Jews” are meant they who are in the good of love, as above, (96), thus also the church, for from the good of love the church exists. That still there is no church with them is signified by “and are not, but do lie.”

183. Behold, I will make them to come and adore at thy feet, signifies that those who are in falsities as to doctrine, provided they are not in falsities from evil, will receive and acknowledge the truths of the New Church. This is said of those who are of “the synagogue of Satan, and say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie,” by whom are meant those who are in falsities as to doctrine, yet not in falsities from evil, but in falsities as to doctrine but in good as to life. The latter, and not the former, receive and acknowledge truths when they hear them. The reason is, that good loves truth, and truth from good rejects what is false. To receive and acknowledge truths is signified by “coming and adoring at thy feet;” not at their feet, but at the feet of the Lord, from whom they have the truths from good; therefore the following passage in David has a like signification:

Adore Jehovah our Lord, adore at His footstool, (Psalms 99:5).

184. And to know that I have loved thee, signifies that they shall see that they who are in truths from good, are beloved and received into heaven by the Lord. This follows in a series from the foregoing.

185. Verse 10. Because thou hast kept the word of My endurance, signifies because they have fought against evils, and then have rejected falsities. That “the word of endurance” signifies spiritual combat, which is called temptation, is plain from what next follows: “I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall be;” for he who is tempted in the world, is not tempted after death. Spiritual combat, which is temptation, is called the word of the Lord’s endurance or patience, because in temptations the Lord fights for man, and He fights by means of truths out of His Word.

186. I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth, signifies that they will be protected and preserved in the day of the Last Judgment. That their protection and preservation in the day of the Last Judgment is meant by these words, may be seen from what is written and related concerning The Last Judgment in the work on that subject, and afterwards in The Continuation of the same, from which it is manifest, that they who underwent it were let into temptation, and explored as to their qualities, and that such as were interiorly evil were rejected and such as were interiorly good were saved; and they were interiorly good who were in truths from good from the Lord.

187. Verse 11. Behold, I come quickly, signifies the Lord’s coming, and then the New Church from them. The Lord says here, “Behold, I come quickly,” because by the foregoing words is meant the Last Judgment, and the Last Judgment is also called the Lord’s coming, as in Matthew:

The disciples said unto Jesus, What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age? (Matthew 24:3).

“The consummation of the age” is the last time of the church, when the Last Judgment is at hand. The reason why by these words, “Behold, I come quickly,” the New Church is also meant, is, because after the Last Judgment, the church is established by the Lord; that church now is the New Jerusalem, into which those will enter who are in truths from good from the Lord, to whom this is addressed.

188. Hold fast that thou hast, signifies that in the meantime they should remain in their truths and in their good, as is manifest without explanation.

189. That no one take thy crown, signifies lest wisdom should perish, from which comes eternal happiness. Wisdom in man is from no other source than good by truths from the Lord. The reason why man has wisdom through these, is, because the Lord conjoins Himself to man, and man to Himself by them, and the Lord is wisdom itself; therefore wisdom perishes with man when he ceases to do truths, that is, to live according to them, for then he ceases to love wisdom, and thus the Lord. By wisdom is meant wisdom in things spiritual, from which, as from a fountain, is derived wisdom in other things, which is called intelligence, and by intelligence, science, which exists from the affection of knowing truths. “A crown” signifies wisdom, because wisdom holds the supreme place with man, and thus crowns him. Nor does “a king’s crown” signify anything else, for “king,” in the spiritual sense, is the Divine truth, (20), and from the Divine truth is all wisdom.

[2] Wisdom is also signified by “crown” in the following places:

There will I make the horn of David to bud, but upon himself shall his crown flourish, (Psalms 132:17-18).

Jehovah gave ear-rings upon thine ears, and a crown of ornament upon thy head, (Ezekiel 16:12).

Speaking of Jerusalem, by which is signified the church as to doctrine, therefore “a crown of ornament” is wisdom from the Divine truth or the Word.

In that day shall Jehovah of Hosts be for a crown of ornament and for a miter of beauty unto the residue of His people, (Isaiah 28:5).

These things are concerning the Lord, because it is said “in that day;” “the crown of ornament” which He will be, is wisdom, and “the miter of beauty” is intelligence; “the residue of the people” are they with whom His church will be.

[3] The same is signified by “crown” and “miter” in Isaiah 62:1, 3; as also by “the plate upon Aaron’s miter” (Exodus 28:36-37), which was also called “the coronet.” Likewise in these places:

Say unto the king, and to the queen, Humble yourselves, sit down, for the ornament of your head is come down, the crown of your comeliness, (Jeremiah 13:18).

The joy of our heart is ceased, the crown of our head is fallen, (Lamentations 5:15-16).

He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown of my head, (Job 19:9).

Thou hast condemned the crown of Thine anointed to the earth, (Psalms 89:39).

In these places, by “crown” is signified wisdom.

190. Verse 12. Him that overcometh, signifies they who persist in truths from good from the Lord, as appears from the series, and thus without explanation.

191. Will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, signifies that truths from good from the Lord, with those in whom they abide, sustain the Lord’s church in heaven. By “temple” the church is signified, and by “the temple of my God,” the Lord’s church in heaven; hence it is evident, that by “pillar” is signified that which sustains the church and makes it firm, and this is the Divine truth of the Word. By “temple,” in the supreme sense, the Lord is signified as to the Divine Human, in particular as to the Divine truth; but, in the representative sense, by “temple” is signified the Lord’s church in heaven, and likewise the Lord’s church in the world. That “temple,” in the supreme sense signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human, and in particular as to the Divine truth, is evident from these passages:

Jesus said to the Jews, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up; He spoke of the temple of His body, (John 2:19, 21).

I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it, (Revelation 21:22).

Behold, the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, and the angel of the covenant whom ye seek, (Malachi 3:1).

I will bow down towards the temple of Thy holiness, (Psalms 138:2).

Yet I will again look to the temple of Thy holiness and my prayer shall come to Thee, to the temple of Thy holiness, (Jonah 2:4, 7; Habakkuk 2:20).

“The temple of holiness of Jehovah,” or the Lord, is His Divine Human, for that is bowed down to, looked to, and prayed to, and not to the temple only, for the temple in itself is not holy. It is called “the temple of holiness,” because holiness is predicated of the Divine truth, (173). The temple which sanctifieth the gold, (Matthew 23:16-17) means nothing else than the Lord’s Divine Human.

[2] That by “temple” in a representative sense, is signified the Lord’s church in heaven, appears from these passages:

The voice of Jehovah from the temple, (Isaiah 66:6).

There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, (Revelation 16:17).

The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of His covenant, (Revelation 11:19).

The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened; and the seven angels came out of the temple; and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, (Revelation 15:5-6, 8).

I called upon Jehovah, and cried unto my God; He heard my voice out of His temple, (Psalms 18:6).

I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple, (Isaiah 6:1).

[3] That temple signifies the church in the world is manifest from these passages:

Our house of holiness has become a conflagration, (Isaiah 64:11).

I will shake all nations, that I may fill this house with glory: the glory of the latter house shall be greater than of the former, (Haggai 2:7, 9).

The church to be established by the Lord is described by the “new temples in Ezekiel 40-48; and is meant by “the temple which the angel measured” (Revelation 11:1); and so in other places; as Isaiah 44:28; Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11; Zechariah 8:9.

The disciples came to Jesus, to show Him the buildings of the temple; and Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left stone upon stone, which shall not be thrown down, (Matthew 24:1-2; Mark 13:1-5; Luke 21:5-7).

By “the temple” here is signified the church at this day; and by its dissolution that “there is not one stone upon another,” is signified the end of this church, in that no truth whatever would then be left. For when the disciples spoke to the Lord concerning the temple, the Lord foretold the successive states of this church even to its end, or “the consummation of the age,” and by “the consummation of the age” is meant its last time, which is at this day. This was represented by that temple being destroyed to its foundation.

[4] “The temple” signifies these three, namely the Lord, the church in heaven, and the church in the world, because these three make one, and cannot be separated, consequently one of them cannot be meant without the other. Therefore he who separates the church in the world from the church in heaven, and these from the Lord, is not in the truth. The reason why the church in heaven is here meant by “the temple,” is because the church in the world is treated of afterwards, (194[1-4]).

192. And he shall go no more out, signifies that they will remain there to eternity, as is evident without explanation.

193. And I will write upon him the name of My God signifies that the Divine truth will be written in their hearts. “To write” upon anyone signifies to inscribe, so that it may be in him as his own; and “the name of My God” signifies the Divine truth. Here something shall be said of this, that “My God” is the Divine truth. In the Word of the Old Testament, in innumerable places, “Jehovah God” occurs, as also separately, sometimes “Jehovah,” and sometimes “God,” and by “Jehovah” is meant the Lord as to the Divine good, and by “God” is meant the Lord as to the Divine truth; or what is the same, by “Jehovah” is meant the Lord as to the Divine love, and by “God” is meant the Lord as to the Divine wisdom; both terms are used for the sake of the heavenly marriage in all the particulars of the Word, which is the marriage of love and wisdom, or the marriage of good and truth, concerning which marriage see Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Sacred Scripture, (80-90).

[2] But in the Word of the New Testament it is not said Jehovah God, but “Lord God;” for “Lord,” like “Jehovah” signifies the Divine good or the Divine love. From these things it may appear, that by “the name of My God” is signified the Divine truth of the Lord. That “name,” when spoken of the Lord, is the all by which He is worshiped, may be seen above, (81[1-4]) and the all by which He is worshiped, has relation to the Divine good and the Divine truth. As it is not known what is meant by the following words of the Lord, it shall be told:

Father, glorify Thy name; then came forth a voice from heaven, I have glorified it, and will glorify it again, (John 12:28).

The Lord, when He was in the world, made His Human the Divine truth, which also is the Word, and when He went out of the world, He fully united the Divine truth to the Divine good, which was in Him from conception; for the Lord glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine, as He makes man spiritual; for He first introduces into man truths from the Word, and afterwards unites them to good, and by that union man is made spiritual.

194. And the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem signifies that the doctrine of the New Church shall be written in their hearts. By “the New Jerusalem” is signified the New Church, and by the same, when it is called “city,” is signified the New Church as to doctrine; therefore by “writing upon him the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem,” is signified that the doctrine of the New Church will be written in their hearts. That by “Jerusalem” is signified the church, and by it as a city, the church as to doctrine, may be seen below, (880, 881). A city signifies doctrine, because “land,” and in particular “the land of Canaan,” signifies the church in the aggregate, and thence by the inheritances into which the land of Canaan was divided, are signified the various things of the church, and, by the cities in them, doctrinals. It is from this that the angels understand nothing else by cities when they are named in the Word; which has also been testified to me by much experience. Similar is the signification of mountains, hills, valleys, fountains, rivers, all which signify such things as are of the church.

[2] That “cities” signify doctrinals, may in some measure appear from the following passages:

The land shall be emptied, the land shall be confounded, the land shall be profaned, the empty city shall be broken, the remnant in the city is a waste, and the gate shall be beaten down even to devastation, (Isaiah 24:3-4, 10, 12).

The lion has come up from the thicket, to reduce the land to a waste; thy cities shall be destroyed; I saw Carmel a wilderness, and her cities desolate: the land shall mourn; the whole city shall flee, being deserted, (Jeremiah 4:7, 26-29).

“The land” here is the church, and “the city” is its doctrine. Thus is described the devastation of the church by the falsities of doctrine.

The waster shall come upon every city, and no city shall escape, and the valley shall perish, and the plain be destroyed, (Jeremiah 48:8).

In like manner:

Behold, I have made thee a fortified city against the whole land, (Jeremiah 1:18).

This was said to the prophet, because by “a prophet” the doctrine of the church is signified, (8).

In that day it shall be sung in the land of Judah, We have a strong city; salvation will He put for walls, and bulwarks, (Isaiah 26:1).

The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, (Revelation 16:19).

The prophet saw upon a high mountain the structure of a city to the south, and an angel measured the wall, the gates, the chambers, the porch of the gate; and the name of the city was Jehovah there, (Ezekiel 40:1).

A river, whose streams made glad the city of God, (Psalms 46:4).

I will confound Egypt with Egypt, that city may fight against city, and kingdom against kingdom, (Isaiah 19:2).

Every kingdom divided against itself is desolated, and every city divided against itself shall not stand, (Matthew 12:25).

In these places by cities, in the spiritual sense, are meant doctrines; as also in Isaiah 6:11; 14:12, 17, 21; 19:18-19; 25:1-3; 33:8-9; 54:3; 64:10; Jeremiah 7:17, 34; 13:18-19; 32:42, 44; 33:4; Zephaniah 3:6; Psalms 48:2; 55:9; 107:4, 7; Matthew 5:14-15, and elsewhere.

[3] From the signification of “city” it may appear what is meant by cities in this parable of the Lord:

A nobleman going away to receive for himself a kingdom, gave his servants pounds to trade with: when he returned, he called the servants: the first approached, saying, Thy pound hath gained ten pounds; to whom he said, Good servant, thou shalt have authority over ten cities; and the second came, saying, Thy pound hath gained five pounds; to whom he said, Be thou over five cities, (Luke 19:12-19).

By “cities” here, also, doctrinals or truths of doctrine are signified, and by “being over them” is meant to be intelligent and wise, thus to give “authority over them” is to give intelligence and wisdom; “ten” signifies much, and “five” something; that by “trading” and “gaining” is meant to acquire intelligence by the exercise of one’s faculties, is evident.

[4] That “the holy city Jerusalem” signifies the doctrine of the New Church, is plainly manifest from the description of it (Revelation 21); for it is described as to its dimensions, also as to the gates, and as to the wall, and its foundations, which, when Jerusalem signifies the church, cannot signify any other than things belonging to its doctrines. The church is a church from no other source. Since by “the city of Jerusalem” is meant the church as to doctrine, therefore it is called “the city of truth” (Zechariah 8:3-4), and in many places “the holy city,” and this because holy is predicated of truths from the Lord, (173).

195. Which cometh down out of heaven from My God, signifies which will be from the Divine truth of the Lord, such as it is in heaven. Since by “My God” is signified the Divine truth, (193[1-2]) it follows, that by “coming down out of heaven from God,” when it is said of the Lord, and of the doctrine of the New Church, is signified which will be from the Divine truth from the Lord, such as it is in heaven.

196. And My new name, signifies the worship of the Lord alone, with new things which were not in the former church. That by “the name of the Lord” is signified all that by which He is worshiped, may be seen above, (81[1-4]) therefore here the worship of the Lord alone, with new things which were not in the former church. That in the New Church the Lord alone is worshiped, is evident from chapter 21:9-10, where that church is called the “Lamb’s Wife.” That there are new things in that church, appears from chapter 21:5, where it is said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Such therefore is the signification of “My new name,” which was to be written upon them.

197. Verse 13. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, signifies that he who understands, ought to obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, as above, (87).

198. Verse 14. And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, signifies to those and concerning those in the church who alternately believe from themselves, and from the Word, and thus profane things holy. But concerning these something must be premised. There are in the church those who believe and do not believe; as that there is a God, that the Word is holy, that there is eternal life, and many other things which are of the church and its doctrine; and still they do not believe. They believe them when in their natural sensual, but they do not believe when they are in their natural rational; thus they believe them when they are in externals, therefore when they are in society and discourse with others; but they do not believe them when they are in internals, consequently when they are not in society with others, but are discoursing with themselves; concerning these it is said that “they are neither cold nor hot,” and that “they shall be vomited out.”

199. These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, signifies the Lord as to the Word, which is the Divine truth from Him. That “amen” is Divine confirmation from the truth itself, which is the Lord, thus from the Lord, may be seen above, (23); and that “a faithful and true witness,” when spoken of the Lord, is the Divine truth which is from Him in the Word, (6, 16). Whether you say that the Lord testifies of Himself, or that the Word testifies of Him, it is the same, because “the Son of man,” who here speaks to the churches, is the Lord as to the Word, (44[1-2]). These things are premised to this church, because those in the church are here treated of who both believe from themselves and from the Word; and they who believe from the Word, believe from the Lord.

200. The beginning of the work of God, signifies the Word. That the Word is “the beginning of the work of God,” is not yet known in the church, because they have not understood these words in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, but the world knew Him not. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, (John 1:1-14).

He who understands these words in their interior sense, and at the same time compares them with what is written in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, as also with some things in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, may see that the Divine truth itself in the Word which was formerly in this world (as mentioned in 11), which likewise is in the Word which is at this day, is meant by “the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God;” but not the Word regarded as to the words and letters of the languages in which it is written, but regarded in its essence and life, which from the inmost is in the senses of its words and letters. From this life the Word vivifies the affections of the will of the man who reads it as holy, and from the light of that life it enlightens the thoughts of his understanding; therefore it is said in John:

In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men, (John 1:4);

this constitutes the Word, because the Word is from the Lord, and concerning the Lord, and thus is the Lord. All thought, speech, and writing, derives its essence and life from him who thinks, speaks, and writes; the man with his quality is therein; but the Lord alone is in the Word. No one however feels and perceives the Divine life in the Word but he who is in the spiritual affection of truth when he reads it, for he is in conjunction with the Lord through the Word. There is something intimately affecting the heart and spirit, which flows with light into the understanding and bears witness.

[2] What is said in John has a similar signification to that of these words in the first chapter of Genesis:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and the Spirit of God moved itself upon the face of the waters; and God said, Let there be light, and there was light, (Genesis 1:1-3).

“The spirit of God” is the Divine truth, and also the Light; the Divine truth is the Word, therefore when the Lord calls Himself the Word, He also calls Himself “the Light” (John 1:4, 8-9).

Similar things are also meant by this passage in David:

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the Spirit of His mouth, (Psalms 33:6).

In short, without the Divine truth of the Word, which in its essence is the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine love, and the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom, man cannot have life. By the Word there is the conjunction of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord, and by that conjunction there is life. There must be something from the Lord, which can be received by man, by which there can be conjunction and thence eternal life.

[3] From these things it may appear, that by “the beginning of the creation of God” is meant the Word, and if you will believe it, the Word such as it is in its literal sense, for this sense is the complex of its interior sanctities, as is abundantly shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture. And what is wonderful, the Word is so written, that it communicates with the entire heaven, and in particular with every society there, which it has been given me to know by living experience, of which elsewhere. That the Word in its essence is such, is moreover evident from these words of the Lord:

The words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they are life, (John 6:63).

201. Verse 15. I know thy works, signifies that the Lord sees all their interiors and exteriors at once, as above, (76).

202. That thou art neither cold nor hot, signifies that they who are such, sometimes deny that the Word is Divine and holy, and at other times acknowledge it. At one time to deny the holiness of the Word, and at another time to acknowledge it, is “to be neither cold nor hot,” for they are against the Word and also for the Word. They are also such concerning God, at one time they deny, and at another time acknowledge Him; in like manner as to all things of the church; for which reason they are sometimes with those who are in hell, and at other times with those who are in heaven. They fly as it were between both, up and down, and wherever they fly, thither they turn the face. They become such who have confirmed with themselves the belief in the existence of God, of heaven and hell, and of life eternal, and afterwards recede from it. When the first confirmation returns, they acknowledge, but when it does not return, they deny. They recede because they afterwards think only of themselves and the world, continually aspiring to preeminence, and thereby they immerse themselves in their proprium; thus hell swallows them up.

203. I would thou wert cold or hot, signifies that it is better for them either from the heart to deny the holy things of the Word and of the church, or from the heart to acknowledge them. The reason will be explained in the next article.

204. Verse 16. Therefore because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit thee out of My mouth, signifies profanation and consequent separation from the Lord. “To vomit out of My mouth,” signifies to be separated from the Lord, and to be so separated from the Lord is to be neither in heaven nor in hell, but in a place apart, deprived of human life, where there are mere phantasies. The reason is, because they have mixed truths with falsities, and goods with evils, thus holy things with profane, even so that they cannot be separated. And since man cannot then be prepared, either to be in heaven or in hell, the whole of his rational life is destroyed, and the ultimates of life alone remain, which, when separated from the interiors of life, are mere phantasies. Concerning their state and lot more may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (226-228, 231), which will suffice to give a knowledge of them. It is said of them that “they are vomited out,” because the world of spirits, which is in the midst between heaven and hell, and into which every man first comes after death, and is there prepared, corresponds to the stomach, in which all the things put in are prepared either to become blood and flesh, or to become excrement and urine, the latter having a correspondence with hell, but the former with heaven. But the things that are vomited out of the stomach are those that have not been separated, but remain commixed. By reason of this correspondence, the expression “to vomit” and “vomit” are used in the following passages:

Drink and be drunken, and let thy foreskin be uncovered; and the cup of Jehovah shall go around unto thee, and the shameful vomiting shall be upon the glory, (Habakkuk 2:15-16).

Make Moab drunken, that he may clap the hands in his vomit, (Jeremiah 48:26).

All tables are full of the vomit of emptying; what one shall he teach knowledge? (Isaiah 28:8-9).

Besides other places (as Jeremiah 25:27; Leviticus 18:24-25, 28). That warm water excites vomiting, is also from correspondence.

206.²⁰ Verse 17. Because thou sayest, I am rich and increased in goods, signifies that they think they possess in all abundance the knowledges of truth and good which are of the church and heaven. “To be rich and increased in goods,” here signifies nothing else than to know and understand fully such things as are of the church and heaven which are called spiritual and theological, because these are here treated of; spiritual riches and abundance are nothing else. They who believe from themselves, and not from the Lord through the Word, also believe that they know and understand all things. The reason is, that their spiritual mind is shut, and their natural mind alone open; and this mind, without spiritual light, sees no otherwise. That by “riches” and “wealth” in the Word are signified spiritual riches and wealth, which are the knowledges of truth and good, is manifest from the following passages:

In thy wisdom and in thy understanding thou hast gotten thee wealth, gold and silver in thy treasures; by the multiplication of thy wisdom thou hast multiplied thy wealth, (Ezekiel 28:4-5).

This is spoken of Tyre, by which is signified the church as to the knowledges of truth and good. In like manner:

The daughter of Tyre shall bring thee a gift; O daughter of the king, the rich peoples shall entreat thy faces, (Psalms 45:12).

Jehovah will impoverish Tyre; He will shake off her wealth into the sea, (Zechariah 9:4).

O Tyre, they shall plunder thy wealth, (Ezekiel 26:12).

Assyria said, By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, because I am intelligent; whence I will plunder the treasures of the peoples, my hand shall find the wealth of the peoples, (Isaiah 10:13-14).

By Assyria the rational is signified; here that it perverts the goods and truths of the church, which here are the “treasures and wealth of the peoples,” which he will plunder.

I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and the hidden wealth of the lurking-places, (Isaiah 45:3).

Happy is the man that feareth Jehovah; wealth and riches are in his house, and his justice standeth forever, (Psalms 112:1, 3).

God hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He hath sent away empty, (Luke 1:53).

Woe unto you that are rich, for ye have received your joy; woe unto you that are filled, for ye shall hunger, (Luke 6:24-25).

By the “rich” here are meant those who were in possession of the knowledges of truth and good because they had the Word, who were the Jews: the same is meant by the rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, (Luke 16:19); and in like manner by the “rich” and “riches” in other places (as in Isaiah 30:6; Jeremiah 17:11; Micah 4:13; 6:12; Zechariah 14:14; Matthew 12:35; 13:44; Luke 12:21).

207. And have need of nothing, signifies that they have no need of more knowledge and wisdom, and from any other source, is evident from what has been said above, because it is a consequence.

208. And knowest not that thou art wretched, signifies that they do not know that all they know and think concerning the truths and goods of the church, do not at all cohere, and are uncemented walls. By “being wretched” is here signified no coherence, thus by “the wretched,” those who think incoherently concerning the things of the church; the reason is, because they of whom this is said, at one time deny God, heaven, eternal life, and the sanctity of the Word, and at another time acknowledge them; therefore what they build with one hand they destroy with the other. Thus they are like those that build a house, and presently pull it down; or that clothe themselves in becoming garments, and presently tear them off. Their houses are therefore rubbish, and their garments rags. Such are all things which they think concerning the church and heaven, but they do not know this. These things are also meant by “wretchedness” in the following passages:

Thy wisdom and thy knowledge hath seduced thee, when thou saidst in thine heart, I am, and none besides; therefore shall wretchedness fall upon thee, (Isaiah 47:10-11).

Wretchedness shall come upon wretchedness, the king shall mourn, and the prince shall be clothed with astonishment, (Ezekiel 7:26-27).

“The king who shall mourn,” and “the prince who shall be clothed with astonishment,” are they who are in the truths of the church.

The right is not in their mouth, wretchedness is in the midst of them, (Psalms 5:9).

Such also is the signification of “uncemented walls” (in Jeremiah 49:3; Ezekiel 13:10-11; Hosea 2:6).

209. And miserable and poor, signifies that they are without truths and goods. By “miserable and poor,” in the spiritual sense of the Word, are meant they who are without the knowledges of truth and good, for they are spiritually miserable and poor; the same are meant hereby in the following passages:

I am miserable and poor, O Lord; remember me, (Psalms 40:17; 70:5).

O Jehovah, incline Thine ear, and answer; for I am miserable and poor, (Psalms 86:1).

The wicked draw the sword, and bend their bow, to cast down the miserable and poor, (Psalms 37:14).

The wicked persecuteth the miserable and the poor, and to slay the dejected in heart, (Psalms 109:16).

God will judge the miserable of the people; He will keep the sons of the poor; He will deliver the poor that crieth and the miserable, (Psalms 72:4, 12-13).

Jehovah rescueth the miserable from him that is stronger than he, and the poor from them that spoil him, (Psalms 35:10).

The wicked deviseth crimes to destroy the miserable by the words of a lie, even when the poor speaketh judgment, (Isaiah 32:7).

The miserable shall have joy in Jehovah, and the poor among men shall exult in the Holy One of Israel, (Isaiah 29:19).

Happy are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of the heavens, (Matthew 5:3; besides other places, as Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 22:16; Ezekiel 16:49; 18:12; 22:29; Amos 8:4; Psalms 9:18; Psalms 69:32-33; Psalms 74:21; Psalms 109:22; Psalms 140:12; Deuteronomy 15:11; 24:14; Luke 14:13, 21, 23).

By the “miserable and poor” are chiefly meant those who are not in the knowledges of truth and good and yet desire them, since by the “rich” are meant those who possess the knowledges of truth and good, (206).

210. And blind and naked, signifies that they are without the understanding of truth, and the will of good. By “the blind,” in the Word, are meant those who are without truths, either from a defect thereof in the church and so from ignorance, or from not understanding them; and by “the naked” are meant those who thence are without goods; for all spiritual good is acquired by truths. No others are meant by “the blind” in the following passages:

Then in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of thick darkness, (Isaiah 29:18).

Behold, your God will come; then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, (Isaiah 35:4-5).

I will give thee for a light of the Gentiles, to open the blind eyes, (Isaiah 42:6-7).

I will lead the blind in a way that they knew not, I will make their darkness light, (Isaiah 42:16).

Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears, (Isaiah 43:8).

His watchmen are all blind, and do not know to understand, (Isaiah 56:10-11).

He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart, that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, (John 12:40).

Jesus said, For judgment am I come into the world, that they which see not might see, and that they which see, might be made blind, (John 9:39-41).

Blind, foolish, infatuated guides, (Matthew 23:16-17, 19, 24).

Blind, leaders of the blind, (Matthew 15:14; Luke 6:39).

By reason of the signification of “blind” and “blindness,” it was forbidden to offer for sacrifice anything that was blind, (Leviticus 21:18; Deuteronomy 15:21). That they should not cast a stumbling-block before the blind, (Leviticus 19:14). That he was cursed who made the blind to wander, (Deuteronomy 27:18). Concerning the signification of “naked” and “nakedness,” see below, (213[1-4]).

211. Verse 18. I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, signifies an admonition to acquire to themselves the good of love from the Lord through the Word, that they may become wise. For “to buy” signifies to acquire to oneself; “of Me,” signifies of the Lord through the Word; “gold” signifies good, and “gold tried in the fire,” the good of celestial love; and “to be enriched” thereby, signifies to understand and be wise. “Gold” signifies good, because metals in their order signify such things as are of good and truth, gold celestial and spiritual good, silver the truth of those loves, brass natural good, and iron natural truth. These are signified by the metals of which the statue of Nebuchadnezzar consisted:

The head of which was of gold, the breast and arms of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs iron, the feet part iron and part clay, (Daniel 2:32-33).

By which are represented the successive states of the church as to the good of love and the truth of wisdom. From this succession of the states of the church, the ancients gave similar names to times, calling them ages of gold, silver, brass, and iron; and by the golden age they understood the first time, when the good of celestial love reigned; celestial love is love to the Lord from the Lord; from this love they at that time had wisdom. That “gold” signifies the good of love may be seen below, (913).

212. And white garments, that thou mayest be clothed, signifies that they should acquire to themselves genuine truths of wisdom. That “garments” signify truths clothing good, may be seen above, (166), and that “white” is spoken of truths, (167[1-2]), therefore “white garments” signify the genuine truths of wisdom, and this, because “gold purified in the fire” signifies the good of celestial love, the truths of this love being genuine truths of wisdom.

213. That the shame of thy nakedness may not appear, signifies lest the good of celestial love should be profaned and adulterated. No one can know what “the shame of nakedness” signifies, unless he knows that the members of generation in both sexes, which are also called the genitals, correspond to celestial love. That there is a correspondence of man and all his members with the heavens, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, published in London in the year 1758 (87-102); and that the genital members correspond to celestial love, in The Arcana Coelestia, also published in London, (5050-5062). As those members correspond to celestial love, which is the love of the third or inmost heaven, and man is born from his parents in loves which are opposite to that love, it is evident, that if he does not acquire to himself the good of love and the truth of wisdom from the Lord, signified by “gold tried in the fire,” and by “white garments,” he will appear in the opposite love, which is profane.

[2] This is signified by “uncovering nakedness” and “revealing shame,” in the following passages:

Happy is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame, (Revelation 16:15)

Daughter of Babylon and of Chaldea, sit on the earth; uncover thy locks, uncover the thigh, pass over the stream; let thy nakedness be uncovered, and let thy reproach also be seen, (Isaiah 47:1-3).

Woe to the city of bloods, because of the multitude of her whoredoms: I will uncover the skirts upon thy face, and will show the nations thy nakedness, and the kingdoms thy disgrace, (Nahum 3:1, 4-5).

Contend with your mother, lest perchance I set her naked, (Hosea 2:2-3).

When I passed by thee, I covered thy nakedness, and washed thee, and clothed thee; but thou committedst whoredom; not recollecting thy youth, when thou wast naked and stripped bare; therefore thou hast revealed thy nakedness, (Ezekiel 16:6 seq.).

Jerusalem hath grievously sinned; therefore all speak ill of her, because they saw her nakedness, (Lamentations 1:8).

By “Jerusalem,” of which these things are said, the church is meant; and by “committing whoredom” is signified to adulterate and falsify the Word, (134).

Woe to him that maketh his companion drink, making him drunk, that thou mayest look upon his nakedness: drink also thyself, that thy foreskin may be uncovered, (Habakkuk 2:15-16).

[3] He who knows what “nakedness” signifies can understand what is signified by:

Noah, when drunken with wine lay naked in the midst of his tent, and Ham saw and laughed at his nakedness, and Shem and Japheth covered his nakedness, turning away their faces lest they should see it, (Genesis 9:21-23).

Also why it was ordained that:

Aaron and his sons should not go up by steps upon the altar, lest their nakedness should be uncovered, (Exodus 20:26).

As also that:

They should make for them breeches of linen to cover the flesh of nakedness, and that they should be upon them when they approached to the altar, and that otherwise they should carry their iniquity, and should die, (Exodus 28:42-43).

By “nakedness” in these passages are signified the evils into which a man is born, which, because they are opposite to the good of celestial love, are in themselves profane; which are not removed except by truths, and by a life according to them: “linen” also signifies truth, (671).

[4] By “nakedness” is also signified innocence, and likewise ignorance of good and truth; innocence in the passage:

They were both naked, the man and his wife, and had no cause for shame, (Genesis 2:25).

Ignorance of good and truth by these:

This is the fast which I choose; to break bread to the hungry; and when thou seest the naked, to cover him, (Isaiah 58:6-7).

Let him give his bread to the hungry, and cover the naked with a garment, (Ezekiel 18:7).

I hungered, and ye gave Me to eat; I was naked, and ye clothed Me, (Matthew 25:35-36).

214. And anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see, signifies that their understanding may be healed, lest the genuine truths of wisdom should be profaned and falsified. That by “the eyes” is signified the understanding, and by “the eye-sight” intelligence and wisdom, may be seen, (48). And since by “eye-salve” a medicine for the same is signified, it follows that by “anoint thine eyes with eye-salve,” is signified to heal the understanding, that it may see truths and be wise; for unless this is the case, the genuine truths of the Word are profaned and adulterated.

215. Verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten, signifies that those of them who do so are loved by the Lord, and that then they cannot but be admitted to temptations that they may fight against themselves. That this is the sense of these words, is evident, for it is said, “As many as I love,” by whom are meant they who “buy of the Lord gold purified in the fire,” and who “anoint their eyes with eye-salve that they may see.” It is said, “I rebuke and chasten” them, by which is meant temptation as to falsities and as to evils; by “rebuking” temptation as to falsities, and by “chastening” temptation as to evils. Such as are here treated of, could not but be admitted into temptations, because, without them, negations and confirmations against Divine truth could not be extirpated. Temptations are spiritual combats against the falsities and evils in one’s self, thus against one’s self. What temptations are, whence they proceed, and what good they produce, see the work concerning The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, published at London in the year 1758 (187-201).

216. Be zealous, therefore, and repent, signifies that this should be done from the affection of truth, and aversion from what is false. It is here said, “Be zealous,” because it was said above (verse 15), “I would thou wert either cold or hot,” here hot, for “zeal” is spiritual heat, and spiritual heat is the affection of love, here the affection of the love of truth, and he who acts from the affection of the love of truth acts also from aversion to what is false; therefore this is signified by “repent.”“Zeal” in the Word, when it treats of the Lord, signifies love, and wrath; love in John 2:17; Psalm 69:9; Isaiah 37:32; 63:15; Ezekiel 39:25; Zechariah 1:14; 8:2. Wrath in Deuteronomy 32:16, 21; Psalm 79:5-6; Ezekiel 8:3, 5; 16:42; 23:25; Zephaniah 1:18; 3:8. But “zeal” in the Lord is not wrath, it only appears so in externals, interiorly it is love. It appears so in externals, because the Lord seems to be angry when He rebukes man, especially when man’s own evil punishes him. It is so permitted from love, that his evil may be removed; just like a parent, who, if he loves his children, suffers them to be chastised for the sake of removing their evils. Hence it is evident, why Jehovah calls Himself “zealous” (Deuteronomy 4:24; 5:9-10; 6:14-15).

217. Verse 20. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock, signifies that the Lord is present to everyone in the Word, and is there pressing to be received, and teaches how. Something similar to this is said by the Lord in Luke:

Be ye like unto men that wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately, (Luke 12:36).

That “door” signifies admission and entrance, may be seen above, (176).

218. If anyone hear my voice, and open the door, signifies he who believes in the Word and lives according to it. “To hear His voice,” is to believe in the Word, for the Divine truth of the Word is “the voice of Jehovah” (37, 50); and “to open the door” is to live according to it, because the door is not opened, and the Lord received, by merely hearing the voice, but by living according to it, for the Lord says:

He that hath My commandments, and doeth them, I will manifest Myself to him, and I will come unto him and make an abode with him, (John 14:21-24).

That man ought to open the door as from himself, by shunning evils as sins, and doing goods, is shown in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem; and that this is the case, is also evident from the Lord’s words here, “If anyone open;” as also from His words in Luke 12:36.

219. I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me, signifies that the Lord joins Himself with them and them with Himself. “To come in and sup with him,” signifies to join Himself to him, and, since there must be a reciprocal that there may be conjunction, it is also said, “and he with Me.” That to be conjoined is signified by “coming in and supping,” appears from the Holy Supper instituted by the Lord, by means of which the Lord’s presence is effected with those who hear His voice, that is, who believe in the Word, but there is conjunction with those who live according to the Word; to live according to the Word is to do the work of repentance, and to believe in the Lord. “To sup,” and “the Lord’s Supper,” are mentioned, because supper takes place in the evening, and by “the evening” is signified the last time of the church; therefore when the Lord departed out of the world, the last time of the church being then arrived, He supped with His disciples, and instituted the Sacrament of the Supper. That “evening” signifies the last time of the old church and “morning” the first of the New Church may be seen above, (151[1-3]).

220. Verse 21. To him that overcometh, signifies such as are in conjunction with the Lord by a life according to His precepts in the Word, is evident from what has been said above.

221. Will I give to sit with Me in My throne, signifies that they will have conjunction with the Lord in heaven. That “the Lord’s throne” is heaven, may be seen above, (14), therefore “to sit with the Lord in His throne,” signifies conjunction with Him in heaven.

222. As I overcame, and sit with the Father in His throne, signifies as He and the Father are one, and are heaven. That the Father and the Lord are one is fully shown in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, and elsewhere. That heaven is not heaven from anything proper to the angels, but from the Divine of the Lord, which is in the angels and with them; therefore by these words, “as I sit with the Father in His throne,” is signified as He and the Father are one, and are heaven; “throne” is heaven, (14, 221). “As I also overcame” signifies that by temptations admitted into His Human, and by the last of them, which was the passion of the cross, as also by the fulfilling of all things of the Word, He overcame the hells and glorified His Human, that is, he united it to his Divine which was in Him from conception, and is called Jehovah the Father, on which subject see the above-mentioned Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (8-11, 12-14, 29-36), and also above, (67).

[2] The reason why the Lord says, “To him that overcometh will I give to sit with Me in my throne, as I overcame and sit with the Father in His throne,” is because the union of the Lord with the Father, that is, with His Divine within Himself, took place, to the end that it might be possible for man to be conjoined to the Divine which is called the Father in the Lord; because it is impossible for man to be conjoined with the Divine of the Father immediately, but mediately through His Divine Human, which is the Divine natural; therefore the Lord says:

No one hath seen God at any time; the Only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath manifested Him, (John 1:18).

I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one cometh to the Father, but by Me, (John 14:6).

[3] The Lord’s conjunction with man is by His Divine truth, and this in man is of the Lord, thus the Lord, and by no means man’s, consequently is not man. Man, indeed, feels it as his own, but still it is not his, for it is not united to him, but adjoined; not so the Divine of the Father, this is not adjoined but united to the Lord’s Human, as the soul to its body. He who understands these things may understand the following words of the Lord:

He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing, (John 15:5).

In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you, (John 14:20).

Sanctify them in Thy truth; Thy Word is truth; for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified in the truth: that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us; I in them and thou in me, (John 17:17, 19, 21, 23).

223. Verse 22. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches, signifies that he who understands, ought to obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, as above, (87).

224. To this I will add this Relation. I saw an assembly of spirits, all upon their knees, praying to God to send angels to them, that they might converse with them face to face, and open to them the thoughts of their hearts. And when they arose, there appeared three angels in fine linen, standing before them, and they said, “The Lord Jesus Christ has heard your prayers, and has therefore sent us to you; open unto us the thoughts of your hearts.”

[2] And they answered, “We have been told by our priests, that in matters of a theological nature the understanding avails nothing, but only faith, and that in such things intellectual faith is of no service to anyone, because it is derived from man. We are Englishmen, and have heard many things from our sacred ministry, which we believed; but when we have conversed with others, who also called themselves the Reformed, and with others who called themselves the Roman Catholics, and likewise with sectaries, they all appeared to us learned, and yet, in many things, one did not agree with another, and still they all said, Believe us;’ and some of them, We are God’s ministers, and know. ‘ But as we know that the Divine truths, which are called truths of faith, and which appertain to the church, are not derived to anyone from his native soil, nor by inheritance, but out of heaven from God; and as these show the way to heaven, and enter into the life together with the good of charity, and so lead to eternal life, we became anxious, and prayed to God upon our knees.”

[3] Then the angels answered, “Read the Word, and believe in the Lord, and you will see the truths which should constitute your faith and life; for all in the Christian world draw their doctrinals from the Word as from the only fountain.” But two of the company said, “We have read, but did not understand.”

[4] And the angels replied, “You did not approach the Lord, and you have also confirmed yourselves in falsities;” and the angels said further, “What is faith without light, and what signifies thinking without understanding? This is not human; even magpies and ravens can learn to speak without understanding. We can affirm to you, that every man whose soul desires it is capable of seeing the truths of the Word in the light; there does not exist an animal that does not know the food proper to its life when it sees it, and man is a rational and spiritual animal, who sees the food of his life, not that of his body, but of his soul, which is the truth of faith, provided indeed he hungers after it, and seeks it from the Lord; whatsoever is not received also in the understanding is not fixed in the memory in reality, but only verbally; therefore, when we have looked down out of heaven into the world, we have not seen anything, but have only heard sounds, that are for the most part dissonant.

[5] “But we will enumerate some things which the learned among the clergy have removed from the understanding, not knowing that there are two ways to the understanding, one from the world, and the other from heaven, and that the Lord withdraws the understanding from the world when He enlightens it; but if the understanding be closed by religion, the way into it from heaven is closed, and then man sees no more in the Word than a blind person. We have seen many such fall into pits, out of which they have never risen again. Examples must serve for illustration: are you not able to understand what charity is, and what faith is; that charity consists in doing well by your neighbor, and that faith consists in thinking well of God and of the essentials of the church, and therefore that he who does well and thinks well, that is, who lives well and believes well, is saved?” They replied, that they understood these things.

[6] The angels said further, “Do you not understand, that repentance from sins is to be performed, in order that man may be saved, and that, unless a man actually repents, he abides in the sins into which he was born, and that the work of repentance consists in not willing evils because they are against God, and in examining himself once or twice a year, in seeing his evils, in confessing them before the Lord, imploring assistance, desisting from them, and leading a new life, and as far as he does this, and believes in the Lord, so far his sins are remitted?” Then some of the company replied, “This we understand, and thence also what remission of sins is.”

[7] And then they solicited the angels to give them further information, and especially concerning God, the immortality of the soul, regeneration and baptism. To this the angels replied, “We will not say anything but what you can understand, otherwise our discourse will fall like rain upon sand, and upon seeds therein, which although watered from heaven, still wither and perish.” Concerning God they said, “All who come into heaven have their place allotted them there, and thence eternal joy, according to their idea of God, because this idea reigns universally in every particular of worship. The idea of an invisible God is not determined to anyone, nor does it terminate in any, therefore it ceases and perishes. The idea of God as Spirit, when a spirit is believed to be like ether or wind, is an empty idea; but the idea of God as Man is a just idea, for God is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, with every quality belonging thereto, and the subject of these is man, and not ether or wind. The idea of God in heaven is the idea of the Lord. He is the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself taught. Let your idea of God be like unto ours, and we shall be consociated together.” On saying these words, their faces became resplendent.

[8] Concerning the Immortality of the Soul, they said, “Man lives to eternity, because he can be conjoined with God by love and faith, this indeed is possible with everyone. That this possibility constitutes the immortality of the soul you may understand, if you think of it a little more deeply.”

[9] Concerning Regeneration;” “Who does not see that everyone is at liberty to think of God, or not to think of Him, provided he be instructed that there is a God; so that everyone has liberty in spiritual things, equally as in things civil and moral; the Lord gives this liberty to all continually; for which reason he becomes guilty, if he does not think of God. Man is man from this ability; but a beast is a beast from not having this ability; therefore man can reform and regenerate himself as from himself, provided he acknowledges in heart that it is from the Lord. Everyone who does the work of repentance, and believes in the Lord, is reformed and regenerated. Man must do both as from himself, but this ‘as from himself’ is from the Lord. It is true that man cannot contribute anything thereto, no not in the least, nevertheless you were not created statues, but you were created men, that you might do that from the Lord as from yourselves. This is the only reciprocal of love and faith, that it is altogether the Lord’s will that it should be done by man unto Him. In a word, do it from yourselves, and believe that you do it from the Lord, thus do it as from yourselves.”

[10] But then the Englishmen inquired, Whether to act as from oneself, is a faculty implanted in man from creation? The angel answered, “It is not implanted, because to act from Himself is the Lord’s alone, but it is communicated continually, that is, adjoined continually, and then so far as man does good and believes what is true, as from himself, so far he is an angel of heaven; but so far as he does evil and thence believes what is false, which is done also as from himself, so far he is an angel of hell. That this also is as from himself surprises you, but still you see that it is so, when you pray that you may be preserved from the devil, lest he should seduce you, and enter into you, as he did into Judas, fill you with all iniquity, and destroy you, soul and body. But everyone incurs guilt who believes that he acts from himself, whether it be good, or whether it be evil; but he does not incur guilt, who believes that he acts as from himself.”

[11] Concerning Baptism, they said, “That it is spiritual washing, which is reformation and regeneration; and that an infant is reformed and regenerated, when, on becoming an adult, he does the things which his sponsors promised for him, which are two, repentance and faith in God; for they promise first that he shall renounce the devil and all his works; and second, that he shall believe in God. All infants in heaven are initiated into these two, but to them the devil is hell, and God is the Lord. Moreover baptism is a sign before the angels that a man is of the church.

[12] On hearing these things, some of the assembly said, “This we understand.” But a voice was heard from one side, exclaiming, “We do not understand;” and another voice, “We will not understand;” and inquiry was made from whence these voices proceeded, and it was found that they came from those who had confirmed themselves in falsities of faith, and who wished to be believed as oracles, and thus to be adored.

The angels said, “Be not surprised: there are very many such at this day; they appear to us from heaven like graven images, made with such art as to be able to move the lips, and utter sounds like organs, but without knowing whether the breath, by means of which they utter these sounds, comes from hell or from heaven, because they do not know whether a thing be false or true. They reason and reason; they confirm and confirm, nor do they ever see whether it is so. But know, that human ingenuity can confirm whatsoever one wishes, even until it appears to be so; therefore heretics and impious persons, yea atheists can confirm that there is no God, but nature only.”

[13] Afterwards the assembly of Englishmen, enkindled with the desire of being wise, said to the angels, “So many various opinions are spoken of the Holy Supper, tell us what is the truth.” The angels replied, “The truth is that the man who looks to the Lord and performs repentance, is conjoined with the Lord by means of that most holy sacrament, and is introduced into heaven.” But some of the company said, “This is a mystery.” To which the angels replied, “It is a mystery, but still such that it can be understood. The bread and wine do not produce this effect, for there is nothing holy in them, but material bread and heavenly bread correspond mutually to each other, and so do material wine and heavenly wine; and heavenly bread is the holy of love, and heavenly wine is the holy of faith, both from the Lord, and both the Lord. Thence there is a conjunction of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord, not with the bread and wine, but with the love and faith of the man who had done the work of repentance; and conjunction with the Lord is also introduction into heaven.” And after the angels had taught them something concerning correspondence and its effect, some of the company said, “Now for the first time we understand.” And when they said, “We understand,” behold a flame with light descending from heaven, consociated them with the angels, and they loved one another.

Chapter 4 (225-255)

225. Revelation 4

1. After these things I saw, and behold a door opened in heaven. And the first voice, which I heard, as of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must be hereafter.

2. And immediately I was in the spirit. And, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sitting on the throne.

3. And He that sat was in appearance like a jasper and a sardius stone; and there was a rainbow round about the throne in appearance like an emerald.

4. And round about the throne were four-and-twenty thrones; and upon the thrones I saw four-and-twenty elders sitting, clothed in white garments; and they had on their heads golden crowns.

5. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunders, and voices; and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.

6. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal. And in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, were four animals full of eyes before and behind.

7. And the first animal was like a lion, and the second animal like a calf, and the third animal having a face like a man, and the fourth animal was like a flying eagle.

8. And the four animals each by himself had six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within; and they had no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.

9. And when the animals gave glory, and honor, and thanks to Him that sat upon the throne, who liveth for ages of ages,

10. The four-and-twenty elders fell down before Him that sat on the throne, and adored Him that liveth for ages of ages, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying,

11. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and by Thy will they are and were created.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

It treats of the arrangement and preparation of all things in heaven for the judgment, to be executed from the Word, and according to it; likewise concerning the acknowledgment that the Lord is the only judge.

The contents of, (Revelation 4:1) each verse

Verse 1. “After these things, I saw and behold a door opened in heaven,” signifies a manifestation concerning the arrangement of the heavens preparatory to the Last Judgment from the Lord, about to be performed according to His Divine truths in the Word, (225). “And the first voice which I heard, as of a trumpet, speaking with me, said, Come up hither,” signifies Divine influx, and thence an elevation of the mind, followed by manifest perception, (226). “And I will show thee the things which must be hereafter,” signifies revelations of things to come before the Last Judgment, and concerning it, and after it, (227).

Verse 2. (Revelation 4:2) “And immediately I was in the spirit,” signifies that he was let into a spiritual state, in which the things which exist in heaven manifestly appear, (228). “And, behold, a throne was set in heaven,” signifies the Judgment in a representative form. “And One sitting on the throne,” signifies the Lord, (230).

Verse 3. “And He that sat was in appearance like a jasper and a sardine stone,” signifies the appearance of the Lord’s Divine wisdom and Divine love in ultimates, (231). “And there was a rainbow round about the throne in appearance like an emerald,” signifies the appearance of the same also round about the Lord, (232).

Verse 4. “And round about the throne were four-and-twenty thrones, and upon the thrones I saw four-and-twenty elders sitting,” signifies the arrangement of all things in heaven preparatory to the Judgment, (233). “Clothed in white garments,” signifies from the Divine truths of the Word, (234). “And they had on their heads golden crowns,” signifies the things which are of wisdom from love, (235).

Verse 5. “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunders, and voices,” signifies enlightenment, perception, and instruction from the Lord, (236). “And there were seven lamps of fire before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God,”²¹ signifies the New Heaven from among Christians, (237-238).

Verse 6. “And in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, there were four animals,” signifies the Word of the Lord from first to ultimates, and its guards, (239). “Full of eyes before and behind,” signifies the Divine wisdom therein, (240).

Verse 7. “And the first animal was like a lion,” signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to power, (241). “And the second animal like a calf,” signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to affection, (242). “And the third animal having a face like a man,” signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to wisdom, (243). “And the fourth animal was like a flying eagle,” signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to knowledges and thence understanding, (244).

Verse 8. “And the four animals each by himself had six wings about him,” signifies the Word as to its powers and as to its guards, (245). “And they were full of eyes within,” signifies the Divine Wisdom in the Word in its natural sense from its spiritual and celestial sense, (246). “And they had no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,’” signifies that the Word continually teaches the Lord, and that He alone is God, and thence that He alone is to be worshiped, (247). “Who was, and who is, and who is to come,” signifies the Lord, (248).

Verse 9. “And when the animals gave glory, and honor, and thanks to Him that sat upon the throne,” signifies that the Word ascribes all truth, and all good, and all worship to the Lord Who is to judge, (249). “Who liveth for ages of ages,” signifies that the Lord alone is life, and that life eternal is from Him alone, (250).

Verse 10. “The four-and-twenty elders fell down before Him that sat on the throne, and adored Him that liveth for ages of ages,” signifies the humiliation of all in heaven before the Lord (it. 251). “And cast their crowns before the throne,” signifies the acknowledgment that their wisdom is from Him alone, (252).

Verse 11.” Saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power,” signifies that the kingdom is the Lord’s by merit and justice, because He is the Divine truth and the Divine good, (253). “For Thou hast created all things, and by Thy will they are, and were created,” signifies that all things of heaven and the church were made and formed, and men reformed and regenerated from the Lord’s Divine love by His Divine wisdom, or from His Divine good by His Divine truth, which also is the Word.

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. After these things I saw, and behold a door opened in heaven, signifies the manifestation of the arrangement of the heavens preparatory to the Last Judgment from the Lord, about to be performed according to His Divine truths in the Word. By “an open door,” when it relates to heaven, is signified admission, as above, (176); here, also, manifestation, because he says, “I saw and behold;” and because then were seen the things which are recorded in this chapter, which refer to the arrangement of the heavens for the Last Judgment by the Lord, to be executed according to His Divine truths in the Word, therefore by “I saw, and behold a door opened in heaven,” is signified a manifestation concerning them.

226. And the first voice which I heard, as of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up hither, signifies Divine influx, and thence an elevation of the mind, and then manifest perception. That “a voice,” when heard from heaven, is the inflowing Divine truth may be seen above, (37, 50), thus Divine influx; and that by “a voice as of a trumpet,” is signified manifest perception, may also be seen, (37) above, (37); and by “Come up hither,” is signified elevation of the mind; for in the spiritual world, the higher anyone ascends, so much the more does he come into purer light, by which the understanding is by degrees opened, that is, the mind is elevated. Therefore it also follows, that he was then in the spirit, by which is meant that he was let into a spiritual state, in which the things which are in the heavens manifestly appear. The voice was heard “as of a trumpet,” because it treats of the arrangement of the heavens for the Last Judgment; and voices as of a trumpet are heard in heaven when convocations and arrangements are made. Therefore also among the sons of Israel with whom all things were representative of heaven and the church, it was also commanded:

That they should make trumpets of silver, and that the sons of Aaron should sound them for the calling of assemblies, and for the journeyings, in days of rejoicing, in festivals, in the beginnings of months, over burnt offerings, for a memorial, and for war, (Numbers 10:1-10).

But we shall speak of “trumpets,” and of “sounding” them, in the explanation of chap. 8, where the seven angels are mentioned, to whom were given seven trumpets.

227. And I will show thee things which must be hereafter, signifies revelations of things to come before the Last Judgment, and concerning it, and after it. These things are signified, because in Revelation nothing else is treated of but the state of the church at its end, thus the things that are to be before the Last Judgment, and concerning it, and after it, as above, (2).

228. Verse 2. And immediately I was in the spirit, signifies that he was let into a spiritual state, in which the things which exist in heaven manifestly appear. That “to be in the spirit” is to be let into a spiritual state from Divine influx, as also what a spiritual state is and its quality, and that a man in that state sees as manifestly the things which are in the spiritual world, as in the natural state of the body he sees the things which are in this world, may be seen above, (36).

229. And, behold, a throne was set, signifies a representation of the Judgment. That “a throne” signifies heaven may be seen, (14); that a throne also signifies judgment, is evident from the following passages:

When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, (Matthew 25:31.

The Last Judgment is here treated of:

O Jehovah, Thou hast done my judgment, Thou sattest upon the throne a Judge of justice. Jehovah will prepare His throne for judgment, (Psalms 9:4-5, 7).

I saw when the Ancient of Days did sit; His throne was as a flame of fire; a thousand and thousands ministered unto Him, and a myriad of myriads stood before Him, the judgment was set and the books were opened, (Daniel 7:9-10).

Jerusalem is built; thither the tribes go up; and there are set thrones for judgment, (Psalms 122:3-5).

I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, (Revelation 20:4).

“The throne” built by Solomon, mentioned, (1 Kings 10:18-20) signifies both kingdom and judgment; since kings, when they executed judgment, sat upon thrones. It is said that “the throne” signifies judgment in a representative form, because the things which John saw were visions which represented. They were seen as he has described; but they were forms representative of future things, as may be evident from what follows; as that there were seen animals, a dragon, beasts, a temple, a tabernacle, the ark, and many other things. Similar were the things which were seen by the prophets, spoken of above, (36).

230. And one sitting on the throne, signifies the Lord, as appears manifestly from what follows, and from passages in the Word where it is said that the Lord will execute judgment (as in Matthew 25:32-33; and following verses; John 5:22, 27).

231. Verse 3. (Revelation 4:3) And He that sat was in appearance like a jasper and sardius stone signifies the appearance of the Lord’s Divine wisdom and Divine love in ultimates. “A stone,” in the Word, signifies truth in ultimates, and “a precious stone,” truth transparent from good, (915). There are two colors fundamental of the rest in the spiritual world, the color white and the color red, the color white derives its origin from the light of the sun in heaven, thus from spiritual light, which is shining white; and the color red derives its origin from the fire of the sun there, thus from celestial light, which is flaming. The spiritual angels, because they are in truths of wisdom from the Lord, are in that shining white light, therefore they are clothed in white; and the celestial angels, because they are in the good of love from the Lord, are in that flaming light, therefore they are clothed in red; thence those two colors also are in the precious stones in heaven, where they are in great abundance. This is the reason why precious stones, in the Word, signify such things as are of the truth of wisdom, or of the good of love, and that “the jasper,” because it is shining white, signifies the things which are of the truth of wisdom; and “the sardius,” because it is red, the things which are of the good of love. These stones signify the appearance of the Divine wisdom and the Divine love in ultimates, because all precious stones in heaven derive their origin from the ultimates of the Word, and their transparency from the spiritual sense of the ultimates. That this is the case, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (44, 45). The ultimates of the Word are the truths and goods of the sense of the letter. That this is the origin of precious stones in heaven can scarcely be believed by anyone in our world, because he does not know that all the things which exist in the spiritual world are correspondences, and that from thence all the things which exist in the natural world derive their spiritual origin. That this is the origin of precious stones in heaven has been granted me to know from speech with angels, and also to see it with my eyes, but the formation of them is from the Lord alone. But black colors, which are also two in number, derive their origin from hell; one in opposition to white, this blackness being with those who have falsified the truths of the Word; the other in opposition to red, this blackness being with those who have adulterated the goods of the Word; the latter blackness is diabolical, but the former satanic. The signification of “the jasper” and “the sardius” may be seen in the explanation of chapter 21:11, 18-20.

232. And there was a rainbow round about the throne in appearance like an emerald, signifies the appearance of the same also round about the Lord. In the spiritual world there appear rainbows of many kinds, they appear of various colors as upon the earth, and they appear of one color; here of one color, because it is said “like unto an emerald.” This appearance was round about the Lord, because it is said “round about the throne;” round about Him is also in the angelic heaven. The Divine sphere which surrounds the Lord is from His Divine love, and at the same time from His Divine wisdom, which, when it is represented in the heavens, appears in the celestial kingdom red like a ruby, in the spiritual kingdom blue like the lapis lazuli, in the natural kingdom green like the emerald; everywhere with ineffable splendor and radiance.

233. Verse 4. (Revelation 4:4) And round about the throne were four-and-twenty thrones, and upon the thrones I saw four-and-twenty elders sitting, signifies the arrangement of all things in heaven preparatory to the Last Judgment. He who does not know the spiritual sense of the Word, and at the same time the genuine truths of the church, may believe, that when the Last Judgment shall come, the Lord will sit upon a throne, and that there will be other judges also upon thrones around Him. But he who knows the spiritual sense of the Word, and at the same time the genuine truths of the church, knows that the Lord will not then sit upon a throne, and that neither will there be other judges about Him; and further, that neither will the Lord judge anyone to hell, but that the Word will judge everyone, the Lord moderating that all things may be done according to justice. The Lord says, indeed:

The Father judgeth no one, but hath committed all judgment to the Son, and hath given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of man, (John 5:22, 27).

But in another place he says:

I came not to judge the world, but to save the world; the Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day, (John 12:47-48).

These two passages agree, when it is known that “the Son of man” is the Lord as to the Word (see above, 44[1-2]); therefore the Word will judge, the Lord moderating.

[2] That by the twelve tribes of Israel and their elders are signified all who are of the Lord’s church in the heavens and on earth, and, abstractly, all the truths and goods therein, may be seen, (251, 349, 369, 808); and the same by the apostles, (79, 790, 903); hence it is plain what is signified by these words of the Lord:

Jesus said unto the disciples, Ye which have followed Me, when the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel, (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30).

“Twelve” signifies all, and is predicated of the truths and goods of heaven and the church, (348); the same is signified by “twenty-four;” therefore “the twelve apostles” and the “twenty-four elders” signify all things of the church; and “twelve,” as also “twenty-four thrones,” signify the all of judgment. Who cannot understand, that the apostles and elders will not judge; and that they cannot? From these considerations it may appear why “thrones” and “elders” are mentioned when the Judgment is treated of; as also in Isaiah:

Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of His people, (Isaiah 3:14).

In David:

Jerusalem is builded, whither the tribes go up; and there are set thrones for judgment, (Psalms 122:3, 5).

And in Revelation:

And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, (Revelation 20:4).

234. Clothed in white garments, signifies from the Divine truths of the Word. That “white garments” signify genuine truths of the Word, may be seen above, (166, 212).

235. And they had on their heads golden crowns, signifies such things as are of wisdom from love. That “a crown” signifies wisdom, may be seen above, (189); and that “gold” signifies the good of love, (211, 913); hence “a golden crown” signifies wisdom from love. As from this wisdom are derived all the things of heaven and the church, which are signified by the four-and-twenty elders, (233); therefore golden crowns were seen upon their heads. It is to be known, that the spiritual sense is abstracted from persons, as above, (78, 79, 96), so also here.

236. Verse 5. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, and thunders, and voices, signifies enlightenment, perception, and instruction from the Lord. “Lightnings,” by reason of the flash which strikes the eyes signify enlightenment, and “thunders,” by reason of the noise which strikes the ears signify perception, and when these two signify enlightenment and perception, then “voices” signify instruction. These were seen to proceed “from the throne,” because they proceed from the Son of man, or from the Lord as to the Word, and from the Lord through the Word come all enlightenment, perception, and instruction. “Lightnings, thunders, and voices,” have a similar signification in other parts of the Word, as in these passages:

Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed Thy people: the skies gave forth a voice; the voice of thunder went into the world; the lightnings enlightened the world, (Psalms 77:15, 17-18).

The lightnings of Jehovah shall enlighten the world, (Psalms 97:4).

Thou didst call upon Me in straitness, and I rescued thee: I answered thee in the secret place of the thunder, (Psalms 81:7).

I heard the sound of a great multitude, as the sound of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah, because the Lord, our God, the Almighty, hath taken the kingdom, (Revelation 19:6).

[2] Because enlightenment, perception, and instruction are signified by “lightnings, thunders, and voices,” therefore:

When Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai, and promulgated the Law, there were thunders and voices, (Exodus 19:16).

And when:

A voice was sent down from heaven to the Lord, it was heard as thunder, (John 12:28-29).

And as James and John represented charity and its works, and all perception of truth and good is from these:

They were called by the Lord, Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder, (Mark 3:17).

From these things it is manifest that similar things are signified by “lightnings, thunders, and voices,” in the following passages in Revelation:

I heard a voice from the four animals, as it were a voice of thunder, (Revelation 6:1).

I heard a voice out of heaven as a voice of great thunder, (Revelation 14:2).

When the angel cast the censer unto the earth, there were thunders, voices, and lightnings, (Revelation 8:5).

When the angel cried out, seven thunders uttered their voices, (Revelation 10:3-4).

When the temple of God was opened in heaven, there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, (Revelation 11:19).

237. And there where seven lamps of fire ¹ before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God signifies the New Church in heaven and on earth from the Lord through the Divine truth proceeding from Him. Here by “seven lamps” the same is signified as by “the seven lamp stands;” and also by “the seven stars” above. That by “the seven lamp stands” is meant the New Church upon earth, which will be in enlightenment from the Lord, may be seen above, (43), and by “the seven stars,” the New Church in the heavens, (65); and because the church is a church from the Divine which proceeds from the Lord, which is the Divine truth, and is called the Holy Spirit, therefore it is said, “which are the seven spirits of God.” That by “the seven spirits of God” is signified that proceeding Divine, may be seen above, (14, 155).

238. Verse 6. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal, signifies the New Heaven from Christians who are in general truths from the literal sense of the Word. In the spiritual world there appear atmospheres, and also waters, like as in our world; the atmospheres, in which the angels of the highest heaven dwell, are as it were ethereal; the atmospheres, in which the angels of the middle heaven dwell, are as it were aerial; and the atmospheres, in which the angels of the lowest heaven dwell, are as it were aqueous; and these last appear as seas at the boundaries of heaven, where they dwell who are in general truths from the literal sense of the Word. That “waters” signify truths, may be seen above, (50); hence “the sea,” in which waters terminate and are collected, signifies the Divine truth in its boundaries. Since, therefore, by “One sitting on the throne” is meant the Lord, (230), and by “the seven lamps,” which are “the seven spirits of God before the throne,” is meant the New Church, which will be in Divine truth from the Lord, (237), it is evident that, by “the sea of glass” which was before the throne, is meant the church among those who are at the boundaries.

[2] It has also been granted me to see the seas which are at the boundaries of the heavens, and to converse with those who were therein, and thus to know the truth of this matter from experience. They seemed to me to be in the sea, but they said that they are not in the sea, but in an atmosphere; from which it was manifest to me, that the sea is an appearance of the Divine proceeding from the Lord in its boundaries. That there are seas in the spiritual world, is fully evident from their having been seen by John frequently (as also here, in chapter 5:13; 7:1-3; 8:8-9; 10:2, 8; 12:12; 13:1; 14:7; 15:2; 16:3; 18:17, 19, 21; 20:13). It is called “a sea of glass like unto crystal,” from the pellucidity of the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord.

[3] Because Divine truth at its boundaries causes the appearance of a sea in the spiritual world, therefore “sea,” in other parts of the Word, has a similar signification, as in these passages:

In that day living waters shall go forth from Jerusalem, part of them toward the eastern sea, and part of them toward the hinder sea, (Zechariah 14:8).

“Living waters from Jerusalem,” are the Divine truths of the church from the Lord, therefore “the sea” is where they terminate:

Thy way, O Jehovah, is in the sea, and Thy highway in many waters, (Psalms 77:19).

Thus saith Jehovah, which maketh a way in the sea, and a highway in many waters, (Isaiah 43:16).

Jehovah hath founded the world upon the seas, and established it upon the floods, (Psalms 24:2).

Jehovah hath founded the earth upon its bases that it should not be removed to eternity. Thou coveredst it with the deep [or sea] as with a garment, (Psalms 104:5-6).

“The earth is founded upon the sea,” is the church, which is meant by “the earth,” is founded upon general truths; for these are its bases and foundations.

[4] And I will dry up the sea of Babylon and make her springs dry; He shall make the sea to ascend over Babylon, she shall be covered with the multitude of the waves, (Jeremiah 51:36, 42).

“Drying up the sea of Babylon and making her springs dry,” signifies to extinguish every truth of its church from firsts to lasts.

They shall walk after Jehovah, then the sons shall approach with honor from the sea, (Hosea 11:10).

“Sons from the sea” are they who are in general or ultimate truths.

Jehovah who buildeth His steps in the heavens, and calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the faces of the earth, (Amos 9:6).

By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, He gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap, giving the abysses in treasuries, (Psalms 33:6-7).

At My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness, (Isaiah 50:2 besides in other places).

[5] As by “sea” is signified the Divine truth with those who are in the borders of heaven, therefore by “Tyre and Zidon,” from their being near the sea, is signified the church as to the knowledges of good and truth; and also by the “islands of the sea” are signified those who are in more remote Divine worship, (34): and therefore “the sea,” in the Hebrew language, is called “the west,” that is, where the light of the sun declines towards its evening, or truth into obscurity. That “sea” also signifies the natural of man separated from the spiritual, thus also hell, will be seen in what follows.

239. And in the midst of the throne and round about the throne, there were four animals, signifies the Word of the Lord from first to ultimates, and its guards. I know they will wonder that it should be said, “the four animals” signify the Word; that this is their signification, will however be seen in what follows. These “animals” are the same as “the cherubim” in Ezekiel, where they are also called “animals” in chapter 1, but “cherubim” in chapter 10, and were, in like manner as here, a lion, an ox, a man, and an eagle. In the Hebrew language they are there called “chajoth,” a word which indeed signifies animals, but is derived from “chaja,” which is life, whence also the wife of Adam was called “Chaja” (Genesis 3:20). “Animal” in the singular number is also called “chaja” in Ezekiel, therefore those animals may also be called living things. Neither is it anything extraordinary that the Word is described by animals, since the Lord Himself in many parts of the Word is called “a lion,” and often “Lamb,” and they who are in charity from the Lord are called “sheep;” and the understanding also of the Word, in what follows, is called “a horse.” That the Word is signified by these “animals” or “cherubim,” is evident from this, that they were seen “in the midst of the throne and round about the throne,” and in the midst of the throne was the Lord, and, as the Lord is the Word, they could not be seen anywhere else. That they were round about the throne also, was, because they were in the angelic heaven, where also the Word is.

[2] That by “cherubim” is signified the Word, and its guards, is shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (97), where are the following words:

The sense of the letter of the Word serves as a guard for the genuine truths which lie within; and the guard consists in this, that the literal sense can be turned hither and thither, that is, can be explained according to everyone’s apprehension, without its internal being hurt or violated; for no harm ensues from the literal sense being understood differently by different people; but it does harm when the Divine truths which are within are perverted, for it is by this that the Word suffers violence. To prevent this, the literal sense guards, and it guards with those who are in falsities from religion, but yet do not confirm them, for from these the Word suffers no violence. This guard is signified by “cherubim,” and is also described by them in the Word. This guard is signified by “the cherubim,” which after the expulsion of Adam and his wife from the garden of Eden, were placed at its entrance; concerning which we read:

When Jehovah God had driven out the man, He made to dwell from the east to the garden of Eden cherubim, and a flame of a sword, which turned every way, to guard the way of the tree of life, (Genesis 3:23-24).

By “cherubim” is signified a guard; by “the way of the tree of life” is signified admission to the Lord, which is given to men through the Word; by “a flame of a sword which turned every way,” is signified the Divine truth in ultimates, which is as the Word in the sense of the letter, that allows of being turned this way and that.

[3] The same is meant by:

The cherubim made of gold over the two extremities of the mercy-seat, which was above the ark in the Tabernacle, (Exodus 25:18-21).

Because this was signified by “cherubim,” therefore:

Jehovah spoke from between them with Moses, (Exodus 25:22; 30:6; Numbers 7:89).

Nor was anything else understood by:

The cherubim over the curtains of the tabernacle and over the veil there, (Exodus 26:31).

For the curtains and veil of the tabernacle represented the ultimates of heaven, and the church, thus also the ultimates of the Word. Nothing else is signified by the cherubim in the middle of the temple of Jerusalem, (1 Kings 6:23-28); and by the cherubim carved upon the walls and doors of the temple, (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35); and also by the cherubim in the new temple, (Ezekiel 41:18-20).

[4] Since by “cherubim” was signified a guard that the Lord, heaven, and the Divine truth such as it is interiorly in the Word, be not approached immediately, but mediately by ultimates, therefore it is said of the king of Tyre:

Thou sealest up the measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. Thou hast been in the garden of Eden; every precious stone was thy covering; thou O spreading cherub that covereth; I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, in the midst of the stones of fire, (Ezekiel 28:12-14, 16).

By “Tyre” is signified the church as to the knowledges of truth and good, and thence, by its “king,” the Word where and whence those knowledges are. That the Word in its ultimate, which is the sense of the letter, is here signified by him, and a guard, by “the cherub,” is evident, for it is said, “Thou sealest up the measure, every precious stone was thy covering,” and, “thou O spreading cherub that covereth;” by “the precious stones” which are also mentioned there, are signified the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, (231).

[5] Because by “cherubim” is signified the Divine truth in ultimates as a guard, therefore it is said in David:

O Shepherd of Israel, that sitteth upon the cherubim, shine forth, (Psalms 80:1).

Jehovah sitteth upon the cherubim, (Psalms 99:1).

Jehovah bowed the heavens and came down, and rode upon the cherubim, (Psalms 18:10-11).

“To ride upon cherubim,” “to sit” and “to be seated upon them,” means upon the ultimate sense of the Word. The Divine truth in the Word, and its quality, is described by the cherubim in Ezekiel, in chapters 1, 9, 10, but because no one can know what the particulars by which they are described signify, unless the spiritual sense has been opened to him, therefore, as it has been disclosed to me, I will explain, in a summary way, the signification of those things which are related concerning the four animals or cherubim in the first chapter of Ezekiel, which is as follows:

[6] The Divine external sphere of the Word is described, (Ezekiel 1:4).

It is represented as a man, (Ezekiel 1:5).

Its conjunction with things spiritual and celestial, (Ezekiel 1:6).

The natural of the Word, its quality, (Ezekiel 1:7).

The conjunction of the spiritual and celestial senses of the Word with the natural, its quality, (Ezekiel 1:8-9).

The Divine love of celestial, spiritual, and natural good and truth therein, jointly and severally, (Ezekiel 1:10-11).

That they regard one end, (Ezekiel 1:12).

The sphere of the Word from the Lord’s Divine good and Divine truth, from which the Word lives, (Ezekiel 1:13-14).

The doctrine of good and truth in the Word and from the Word, (Ezekiel 1:15-21).

The Divine of the Lord above it and in it, (Ezekiel 1:22-23).

And out of it, (Ezekiel 1:24-25).

That the Lord is above the heavens, (Ezekiel 1:26).

That the Divine love and the Divine wisdom are His, (Ezekiel 1:27-28).

These are summaries.

240. Full of eyes before and behind, signifies the Divine wisdom, therein. By “eyes,” when spoken of man, is signified the understanding, and when of the Lord, the Divine wisdom, (48, 125); the same when said of the Word, as here, because the Word is from the Lord, and concerning the Lord, and thus is the Lord. The like is said of the cherubim in Ezekiel, that “they were full of eyes” (10:12). “Before and behind,” when it relates to the Word from the Lord, signifies the Divine wisdom and Divine love therein.

241. Verse 7. And the first animal was like a lion, signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to power. That “a lion” signifies truth in its power, here the Divine truth of the Word as to power, may appear from the power of the lion above every animal of the earth, as also from lions in the spiritual world, where they are images representative of the power of Divine truth; and likewise from the Word, where they signify the Divine truth in its power. What the power of the Divine truth in the Word is, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 49, and in the work on Heaven and Hell 228-233. Hence it is that Jehovah, or the Lord is compared to “a lion,” and is also called “a lion;” as in the following passages:

The lion roareth, who will not fear? the Lord Jehovah hath spoken, who will not prophesy? (Amos 3:8).

I will not return to destroy Ephraim, they shall walk after Jehovah. He roareth as a lion, (Hosea 11:9-10).

As the lion roareth and the young lion, so shall Jehovah come down to fight upon Mount Zion, (Isaiah 31:4).

Behold the Lion which is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David hath conquered, (Revelation 5:5).

Judah is a lion’s whelp, he coucheth, he lay down, as an old lion, who shall rouse him up? (Genesis 49:9).

[2] In these passages the power of Divine truth which is from the Lord, is described by “the lion.”“To roar” signifies to speak and act from power against the hells which wish to carry man away, but from which the Lord rescues him as a lion his prey; to “couch himself,” is to put himself in power; “Judah,” in the highest sense, signifies the Lord, (96, 266).

The angel cried with a great voice as a lion roareth, (Revelation 10:3).

He couched, he lay down as an old lion, who shall stir him up? (Numbers 24:9).

Behold, the people shall rise up as an old lion, and lift up himself as a young lion, (Numbers 23:24)

This is concerning Israel, by whom is signified the church, whose power, which is in Divine truths, is thus described. In like manner:

The remnant of Jacob shall be in the midst of the people, as a lion among the beasts of the forests, as a young lion among the flocks of sheep, (Micah 5:7-8; besides many other places; as Isaiah 11:6; 21:6-9; 35:9; Jeremiah 2:15; 4:7; 5:6; 12:8; 50:17; 51:38; Ezekiel 19:3, 5-6; Hosea 13:7-8; Joel 1:6-7; Nahum 2:12; Psalms 17:12; 22:13; 57:4; 58:6; 91:13; 104:21-22; Deuteronomy 33:20).

242. And the second animal like a calf signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to affection. By the beasts of the earth are signified the various natural affections, for such indeed they are; and by “a calf,” is signified the affection of knowing; in the spiritual world this affection is represented by a calf, therefore it is also signified by “a calf” in the Word, as in Hosea:

We will render unto Jehovah the calves of our lips, (Hosea 14:2).

“Calves of the lips” are confessions from the affection of truth. In Malachi:

But unto you that fear My name, shall the sun of justice arise, and healing in his wings, that ye may grow up as fatted calves, (Malachi 4:2).

They are compared to “fatted calves” because by them are signified those who are filled with the knowledges of truth and good from the affection of knowing them. In David:

The voice of Jehovah maketh the cedars of Lebanon to skip like a calf, (Psalms 29:6).

By “the cedars of Lebanon” are signified the knowledges of truth; hence it is said that “the voice of Jehovah maketh them to skip like a calf.”“The voice of Jehovah” is the Divine truth, here affecting.

[2] Since the Egyptians loved the sciences, they made to themselves calves as a sign of their affection for them; but afterwards they began to worship the calves as gods, then by them, in the Word, are signified the affections of knowing falsities as in Jeremiah 46:20-21; Psalm 68:30 and in other places; therefore the same is signified by the calf which the sons of Israel made for themselves in the wilderness (Exodus 32); as also by the calves of Samaria, (1 Kings 12:28-32; Hosea 8:5; 10:5). Therefore it is said in Hosea:

They make for themselves a molten image of silver, sacrificing a man, they kiss the calves, (13:2).

To “make for themselves a molten image of silver,” signifies to falsify truth, “to sacrifice a man” signifies to destroy wisdom, and “to kiss calves” signifies to acknowledge falsities from affection. In Isaiah:

There shall the calf feed, and there shall he lie down and consume the branches thereof, (27:10).

The same is signified by calf in Jeremiah 34:18-20.

[3] Since all Divine worship is from the affections of truth and good, and thence from the knowledge of them, therefore sacrifices, in which the worship of the church with the sons of Israel chiefly consisted, were made of various beasts, such as lambs, goats, kids, sheep, he-goats, calves, oxen; they were from calves, because they signified the affection of knowing truths and goods, which is the first natural affection. This is what was signified by “sacrifices of calves” (Exodus 29:11-12; Leviticus 4:3, 13 and following verses, (4:13); 8:14; 9:2; 16:3; 23:18; Numbers 8:8, 15, 24; 28:19-20; Judges 6:25-29; 1 Samuel 1:25; 16:2; 1 Kings 18:23-26, 33). The second animal appeared like a calf, because the Divine truth of the Word, which is signified by it, affects minds and thus instructs and imbues.

243. And the third animal having a face like a man, signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to wisdom. By “a man,” in the Word, is signified wisdom, because he is born that he may receive wisdom from the Lord, and become an angel; therefore in proportion as anyone is wise, in the same proportion he is a man. Wisdom truly human consists in knowing that there is a God, what God is, and what is of God; this the Divine truth of the Word teaches. That by “a man” is signified wisdom, is plain from the following places:

I will make a man [vir] more rare than pure gold; even a man [homo] than the gold of Ophir, (Isaiah 13:12).

Man [vir homo] is intelligence, and man [homo] is wisdom:

The inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and rare shall be the man that is left, (Isaiah 24:6).

I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man and with the seed of beast, (Jeremiah 31:27).

And ye, my flock, are man, I am your God, (Ezekiel 34:31).

The devastated cities shall be filled with the flocks of man, (Ezekiel 36:38).

I beheld the earth, and lo, it was vacant and empty; and the heavens, and they had no light; I beheld, and lo, there was no man, (Jeremiah 4:23, 25).

They sacrifice a man, they kiss calves, (Hosea 13:2).

He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem a hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is of an angel, (Revelation 21:17).

Besides many other places in which by man is signified one that is wise, and, in the abstract sense, wisdom.

244. And the fourth animal was like a flying eagle, signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to knowledges, and thence understanding. By “eagles” various things are signified, and by “flying eagles” are signified knowledges from which understanding is derived, because when they fly they both know and see; for they have sharp eyes that they may see clearly, and by “eyes” are signified the understanding, (48, 214): by “flying” is signified to receive and instruct, and, in the highest sense, in which it has relation to the Lord, it signifies to foresee and provide. That “eagles” in the Word have such a signification, appears from these passages:

They that wait for Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, (Isaiah 40:31).

“To mount up with wings as eagles,” is to be elevated into the knowledges of truth and good, and thence into intelligence:

Is it by thy intelligence and according to thy mouth that the eagle lifteth himself and searcheth out his food; his eyes see clearly afar, (Job 39:26-27, 29.

The faculty of knowing, understanding, and seeing clearly, is here described by “the eagle,” and that this is not from man’s own intelligence.

Jehovah who satisfieth thy mouth with good so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle, (Psalms 103:5).

“To satisfy the mouth with good,” is to give understanding by knowledges; hence a comparison is made with the eagle.

A great eagle, great in wings, long in feathers, came upon Lebanon, and took a twig of a cedar, and placed it in a field of seed, and it grew. And there was also another great eagle, to which the vine applied its roots, (Ezekiel 17:1-8).

Here by “the two eagles” is described the Jewish and Israelitish churches, both as to the knowledges of truth and consequent intelligence. But “eagles” in the opposite sense signify the knowledges of what is false, from which the understanding is perverted (as in Matthew 24:28; Jeremiah 4:13; Habakkuk 1:8-9; and other places).

245. Verse 8. And the four animals each by himself had six wings about him, signifies the Word as to its powers and as to its guards. That by “the four animals” the Word is signified, was shown above; that by wings are signified powers, and also guards, will be seen below. By “six” is signified all as to truth and good, for six is composed of “three” and “two” multiplied together, and by “three” is signified all as to truth, (505), and by “two” all as to good, (762). By “wings” are signified powers, because by them birds lift themselves up, and wings with birds are in the place of arms with men, and by “arms” are signified powers. Since by “wings” are signified powers, and each animal had six wings, it is evident, from what has been said above, what kind of power is signified by the wings of each, namely, that by “the wings of the lion” is signified the power of fighting against evils and falsities from hell; which power is of the Divine truth of the Word from the Lord. That by “the wings of the calf” is signified the power of affecting minds, for the Divine truth of the Word affects those who read it as holy. That by “the six wings of the man” is signified the power of being wise as to what God is, and what is of God, for this is properly man’s in reading the Word: and that by “the wings of the eagle” is signified the power of knowing truth and good, and thereby acquiring intelligence for oneself.

[2] Concerning the wings of the cherubim we read in Ezekiel that:

The wings kissed each other, and that they also covered their bodies, and that under them there was the likeness of hands, (Ezekiel 1:23-24; 3:13; 10:5, 21).

By “kissing each other,” is signified to act in conjunction and unanimously; by “covering their bodies,” is signified to guard lest the interior truths which belong to the spiritual sense of the Word be violated; and by “the hands under the wings” are signified powers. Concerning “the seraphim,” it is also said, that:

They had six wings; with two of which they covered the face, and with two the feet, and with two they flew, (Isaiah 6:2).

By “seraphim” in like manner is signified the Word, properly doctrine from the Word, and by “the wings with which they covered the faces and feet,” in like manner are signified guards, and by “the wings with which they flew,” powers, as above. That by “flying” is signified to perceive and instruct, and in the highest sense to look out for and provide, is also evident from these passages:

God rode upon a cherub, He did fly, and was carried upon the wings of the wind, (Psalms 18:10; 2 Samuel 22:11).

I saw an angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel, (Revelation 14:6).

[3] That by wings are signified guards, is plain from the following passages:

Jehovah shall cover thee under His wings, (Psalms 91:4).

To be hid under the shadow of God’s wings, (Psalms 17:8).

To confide in the shadow of His wings, (Psalms 36:7; 57:1; 63:7).

I stretched out a wing over thee, and covered thy nakedness, (Ezekiel 16:8).

Unto you shall be healing in His wings, (Malachi 4:2).

As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, beareth them on her wings, so Jehovah leadeth him, (Deuteronomy 32:11-12).

Jesus said, O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, (Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34).

246. And they were full of eyes within, signifies the Divine wisdom in the Word, in its natural sense from its spiritual and celestial senses. That by “the animals were full of eyes before and behind” is signified the Divine wisdom in the Word, may be seen above, (240); in like manner here, by “their wings were full of eyes.” And because the Divine wisdom of the Word in its natural sense is from its spiritual and celestial senses, which are concealed within, it is therefore said, that “within they were full of eyes.” Concerning the spiritual and celestial senses, which are contained in every particular of the Word, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (5-26).

247. And they had no rest day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, signifies that the Word continually teaches of the Lord, and that He alone is God, and thence that He alone is to be worshiped. “The animals had no rest day and night,” signifies that the Word continually, and without intermission, teaches; and that it teaches what the animals say, namely, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,” that is, that the Lord alone is God, and thence that He alone is to be worshiped. This is what is signified by holy three times repeated, for the triplication involves all holiness in Him alone. That the Divine Trinity is in the Lord, is fully shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord; as also that the Word treats of the Lord alone, and that thence is its sanctity. That the Lord alone is holy, may be seen above, (173).

248. Who was, and who is, and who is to come, signifies the Lord. That it is the Lord is plain from chapter 1:4, 8, 11, 17, where it treats of the Son of man who is the Lord as to the Word, and there it is expressly said that:

He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty, (Revelation 1:8).

But what is signified by these words, is explained, (13, 29-31, 38, 57); here that the Lord is meant by “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come.”

249. Verse 9. And when these animals gave glory, and honor, and thanks to Him that sat upon the throne, signifies that the Word ascribes all truth, and all good, and all worship to the Lord, who is to judge. “The animals” are the Word, as has been shown; “glory and honor,” when ascribed to the Lord, mean, that all truth and all good are His and from Him; “thanks” signify the all of worship; “He that sat on the throne” signifies the Lord as to judgment, as above. Hence it is evident, that by “when the animals gave glory, and honor, and thanks to Him that sat on the throne,” is signified that the Word ascribes all truth, and all good, and all worship, to the Lord who is to judge. By “giving the Lord glory and honor,” nothing else is meant in the Word than to acknowledge and confess that all truth and all good is from Him, thus that He alone is God, for He has glory from the Divine truth, and honor from the Divine good.

[2] This is signified by “glory and honor” in the following passages:

Jehovah made the heavens, glory and honor are before Him, (Psalms 96:5-6).

O Jehovah, O God, Thou art very great, Thou art clothed with glory and honor, (Psalms 104:1).

The works of Jehovah are great, glory and honor are His work, (Psalms 111:2-3).

Glory and honor Thou layest upon Him, blessings for ever, (Psalms 21:5-6).

Concerning the Lord:

Gird Thy sword upon the thigh, O mighty, in glory and honor; in Thy honor mount up, ride upon the Word of truth, (Psalms 45:3-4).

Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, Thou hast crowned him with glory and honor, (Psalms 8:5).

The glory of Lebanon is given unto it, the honor of Carmel and Sharon; they shall see the glory of Jehovah and the honor of our God, (Isaiah 35:2).

These things refer to the Lord (besides other places, as Psalms 145:4-5, 12; Revelation 21:24, 26). Moreover, when the Divine truth is treated of in the Word, it is called “glory” (629[1-2]) and when the Divine good is treated of it is called “honor.”

250. Who liveth for ages of ages, signifies the Lord that He alone is life, and from Him alone is life eternal, as seen above, (58, 60).

251. Verse 10. The four-and-twenty elders fell down before Him that sat upon the throne and adored Him that liveth for ages of ages, signifies the humiliation of all in heaven before the Lord. That by “the four-and-twenty elders” are meant all who are of the Lord’s church, may be seen above, (233); here all who are of His church in heaven; “the elders,” as heads, represented all. That it is humiliation before the Lord, and from humiliation adoration, is evident without explanation.

252. And cast their crowns before the throne, signifies the acknowledgment that their wisdom is from Him alone. That “a crown” signifies wisdom, may be seen above, (189, 235); therefore by “casting their crowns before the throne,” is signified to acknowledge that wisdom is not their own, but the Lord’s with them.

253. Verse 11. Saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power, signifies the confession that the kingdom is the Lord’s from merit and justice, because He is the Divine truth and the Divine good. Confession is signified by “saying.” That it is from merit and justice is signified by “thou art worthy, O Lord;” that He is the Divine truth and the Divine good, is signified by “glory and honor,” as above, (249). That His is the kingdom is signified by “receiving power”: these, therefore, collected into one sense, signify the confession that the kingdom is the Lord’s from merit and justice, because He is the Divine truth and the Divine good.

254. For Thou hast created all things, and by Thy will they are, and were created, signifies that all things of heaven and the church were made and formed, and men reformed and regenerated from the Divine love of the Lord through His Divine wisdom, or from the Divine good through the Divine truth, which also is the Word. This is the spiritual sense of these words, because by “creating” is signified to reform and regenerate by the Divine truth, and by “the will of the Lord” is signified the Divine good. Whether you call it the Divine good and the Divine truth, or the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, it is the same, because all good is of love, and all truth is of wisdom. That from the Divine love and the Divine wisdom are all things of heaven and the church, yea and the world itself was created from them is shown in many places in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom; also that love and good is of the will, and wisdom and truth of the understanding; hence it appears, that by “the Lord’s will” is meant His Divine good or Divine love.

[2] That “to create,” in the Word, signifies to reform and regenerate, is plain from these passages:

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a firm spirit in the midst of me, (Psalms 51:10).

Thou openest Thine hand, they are filled with good; Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit; they are created, (Psalms 104:28, 30).

The people which shall be created shall praise Jah, (Psalms 102:18).

Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, rejoice for ever in that which I create; behold I create Jerusalem an exultation, (Isaiah 65:17-18).

Jehovah createth the heavens, He that stretcheth out the earth, He giveth breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk therein, (Isaiah 42:5; 45:12, 18).

Thus saith Jehovah thy Creator, O Jacob, thy Former, O Israel; I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by My name; everyone that is called by My name, I have created him in My glory, (Isaiah 43:1, 7).

They were prepared in the day that thou wast created; thou was perfect in thy ways in the day that thou was created, until perversity was found in thee, (Ezekiel 28:13, 15).

These things are concerning the king of Tyre, by whom are signified they who are in intelligence by the Divine truth.

That they may see, know, consider, and understand that the hand of Jehovah hath done this, and the Holy one of Israel hath created it, (Isaiah 41:20).

255. Here I will add this Relation. Lest anyone should enter into the spiritual sense of the Word, and pervert the genuine truth which pertains to that sense, there are placed guards by the Lord, which are meant by cherubim in the Word, which are the four animals here: that guards are placed, was thus represented to me.

[2] It was given to see great purses, which seemed like bags, in which silver in great abundance was stored up; and as they were open, it was perceived as though anyone might take the silver out of them, and even carry it off. But near the purses there sat two angels who were guards. The place where they were deposited appeared like a manger in a stable; in the next apartment were seen some modest virgins with a chaste wife; and near that apartment stood two infants; and it was said, that they were not to be played with in an infantile manner, but wisely; and afterwards there appeared a harlot, and also a dead horse.

[3] On seeing which I was instructed, that by these was represented the sense of the letter of the Word, in which is the spiritual sense. The great purses full of silver signified the knowledges of truth and good in great abundance. Their being open, and yet guarded by angels, signified that anyone might take from thence the knowledges of truth, but that care is taken lest anyone should falsify the spiritual sense, in which were nothing but truths. The manger in the stable, in which the purses lay, signified spiritual instruction for the understanding; this is the signification of a manger, and the same is signified by the manger in which the Lord lay when an infant, because a horse, which eats therefrom, signifies the understanding of the Word.

[4] The modest virgins, who were seen in the adjoining apartment, signified affections of truth, and the chaste wife, the conjunction of good and truth. The infants signified the innocence of wisdom in the Word. They were angels from the third heaven, who all appear like infants. The harlot with the dead horse signified the falsification of the Word by many at this day, by which all the understanding of truth perishes; a harlot signifies falsification, and a dead horse no understanding of truth.

[5] It has been granted me to speak with many after death, who believed they should shine like stars in heaven, because, as they said, they had held the Word as holy, had read it frequently, and collected many things from it by which they had confirmed the dogmas of their faith, and were therefore celebrated as men of learning in the world, for which reason they thought they would be Michaels or Raphaels. But many of them were explored, as to the love from which they had studied the Word, and it was found, that some had studied it from self-love, that they might appear great in the world, and be reverenced as primates of the church; but others from the love of the world, that they might gain wealth. When they were examined as to what they knew from the Word, it was found, that they knew nothing of genuine truth therefrom, but only such as is called truth falsified, which in itself is falsity, and this, in the spiritual world, is a stench to the nostrils of the angels. And it was said to them that this was the case with them, because they themselves and the world were their ends, or what is the same, their loves, and not the Lord and heaven; and when themselves and the world are ends, then, when they read the Word, their mind cleaves to self and the world, and therefore they think constantly from their own proprium, which is in thick darkness as to all things of heaven. In this state man cannot be withdrawn from his own light, and so elevated into the light of heaven, nor thence receive any influx from the Lord through heaven.

[6] I also saw them admitted into heaven, and when they were found to be without truths, they were stripped of their garments and appeared in nakedness. And they who had falsified truths, were, by reason of their stench, expelled, but still their pride remained with them, and the belief in their own merit. It was otherwise with those who had studied the Word from the affection of knowing truth because it is truth, and because it subserves the uses of spiritual life, not only to a man’s self, but also to his neighbor. These I saw taken up into heaven, and thus into the light, in which the Divine truth is there, and at the same time they were then exalted into angelic wisdom and its felicity, which is life eternal.

Chapter 5 (256-294)

256. Revelation 5

1. And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals.

2. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?

3. And no one in heaven, nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.

4. And I wept much because no one was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.

5. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not; behold, the Lion which is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.

6. And I saw, and, behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four animals, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as if slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

7. And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne.

8. And when He had taken the book, the four animals, and the twenty-four elders, fell down before the Lamb, having everyone of them harps, and golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints.

9. And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof; because Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God in Thy blood, out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation.

10. And Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth.

11. And I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the animals, and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands;

12. Saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and honor, and glory, and blessing.

13. And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, for ages of ages.

14. And the four animals said, Amen. And the twenty-four elders fell down, and adored Him that liveth for ages of ages.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

That the Lord in the Divine Human will execute judgment from the Word and according to it, because He Himself is the Word; and that this is acknowledged by all in the three heavens.

The contents of the whole chapter

Verse 1. (Revelation 5:1) “And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne, a book written within and on the back,” signifies the Lord as to His Divine itself from eternity, who is omnipotent and omniscient, and who is the Word, (256). “Sealed with seven seals,” signifies that it is altogether hidden from angel and man, (257).

Verse 2. “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice,” signifies the Divine truth from the Lord inflowing interiorly with angels and men, (258). “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” signifies, Who has power to know the states of life of all in the heavens and on the earths, and to judge everyone according thereto? (259).

Verse 3. “And no one in heaven, nor on earth neither under the earth, was able,” signifies that no one in the higher heavens or in the lower heavens, was able, (260); “to open the book,” signifies to know the states of the life of all, and to judge everyone according to his state, (261); “Neither to look thereon,” signifies not in the least, (262).

Verse 4. “And I wept much because no one was found worthy²² to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon,” signifies grief of heart, because if no one could do it, all must perish, (263).

Verse 5. (Revelation 5:5) “And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not,” signifies consolation, (264); “Behold, the lion which is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David hath prevailed,” signifies the Lord, who by His own power subjugated the hells and reduced all things to order when He was in the world by the Divine good united to the Divine truth in His Human, (265, 266): “To open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof,” signifies here as before, (267).

Verse 6. “And I saw, and behold, in the midst of the throne, and of the four animals, and in the midst of the elders,” signifies from the inmost and thence in all things of heaven, the Word, and the church, (268). “A Lamb standing as if slain,” signifies the Lord as to His Human, not acknowledged in the church to be Divine, (269). “Having seven horns,” signifies His omnipotence, (270). “And seven eyes” signifies His omniscience and Divine wisdom, (271). “Which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth,” signifies that from the Divine wisdom is derived the Divine truth throughout the whole world, wheresoever there is any religion, (272).

Verse 7. “And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne,” signifies that the Lord as to His Divine Human is the Word, and this from His Divine in Himself and that therefore He will execute judgment from His Divine Human, (273).

Verse 8. “And when He had taken the book,” signifies when the Lord determined to execute the judgment, and thereby to reduce all things in the heavens and upon the earth to order, (274). “The four animals and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb,” signifies humiliation and adoration of the Lord from the higher heavens, (275). “Having everyone of them harps” signifies confession of the Lord’s Divine Human from spiritual truths, (267). “And golden vials full of incense,” signifies confession of the Lord’s Divine Human from spiritual goods, (277). “Which are the prayers of the saints,” signifies thoughts which are of faith from affections which are of charity with those who worship the Lord from spiritual goods and truths, (278).

Verse 9. “And they sang a new song,” signifies the acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord, that He alone is the Judge, Redeemer, and Savior, thus the God of heaven and earth, (279). “Saying, Thou art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof,” signifies here as before, (280). “Because Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God in Thy blood,” signifies deliverance from hell and salvation by conjunction with Him, (281). “Out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,” signifies that they in the church, or in any religion, who are in truths as to doctrine, and in goods as to life are redeemed by the Lord, (282).

Verse 10. “And hast made us unto our God kings and priests,” signifies that from the Lord they are in wisdom from Divine truths and in love from Divine goods, (283). “And we shall reign on the earth,” signifies, and will be in His kingdom, He in them and they in Him, (284, 285).

Verse 11. “And I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the animals, and the elders,” signifies confession and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens, (286).²³

Verse 12. “Saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and honor, and glory,” signifies confession from the heart, that to the Lord as to His Divine Human is omnipotence, omniscience, Divine good, and Divine truth, (288). “And blessing,” signifies all these in Him, and from Him in them, (289).

Verse 13. “And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying,” signifies confession and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lowest heavens, (290). “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ages of ages,” signifies that in the Lord from eternity, and thence in His Divine Human, is the All of heaven and the church, Divine good, and Divine truth, and Divine power, and from Him in them, (291).

Verse 14. “And the four animals said, Amen,” signifies Divine confirmation from the Word, (292). “And the twenty-four elders fell down and adored Him that liveth for ages of ages,” signifies humiliation before the Lord, and from humiliation, adoration of Him by all in the heavens, from whom and in whom is life eternal, (293).

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And I saw in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne a book, written within and on the back, signifies the Lord as to His Divine Itself from eternity, who has omnipotence and omniscience, and who is the Word; who also knows from Himself the state of the life of all in the heavens and on the earths, in every particular and in general. By “Him that sat on the throne” is meant the Lord as to His Divine, from which is His Human, for it follows that “the Lamb took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat on the throne” (verse 7), and by “the Lamb” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human. By “the book written within and on the back” is meant the Word in every particular and in every general; by “within,” in every particular, and by “on the back” in every general. By “within and on the back” is also meant the interior sense of the Word, which is spiritual, and its exterior sense, which is natural; by “right hand” is meant Himself as to omnipotence and omniscience, because the exploration of all in the heavens and on the earths, upon whom the Last Judgment is to be executed, and their separation, is treated of. The Lord, as the Word, knows the states of life of all in the heavens and on the earths from Himself, because He is the Divine truth itself, and the Divine truth itself knows all things from itself; but this is an arcanum, which is revealed in Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Wisdom. That the Lord as to His Divine from eternity was the Word, that is, the Divine truth, is evident from these words in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word, (John 1:1).

And that the Lord as to His Human also was made “the Word,” in the same:

And the Word became flesh, (John 1:14).

Hence it may appear what it means that the book was in the right hand of Him that sat on the throne, and that the Lamb took the book thence, (Revelation 5:7).

[2] Since the Lord is the Word, and the Word is the Divine truth, which in general makes heaven and the church, and in particular each angel, that heaven may be in Him, and man that the church may be in Him; and because the Word is here meant by “the book,” from which and according to which all are to be judged, therefore in many places occur the expressions, “to be written in the book,” “to be judged from the book,” “to be blotted out of the book,” where the state of eternal life of anyone is treated of, as in these passages:

The Ancient of days did sit in judgment, and the books were opened, (Daniel 7:10).

Every people shall be delivered that shall be found written in the book, (Daniel 12:1).

My bone was not hid from Thee, in Thy book all my days were written, not one of them is wanting, (Psalms 139:15-16).

Moses said, blot me, I pray thee, out of the book which Thou hast written. And Jehovah said, Whosoever hath sinned against Me will I blot out of the book, (Exodus 32:32-33).

Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the just, (Psalms 69:28).

I saw that the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to those things which were written in the book according to their works, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life, was cast into the lake of fire, (Revelation 20:12, 15).

None shall enter into the New Jerusalem, but them that are written in the Lamb’s book of life, (Revelation 21:27).

All shall adore the beast whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life, (Revelation 13:8; 17:8).

That by “the book” is meant the Word, in David:

In the volume of the book it is written of me, (Psalms 40:7).

And in Ezekiel:

I saw, and behold a hand sent forth unto me, and in it the volume of a book, written before and behind, (Ezekiel 2:9-10).

The book of the words of Isaiah, (Luke 3:4).

The book of Psalms, (Luke 20:42).

257. Sealed with seven seals, signifies that it is altogether hidden from angel and man. That “to be sealed with a seal” signifies to be hidden is evident, hence “to be sealed with seven seals” signifies to be altogether hidden, for “seven” signifies all, (10), and therefore altogether; that it was altogether hidden from angel and man, is presently said in these words:

And no one in heaven, nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able to open and read the book, neither to look thereon, (Revelation 5:3).

Such is the Word to all to whom the Lamb, that is, the Lord, does not open it. Here, because the exploration of all before the Last Judgment is treated of, it is the states of life of all in general and in particular, which are altogether hidden.

258. Verse 2. (Revelation 5:2) And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, signifies the Divine truth from the Lord flowing in deeply into the thought of angels and men, and investigation. By “an angel” proclaiming, is meant in the spiritual sense, the Lord, because an angel does not proclaim and teach from himself but from the Lord, but still as from himself. It is said “a strong angel,” because with power, and that which is proclaimed with power flows in deeply into the thought. “A great voice” signifies the Divine truth from the Lord in power or virtue. It also signifies investigation, because he asks, “Who is worthy to open the book?” as now follows.

259. Who is worthy to open the book and to loose the seals thereof? signifies who has power to know the states of life of all in the heavens and on the earth, and to judge everyone according to his state? “Who is worthy?” signifies who is able, or who has the power? “to open the book and to loose the seals thereof,” signifies here to know the states of life of all in the heavens and on the earth, and also to judge everyone according to his state; for when “the book is opened,” there is an examination into their quality, and then sentence or judgment, comparatively as a judge does with a book of the law and acts from it. That by “opening the book,” is signified investigation into the quality of the states of life in all and everyone, is evident from the following chapter, where is described what was seen, when the Lamb opened the seven seals in their order.

260. Verse 3. And no one in heaven, nor on earth, neither under the earth, was able, signifies that no one in the higher heavens or the lower heavens was able. “In heaven, on earth, and under the earth,” mean in the higher and in the lower heavens, in like manner as in the 13th verse, where it is said:

And every created thing which is in heaven, on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, (Revelation 5:13).

Since he heard the latter and the former saying, it is evident that they were angels and spirits who spoke; for John was in the spirit, as he himself says in the preceding chapter, (Revelation 4:2), in which state no other earth appeared to him than the earth of the spiritual world; for there are earths there as well as in the natural world, as may appear from the description of that world in the work concerning Heaven and Hell; as also in The Continuation concerning the Spiritual World, (32-38). The higher heavens appear there upon mountains and hills, the lower heavens in the earth beneath, and the ultimate heavens as it were under the earth. For the heavens are expanses one above another, and each expanse is like the earth under the feet of those who are there. The highest expanse is like the top of a mountain, the next expanse is under it, but extending itself more widely on all sides round about, and the lowest expanse more widely still; and since this last is under the other, they who are there are “under the earth.” The three heavens also appear thus to the angels who are in the higher heavens, because to them there appear two heavens beneath them; therefore in like manner they appeared to John, because he was with them, for he had ascended to them, as is evident from chapter 4, where it is said:

Come up hither, and I will show thee things which must be hereafter, (4:1).

He who does not know anything of the spiritual world and the earths there, can by no means know what is meant by “under the earth,” nor by “the lower parts of the earth,” in the Word, as in Isaiah:

Sing, O heavens, shout, ye lower parts of the earth, resound with singing, ye mountains, for Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob, (Isaiah 44:23 and other places).

Who does not see that the earths of the spiritual world are here meant? for no man lives under the earth in the natural world.

261. To open the book, signifies to know the states of life of all, and to judge everyone according to his state, as appears from the explanation above, (259).

262. Neither to look thereon, signifies not in the least. Since by “opening the book,” is signified to know the states of life of all, by “looking on it” is signified to see what the state of life of this or that person is, therefore by “no one being able to open the book nor to look thereon,” is signified that they were not able in the least. For the Lord alone sees the state of everyone from inmosts to outmosts, as also what a man has been from infancy to old age, and what he will be to eternity, and likewise what place will be allotted to him either in heaven or in hell; and this the Lord sees in an instant, and from Himself, because He is the Divine truth itself or the Word; but angels and man do not see this in the least, because they are finite, and the finite see only a few things, and those only external, and not these indeed from themselves, but from the Lord.

263. Verse 4. And I wept much because no one was found²⁴ to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon, signifies grief of heart, because if no one could do it, all must perish. That “to weep much” is to grieve at heart, is evident; the reason why he grieved at heart, was, because otherwise all would have perished; for if all things in the heavens and on the earth were not reduced to order by the Last Judgment, it could not be otherwise; for Revelation treats of the last state of the church, when it comes to its end, the nature of which state is described by the Lord in these words:

There shall be great affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, nor shall be; therefore except those days should be shortened, no flesh would be saved, (Matthew 24:21-22).

These are concerning the last time of the church, when judgment takes place.

[2] That such is the state of the church at this day, may be known solely from these considerations, that the greatest part of the Christian world is occupied by those who have transferred to themselves the Divine power of the Lord, and wish to be worshiped as gods, and who invoke dead men, and scarce any of them the Lord; and that the rest of the church make God three, and the Lord two, and place salvation, not in amendment of life, but in certain words uttered with a devout tone; thus not in repentance, but in confidence that they are justified and sanctified, provided they do but fold their hands and look upwards, and pray in the customary form.

264. Verse 5. And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not; that this signifies consolation, is evident.

265. Behold, the Lion hath prevailed, signifies the Lord, that from His own power He had subjugated the hells, and reduced all things to order when He was in the world. That “a lion” signifies the Divine truth of the Word as to its power, may be seen above, (241); and because the Lord is the Divine truth itself, or the Word, He is called “a Lion.” That the Lord, when He was in the world, subjugated the hells and reduced all things in the heavens to order, and likewise glorified His Human, may be seen above, (67); and how He did this, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (12-14). Hence it is evident, what is meant by “the Lion hath prevailed.”

266. Which is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, signifies by the Divine good united to the Divine truth in His Human. By “Judah,” in the Word, is meant the church which is in the good of love to the Lord, and in the highest sense the Lord as to the Divine good of the Divine love; and by “David” is meant the Lord as to the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom. That this is meant by “David,” may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (43, 44); and that the former is meant by “Judah,” may be seen, (96, 266, 350). Hence it appears that by “Behold the Lion which is of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David hath prevailed,” is signified that the Lord overcame the hells and reduced all things to order by the Divine good united to the Divine truth in His Human. That this is the sense of these words, cannot be seen in the sense of the letter, but only that it is He Himself who was born in the world of the tribe of Judah and of the stock of David. Still, however, these words contain in them a spiritual sense, in which by the names of persons are meant things, as has frequently been observed above, thus by “Judah” is not meant Judah, nor by “David,” David; but by “Judah,” the Lord as to the Divine good, and by “David,” the Lord as to the Divine truth. Hence it is that this sense results therefrom. The reason why this sense is here explained is because Revelation as to its spiritual sense is now opened.

267. To open the book, and loose the seven seals thereof, signifies to know the states of life of all in the heavens and on the earth, and to judge everyone according to his state, as above, (258, 259).

268. Verse 6. And I saw, and behold, in the midst of the throne, and of the four animals, and in the midst of the elders, signifies from inmosts, and thence in all things of heaven, the Word, and the church. “In the midst” signifies in the inmosts, and thence in all things, (44[1-2]); “a throne” signifies heaven, (14); “the four animals” or cherubs signify the Word, (239) and the “twenty-four elders” signify the church as to all things belonging thereto, (233, 251). From these things it follows, that, “in the midst of the throne, and of the four animals, and in the midst of the elders,” signifies from inmosts in all things of heaven, the Word, and the church.

269. A Lamb standing as if slain, signifies the Lord as to His Human, not acknowledged in the church as Divine. By “Lamb,” in Revelation, is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, and by “a Lamb slain,” that His Human is not acknowledged in the church as Divine; in like manner as in chapter 1:18, where it is said:

I was made dead, and behold I am alive for ages of ages.

By which is meant that the Lord is neglected in the church, and His Human not acknowledged as Divine, (59); that this is the case may be seen below, (294). Since, therefore, the Lord as to the Divine Human is meant by “the Lamb,” and it is said of Him, that “He took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne,” and afterwards that “He opened it, and loosed the seven seals thereof,” and since no mortal could do this, but God alone, it follows, that by “the Lamb” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, and by “slain,” that He is not acknowledged as God as to His Human.

270. Having seven horns, signifies His omnipotence. “A horn” is frequently mentioned in the Word, and by it is everywhere signified power; therefore when “a horn” is predicated of the Lord, it signifies omnipotence. The reason why “seven horns” are mentioned, is, because “seven” signifies all, (10), thus omnipotence. That “a horn” signifies power, and when applied to the Lord, omnipotence, may appear from the following passages:

They who rejoice at a thing of naught, who say, have we not taken us horns by our own strength? (Amos 6:13).

I said unto the wicked, Lift not up the horn, lift not up your horn on high; All the horns of the wicked I will cut off; but the horns of the just shall be exalted, (Psalms 75:4-5, 10).

Jehovah hath exalted the horn of thine enemies, (Lamentations 2:17).

The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken, (Jeremiah 48:25).

Ye thrust with side and shoulder, and strike all the feeble sheep with your horns, (Ezekiel 34:21).

Jehovah hath exalted the horn of his people, (Psalms 148:14).

Jehovah God of hosts, the glory of our²⁵ strength, hath exalted our horn, (Psalms 89:17).

The brightness of Jehovah God shall be as the light, He had horns out of His hand, and there was the hiding of His power, (Habakkuk 3:4).

My arm shall strengthen David, and in My name shall his horn be exalted, (Psalms 89:21, 24).

Jehovah is my strength, my rock, my horn, (Psalms 18:2-3; 2 Samuel 22:3).

Arise, O daughter of Zion, for I will make thy horn iron, and thou shalt beat in pieces many people, (Micah 4:13).

Jehovah²⁶ hath destroyed in His wrath the stronghold of the daughter of Judah, and hath cut off all the horn of Israel, (Lamentations 2:2-3).

Powers are also signified by:

The horns of the dragon, (Revelation 12:3).

By the horns of the beast which came up out of the sea, (Revelation 13:1).

By the horns of the scarlet beast upon which the woman sat, (Revelation 17:3, 7, 12).

By the horns of the ram and the he-goat, (Daniel 8:3-4, 7-12, 21, 25).

By the horns of the beast which came up out of the sea, (Daniel 7:3, 7-8, 20-21, 23-24).

By the four horns which scattered Judah and Israel, (Zechariah 1:18-21).

By the horns of the altar of burnt-offerings, and the altar of incense, (Exodus 27:2; 30:2-3, 10).

By these last was signified the power of Divine truth in the church; and, on the other hand, that power would perish is signified by “the horns of the altars in Bethel,” in Amos:

I will visit upon the transgressions of Israel, I will visit upon the altars of Bethel, that the horns of the altar may be cut off, and fall to the earth, (Amos 3:14).

271. And seven eyes, signifies His omniscience and Divine wisdom. That “eyes,” when spoken of the Lord, signify His Divine wisdom, may be seen above, (48, 125), thus also omniscience; and that “seven” signifies all, and is predicated of anything holy, (10); hence by “the seven eyes of the Lamb,” is signified the Divine wisdom of the Lord, which is also omniscience.

272. Which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth, signifies that from the Divine wisdom is derived Divine truth into the whole world, where there is religion. “The seven spirits of God” are the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord as above, (14, 155). “To be sent forth into all the earth,” is into the whole world where there is religion, is evident; for where there is religion, it is taught that there is a God, and that there is a devil, and that God is good itself, and that all good is from Him, and that the devil is evil itself, and that all evil is from him; and, as they are opposites, so evil, because it is from the devil, is to be shunned, and good, because it is from God, is to be done; consequently, in proportion as anyone does evil, so far he loves the devil, and acts against God. Such Divine truth is in the whole world where there is any religion; so that it is only necessary to know what evil is, and this also is known by all who have any religion; for the precepts of all religions are similar to those contained in the Decalogue, that one must not kill, nor commit whoredom, nor steal, nor bear false witness. These are in general Divine truths from the Lord “sent forth into all the earth,” see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (101-118). Therefore he who lives according to them because they are Divine truths, or the commandments of God, and thence of religion, is saved. But he who only lives according to them because they are civil and moral truths, is not saved, for he that denies God may also so live, but not he that confesses God.

273. Verse 7 (Revelation 5:7). And He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him that sat upon the throne, signifies that the Lord as to His Divine Human is the Word, and this is from His Divine in Himself and that therefore He will execute judgment from His Divine Human. Here it manifestly appears, that “He that sat upon the throne” and “the Lamb” are one Person, and that by “Him that sat upon the throne” is meant His Divine from which all things are, and by “the Lamb,” His Divine Human; for it is said in the preceding verse, that “he saw a Lamb standing in the midst of the throne,” and in this, that “He took the book from Him that sat upon the throne.” That the Lord will execute judgment from His Divine Human, because He is the Word, is evident from these passages:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory, (Matthew 24:30).

When the Son of man shall sit on His throne He will judge the twelve tribes of Israel, (Matthew 19:28).

The Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, and then shall He render to everyone according to his deeds, (Matthew 16:27).

Watch always, that ye may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of man, (Luke 21:36).

In such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh, (Matthew 24:44).

For the Father judgeth no one, but hath given all judgment unto the Son, because He is the Son of man, (John 5:22, 27). “The Son of man” is the Lord as to the Divine Human, and this is the Word, which was God, and became flesh, (John 1:1, 14).

274. Verse 8. And when He had taken the book, signifies when the Lord decided to execute the judgment, and thereby to reduce all things in the heavens and in the earths to order. By “taking the book” and opening it, is signified to explore the states of life of all, and to judge everyone according to his state, as above. Therefore here by “His taking the book,” is signified His decision to execute the Last Judgment; and as the Last Judgment is executed for the purpose of reducing all things to order in the heavens, and through the heavens, in the earths, this also is signified.

275. The four animals and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, signifies humiliation, and from humiliation, adoration of the Lord from the higher heavens. Now follows the glorification of the Lord on the above account, for, as was observed above, (263), unless the Lord should now execute the Last Judgment, and thereby reduce all things in the heavens and in the earths to order, all would perish. The glorification of the Lord, which now follows, takes place first in the higher heavens, afterwards in the lower heavens, and lastly in the lowest heavens; the glorification by the higher heavens (verses 8-10; by the lower heavens (verses 11-12; and by the lowest heavens (verse 13); and lastly confirmation and adoration by the higher heavens (verse 14). Therefore the higher heavens are signified by the “four animals” and “the twenty-four elders;” for by “the cherubim,” which are the four animals “in the midst of the throne,” is signified the Lord as to the Word; but by “the cherubim,” or four animals “round about the throne,” is signified heaven as to the Word; for it is said:

That in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were seen four animals, full of eyes before and behind, (Revelation 4:6).

For the heavens are heavens from the reception of the Divine truth through the Word from the Lord. By “the twenty-four elders” are also signified the angels in the higher heavens, because those elders were nearest around the throne, (Revelation 4:4). That “to fall down before the Lamb” is humiliation, and from humiliation, adoration, is evident.

276. Having everyone of them harps, signifies confession of the Lord’s Divine Human from spiritual truths. It is known that confessions of Jehovah were made in the temple at Jerusalem by singing, and at the same time by instruments of music which corresponded; the instruments were principally trumpets and timbrels, and psalteries and harps; the trumpets and timbrels corresponded to celestial goods and truths, and the psalteries and harps to spiritual goods and truths; the correspondences were with their sounds. What celestial good and truth is, and what spiritual good and truth, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, (13-28). That “harps” signify confessions of the Lord from spiritual truths, may appear from these passages:

Confess to Jehovah with the harp, sing unto Him with the psaltery of ten strings, (Psalm 33:2).

I will confess to Thee on the harp, O God, my God, (Psalm 43:4).

I will confess to Thee on the instrument of the psaltery, I will sing unto Thee with the harp, O Thou Holy One of Israel, (Psalm 71:22).

Arouse me psaltery and harp, I will confess Thee among the nations, O Lord, (Psalms 57:8-9; 108:2-4).

Answer to Jehovah by confession, play on the harp to our God, (Psalms 147:7).

It is good to confess to Jehovah upon the psaltery, and upon higgaion on the harp, (Psalms 92:2-4).

Make a joyful noise unto Jehovah all the earth, sing unto Jehovah with the harp, with the harp and the voice of singing, (Psalms 98:4-6; and in many other places; as Psalms 43:4; 137:2; Job 30:31; Isaiah 24:7-9; 30:31-32; Revelation 14:2; 18:22).

Because “the harp” corresponded to confession of the Lord, and evil spirits could not endure it, therefore David by the harp caused the evil spirit to depart from Saul, (1 Samuel 16:14-16, 23). That they were not harps, but that confessions of the Lord were heard by John as harps, may be seen below, (661).

277. And golden vials full of incense, signifies confession of the Lord’s Divine Human from spiritual good. The reason why “incense” signifies worship from spiritual goods, but in this instance confession from such goods, is because the principal worship in the Jewish and Israelitish church consisted in sacrifices and incense; wherefore there were two altars, one for sacrifices and the other for incense; the latter altar was within the tabernacle, and was called the golden altar, but the former was without the tabernacle, and was called the altar of burnt-offering; the reason was, because there are two kinds of goods, from which all worship exists, celestial good and spiritual good: celestial good is the good of love to the Lord, and spiritual good is the good of love towards the neighbor. Worship by sacrifices was worship from celestial good, and worship by incense was worship from spiritual good. Whether you call it worship or confession, it is the same thing, for all worship is confession. What is signified by “incense,” is also signified by “the vials” in which the incense is contained, because the thing containing and the thing contained, like the instrumental and principal, act as one cause.

[2] Worship from spiritual good is signified by “incense” in the following passages:

For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same, My name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered unto My name, (Malachi 1:11).

They shall teach Jacob Thy judgments, they shall put incense in Thy nostril and a burnt-offering upon Thine altar, (Deuteronomy 33:10).

I will offer unto Thee burnt-offerings of fatlings, with incense, (Psalms 66:13, 15).

And they shall come from the circuit of Judah, offering a burnt-offering, and a sacrifice, a meal-offering and incense, (Jeremiah 17:26).

They shall come from Sheba; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall declare the praises of Jehovah, (Isaiah 60:6).

By “frankincense” the same is signified as by “incense,” because frankincense was the principal aromatic from which incense was made. Likewise in Matthew:

The wise men from the east opened their treasures, and offered to the Lord recently born, gold, frankincense, and myrrh, (Matthew 2:11).

The reason why they offered these three was, because “gold” signified celestial good, “frankincense” spiritual good, and “myrrh” natural good, and from those three goods all worship is made.

278. Which are the prayers of saints, signifies thoughts which are of faith, from affections which are of charity, with those who worship the Lord from spiritual goods and truths. By “prayers” are meant the things which are of faith, and at the same time things which are of charity, with those who pour forth prayers, because prayers without them are not prayers, but empty sounds. That “saints” mean those who are in spiritual goods and truths, may be seen above, (173). The reason why incense is called “the prayers of saints” is because fragrant odors correspond to the affections of good and truth; hence it is, that “a grateful odor” and “an odor of rest to Jehovah,” so often occur in the Word (as in Exodus 29:18, 25, 41; Leviticus 1:9, 13, 17; 2:2, 9, 12; 3:5; 4:31; 6:15, 21; 8:28; 23:13, 18; 26:31; Numbers 15:3, 7; 28:6, 8, 13; 29:2, 6, 8, 13, 36; Ezekiel 20:41; Hosea 14:7). “Prayers” which are called “incense” have a similar signification in the following passages in Revelation:

An angel stood at the altar having a golden vial, and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar; And the smoke of the incense with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand, (Revelation 8:3-5).

And in David:

Give ear unto my voice; my prayers have been accepted before Thee as incense, (Psalms 141:1-2).

279. Verse 9. And they sung a new song, signifies acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord, that He alone is the Judge, Redeemer, and Savior, thus the God of heaven and earth. These things are contained in the song which they sung, and the things which are contained are also signified; as an acknowledgment that the Lord is the Judge, in these things which now follow:

Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, (5:9).

That He is the Redeemer, in this:

Because Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us in Thy blood, (5:9).

That He is the Saviour, in this:

Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, and we shall reign upon the earth, (5:10).

That He is the God of heaven and earth, in this:

They fell down and adored Him that liveth for ages of ages, (5:14).

Since the acknowledgment that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, and that in no other way could He be called the Redeemer and Saviour, was not before in the church, it is therefore called a “new song.”

[2] The reason why “a song” also signifies glorification, which is confession from joy of heart, is because singing exalts, and causes affection to break out from the heart into sound, and show itself intensely in its life. Nor are the Psalms of David any other than songs; for they were played and sung, and therefore were also called songs in many passages (as Psalms 18; 33; 45:1; 46:1; 48:1; 65:1; 66:1; 67:1; 68:1; 75:1; 76:1; 87:1; 88:1; 92:1; 96:1; 98:1; 108:1; 120:1; 121:1; 122:1; 123:1; 124:1; 125:1; 126:1; 127:1; 128:1; 129:1; 130:1; 32:1; 133:1; 134:1).

[3] That songs were for the sake of exalting the life of love, and the joy derived from it, is evident from the following passages:

O sing unto Jehovah a new song, make a joyful noise unto Jehovah all the earth, resound, shout, (Psalms 98:1, 4-8).

Sing unto Jehovah a new song, let Israel rejoice in His Maker, sing psalms to Him, (Psalms 149:1-3).

Sing unto Jehovah a new song, lift up the voice, (Isaiah 42:10, 12).

Sing, O ye heavens, shout ye lower parts of the earth, resound with singing, ye mountains, (Isaiah 44:23; 49:13).

Shout unto God our strength, cry out to the God of Jacob; lift up a song, (Psalms 81:1-3).

Gladness and joy shall be found in Zion, confession and the voice of singing, (Isaiah 51:3; 52:8-9).

Sing unto Jehovah, cry out and shout, O daughter of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee, (Isaiah 12:1-6).

My heart is fixed, I will sing and sing psalms. Arouse thee, my glory, I will confess Thee, O Lord, among the nations, I will sing psalms unto Thee among the peoples, (Psalms 57:7-9).

280. Saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof, signifies that He alone can know the states of life of all, and judge every man according to his own state, as above, (256, 259, 261, 267, 273).

281. For thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God in Thy blood, signifies deliverance from hell, and salvation by conjunction with Him. It is not necessary to explain by the spiritual sense what is specifically signified by all the particulars here mentioned, as what by “being slain,” by “redeeming us to God,” and what by “His blood,” for they are arcana which do not appear in the sense of the letter; suffice it to know that it is redemption which is thus described; and since it is redemption it is deliverance from hell, and salvation by conjunction with the Lord, which are signified. Here it shall only be confirmed from the Word that Jehovah Himself came into the world, was born a Man, and became the Redeemer and Savior of all, who by a life of charity and its faith are conjoined with His Divine Human, and that Jehovah is the Lord from eternity, consequently that the Divine Human of the Lord, with which there must be conjunction, is the Divine Human of Jehovah Himself.

[2] Here therefore some passages shall be adduced, which prove that Jehovah and the Lord are one; and since they are one and not two, that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah Himself, by the assumption of the Human, is the Redeemer and Savior: this is evident from the following passages:

Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name is from everlasting, (Isaiah 63:16).

Thus saith the king of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts, I am the First and the Last, and besides Me there is no God, (Isaiah 44:6).

Thus saith Jehovah thy Redeemer, and thy Former; I am Jehovah that maketh all things, alone by Myself, (Isaiah 44:24).

Thus saith Jehovah thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah thy God, (Isaiah 48:17).

Jehovah my Rock and my Redeemer, (Psalms 19:14).

Their Redeemer is strong, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, (Jeremiah 50:34).

Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called, (Isaiah 54:5).

And all flesh shall know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob, (Isaiah 49:26; 60:16).

As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, (Isaiah 47:4).

With everlasting mercy will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer, (Isaiah 54:8).

Thus saith Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, (Isaiah 43:14).

Thus saith Jehovah the Holy One of Israel, your Redeemer, (Isaiah 49:7).

Thou hast redeemed me, Jehovah of truth, (Psalms 31:5).

Let Israel hope in Jehovah, for with Him there is plenteous redemption, and He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities, (Psalms 130:7-8).

Arise, O Lord, for our help, and redeem us for Thy mercy’s sake, (Psalms 44:26).

Thus saith Jehovah God, I will redeem them from the hand of hell, I will redeem them from death, (Hosea 13:4, 14).

O Jehovah, hear my voice, He shall redeem my soul, (Psalms 55:17-18).

Also in Psalms 49:15; 69:18; 71:23; 103:1, 4; 107:2; Jeremiah 15:20-21.

[3] That the Lord as to His Human is the Redeemer, is not denied in the church, because it is according to Scripture, and the following passages:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, going in the multitude of His strength? the year of His redeemed is come. He redeemed them, (Isaiah 63:1, 4, 9).

Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh, behold, His reward is with Him, and they shall call them, The people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah, (Isaiah 62:11-12).

Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath visited and hath made redemption for His people, (Luke 1:68 and other places).

Many other passages, proving that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah Himself, came into the world, and took upon Him the Human, to redeem men, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (37-46). Jehovah is also called the Savior in many places, which cannot be adduced by reason of their abundance.

282. Out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, signifies that they in the church or in any religion, who are in truths as to doctrine, and in goods as to life, are redeemed by the Lord. By “tribe” is signified the church as to religion; by “tongue” is signified its doctrine, of which we shall speak presently; by “people” are signified they who are in truths of doctrine, and, abstractly, truths of doctrine, (483); and by “nation” are signified they who are in the goods of life, and, abstractly, the goods of life, (483); from hence it appears that by these words, “Out of every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation,” such things are signified as were said above (see also 627).

[2] It shall now be proved that “tongue,” in the spiritual sense, signifies the doctrine of the church, or of any religion; this is evident from the following passages:

My tongue also shall meditate of Thy justice, all the day Thy praise, (Psalms 35:28; 71:24).

Then shall the lame leap as a stag, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing, for in the wilderness shall waters break out, (Isaiah 35:6).

The tongue of the stammerers shall be swift to speak, (Isaiah 32:4).

It appears as if in these instances, by “tongue” was meant speech, but in the spiritual sense that which is spoken is meant, which is truth of doctrine, which they will have from the Lord. In like manner:

I have sworn that unto Me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear, (Isaiah 45:23).

The time shall come to gather all nations and tongues, that they may come and see My glory, (Isaiah 66:18).

In those days ten men out of all the tongues of the nations, shall take hold of the skirt of a man that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you, (Zechariah 8:23).

This is also concerning the conversion of the Gentiles by the Lord to the truth of doctrine.

[3] But by “tongues,” in the opposite sense, are signified false doctrines in the following passages:

A man of tongue shall not subsist on the earth, (Psalms 140:11).

Thou shalt hide them in Thy tabernacle from the strife of tongues, (Psalms 31:20).

I will bring a nation upon you, whose tongue thou knowest not, (Jeremiah 5:15).

To be sent to people of heavy tongue, (Ezekiel 3:5-6).

To people of barbarous tongue, (Isaiah 33:19).

It is to be known that “tongue,” as an organ, signifies doctrine, but, as speech, it also signifies religion.

[4] He who knows that “tongue” signifies doctrine, may understand what is meant by the words of the rich man in hell to Abraham:

That he would send Lazarus that he might dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool his tongue, that he should not be tormented in the flame, (Luke 16:24).

“Water” signifies truth, and “tongue” doctrine; by the falsities of which he was tormented, and not by the flame; for no one in hell is in flames, but flames there are appearances of the love of falsity; and fire is the appearance of the love of evil.

283. Verse 10. And hast made us unto our God kings and priests, signifies that from the Lord they are in wisdom from Divine truths and in love from Divine goods, and thus images of His Divine wisdom, and of His Divine love; as above, (21).

284. And we shall reign upon the earth, signifies, and will be in His kingdom, He in them and they in Him. By “reigning upon the earth,” nothing else is meant, than being in the Lord’s kingdom, and there one with Him, according to these words of the Lord:

That all who believe in Me, may be one; and may be one as Thou Father art in Me and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; And the glory which thou gavest Me I have given them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and Thou in Me, that where I am, they also may be with Me, (John 17:20-24).

As, therefore, they are thus one with the Lord, and, together with the Lord, constitute a kingdom, which is called the kingdom of God, it is evident that nothing else is signified by “reigning.” It is said “to reign” because it was before said, “Thou hast made us kings and priests;” and by “kings” are signified they who are in wisdom from Divine truths from the Lord; and by “priests,” they who are in love from Divine good from Him, (20); hence it is that the kingdom of the Lord is also called “the kingdom of the saints” (Daniel 7:18, 27); and it is said of the apostles, that:

With the Lord they should judge the twelve tribes of Israel, (Matthew 19:28).

Nevertheless the Lord alone judges and reigns; for He judges and reigns from Divine good by Divine truth, which is also from Him in them; but he who believes, that what is in them from the Lord is their own, is cast out of the kingdom, that is, out of heaven. The signification of “reigning” is the same in the following passages in Revelation:

They shall be priests of God and Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years, (Revelation 20:4, 6).

And concerning those who are to enter into the New Jerusalem:

The Lamb shall enlighten them, and they shall reign for ages of ages, (Revelation 22:5).

285. It is said, “They shall reign on the earth,” because by “earth” here and elsewhere is meant the Lord’s church in the heavens and on the earth. The church, wherever it may be, is the Lord’s kingdom. Lest, therefore, anyone should believe that all who are redeemed by the Lord become kings and priests, and that they will reign on the earth, it is important that it be shown from the Word that the earth signifies the church. This may be seen from the following passages:

Behold, Jehovah maketh the earth void, and maketh the earth empty, and turneth over the face of it; the earth shall be made utterly void; the habitable earth shall mourn and be confounded; the earth shall be profaned under its inhabitants; therefore the curse shall devour the earth, and the inhabitants of the earth shall be burnt up, and few men shall be left; there shall be in the midst of the earth as the plucking of an olive tree. The cataracts from on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken; the earth is utterly broken in pieces; the earth is altogether burst asunder; the earth is thoroughly shaken; the earth staggereth like a drunkard, (Isaiah 24:1-23).

[2] The lion hath come up from the thicket to lay waste thy land; I saw the earth, when, behold, it was void and empty; Jehovah said, The whole earth shall be waste, therefore the earth shall mourn, (Jeremiah 4:7, 23-28).

How long shall the earth mourn; the whole earth is desolate, because there is not a man that layeth it to heart, (Jeremiah 12:4, 11-13).

The earth mourneth and languisheth, Lebanon is ashamed and is withered away, (Isaiah 33:9).

The earth shall become burning pitch, and be laid waste, (Isaiah 34:9-10).

I have heard a consummation and decree from the Lord upon the whole earth, (Isaiah 28:2, 22).

Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh to lay the earth waste, and the earth shall be shaken out of its place, (Isaiah 13:9, 13).

The earth was shaken and trembled, and the foundations of the mountains quaked, (Psalms 18:7).

We will not fear when the earth is changed; when He uttereth his voice, the earth shall melt, (Psalms 46:2-3, 6, 8).

Have ye not understood from the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21, 23).

O God, Thou hast deserted us, Thou hast made the earth to tremble; heal its breaches, because it is shaken, (Psalms 60:1-2).

[3] The earth and all its inhabitants shall melt; I will make firm its pillars, (Psalms 75:3).

Woe to the land shadowed with wings; go, ye ambassadors, to a nation trodden down, whose land the rivers have spoiled, (Isaiah 18:1-2).

Through the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth is the earth darkened, (Isaiah 9:19).

Ye shall be a land of good pleasure, (Malachi 3:12).

I have given thee for a covenant of the people, to restore the earth; sing, O heavens; and exult, O earth, (Isaiah 49:8, 13).

Thou shalt not see Jah in the land of the living, (Isaiah 38:11).

Who gave terror in the land of the living, (Ezekiel 32:23-27).

Unless I believed to see good in the land of life, (Psalms 27:13).

Blessed are the meek, for they shall receive the earth as an inheritance, (Matthew 5:5).

I am Jehovah that maketh all things, that spreadeth out the heavens alone, that stretcheth out the earth by Myself, (Isaiah 44:23-24; Zechariah 12:1; Jeremiah 10:11-13; 51:15; Psalms 136:6).

Let the earth open itself, let it bring forth salvation; thus said Jehovah, that createth the heavens, that formeth the earth, (Isaiah 45:8, 12, 18-19).

Behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22).

Besides many other places, which, if they were adduced, would fill pages.

[4] The reason why the church is signified by “the earth” is because by “earth” the land of Canaan is often meant, in which was the church; “the heavenly Canaan” is no other; as, also, because when “the earth” is named, the angels, who are spiritual, do not think of the earth, but of the human race that is upon it and of its spiritual state, and its spiritual state is the state of the church. “The earth” has also an opposite sense, and in that it signifies damnation, because when there is no church with man, there is damnation; in this sense the earth is mentioned in Isaiah 14:12; 21:9; 26:19, 21; 29:4; 47:1; 63:6; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 26:20; 32:24; Numbers 16:29-33; 26:10.

286. Verse 11. And I saw, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne, and the animals and the elders, signifies confession and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens. That there was confession and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the three heavens, may be seen above, (275); and by the angels of the higher heavens, (from verses 8-10); and therefore now by the angels of the lower heavens (verses 11-12); wherefore by “the voice of the angels round about the throne,” is meant the confession and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens. That he then saw also the animals and elders together with them, because by “the animals” and “elders” are signified the angels of the higher heavens, (275), and the lower heavens never act separately from the higher heavens, but in conjunction with them; for the Lord inflows into all the heavens immediately from Himself; thus also into the lower heavens; and at the same time mediately through the higher heavens into the lower. This is the reason, therefore, why “he saw and heard the animals and elders” first by themselves, and afterwards in conjunction with the others.

287. And the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, signifies all in truths and in goods. By “number,” in the natural sense, is meant that which has relation to measure or weight, but by “number,” in the spiritual sense, that which has relation to quality; and here their quality is described by their being “myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands,” for “a myriad” is predicated of truths, and “a thousand” of goods. The reason why “a myriad” is predicated of truths, and “a thousand” of goods, is because a myriad is the greater number, and a thousand a less, and truths are manifold, but goods are simple; also because where truths are treated of in the Word, goods are treated of also, on account of the marriage of good and truth existing in every particular, otherwise it would have been sufficient to have said “myriads of myriads.” Since these two numbers have such a signification, they are mentioned also in other places, as in the following:

The chariots of God are two myriads, thousands of angels of peace, the Lord is in them, Sinai in the sanctuary, (Psalms 68:17).

I saw, when the Ancient of Days did sit, a thousand thousands ministered unto Him, and myriads of myriads stood before Him, (Daniel 7:9-10).

Moses said of Joseph:

His horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth; and they are the myriads of Ephraim, and the thousands of Manasseh, (Deuteronomy 33:17).

Thou shalt not be afraid for the pestilence that creepeth in thick darkness, nor for the death that wasteth at noonday, a thousand shall fall at thy side, and a myriad at thy right hand, (Psalms 91:5-7).

Our flocks are thousands, myriads in our streets, (Psalms 144:13).

Is Jehovah delighted with thousands of rams, or with myriads of rivers of oil? (Micah 6:7).

When the ark rested, Moses said:

Return, Jehovah, unto the myriads of the thousands of Israel, (Numbers 10:36).

In all these places “myriads” are spoken of truths, and “thousands” of goods.

288. Verse 12. Saying with a great voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and honor, and glory, signifies confession from the heart, that the Lord as to the Divine Human has omnipotence, omniscience, Divine good, and Divine truth. “To say with a great voice,” signifies confession from the heart; “Thou art worthy,” signifies that in Him are the things which follow; “The Lamb” signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human; “power” signifies the Divine power, which is omnipotence; “riches and wisdom,” signify Divine knowledge and wisdom, which are omniscience; “honor and glory,” signify the Divine good and the Divine truth. That “riches” signify the knowledges of good and truth, and thus science, may be seen above, (206); therefore, when said of the Lord, they signify omniscience; and that “honor and glory,” when spoken of the Lord, signify the Divine good and the Divine truth, see above, (249).

289. And blessing, signifies all these things in Him, and from Him in them. By “blessing” is meant every good which man receives from the Lord, as power and opulence, and all that is implied by them; but especially every spiritual good, as love and wisdom, charity and faith, and the joy and felicity thence, which are of eternal life; and because all these are from the Lord, it follows that they are in Him, for unless they were in Him, they could not be in others from Him. Hence it is, that, in the Word, the Lord is called “Blessed,” and also “Blessing,” that is, Blessing Itself. That Jehovah, that is the Lord, is called “Blessed,” is evident from these passages:

The high priest asked Jesus, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed? (Mark 14:61).

Jesus said, Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, (Matthew 23:39; Luke 13:35).

Melchizedek blessed Abram, and said, Blessed be God Most High who hath given thine enemies into thy hand, (Genesis 14:18-20).

Blessed be Jehovah the God of Shem, (Genesis 9:26).

Blessed be Jehovah, who hath heard my voice, (Psalms 28:6).

Blessed be Jehovah, for He hath made marvelous His kindness, (Psalms 31:21).

Blessed be Jehovah, from everlasting to everlasting, (Psalms 41:13; 66:20; 68:19, 35; 72:18-19; 89:52; 119:12; 124:6; 135:21; 144:1; Luke 1:68).

This is the reason why “blessing” is here mentioned, as also verse 12; and likewise in David:

Glory and honor dost Thou lay upon Him, for Thou makest Him a blessing for ever, (Psalms 21:5-6).

[2] These are concerning the Lord. Hence it may be seen what is meant in the Word by “blessing God,” namely, to ascribe to Him all blessing; also to pray that He would bless, and to give thanks for having blessed; as may appear from the following passages:

The mouth of Zacharias was opened, and he spoke, blessing God, (Luke 1:64, 68).

Simeon took up the infant Jesus in his arms, and blessed God, (Luke 2:28, 30-31).

Bless ye Jehovah, who hath counselled for me, (Psalms 16:7).

Bless the name of Jehovah, evangelize His salvation from day to day, (Psalms 96:1-3).

Blessed be the Lord from day to day, bless ye God in the congregations, even the Lord from the fountain of Israel, (Psalms 68:19, 26).

290. Verse 13. And every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, signifies confession and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lowest heavens. That this is a confession and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lowest heavens is evident from the series, because the confessions and glorifications of the Lord which precede were made by the angels of the higher and lower heavens, (275, and following numbers, 286, and following numbers); for there are three heavens, and innumerable societies in each, and each of them is called a heaven. That by “every created thing which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and in the sea,” are meant angels, is evident, for it says, “heard I saying,” and they said, “Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ages of ages.”

[2] Their being called “created thing” is according to the style of the Word, in which, by all created things, as well those which belong to the animal kingdom as those which belong to the vegetable kingdom, are signified various things with man, in general such things as belong to his will or affection, and such as pertain to his understanding or thought; for they signify such things, because they correspond to them. And since the Word is written by mere correspondences, similar things are said of the angels of heaven and the men of the church; in proof of which a few passages only shall be adduced, which are as follows:

Jesus said to His disciples, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, (Mark 16:15).

Ask now the beasts, and they shall teach thee; and the birds of heaven and they shall tell thee; or the shrub of the earth, and it shall teach thee, and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee; who knoweth not from all these, that the hand of Jehovah hath done this? (Job 12:7-9).

Let the heaven and earth praise Jehovah, the seas, and all that creepeth therein, for God will save Zion, (Psalms 69:34-35).

Praise Jehovah from the earth, ye whales and all deeps, (Psalms 148:7).

I will utterly consume all things from upon the face of the earth, I will consume man and beast, I will consume the birds of the heavens, and the fishes of the sea, (Zephaniah 1:2-3; likewise in Isaiah 50:2-3; Ezekiel 38:19-20; Hosea 4:2-3; Revelation 8:7-9).

The heavens shall be glad, and the earth shall rejoice; the sea shall be moved, and the fullness thereof; the field shall exult, and all that is therein; then shall all the trees of the wood sing before Jehovah, for He cometh; for He cometh to judge the earth, (Psalms 96:11-13 and in many other places).

[3] It is said “every created thing,” by which is meant every reformed thing, or all the reformed, for “to create” signifies to reform and regenerate, (254). What is meant by “in heaven, upon the earth, and under the earth,” may be seen above, (260); and what by the “sea” (238[1-5]); hence it is evident what is signified by “such things as are in the sea, and all that are in them;” these things are meant in the Word by “the fishes of the sea,” which are the sensual affections, these being the lowest of the natural man, for in the spiritual world such affections appear at a distance like “fishes,” and as if they were “in the sea,” because the atmosphere in which they are, appears watery, and therefore to those who are in the heavens and on the earth there, it seems like “a sea,” as may be seen above, (238[1-5]), and concerning fishes, (405).

291. Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne and unto the Lamb for ages of ages, signifies that in the Lord from eternity, and thence in His Divine Human, is the all of heaven and the church, the Divine good, and the Divine truth, and the Divine power, and from Him in those who are in heaven and in the church. That the Lord from eternity is Jehovah, who took upon Him the Human in time, that He might redeem and save men, may be seen above, (281); therefore by “Him that sitteth upon the throne,” is meant the Lord from eternity, who is called the Father, and by “the Lamb,” the Lord as to the Divine Human, which is the Son; and because the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, and they are one, it is evident that by both, or by “Him that sitteth upon the throne and the Lamb,” the Lord is meant; and because they are one, it is also said that “the Lamb was in the midst of the throne” (verse 6; also 7:17). That “blessing,” when spoken of the Lord, is the all of heaven and of the church in Him and from Him, in those who are in heaven and in the church, may be seen above, (289). That “honor and glory,” are the Divine good and the Divine truth, may also be seen above, (249); and that “power” when spoken of the Lord, is the Divine power, is evident. That all these are the Lord’s, may appear from what is said in Daniel:

Behold, with the clouds of the heavens one like the Son of man came and even to the Ancient of Days; and there was given Him dominion, and glory, and the kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages, shall worship Him; His dominion is the dominion of an age, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not perish, (Daniel 7:13-14).

That “the Ancient of Days” is the Lord from eternity, appears from these words in Micah:

But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall come forth unto Me, He who shall be ruler in Israel; and whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity, (Micah 5:2).

Also from these in Isaiah:

Unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Counsellor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace, (Isaiah 9:6).

292. Verse 14. And the four animals said, Amen, signifies Divine confirmation from the Word. That “the four animals” or cherubs signify the Word, may be seen above, (239); and that “amen” signifies Divine confirmation from truth itself, (23, 28, 61), thus from the Word.

293. And the twenty-four elders fell down and adored Him that liveth forever and ever signifies humiliation before the Lord, and from humiliation, adoration of Him by all in the heavens, in Whom and from Whom is eternal life, as above, (251, and 58, 60).

294. To the above I will add this Relation. In the natural world the speech of man is twofold, because his thought is twofold, exterior and interior; for a man can speak from interior thought and at the same time from exterior thought, and he can speak from exterior thought and not from interior, yea, contrary to interior thought, whence come dissimulations, flatteries, and hypocrisies. But in the spiritual world man’s speech is not twofold, but single. He there speaks as he thinks, otherwise the sound is harsh and offends the ear; but yet he may be silent, and so not publish the thoughts of his mind. Therefore, a hypocrite, when he comes among the wise, either goes away, or retires to a corner of the room and withdraws himself from observation, and sits silent.

[2] On one occasion there were many gathered together in the world of spirits, who were discoursing on this subject, and saying, that not to be able to speak except as one thinks, must be a hard thing for those who might be in company with the good, but yet who have not thought justly concerning God and the Lord. In the midst of the assembly were those of the Reformed, and many of the clergy, and next to them were papists and monks; and they all at first said it was not a hard thing. “What need is there to speak otherwise than one thinks, and if one should happen not to think justly, can he not close his lips and keep silence?” And one of the clergy said, “Who does not think justly of God and the Lord?” But some of the company said, “Let us, however, try.” And to those who had confirmed themselves in the idea of a Trinity of Persons in God, especially from these words in the Athanasian doctrine, “There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit, and as the Father is God, so the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God,” it was said that they should say, “one God;” but they could not; they distorted and folded their lips in many ways, but could not articulate a sound in any other words than such as were consonant with the ideas of their thought, which were ideas of three Persons, and thence of three gods.

[3] They who had confirmed themselves in faith separate from charity, were then asked to name “Jesus;” but they could not; yet they could all say Christ, and also God the Father. This they wondered at, and inquired into the cause, which they found to be this, that they had prayed to God the Father for the Son’s sake, and had not prayed to the Savior Himself; for “Jesus” signifies Savior.

[4] They were then requested that from thinking of the Lord’s Divine Human, they should say, “Divine Human;” but none of the clergy that were present could do so, though some of the laity could, wherefore the matter was taken into serious discussion; and then:

1. The following passages from the Evangelists were read to them:

The Father hath given all things into the Son’s hand, (John 3:35).

The Father hath given the Son power over all flesh, (John 17:2).

All things are delivered unto Me by the Father, (Matthew 11:27).

All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth, (Matthew 28:18).

And they were directed to keep in the thought, that Christ, both as to His Divine and as to His Human, is the God of heaven and earth, and thus to pronounce “Divine Human.” But still they could not; and they said that they indeed retained from those passages something of the thought of it from their understanding concerning it, but not acknowledgment, and that on its account they were not able.

[5] 2. Afterwards was read to them out of Luke 1:32, 34-35, that the Lord as to the Human was the Son of Jehovah God, and that everywhere in the Word He is called, as to the Human, “the Son of God,” and also “the Only-begotten,” and they were asked to hold this in the thought; and likewise that the Only-begotten Son of God born in the world cannot but be God, as the Father is God, and to utter the words, “Divine Human.” But they said, “We cannot, by reason that our spiritual thought, which is interior, does not admit into the thought which is next to the speech any other than similar ideas;” and that thence they could perceive, that it is not permitted them to divide their thoughts, as it was in the natural world.

[6] 3. Then were read to them these words of the Lord to Philip:

Philip said, Lord, show us the Father, and the Lord said, he who seeth Me seeth the Father; believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? (John 14:8-11).

And in another place:

The Father and He are one, (John 10:30, and elsewhere).

And it was enjoined them to hold this in the thought and say, “Divine Human.” But as their thought was not rooted in the acknowledgment that the Lord was God as to His Human also, therefore they could not; they twisted and folded their lips even to indignation, and would have forced their mouth to utter and force it out, but they were not able. The reason was, because the ideas of thought, which flow from acknowledgment, make one with words uttered by the tongue, with those who are in the spiritual world; and where such ideas do not exist, there are no words, for the ideas become words in speaking.

[7] 4. Moreover there was read to them from the doctrine of the church received throughout the whole world, the following passage, taken from the Athanasian Creed: “That the Divine and Human in the Lord are not two but one, yea, one Person, united altogether like soul and body;” and it was said to them, “From this you may possibly have an idea from the acknowledgment that the Lord’s Human is Divine, because His soul is Divine, for it is from the doctrine of your church, acknowledged by you when in the world. Moreover the soul is the essence itself, and the body is its form, and the essence and form make one, like being and existing, and like the efficient cause of the effect, and the effect itself.” They retained that idea, and wished to utter “Divine Human;” but they could not; for their interior idea concerning the Lord’s Human exterminated and expunged this new supplemental idea, as they called it.

[8] 5. Again there was read to them this passage from John:

The Word was with God, and God was the Word; and the Word became flesh, (John 1:1, 14).

And the following from Paul:

In Jesus Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Divinity bodily, (Malachi 2:9).

And they were told to think firmly that God, who was the Word, was made flesh, and that all the Divine dwells in Him bodily, and perhaps then they might be able to pronounce “Divine Human.” But still they could not, saying openly that they could not have the idea of the Divine Human, because God is God, and man is man, and God is spirit, and of a spirit we have never thought any otherwise than as of wind or ether.

[9] 6. At length it was said to them: you know that the Lord said:

Abide in me, and I in you, he who abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit, for without Me ye can do nothing, (John 15:4-5).

And as some of the English clergy were present, there was read to them this passage out of one of their exhortations before the holy communion, “For when we spiritually eat the flesh of Christ, and drink the blood, then we dwell in Christ, and Christ in us.” “If now you will but think that this cannot take place, except the Lord’s Human be Divine, you may pronounce ‘Divine Human,’ from an acknowledgment in thought.” But still they could not; so deeply was the idea impressed upon them that the Lord’s Divine was one thing and His Human another, and that His Divine was like the Divine of the Father, and His Human like the human of another man. But it was said to them, “How can you think thus? Is it possible for a rational mind ever to think that God is three, and the Lord two?”

[10] 7. Afterwards they turned to the Lutherans, saying that the Augustan confession and Luther taught that the Son of God and the Son of man in Christ are one Person, and that He even as to the Human nature, is the true, omnipotent, and eternal God, and that as to this nature also, being present at the right hand of God Almighty, He governs all things in the heavens and on earth, fills all things, is with us, and dwells and operates in us; and that there is no distinction of adoration, because by the nature which is seen, the Divinity which is not seen is adored, thus that in Christ God is Man and Man is God. On hearing this, they said, “Is it so?” And they looked round, and presently they said, “This is what we did not know before; therefore we are not able.” But one and another said, “We have read it and written it, but yet when we thought of it in ourselves from ourselves, they were only words of which we had no interior idea.”

[11] 8. At length, turning to the papists, they said, “Possibly you can name the ‘Divine Human,’ because you believe that in your Eucharist, in the bread and wine and in every part, there is the whole of Christ, and also you adore Him as God, when you show and carry about the host; and likewise because you call Mary the bringer forth of God, consequently you acknowledge that she brought forth God, that is, the Divine Human.” They then wished to pronounce it from those ideas, of the thought concerning the Lord, but could not, by reason of their entertaining a material idea of His body and blood; and by reason of the assertion that the Human and not the Divine power is transferred by Him to the Pope. Then a certain monk rose up and said that he could think of the Divine Human, concerning the most holy virgin Mary, the God-bearer, and also of the saint of his monastery. And another monk came, and said, “From my idea of thought, I could rather call his holiness, the Pope, the Divine Human, than Christ;” but then some other monks pulled him back, and said, “Shame on you.”

[12] After this heaven was seen open, and there were seen tongues, as little flames, descending and flowing in with some; and they then celebrated the Divine Human of the Lord, saying, “Remove the idea of three Gods, and believe that in the Lord dwells all the fullness of Divinity bodily, and that the Father and He are one, as the soul and body are one, and that God is not wind, or ether, but that He is Man, and then you will be conjoined with heaven, and thereby have power from the Lord to pronounce the name of ‘Jesus,’ and say ‘Divine Human. ‘“

Chapter 6 (295-341)

295. Revelation 6

1. And I saw when the lamb had opened the first of the seals, and I heard one of the four animals saying, as with a voice of thunder, Come and look.

2. And I saw, and behold, a white horse, and he that sat upon him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him, and he went forth conquering and to conquer.

3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second animal saying, Come and look.

4. And there went out another horse that was red, and it was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.

5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third animal saying, Come and look. And I saw, and behold, a black horse; and he that sat upon him had a balance in his hand.

6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four animals, saying, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and hurt not the oil and the wine.

7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying, Come and look.

8. And I saw, and behold, a pale horse; and his name that sat upon him was Death, and hell followed with him; and power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by beasts.²⁷

9. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held.

10. And they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?

11. And white robes were given unto each of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet a little while, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that would be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.

12. And I saw when he had opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood.

13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth its unripe figs, when shaken by a great wind.

14. And the heaven departed as a book rolled together: and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.

15. And the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the rich, and the rulers of thousands, and the mighty, and every servant, and every freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains;

16. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb.

17. Because the great day of His anger is come, and who shall be able to stand?

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

It treats of the exploration of those on whom the Last Judgment is to be executed; and exploration is made as to what the quality of their understanding of the Word had been and thence the quality of their state of life. That there were those who were in truths from good (verses 1-2); those who were without good (verses 3-4); those who were in contempt of truth (verses 5-6); and those who were totally vastated both as to good and truth (verses 7-8). Of the state of those who were guarded by the Lord in the lower earth, on account of the evil, and were to be delivered at the time of the Last Judgment (verses 9-11). Of the state of those who were in evils and thence in falsities, what it is at the day of the Last Judgment (verses 12-17).

The contents of each verse, (Revelation 6)

Verse 1. “And I saw when the Lamb had opened the first of the seals,” signifies exploration by the Lord of all those upon whom the Last Judgment was about to come as to their understanding of the Word, and thence as to their states of life, (295). “And I heard one of the four animals saying, as with a voice of thunder,” signifies, according to the Divine truth of the Word, (296). “Come and look,” signifies a manifestation concerning the first in order, (297).

Verse 2. “And I saw, and behold, a white horse,” signifies the understanding of truth and good from the Word with these, (298); “And he that sat upon him had a bow,” signifies that they had the doctrine of truth and good from the Word, from which they fought against the falsities and evils which are from hell, (299); “And a crown was given unto him,” signifies their badge of combat, (300); “And he went forth conquering, and to conquer,” signifies victory over evils and falsities to eternity, (301).

Verse 3. “And when He had opened the second seal, I heard the second animal saying, Come and look,” signifies the same here as above, (302-304).

Verse 4. “And there went out another horse that was red,” signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed as to good, and thence as to life, with these, (305). “And it was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth,” signifies the taking away of charity, spiritual security, and internal rest, (306). “And that they should kill one another,” signifies intestine hatreds, infestations from the hells, and internal unrest, (307). “And there was given unto him a great sword,” signifies the destruction of truth by falsities of evil, (308).

Verse 5. “And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third animal saying, Come and look,” signifies the same here as above, (309-311). “And I saw, and behold, a black horse,” signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed with these as to truth, and thus as to doctrine, (312). “And he that sat upon him had a balance in his hand,” signifies the estimation of good and truth, what it was with these, (313).

Verse 6. “And I heard a voice in the midst of the four animals saying,” signifies the Divine guarding of the Word by the Lord, (314). “A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny,” signifies, because the estimation of good and truth is so small as to be scarcely anything, (315[1-2]). “And hurt not the oil and the wine,” signifies that it is provided by the Lord, that the holy goods and truths which lie interiorly concealed in the Word, should not be violated and profaned, (316).

Verse 7. “And when He had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying, Come and look,” signifies the same here as above, (317-319).

Verse 8. “And I saw, and behold, a pale horse,” signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed both as to good and as to truth, (320). “And his name that sat upon him was Death, and hell followed with him,” signifies the extinction of spiritual life and thence damnation, (321). “And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill,” signifies the destruction of all good in the church, (322). “With sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the earth,” signifies by falsities of doctrine, by evils of life, by the love of the proprium, and by lusts, (323).

Verse 9. “And when He had opened the fifth seal,” signifies exploration by the Lord of the states of life of those who were to be saved at the day of the Last Judgment, and were in the meantime reserved, (324). “I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held,” signifies those who were rejected by the evil on account of their life according to the truths of the Word, and their acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine Human, and who were guarded by the Lord lest they be seduced, (325).

Verse 10. “And they cried with a great voice,” signifies grief of heart, (326), “Saying, How long, O Lord, ¹ dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?” signifies by reason that the Last Judgment is delayed, and that they who offer violence to the Word and to the Lord’s Divine are not removed, (327).

Verse 11. “And white robes were given unto each of them,” signifies their communication and conjunction with angels who are in Divine truths, (328); “And it was said, that they should rest yet for a little while, until their fellow-servants also, and their brethren, that would be killed as they were, should be fulfilled,” signifies that the Last Judgment would yet be delayed a little, till they should be collected, who were in like manner rejected by the evil, (329).

Verse 12. “And I saw when He had opened the sixth seal,” signifies exploration by the Lord of their state of life, who were interiorly evil, upon whom the judgment was about to come, (330). “And behold, there was a great earthquake,” signifies the state of the church with those totally changed, and terror, (331). “And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood,” signifies the adulteration of all the good of love with them, and the falsification of all the truth of faith, (332).

Verse 13. “And the stars²⁸ fell unto the earth,” signifies the dispersion of all the knowledges of good and truth, (333). “Even as a fig tree casteth its unripe figs, when shaken by a great wind,” signifies by the reasonings of the natural man separated from the spiritual, (334).

Verse 14. “And the heaven departed as a book rolled together,” signifies separation from heaven and conjunction with hell, (335). “And every mountain and island were moved out of their places,” signifies that all the good of love and truth of faith departed, (336[1-4]).

Verse 15. “And the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the rich, and the rulers of thousands, and the mighty, and every servant, and every freeman,” signifies those who, before separation, were in the understanding of truth and good, in the science of the knowledges thereof, in erudition, either from others or from themselves, and yet not in a life according to them, (337). “Hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,” signifies that they were now in evils and in falsities of evil, (338).

Verse 16. “And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb,” signifies confirmations of evil by falsities from evil, until they did not acknowledge any Divine of the Lord, (339).

Verse 17. “Because the great day of His anger is come, and who shall be able to stand?” signifies that they had become such of themselves by separation from the good and the faithful on account of the Last Judgment, which otherwise they could not endure, (340).

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And I saw when the Lamb had opened the first of the seals, signifies exploration by the Lord of all those upon whom the Last Judgment was about to come, as to their understanding of the Word, and thence as to their states of life. This is signified, because now follows in order the exploration of all upon whom the Last Judgment was about to come, as to their states of life, and this from the Lord according to the Word. This then is the signification of “the Lamb’s opening the seals of the book.” That “to open the book,” and “loose the seals thereof,” signifies to know the states of the life of all, and to judge everyone according to his own, may be seen above, (259-265, 267, 273, 274).

296. And I heard one of the four animals saying as with a voice of thunder, signifies according to the Divine truth of the Word. That by “the four animals,” or “cherubim,” is meant the Word, may be seen above, (239, 275, 286), and by “a voice of thunder,” the perception of the Divine truth, (236). It is here said “a voice of thunder,” because by this animal is meant the lion, by which is signified the Divine truth of the Word as to power, (241); hence it is, that this animal is said to have spoken “as a voice of thunder,” for it is said afterwards, that the second animal spoke, then the third, and the fourth.

297. Come and look, signifies a manifestation concerning the first in order. It was said above, that in this chapter is described the exploration of all upon whom the judgment was about to come, as to their states of life, and this from the Lord according to the Word, (295); here therefore is described the exploration of the first in order, as to their understanding of the Word, and thence the states of their life. That the church is from the Word, and that it is such as is its understanding of the Word, may be seen in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (76-79).

298. Verse 2. And I saw, and behold, a white horse, signifies the understanding of truth and good from the Word with these. By “horse” is signified the understanding of the Word, and by “a white horse” the understanding of truth from the Word; for white is predicated of truth, (167[1-2]). That “a horse” signifies the understanding of the Word, is shown in a separate small work on The White Horse; but as a few passages only are there quoted, others shall be here quoted by way of further confirmation. This is very manifest from this that “horses” were seen to go out of the book which the Lamb had opened, and from “the animals saying, Come and look;” for by “the animals” is signified the Word, (239, 275, 286); so likewise by “the book” (256); and by “the Son of man,” who is here “the Lamb,” the Lord as to the Word, (44[1-2]). From these things it is now evident, that nothing is meant here by “horse” but the understanding of the Word. This may appear more manifestly still from the following passages in Revelation:

I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He that sat upon him is called the Word of God, and He hath on His vesture and on His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And His armies in the heavens followed Him upon white horses, (Revelation 19:11, 13-14, 16).

[2] That “a horse” signifies the understanding of the Word, may also appear from the following passages:

Was thy wrath against the sea, O Jehovah, that Thou didst ride upon Thy horses, and Thy chariots of salvation? Thou didst tread the sea with Thy horses, the mud of the waters, (Habakkuk 3:8, 15).

The hoofs of Jehovah’s horses are counted as flints, (Isaiah 5:28).

In that day I will smite every horse with astonishment, and his rider with madness; and will smite every horse of the people with blindness, (Zechariah 12:4).

In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses holiness unto Jehovah, (Zechariah 14:20).

Because God hath made her forget wisdom, neither hath imparted intelligence. What time she lifteth up herself on high she laugheth at the horse and his rider, (Job 39:17-18).

And I will cut off the horse from Jerusalem, and he shall speak peace to the nations, (Zechariah 9:10).

At Thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and the horse are cast into a deep sleep, (Psalms 76:6).

And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will overthrow the chariot and those that ride in them, and the horses and their riders shall come down, (Haggai 2:22).

By thee I will destroy kingdoms; and by thee I will disperse the horse and his rider, (Jeremiah 51:20-21).

Gather yourselves on every side to My sacrifice; thus shall ye be satiated at My table with horse and chariot, thus I will give My glory among the nations, (Ezekiel 39:17, 20-21).

Gather yourselves together unto the great supper of God; and ye shall eat the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, (Revelation 19:17-18).

Dan shall be an asp upon the path, that biteth the heels of the horse, so that his rider shall fall backwards; I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah, (Genesis 49:17-18).

Gird on thy sword, O Mighty One, mount, ride upon the Word of truth, (Psalms 45:3-4).

Sing unto God, extol him that rideth upon the clouds, (Psalms 68:4).

Behold, Jehovah rideth upon a cloud, (Isaiah 19:1).

Sing psalms unto the Lord that rideth upon the heaven of heavens of old, (Psalms 68:32-33).

God rode upon a cherub, (Psalms 18:10).

Then shalt thou delight thyself in Jehovah, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, (Isaiah 58:14).

Jehovah alone did lead him, and made him to ride upon the high places of the earth, (Deuteronomy 32:12-13).

I will make Ephraim to ride, (Hosea 10:11).

[3] Ephraim also signifies the understanding of the Word. Because Elijah and Elisha represented the Lord as to the Word, therefore they were called “the chariot of Israel and his horsemen.” Elisha said to Elijah:

My father, my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, (2 Kings 2:12).

And king Joash said to Elisha, O my father, the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof, (2 Kings 13:14).

Jehovah opened the eyes of Elisha’s boy, and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha, (2 Kings 6:17).

A “chariot” signifies doctrine from the Word, and a “horseman,” one that is wise by means of it. The same is signified by:

The four chariots which came out from between the mountains of brass, and by the four horses harnessed in them, which were red, black, white, and speckled, which are also called the four spirits, and are said to have gone forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth, (Zechariah 6:1-8, 15).

In these places, by “horses” is signified the understanding of the Word, or the understanding of truth from the Word, and in like manner in other places.

[4] It may appear still more clearly from the mention that is made of “horses” in the opposite sense, in which they signify the understanding of the Word and of truth falsified by reasonings, and likewise destroyed; as also one’s own intelligence; as in the following passages:

Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, but look not unto the Holy One of Israel; for Egypt is man and not God, and the horses thereof flesh and not spirit, (Isaiah 31:1, 3).

Thou shalt set him king over Israel whom Jehovah shall choose; but only he shall not multiply horses to himself, lest he bring back the people into Egypt to multiply horses, (Deuteronomy 17:15-16).

These things were said, because by “Egypt” are signified science and reasoning from one’s own intelligence, whence comes the falsification of the truth of the Word, which is here “a horse.”

Asshur shall not save us, we will not ride upon a horse, (Hosea 14:3).

Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will glory in the name of the Lord our God, (Psalms 20:7).

A horse is a false thing for safety, (Psalms 33:17).

Jehovah delighteth not in the strength of the horse, (Psalms 147:10).

The Holy One of Israel saith, In confidence shall be your strength; but ye said, No; for we will flee upon a horse; we will ride upon the swift, (Isaiah 30:15-16).

Jehovah will make Judah as a horse of glory; the riders on horses shall be ashamed, (Zechariah 10:3, 5).

Woe to the city of blood, it is all full of a lie, the neighing horses, and the leaping chariots; the horseman lifteth up, (Nahum 3:1-4).

I will bring against Tyre the king of Babylon, with horse and with chariot, and with horsemen; by reason of the abundance of horses their dust shall cover thee; thy walls shall be shaken at the voice of the horsemen and of the chariots; with the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets, (Ezekiel 26:7-11).

By “Tyre” is signified the church as to the knowledges of truth, here such as are falsified in her, which are “the horses of Babylon,” besides other places (as Isaiah 5:26, 28; Jeremiah 6:22-23; 8:16; 46:4, 9; 50:37-38, 42; Ezekiel 17:15; 23:6, 20; Habakkuk 1:6, 8-10; Psalms 66:12). The understanding of the Word destroyed is also signified by the “red, black, and pale horse,” mentioned below. That it is from appearances in the spiritual world that “a horse” signifies the understanding of truth from the Word, see the small tract concerning The White Horse.

299. And he that sat upon him had a bow, signifies that they had the doctrine of truth and good from the Word, from which they fought against the falsities and evils which are from hell, thus against hell. By “Him that sat upon the white horse,” as mentioned in Revelation 19:13, is meant the Lord as to the Word; but by him that sat upon this white horse, is meant a man-angel as to the doctrine of truth and good from the Word, thus from the Lord; in like manner as by:

The Lord’s army in heaven, which followed the Lord upon white horses, (Revelation 19:14).

Of Him that sat on the white horse (Revelation 19), it is said that:

Out of His mouth went forth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations, (Revelation 19:15).

And by “the sword out of His mouth,” is signified the Divine truth of the Word fighting against falsities and evils, (52, 108, 117); but here it is said that he who sat on this white horse had “a bow,” and by “a bow” is signified the doctrine of truth and good from the Word fighting against evils and falsities. To fight against falsities and evils is also to fight against the hells, because evils and falsities are from thence, therefore this also is signified.

[2] That “a bow,” in the Word, signifies doctrine combating, in both senses, may appear from these passages:

The arrows of Jehovah are sharp, and all His bows bent, the hoofs of His horses shall be counted like flints, (Isaiah 5:28).

The Lord bent His bow like an enemy, (Lamentations 2:4).

Thou, O Jehovah, ridest upon Thy horses, Thy bow shall be made naked, (Habakkuk 3:8-9).

He gave the nations before Him and made Him rule over kings. He gave them as dust to His sword, and as stubble to His bow, (Isaiah 41:2).

In these places “a bow,” because it is applied to Jehovah or the Lord, signifies the Word, from which the Lord fights with man against evils and falsities.

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the bow of war shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace to the nations, (Zechariah 9:10).

They bend their tongue, their bow is a lie, and not the truth, (Jeremiah 9:3).

Behold the wicked bend their bow, they make ready the arrows upon the string, to shoot in the darkness the upright in heart, (Psalms 11:2).

They shall sorely grieve Joseph, and shoot, the archers hold him in hatred; but he shall sit in the strength of his bow, from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (Genesis 49:23-24).

Put yourselves in array against Babylon, all ye that bend the bow, shoot at her, spare not the arrow, for she hath sinned against Jehovah, (Jeremiah 50:14, 29).

David lamented over Saul to teach the sons of Judah the bow, (2 Samuel 1:17-18).

In that lamentation the combat of truth against falsities is treated of.

[3] Thus saith Jehovah of Hosts; Behold I break the bow of Elam, the beginning of his might, (Jeremiah 49:35).

Jehovah hath made me a polished shaft, in His quiver hath He hidden me, (Isaiah 49:2).

Behold, sons are an heritage of Jehovah, happy is he that hath filled his quiver with them, (Psalms 127:3-5).

“Sons” here, as in other places, signify truths of doctrine.

In Salem shall be the tabernacle of Jehovah, there broke He the string of the bow, the shield, the sword, and war, (Psalms 76:2-3).

Jehovah will make wars to cease, He will break the bow, He will cut the spear in sunder, He will burn the chariot in the fire, (Psalms 46:9; Ezekiel 39:8-9; Hosea 2:18).

In these passages “a bow” signifies the doctrine of truth combating against falsities, and in the opposite sense, the doctrine of falsity combating against truths; therefore “arrows” and “darts” signify truths or falsities. As “war” in the Word signifies spiritual war, therefore the arms of war, such as the sword, spear, shield, buckler, bow and arrows, signify such things as belong to that war.

300. And a crown was given unto him, signifies his badge of combat. “A crown” signifies a badge of combat, because in ancient times kings wore crowns in battle, as may appear from history, and partly from 2 Samuel 1:10, where:

The man said to David concerning Saul, that when he died in battle, he took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelets that were upon his arms, (2 Samuel 1:10).

Then also from what is said of the king of Rabbah and David, (2 Samuel 12:29-30). And as temptations are spiritual combats which the martyrs sustained, therefore crowns were given them as badges of victory, (103). Hence it appears, that by “a crown” is here signified the badge of their combat; therefore it follows, “And he went forth conquering, and to conquer.”

301. And he went forth conquering and to conquer, signifies victory over falsities and evils to eternity. It is said “conquering and to conquer,” because he who in spiritual combats, which are temptations, conquers in this world, conquers to eternity, for the hells cannot assault anyone who has conquered them.

302. Verse 3. And when He had opened the second seal, signifies exploration by the Lord of those upon whom the Last Judgment was to be executed, as to their states of life. The signification here is similar to what was shown before, (295), only with the difference mentioned in what follows.

303. I heard the second animal saying, signifies according to the Divine truth of the Word, as above, (296).

304. Come and look, signifies manifestation concerning the second in order, as may appear from the explanation above, (297); but there concerning the first in order, and here concerning the second.

305. Verse 4. And there went out another horse that was red, signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed as to good, and thence as to life with these. By “a horse” is signified the understanding of the Word, (298); and by “red” [rufus] is signified good destroyed. That the color white is predicated of truths, because it is from the light of the sun of heaven, and the color red [ruber] is predicated of goods because it is from the fire of the sun of heaven may be seen above, (167[1-2], 231). But the reason why “red” [rufus] is predicated of good destroyed, is, because by red [rufus] an infernal red is meant, which is from infernal fire, which is the love of evil; the red which is an infernal red is hideous and abominable, there being nothing alive therein, but all dead; hence it is, that by “a red horse” is signified the understanding of the Word destroyed as to good. This may also appear from the description of it below; that “it was given him to take peace from the earth, that they should kill one another:” “the second animal” also, which was like a calf, by which is signified the Divine truth of the Word as to affection, (242), said, “Come and look,” and thus showed that there was no affection of good, and thence no good with them. That red is spoken of love, as well the love of good as of evil, may appear from the following passages:

Who washed His clothing in wine, His covering in the blood of grapes; His eyes are redder than wine, and His teeth whiter than milk, (Genesis 49:11-12).

This is concerning the Lord:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, red as to His garment, and His garment as of him that treadeth in the winepress, (Isaiah 63:1-2).

This is also concerning the Lord:

The Nazarites were whiter than snow, brighter than milk; their bones were redder than red-shining gems, (Lamentations 4:7).

In these passages “red” is predicated of the love of good; in the following, of the love of evil:

The shield was made red, and the men were empurpled; in the fire of torches were their chariots, their aspect was as of a torch, (Nahum 2:3-4).

If your sins were as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; If they were red as purple, they shall be as wool, (Isaiah 1:18).

Neither is anything else signified by the “red dragon” (Revelation 12:3); and by the “red horse standing among the myrtle trees” (Zechariah 1:8). Similar things are said of the colors which are derived from red, as of scarlet and purple.

306. And it was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, signifies the taking away of charity, spiritual security, and internal rest. By “peace” are signified all things in their aggregate which are from the Lord, and thence all things of heaven and the church, and the happiness of life in them; these are of peace in the highest or inmost sense. It follows therefore that “peace” is charity, spiritual security, and internal rest; for when man is in the Lord, he is in peace with his neighbor, which is charity; in protection against the hells, which is spiritual security; and when he is in peace with his neighbor, and in protection against the hells, he is in internal rest from evils and falsities. Since therefore all these are from the Lord, it may appear what is signified in general and in particular by “peace” in the following passages:

For unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called God, Hero, The Father of Eternity, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end, (Isaiah 9:6-7).

Jesus said, Peace I leave with you, My peace I give you, (John 14:27).

Jesus said, These things have I spoken, that in Me ye might have peace, (John 16:33).

In His days shall the just flourish, and abundance of peace, (Psalms 72:3, 7).

Then I will make a covenant of peace, (Ezekiel 34:25, 27; 37:25-26; Malachi 2:4-5 How delightful upon the mountains are the feet of Him that bringeth good tidings, that maketh to hear peace, that saith unto Zion, Thy King²⁹ reigneth, (Isaiah 52:7).

Jehovah bless thee, and lift up His countenance upon thee, and give thee peace, (Numbers 6:24-26).

Jehovah will bless His people with peace, (Psalms 29:11).

Jehovah will redeem my soul in peace, (Psalms 55:18).

And the work of justice is peace, and the labor of justice is quietness, and security forever. That they may dwell in a tabernacle of peace and in a tent of security, and in quiet tranquil places, (Isaiah 32:17-18).

Jesus said unto the seventy whom He sent out, Into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house; and if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it, (Luke 10:5-6; Matthew 10:12-14).

The meek shall possess the earth, and shall delight themselves in the multitude of peace: behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace, (Psalms 37:11, 37).

Zacharias, prophesying, said, The day-spring from on high hath appeared, to direct our feet into the way of peace, (Luke 1:78-79).

Depart from evil and do good: seek peace and pursue it, (Psalms 34:14).

Much peace have they that love Thy law, (Psalms 119:165-166).

O that thou hadst hearkened to My commandments! then had thy peace been as a river. There is no peace, saith Jehovah, to the wicked, (Isaiah 48:18, 22).

Jehovah will speak peace to His people: justice and peace shall kiss each other, (Psalms 85:8, 10).

There is no peace in my bones because of my sin, (Psalms 38:3).

He hath filled me with bitterness, my soul is removed from peace; I forgot good, (Lamentations 3:15, 17).

Besides many other passages; from which it may be seen, that the above-mentioned things are meant by “peace;” keep in mind spiritual peace, and you will clearly perceive that this is the case (so likewise in these passages, Isaiah 26:12; 53:5; 54:10, 13; Jeremiah 33:6, 9; Haggai 2:9; Zechariah 8:16, 19; Psalms 4:6-8; 120:6-7; 122:6-9; 128:5-6; 147:14). That peace is what inmostly affects all good with blessedness, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, (284-290).

307. And that they should kill one another, signifies intestine hatreds, infestations from the hells, and internal restlessness. These things are signified, when by “taking away peace” is signified taking away charity, spiritual security, and internal rest, and when by “the red horse” is signified the understanding of the Word destroyed as to good; for these things exist when there is no longer any good; and there is no longer any good when it is not known what good is. That intestine hatreds exist when there is no charity, likewise infestations by the hells when there is no spiritual security, and internal restlessness when there is no rest from evils and their lusts, is evident; but this is the case after death, if not in the world. That “to kill” has such a signification, is plain from the signification of “a sword,” in what follows.

308. And there was given unto him a great sword, signifies the destruction of truth by the falsities of evil. That “a sword” [gladius], “saber” [machaera], and “long sword” [romphaea] signify truth combating against falsities and destroying them, and in the opposite sense, falsity combating against truths, and destroying them, may be seen above, (52); here “a great sword” signifies the falsities of evil destroying the truths of good. They are called falsities of evil, because there are falsities which are not falsities of evil, and the latter do not destroy truths, but the former do. That such is the signification of “a great sword” is evident from its being said that presently “a black horse” was seen, by which is signified the understanding of the Word destroyed as to truth, and truth is destroyed by nothing but evil.

309. Verse 5. And when He had opened the third seal, signifies exploration by the Lord of those upon whom the Last Judgment was to be executed, as to the states of their life. The same is here signified by these words as before, (295), only with the difference explained below.

310. And I heard the third animal saying, signifies according to the Divine truth of the Word as above, (296).

311. Come and look, signifies manifestation concerning the third in order, as may appear from the explanation (above 297); only there the first in order are treated of, but here the third.

312. And I saw, and behold, a black horse, signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed as to truth, thus as to doctrine with these. That “a horse” signifies the understanding of the Word, was shown above; the reason why “black” signifies what is not true, thus falsity, is because black is the opposite of white, and white is predicated of truth, (167[1-2], 231, 232); white also derives its origin from light, and black from darkness, thus from the absence of light, and light is truth. But in the spiritual world there exists blackness from a twofold origin, one from the absence of flaming light, which light is with those who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and the other from the absence of bright light, which is the light with those who are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; the latter blackness has the same signification as “darkness,” but the former as “thick darkness.” There is a difference between these two kinds of blackness, the one is abominable, the other not so much so; it is the same with the falsities which they signify. They who appear in the abominable kind of blackness are called devils, such holding truth in abomination as horned owls do the light of the sun. But they appear in that kind of blackness, which is not abominable, who are called satans; these do not abominate truth, but are averse to it; the latter may therefore be compared to owls, and the former to horned owls. That “black,” in the Word, is spoken of falsity, may appear from these passages:

Her Nazarites were whiter than snow, their form is darkened more than blackness, (Lamentations 4:7-8).

The day shall grow black over the prophets, (Micah 3:6).

In the day when thou goest down into hell, I will make Lebanon black over thee, (Ezekiel 31:15).

The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, (Revelation 6:12).

The sun, the moon, and the stars, became black, (Jeremiah 4:27-28; Ezekiel 32:7; Joel 2:10; 3:15).

The reason why “the third animal” showed “a black horse,” was, because it had a face like a man, by which is signified the Divine truth of the Word as to wisdom, (243), therefore this animal showed that there was no longer any truth of wisdom with those who were the third in order.

313. And he that sat upon him had a pair of balances in his hand, signifies the estimation of good and truth, of what kind it was with these. By “the pair of balances in his hand,” is signified the estimation of truth and good; for all measures and weights, in the Word, signify the estimation of the thing treated of. That measures and weights signify such things is manifest from these words in Daniel:

There appeared a writing before Belshazzar the king of Babylon, when he was drinking wine from the vessels of gold and silver taken out of the temple of Jerusalem, Mene, Mene, Thekel, Perizin; that is, Numbered, Numbered, Weighed, Divided; the interpretation of which is this: Mene, God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it; Thekel, Thou art weighed in the balance, and found wanting; Perez, The kingdom is divided, and given to the Mede and the Persian, (Daniel 5:1-2, 25-28).

By “drinking from the gold and silver vessels of the temple of Jerusalem,” and at the same time worshiping other gods, signifies the profanation of good and truth; as also by “Babylon.” By “Mene,” or to number, is signified to know his quality as to truth; by “Thekel,” or to weigh, is signified to know his quality as to good; by “Perez,” or to divide, is signified to disperse. That the quality of truth and good is signified by measures and by balances in the Word, is manifest in Isaiah:

Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and hath meted out the heavens with the span, and hath embraced the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in balances, (Isaiah 40:12).

And in Revelation:

The angel measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man, that is, of an angel, (Revelation 21:17).

314. Verse 6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four animals, saying, signifies the Divine guard of the Word by the Lord. That “the four animals” or cherubs signify the Word from firsts to ultimates, and guards lest its interior truths and goods should be violated, may be seen above, (239); and because these guards are from the Lord, the voice was therefore heard in the midst of the four animals. By “in the midst” of them is meant the Word as to its internal spiritual sense, which the Lord guards. That a guard is signified, is manifest from the things that it said:

A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and hurt not the oil and the wine, (Revelation 6:6);

by which is signified that because the estimation of good and truth is so trifling that it is scarcely anything, it must be provided that the holy goods and truths, which lie hid interiorly in the Word, should not be violated and profaned; and this is provided by the Lord by this means, that they at length do not know any good, and thence neither any truth, but mere evil and falsity: for they who know goods and truths can violate, yea, they can profane them, but not so they who do not know them. That such is the operation of the Divine providence in guarding the Word, may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (221-233; no. 257, the end; 258, the beginning).

315. A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, signifies because the estimation of good and truth is so small as to be scarcely anything. These are signified because by “a measure” [choenix] which was the measure and the quantity measured, is signified quality, as above, (314); by “wheat” and “barley” is signified good and truth; and by a penny [denarius] which is a very small coin, that they are held in little or no estimation. It is said “three” measures of barley, because “three” signify all, and are predicated of truths, (515). The reason why “wheat” and “barley” signify good and truth, here the good and truth of the church from the Word, is, because all things which belong to the field and the vineyard, signify such things as are of the church, because “a field” signifies the church as to good and truth thence, and “a vineyard,” the church as to truth and good therefrom; therefore where these are mentioned in the Word, the angels, who perceive all things spiritually, understand nothing else; as in Joel:

The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted; the must is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vine dressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished, (Joel 1:10-12).

[2] All these things signify such things as are of the church. That “wheat” and “barley” signify the good and truth of the church, may be seen from these passages:

John saith concerning Jesus, that He will gather the wheat into the barn, and burn up the chaff with fire, (Matthew 3:11-12).

Jesus said, Let the tares and the wheat grow together, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares to burn, but gather the wheat into My barn, (Matthew 13:24-30).

I have heard the consummation and decision from Jehovah God; he layeth up the measured wheat, and the appointed barley; for his God doth instruct him to judgment, and doth teach him, (Isaiah 28:22, 25-26).

Jehovah shall lead thee to a land of wheat and barley, (Deuteronomy 8:7-8).

“A land of wheat and barley” here is the land of Canaan, by which the church is signified.

They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of Jehovah, for wheat and must, (Jeremiah 31:12).

Jehovah shall satiate thee with the fat of wheat, (Deuteronomy 32:13-14; Psalms 81:16; 147:14).

Jehovah said to the prophet Ezekiel that:

He should make himself cakes of barley mixed with dung, and eat them, (Ezekiel 4:12, 15).

And to the prophet Hosea that:

He should take a woman an adulteress; whom he bought for a homer of barley, and half a homer of barley, (Hosea 3:1-2 Which things were done by those prophets, that they might represent the falsifications of truth in the church, for “barley” signifies truths, and “barley mixed with dung” truths falsified and profaned; “a woman an adulteress” also signifies truth falsified, (134).

316. And hurt not the oil and the wine, signifies that it is provided by the Lord that the holy goods and truths, which lie interiorly concealed in the Word, shall not be violated and profaned. “Oil” signifies the good of love, and “wine” truth from that good, therefore “oil” signifies holy good, and “wine” holy truth; “hurt them not,” signifies that it is provided by the Lord that they shall not be violated and profaned; for this was heard “from the midst of the four animals,” thus from the Lord, (314); what is said by the Lord, the same is also provided for by Him; that it is provided, may be seen above, (314, 255). That “oil” signifies the good of love, will be seen below, (778, 779); but that “wine” signifies truth from that good, is evident from the following passages:

Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without silver, (Isaiah 55:1).

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down must, and the hills shall flow with milk, (Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13-14).

And joy is taken away from Carmel, and in the vineyards there shall be no singing; wine shall not be trodden in the wine-press, I have made their shouting to cease, (Isaiah 16:10; Jeremiah 48:32-33).

By “Carmel” is signified the spiritual church, because vineyards were there.

[2] Howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the must; for it is cut off from your mouth; howl, O ye vine dressers, (Joel 1:5, 10-11).

Nearly the same words occur in Hosea 9:2-3; Zephaniah 1:13; Lamentations 2:11-12; Micah 6:15; Amos 5:11; Isaiah 24:6-7, 9, 11.

He washeth his garments in wine and his covering in the blood of grapes; his eyes are red from wine, (Genesis 49:11-12).

These things are concerning the Lord; “wine” signifies Divine truth. This is the reason why the Holy Supper was instituted by the Lord, in which the bread signifies the Lord as to the Divine good, and the wine the Lord as to the Divine truth, and with the recipients the bread signifies holy good, and the wine, holy truth, from the Lord; therefore He said:

I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this product of the vine, until the day when I shall drink it with you in My Father’s kingdom, (Matthew 26:29; Luke 22:18).

Because “bread and wine” had this signification, therefore, also:

Melchizedek, going to meet Abram, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the most high God, and he blessed Abram, (Genesis 14:18-19).

[3] Similar is the signification of the meal-offering and drink-offering, in the sacrifices, concerning which see Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 23:12-13, 18-19; Numbers 15:2-15; 28:6-7, 18, to the end; 29:1-7, and the following verses. The meal offering was of fine flour of wheat, and was therefore instead of bread, and the drink-offering was of wine. From which it may appear what is signified by these words of the Lord:

Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved, (Matthew 9:17; Luke 5:37).

“New wine” is the Divine truth of the New Testament, thus of the new church, and “old wine” is the Divine truth of the Old Testament, thus of the old church. Similar is the signification of these words of the Lord at the marriage in Cana of Galilee:

Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have had enough, the worse; thou hast kept the good wine until now, (John 2:1-10).

[4] The like is also signified by “wine” in the Lord’s parable of the man that was wounded by robbers, that:

The Samaritan poured oil and wine into his wounds, (Luke 10:33-34).

For by him that was “wounded by robbers,” are meant they who are spiritually wounded by the Jews by evils and falsities, to whom the Samaritan gave assistance “by pouring in oil and wine” into his wounds, that is, by teaching good and truth, and, so far as he was able, by healing. Holy truth is also signified by “must” and “wine” in other parts of the Word (as in Isaiah 1:21-22; 25:6; 36:17; Hosea 7:4-5, 14; 14:6-8; Amos 2:8; Zechariah 9:15, 17; Psalms 104:14-15). Hence it is that “a vineyard,” in the Word, signifies a church that is in truths from the Lord.

[5] That “wine” signifies holy truth, may also appear from its opposite sense, in which it signifies truth falsified and profaned; as in these passages:

Whoredom, and wine, and must, occupy the heart. Their wine has failed, they have committed whoredom continually, (Hosea 4:11, 17-18).

“Whoredom” signifies the falsification of truth, as do “wine and must” here.

In the hand of Jehovah is a cup, and He hath mixed it with wine; He hath filled it with mixture, and poureth it out, and the dregs of it all the wicked of the earth suck out and drink, (Psalms 75:8).

Babylon is a cup of gold in the hand of Jehovah that maketh all the earth drunken; the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore they are insane, (Jeremiah 2:7).

Babylon hath fallen, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the anger of her whoredom. If anyone adore the beast, he shall drink of the wine of the anger of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of the anger of God, (Revelation 14:8-10).

Babylon hath made all nations drink of the wine of her whoredom, (Revelation 18:3).

Great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fury of the anger of God, (Revelation 16:19).

The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her whoredom, (Revelation 17:1-2).

[6] By the wine which Belshazzar, king of Babylon, and his magnates, and wives, and concubines, drank out of the vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, and at the same time:

They praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone, (Daniel 5:2-4).

Nothing else is meant than the holy truth of the Word and of the church profaned. Wherefore the writing then appeared upon the wall, and the king was slain that night (verses 25, 30). “Wine” signifies truth falsified also in Isaiah 5:11-12, 21-22; 28:1, 3, 7; 29:9; 56:11-12; Jeremiah 13:12; 23:9-10. The same is signified by the drink-offering which they offered to idols, (Isaiah 65:11; 57:6; Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-19; Ezekiel 20:28; Deuteronomy 32:38). That “wine” signifies holy truth, and, in the opposite sense, truth profaned, is from correspondence; for the angels, who perceive all things spiritually, understand nothing else, when man reads “wine” in the Word; such a correspondence is there between the natural thoughts of men and the spiritual thoughts of angels.

It is similar with the wine in the Holy Supper, and hence it is, that introduction into heaven is effected by the Holy Supper, (224, at the end).

317. Verse 7. And when He had opened the fourth seal, signifies exploration by the Lord of those upon whom the Last Judgment was to be executed, as to their states of life, as above, (295, 302), only with the difference explained below.

318. I heard the voice of the fourth animal saying, signifies according to the Divine truth of the Word, as above, (296, 303).

319. Come and look, signifies manifestation concerning the fourth in order, as is evident from the explanation above, (297); but there it is applied to the first in order, here to the fourth.

320. Verse 8. And I saw, and behold, a pale horse, signifies the understanding of the Word destroyed both as to good and as to truth. “A horse” signifies the understanding of the Word, (298), and “pale” signifies no vitality. In the Word, this want of vitality is predicated of those who are not in goods of life from truths of doctrine; for the Word, in the sense of the letter, is not understood without doctrine, and doctrine is not perceived without a life according to it; the reason is, because a life according to doctrine which is from the Word, opens the spiritual mind, when light flows into it from heaven and enlightens and gives to perceive. That this is the case, he does not know who knows truths of doctrine, and yet does not live according to them.

The reason why “the fourth animal” showed “a pale horse,” was, because that animal was like “a flying eagle,” and by it was signified the Divine truth of the Word as to knowledges and understanding therefrom, (244). Therefore he showed that with those who were now seen there were no knowledges of good and truth from the Word, nor any understanding of them, and such in the spiritual world appear pale, like those who are without life.

321. And his name that sat upon him was Death, and hell followed with him, signifies the extinction of spiritual life, and thence damnation. By “death” is here signified spiritual death, which is the extinction of spiritual life; and by “hell” is signified damnation, which follows that death. Every man, indeed, has from creation, and therefore from birth, spiritual life, but that life is extinguished when he denies God, the holiness of the Word, and eternal life; it is extinguished in the will, but remains in the understanding, or rather in the faculty of understanding. By this man is distinguished from beasts. As “death” signifies the extinction of spiritual life, and “hell” damnation thence, therefore “death and hell” in some passages are named together; as in these:

I will redeem them from the hand of hell, I will liberate them from death: O death, I will be thy plagues; O hell, I will be thy destruction, (Hosea 13:14).

The cords of death encompassed me; the cords of hell encompassed me; the snares of death prevented me, (Psalms 18:4-5; 116:3).

Like sheep they are laid in hell; death shall feed on them, hell is their habitation, but God will redeem my soul from the hand of hell, (Psalms 49:14-15).

I have the keys of hell and death, (Revelation 1:18).

322. And power was given them over the fourth part of the earth to kill, signifies the destruction of all the good of the church. Since by “death” is meant the extinction of man’s spiritual life, and by “hell” damnation, it follows that “to kill” here means to destroy the life of man’s soul; the life of the soul is spiritual life; “a fourth part of the earth” signifies all the good of the church; “the earth” is the church, (285). That “a fourth part” is all good, cannot be known by anyone, unless he knows what numbers in the Word signify. The numbers “two” and “four” in the Word, are predicated of goods, and signify them; and the numbers “three” and “six” are predicated of truths, and signify them; thus “a fourth part,” or simply “a fourth,” signifies all good, and “a third part,” or simply “a third,” signifies all truth; therefore “to kill a fourth part of the earth,” here signifies to destroy all the good of the church. That “power was not given to him that sat upon the pale horse to kill a fourth part of the habitable earth,” is evident.

[2] Besides, “four” in the Word signifies the conjunction of good and truth. That “four” has these significations, may indeed be confirmed from the Word; as by “the four animals or cherubim” (Ezekiel 1:3, 10; Revelation 4); by “the four chariots between the two mountains of brass” (Zechariah 6); by “the four horns” (Zechariah 1:18); and by “the four horns of the altar” (Exodus 27:1-8; Revelation 9:13); by “the four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth” (Revelation 7:1; Matthew 24:31); as also by “visiting the iniquity upon the thirds and fourths” (Numbers 14:18); and in other places by “the third and fourth generation.” By these, and by many other passages in the Word, I say, it can be confirmed that “four” is predicated of goods, and signifies them, and also the conjunction of good and truth; but since this would not appear without a prolix explanation of these passages, it is sufficient to mention, that nothing else is meant in heaven by “four” and by “a fourth part.”

323. With sword and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the earth, signifies by falsities of doctrine, by evils of life, by the love of the proprium, and by lusts. That by “a sword” is signified truth combating against evils and falsities, and destroying them, and in the opposite sense, falsity combating against goods and truths, and destroying them, may be seen above, (52, 108, 117). Here, therefore, by “sword,” because the destruction of all the goods in the church is treated of, are signified falsities of doctrine. That “hunger” signifies evils of life, will be confirmed below. The reason why “death” signifies the love of man’s proprium, is, because “death” signifies the extinction of spiritual life, and thence natural life separated from spiritual life (as above, 321), and this life is the life of the love of man’s proprium; for from it man loves nothing but himself and the world, and thence also he loves all kinds of evils, which, from the love of that life, are delightful to him. That “beasts of the earth” signify lusts from that love, will be seen below, (567). Here something shall be said concerning the signification of “hunger.”(1) “Hunger” signifies deprivation and rejection of the knowledges of truth and good arising from evils of life. (2) It also signifies ignorance of the knowledges of truth and good arising from a deficiency thereof in the church. (3) And it signifies likewise a desire to know and understand them.

[2] (1) That “hunger” signifies the deprivation and rejection of the knowledges of truth and good, arising from evils of life, and thence evils of life, may appear from the following passages:

They shall be consumed by the sword and by famine, and their carcass shall be food for the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth, (Jeremiah 16:4).

These two things shall come unto thee, devastation and breaking, and the famine and the sword, (Isaiah 51:19).

Behold, I will visit upon them; the young men shall die by the sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine, (Jeremiah 11:22).

Give his sons to famine, and make them to flow down at the hand of the sword; that the men may be killed by death, (Jeremiah 18:21).

I will send upon them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, and will make them like vile figs that cannot be eaten, they are so evil, and I will pursue them with the sword, famine, and pestilence, (Jeremiah 29:17-18).

I will send among them the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, till they be consumed from off the land, (Jeremiah 24:10).

I proclaim liberty for you, to the sword, to the famine, and to the pestilence, and I will give you for a commotion to all nations, (Jeremiah 34:17).

Because thou hast polluted My sanctuary, a third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed, and a third part shall fall by the sword, when I shall send upon them the evil arrows of famine, which shall be for destruction, (Ezekiel 5:11, 12, 16, 17 [NCBSP: 5:11-12, 16-17]).

The sword without, and the pestilence and famine within, (Ezekiel 7:15).

For all the evil abominations they shall fall by the sword, by the famine, and by the pestilence, (Ezekiel 6:11-12).

I will send My four evil judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, the famine, and the evil beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast, (Ezekiel 14:13, 15, 21; besides other places, as Jeremiah 14:12-13, 15-16; 42:13-14, 16-18, 22; 44:12-13, 17; Matthew 24:7-8; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11).

The “sword,” “famine,” “pestilence,” and “beast,” in those passages, have a signification similar to that of “the sword,” “hunger,” “death,” and “the beasts of the earth,” here mentioned; for in the Word there is a spiritual sense in every single expression, in which sense “a sword” is the destruction of spiritual life by falsities; “hunger,” the destruction of spiritual life by evils; “beasts of the earth,” the destruction of spiritual life by cupidities of falsity and evil; and “pestilence” and “death” signify plenary consumption, and thus damnation.

[3] (2) That “hunger” signifies ignorance of the knowledges of truth and good arising from a deficiency of such knowledges in the church, is also evident from various passages in the Word (as from Isaiah 5:13; 8:19-22; Lamentations 2:19; 5:8-10; Amos 8:11-14; Job 5:17, 20 and other places).

(3) That “famine” or hunger signifies the desire of knowing and understanding the truths and goods of the church, is plain from the following: Isaiah 8:21; 32:6; 49:10; 58:6-7; 1 Samuel 2:4-5; Psalms 33:18-19; 34:9-10; 37:18-19; 107:8-9, 35-37; 146:7; Matthew 5:6; 25:35, 37, 44; Luke 1:53; John 6:35.

324. Verse 9. And when He had opened the fifth seal, signifies exploration by the Lord of their states of life, who were to be saved at the day of the Last Judgment, and in the meantime were reserved. That these are here treated of, is evident from what now follows. But it is to be known that these, and the like, are treated of throughout the twentieth chapter, the explanation of which may be seen, 840-874, manifesting who they are, and why reserved.

325. I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held, signifies those who were hated, reproached and rejected by the evil on account of their life according to the truths of the Word, and their acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine Human, and who were guarded by the Lord lest they be seduced. “Under the altar” signifies the lower earth, where they were guarded by the Lord; “an altar” signifies the worship of the Lord from the good of love; by “the souls of the slain,” are not here signified the martyrs, but they who are hated, reproached, and rejected by the evil in the world of spirits, and who could be seduced by the dragonists and heretics. “For the Word of God and for the testimony which they held” signifies for living according to the truths of the Word, and acknowledging the Lord’s Divine Human. “Testimony” in heaven is not given to any but to those who acknowledge the Lord’s Divine Human, for it is the Lord who testifies, and gives the angels to testify, (16):

For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, (Revelation 19:10).

[2] Since they were “under the altar,” it is evident they were guarded by the Lord; for they who have led any life of charity are all guarded by the Lord lest they be injured by the evil; and after the Last Judgment, when the evil have been removed, they are released from the guards and elevated into heaven. I have frequently seen them, since the Last Judgment, liberated from the lower earth and taken up into heaven.

[3] That by “the slain” are meant they who are rejected, reproached and hated by the evil in the world of spirits, and who could be seduced, and also who desire to know truths, but cannot, by reason of falsities in the church, may appear from these passages:

Jehovah God saith, Feed the sheep of the slaughter, whose possessors slay them; and I will feed the sheep of slaughter, on account of you, O poor of the flock, (Zechariah 11:4-5, 7).

We are killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter; O Jehovah forsake us not, (Psalms 44:22-23).

Jacob shall cause them which are to come to take root, or is he slain according to the slaughter of them that were slain by him? (Isaiah 27:6-7 For I have heard the voice of the daughter of Zion, woe is me, now; my soul is wearied by the slayers, (Jeremiah 4:31).

They shall deliver you into affliction, and shall kill you, and ye shall be hated for My name’s sake, (Matthew 24:9; John 16:2-3).

This the Lord said to the disciples; but by disciples are meant all who worship the Lord and live according to the truths of His Word.

[4] The evil in the world of spirits continually desire to kill; but because there they cannot do this as to the body, they continually desire to do it as to the soul; and since they are not able to do this, they burn with such hatred against them, that nothing delights them more than to do evil to them. This is the reason why they are guarded by the Lord, and when the evil are cast into hell, which takes place after the Last Judgment, they are led forth from their guards; but see the explanation of chapter 20, (846) which treats of this subject. That “to kill” in the Word signifies to destroy souls, which is to kill spiritually, is evident from many passages there, as also from the following:Isaiah 14:19-21; 26:21; Jeremiah 25:33; Lamentations 2:21; Ezekiel 9:1, 6; Revelation 18:24.

326. Verse 10. And they cried with a great voice, signifies grief of heart, as is evident from what now follows.

327. Saying, How long, O Lord,³⁰ dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? signifies, by reason that the Last Judgment is delayed, and they who offer violence to the Word and to the Lord’s Divine Human are not removed. “How long, O Lord, dost Thou not judge,” signifies, why is the Last Judgment delayed? “and avenge our blood,” signifies, why in justice are they not condemned, who have offered them violence for acknowledging the Lord’s Divine Human, and for living according to the truths of His Word? By “blood” is signified violence offered to them, (379[1-7]) “them that dwell on the earth,” are meant the evil in the world of spirits, from whom they were guarded that they might not be hurt.

328. Verse 11. And white robes were given unto each of them, signifies that there was given them a communication and conjunction with the angels who were in Divine truths. “Garments” signify truths, (166), and “white garments” genuine truths, (212). “Garments” have this signification, because all in the heavens are clothed according to the truths with them; and everyone is clothed according to conjunction with angelic societies. Therefore when conjunction is granted, they immediately appear clothed in a similar manner; hence it is, that by “white robes were given to each of them,” is signified that communication and conjunction was given them with angels who were in Divine truths. “Robes,” “mantles,” and “cloaks,” signify truths in general, because they are general coverings. He who knows this signification of these things may know the arcana which lie hidden in the following passages:

That Elijah, when he found Elisha, cast his mantle upon him. (1 Kings 19:19).

That Elijah by his mantle divided the waters of Jordan, (2 Kings 2:8). And in like manner Elisha, (2 Kings 2:14).

That the mantle fell from Elijah when he was taken up, and Elisha took it up, (2 Kings 2:12-13).

For by Elijah and Elisha the Lord was represented as to the Word, and therefore their “mantle” signified the Divine truth of the Word in general. As also was signified by:

The robe of Aaron’s ephod, at the border of which there were pomegranates of blue and purple, and bells of gold, (Exodus 28:31-35).

That it signifies the Divine truth in general may be seen in The Arcana Coelestia, published at London, (9825). “Cloaks” and “mantles” have a similar signification in the following passages:

All the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones and cast away their cloaks, (Ezekiel 26:16).

The scribes and Pharisees make broad the borders of their cloaks, that they may be seen of men, (Matthew 23:5).

My people have made themselves an enemy on account of a garment, ye pull off the mantle from them that pass by, (Micah 2:8).

329. And it was said,³¹ that they should rest yet for a little while, until their fellow-servants³² that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled, signifies that the Last Judgment should yet be delayed a little, till they should be collected from all quarters, who would, in like manner, be hated, reproached, and rejected by the evil for acknowledging the Lord’s Divine Human, and for living according to the truths of His Word. That this is the signification, appears from what has been said above. Similar is the signification of this passage in Isaiah:

Thy dead shall live; awake and shout, ye that dwell in the dust; Come, my people, enter into thy chambers, and shut the door after thee; hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the anger be passed by. For, behold, Jehovah goeth forth out of His place, to visit the iniquity of the inhabitants of the earth upon him; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain, (26:19-21).

But, as was said before, this subject, and others of a similar nature, are treated of in chapter 20 and following, which is explained, (840-874).

330. Verse 12. And I saw when He had opened the sixth seal, signifies exploration by the Lord of their state of life, who were interiorly evil, and on whom the Last Judgment was to be executed. That these are treated of is evident from what now follows; but that they may be understood, two arcana are to be revealed: First, that the Last Judgment was executed only on such as appeared in their external form as Christians, and orally professed the things of the church, but in their internal form, or in heart, they were against them; and because they were such, they were therefore in conjunction with the ultimate heaven as to their exteriors, but with hell as to their interiors. Secondly, that as long as they were in conjunction with the ultimate heaven, so long the internals of their will and their love were closed, for which reason they did not appear evil before others; but when they were separated from the ultimate heaven, then their interiors were disclosed, and found to be totally in opposition to their exteriors, from which they dissembled and feigned that they were angels of heaven, and that the places they inhabited were heavens. These heavens, so called, were those which passed away at the time of the Last Judgment, (Revelation 21:1). But more on this subject may be seen in the small work on The Last Judgment 70, 71; and in The Continuation of the Last Judgment 10.

331. And, behold, there was a great earthquake, signifies the state of the church with these altogether changed, and terror. “Earthquakes” signify changes of state in the church, because “the earth” signifies the church, (285); and because in the spiritual world, when the state of the church is perverted anywhere, and there is a change, there is an earthquake, and as this is a prelude to their destruction, they are in terror. For the earths in the spiritual world are in appearance like the earths in the natural world, (260); but as the earths there, like all other things in that world, are from a spiritual origin, therefore changes occur according to the state of the church among the inhabitants, and when the state of the church is perverted, they quake and tremble, yea, sink down and are moved out of their place. That this was the case, when the Last Judgment was at hand and accomplished, may be seen in the small work on The Last Judgment. Hence it may appear what is meant by “earthquakes,” “shakings,” and “commotions” of the earth, in the following passages:

There shall be pestilences, famines, and earthquakes in diverse places, (Matthew 24:7; Mark 13:8; Luke 21:11).

This is said of the Last Judgment:

In the fire of indignation have I spoken; surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake, and every man upon the face of the earth shall tremble, and the mountains shall be overturned, (Ezekiel 38:19-20).

There was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, (Revelation 16:18).

I will shake heaven, and the earth shall be removed out of her place in the indignation of Jehovah of Hosts, (Isaiah 13:13).

And the foundations of the earth have been shaken, the earth is moved exceedingly, for the transgression thereof is heavy upon it, (Isaiah 24:18-20).

The earth is shaken and moved, and the foundations of the mountains, because He was wroth, (Psalms 18:7).

The mountains tremble before Jehovah, and the rocks are overturned (Nahum 1 and so in other places; as Jeremiah 10:10; 49:21; Joel 2:10; Haggai 2:6-7; Revelation 11:19; and elsewhere).

But these things are to be understood as being done in the spiritual world, but not in the natural world; in this respect they signify such things as are explained above.

332. And the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, signifies the adulteration of all the good of love in them, and the falsification of all the truth of faith. That “the sun” signifies the Lord as to Divine love, and thence the good of love from Him; and in the opposite sense, the denial of the Lord’s Divinity, and thence the adulteration of the good of love, may be seen above, (53). And as “the sun” signifies the good of love, “the moon” therefore signifies the truth of faith; for the sun is red from fire, and the moon is white from the light of the sun; and fire signifies the good of love, and light, the truth from that good. Concerning the moon, see also the passages adduced above, (53). It is said, “the sun became black as sackcloth of hair,” because adulterated good in itself is evil, and evil is black; and the reason why it is said “the moon became as blood,” is, because “blood” signifies the Divine truth, and in the opposite sense, the Divine truth falsified, as may be seen below, (379[1-7], 684). Nearly the same is said of the sun and moon in Joel:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh, (Joel 2:31).

333. Verse 13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, signifies the dispersion of all the knowledges of good and truth. That “stars” signify the knowledges of good and truth, may be seen above, (51); that “to fall from heaven to earth” means to be dispersed is evident; in the spiritual world, also, stars appear to fall from heaven to the earth there, when the knowledges of good and truth perish.

334. Even as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs, when shaken by a great wind, signifies by reasonings of the natural man separated from the spiritual. It is said to have this signification, when yet it is a comparison, because all comparisons in the Word are also correspondences, and in the spiritual sense they cohere with the subject treated of, as in the present instance; for “a fig,” from correspondence signifies the natural good of man conjoined with his spiritual good, but here, in the opposite sense, the natural good of man separated from his spiritual good, which is not good; and as the natural man, when separated from the spiritual, perverts by reasonings the knowledges of good and truth, which are signified by the stars, it follows that this is signified by “a fig tree shaken by a great wind.” That “wind” and “storm” signify reasoning is evident from many passages in the Word, but it is not necessary to adduce them here, because it is a comparison. The reason why “a fig tree” signifies the natural good of man is because every tree signifies something of the church in man, therefore also man with respect thereto. In confirmation are these passages:

All the host of heaven shall fall down, as a leaf falleth from the vine, and as it falleth from the fig tree, (Isaiah 34:4).

I will consume them, there shall be no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf shall fall, (Jeremiah 8:13).

All thy bulwarks shall be like fig trees with the first fruits; if they be shaken, they shall even fall upon the mouth of the eater, (Nahum 3:12; besides other places; as Jeremiah 24:2-3, 5, 8; Isaiah 38:21; Jeremiah 29:17-18; Hosea 2:12; 9:10; Joel 1:7, 12; Zechariah 3:10; Matthew 21:18-21; 24:32-33; Mark 11:12-14, 20-24; Luke 6:44; 13:6-9).

In which places nothing else is meant by “a fig tree.”

335. Verse 14. And heaven departed as a book rolled together, signifies separation from heaven and conjunction with hell. It is said that “heaven departed as a book rolled together,” because the interior understanding, and hence the thought, of man is as heaven; for his understanding can be elevated into the light of heaven and in such elevation can think with the angels concerning God, concerning love and faith, and concerning eternal life: but if his will is not at the same time elevated into the heat of heaven, the man is not conjoined with the angels of heaven, thus is not like heaven. That this is the case, may be seen in Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Love and Wisdom, Chapter 5. By virtue of this faculty of the understanding, the evil who are here treated of, could be in consociation with the angels of the ultimate heaven; but when these were separated from the former, their heaven departed as “a book rolled together.” By “a book rolled together” is meant parchment, rolled up, because their books were parchments, and the comparison is made with a book, because the book is the Word, (256); therefore when it is rolled up like a parchment, nothing that it contains is apparent, and it is as though it were not. On this account the like is said in Isaiah:

And all the host of heaven shall waste away, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a book, and shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the fig tree, (Isaiah 34:4).

“Hosts” are the goods and truths of the church from the Word, (447). From these things it may appear, that by “heaven departing as a book rolled together,” is signified separation from heaven, and conjunction with hell. That separation from heaven is conjunction with hell, is evident.

336. And every mountain and island were moved out of their places, signifies that all the good of love and truth of faith receded. That this is the signification of these words no one can see without the spiritual sense. They have this signification, however, because by “mountains” are meant those who are in the good of love, because the angels dwell upon mountains; such as are in love to the Lord dwelling on high mountains, and such as are in love towards their neighbor dwelling on lower ones; wherefore by “every mountain” is signified every good of love. By “islands” are meant those who are more remote from the worship of God, see above, (34); here those who are in faith, and not so much in the good of love, therefore in the abstract sense “every island” signifies every truth of faith; by “being moved out of their places” is signified to recede. It is because the habitations of the angels are upon mountains and hills, that “mountains” and “hills” in the Word signify heaven and the church, where there exists love to the Lord and love to the neighbor, and in the opposite sense, hell, where there exists self-love and the love of the world.

[2] That by “mountains” and “hills” are signified heaven and the church, where there exists love to the Lord and love to the neighbor, and thus where the Lord is, is evident from the following passages:

Lift up the eyes to the mountains, from whence cometh help, (Psalms 121:1).

Behold upon the mountains the feet of him that publisheth peace, (Nahum 1:15; Isaiah 52:7).

Praise Jehovah, mountains and hills, (Psalms 148:9).

The mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan, a mountain of hills is the mountain of Bashan. Why leap ye, O mountains, ye hills of the mountain? Jehovah desireth to dwell therein, yea, Jehovah will dwell in it forever, (Psalms 68:15-16).

The mountains leaped like rams; the hills like the sons of the flock; before the Lord, thou art in travail, O earth, (Psalms 114:4-7).

And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of My mountains, and My elect may possess them, and My servants shall dwell there, (Isaiah 65:9).

In the consummation of the age; then let them which be in Judea flee into the mountains, (Matthew 24:16).

Thy justice, O Jehovah, is like the mountains of God, (Psalms 36:6).

Jehovah will go forth and fight, His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, before Jerusalem on the east, (Zechariah 14:3-4).

[3] Because “the Mount of Olives” signifies Divine love, therefore:

The Lord in the daytime preached in the temple, but at night He went out and passed the night in the Mount of Olives, (Luke 21:37; 22:39; John 8:1).

And the Lord discoursed with His disciples on that mountain concerning his coming and the consummation of the age, (Matthew 24:3; Mark 13:3, and following verses).

And also He went from thence to Jerusalem and suffered, (Matthew 21:1; 26:30; Mark 11:1; 14:26; Luke 19:29, 37; 21:37; 22:39).

Because a mountain signified heaven and love:

Jehovah descended upon the top of Mount Sinai, and promulgated the Law, (Exodus 19:20; 24:17).

And for the same reason the Lord was transfigured before Peter, James, and John, upon a high mountain, (Matthew 17:1). And on this account Zion was upon a mountain, and also Jerusalem, and they are called “the mountain of Jehovah,” and “the mountain of holiness,” in many parts of the Word. “Mountains” and “hills” have a similar signification in other places (as in Isaiah 7:25; 30:25; 40:9; 44:23; 49:11, 13; 55:12; Jeremiah 16:15-16; Ezekiel 36:8; Joel 3:17-18; Amos 4:1, 13; 9:13-14; Psalms 65:6; 80:8, 10; 104:5-10, 13).

[4] That those loves are signified by “mountains” and “hills,” may appear still more evidently from their opposite sense, in which they signify infernal loves, which are self-love and the love of the world, as is manifest from the following passages:

The day of Jehovah shall come upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, (Isaiah 2:12, 14).

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, (Isaiah 40:3-4.

The mountains shall be overthrown and the steep places shall fall, (Ezekiel 38:20-21).

Behold, I am against thee, O mountain, destroying the whole earth, I will make thee a mountain of burning, (Jeremiah 51:25).

I saw the mountains, and behold they were shaken, and all the hills were overturned, (Jeremiah 4:23-25).

A fire is kindled in mine anger, and it shall set on fire the foundations of the mountains, (Deuteronomy 32:22).

I will lay waste mountains and hills, (Isaiah 42:15).

Behold, O Jacob, I have made thee like a threshing instrument, that thou mayest thresh and beat in pieces the mountains, and make the hills as chaff, that the wind may carry them away, (Isaiah 41:15-16).

Give glory to Jehovah God, before your feet stumble on the mountains of twilight, (Jeremiah 13:16).

Nor is anything else meant by “the seven mountains, upon which the woman sat, which was Babylon” (Revelation 17:9; besides other places; as Isaiah 14:13; Jeremiah 50:6; 9:10; Ezekiel 6:3, 13; 34:6; Micah 6:1-2; Nahum 1:5-6; Psalms 46:2-3). From the above it is evident what is meant by “every mountain and island were moved out of their places.” Also in what follows, by:

Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, (Revelation 16:20; no. 714).

337. Verse 15. And the kings of the earth, and the great ones, and the rich, and the rulers of thousands, and the mighty, and every servant, and every freeman, signifies those who before separation were in the understanding of truth and good, in the science of the knowledges thereof, in erudition, either from others or from themselves, and yet not in a life according to them. That this is the signification of the above words in their order, can only be known by those who know what is signified in the spiritual sense by “kings,” “great ones,” “rich,” “rulers of thousands,” “the mighty,” “servants, and freemen.” For by “king,” in this sense, are signified they who are in truths; by “great ones,” they who are in goods; by “the rich,” they who are in the knowledges of truth; by “rulers of thousands,” they who are in the knowledges of good; by “the mighty,” they who are in erudition; by “servants,” they who are in such things from others, thus from the memory; by “freemen,” they who are in such things from themselves, thus from judgment. But to prove the signification of all these names from the Word would be too prolix. What is signified by “kings” has been shown before, (20); and what by “the rich” (206); what by “great ones,” is evident from Jeremiah 5:5; Nahum 3:10; Jonah 3:7; for “great” is predicated of good, (896, 898); that “mighty,” and “servants, and freemen,” are such as are in erudition, either from others or from themselves, will be seen below. It is said, they who are in these things, and yet not in a life according to them, because the evil, yea, the worst, may be in the science and in the understanding of the knowledges of truth and good, and also in much erudition, but because they are not in a life according to them, they are not in them actually; for what is only in the understanding, and not at the same time in the life, is not in the man, but is out of him, as it were in a court; but that which is at the same time in the life, is in the man, it is within him as in the house; therefore the latter are preserved, and the former rejected.

338. Hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains, signifies that they were now in evils and in the falsities of evil. “To hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,” signifies to be in evils and in the falsities of evil, because they who pretended before the world that they were in the good of love, and yet were in evil, after death hide themselves in caves; and they who have pretended that they were in the truths of faith, and yet were in the falsities of evil, hide themselves in the rocks of the mountains. The entrances appear like holes in the earth, and like clefts in the mountains, into which they betake themselves like serpents, and there hide themselves. That such are their abiding places I have frequently seen. Hence it is that by “caves” are signified the evils with such, and by “holes” and “clefts” the falsities of evil, in the following passages:

In that day they shall go into the caves of the rocks and into the fissures of the cliffs when Jehovah ariseth to terrify the earth, (Isaiah 2:19).

In that day they shall go into the clefts of the rocks and into the fissures of the cliffs for dread of Jehovah, (Isaiah 2:21).

To dwell in the fissures of the valleys, in holes of the earth, and in the rocks, (Job 30:6).

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, who dwellest in fissures, (Obadiah 1:3).

In that day they shall come and shall rest in the rivers of desolation, and in the fissures of the rocks, (Isaiah 7:19).

The palace shall be a desert, the hillside and towers shall be for caves forever, (Isaiah 32:14).

The pride of thine heart hath deceived thee, that dwellest in the holes of the rock, (Jeremiah 49:16).

And they shall hunt them from upon every mountain and hill, and out of the holes of the rocks; they shall not be hidden before Me, neither is their iniquity hidden, (Jeremiah 16:16-17).

In that day the suckling shall play on the hole of the viper, and the weaned shall put his hand on the cave of the basilisk, (Isaiah 11:8).

339. Verse 16. And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall upon us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb, signifies confirmation of evil by falsity, and of falsity from evil, until they did not acknowledge anything Divine in the Lord. “Mountains” signify the loves of evil, thus evils, (336[1-4]), and “rocks” signify the falsities of faith; by “falling upon them and hiding them,” is signified to be defended against influx from heaven; and as this is done by confirmations of evils by falsity, and of falsity from evil, therefore these are signified; by “hiding themselves from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb,” is signified until they do not acknowledge anything Divine in the Lord; by “Him that sitteth on the throne” is meant the Divine of the Lord, from whence are all things; and by “the Lamb” is meant Himself as to the Divine Human; the Lord as to both was upon the throne, as has been shown above. It is said “from His face and from His anger,” because all they who are in caves and rocks, dare not set foot out of them, nor even put forth a finger, by reason of the pain and torment consequent on doing so; this is owing to the hatred which they bear against the Lord, even to their not being able to name Him; and the Divine sphere of the Lord fills all things, which they cannot remove from themselves, except by confirmations of evil by falsity, and of falsity from evil; the delights of evils do this.

[2] Similar is the signification of this passage in Hosea:

And they shall say to the mountains, Cover us, and to the hills, Fall upon us, (Hosea 10:8).

And in Luke:

Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall upon us; and to the hills, Hide us, (Luke 23:30).

That this is the spiritual sense of these words, cannot appear in the letter, but it appears in the spiritual sense from this, that when the Last Judgment is executed, they who are in evil, and desire to be in good, suffer hard things in the beginning; whereas they suffer less on such an occasion who confirm themselves in their evil by falsities, for these last cover their evil by falsities, but the former lay bare their evil, and in this case cannot endure the Divine influx, as is seen in what follows. The caves and caverns into which they cast themselves, are correspondences.

340. Verse 17. Because the great day of His anger is come, and who is able to stand? signifies that they were made such of themselves by their separation from the good and faithful on account of the Last Judgment, which otherwise they could not endure. “The great day of the anger of the Lamb,” signifies the day of the Last Judgment; “and who is able to stand?” signifies their inability to endure it by reason of their torment; for when the Last Judgment is at hand, the Lord, together with heaven, approaches, and of those who are below in the world of spirits, no others can endure the Lord’s coming, but those who are interiorly good, who shun evils as sins, and look to the Lord. That “the day of the Lord’s anger” signifies the Last Judgment is evident from the following passages:

Before the fierce anger of Jehovah come upon you, before the day of Jehovah’s anger come upon you, it may be ye shall be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger, (Zephaniah 2:2-3).

Behold the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel both with indignation and wrath of anger, (Isaiah 13:9, 13).

The great day of Jehovah is near, a day of wrath, a day of straitness and distress, a day of darkness and thick darkness, (Zephaniah 1:14-15).

Thy anger is come, and the time of the dead to be judged, and to give reward unto Thy servants, and to destroy them that destroy the earth, (Revelation 11:18).

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry and ye perish in the way, because His anger is kindled quickly; happy are all they that trust in Him, (Psalms 2:12).

341. To the above I will add this Relation. I saw some of the English clergy assembled, to the number of six hundred, who prayed to the Lord that they might be permitted to ascend to a society of the higher heaven; which being granted them, they ascended. And when they entered, they saw their king, the present king’s grandfather,³³ and they were glad, who went up to two bishops that were among them, whom he had known in the world, and entering into discourse with them, asked them, “How came you here?” They replied, that they had made supplication to the Lord, and it was granted them. He said to them, “Why to the Lord, and not to God the Father?” And they answered, that they were so instructed below. And he said, “Did I not sometimes tell you in the world, that the Lord ought to be approached, and also that charity is primary? What reply did you then make concerning the Lord?” And it was given them to recollect, that they had made answer, “That when the Father is approached, the Son also is approached.” But the angels who were about the king said, “You are mistaken, you did not think so, nor is the Lord approached, when God the Father is approached; but God the Father is approached, when approach is made to the Lord, because they are one, like soul and body. Who approaches a man’s soul, and thus his body? When a man is approached as to his body, which is seen, is not his soul also approached, which is not seen?” To this they were silent. And the king went up to the two bishops, with two gifts in his hand, saying, “These are gifts from heaven.” They were celestial forms of gold which he wished to present to them, when a dusky cloud covered them, and separated them. And they descended by the way that they had come up; and they wrote these things in a book.

[2] The rest of the English clergy, who had heard that their companions had been permitted to ascend to the higher heaven, assembled at the foot of the mountain, where they waited for their return. On their return they saluted their brethren, and related what had happened to them in heaven, and that the king had presented the bishops with two celestial forms of gold, most beautiful to behold; but that they fell out of their hands. They then went out of the public place into a grove, which was near, and discoursed among themselves, looking about to see if anyone heard them; but nevertheless they were heard. Their discourse was about unanimity and concord, and then about supremacy and dominion. The bishops spoke, and the rest assented. And on a sudden, to my surprise, they no longer appeared as many, but as one great figure whose face was like the face of a lion, having on his head a turreted miter, on which was a crown: and he spoke in a lofty tone, and walked proudly; and, looking behind, he said, “Who else has a right to supremacy but me?” The king looked down from heaven and saw them, first all as one, and afterwards as several unanimous; but most of them, as he said, in a secular dress.

Chapter 7 (342-386)

342. Revelation 7

1. After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

2. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea.

3. Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads.

4. And I heard the number of them that were sealed; a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed out of every tribe³⁴ of Israel.

5. Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand.

6. Of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand.

7. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand.

8. Of the tribe of Zebulon were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.

9. After these things, I saw, and, behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands.

10. And crying with a great voice, saying, Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.

11. And all the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four animals, and fell before the throne on their faces, and adored God.

12. Saying, Amen; blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honor, and power, and might, be unto our God, for ages of ages, Amen.

13. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, Who are these that are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?

14. And I said unto him, Lord, thou knowest. And he said unto me, These are they that come out of great affliction, and have washed their robes, and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.

15. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple: and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

16. They shall not hunger anymore, neither thirst any more, neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor any heat.

17. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

In this chapter it treats of those who are and will be in the Christian heaven; and first of their separation from the evil (verses 1-3); after that, of those who are in love to the Lord and thereby in wisdom, of whom the higher heavens consist (verses 4-8); and of those who are in charity and its faith from the Lord, because they have fought against evils, of whom are the lower heavens (verses 9-17).

The con, (Revelation 7:1) tents of each verse

Verse 1. “After these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,” signifies the entire heaven now in the effort to execute the Last Judgment, (342). “Holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree,” signifies a withholding and restraining by the Lord, of a nearer and thence more powerful influx into the lower parts, where the good were conjoined with the evil, (343).

Verse 2. “And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun,” signifies the Lord providing and regulating, (344). “Having the seal of the living God,” signifies who alone knows all and each, and can distinguish and separate them one from another, (345). “And he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea (verse 3), saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees,” signifies the presenting and withholding by the Lord of a nearer and stronger influx into the lower parts, (346). “Till we have sealed the servants of our God upon their foreheads,” signifies before they are separated who are in truths from good from the Lord, (347).

Verse 4. “And I heard the number of them that were sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand,” signifies all who acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and are in truths of doctrine from the good of love, from Him through the Word, (348). “Sealed out of every tribe³⁵ of Israel” signifies the Lord’s heaven and church composed of them, (349).

Verse 5. “Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and this with all who will be in the New Heaven and the New Church, (350). “Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies wisdom from celestial love, with them who will be there, (351). “Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies uses of life, which are of wisdom from that love, with those who will be there, (352).

Verse 6. (Revelation 7:6) “Of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies mutual love with them, (353). “Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies the perception of use, and what use is with them, (354). “Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand” signifies the will of serving, and of action, with them, (355).

Verse 7. (Revelation 7:7) “Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor, with them, (356). “Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies the affection of truth from good, from whence comes intelligence with them, (357). “Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand” signifies the good of life with them, (358).

Verse 8. (Revelation 7:8) “Of the tribe of Zebulon were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies the conjugial love of good and truth with them, (359). “Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies the doctrine of good and truth with them, (360). “Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand,” signifies the life of truth from good according to doctrine with them, (361).

Verse 9. “After this I saw and behold, a great multitude which no one could number,” signifies all the rest who are not of those enumerated, and yet are in the New Heaven and New Church of the Lord, and who constitute the ultimate heaven and the external church, whose quality no one knows but the Lord alone, (363-364). “Of every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues,” signifies all in the Christian world, who are in religion from good, and in truths from doctrine, (365). “Standing before the throne and before the Lamb,” signifies hearing the Lord and doing the things which He commands, (366). “Clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands,” signifies communication and conjunction with the higher heavens, and confession from Divine truths, (367).

Verse 10. “And crying with a great voice, saying, Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,” signifies acknowledgment from the heart that the Lord is their Savior, (368).

Verse 11. “And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the elders, and the four animals,” signifies all in the whole heaven³⁶ (369).

Verse 12. “Saying, Amen” signifies Divine verity and confirmation therefrom, (371). “Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,” signifies the Divine spiritual things of the Lord, (372). “And honor, and power, and might,” signifies the Divine celestial things of the Lord, (373). “Be unto our God for ages of ages,” signifies these things in the Lord, and from the Lord to eternity, (374). “Amen,” signifies the consent of all, (375).

Verse 13. “And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, Who are these that are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?”

Verse 14. “And I said unto him, Lord, thou knowest,” signifies the desire of knowing and the will of interrogating, and the answer and information, (376). “And he said unto me, These are they that come out of great affliction,” signifies that they are those who have been in temptations, and have fought against evils and falsities, (377). “And have washed their robes,” signifies who have cleansed their religious principles from the evils of falsity, (378). “And made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb,” signifies, and purified them from the falsities of evil by truths, and thus have been reformed by the Lord, (379[1-7]) verse 15. “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them,” signifies that they are in the presence of the Lord, and constantly and faithfully live according to the truths which they receive from Him in His church, (380).

Verse 16. “They shall not hunger any more, neither thirst anymore” signifies that hereafter there shall be no lack of goods and truths with them, (381). “Neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor any heat,” signifies that hereafter they shall have no lusts to evil nor to falsity of evil, (382).

Verse 17. “For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them,” signifies that the Lord alone will teach them, (383). “And shall lead them to living fountains of waters,” signifies, and shall lead by truths of the Word to conjunction with Himself, (384). “And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes” signifies that they shall no longer be in combats against evils and their falsities, and thereby in grief, but in goods and truths, and thence in heavenly joys from the Lord.

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. Afterwards I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, signifies the entire heaven now in the effort to execute the Last Judgment on those who were in the world of spirits. Many things now follow concerning the state of the spiritual world just before the Last Judgment, which no one could know but by revelation from the Lord. And since it has been granted me to see in what manner the Last Judgment was executed, and also the changes which preceded it, and the arrangements which followed; I am thereby enabled to relate the signification of all the particulars contained in this and the following chapters.

[2] By “the four angels” is here signified the entire heaven; by “the four corners of the earth” is signified the entire world of spirits, which is in the midst between heaven and hell; for the Last Judgment was executed on those who were in the world of spirits, but not on anyone in heaven, nor anyone in hell. The reason why “the angels” signify heaven is because “an angel,” in the highest sense, means the Lord as to the Divine Human, (344); and as heaven is heaven from the Lord, by “the angels” is also signified heaven.

[3] “The four angels” here signify the entire heaven, because they were seen “standing on the four corners of the earth,” and by the “four corners” are signified the four quarters. The reason why the above words signify the effort of the entire heaven to execute the Last Judgment is because the Lord, when the judgment was at hand, caused the heavens to draw near over the world of spirits, and by this approach of the heavens, such a change of state in the interiors of the minds of those who were below, was effected, that they saw nothing but terrors before their eyes.

[4] That “corners” signify quarters, and thence “the four corners” all quarters, may appear from the following passages:

Ye shall measure without the city, the corner towards the east, the corner towards the south, the corner towards the west, and the corner towards the north, (Numbers 35:5).

Thou shalt make the boards for the habitation for the corner of the south, and for the corner of the north, (Exodus 26:18, 20, 23).

And a court for the corner of the south, for the corner of the north, for the corner of the west, and for the corner of the east, (Exodus 27:9, 11-13).

The four quarters are also called “the four corners” frequently in Ezekiel, as in chapters 47:8-20; 48:1-30.

[5] Because “corners” signify quarters, therefore they also signify all things, as all things relating to heaven or hell, or of good or truth, as is plain from these passages:

Satan shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, (Revelation 20:8).

I have cut off the nations, and their corners are devastated, (Zephaniah 3:6).

Israel was gathered together as one man, and the corners of all the people stood up, (Judges 20:1-2).

A scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall break in pieces the corners of Moab, (Numbers 24:17).

A day of trumpet and alarm and upon the high corners, (Zephaniah 1:16).

I will cast them out into the farthest corners, (Deuteronomy 32:26).

[6] That “a corner” signifies the ultimate which sustains things higher, as the foundation does a house, and thus also all things, appears from these passages:

He will found in Zion a cornerstone, a precious established foundation, (Isaiah 28:16).

And they shall not take of that stone for a corner, (Jeremiah 51:26).

From Judah shall be a cornerstone, (Zechariah 10:4).

The stone which they rejected is become the head of the corner, (Psalms 118:22; Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 20:17-18).

343. Holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree, signifies a withholding and restraining by the Lord of a nearer and thence more powerful influx into the lower parts, where the good were conjoined with the evil. It is to be known that the Last Judgment takes place when the evil are multiplied below the heavens in the world of spirits, to such a degree that the angels in the heavens cannot subsist in their state of love and wisdom; for in this case they have no support and no foundation. And as this is caused by the multiplication of the evil below, therefore the Lord, in order to preserve their state, flows in with His Divine more and more strongly, and this continues until they can no longer be preserved by any influx, without a separation of the evil below from the good.

This is effected by the letting down and drawing near of the heavens, and thence by a stronger influx, until at length the evil cannot endure it; and then the evil flee away, and cast themselves into hell. This is also what is signified in the foregoing chapter by these words:

They said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb; for the great day of His anger is come; and who shall be able to stand, (Revelation 6:16-17).

[2] But to proceed to the explanation. By “the four winds” is signified the influx of the heavens; by “the earth, the sea, and every tree” are signified all lower things and the things that are there; by “the earth and sea,” all lower things; and by “every tree,” all things there. That “wind” signifies influx, properly the influx of truth into the understanding, may appear from the following passages:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Come from the four winds, O spirit, and breathe into these slain, that they may live, (Ezekiel 37:9-10).

There were seen four chariots, to which there were four horses, these are the four winds of the heavens, (Zechariah 6:1, 5).

Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it willeth, and thou knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth, (John 3:7-8).

The Maker of the earth prepareth the world by His wisdom, He bringeth forth the wind out of His treasures, (Jeremiah 10:12-13; 51:15-16; Ps 135:7).

Jehovah causeth His wind to blow, and the waters flow. He announceth His word, His statutes and judgments, (Psalms 147:17-19).

Jehovah praiseth the stormy wind doing His Word, (Psalms 148:8).

Jehovah maketh His angels winds, (Psalms 104:3-4).

Jehovah was carried upon the wings of the wind, (Psalms 18:10; 104:3).

The wings of the wind are Divine truths which flow in; therefore the Lord is called:

The breath of the nostrils, (Lamentations 4:20).

And it is written:

He breathed into the nostrils of Adam the soul of lives, (Genesis 2:7).

Also that:

He breathed on His disciples, and said, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, (John 20:21-22).

[3] “The Holy Spirit” is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, the influx of which into the disciples was represented, and thus signified by “He breathed upon them.” That “wind” and respiration signify the influx of Divine truth into the understanding, is from the correspondence of the lungs with the understanding, on which subject see The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (371-429). As, therefore, a nearer and stronger Divine influx through the heavens disperses the truths with the evil, therefore “wind” signifies the dispersion of the truth with them; and thence their conjunction with hell, and destruction; as may be seen from these passages:

And upon Elam I will bring the four winds from the four ends of the heavens, and will disperse them, (Jeremiah 49:36).

Thou shalt disperse them, that the wind may carry them away, and the storm dissipate them, (Isaiah 41:16).

The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, doth kindle them, (Isaiah 30:33).

The contrivers of iniquity perish by the blast of God, and by the breath of His nostrils are they consumed, (Job 4:8-9).

The foundations of the world were revealed by the rebuke of Jehovah, by the blast of the breath of Thy nostrils, (Psalms 18:15).

I saw in vision, and behold, the four winds of the heavens strove upon the great sea. And four beasts came up, (Daniel 7:2-3.

From the storm of Jehovah, anger is gone forth, it shall rush upon the head of the wicked, (Jeremiah 23:19; 30:23).

O my God, pursue them by Thy storm, terrify them by Thy tempest, (Psalms 83:15).

The way of Jehovah is in the storm and tempest, (Nahum 1:3; besides other places; as Jeremiah 25:32; Ezekiel 13:13; Hosea 8:7; Amos 1:14; Zechariah 9:14; Psalms 11:6; 50:3; 55:8 (Psalms 107:25, 29)).

He saith that the wind of the storm shall blow. God maketh the storm to be calm, that its waves might be still, (Psalms 107:25, 29).

[4] Hence it may appear what is the signification of these words in their spiritual sense:

Jesus in the ship rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Be still, and it was quiet, (Mark 4:39-40; Luke 8:23-24).

By “the sea” is here signified hell, and by “the wind” influx thence. Nor is anything but strong influx signified by “the east wind” (Ezekiel 17:10; Jeremiah 18:17; Ezekiel 19:12; Hosea 13:15; Psalm 48:7). Nor by the same “wind which dried up the Red Sea” (Exodus 14:21); concerning which it is thus written by Moses:

And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters were heaped up, thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered them, (Exodus 15:8, 10).

From what has been said, it may now be seen, that by “holding the four winds that the wind should not blow on the earth” is signified to withhold and prevent a nearer and stronger influx into the lower parts.

344. Verse 2. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, signifies the Lord providing and regulating. “An angel” here means the Lord as to the Divine love, because He ascended “from the rising of the sun,” and “from the rising of the sun” or from the east is from the Divine love, for in the spiritual world the Lord is the sun and the east, and is so called as to that love. That He was providing and moderating is evident from His command to the four angels, “not to hurt the earth and the sea, till the servants of God were sealed on their foreheads.” That the Lord’s Divine Human is meant by “an angel,” in the highest sense is manifest from these passages:

The angel of the faces of Jehovah delivered them; on account of His love and His pity, He redeemed them, and He bare them, and carried them all the days of eternity, (Isaiah 63:9).

The angel who redeemed me from all evil bless them, (Genesis 48:16).

The Lord whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, and the angel of the covenant, whom ye desire, (Malachi 3:1).

Behold, I send an angel before thee to keep thee in the way, beware of his face, for My name is in the midst of him, (Exodus 23:20-23).

“Angel” and “sent” in the Hebrew language, are expressed by one word; hence it is that the Lord so often calls himself “sent by the Father,” by which is meant the Divine Human. But “an angel,” in a relative sense is everyone who receives the Lord, both in heaven and in the world.

345. Having the seal of the living God, signifies who alone knows all and each, and can distinguish and separate them one from another. Since they were sealed on their foreheads with a seal, therefore by “having the seal of the living God,” as spoken of the Lord is meant to know all and each, and to be able to distinguish and separate the servants of God from those who are not servants of God.

346. And he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, (verse 3) saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, signifies the preventing and withholding by the Lord of a nearer and stronger influx into the lower parts. That this is the signification of these words is evident from the explanation above, (343). In the sense of the letter it was the four angels that withheld influx, but, in the spiritual sense, it was the Lord. “Not to hurt the earth, the sea, nor the trees,” signifies that they should not operate by a vehement, but by a moderate, influx. For the Lord, by various degrees of influx into the heavens, disposes, regulates, tempers, and moderates all things there and in the hells, and, through the heavens and the hells, all things in the world.

347. Till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads, signifies before they are separated who are in truths from good from the Lord, thus who are interiorly good. By “sealing them in their foreheads,” is not meant to seal them there, but to distinguish and separate those who are in the good of love from the Lord; for “the forehead” signifies the good of love. That they who are in truths from good from the Lord are meant, because these are signified by “the servants of God” (3[1-3]). The reason why “the forehead” signifies the good of love, is, because the face is the image of man’s affections, and the forehead is the highest part of the face; the cerebrum, from which is the origin of all things of man’s life, being immediately under the forehead. As “the forehead” signifies the love, good love in the good, and evil love in the evil, therefore by “sealing them on their foreheads,” is signified to distinguish and separate one from another according to the love. Similar is the signification of this passage in Ezekiel:

Go through the midst of Jerusalem, and seal a seal upon the foreheads of the men that sigh over the abominations, (Ezekiel 9:4-6).

[2] As “the forehead” signifies love, therefore concerning the plate of gold on the mitre of Aaron, on which was engraven Holiness to Jehovah, it is written:

That it should be over against the face of his mitre, that it might be over the forehead of Aaron, and that it should be upon the forehead of Aaron continually, that they may be in good favor before Jehovah, (Exodus 28:36-38).

And moreover it was commanded:

That these words, Thou shalt love God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, were to be upon the hand and upon the forehead, (Deuteronomy 6:5, 8; 11:18).

That they should have the name of the Father written on their foreheads, (Revelation 14:1).

And the name of God and of the Lamb in their foreheads, (Revelation 22:4).

It should be known, that the Lord looks at the angels in the forehead, whilst they look at the Lord through the eyes; by reason that the Lord looks at all from the good of love, and wills that they, on their part, should look at Him from the truths of wisdom; in this manner conjunction is effected.

[3] “The forehead,” in the opposite sense, signifies evil love in these passages:

Who have the mark of the beast on their forehead, (Revelation 13:16; 14:9; 20:4).

And also the name of Babylon upon their foreheads, (Revelation 17:5).

The forehead of a woman a harlot, (Jeremiah 3:3).

Obdurate of forehead, and hard of heart, (Ezekiel 3:7-8.

Thou art hard, and thy forehead is brass, (Isaiah 48:4).

348. Verse 4. And I heard the number of them which were sealed, a hundred and forty and four thousand, signifies all who acknowledge the Lord to be the God of heaven and earth, and are in truths of doctrine from the good of love from Him through the Word. That these are signified by “a hundred and forty and four thousand out of the twelve tribes of Israel,” is, because “the twelve tribes of Israel” signify the church from those who are in good and truth from the Lord, and acknowledge Him as the God of heaven and earth. By the number “one hundred and forty-four thousand,” all these are meant; for by this number the same is signified as by twelve, since it arises by multiplying “twelve” into “twelve,” and then by multiplying it by “one hundred” and by “one thousand;” and any number whatever multiplied into itself, and then by “ten,” “one hundred,” or “one thousand,” has a like signification as the original number; therefore the number “one hundred and forty-four thousand” signifies the same as “one hundred and forty-four,” and this the same as “twelve,” because “twelve” multiplied by “twelve” make “one hundred and forty-four;” so likewise “the twelve thousand sealed out of each tribe,” being multiplied by “twelve,” make “one hundred and forty-four thousand.” The number “twelve” signifies all, and is predicated of truths from good, because “twelve” is the product of “three” and “four” multiplied by each other, and the number “three” signifies everything as to truth, and the number “four” everything as to good; hence “twelve,” in this instance, signifies everything as to truth from the good of love.

[2] That all numbers signify the adjuncts of things, determining their quality or quantity, may appear manifest from numbers in Revelation, which, were they without some specific signification, would yield no sense whatever in many places. From what has been said it may be seen, that by “one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed,” and by “twelve thousand out of each tribe,” is not to be understood that so many were sealed and elected out of the tribes of Israel, but all who are in the truths of doctrine from the good of love from the Lord. This is what is signified in general by “the twelve tribes of Israel,” and also by “the Lord’s twelve apostles;” but, in particular, some truth from good is signified by each tribe, and by each apostle. But the signification of each particular tribe shall be explained presently. Since the twelve tribes signify all the truths of doctrine from the good of love from the Lord, they also signify all things of the church; on which account the twelve tribes of Israel represented the church, as did also the twelve apostles.

[3] As “twelve” is predicated of the truths and goods of the church, therefore the New Jerusalem, by which is meant the Lord’s New Church, is described by the number twelve in every particular, as that:

The length and breath of the city was twelve thousand furlongs; that the wall thereof was one hundred and forty-four cubits, (Revelation 21:16).

One hundred and forty-four is twelve multiplied by twelve.

That there were twelve gates; and the gates were of twelve pearls; that over the gates there were twelve angels; and the names written of the twelve tribes of Israel; that the wall had twelve foundations; and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; and they consisted of twelve precious stones; as also that the tree of life was there, bearing twelve fruits according to the twelve months. (Rev . 12-13, 21).

Concerning all these particulars, see chapters 21, 22. From such as are here treated of the New Heaven is formed, and the New Church is forming by the Lord; for they are the same who are mentioned in chapter 14, where it is written of them:

And I saw, and, behold, the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand. And they sung a new song before the throne, and no one could learn that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth, for they are virgins, and follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, (Revelation 14:1, 3-4).

[4] Because “the twelve tribes” signify the Lord’s church as to all its truths and goods, therefore the number “twelve” became a number of the church, and was used in its holy ceremonies and solemnities, as:

In the breastplate of judgment, in which were the Urim and Thummim, there were twelve precious stones, (Exodus 28:21).

That twelve loaves of faces were put upon the table in the tabernacle, (Leviticus 24:5-6).

That Moses built an altar below Mount Sinai, and erected twelve pillars, (Exodus 24:4).

That twelve men were sent to explore the land of Canaan, (Deuteronomy 1:23).

That twelve men brought twelve stones out of the midst of Jordan, (Joshua 4:1-9, 20).

That twelve princes at the dedication of the altar brought twelve chargers of silver, twelve bowls of silver, twelve censers of gold, twelve oxen, twelve rams, twelve lambs, and twelve he-goats, (Numbers 7:84, 87).

That Elijah took twelve stones, and built an altar, (1 Kings 18:31-32).

That Elijah found Elisha ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen, and himself among the twelve, and that then he cast his mantle upon him, (1 Kings 19:19).

That Solomon placed twelve oxen under the brazen sea, (1 Kings 7:25, 44).

That he made a throne, and twelve lions standing at the steps of it, (1 Kings 10:19-20).

That on the head of the woman who was clothed with the sun there was a crown of twelve stars, (Revelation 12:1).

From what has been said it may now be evident, that by “one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed, twelve thousand out of each tribe,” are not meant so many in number of the Jews and Israelites, but all who are of the New Christian Heaven, and the New Church, who will be in truths of doctrine from the good of love through the word from the Lord.

349. Sealed out of every tribe³⁷ of Israel signifies the Lord’s heaven and church from them. By a “tribe” is signified religion as to the good of life, and by “every tribe” is signified the church as to every good of love and as to every truth from that good, from which is the good of life; for there are two things which make the church, the good of love and the truth of doctrine; the marriage of these is the church. The twelve tribes of Israel represented, and thence signified the church as to that marriage, and each tribe some universal truth of good or good of truth therein. But what each tribe signifies has not hitherto been revealed to anyone, nor could it be revealed, lest, by an ill-connected explanation, the sanctity which lies concealed in their several conjunctions into one, should be profaned, for their signification is determined by their conjunction.

[2] They have one signification in the series in which they are named according to their nativities, (Genesis 29:31-35; 30:1-24; 35:18); where the series of them is as follows:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, Benjamin, (Genesis 35:23-26).

They have another signification in the series in which they are mentioned when they came to Egypt, which is as follows:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulon, Gad, Asher, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, Naphtali, (Gen 46:8-24).

Another, in the series in which they are blessed by their father Israel, which is this:

Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Zebulon Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, Benjamin, (Genesis 49:1-28).

Another, in the series in which they are blessed by Moses, which is:

Reuben, Judah, Levi, Benjamin, Joseph, Ephraim, Manasseh, Zebulon, Gad, Dan, Naphtali, Asher, (Deuteronomy 33:6-29).

Here Ephraim and Manasseh are mentioned, and not Simeon and Issachar.

[3] Another, in the series in which they encamped and journeyed, which was this:

The tribe of Judah, Issachar, and Zebulon to the east; the tribe of Reuben, Simeon, and Gad to the south; the tribe of Ephraim, Manasseh, and Benjamin to the west; the tribe of Dan, Asher, and Naphtali to the north; and the tribe of Levi in the middle, (Numbers 2).

Another, in the series in which they are mentioned in other places; as Genesis 35:23-26; Numbers 1:5-16; 7; 13:4-15; 26:5-57; 34:17-28; Deuteronomy 27:2, 13; (Ezekiel 48:1-35;) Joshua 15-Joshua 16; 17; 18; 19; Ezekiel 48. So, therefore, when “Balaam saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes,” he said:

How good are thy tabernacles, O Jacob, and thy habitations, O Israel, (Numbers 24:1-4).

[4] In the breastplate of judgment, which was the Urim and Thummim, wherein were twelve precious stones, according to the names of the sons of Israel, (Exodus 28:15-21), the signification of the tribes in their series was determined by the interrogation, to which they returned an answer. But what they signify in the series in which they are here mentioned in Revelation, this being different also, shall be explained presently. That “tribes” signify religion, and “the twelve tribes” the church as to all things relating to it, is, because “tribe” and “scepter,” in the Hebrew language, are one word, and “the scepter” is the kingdom, and the Lord’s kingdom is heaven and the church.

350. Verse 5. (Revelation 7:5) Of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, signifies celestial love, which is love to the Lord, and this with all who will be in the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Judah,” in the highest sense, is signified the Lord as to celestial love; in the spiritual sense, the Lord’s celestial kingdom and the Word; and in the natural sense, the doctrine of the celestial church from the Word. But here by “Judah” is signified celestial love, which is love to the Lord; and because it is mentioned first in the series, it signifies that love with all who will be of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church; for the tribe first named is the all in the rest, it is as their head, and as a universal entering into all things that follow, collecting, qualifying, and affecting them. Such is love to the Lord. That “twelve thousand” signify all who are in that love, may be seen above, (348).

[2] It is known that the twelve tribes of Israel, after Solomon’s time, were divided into two kingdoms, the Jewish and Israelitish. The Jewish kingdom represented the Lord’s celestial or priestly kingdom; and the Israelitish kingdom, the Lord’s spiritual kingdom or royalty; the latter, however, was destroyed when there was nothing spiritual left among them; but the Jewish kingdom was preserved, on account of the Word, and because the Lord was to be born there. But when they had wholly adulterated the Word, and thus they could not know the Lord, then their kingdom was destroyed. From hence it may appear, that by “the tribe of Judah” is signified celestial love, which is love to the Lord; but because they were such as to the Word, and as to the Lord, therefore by “the tribe of Judah” is also signified the opposite love, which is the love of self, properly the love of dominion from the love of self, which love is called diabolical love.

[3] That by “Judah” and his tribe is signified the celestial kingdom and its love, which is love to the Lord is evident from these passages:

Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee, the scepter shall not be removed from Judah until Shiloh come, and unto him is the adherence of the people; he bindeth his foal to the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washeth his garment in wine; his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk, (Genesis 49:8-12).

David shall be their prince forever; and I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be a covenant of eternity with them; and I will set My sanctuary in the midst of them for ever, (Ezekiel 37:26-27).

Shout and be glad, O daughter of Zion; Jehovah will make Judah an inheritance to Himself, His portion upon the land of holiness, (Zechariah 2:10-12).

O Judah, keep thy festivals, perform thy vows, because Belial shall no more pass through thee; everyone shall be cut off, (Nahum 1:15).

The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple; then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Jehovah as in the days of old, (Matthew 3:1-4).

Judah shall sit to eternity, and Jerusalem unto generation and generation, (Joel 3:20).

Behold, the days shall come, when I will raise up unto David a just offshoot; in His days Judah shall be saved, (Jeremiah 23:5-6).

I will bring forth a seed from Jacob, and from Judah an inheritor of my mountains, that the elect may possess it, (Isaiah 65:9).

Judah was His sanctuary, and Israel His dominions, (Psalms 114:2).

Behold, the days shall come, in which I will make a new covenant with the house of Judah; this shall be the covenant, I will give My law in the midst of them, and write it upon their heart, (Jeremiah 31:31, 33).

In those days shall ten men take hold of the skirt of a man, a Jew, saying, we will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you, (Zechariah 8:23).

As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make shall stand before Me, so shall stand your seed and your name; the kings of the nations shall be thy nursing fathers, their queens thy nursing mothers; they shall bow themselves down to thee with their faces upon the earth, and lick up the dust of thy feet, (Isaiah 66:22; 49:23).

[4] From these and many other passages, too numerous to be adduced, it is very evident that by “Judah” is not meant Judah, but the church; as that the Lord would enter into a new and eternal covenant with that nation, and make them His inheritance and His sanctuary to eternity; and that the “kings of the Gentiles and their princes would bow themselves down to them, licking the dust of their feet,” and such like.

[5] That by “the tribe of Judah,” regarded in itself is meant the diabolical kingdom which is of the love of dominion from the love of self, may appear from these passages:

I will hide My face from them, I will see what their latter end will be; it is a generation of perverseness, sons in whom there is no fidelity; a nation void of counsel are they; their vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah; its grapes are grapes of gall, clusters of bitterness are theirs; their wine is the poison of dragons, and the cruel venom of asps; is this not³⁸ hidden with me, sealed up in my treasures, (Deuteronomy 32:20-34)?

Know that not for thy justice and the uprightness of thy heart doth Jehovah give the land of Canaan, for thou art a people of stiff neck, (Deuteronomy 9:5-6).

According to the number of thy cities were thy gods, O Judah; according to the number of the streets of Jerusalem hast thou set altars for burning incense to Baal, (Jeremiah 2:28; 11:13).

Ye are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father ye will do, (John 8:44).

They are said to be full of hypocrisy, iniquity, and uncleanness, (Matthew 23:27-28).

An adulterous generation, (Matthew 12:39; Mark 8:38).

And Jerusalem, their dwelling place, is called “Sodom” (Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 16:46, 48; Revelation 11:8).

Besides other places, where it is said that that nation is utterly ruined, and Jerusalem to be destroyed; as in Jeremiah 5:1; 6:6-7; 7:17-18, and following verses; 8:6-8, and following verses; 9:10-11, 13, and following verses; 13:9-10, 14; 14:16; Lamentations 1:8-9, 17; Ezekiel 4; 5:5; 12:18-19; 15:6-8; 16:1-63; 23:1-49.

351. Of the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand signifies wisdom from celestial love, with those who will be in the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Reuben,” in the highest sense is signified omniscience; in the spiritual sense, wisdom, intelligence, and science, also faith; and, in the natural sense sight; but here by “Reuben” is signified wisdom, because it follows after “Judah,” by whom is signified celestial love, and celestial love produces wisdom; for love does not exist without its consort, which is science, intelligence, and wisdom. The consort of natural love is science, that of spiritual love is intelligence, and that of celestial love is wisdom.

[2] That these things are signified by “Reuben,” follows from his being named from “sight,” and spiritual-natural sight is science, spiritual sight is intelligence, and celestial sight is wisdom. Reuben was also the first born of Jacob, and therefore was called by Israel:

His might, the beginning of his strength, excellent in eminence, and excellent in valor, (Genesis 49:3).

Such indeed is wisdom from celestial love. And as Reuben from his primogeniture represented, and thence signified, the wisdom of the men of the church, therefore:

He exhorted his brethren not to kill Joseph, and was grieved when Joseph was not found in the pit, (Genesis 37:21-22, 29).

And on this account:

His tribe encamped on the south, and was called the camp of Reuben, (Numbers 2:10-16).

The “south” also signifies wisdom from love; therefore they who are in that wisdom dwell to the south in heaven, as may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, (148-150). This wisdom is signified by “Reuben” in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak by these words:

For the divisions of Reuben were great statutes of heart. Why abodest thou among the sheepfolds to hear the bleatings of the flocks? In the divisions of Reuben there were great searchings of heart, (Judges 5:15-16).

“The divisions of Reuben” are the knowledges of every kind which have relation to wisdom.

[3] As all the tribes have an opposite signification also, the tribe of Reuben, in this sense, signifies wisdom separated from love, and thence also faith separated from charity; wherefore:

He was cursed by his father Israel, (Genesis 49:3-4).

And therefore he was deprived of his birthright, (1 Chronicles 5:1).

See above, (17); and therefore:

An inheritance was given him on the other side Jordan, and not in the land of Canaan; and instead of Reuben and Simeon, the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, were acknowledged, (Genesis 48:5).

Nevertheless he retained the representation and thence the signification of wisdom.

352. Of the tribe of Gad were sealed twelve thousand, signifies uses of life, which are of wisdom from that love, also with those who will be in the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Gad,” in the highest sense, is signified omnipotence; in the spiritual sense, the good of life, which also is use; and, in the natural sense, work; in this instance uses of life, because it follows after Reuben and Judah, and celestial love through wisdom produces uses. There are three things which cohere and cannot be separated: love, wisdom, and use of life; if one is separated, the other two fall to the ground, as may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (241, 297, 316). That by “Gad” is signified use of life, which is also called fruit, may appear from his being named from a troop or a heap, (Genesis 30:10-11); as also from his father Israel’s blessing, (Genesis 49:19; and from the blessing of him by Moses, (Deuteronomy 33:20-21); and likewise from his inheritance, (Numbers 32:1-42; 34:14; Deuteronomy 3:16-17; Joshua 13:24-28). Also from the signification of “Gad” in the opposite sense, (Isaiah 65:11; Jeremiah 49:1-3). It must be known, that all the tribes of Israel are here divided into four classes, as in the Urim and Thummin, and in the encampments, and that each class contains three tribes, by reason that three cohere as one, as love, wisdom, and use, and as charity, faith, and work; for, as was said, if one is wanting, the other two are not anything.

353. Verse 6. Of the tribe of Asher were sealed twelve thousand, signifies mutual love, which is the love of doing good uses to the community or society, with those who will be of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Asher,” in the highest sense, is signified eternity; in the spiritual sense, eternal happiness; and, in the natural sense, the affection of good and truth; but here by “Asher” is signified the love of doing uses, which is with those who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and is there called mutual love. This love descends proximately from love to the Lord, because the love of the Lord is to do uses to the community, and to each society in the community, and He does these by means of men who are in love to Him. That Asher has the above signification, may in some measure be seen from the blessing of his father Israel:

Of Asher; his bread shall be fat, and he shall give the dainties of a king, (Genesis 49:20).

And from his blessing by Moses:

Blessed above sons is Asher; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and as his day his fame shall be, (Deuteronomy 33:24-25).

He was named also from blessing; and they who are in the love of doing uses to the community and to society, enjoy happiness above all others in heaven.

354. Of the tribe of Naphtali were sealed twelve thousand, signifies the perception of use and what use is, with those who will be in the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Naphtali” in the highest sense, is signified the proper power of the Lord’s Divine Human; in the spiritual sense, temptation and victory; and, in the natural sense, resistance by the natural man; for he was named from wrestlings. But “Naphtali” here signifies the perception of use, and what use is, because it follows in the series after Asher, by whom is signified the love of uses; and also because they who have conquered in temptation, have an interior perception of uses; for by temptations the interiors of the mind are opened. The perception which they have is described in Jeremiah 31:33-34; they feel in themselves what is good, and see in themselves what is true. That “the tribe of Naphtali” signifies angels and men as to that perception, may be confirmed from these things in the Word:

Naphtali is upon the heights of the field, (Judges 5:18).

The heights of “the field” are the interiors of the church as to perception.

Naphtali is satisfied with good pleasure, and full with the blessing of Jehovah; possess thou the west and the south, (Deuteronomy 33:23).

“To possess the west,” is the good of love serving, and “to possess the south,” is the light of wisdom, which is that perception.

Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving discourses of elegance, (Genesis 49:21).

Thus is described the state after temptation as to free eloquence from perception. It is also recorded that:

One of the tribe of Naphtali was filled with wisdom, intelligence and knowledge and made all Solomon’s work about the temple in brass, (1 Kings 7:14).

The historical parts of the Word, as to names and tribes, are equally as significative as the prophetical.

355. Of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed twelve thousand, signifies the will of serving and of action, with those also who will be of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. There are three things which follow in order: love to the Lord, wisdom, and use, as was said above, (352); so also here, mutual love, understanding or perception, and will or action; these likewise make one, so that if one of them is wanting, the other two are not anything; the will of serving with the action, is the effect, thus the ultimate, in which the two former are and co-exist. The reason why “Manasseh” has this signification, is, because Joseph, who was the father of Manasseh and Ephraim, signifies the spiritual of the church; and the spiritual of the church is the good of the will, and at the same time the truth of the understanding; hence it is that “Manasseh” signifies the voluntary of the church, and “Ephraim” its intellectual. “Manasseh” signifies the voluntary of the church, because “Ephraim” signifies its intellectual, as appears manifestly in Hosea, where Ephraim is so frequently mentioned; and as “Manasseh” signifies the voluntary of the church, he also signifies act, for the will is the endeavor of every act, and where there is endeavor, there is action, when it is possible. Mention is made of “Manasseh” in several places, as when he was born, (Genesis 41:50-52); when he was accepted of Jacob as if instead of Simeon, (Genesis 48:3-5) and blessed by him, (Genesis 48:15-16); and by Moses, (Deuteronomy 33:17) and moreover in Isaiah 9:18-20; Psalms 60:7; 80:2; 108:8. From which it may in some measure be seen, that by “Manasseh” is signified the voluntary of the church.

356. Verse 7. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed twelve thousand, signifies spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor or charity, with those who will be of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Simeon,” in the highest sense, is signified providence; in the spiritual sense, love towards the neighbor or charity; and, in the natural sense, obedience and hearing. In the two foregoing series they are treated of who are in the Lord’s celestial kingdom; but in this series they are treated of who are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; the love of the latter is called spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor, and charity. The reason why Simeon and his tribe represented this love, and therefore signify it in the Word, is because he was born after Reuben, and immediately before Levi, and by these three, Reuben, Simeon, and Levi, in their order, is signified truth in the understanding, or faith; truth in the will, or charity; and truth in act, or good work; in like manner as by Peter, James, and John. That Simeon and his tribe might therefore represent truth in the will, which is both charity and obedience, he was named from hearing, and to hear signifies both to understand truth and to will or obey it; to understand it when it is said to hear anyone, and to will and obey it, when it is said to listen to anyone, or to hearken.

[2] Here something shall be said concerning love towards the neighbor, or charity: love towards the neighbor, is the love of obeying the Lord’s commandments, which are chiefly those contained in the second table of the Decalogue, and which are, thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not commit whoredom; thou shalt not steal; thou shalt not bear false witness; thou shalt not covet the things which are thy neighbor’s. The man who will not do such things because they are sins, loves the neighbor; for he does not love the neighbor who hates him, and from hatred wishes to kill him; he does not love the neighbor who desires to commit whoredom with his wife; nor does he love the neighbor who wishes to steal and plunder his goods, and so on. This, also, Paul teaches in the following words:

For he that loveth another, hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit whoredom, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet, and if there be any other commandment, it is comprehended in this word, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself; therefore charity is the fulfilling of the law, (Romans 13:8-10).

357. Of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thousand, signifies the affection of truth from good, from whence comes intelligence with those who will be of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Levi,” in the highest sense, is signified love and mercy; in the spiritual sense, charity in act, which is the good of life; and, in the natural sense, consociation and conjunction. He was named the name also from adhering, by which, in the Word, is signified conjunction through love. But by “Levi” is here signified the love or affection of truth, and thence intelligence, because it follows after Simeon, and in this series forms the intermediate. Since Levi represented these things, therefore this tribe was appointed to the priesthood, (Numbers 3; Deuteronomy 21:5 and in other places). That the tribe of Levi signifies the love of truth, which is the essential love from which the church is a church, and thence intelligence, may appear from these passages:

The sons of Levi are chosen by Jehovah to minister unto Him, and to bless in His name, (Deuteronomy 21:5).

“To bless in the name of Jehovah” is to teach; which they alone can do, who are in the affection of truth, and thence in intelligence.

They guard Thy Word, and kept Thy covenant; they shall teach Jacob Thy judgments, and Israel Thy law, (Deuteronomy 33:8-11).

The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, and He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, (Malachi 3:1, 3).

“To purify the sons of Levi,” is to purify those who are in the affection of truth. As that affection flourishes from intelligence, therefore:

The rod of Levi, upon which was written the name of Aaron, blossomed with almonds, (Numbers 17:2-11).

358. Of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand, signifies the good of life with those who will be of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Issachar” is signified, in the highest sense, the Divine good of truth, and the truth of good; in the spiritual sense, celestial conjugial love, which is the love of good and truth; and, in the natural sense, remuneration; but here the good of life, because in this class it is the third in order, and the third in any class signifies the ultimate, which is produced from the two former, as the effect from its causes; and the effect from spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor, and is signified by Simeon, through the affection of truth, which is signified by Levi, produces the good of life, which is “Issachar.” He was also named from “hire” (Genesis 30:17-18), thus from remuneration, and the good of life has remuneration in itself. Something of this sort is also signified by Issachar in his blessing by Moses:

Be glad Zebulon in thy going out, and Issachar in thy tents. They shall call the people unto the mountain; there shall they sacrifice the sacrifices of justice, for they shall suck the abundance of the sea, and the hidden things concealed in the sand, (Deuteronomy 33:18-19).

But by “Issachar,” in his blessing by his father Israel, (Genesis 49:14-15) is signified meritorious good of life, as may be seen in The Arcana Coelestia, published at London, (6388).

359. Verse 8. Of the tribe of Zebulon were sealed twelve thousand, signifies the conjugial love of good and truth also with those who will be of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Zebulon,” in the highest sense, is signified the union of the Divine Itself and the Divine Human in the Lord; in the spiritual sense, the marriage of good and truth with those who are in heaven and in the church; and, in the natural sense, conjugial love itself; therefore here, by “Zebulon” is signified the conjugial love of good and truth; he was also named from “cohabitation” (Genesis 30:19, 22); and cohabitation is predicated of married partners whose minds are joined into one, for such conjunction is spiritual cohabitation. The conjugial love of good and truth, which is here signified by “Zebulon,” is the conjugial love of the Lord and the church. The Lord is the good of love itself, and gives to the church to be truth from that good; and cohabitation is effected, when the man of the church receives good from the Lord in truths. In this case the marriage of good and truth takes place with man, which is the church itself, and he becomes a heaven. Hence it is that the kingdom of God, that is, heaven and the church, is so often compared in the Word to a marriage.

360. Of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand, signifies the doctrine of good and truth with those who will be of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. By “Joseph” is signified the Lord as to the spiritual Divine, in the spiritual sense, the spiritual kingdom; and, in the natural sense, fructification and multiplication; but by “Joseph” is here signified the doctrine of good and truth, which is with those who are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom. Joseph here has this signification, because he is named after the tribe of Zebulon, and before the tribe of Benjamin, thus in the middle; and the tribe which is first named in a series or class, signifies some love which is of the will; and the tribe which is named after it signifies something of wisdom which is of the understanding; and the tribe which is named last signifies some use or effect derived from them. Thus each series is full. As Joseph signifies the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, therefore he was made ruler in Egypt, (Genesis 41:38-44; Psalm 105:17-22); where each particular signifies such things as are of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is the Lord’s royalty; and the celestial kingdom is His priesthood.

[2] “Joseph,” here signifies the doctrine of good and truth, because he is here in the place of Ephraim; and by “Ephraim” is signified the intellectual of the church; see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (79); and the intellectual of the church is all from the doctrine of good and truth from the Word. The reason why Joseph is here in the place of Ephraim, is because Manasseh, who was Joseph’s other son, and signified the voluntary of the church, was before reckoned among the tribes, (355). The intellectual of the church being derived from the doctrine of good and truth, therefore that intellectual, and also that doctrine, are signified by “Joseph” in the following passages:

Joseph is the son of a fruitful one, even a fruitful one near a fountain; in the strength of his bow he shall sit; he shall be blessed with the blessings of heaven from above, and with the blessings of the deep that lieth below, (Genesis 49:22-26).

“A fountain” signifies the Word, and “a bow” doctrine, (299).

Blessed of Jehovah is the land of Joseph, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep lying below; and for the precious things of the products of the sun, and for the precious things of the products of the moons, and for the precious things of the earth and its fulness; let it come upon the head of Joseph, (Deuteronomy 33:13-17).

By “the precious things” are signified the knowledges of good and truth, from which is doctrine:

Who drink from bowls of wine, and are not grieved for the breaking of Joseph, (Amos 6:6).

And I will make the house of Judah powerful, and I will save the house of Joseph; and they shall be like mighty Ephraim, and their heart shall rejoice as through wine, (Zechariah 10:6-7 Here also “Joseph” signifies doctrine, and “wine,” the truth of it from good, (316).

361. Of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand, signifies the life of truth from good according to doctrine, with those who will be in the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church. When by “Zebulon” is signified the conjugial love of good and truth; and by “Joseph,” the doctrine of good and truth; then by “Benjamin” because he is third in the series, is signified the life of truth from good. Benjamin has this signification, because he was born last, and was called by his father Jacob, “the son of his right hand” (Genesis 35:18), and by the son of the right hand is signified truth from good; therefore also his tribe dwelt round about Jerusalem, where the tribe of Judah was, and the city of Jerusalem signified the church as to doctrine, and its environs the things which are from doctrine (see Joshua 18:11-28; Jeremiah 17:26; 32:8, 44; 33:13).

362. In the enumeration of the tribes of Israel neither Dan nor Ephraim is named; the reason is, because Dan was the last of the tribes, and his tribe dwelt in the most remote part of the land of Canaan, and thus could not signify anything in the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church, where there will be only celestial and spiritual things; wherefore Manasseh is put in the place of Dan, while Joseph is put in the place of Ephraim; see above, (360).

363. Verse 9. After this I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, signifies all the rest who are not of those enumerated, and yet are in the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church, being those who make the ultimate heaven and the external church, whose quality no one knows but the Lord alone. That by “a great multitude” are signified the rest who are not enumerated above, and yet are in the Lord’s Heaven and Church, is plain from verses 9-10, 13-17, where it is said, that “they stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands;” and that “they serve Him in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them;” besides many other things. By “numbering,” in the spiritual sense, is signified to know what or of what quality they are; that such is the signification of numbering, will be seen in the next paragraph. But who they are in particular, who are meant by those who are called “a great multitude,” cannot be known without first revealing an arcanum. The arcanum is this:

[2] The whole heaven, together with the church on the earth, before the Lord, is as one Man; and because it is as one Man, there are those there who make the head, and thus the face with all its organs of the senses; and there are those who make the body with all its members. Those who are enumerated above make the face with all its organs of the senses; but these now mentioned, are those who make the body with all its members. That this is the case has been revealed to me; as also, that they who make the first class of the tribes (verse 5), are those who correspond to the forehead down to the eyes; that they who are of the second class (verse 6) (Revelation 7:6) are those who correspond to the eyes, together with the nose; the third class (verse 7), those who correspond to the ears and cheeks; and the fourth class (verse 8), those who correspond to the mouth and tongue.

[3] The Lord’s church is also internal and external; those who are meant by “the twelve tribes of Israel” are those who make the Lord’s internal church, but they who are now mentioned are those who make the external church, and cohere as one with those enumerated above, as lower things with higher, thus as the body does with the head; therefore the twelve tribes of Israel signify the higher heavens and also the internal church, but these signify the lower heavens and the external church. That elsewhere these are also called “a great multitude,” see below, (803, etc. , and 811).

364. “To number,” in the spiritual sense, signifies to know the quality, because a “number” in the Word does not signify a number, but its quality, (10); in this passage therefore, by “a great multitude which no one could number,” in the natural sense, is meant what the words import, that there was an immense multitude; but in the spiritual sense, is meant that no one but the Lord alone knows their quality. For the Lord’s heaven consists of innumerable societies, and these societies are distinguished according to the varieties of affections in general; in like manner all in each society, are distinguished in particular. The Lord alone knows the quality of the affection of each individual, and disposes all in order according thereto. By “numbering,” the angels understand, to know this quality. The same is meant, in the Word, in these passages:

When Belshazzar drank wine out of the vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, there was written upon the wall, Thou art numbered, thou art numbered, (Daniel 5:2, 5, 25).

I shall go to the gates of hell, I am numbered, (Isaiah 38:10).

A voice of the tumult of the kingdoms, Jehovah of hosts numbereth the host of war, (Isaiah 13:4).

See, who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number, (Isaiah 40:26).

Jehovah who numbereth the host of the stars, (Psalms 147:4).

The flocks shall pass again under the hands of him that numbereth, (Jeremiah 33:13).

My steps are numbered, (Job 14:16).

The houses and towers of Zion and of Jerusalem are numbered, (Isaiah 22:9-10; 33:18-19; Psalms 48:12-14).

To “number” is to know the quality. From the signification of “numbers” and of “numbering,” it may appear why punishment was denounced against David for numbering the people or the tribes of Israel, and why he said to the prophet Gad:

I have sinned greatly in what I have done, (2 Samuel 24:1, to the end).

And why, when the people were numbered by Moses as to all their tribes, it was commanded that:

Everyone should give an expiation of his soul to Jehovah in numbering, that there be no plague among them in numbering them, (Exodus 30:12).

The reason was, because “to number” signified to know their quality as to their spiritual state, thus as to the state of the church meant by “the twelve tribes of Israel,” which the Lord alone knows.

365. Of every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, signifies all in the Christian world, who are in religion from good and in truths from doctrine. By “every nation and tribes,” are meant those who are in religion from good, who are of the lowest heaven, (363); by “nations,” those who are in good, (920, 921); and by “tribe,” religion, (349); by “peoples and tongues” are meant those who are in truths from doctrine; by “peoples,” those who are in truths, (483); and by “tongue,” doctrine, (282). By “out of every nation, tribes, peoples, and tongues,” taken together in the spiritual sense, are therefore signified all who are in religion from good, and in truths from doctrine.

366. Standing before the throne, and before the Lamb, signifies hearing the Lord, and doing what He commands. By “standing before God,” is signified to hear and do what He commands, as he who stands before a king. The same is also signified by “standing before God,” in other parts of the Word; thus:

The angel said to Zacharias, I am Gabriel, that standeth before God, (Luke 1:19).

There shall not be cut off a man standing before Me all the days, (Jeremiah 35:19).

These are the two sons of oil standing before the Lord of the whole earth, (Zechariah 4:14).

He hath separated the tribe of Levi to stand before Jehovah, (Deuteronomy 10:8).

367. Clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands, signifies communication and conjunction with the higher heavens, and confession from Divine truths. That “to be clothed with white robes,” signifies to have communication and conjunction with the heavens, may be seen above, (328). “To hold palms in their hands” signifies confession from Divine truth because “palms” signify Divine truths; for every tree signifies something of the church, and “palms” signify the Divine truth in ultimates, which is the Divine truth of the sense of the letter of the Word; for this reason:

On all the walls of the temple of Jerusalem, within and without, and also upon the doors, were carved cherubim and palms, (1 Kings 6:29, 32).

The same in the new temple, mentioned in Ezekiel 41:18-20. By “cherubim” is signified the Word, (239), and by “palms” Divine truths therein. That by “palms” are signified the Divine truths of the Word, and by “palms in their hands” confessions from them, may appear from its being commanded that:

At the feast of tabernacles they should take fruits of the tree of honor, and leaves of palms, and should be glad before Jehovah, (Leviticus 23:39-40).

When Jesus went to Jerusalem to the feast, they took branches of palms, and went to meet Him, crying, Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, (John 12:12-13).

By which was signified confession from Divine truths concerning the Lord. “The palm” signifies Divine truth also in David:

The just shall flourish like the palm, those that be planted in the house of Jehovah shall grow, he shall spring up in the courts of our God, (Psalms 92:12-13).

In like manner in other places. Because Jericho was a city near Jordan, and by “the river Jordan” was signified that which is first in the church, and this is the Divine truth, such as it is in the sense of the letter of the Word, therefore it was called “the city of palms” (Deuteronomy 34:3; Judges 1:16; 3:13). For Jordan was the first boundary or entrance into the land of Canaan, and by the land of Canaan is signified the church.

368. Verse 10. And crying with a great voice, saying, Salvation to our God, that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb, signifies the acknowledgment from the heart that the Lord is their Savior. To cry with a great voice, signifies acknowledgment from the heart; “Salvation to our God that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb,” signifies that the Lord is salvation itself, and that the salvation of all is from Him, thus that He is the Savior. By “Him that sitteth upon the throne and the Lamb,” is meant the Lord alone; by “Him that sitteth upon the throne,” His Divine from which all things are, and by “the Lamb,” His Divine Human; as may also be seen above, (273); they are both named, because from His Divine, from which all things are by means of His Divine Human, He was the Saviour; that they are one, is evident from the passages where it is said:

The Lamb in the midst of the throne, (Revelation 5:6; 7:17).

The Lord many times in the Word is called “salvation,” by which is meant that He is the Saviour; as:

My salvation shall not tarry, and I will give salvation in Zion, (Isaiah 46:13).

Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh, (Isaiah 62:11).

I will give thee that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth, (Isaiah 49:6).

This is Jehovah whom we have waited for, we will exult and be glad in His salvation, (Isaiah 25:9).

Salvation, in the Hebrew language, is called Joschia, which is Jesus.

369. Verse 11. And all the angels stood around the throne, and the elders, and the four animals, signifies all in the whole heaven hearing and doing what the Lord commands. By “the animals and elders” are meant the angels of the higher heavens, as above, and also below, (808); but by “angels” are here meant the angels of the lower heavens, thus all in the whole heaven. “To stand,” signifies to hear and do what He commands, (366).

370. And fell before the throne on their faces and adored God, signifies the humiliation of their heart, and, from humiliation, adoration of the Lord. That “to fall upon their faces and adore,” is humiliation of heart, and thence adoration, is evident. Humiliation before the Lord and adoration of Him, is signified by “falling before the throne and adoring God,” because by “God” is meant His Divine, which is the Divine from which all things are, and at the same time, His Divine Human, (368); for both together are one God, because they are one Person.

371. Verse 12. Saying, Amen, signifies the Divine truth and confirmation therefrom; as may be seen above, (23, 28, 61).

372. Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, signifies the Divine spiritual things of the Lord. All acknowledgment and confession of the Lord in general, comprehends these two, that He is the Divine love itself and the Divine wisdom itself, and consequently that love, and all that is of it, with those who are in heaven and in the church, is from Him; in like manner wisdom, and all that is of it. Whatsoever proceeds from the Lord’s Divine love, is called the celestial Divine, and what from His Divine wisdom, is called the spiritual Divine. The Lord’s spiritual Divine is meant by “glory, wisdom, and thanksgiving;” and His celestial Divine, by “honor, power, and might,” which follow. “The blessing” which precedes, signifies both, as may be seen above, (289). That “glory” is predicated of the Divine truth, thus of the spiritual Divine (see 249). That “wisdom” has relation to the same, is evident. That “thanksgiving” has also a like reference, is, because it is performed from the Divine truth; for man gives thanks from it and by it.

373. And honor, and power, and might, signifies the Lord’s celestial Divine. In the preceding article it is said that these three, “honor, power, and might,” in the Word, when applied to the Lord, are predicated of the celestial Divine, or the Divine love, or His Divine good. That “honor” is so predicated, may be seen, (249); and “might” (22); and that “power” is so likewise, may be evident from the passages in the Word where it is mentioned. It is to be known, that in all the particulars of the Word there is a marriage of good and truth, and that there are expressions which have relation to good, and expressions which have relation to truth; but these expressions can only be distinguished by those who study the spiritual sense. From that sense it appears what expressions have relation to good or love, and what to truth or wisdom; and from many passages it has been given to know, that “honor, power, and might,” occur when it treats of the Divine good. That “power” also relates to the Divine good may be seen in Matthew 13:54; 24:30; Mark 13:25-26; Luke 1:17, 35; 9:1; 21:27 and elsewhere. That in the particulars of the Word there is a marriage of the Lord and the church, and thence a marriage of good and truth, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (80-90).

374. Be unto our God for ages of ages, signifies these things in the Lord and from the Lord to eternity. This is evident from what was said above; and also that “for ages of ages,” is to eternity.

375. Amen, signifies the consent of all. In this verse “Amen” is said at the beginning, and again at the end; when it is said at the beginning it signifies truth, and thence confirmation, (371); but when at the end, it signifies the confirmation and consent of all that it is the truth.

376. Verse 13. And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, Who are these that are arrayed in white robes, and whence came they? Verse 14. And I said unto him, Lord, thou knowest, signifies the desire of knowing, and the will of interrogating, and the answer and information. The reason why John was questioned concerning these things, is, because it is common in all Divine worship, that man should first will, desire, and pray, and the Lord then answer, inform, and do; otherwise man does not receive anything Divine. Now as John saw “those who were arrayed in white robes,” and was desirous to know and to ask who they were, and as this was perceived in heaven, therefore he was first asked and then informed. The same occurred to the prophet Zechariah, when he saw several things represented to him, as may appear from Zechariah 1:9, 19, 21; 4:2, 5, 11-12; 5:2, (6,) 10; 6:4. Besides, we frequently read in the Word, that the Lord answers when they call and cry; as in Psalms 4:1; 17:6; 20:9; 34:4; 91:15; 120:1; also, that he gives when they ask, (Matthew 7:7-8; 21:22; John 14:13-14; 15:7; 16:23-27). But yet the Lord gives them to ask, and what to ask; therefore the Lord knows it beforehand; but still the Lord wills that man should ask first, to the end that he may do it as from himself, and thus that it should be appropriated to him; otherwise, if the petition itself were not from the Lord, it would not be said in those places, that “they should receive whatsoever they asked.”

377. And he said, These are they that come out of great affliction, signifies that they are those who have been in temptations, and have fought against evils and falsities. That “affliction” is infestation from evils and falsities, and spiritual combat against them, which is temptation (see 33, 95, 100-101).

378. And have washed their robes, signifies, and who have cleansed their religions principles from the evils of falsity. By “washing,” in the Word, is signified to cleanse from evils and falsities; and by “robes” are signified general truths, (328). General truths are the knowledges of good and truth from the sense of the letter of the Word, according to which they have lived, and thence they are religious principles; and as every religious principle relates to good and truth, therefore robes are twice mentioned, namely, “they have washed their robes” and “have made their robes white.”“Robes,” or religious principles, are cleansed only with those who fight against evils, and so reject falsities; thus by temptations, which are signified by “great affliction” (377). That “to be washed” signifies to be cleansed from evils and falsities, and so to be reformed and regenerated, may be seen evidently from the following passages:

When the Lord hath washed off the filth of the daughters of Zion, and hath washed away the blood of Jerusalem by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of purifying, (Isaiah 4:4).

Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doing from Mine eyes; cease to do evil, (Isaiah 1:16).

Wash thy heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that thou mayest be saved, (Jeremiah 4:14).

Wash me from my iniquity, and I shall be whiter than snow, (Psalms 51:2, 7).

If thou shouldst wash thee with nitre, and shouldst take thee much soap, thy iniquity will still retain its spots, (Jeremiah 2:21).

If I should wash me in the waters of snow, and should cleanse my hands with soap, still my garments shall abhor me, (Job 9:30-31).

Who washed his garment in wine, his covering in the blood of grapes, (Genesis 49:11).

This is said of the celestial church, from which they are who are in love to the Lord, and in the highest sense it is concerning the Lord; “wine” and “the blood of grapes” is the Divine truth spiritual and celestial.

I have washed thee with waters, and I have washed away the blood from off thee, (Ezekiel 16:9).

This is said of Jerusalem; “waters” are truths, and “bloods” are the adulterations of truth.

[2] It may be evident from these things what was represented and thence signified by the “washings” in the Israelitish church.

Aaron should wash himself before he put on the garments of ministry, (Leviticus 16:24).

And before he drew near to the altar to minister, (Exodus 30:18-21; 40:30-31).

In like manner the Levites, (Numbers 8:6-7).

In like manner others, who were made unclean by sins; even that they washed the vessels, (Leviticus 11:32; 14:8-9; 15:5-13; 17:15-16; Matthew 23:25-26).

They were sanctified by the washings, (Exodus 29:4; 40:12; Leviticus 8:6).

Naaman of Syria washed himself in the Jordan, (2 Kings 5:10, 14).

Therefore:

That they might wash themselves, the brazen sea and many lavers were placed near the temple, (1 Kings 7:23-39).

And that the Lord washed the feet of the disciples, (John 13:5-10).

And He said to the blind man that he should wash in the pool of Siloam, (John 9:6-7, 11).

[3] From these things it may appear that “washing” with the sons of Israel represented spiritual washing, which is cleansing from evils and falsities, and thence reformation and regeneration. From what has been said above, it is also evident what was signified by:

The baptism in Jordan by John, (Matthew 3:5-7; Mark 1:4-13).

And what by these words of John concerning the Lord, that:

He would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire, (Luke 3:16; John 1:33).

And of himself, that:

He baptized with water, (John 1:26).

The meaning of which is, that the Lord washes or purifies man by the Divine truth and the Divine good, and that John represented this by his baptism; for the “Holy Spirit” is the Divine truth, “fire” is the Divine good, and “water” is the representative of both; for “water” signifies the truth of the Word, which becomes good by a life according to it, (50).

379. And made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb, signifies, and have purified them from the falsities of evil by truths, and thus are reformed by the Lord. There are evils of falsity and falsities of evil; evils of falsity with those who from religion believe that evils do not condemn, provided they confess with their lips that they are sinners; and falsities of evil with those who confirm evils in themselves. By “robes” are here signified general truths from the Word, which constitute their religious principles as above, (378). It is said, “they made white their robes in the blood of the Lamb,” because “white” is predicated of truths, (167[1-2], 231, 232); thus, that they purified falsities by truths. It also signifies that thus they were reformed by the Lord; because all who have fought against evils in the world, and have believed in the Lord, after their departure out of the world, are taught by the Lord, and are withdrawn from the falsities of their religion by truths, and thus are reformed. The reason is because they who shun evils as sins are in the good of life; and the good of life desires truths, and acknowledges and accepts them; but evil of life never. By “the blood of the Lamb” here, and in other parts of the Word, it is believed that the Lord’s passion of the cross is signified; but the passion of the cross was the last temptation, by which the Lord fully conquered the hells, and fully glorified His Human, by which two He saved man; see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord 12-14, 15-17³⁹ ; also above 67). And because the Lord thus fully glorified His Human, that is made it Divine, therefore nothing else can be meant by His “flesh,” and “blood” but the Divine in Him and from Him; by “flesh,” the Divine good of the Divine love; and by “blood,” the Divine truth from that good.

[2] “Blood” is mentioned in many places in the Word, and everywhere signifies, in the spiritual sense, the Divine truth of the Lord, which also is the Divine truth of the Word; and, in the opposite sense, the Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned, as may appear from the following passages:

First: that “blood” signifies the Divine truth of the Lord or of the Word is manifest from these considerations: that blood was called “the blood of the covenant,” and “covenant” is conjunction, and this is effected from the Lord by His Divine truth; as in Zechariah:

By the blood of thy covenant I will send forth the bound out of the pit, (Zechariah 9:11).

And in Moses:

Moses, after he had read the book of the Law in the ears of the people, sprinkled half of the blood upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah hath made with you concerning all these Words, (Exodus 24:3-8).

And Jesus took the cup, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; for this is My blood, that of the New Covenant, (Matthew 26:27-28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20).

By “the blood of the New Covenant” or Testament, nothing else is signified but the Word, which is called “Covenant” and “Testament,” Old and New, thus the Divine truth therein.

[3] As this is signified by “blood,” therefore the Lord gave them the wine, saying, “This is my blood;” and “wine” signifies the Divine truth, (316); it is also on this account called “the blood of grapes” (Genesis 49:11; Deuteronomy 32:14). This is again evident from these words of the Lord:

Verily, verily, I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink His blood, ye have no life in you. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He that eateth My flesh and drinketh My blood, abideth in Me, and I in him, (John 6:53-56).

That by “blood” is here meant the Divine truth, appears manifestly, because it is said that he who drinks has life, and abideth in the Lord, and the Lord in him. That the Divine truth and a life according to it effects this, and that the Holy Supper confirms it, can be known in the church.

[4] Since “blood” signifies the Divine truth of the Lord, which is also the Divine truth of the Word, and this is the Old and New Covenant or Testament itself, therefore blood was the most holy representative in the Israelitish church, in which each and all things were correspondences of spiritual things; as that:

They should take of the paschal blood, and put it upon the posts and the lintels of the houses, that the plague might not come upon them, (Exodus 12:7, 13, 22).

The blood of the burnt-offering should be sprinkled upon the altar, on the foundations of the altar, upon Aaron, his sons, and their garments, (Exodus 29:12, 16, 20-21; Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:25, 30, 34; 5:9; 8:15, 24; 17:6; Numbers 18:17; Deuteronomy 12:27). Also upon the veil which was over the ark, upon the mercy-seat, and upon the horns of the altar of incense, (Leviticus 4:6-7, 17-18; 16:12-15).

[5] The same is signified by “the blood of the Lamb” in the following passage in Revelation:

And there was war in heaven; Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, (Revelation 12:7, 11).

For it cannot be thought that Michael and his angels overcame the dragon by anything else than the Divine truth of the Lord in the Word; for, in heaven, the angels cannot think of any blood; nor do they think of the Lord’s passion, but of the Divine truth and of His resurrection. Therefore, when man thinks of the Lord’s blood, the angels perceive His Divine truth; and when he thinks of the Lord’s passion, they perceive His glorification, and then His resurrection only. It has been granted me to know this by much experience.

[6] That “blood” signifies the Divine truth is also evident from these words in David:

God will preserve the souls of the needy, and precious shall their blood be in His eyes; and they shall live, and He shall give them of the gold of Sheba, (Psalms 72:13-15).

“Blood precious in the eyes of God” is for the Divine truth with them; “the gold of Sheba” is wisdom from it. In Ezekiel:

Gather yourselves together to the great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood; ye shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and ye shall drink blood even to drunkenness, of My sacrifice which I sacrifice for you; thus I will give My glory among the nations, (Ezekiel 39:17-21).

By “blood” here cannot be meant blood, because it is said that “they shall drink the blood of the princes of the earth,” and that “they shall drink blood even to drunkenness.” But the true sense of the Word results, when by “blood” is understood the Divine truth. The Lord’s church also is there treated of, which He was about to establish with the Gentiles.

[7] Secondly: that “blood” signifies the Divine truth, may be clearly seen from its opposite sense, in which it signifies the Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned, as is evident from the following passages:

Who stoppeth his ears lest he hear of blood, and shutteth his eyes lest he see evil, (Isaiah 33:15).

Thou shalt destroy them that speak a lie; Jehovah abhorreth the man of blood and deceit, (Psalms 5:6).

Everyone that is written for life in Jerusalem when the Lord shall have washed away the blood thereof from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of purifying, (Isaiah 4:3-4).

In the day that thou wast born, I saw thee trampled down in blood; and I said, In thine own blood live; I washed thee, and washed away the blood from off thee, (Ezekiel 16:5-6, 9, 22, 36, 38).

The blind wandered in the streets, they were polluted with blood, and what they cannot do, they touch with their garments, (Lamentations 4:13-14).

The garment is polluted with blood, (Isaiah 9:5).

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocents, (Jeremiah 2:34).

Your hands are full of blood; wash you, purify you; put away the wickedness of your doings, (Isaiah 1:15-16).

Your hands are polluted with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken a lie, they make haste to shed innocent blood, (Isaiah 59:3, 7).

For Jehovah goeth out to visit the iniquity of the earth; then the earth shall reveal its blood, (Isaiah 26:21).

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, who were not of blood, (John 1:12-13).

In Babylon was found the blood of the prophets and saints, (Revelation 18:24).

The sea became as the blood of one dead, and the fountains of waters became blood, (Revelation 16:3-4; Isaiah 15:9; Psalms 105:29).

The same is signified by the rivers, collections, and lakes of waters in Egypt being turned into blood, (Exodus 7:15, 25).

The moon shall be turned into blood before the great day of Jehovah cometh, (Joel 2:31).

The moon became blood, (Revelation 6:12).

In these places, and many others, “blood” signifies the truth of the Word falsified, and also profaned; which yet may be seen more manifestly still by reading those passages in the Word in their series. Since therefore by “blood,” in the opposite sense, is signified the truth of the Word falsified or profaned, it is evident that by “blood,” in the genuine sense, is signified the truth of the Word not falsified.

380. Verse 15. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them, signifies that they are in the presence of the Lord, and constantly and faithfully live according to the truths which they receive from Him in His church, and that the Lord continually gives good in their truths. “Therefore are they before the throne of God,” signifies that they are in the Lord’s presence; “and serve Him day and night,” signifies that they constantly and faithfully live according to the truths, that is, the precepts, which they receive from Him. By “serving the Lord” nothing else is signified; “in His temple” signifies in the church, (191). “He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them,” signifies that the Lord continually gives good in the truths which they receive from Him. That this is signified by “dwelling among them,” is because in the Word, “to dwell” is predicted of good, and “to serve,” of truth. This arcanum now is to be disclosed, that the marriage of the Lord with the church consists in this: that the Lord flows into angels and men with the good of love, and that angels and men receive Him, or the good of His love, in truths; that hereby the marriage of good and truth is effected, which marriage is the church itself, and becomes heaven with them. Such being the nature of the Lord’s influx and reception of Him, therefore the Lord looks at angels and men in the forehead, and they look at the Lord through the eyes; for the forehead corresponds to the good of love, and the eyes correspond to truths from that good, which thus by conjunction become the truths of good. But the Lord’s influx with truths into angels and men, is not as the influx of good into them, for it is mediate, flowing from good, as light does from fire, being received by them in the understanding, and only so far in the will as they do truths. This then is the marriage of love and wisdom, or of good and truth from the Lord, with those who receive them in the heavens and on earth. This arcanum was disclosed for the sake of making it known how it is to be understood, that the Lord continually gives good in their truths.

381. Verse 16. They shall not hunger any more, neither thirst anymore signifies that hereafter there shall be no deficiency of goods and truths with them. By “not hungering” is signified to have no lack of good, and by “not thirsting” is signified to have no lack of truth; for to hunger is predicated of bread and food, and to thirst, of wine and water; and by “bread” and “food” is signified good and by “wine” and “water” is signified truth; see above, (323).

382. Neither shall the sun fall upon them, nor any heat, signifies that hereafter they shall not have lusts to evil, nor to the falsity of evil. “The sun shall not fall upon them,” signifies that they shall not have lusts to evil, “neither shall any heat fall upon them,” signifies that they shall not have lusts to falsity. That “the sun” signifies the Divine love and thence the affections of good; and, in the opposite sense, diabolical love and thence lusts to evil, may be seen above, (53). But the reason why “heat” signifies lusts to the falsities of evil, is, because falsity is produced from evil, as heat is from the sun; for when the will loves evil, the understanding loves falsity, and burns with the lust of confirming it, and evil confirmed in the understanding, is the falsity of evil; consequently the falsity of evil is evil in its form. “Heat” and “to be hot” have a like signification in the following passages:

Blessed is the man that trusteth in Jehovah, he shall not see when heat cometh, (Jeremiah 17:7-8 For thou hast been a refuge to the needy from the inundation, a shade from the heat; He tempered the heat with the shadow of a cloud, (Isaiah 25:4-5).

When they are heated, I will make them drunken, that they may sleep the sleep of an age, (Jeremiah 51:39).

They are all hot as an oven, there is none among them that calleth unto Me, (Hosea 7:7).

He beholdeth not the way of the vineyards. Drought and heat seize the waters of the snow, (Job 24:18-19).

The fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and it was given unto him to scorch men with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, (Revelation 16:8-9).

To say to the bound, Go forth; they shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat smite them, (Isaiah 49:9-10).

383. Verse 17. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, signifies that the Lord alone will teach them. By “the Lamb in the midst of the throne,” is signified the Lord as to His Divine Human in the inmost, and thus in all things of heaven; “in the midst” is in the inmost, and thus in all things, (44[1-2]); “the throne” is heaven, (14); and “the Lamb” is the Lord as to His Divine Human, (269, 291); and He who is in the inmost, and thus in all things of heaven, alone feeds, that is, teaches all. If it be asked, how He alone can feed all, be it known that it is because He is God, and because in the whole heaven He is as the soul in its body, for heaven is from Him as one man. “To feed” is to teach, because the church, in the Word, is called “a flock” and the men of the church are called “sheep” and “lambs,” hence “to feed” signifies to teach, and “the shepherd” one that teaches; and this in many places, as:

In that day they shall feed the flocks in a wide meadow, (Isaiah 30:23).

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd, (Isaiah 40:11).

They shall feed in the ways⁴⁰ and their pastures shall be in all hillsides, (Isaiah 49:9).

Israel shall feed in Carmel and Bashan, (Jeremiah 50:19).

I will seek my flock, I will feed them in a good pasture, and in a fat pasture upon the mountains of Israel, (Ezekiel 34:12-14).

Feed thy people, let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, (Micah 7:14).

The remnant of Israel shall feed, and they shall rest, (Zephaniah 3:13).

Jehovah is my Shepherd, I shall not want, He maketh me to lie down in the pastures of herb, (Psalms 23:1-2).

The Lord hath chosen David to feed Jacob and Israel, and he fed them, (Psalms 78:70-72).

Jesus said to Peter, Feed My lambs, the second and third time He said, Feed My sheep, (John 21:15-17).

384. And shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, signifies, and lead them by the truths of the Word to conjunction with Himself. Since by “a living fountain of waters” is signified the Lord, and also the Word, and by “waters” are signified truths, (50), and since by the Divine truths of the Word, when they are made of the life, which is done when one lives according to them, conjunction is effected with the Lord, therefore by “leading them to living fountains of waters,” is signified to lead by the truths of the Word to conjunction with the Lord. That by “a fountain” and “fountains” is signified the Lord, and also the Word, is evident from these passages:

All my fountains are in Thee, O Jehovah, (Psalms 87:7).

They have deserted Jehovah, the fountain of living waters, (Jeremiah 17:13).

The people deserted Me the fountain of living waters, (Jeremiah 2:13).

Thou makest them drink of the river of pleasures, for with Thee is the fountain of life, (Psalms 36:8-9).

In that day shall a fountain be opened to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, (Zechariah 13:1).

Israel dwelt securely solitary at the fountain of Jacob, (Deuteronomy 33:28).

When the Lord sat at the fountain of Jacob, He said to the woman, The water that I shall give shall become a fountain of water springing up into eternal life, (John 4:5-20).

Joseph is the son of a fruitful one near a fountain, (Genesis 49:22).

Bless the Lord from the fountain of Israel, (Psalms 68:26).

Then with joy shall ye draw waters from the fountains of salvation, (Isaiah 12:3).

Unto him that thirsteth I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely, (Revelation 21:6).

I will lead them to the fountains of waters in a straight way, (Jeremiah 31:9).

Similar to these and the above in Revelation, are said also in Isaiah:

They shall not hunger nor thirst, neither shall the heat smite them, for He that hath mercy on them shall lead them even to the fountains of waters, (Isaiah 49:10).

385. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, signifies that they shall no longer be in combats against evils and their falsities, and thus not in grief, but in goods and truths, and thence in celestial joys from the Lord. That these things are signified by the Lamb “wiping away every tear from their eyes,” is, because above (in verse 14), it is said, that “these are they which come out of great affliction,” by which is signified that they are those who have been in temptations, and have fought against evils, (377); and who afterwards are not in combats against evils, the same are in goods and truths, and thence in celestial joys. The following passage in Isaiah has a similar signification:

He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord Jehovah will wipe away the tears from all faces. Then they shall say in that day, Behold this is our God, whom we have waited for that He might deliver us; This is Jehovah, whom we have waited for, we will exult and be glad in His salvation, (Isaiah 25:8-9).

386. To the above I will add this Relation. Once when I looked around in the spiritual world, I heard as it were the gnashing of teeth, and also as it were a knocking, and mixed with them a grating sound; and I inquired what they were. And the angels who were with me said, “There are colleges which are called by us diversoria, where disputations are carried on. These disputations are so heard at a distance, but on coming near to them they are only heard as disputations.” I drew near and saw small houses, constructed of reeds plastered with mud. And I desired to look in through a window, but there was none; for it was not allowed to enter through the door, because the light from heaven would flow in and confuse them. But suddenly a window was made on the right side; and then I heard them complain that they were in darkness. Shortly afterwards a window was made on the left side, and that on the right was closed; upon which the darkness gradually dispersed, and they seemed to themselves to be in the light.

After this I was permitted to go in through the door and hear. There was a table in the middle, and benches round about; but they all seemed to me to stand upon the benches, and to dispute sharply with one another concerning Faith and Charity: on one side, that faith was the principal thing of the church; on the other, that charity was. They who made faith the principal, said, “Have we not to do with God by faith, and with man by charity? Is not faith therefore heavenly, and charity earthly? Are we not saved by what is heavenly, and not by what is earthly? Again, cannot God give faith from heaven, because it is heavenly, and must not man procure to himself charity, because it is earthly? And what man procures for himself, is not of the church, and therefore does not save? Can anyone be justified in the sight of God by works, which are called works of charity? Believe us, we are not only justified, but also sanctified by faith alone, provided that faith be not defiled by things meritorious, which are from the works of charity.” Besides many more things.

[2] But they who made charity the principal thing of the church, sharply refuted these things, saying, “That charity saves, and not faith; are not all dear to God, and does He not will the good of all? How can God effect this, except by men? Does God only give to men to talk with one another about such things as relate to faith? and does He not give to men to do those things which are of charity? Do you not see that it is absurd in you to say that charity is earthly? Charity is heavenly, and because you do not do the good of charity, your faith is earthly. How do you receive faith but as a stock or a stone? You say by the hearing of the Word only. But how can the Word operate by being heard only, and this too upon a stock or a stone? Perhaps you are vivified without knowing it; but what is this vivification except in being enabled to say that faith alone saves? But what faith is, and what saving faith, you do not know.”

[3] But there then arose one, who, by the angel that was talking with me, was called a Syncretist. He took off a turban from his head, and placed it on the table; but suddenly put it on again, because he was bald. He said, “Attend! you are all in error; it is true that faith is spiritual, and charity, moral; but yet they are joined together; and this by the Word, by the Holy Spirit, and by effect, without man’s knowledge, which indeed may be called obedience, but in which man has no part. I have thought of these things with myself for a long time, and have at length discovered, that man may receive faith from God, which is spiritual, but that he cannot be moved by God to charity, which is spiritual, except as a pillar of salt.”

[4] Having said this, he was applauded by those who were in faith alone, but hooted by those who were in charity; and the latter said, with indignation, “Hear, friend; you do not know that there is a moral life which is spiritual, and that there is a moral life merely natural; a moral life which is spiritual with those who do good from God, and yet as if from themselves; and a moral life merely natural with those who do good from hell, and yet as if from themselves.”

[5] It was said that the disputation was heard as a gnashing of teeth, and as a knocking, with which a grating sound was mixed. The disputation heard as a gnashing of teeth, was by those who were in faith alone; but the disputation heard as a knocking, was by those who were in charity alone; and the grating sound that was mixed with them was from the Syncretist. The sounds of them were so heard at a distance, because when in the world, they all spent their time in disputations and did not shun any evil, and therefore they did not do any spiritual moral good; and, moreover, they were entirely ignorant that the all of faith is truth, and the all of charity, good, and that truth without good is not truth in spirit, and that good without truth is not good in spirit, and that thus one must make the other. The reason why there was darkness when a window was made on the right side, is because light from heaven flowing in on that side affects the will; and the reason why there was light when the window on the right side was shut, and another was made in the left, is because light flowing in from heaven on the left side affects the understanding, and every man may be in the light of heaven as to his understanding, provided the will be closed as to its evil.

Chapter 8 (387-417)

387. Revelation 8

1. And when He had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven as of half an hour.

2. And I saw the seven angels, who stood before God; and there were given to them seven trumpets.

3. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.

4. And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the angel before God.

5. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it unto the earth: and there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake.

6. And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.

7. And the first angel sounded, and there became hail and fire, mingled with blood; and they were cast upon the earth; and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

8. And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood.

9. And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea that had souls died; and the third part of the ships perished.

10. And the third angel sounded, and there fell from heaven a great star burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters.

11. And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.

12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.

13. And I saw, and I heard an angel flying in the midst of heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, to them that dwell on the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels that are about to sound.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

The church of the Reformed is here treated of, as to the quality of those therein who are in faith alone: the preparation of the spiritual heaven for communication with them (verses 1-6). The exploration and manifestation of those therein, who are in the interiors of that faith (verse 7). Of those who are in its exteriors (verses 8-9). What they are as to the understanding of the Word (verses 10-11). That they are in falsities and thence in evils (verses 12-13).

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “And when He had opened the seventh seal,” signifies exploration by the Lord of the state of the church, and thence of the life of those who are in His spiritual kingdom, being those who are in charity and its faith, in this case who are in faith alone, (388). “There was silence in heaven as of half an hour,” signifies that the angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom were greatly amazed when they saw those who said they were in the faith in such a state, (389).

Verse 2. “And I saw the seven angels who stood before God,” signifies the entire spiritual heaven in the presence of the Lord, hearing and doing what He commands, (390). “And there were given to them seven trumpets,” signifies the exploration and disclosure of the state of the church, and thence of the life of those who are in faith alone, (391).

Verse 3. “And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer,” signifies spiritual worship, which is from the good of charity by the truths of faith, (392). “And there was given him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne,” signifies propitiation lest the angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom should be hurt by the spirits of the satanic kingdom that were below, (393).

Verse 4. “And the smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the saints out of the hand of the angel before God,” signifies the protection of them by the Lord, (394).

Verse 5. “And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it unto the earth,” signifies spiritual love, in which is celestial love, and its influx into lower things, where they were who were in faith separated from charity, (395). “And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and an earthquake,” signifies that after communication was opened with them, there were heard reasonings concerning faith alone, and confirmations in favor of it, (396).

Verse 6. “And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound,” signifies that they were prepared and girded to explore the state of the church and thence the state of life with those whose religion is faith alone, (397).

Verse 7. “The first angel sounded,” signifies the exploration and manifestation of the quality of the state of the church with those who are interiorly in that faith, (398). “And there became hail and fire mingled with blood,” signifies falsity from infernal love destroying good and truth, and falsifying the Word, (399). “And they were cast upon the earth, and the third part of the trees was burnt up,” signifies that with them, every affection and perception of truth, which constitute the man of the church, had perished, (400). “And all green grass was burnt up,” signifies thus every living thing of faith, (401).

Verse 8. “And the second angel sounded,” signifies the exploration and manifestation of what the state of the church is with those who are exteriorly in that faith, (402). “And as it were a mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea,” signifies the appearance of infernal love with them, (403). “And the third part of the sea became blood,” signifies that all general truths with them were falsified, (404).

Verse 9. “And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea that had souls, died,” signifies that they who have lived and do live this faith cannot be reformed and receive life, (405). “And the third part of the ships perished,” signifies that all the knowledges of good and truth from the Word, serving for the use of life, were destroyed with them, (406[1-4]). Verse 10. “And the third angel sounded,” signifies the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church with those whose religion is faith alone, as to the affection and reception of truths from the Word, (407). “And there fell from heaven a great star, burning as it were a lamp,” signifies the appearance of their own intelligence from pride arising from infernal love, (408). “And it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters,” signifies that thence all the truths of the Word were altogether falsified, (409).

Verse 11. “And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood,” signifies the infernal falsity from which their own intelligence is derived, by which all the truths of the Word are falsified, (410). “And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter,” signifies the extinction of spiritual life from the falsified truths of the Word, (411).

Verse 12. “And the fourth angel sounded,” signifies the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church with those whose religion is faith alone, as being in the evils of falsity, and in the falsities of evil, (412). “And the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, and the third part of them was darkened,” signifies that by reason of evils from falsities and of falsities from evils, they did not know what love is, or what faith is, or any truth, (413). “And the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise,” signifies that there is no longer any spiritual truth nor natural truth serviceable for doctrine and life from the Word with them, (414).

Verse 13. “And I saw, and I heard an angel flying in the midst of heaven,” signifies instruction and prediction from the Lord, (415). “Saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, to them that dwell on the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are about to sound,” signifies the deepest lamentation over the damned state of those in the church, who in doctrine and life have confirmed themselves in faith separate from charity, (416).

THE EXPLANATION

There are two kingdoms into which the entire heaven is divided, the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The celestial kingdom consists of those who are in love to the Lord and thence in wisdom; and the spiritual kingdom consists of those who are in love towards the neighbor, and thence in intelligence; and as love towards the neighbor is at this day called “charity” and intelligence, “faith,” the latter kingdom consists of those who are in charity, and thence in faith. Now, because heaven is distinguished into two kingdoms, hell also is distinguished into two kingdoms that are opposite to them; into the diabolical kingdom and into the satanic kingdom. The diabolical kingdom consists of those who are in the love of dominion from love of self and thence in foolishness; for this love is opposite to celestial love, and its foolishness is opposite to celestial wisdom; but the satanic kingdom consists of those who are in the love of dominion from the pride of their own intelligence, and thence in insanity; for this love is opposite to spiritual love, and its insanity is opposite to spiritual intelligence. By foolishness and insanity are meant foolishness and insanity in things celestial and spiritual. Similar things are to be understood of the church on earth as are said of heaven, for they make one. Concerning these two kingdoms, see the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London, (20-28), and see also many other places.

[2] Now, as Revelation treats only of the state of the church at its end (as was observed in the preface, and at 2), therefore what now follows treats of those who are in the two kingdoms of heaven, and of those who are in the two kingdoms of hell, and of their quality. From this chapter, (8:8-13), of those who are in the spiritual kingdom, and in the satanic kingdom opposite to it; in chapters 17; 18, of those who are in the celestial kingdom, and in the diabolical kingdom opposite to it; and afterwards of the Last Judgment; and at length of the New Church which is the New Jerusalem; this bringing all that goes before to a conclusion, because it is the end on account of which they are. In many parts of the Word “the Devil” and “Satan” are mentioned, and by both is meant hell; it is so named, because all in one hell are called devils, and all in the other are called satans.

388. Verse 1. And when He had opened the seventh seal, signifies exploration by the Lord of the state of the church, and thence of the state of life of those who are in His spiritual kingdom, being those who are in charity and its faith; in this case, who are in faith alone. That this is the signification of these words, may appear from all the particulars of this chapter when understood in the spiritual sense. For this chapter and the following to chapter 16 treat of those who are in the spiritual kingdom, or those who are in love towards the neighbor and thence in intelligence, as was said above, (387). But since, at this day, they say “charity” instead of love towards the neighbor, and “faith” instead of intelligence; and here there is not any exploration of those who are in charity and thence in faith, because these belong to such as are in heaven; therefore exploration is here made of those who are in faith alone. Faith alone is also faith separated from charity, there being no conjunction (see below, 417). That “to open the seal” signifies to explore states of life, or, what is the same thing, the states of the church and thence of life, see above, 295, 302, 309, 317, 324

389. There was silence in heaven as of half an hour, signifies that the angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom were greatly amazed, when they saw those who said they were in faith, in such a state. By “silence in heaven,” nothing else is meant but amazement there in regard to those who say they are in faith, and yet are in such a state; for their state is described in what follows, the quality of which can be seen from the explanation. By “half an hour” is signified greatly, because by “an hour” is signified a full state. That “time” signifies state, will be seen below.

390. Verse 2. And I saw the seven angels who stood before God, signifies the entire spiritual heaven in the presence of the Lord, hearing and doing what He commands. By “seven angels” is signified the entire heaven, because “seven” signifies all, or all things, thence the whole and entire, (10); and by “angels,” in the highest sense, is signified the Lord, and, in a relative sense, heaven, (5, 65, 342, 344); here, the spiritual heaven, as may appear from what was said above, (387, 388). That “to stand before God” signifies to hear and do what He commands, see above, (366).

391. And there were given to them seven trumpets, signifies the exploration and disclosure of the state of the church, and thence of the life of those who are in faith alone. Here, by “trumpets” the same thing is signified as by “sounding,” because they sounded with them, and by “sounding with trumpets” is signified to call together upon solemn occasions, which were various; in this case, to explore and discover the quality of those who are in faith alone, thus the quality of those who are at this day of the churches of the Reformed. It should be known, that the church in the Reformed world is at this day divided into three, from the three leaders, Luther, Calvin, and Melancthon, and that these three churches differ in various things; but in this article, that man is justified by faith without the works of the law, they all agree, which is remarkable. That by “sounding with trumpets” is signified to call together, will be seen below, (397).

392. Verse 3. And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer, signifies spiritual worship, which is from the good of charity by the truths of faith. By “the altar” at which the angel stood, and by “the golden censer” which he had in his hand, is signified the worship of the Lord from spiritual love, which worship is from the good of charity by the truths of faith. With the sons of Israel there were two altars, one without the tent, and the other within it; the altar without the tent was called “the altar of burnt-offering,” because burnt-offerings and sacrifices were offered upon it. The altar within the tent was called “the altar of incense,” as also “the golden altar.” There were two altars, because the worship of the Lord is from celestial love and from spiritual love; from celestial love by those who are in His celestial kingdom, and from spiritual love by those who are in His spiritual kingdom; concerning these two kingdoms, see above, (387). Concerning the two altars, see the following passages in Moses: concerning the altar of burnt offering see Exodus 20:24-26; 27:1-8; 39:38-39; Leviticus 7:1-5; 8:11; 16:18-19, 33-34; concerning the altar of incense see Exodus 30:1-10; 31:8; 37:25-29; 40:5-26; Numbers 7:1. That altars, censers, and incense, were seen by John, was not because such things exist in heaven, these were only representative of the worship of the Lord there; the reason is, because such things were instituted among the sons of Israel, and are therefore often mentioned in the Word; and that church was a representative church, for all things of their worship represented and thence they now signify the Divine celestial and spiritual things of the Lord, which are of His church in the heavens and on the earth.

[2] The same is therefore signified by the two altars spoken of in the Word, in the following passages:

O send out Thy light and Thy truth, let them lead me to Thy habitation, and I will go to the altar of God, unto God, (Psalms 43:3-4).

I will wash my hands in innocence; and so will I compass Thy altar, O Jehovah; and I will make the voice of thanksgiving to be heard, (Psalms 26:6-7).

The sin of Judah is written with a pen of iron upon the tablet of their heart, and upon the horns of your altars, (Jeremiah 17:1-2).

God is Jehovah, Who enlighteneth us; bind the festal-offering with cords unto the horns of the altar, (Psalms 118:27).

In that day shall there be an altar in the midst of the land of Egypt, (Isaiah 19:19).

“The altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt,” signifies the worship of the Lord from love in the natural man.

The thistle and the thorn shall come up upon their altars, (Hosea 10:8).

By this is signified worship from evil and from the falsities of evil. (Besides other places; as Isaiah 27:9; 56:6-7; 60:7; Lamentations 2:7; Ezekiel 6:4-6, 13; Hosea 8:11; 10:1-2; Amos 3:14; Psalms 51:19; 84:3; Matthew 5:23-24; 23:18-20).

[3] Since the worship of the Lord was represented and thence signified by “the altar,” it is evident that by “altar” here in Revelation nothing else is meant, and also elsewhere; as:

I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God, (Revelation 6:9).

The angel stood and said, Measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that adore therein, (Revelation 11:1).

I heard another angel from the altar, saying, True and just are Thy judgments, (Revelation 16:7).

Since representative worship, which was performed chiefly upon two altars, was abrogated by the Lord when He came into the world, because He Himself opened the interiors of the church; therefore it is said in Isaiah:

In that day shall a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the Holy One of Israel, and not to the altars, the work of his hands, (Isaiah 17:7-8).

393. And there was given him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne, signifies propitiation lest the angels of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom should be hurt by the spirits of the satanic kingdom, that were below. By “the incense” and by “the golden altar” is signified the worship of the Lord from spiritual love, (277, 392); by “prayers” are signified those things which relate to charity and thence to faith in worship, (278); and by “saints” are meant those who are of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom; and by “the just,” those who are of His celestial kingdom, (173). From this it may appear, that they who are in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are here treated of. That here “much incense offered with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar” signifies propitiation lest they should be hurt by the spirits of the satanic kingdom who were below, because propitiations and expiations were made by incense, especially when dangers threatened; as may appear from the following passages:

When the congregation murmured against Moses and Aaron, and were affected with a plague, Aaron took fire from the altar, and put incense into a censer, and ran between the living and the dead to expiate, and the plague was stayed, (Numbers 16:42-50).

The altar of incense was also placed in the tent, before the mercy-seat that was over the ark, and incense was offered on it every morning when the lamps were trimmed, (Exodus 30:1-10).

And it was commanded, that as often as Aaron entered within the veil, he should offer incense, and the cloud of incense should cover the mercy-seat, lest he should die, (Leviticus 16:11-13).

From these things it may appear, that propitiations in the representative Israelitish church were made by offering incense; in like manner here, that they might not be hurt by the satanic spirits who were below.

394. Verse 4. And the smoke of the incense went with the prayers of the saints, out of the hand of the angel before God, signifies the protection of them by the Lord. By “the smoke of the incense went up before God” is signified what is accepted and grateful; wherefore the like is said by David:

Let my prayers be accepted before Thee as incense, (Psalms 141:2).

The reason was, because the smoke of the incense was fragrant from the aromatics of which it was composed, which were stacte, onycha, galbanum, and frankincense, (Exodus 30:34); and the fragrance of those aromatics corresponds to such things as are of spiritual love or charity, and thence of faith; for in heaven most fragrant odors are sensibly perceived corresponding to the perceptions of the angels originating from their love. Therefore it is also said in many parts of the Word, that “Jehovah smelled an odor of rest.” That protection by the Lord is signified, follows from what was said above, (393).

395. Verse 5. And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it unto the earth, signifies spiritual love, in which is celestial love, and its influx into the lower parts, where they were who are in faith separated from charity. That by “a censer,” as well as by “incense,” is signified worship from spiritual love, is evident from what was shown above; and also from this, that in the Word, the thing containing signifies the same as the thing contained, as a cup and platter signify the same as wine and food, (Matthew 23:25-26; Luke 22:20 and in other places). By “the fire of the altar of burnt-offering,” is signified the Divine celestial love, because by that altar was signified worship from that love, as may be seen above, (392); and by “fire,” in the highest sense, is signified the Divine love, (494). Spiritual love, which is charity, derives its essence from celestial love, which is love to the Lord; without this love there is nothing vital in spiritual love or charity, for spirit and life is from no other source than from the Lord. This was represented in the Israelitish church by their taking fire for the censers when they offered incense, only from the altar of burnt-offering; as may appear in Moses, (Leviticus 16:12-13, Numbers 16:46-47); and that:

The two sons of Aaron were consumed by fire from heaven, because they offered incense from strange fire (that is, from fire not taken from the altar) (Leviticus 10:1-2).

Therefore it was also ordained, that:

Fire should burn continually on the altar of burnt-offering, and should not be put out, (Leviticus 6:13).

This was because the fire of that altar signified the Divine love of the Lord, and thence love to the Lord. By “casting the censer upon the earth” is signified influx into lower things.

396. And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings and an earthquake, signifies that after communication was opened with them, there were heard reasonings concerning faith alone, and confirmations in favor of it, and that the state of the church with them was perceived to be tottering to destruction. That “lightnings, thunders, and voices,” signify enlightenments, perceptions, and instructions, by influx from heaven (see above, 236); but here, with those who were in faith alone, who have no enlightenment, perception, and instruction by influx from heaven, by voices, thunders, and lightnings, are signified reasonings about faith alone, and arguments and confirmations in favor of it; by “earthquakes” are signified changes of the state of the church, (331), in this case, that the state of the church among them was perceived to be tottering to destruction. For earthquakes take place in the world of spirits, when the state of the church in the societies is perverted and inverted. The reason why the censer was cast unto the earth by the angel, before the seven angels began to sound with the trumpets, was that by influx communication might be opened between those who were in the spiritual heaven, with those below who were in faith alone; from which communication there arose reasonings and confirmations in favor of it, which were also heard and perceived; wherefore it is said that after communication was opened, they were heard and perceived.

397. Verse 6. And the seven angels that had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound, signifies that they were prepared and girded to explore the state of the church, and thence the state of life, with those whose religion is faith alone. What is signified by “trumpets,” appears from the statute respecting the use of them with the sons of Israel, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

Jehovah spake unto Moses to make trumpets of silver for the calling of the assembly, and for the journeying of the camps; and that they should sound with them on days of joy, festivals, new moons, over burnt-offerings and sacrifices; also, that when they went to war against enemies that infested them, they should blow an alarm with the trumpets, and that then they should come into remembrance before Jehovah God, and should be preserved from their enemies, (Numbers 10:1-10).

From these words it may be seen what is signified by “sounding with trumpets.” That here by “the seven angels sounding,” is signified the exploration and manifestation of what the state of the church is with those whose religion is faith alone, is evident from the particulars of this chapter, and from the particulars of the chapters that follow as far as the sixteenth inclusive, when understood in the spiritual sense.

[2] From the use of trumpets with the sons of Israel may also be seen what is signified by “trumpets,” and by “sounding with them,” in the following passages:

Sound ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound in the mountain of holiness, for the day of Jehovah cometh, (Joel 2:1-2).

Jehovah shall appear upon them, and His arrow shall go forth as the lightning, and the Lord Jehovih shall sound the trumpet, (Zechariah 9:14).

Jehovah shall go forth as a lion and sound, (Isaiah 42:13).

In that day the great trumpet shall be sounded, and they shall come that are perishing in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall bow themselves down to Jehovah in the mountain of holiness, (Isaiah 27:13).

He shall send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other, (Matthew 24:31).

Happy is the people who know the sound; they shall walk, O Jehovah, in the light of Thy countenance, (Psalms 89:15).

When the morning stars sing, and the sons of God sound, (Job 38:7).

[3] Since “the sounds of trumpets” signify such things, and as, in the Israelitish Church, all things were represented to the life according to correspondences and thence significations, therefore it came to pass:

When Jehovah came down upon Mount Sinai, that there were voices, and lightnings, and a heavy cloud, and a vehement voice of a trumpet, and the voice of the trumpet going and strengthening itself greatly, and the people in the camp trembled exceedingly, (Exodus 19:16-25).

And for the same reason it came to pass:

When the three hundred with Gideon sounded with the trumpets against Midian, then the sword of a man was against his companion, and they fled away, (Judges 7:16-22).

In like manner, that:

Twelve thousand of the sons of Israel with vessels of holiness and trumpets in their hands overcame Midian, (Numbers 31:1-8).

As also that:

The wall of Jericho fell down, after the seven priests with seven trumpets compassed the city seven times, (Joshua 6:1-20).

Wherefore it is said in Jeremiah:

Sound against Babylon round about, her walls are destroyed, (Jeremiah 50:15).

And in Zephaniah:

A day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of the trumpet and sounding against the fortified cities, (Zephaniah 1:15).

398. Verse 7. And the first angel sounded, signifies exploration and manifestation of the quality of the state of the church with those who are interiorly in that faith. By “sounding” is signified to explore and make manifest, (397). The reason why by “the sounding of this first angel,” is meant the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church with those who are interiorly in that faith, is, because its operation was directed upon “the earth,” as appears from what follows; and the operation of the sounding of the second angel was into “the sea,” and by “the earth and the sea,” throughout Revelation, when named together, is meant the entire church; by “the earth,” the church consisting of those who are in its internals, and by “the sea,” the church consisting of those who are in its externals: for the church is internal and external; internal with the clergy, and external with the laity; or internal with those who have studied its doctrinals interiorly, and have confirmed them from the Word, and external with those who have not.

[2] Both are meant by “the earth and the sea” in the following passages in Revelation:

That the wind should not blow upon the earth, nor on the sea, (Revelation 7:1).

Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, (Revelation 7:3).

The angel descending out of heaven set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth, (Revelation 10:2, 8; also in Revelation 10:5).

I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, and another beast coming up out of the earth, (Revelation 13:1, 11).

Praise God who made the heaven, the earth, and the sea, (Revelation 14:7).

The first angel poured out his vial upon the earth, and the second angel his upon the sea, (Revelation 16:2-3).

“The earth and the sea” signify the church internal and external, thus the entire church, because, in the spiritual world, they who are in the internals of the church appear upon dry land, and they who are in its externals, as in the seas; but the seas are appearances from the general truths in which they are. That “earth” signifies the church, may be seen, (285); so also “the world” (551).

399. And there became hail and fire mingled with blood, signifies falsity from infernal love destroying good and truth, and falsifying the Word. By “hail” is signified falsity destroying good and truth; by “fire” is signified infernal love; and by “blood” is signified the falsification of truth. That “hail” signifies falsity destroying good and truth, will be seen below; that “fire” is love in both senses, celestial and infernal, may be seen, (468); that blood is the Divine truth of the Lord, which is also the Word, and, in the opposite sense, the Word falsified, (379[1-7]). By joining these together into one sense, it is plain, that by “there became hail and fire mingled with blood,” is signified falsity from infernal love destroying good and truth and falsifying the Word. This is signified, because such things appear in the spiritual world when the sphere of the Lord’s Divine love and Divine wisdom descends from heaven into the societies below, where there are falsities from infernal love, and the Word is falsified thereby.

[2] “Hail” and “fire” together have a like signification in the following passages:

At the brightness before Him the clouds passed by, hailstones and coals of fire; the Most High gave a voice, hailstones and coals of fire; and He sent out His many arrows and scattered them, (Psalms 18:12-14).

And I will plead with pestilence and blood, and I will make to rain upon them hailstones, fire, and brimstone, (Ezekiel 38:22).

And Jehovah shall cause His voice to be heard, in the flame of a devouring fire and hailstone, (Isaiah 30:30).

He gave them hail for their rains, the fire of flames in their land, and broke the tree of their coasts, (Psalms 105:32-33).

The hail smote their vine, and their sycamore trees with grievous hail, and their cattle with burning coals; in the wrath of His anger He sent an incursion of evil angels, (Psalms 78:47-49).

These words are applied to Egypt. Concerning them it is thus written in Moses:

Moses stretched forth his rod, and Jehovah gave voices and hail; and there was hail and fire together walking in the midst of the grievous hail; and the hail smote every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field, (Exodus 9:23-35).

All the miracles that were wrought in Egypt signified the evils and falsities from infernal love, which were with the Egyptians; each miracle signifying some particular evil and falsity: for with them was a representative church, as in many kingdoms of Asia, but it became idolatrous and magical; by the “Red Sea” is signified hell, in which at last they perished.

[3] Something similar is signified by:

The hailstones, by which more of the enemy perished than by the sword, (Joshua 10:11).

The same, also, is meant by “hail” in the following passages:

Woe to the crown of pride, the Lord is strong, like an inundation of hail; the hail overturneth the refuge of lies, (Isaiah 28:1-2, 17).

It shall hail, until the forest sinketh itself down, (Isaiah 32:19).

The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail, (Revelation 11:19).

And there came down upon men out of heaven a great hail, about the weight of a talent, (Revelation 16:21).

Hast thou seen the treasures of hail which I have reserved unto the day of battle and war? (Job 38:22-23).

Say unto them which daub with what is unfit, that it shall fall; there shall be an inundating rain, in which you, O hailstones, shall fall, (Ezekiel 13:11).

“To daub with what is unfit” is to confirm falsity that it may appear like truth; they therefore who do so are called “hailstones.”

400. And they were cast upon the earth, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, signifies that with those who are in the internals of the church and in faith alone, every affection and perception of truth, which make the man of the church, perished. By “the earth,” upon which were cast “hail and fire mingled with blood,” is signified the church with those who are in its internals, and in faith alone. That these are the clergy, may be seen above, (398). By “the third part” is signified all as to truth, as by “the fourth part,” all as to good, (322). That by “three” is signified all, full, and altogether, will be seen below, (505); thence, by “a third,” which is “a third part,” the same is signified. By “being burnt up” is signified to perish, here by falsity from infernal love, which is meant by “hail and fire mingled with blood,” see above, (399). By “a tree” is signified man; and as man is man from affection, which is of the will, and from perception, which is of the understanding, therefore these also are signified by “a tree.” There is also a correspondence between man and a tree; wherefore in heaven there appear paradises of trees, which correspond to the affections and the perceptions therefrom of the angels; and, likewise, in some places in hell there are forests of trees which bear evil fruits, according to correspondence with the lusts and the thoughts therefrom of those who are there. That “trees” in general signify men as to their affections and perceptions therefrom, may appear from the following passages:

All the trees of the field shall know, that I Jehovah have brought down the high tree, I have exalted the low tree, I have dried up the green tree, and I have made the dry tree to shoot forth, (Ezekiel 17:24).

Happy is the man that trusteth in Jehovah, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, he shall not cease from bearing fruit, (Jeremiah 17:7-8 Happy is the man whose good pleasure is in the law; he shall be like a tree planted by the brooks of waters, that giveth fruit in its season, (Psalms 1:1-3).

Praise Jehovah, ye trees of fruit, (Psalms 148:9).

The trees of Jehovah are full, (Psalms 104:16).

The axe is laid at the root of the tree, every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit, is hewn down, (Matthew 3:10; 7:16-20).

Either make the tree good and the fruit good; or make the tree corrupt and the fruit corrupt; for the tree is known from the fruit, (Matthew 12:33; Luke 6:43-44).

I will kindle a fire which shall devour every green tree, and every dry tree, (Ezekiel 20:47).

Since a tree signifies man, therefore it was ordained that:

The fruit of a tree serving for food in the land of Canaan should be circumcised, (Leviticus 19:23-25).

Also:

When any city was besieged, they should not put forth an axe against any tree of good fruit, (Deuteronomy 20:19-20).

As also that:

At the feast of tabernacles they should take fruit of the tree of honor, and be glad before Jehovah, (Leviticus 23:40-41).

Besides other passages, which are not here adduced by reason of their abundance.

401. And all green grass was burnt up, signifies, thus every living thing of faith. By “being burnt up” is signified to perish, as just above, (400); by “green grass,” in the Word, is signified that good and truth of the church or of faith, which first springs up in the natural man; the same also is signified by “the herb of the field;” and because faith lives from good and truth, therefore by “all green grass was burnt up,” is signified that every living thing of faith perished; and every living thing of faith perishes when there is no affection of good and perception of truth, of which just above. That “grass” signifies this is also from correspondence; wherefore they who separate faith from charity, not only in doctrine but also in life, in the spiritual world pass the time in a desert, where there is not even grass. As “a fruit tree” signifies man as to the affections of good and the perceptions of truth, so “green grass” signifies man as to that of the church which is first conceived and also born in him, and “grass not green” signifies the same destroyed. In general all things which are in gardens, woods, fields, and plains, signify man as to something of the church, or what is the same, something of the church with him; the reason is, because they correspond. That “grass” has this signification, may appear from these passages:

The voice said, Cry; and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, the grass withereth, and the flower fadeth, because the wind hath breathed upon it; truly the people is grass. The grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stand for ever, (Isaiah 40:5-8).

The inhabitants were as the herb of the field, and as the green grass, as the grass of the roofs, and a field burned before the corn, (Isaiah 37:27; 2 Kings 19:26).

I will pour out My blessing upon those born of thee, and they shall spring up in the midst of the grass, (Isaiah 44:3-4; and in other places; as in Isaiah 51:12; Psalms 37:2; 103:15; 129:6; Deuteronomy 32:2).

That by “green” or “growing green,” is signified what is living or alive, is evident in Jeremiah 11:16; 17:8; Ezekiel 17:24; 20:47; Hosea 14:8; Psalms 37:35; 52:8; 92:10, 14. The same as what is here described in Revelation came to pass in Egypt, namely:

By hail and fire mingled, every tree and every herb of the field was burnt up, (Exodus 9:29-35; Psalms 78:47-49; 105:32-33).

402. Verse 8. And the second angel sounded, signifies the exploration and manifestation of what the state of the church is with those who are exteriorly in that faith. That “to sound with a trumpet” signifies to explore and make manifest the state of the church, and thence of the life with those whose religion is faith alone, may be seen above, (397). It is said of those who are exteriorly in that faith, because they are here treated of who are in “the sea,” and previously they were treated of who were on “the earth;” and by those who were on “the earth” are meant such as are in the internals of the church, who are the clergy, and by those who are in “the sea” are meant such as are in the externals of the church, who are the laity, as may be seen above, (398), who in the spiritual world appear as it were in the sea, (238[1-5], 290).

403. And as it were a mountain⁴¹ burning with fire was cast into the sea, signifies the appearance of infernal love with those who are in the externals of the church and in faith alone. By “the sea” is signified the church with those who are in externals, and in faith alone; and they who are in externals are called, in common language, the laity, because they who are in internals are called the clergy, (397, 402). “A mountain” signifies love, (336[1-4]), and “a mountain burning with fire” signifies infernal love, (494, 599); this is the appearance of this love with those who are here treated of, and is so seen by the angels; the reason is, because faith alone is faith separated from charity, (388); and where there is no charity, that is, love towards the neighbor, which is spiritual love, there is infernal love; an intermediate love does not exist except among the lukewarm, (concerning whom see in Revelation 3:15-16).

404. And the third part of the sea became blood signifies that all general truths with them were falsified. By “the third part” is signified all, (400); by “blood” is signified the falsification of the truth of the Word, (379[1-7]); “the sea” is signified the church with those who are in its externals, and in faith alone, (398, 402). General truths are falsified with such because they are in them alone, for they do not know the particulars of that faith, as the clergy do; it is from the general truths with them that they appear as in a sea in the spiritual world; the reason is, because waters signify truths, (50), and the sea is their general receptacle, (238[1-5]).

405. Verse 9. (Revelation 8:9) And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea that had souls died, signifies that they who have lived and do live this faith cannot be reformed and receive life. By “the third part” is signified all of them, as above; by “creatures” are meant those who can be reformed, (290); the reason is, because “to create” signifies to reform, (254). By “having souls” is signified to be capable of receiving life by reformation; by “they died” is signified that they who live that faith alone cannot receive life; the reason why they cannot is because all are reformed by faith united to charity, thus by the faith of charity, and no one by faith alone, for charity is the life of faith.

[2] Since the affections and thence the perceptions and thoughts of spirits and angels, in the spiritual world, appear at a distance in the forms of animals or creatures upon the earth, which are called beasts, of creatures in the air which are called birds, and of creatures in the sea which are called fishes, therefore in the Word mention is so often made of “beasts,” “birds,” and “fishes,” by which nothing else is meant; as in these passages:

Jehovah hath a strife with the inhabitants of the earth, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God; and everyone that dwelleth therein shall waste away, the beast of the field, and the bird of the heavens; yea, the fishes of the sea shall be collected, (Hosea 4:1, 3).

I will consume man and beast, the bird of the heavens and the fishes of the sea, and the stumbling blocks with the wicked, (Zephaniah 1:3).

There shall be a great earthquake upon the land of Israel, and the fishes of the sea, and the bird of the heavens, and the beast of the field, shall tremble before Me, (Ezekiel 38:18-20).

Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under his feet, the beasts of the field, the bird of the air, and the fish of the sea, and whatsoever passeth through the way of the seas, (Psalms 8:6-8).

This is concerning the Lord:

But, ask now, the beasts, and they will teach thee; or the birds of heaven, and they shall announce to thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare unto thee. Who knoweth not from all these that the hand of Jehovah hath done this? (Job 12:7-9).

Besides many other places.

[3] By “fishes” or “creatures of the sea,” are here meant the affections and thence the thoughts of those men who are in general truths, and are thus more attracted by what is natural than what is spiritual; these are meant by “fishes” in the passages above cited, and also in the following:

Behold, at My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish putrefy, and die of thirst, (Isaiah 50:2).

The king of Egypt is a great whale that lieth in the midst of thy rivers; thou hast said, The river is mine, I have made it; therefore I will make the fish of thy rivers to adhere to thy scales, and I will leave thee in the wilderness, thee and all the fish of thy rivers, (Ezekiel 29:3-5).

These things were said to the king of Egypt, because by “Egypt” is signified the natural separated from the spiritual, and therefore by “the fishes of his rivers” are meant those who are in doctrinals, and from them in faith separated, which faith is only science; on account of this separation, one of the miracles that were performed there was as follows:

That their waters were turned into blood, and that thereby the fish died, (Exodus 7:17-25; Psalms 105:29).

[4] Again:

Wherefore dost thou make man as the fishes of the sea, everyone draweth out with a hook,⁴² and gathereth into the net, (Habakkuk 1:14-16).

“Fishes” here are for those who are in general truths, and in faith separated from charity. But “fishes” signify those who are in general truths and in faith conjoined with charity, in Ezekiel:

He said unto me, These are the waters that go forth to the eastern boundary; they come to the sea, whence it is that every soul that creepeth liveth: and exceeding much fish; the fishers shall stand upon it to spread forth nets; its fish shall be according to their kinds, exceeding many like the fish of the great sea, (Ezekiel 47:8-10).

In Matthew:

Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a net that was cast into the sea, and they collected fishes, the good they put into vessels, but cast the bad away, (Matthew 13:47-49).

And in Jeremiah:

I will bring again the sons of Israel upon their land, and, I will send for many fishers, who shall fish them, (Jeremiah 16:15-16).

[5] He that knows therefore, that such persons and things are signified by “fishes,” may see why:

The Lord chose fishers for His disciples, and said, Come unto Me, and I will make you fishers of men, (Matthew 15:18-19; Mark 1:16-17).

That the disciples, by the blessing of the Lord, caught an immense multitude of fishes, and the Lord said unto Peter, Fear not, from henceforth thou shalt catch men, (Luke 5:2-10).

Why the Lord, when they wished to take tribute of Him, said to Peter to go to the sea, and draw up a fish, and give the piece of money found in it for Himself and him, (Matthew 17:24-27).

Why the Lord, after the resurrection, gave the disciples a fish and bread to eat, (John 21:2-13).

And said to them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature, (Mark 16:15).

For “the nations” which they converted were only in general truths, in natural truth more than in spiritual.

406. And the third part of the ships perished, signifies that all the knowledges of good and truth from the Word serving for use of life were destroyed with them. “The third part” signifies all, as above, (400, 404, 405); “ships” signify the knowledges of good and truth from the Word serving for the use of life. That these are signified by “ships” is because ships cross the sea, and bring back the necessaries which are for the natural man for every use; and the knowledges of good and truth are the necessaries which are for the spiritual man for every use of it; for from them is the doctrine of the church, and according to this is life. “Ships” signify these knowledges, because they are containers; and in many places in the Word the container is taken for the thing contained, as a cup for wine, a platter for food, the tabernacle and the temple for the holy things in them, the ark for the law, the altars for worship, and so on.

[2] “Ships” signify the knowledges of good and truth in the following passages:

Zebulon shall dwell at the shore of the seas, and he is for a port of the ships, (Genesis 49:13).

By “Zebulon” is meant the conjunction of good and truth.

O Tyre, the builders have perfected thy beauty; of firs from Senir have they made all thy boards; they have taken the cedar of Lebanon to make a mast; they have made thine oars of the oaks of Bashan; thine oar-bench have they made of ivory, the daughter of steps from the isles of Kittim; the inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad were thy rowers; thy wise men were thy ship-masters; all the ships of the sea and their sailors were in thee to trade; the ships of Tarshish were thy troops in thy tradings; whence thou wast exceedingly filled and honored in the heart of the seas, (Ezekiel 27:4-9, 25).

This is concerning Tyre, because the church as to the knowledges of truth and good is signified by “Tyre” in the Word, as may be evident from the particulars concerning it in this chapter and in the eighteenth following, when understood in the spiritual sense. And as the knowledges of the truth and good of the church are signified by “Tyre,” a ship is therefore described as to the particulars of it, and by each one is signified some quality of those knowledges that conduces to intelligence. What has the Word in common with the ships of Tyre and its commerce?

[3] The devastation of that church is afterwards described thus:

At the voice of the cry of thy shipmasters the suburbs shall quake, and all that hold an oar shall descend from thy ships, all mariners and shipmasters of the sea shall cry out bitterly upon thee, (Ezekiel 27:28-30; also Isaiah 23:14-15).

The devastation of Babylon as to all the knowledges of truth is similarly described in what follows in Revelation:

In one hour are so great riches devastated; every pilot and everyone employed upon ships, and the sailors, shall cry out, saying, Alas, alas, that great city Babylon, in which all who have ships in the sea were made rich, (Revelation 18:17, 19).

[4] See the explanation below. The knowledges of truth and good are also signified by “ships” in the following passages:

My days were swift, they fled away, they saw not good, they passed by with the ships of desire, (Job 9:25-26).

They that go down to the sea in ships, that do work in many waters, these see the works of Jehovah, and His wonders in the deep, (Psalms 107:23-24).

The isles shall trust in Me, and the ships of Tarshish in the beginning, to bring thy children from afar, (Isaiah 60:9).

The kings gathered themselves together, terror seized them; thou shalt break the ships of Tarshish by the east wind, (Psalms 48:4-7).

Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, (Isaiah 23:1, 14; besides other places, as Numbers 24:24; Judges 5:17; Psalms 104:26; Isaiah 33:21).

407. Verse 10. And the third angel sounded, signifies the exploration and manifestation of the⁴³ church with those whose religion is faith alone, of what quality they are as to the affection and reception of truths from the Word. That this is signified may be evident from the things which now follow, when understood in the spiritual sense.

408. And there fell from heaven a great star burning as it were a lamp, signifies the appearance of their own intelligence from pride arising from infernal love. The appearance of their own intelligence from pride arising from infernal love is signified by “the great star falling from heaven,” because it was seen “to burn as a lamp,” and because its name was “wormwood,” as it follows; and by “a star” and also by “a lamp” intelligence is signified, here one’s own intelligence, because it seemed to burn, and all self-intelligence burns from pride; and the pride of it arises from infernal love, which is signified by “the mountain burning with fire” (403). By “wormwood” infernal falsity is signified, from which that intelligence exists and is enkindled. That “a star” signifies intelligence may be seen, (151[1-3], 954); so too “a lamp” or “a lantern” (796).

409. And it fell upon a third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters, signifies that thence all the truths of the Word were altogether falsified. By “rivers” are signified truths in abundance, because truths are signified by “waters” (50); and by “fountains of waters” the Word is signified, (384). The truths of the Word were altogether falsified; because it follows that “the third part of the waters became wormwood,” and by “wormwood” infernal falsity is signified, (410).

[2] That “rivers” signify truths in abundance may be evident from the following passages:

Behold, I do a new thing: I will give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the solitude to give drink to My people, My chosen, (Isaiah 43:19-20).

I will pour water upon the thirsty, and rivers upon the dry ground; I will pour My spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing upon thy children, (Isaiah 44:3).

Then the tongue of the dumb shall sing; for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and rivers in the plain of the wilderness, (Isaiah 35:6).

I will open rivers upon the hillsides, and I will put fountains in the midst of the valleys, I will make the wilderness a pool of waters, and the dry land springs of water, (Isaiah 41:18).

Jehovah hath founded the world upon the seas, He hath established it upon the rivers, (Psalms 24:2).

I will put His hand in the sea, and His right hand in the rivers, (Psalms 89:26).

Was Jehovah incensed at the rivers? Was thy anger against the rivers? Was thy wrath against the sea, because thou dost ride upon thy horses? (Habakkuk 3:8).

A river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, (Psalms 46:4).

He showed me a pure river of water of life, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb, (Revelation 22:1).

He clave the rock in the wilderness, and gave them drink from the great deeps; He smote the rock and the rivers flowed forth, (Psalms 78:15-16, 20; 105:41).

Then the waters shall fail in the sea, and the river shall be dried up, (Isaiah 19:5-7; 42:15; 50:2; Nahum 1:4; Psalms 107:33; Job 14:11).

Jesus said, if anyone come unto Me, as the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow living water, (John 7:37-38. Besides other places, as Isaiah 33:21; Jeremiah 17:7-8; Ezekiel 31:3-4; 47:1-12; Joel 3:18; Zechariah 9:10; Psalms 80:11; 93:3-4; 98:7-8; 110:7; Numbers 24:6-7; Deuteronomy 8:7).

[3] But that “rivers” in the opposite sense signify falsities in abundance may be evident from these:

He shall send ambassadors on the sea to a nation trodden down, whose land the rivers have despoiled, (Isaiah 18:2).

Except Jehovah were for us, the waters would have submerged us, and the river would have gone over our soul, (Psalms 124:2-5).

When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers, they shall not submerge thee, (Isaiah 43:2).

The cords of death encompassed me, and the floods of Belial terrified me, (Psalms 18:5).

The dragon cast forth water as a river out of his mouth after the woman, that he might cause her to be swallowed up by the flood, (Revelation 12:15).

Behold, Jehovah bringeth up upon you the waters of a river strong and many, and it shall inundate and go over, and shall reach even to the neck, (Isaiah 8:7-8).

The floods came, and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock, (Matthew 7:25, 27; Luke 6:48-49).

Here “floods or rivers” also stand for falsities in abundance, because the Lord as to the Divine Truth is signified by “the rock.” By “floods” also temptations are signified, because temptations are inundations of falsities.

410. Verse 11. And the name of the star is called Wormwood; and the third part of the waters became wormwood, signifies the infernal falsity from which their own intelligence is derived, and by which all the truths of the Word are falsified. By “a star” is signified their own intelligence springing from pride from infernal love, (408). By “name” is signified its quality, (81[1-4], 122, 165); by “wormwood” is signified infernal falsity concerning which something will be said presently; by “waters” are signified truths, (50), here the truths of the Word, because the subject relates to faith; by “the third part” is signified all, as above; from these taken together the sense results as delivered above. “Wormwood” signifies infernal falsity, from its intense bitterness, whereby it renders food and drink abominable; such falsity is signified therefore by “wormwood,” in the following passages:

Behold, I feed these people with wormwood, and I will give them water of gall to drink, (Jeremiah 9:14-15).

Thus saith Jehovah against the prophets: Behold, I feed them with wormwood, and I will make them drink the water of gall; for from the prophets of Jerusalem hypocrisy is gone forth into the whole earth, (Jeremiah 23:15).

Ye turn judgment into gall, and the fruit of justice into wormwood, (Amos 5:7; 6:12).

Lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood, (Deuteronomy 29:18).

Since the Jewish church had falsified all the truths of the Word, like the church here treated of, and since the Lord by all things of His passion represented it, by permitting the Jews to treat Him as they did the Word, because He was the Word, therefore:

They gave Him vinegar mingled with gall (which is like wormwood), but, tasting it, He would not drink, (Matthew 27:34; Mark 15:23; Psalms 69:21).

Because the Jewish church was such, therefore it is thus described:

He hath filled me with bitterness, and hath made me drunken with wormwood, (Lamentations 3:15, 18-19).

411. And many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter, signifies the extinction of spiritual life with many from the falsified truths of the Word. “Many men died,” signifies the extinction of spiritual life; for man from the spiritual life with him is called alive, but from the natural life separated from spiritual life, he is called dead; “of the waters because they were made bitter,” signifies by the falsified truths of the Word; that “waters” are the truths of the Word may be seen above, (409). The reason why “bitter” signifies what is falsified, is, because the bitter of wormwood is meant, and by “wormwood” is signified infernal falsity, (410).

[2] A Christian man has spiritual life from no other source than from the truths of the Word, for in them there is life; but when the truths of the Word are falsified, and man understands and views them according to the falsities of his religion, then spiritual life with him is extinguished. The reason is, because the Word communicates with heaven, therefore when it is read by man, the truths therein ascend into heaven, and the falsities to which truths are adjoined or conjoined, tend towards hell, whence there is a rending asunder, whereby the life of the Word is extinguished. But this is the case only with those who confirm falsities by the Word, but not with those who do not confirm them. I have seen such rendings asunder, and have heard the noise like that of wood split by the fire on a hearth.

[3] “Bitter” signifies what is falsified also in the following passages:

Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil, that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter, (Isaiah 5:20).

They shall not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it, (Isaiah 24:9).

The like is signified by:

The little book that was eaten, which was sweet in the mouth, and by which the belly was made bitter, (Revelation 10:9-10).

And by this:

They came to Marah but they could not drink of the waters, on account of the bitterness; but Jehovah showed him wood, which he cast into the waters, and they became sweet, (Exodus 15:23-25).

“Wood,” in the Word, signifies good. The same is also signified by:

The wild gourds which were put into the pottage, by reason of which the sons of the prophets cried out, There is death in the pot, which Elisha healed by putting in meal, (2 Kings 4:38-41).

Meal signifies truth from good.

412. Verse 12. And the fourth angel sounded, signifies the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church with those whose religion is faith alone, that they are in the evils of falsity, and in the falsities of evil. That this is the signification of these words, is evident from what follows, when understood in the spiritual sense. “To sound” signifies here, as before, to explore and make manifest, (398, 402, 407).

413. And the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, signifies that by reason of evils from falsities and of falsities from evils, they did not know what love is, or what faith is, or any truth. By “the third part” is signified all, (400); by “the sun” is signified love, (53); by “the moon” is signified intelligence and faith, (332); by “stars” are signified the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, (51); by “being darkened” is signified not to be seen or known by reason of evils from falsities and falsities from evils. Evils from falsities are with those who assume the falsities of religion, and confirm them till they appear as truths, and when they live according to them they do evils from falsities, or the evils of falsity. But those have falsities from evils, who do not regard evils as sins; and still more those who, by reasonings from the natural man, and more still from the Word, confirm with themselves that evils are not sins. The confirmations themselves are falsities from evils, and are called the falsities of evil.

[2] The reason that “darkness” signifies this is because light signifies truth; and when the light is extinguished, there comes darkness. In confirmation the passages will first be adduced, where similar things to those here in Revelation are said of “the sun, the moon, and the stars,” and of “the darkness” arising from the extinction of them:

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh, (Joel 2:31).

The stars of the heavens and their constellations shall not shine with their light; the sun shall be darkened in his rising; and the moon shall not make her light to shine, (Isaiah 13:10; 24:23).

When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not make her light to shine; all the luminaries of light in the heavens will I make black over thee, and I will set darkness upon thy land, (Ezekiel 32:7-8).

The day of Jehovah is near; the sun and the moon are blackened, and the stars shall withdraw their brightness, (Joel 2:10).

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, (Matthew 24:29; Mark 13:24-25).

Who, that elevates his mind, cannot see that the sun, the moon, and the stars of the world are not meant in these cases?

[3] That falsities of various kinds are signified by “darkness,” is evident from these passages:

Woe to them that desire the day of Jehovah; it is a day of darkness and not of light: is not the day of Jehovah darkness, and not light, thick darkness, and not brightness? (Amos 5:18, 20).

The day of Jehovah is a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and of cloudiness, (Zephaniah 1:15).

In that day He shall look down upon the earth, which, behold, is darkness; and the light shall grow dark in its ruins, (Isaiah 5:30; 8:22).

Behold, darkness covereth the earth, and thick darkness the peoples, (Isaiah 60:2).

Give glory to Jehovah, before He cause darkness: we wait for light, but He maketh it thick darkness, (Jeremiah 13:16).

We wait for light, but behold darkness, and not brightness; we walk in thick darkness; we stumble at noon as in the twilight, as if dead among the living, (Isaiah 59:9-10).

Woe to them that put darkness for light, and light for darkness, (Isaiah 5:20).

The people walking in darkness see a great light, (Isaiah 9:2; Matthew 4:16).

The dayspring from on high hath appeared to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, (Luke 1:78-79).

If thou give thy soul to the hungry, then shall thy light rise in the darkness, and thy thick darkness shall be as the noonday, (Isaiah 58:10).

In that day the eyes of the blind, who are in thick darkness and darkness, shall see, (Isaiah 29:18; 42:16; 49:9).

Jesus said, I am the light of the world; he that followeth Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life, (John 8:12).

Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness seize upon you: I am come a light into the world, that everyone that believeth in Me should not abide in darkness, (John 12:35, 46).

When I sit in darkness Jehovah is a light unto me, (Micah 7:8).

This is the judgment, that light hath come into the world; but men loved the darkness more than the light, (John 3:19; 1:4-5).

If the light [lumen] that is in thee be darkness, how great is the darkness, (Luke 11:34-36).

This is your hour, and the power of darkness, (Luke 22:53).

By “darkness” in these places is signified falsity arising either from ignorance of the truth, or from a false principle of religion, or from a life of evil. Concerning those who are in the falsities of religion and thence in evils of life, the Lord says that they shall be cast into outer darkness, (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30).

414. That the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise, signifies that there is no longer any spiritual truth nor natural truth serving for doctrine and life from the Word with them. By “the day not shining,” is meant that there was no light from the sun; and by “no night likewise,” is meant that there was no light from the moon and stars. By “light,” in general, is signified the Divine truth, which is truth from the Word; by “the light of the sun,” Divine truth spiritual; and by the light of the moon and stars, the Divine truth natural, both from the Word. The Divine truth, in the spiritual sense of the Word, is like the light of the sun by day; and the Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word, is like the light of the moon and stars by night. The spiritual sense of the Word also flows into its natural sense as the sun does with its light into the moon, which gives forth the light of the sun in a mediate manner. In the same way does the spiritual sense of the Word enlighten men, even those who know nothing at all concerning it, whilst they read the Word in its natural sense; but it enlightens the spiritual man, as the sun’s light does the eye; but the natural man, as the light of the moon and stars enlighten his eye. Everyone is enlightened according to the spiritual affection of truth and good, and at the same time according to genuine truths, by which he has opened his rational faculty.

[2] The same is meant by “day” and “night,” in the following passages:

And God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens to distinguish between the day and the night; and God made two great luminaries, the great luminary to rule in the day, and the lesser luminary to rule in the night; and the stars: And God set them in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth, and to rule in the day and in the night, and to distinguish between the light and the darkness, (Genesis 1:14-19).

Jehovah made great luminaries, the sun to rule in the day, the moon and stars to rule in the night, (Psalms 136:7-9).

To Thee, O Jehovah, is the day, and to Thee the night; Thou hast prepared the light and the sun, (Psalms 74:16).

Jehovah that giveth the sun for the light of the day, the statutes of the moon and stars for the light of the night, (Jeremiah 31:35).

If ye can make void My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, that there should not be day and night in their season, My covenant also with David My servant shall be made void; if I have not set My covenant of the day and of the night, the statutes of heaven and earth, I will also reject the seed of Jacob and of David, (Jeremiah 33:20-21, 25-26).

These are adduced, that it may be known that the darkening of both kinds of light is meant.

415. Verse 13. And I saw and I heard an angel flying in the midst of heaven, signifies instruction and prediction from the Lord. By “an angel,” in the highest sense, is meant the Lord, and thence also something from the Lord, (344) and by “flying in the midst of heaven and saying,” is signified to perceive and understand, and when concerning the Lord, to foresee and provide, (245); but here, to instruct and foretell.

416. Saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, to them that dwell upon the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are about to sound, signifies deepest lamentation over the damned state of those in the church, who in doctrine and life have confirmed themselves in faith separated from charity. By “woe” is signified lamentation over the evil with anyone, and thence over his unhappy state; here, over the damned state of those who are treated of in the next chapter, and afterwards. And by “Woe, woe, woe,” is signified the deepest lamentation; for triplication makes the superlative, because “three” signifies all and full, (505). By “them that dwell upon the earth” are meant they who are in the church where the Word is, and by which the Lord is known: that “earth” signifies the church may be seen above, (285). By “the voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are about to sound,” is signified the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church and of life with those who by doctrine and life have confirmed in themselves faith separated from charity, over whose state lamentation is made. “Woe” signifies lamentation over the present or future calamity, unhappiness, or damnation of others, in these passages:

Woe unto you, Pharisees and hypocrites, (Matthew 23:13-16, 23, 25, 27, 29).

Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed, (Luke 22:22).

Woe unto him by whom offenses come, (Luke 17:1).

Woe unto them that join house to house. Woe unto them that rise up early in the morning to follow strong drink. Woe unto them that draw iniquity. Woe unto them that call evil good. Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes. Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, (Isaiah 5:8, 11, 18; 5:20-22).

417. To the above I will add this Relation. I saw in the spiritual world two flocks, one of goats and the other of sheep; I wondered who they were, for I knew that animals, seen in the spiritual world, are not animals, but correspondences of the affections and thence of the thoughts of those who are there. Wherefore I approached nearer, and as I drew near, the likenesses of animals disappeared, and instead of them were seen men. And it was shown, that they who constituted the flock of goats, were those who had confirmed themselves in the doctrine of justification by faith alone; and they who constituted the flock of sheep, were those who believed that charity and faith are a one, as good and truth are a one.

[2] And then I spoke with those who had been seen as goats, and said, “Why are you thus assembled?” They consisted chiefly of clergy, who gloried in their fame for erudition, because they knew the arcana of justification by faith alone. They said that they were assembled to sit in council, because they had heard that what is said by Paul, (Romans 3:28), that “man is justified by faith without the works of the Law,” was not rightly understood, because Paul by “the works of the Law” meant the works of the Mosaic law, which was for the Jews; which we also clearly see from his words to Peter; whom he rebuked for judaizing, when yet he knew that “no one is justified by the works of the Law” (Galatians 2:14-16); also, that he distinguishes between the law of faith and the law of works; and between Jews and Gentiles, or circumcision and uncircumcision, meaning by circumcision, Judaism, as everywhere else; and likewise from his summing up with these words:

Do we then abrogate the law through faith? Not so, but we establish the Law, (Romans 3:31).

He says all these things in one series, (Romans 3:27-31); and he also says in the preceding chapter:

For not the hearers of the Law are justified by God, but the doers of the Law shall be justified, (Romans 3:13).

God will render to every man according to his deeds, (Romans 2:6).

We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things done in the body, whether they be good or evil, (2 Corinthians 5:10).

Besides many other things from him; from which it is evident that Paul rejects faith without good works, equally with James 2:17-26.

[3] That the works of the Mosaic law, which were for the Jews, were meant by Paul, we are additionally confirmed in by this consideration, that all the statutes for the Jews in Moses are called “the Law,” thus “the works of the Law,” which we perceive from these passages:

This is the law of the meal-offering, (Leviticus 6:9).

This is the law of the sacrifice, (Leviticus 7:1).

This is the law of the sacrifice of the peace-offering, (Leviticus 7:7, 11 seq.).

This is the law of the burnt offering, of the meal-offering, of the sacrifice for sin and guilt, for the consecration, (Leviticus 7:37).

This is the law of the beast and of the bird, (Leviticus 11:46).

This is the law for her that bringeth forth a son or a daughter, (Leviticus 12:7).

This is the law of leprosy, (Leviticus 13:59; 14:2, 32, 54, 57).

This is the law of him that hath an issue, (Leviticus 15:32).

This is the law of jealousy, (Numbers 5:29-30).

This is the law of the Nazarite, (Numbers 6:13, 21).

This is the law of cleansing, (Numbers 19:14).

This is the law concerning the red heifer, (Numbers 19:2).

The law for the king, (Deuteronomy 17:15-19).

Yea, the whole book of Moses is called:

The book of the law, (Deuteronomy 31:9, 11-12, 26; also in the evangelists, Luke 2:22; 24:44; John 1:45; 7:22-23; 8:5; and other places).

To this they added also what they had seen in Paul, that the law of the Decalogue was to be lived, and that it is fulfilled by charity, which is love towards the neighbor, (Romans 13:8-11); thus not by faith alone. They said that this was the reason of their being convened.

[4] But that I might not disturb them, I retired; and then they again appeared, at a distance, like goats, and sometimes as lying down, and sometimes as standing; but they turned themselves away from the flock of sheep. They appeared as if they were lying down, when deliberating, and as standing up, when they came to a conclusion. But, keeping my eyes fixed upon their horns, I wondered on seeing that the horns on their foreheads sometimes appeared to extend forward and upward, then to be bent backward, and at last to be thrown back entirely. And then they all suddenly turned round to the flock of sheep, but still appeared as goats. Wherefore I drew near to them again, and inquired, What now? They replied, that they had come to this conclusion, that faith alone produces the goods of charity, which are called good works, as a tree produces fruit. But then thunder was heard, and lightning seen from above; and presently there appeared an angel standing between the two flocks, who cried to the flock of sheep, “Do not hearken to them; they have not receded from their former faith, which is, that God the Father hath compassion for the sake of the Son; which faith is not faith in the Lord; neither is faith a tree, but man is a tree; but do the work of repentance, and look to the Lord, and you will have faith; faith before that, is not a faith in which there is anything living.” Then the goats, whose horns were directed backward, wished to approach the sheep; but the angel standing between them, divided the sheep into two flocks, and said to those on the left, “Join yourselves to the goats; but I say to you, that a wolf will come, which will snatch them away; and you with them.”

[5] But after the two flocks of sheep had separated, and they on the left hand had heard the threatening words of the angel, they looked at one another, and said, “Let us confer with our former associates.” And then the left-hand flock spoke to the right, saying, “Why have you receded from your pastors? Are not faith and charity a one, as a tree and its fruit are one? For the tree by its branch is continued into the fruit. Tear away anything from the branch which flows by continuity into the fruit, and will not the fruit perish? Ask our priests if it is not so.” And then they asked, and the priests looked around to the rest, who winked with their eyelids to intimate that they had spoken well. And then they replied that it was so, that faith is preserved by the fruit; but they would not say faith is continued in the fruit.

[6] But then one of the priests, who was among the sheep on the right hand, rose up and said, “They have answered you that it is so, but they have told their companions that it is not so; for they think otherwise.” Wherefore they inquired, “How, then, do they think? Do they not think as they teach?” He said, “No; they think that every good of charity, which is called a good work, done by man for the sake of salvation or eternal life, is not good but evil, by reason that man desires to save himself by his own works, by claiming to himself the justice and merit of the only Savior; and that it is so with every good work, in which man feels his own will. Therefore among themselves they call good works from man, not blessed, but cursed; and say that they merit hell rather than heaven.”

[7] But the flock on the left hand said, “You speak falsehoods against them; do they not preach manifestly before us charity and its works, which they call the works of faith?” He replied, “You do not understand their preachings; only a clergyman, who is present, attends and understands. They think only of moral charity, and its civil and political goods, which they call the goods of faith, which yet are not at all so. For a man may be an atheist, and perform these works in the same manner, and under the same form. Wherefore they are unanimous in saying that no one is saved by any works, but by faith alone; but this shall be illustrated by comparisons. An apple tree produces apples; but if a man does what is good for the sake of salvation, as the tree produces apples by continuity, then those apples are rotten within, and full of worms. They say, also, that a vine produces grapes; but that if a man were to do spiritual goods as a vine grapes, he would produce wild grapes.”

[8] But then they asked, “What is the nature of their goods of charity or works, which are the fruits of faith?” He replied, “They are inconspicuous, being inwardly in man from the Holy Spirit, concerning which man knows nothing.” But they said, “If a man knows nothing concerning them, there must surely be some conjunction, or how could they be called works of faith? perhaps those insensible goods are then insinuated into the voluntary works of man by some mediating influx, as by some affection, aspiration, inspiration, incitation, and excitation of the will; by a tacit perception in thought and thence exhortation, contrition, and thus by conscience, and thence by impulse and obedience to the Decalogue and the Word, as an infant, or as a wise man, or by something else of a similar nature.”

But he replied, “No; and if they say it is effected by such means because by faith, still they bury them with words in their discourses in such a manner that the result after all is, that they do not proceed from faith; some, however, do maintain such things, but as the signs of faith, but not as its bonds with charity. Some have nevertheless thought of a conjunction by the Word.” And then they said, “Is there not thus conjunction, when man voluntarily acts according to the Word?” But he replied, “This is not what they think; they ascribe it solely to the hearing the Word, thus not to the understanding of the Word, lest anything should manifestly enter by the understanding into the thought and will of man; since they assert that everything voluntary in man is meritorious, and that in spiritual things, man cannot begin, will, think, understand, believe, operate, and cooperate anything, any more than a stock; but yet it is different with the influx of the Holy Spirit by faith into the speech of the preacher, because these are acts of the mouth, and not acts of the body; likewise because man acts by faith with God, but by charity with men.”

[9] But when one of them heard that it was done merely by hearing the Word, and not by understanding the Word, being indignant, said, “Is this through the understanding of the Word, by the Holy Spirit alone, whilst man, throughout the church service, turns himself away, or sits deaf as a post, or while he is sleeping, or only from an exhalation from the volume of the Word? What is more ludicrous?” After this a certain man of the flock of the right hand, who excelled the rest in judgment, requested to be heard, and said, “I heard a certain person say, ‘I have planted a vineyard, now will I drink wine even to intoxication. ‘ But another asked, ‘Will you drink the wine out of your own cup by your own right hand?’ And he said, ‘No; but out of an inconspicuous cup from an inconspicuous hand. ‘ And the other replied, ‘Of a certainty then you will not be intoxicated. ‘“ Presently the same man said, “But hear me, I beseech you; I say unto you, drink wine from the Word understood. Do you not know that the Lord is the Word? Is not the Word from the Lord? Is he not therefore in it? If then you do good from the Word, do you not do it from the Lord, from his mouth and will? And if you at the same time look to the Lord, he will also lead you, and will cause you to do it, and this he will do through you, and you as from yourselves. Who can say, when doing anything from a king, from his mouth and will, ‘I do this from myself, from my own mouth or command, and from my own will?’ After this he turned to the clergy, and said, “Ye ministers of God, seduce not the flock.”

[10] On hearing these things, the greater part of the flock on the left hand receded, and joined themselves with the flock on the right; some of the clergy also then said, “We have heard what we have not heard before; we are shepherds; we will not leave the sheep.” And they receded along with them, and said, “That man spoke a true word. Who can say, when he does anything from the Word, thus from the Lord, from His mouth and will, I do this from myself? Who that does anything from the mouth and will of a king, says, ‘I do this from myself’”? Now we see Divine providence, why a conjunction of faith and works has not been discovered, which has been acknowledged by the ecclesiastical body. It could not be found, because no such conjunction can be given, for theirs is not a faith in the Lord, who is the Word, and therefore neither is it a faith from the Word. But the other priests went away, flourishing their caps, and crying out, “Faith alone! faith alone, it will live still.”

Chapter 9 (419-463)

419. Revelation 9

1. And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the pit of the abyss.

2. And he opened the pit of the abyss; and there went up a smoke out of the pit of the abyss, as the smoke of a great furnace: and the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the pit.

3. And out of the smoke there went forth locusts upon the earth; and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.

4. And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree; but only the men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads.

5. And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man.

6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

7. And the likenesses of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war; and upon their heads as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as those of lions.

9. And they had breastplates, as breastplates of iron; and the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running to war.

10. And they had tails like unto scorpions; and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.

11. And they had a king over them, the angel of the abyss, whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath the name Apollyon.

12. One woe is past; behold, there come two woes more hereafter.

13. And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God.

14. Saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.

15. And the four angels were loosed; who were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to kill a third part of men.

16. And the number of the armies of horsemen was two myriads of myriads: and I heard the number of them.

17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat upon them, having breastplates of fire, and jacinth, and brimstone; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone.

18. By these three was a third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, that issued out of their mouths.

19. And their power was in their mouth; for their tails were like unto serpents, having heads, and with them they hurt.

20. And the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues, yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not adore demons, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood; which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:

21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their enchantments, nor of their whoredoms, nor of their thefts.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

Of the exploration and manifestation of the states of life of those in the church of the Reformed, who are called learned and wise from the confirmation of faith separated from charity, and of justification and salvation by it alone (these are treated of from (verses 1-12).

Of the exploration and manifestation of those therein, who are not so learned and wise, and are in faith alone, and who live as they please (from verses 13-19).

Lastly, of those therein, who know nothing but that faith is the all by which man is saved, and not anything besides (verses 20-21).

The contents, (Revelation 9:1) of each verse

Verse 1. “The fifth angel sounded,” signifies the exploration and manifestation of the states of life of those in the church of the Reformed, who are called learned and wise from the confirmation of faith separated from charity, and of justification and salvation by it alone, (419). “And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth,” signifies spiritual Divine truth flowing from heaven into the church with them and exploring and manifesting, (420). “And to him was given the key of the pit of the abyss,” signifies the opening of their hell, (421).

Verse 2. (Revelation 9:2) “And he opened the pit of the abyss, and there went up a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace,” signifies the falsities of the concupiscences of the natural man springing forth from their evil loves, (422). “And the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the pit,” signifies that thence the light of truth became thick darkness, (423).

Verse 3. “And there went forth out of the smoke locusts upon the earth,” signifies that from them were falsities to the lowest things, such as are with those who have become sensual, and see and judge of all things from the senses and their fallacies, (424). “And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power,” signifies the power of persuading that their falsities are truths, (425).

Verse 4. “And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree; but only the men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads,” signifies the Divine providence of the Lord, that they should not be able to take away any truth and good of faith, nor any affection and perception of them, from any others than such as are not in charity and thence not in faith, (426).

Verse 5. (Revelation 9:5) “And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them five months,” signifies that neither from these should they be able to take away the faculty of understanding and willing truth and good, but that they should only be able to bring on stupor for a short time, (427). “And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man,” signifies that this is from their persuasive power, (428).

Verse 6. “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them,” signifies that they wish that in matters of faith the understanding should be shut up and the will closed, by which means spiritual light and life are extinguished, and that yet this cannot be done, (429).

Verse 7. “And the likenesses of the locusts,” signifies the appearances and images of those who have confirmed in themselves faith separated from charity, (430). “Were like unto horses prepared for war,” signifies that because they can reason, they appear to themselves as if they were combating from the understanding of truth from the Word, (431). “And upon their heads as it were crowns like gold,” signifies that they appeared to themselves as if they were conquerors, (432). “And their faces were as the faces of men,” signifies that they appeared to themselves as if they were wise, (433).

Verse 8. “And they had hair as the hair of women,” signifies that they appeared to themselves as if they were in the affection of truth, (434). “And their teeth were as the teeth of lions,” signifies that sensual things, which are the ultimates of the life of the natural man, appeared with them to have power over all things, (435).

Verse 9. “And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron,” signifies that arguments from fallacies, by which they fight and prevail, appeared to them so powerful that they could not be refuted, (436). “And the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running to war,” signifies their reasonings as if they were from the truths of doctrine from the Word fully understood, for which they must ardently fight, (437).

Verse 10. “And they had tails like unto scorpions,” signifies the truths of the Word falsified, by which they induce stupor, (438). “And there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months,” signifies subtle falsifications of the Word, by which for a short time they darken and fascinate the understanding, and thus deceive and captivate, (439).

Verse 11. “And they had a king over them, the angel of the abyss, whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath the name Apollyon,” signifies that they are in the satanic hell who are in falsities from lusts, and by the total falsification of the Word they have destroyed the church, (440).

Verse 12. “One woe is past; behold, there come two woes more hereafter,” signifies still further lamentations over the state of the church, (441).

Verse 13. “And the sixth angel sounded,” signifies the exploration and manifestation of their state of life in the church of the Reformed who are not so wise, and yet place the all of religion in faith, and think of it alone, and live as they please, (442). “And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar that is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet” signifies a command from the Lord out of the spiritual heaven to those who were to explore and make manifest, (443).

Verse 14. “Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates,” signifies that external bonds should be taken away from them, that the interiors of their minds might appear, (444).

Verse 15. “And the four angels were loosed,” signifies that when external bonds were taken away, the interiors of their minds appeared, (445). “Who were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to kill a third part of men,” signifies that they were perpetually in the effort to take away spiritual light and life from the men of the church, (446).

Verse 16. “And the number of the armies of horsemen was two myriads of myriads,” signifies reasoning concerning faith alone, with which the interiors of their minds were filled up, from the great abundance of the mere falsities of evil, (447). “And I heard the number of them,” signifies that the quality of them was perceived, (448).

Verse 17. “And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them,” signifies that it was then discovered that the reasonings of the interiors of their minds concerning faith alone were imaginary and visionary, and that they themselves were insane with them, (449). “Having breastplates of fire, and jacinth, and brimstone,” signifies their imaginary and visionary arguments from infernal love and their own intelligence, and from the lusts thence, (450). “And the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions,” signifies fantasies concerning faith alone as if it were in power, (451). “And out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone,” signifies that in their thoughts and discourses, viewed interiorly, there is nothing, and from them there proceeds nothing, but the love of self and of the world, and the pride of their own intelligence, and the lusts of evil and falsity from these two, (452).

Verse 18. “By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths,” signifies that from these it is that the men of the church perish, (453).

Verse 19. “And their power was in their mouth,” signifies that they prevail only by their discourse in confirmation of faith, (454). “For their tails were like unto serpents, having heads, and with them they do hurt,” signifies the reason, because they are sensual and inverted, speaking truths with their lips, but falsifying them by the principle which constitutes the head of their religion, and thus they deceive, (455[1-4]).

Verse 20. “And the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues,” signifies those in the church of the Reformed who are not so spiritually dead from visionary reasonings, and from the love of self, the pride of their own intelligence, and from lusts, thence as those before mentioned, and yet make faith alone the head of their religion, (456). “Yet repented not of the works of their hands,” signifies that neither did they shun the things that are of their proprium, which are evils of every kind, as sins, (457). “That they should not adore demons,” signifies that thus they are in the evils of their concupiscences, and make one with their like in hell, (458). “And idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood,” signifies that thus they are in worship from mere falsities, (459). “Which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk,” signifies, in which there is nothing of spiritual and truly rational life, (460).

Verse 21. “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their enchantments, nor of their whoredoms, nor of their thefts,” signifies that the heresy of faith alone induces on their hearts stupidity, tergiversation, and hardness, so that they do not think anything of the precepts of the Decalogue, nor indeed of any sin that it ought to be shunned because it is in favor of the devil and against God.

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And the fifth angel sounded, signifies the exploration and manifestation of the states of life of those in the church of the Reformed, who are called learned and wise from their confirmation of faith separated from charity, and of justification and salvation by it alone. That these are treated of in what now follows as far as verse 12, is evident from the particulars, understood in the spiritual sense. That by “sounding” is signified to explore and make manifest the state of the church, and thence the state of life with those whose religion is faith alone, may be seen above, (397).

420. And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, signifies spiritual Divine truth flowing from heaven into the church as existing with them, and exploring and manifesting. By “a star” is here signified spiritual Divine truth, because it fell from the spiritual heaven, concerning which, above, (387, 388); and by “the earth” is here signified the church with those who are in its internals, as above, (398). By spiritual Divine truth is meant intelligence from spiritual love, which is love towards the neighbor; and as that intelligence at this date is called faith, and that love, charity, it is faith from charity, or rather it is the truth of faith from the good of charity, which is here signified by “a star.” The same is signified by “a star” in the singular number, (Revelation 2:28; 22:16); for by “stars,” in the plural number, are signified the knowledges of good and truth, (51), and by these there is intelligence. That it is the Divine truth exploring and manifesting, is evident from what follows.

421. And to him was given the key of the abyss, signifies the opening of their hell. By “a key” is signified the power of opening, and also the act of opening, (62, 174, 840). And by “the abyss” is signified the hell where they are who have confirmed themselves in justification and salvation by faith alone, who are all from the church of the Reformed; but in the present case, they who in their own eyes, and thence in the eyes of many others, appear as learned and erudite, when yet in the sight of the angels in heaven they appear destitute of understanding as to those things which pertain to heaven and the church; since they who confirm that faith even to its interiors, close the higher things of their understanding, till at length they are unable to see any spiritual truth in light. The reason is, because the confirmation of falsity is the denial of truth; therefore when they hear any spiritual truth, which is a truth of the Word serviceable to those who are of the church for doctrine and life, they keep their minds fixed in the falsities which they have confirmed, and then they either veil over the truth they have heard with falsities, or reject them as a mere sound, or yawn at it and avert themselves; and this in the degree in which they are in the pride of their own erudition; for pride glues falsities together, so that at last they cohere like the hardened foam of the sea.

[2] Therefore the Word is hidden from them as a book sealed with seven seals. What their quality is, and what their hell, shall also be told, because it has been granted me to see it, and to discourse with those who are therein, and also to see “the locusts” that went forth from it.

That pit, which is like the aperture of a furnace, appears in the southern quarter, and the abyss beneath is of large extent towards the east; there is light in it, but if light from heaven be admitted into it, it becomes darkness, wherefore the pit is closed above. Huts, arched as it were with brick, appear therein, divided into various little cells, in each of which there is a table, with paper and some books lying upon it. Everyone sits at his own table, who in the world had confirmed justification and salvation by faith alone, making charity a merely natural-moral act, and its works only works of civil life, whereby men may gain rewards in the world; but if they are done for the sake of salvation, they condemn them, and this severely, because human reason and will are in them. All who are in this abyss were learned and erudite in the world; and among them there are some metaphysicians and scholastics, who are esteemed there above the rest. When it was granted me to speak with them, I recognized some of them.

[3] But this is their lot: When they are first admitted, they sit in the foremost cells; but as they confirm faith by excluding works of charity; they leave their first habitations, and enter into cells nearer to the east, and so on successively till towards the end, where those are who confirm these dogmas from the Word; and as they then cannot but falsify the Word, their huts disappear, and they see themselves in a desert, whereupon what is described above, (153) happens to them. There is also an abyss beneath the one just mentioned, where they are who in like manner have confirmed justification and salvation by faith alone, but who by themselves in their spirit have denied God, and in their hearts have laughed at the holy things of the church. There they do nothing but quarrel, tear their garments, climb upon the tables, kick, and fight with each other with vituperations; and because no one is there permitted to do mischief to the body of another, they menace with their faces and fists. It is unclean and squalid there. But these are not treated of in this place.

422. Verse 2. And he opened the pit of the abyss, and there went up a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, signifies the falsities of the lusts of the natural man springing from their evil loves. By “the pit of the abyss” is signified the hell above described, (421); by “the smoke” from thence, are signified the falsities from lusts; and because it is said “the smoke as of a great furnace,” the falsities of lusts springing from evil loves are meant, for “fire” signifies love, (468); and “the fire of hell,” evil love, (494). “A great furnace” has a like signification, because it smokes from fire. Infernal spirits are not in any material fire, but in spiritual fire, which is their love; therefore they do not feel any other fire; on which subject see in the work on Hea, (Heaven and Hell 134) (Heaven and Hell 566-575) ven and Hell, published at London in 1758 (134, 566-575). Every love in the spiritual world, when it is excited, appears at a distance as fire, within the hells as a glowing fire, and without, as the smoke of a fire or as the smoke of a furnace. The falsities of the lusts springing from evil loves, are also described by “smoke from a fire” and “from a furnace,” in other parts of the Word, as in these passages:

Abraham looked towards Sodom and Gomorrah, and beheld, and lo, the smoke of the earth went up as the smoke of a furnace, (Genesis 19:28).

The sun set, and there was thick darkness, and behold, a furnace of smoke and a torch of fire, that passed between those pieces, (Genesis 15:17).

They go on to sin, therefore they shall be as the smoke out of the chimney, (Hosea 13:2-3).

The wicked shall perish, into smoke shall they consume, (Psalms 37:20).

And I will show signs in heaven, and on the earth, fire, and pillars of smoke, (Joel 2:30).

They shall cast the evil into a furnace of fire, there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth, (Matthew 13:4, 41-42, 49-50, and in other places).

423. And the sun and the air were darkened from the smoke of the pit, signifies that thereby the light of truth became thick darkness. By “the sun” and “the air” is here signified the light of truth, for by “the sun” is signified love, and by “the light” thence the Divine truth; wherefore when it is said that “the sun is darkened,” and at the same time “the air,” it signifies that the Divine truth had become thick darkness; that this was from the falsities of lusts is signified by its being from “the smoke of the pit.”

424. Verse 3. And out of the smoke there went forth locusts upon the earth, signifies that from them were falsities in the outermost parts, such as prevail with those who have become sensual, and see and judge of all things from the senses and their fallacies. They are called falsities in the outermost parts, which occupy the outermost things of man’s life, and are called sensual, concerning which we shall speak presently; these are signified by “locusts,” in the Word: but it is to be known that they did not appear like the locusts of the field, which leap about and lay waste the meadows and the crops, but like pygmies or dwarfs, which is evident also from their description, in that “they had crowns on their heads, faces like men, hair like women, teeth like lions, breastplates of iron, and a king over them, the angel of the abyss.” That dwarfs were also called “locusts” by the ancients, may be concluded from these passages:

The spies of the land of Canaan said, We saw the Nephilim, the sons of the Anakim, and we were in their eyes as locusts, (Numbers 13:33).

Jehovah who sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as locusts, (Isaiah 40:22).

[2] But because falsities in outermost things, such as prevail among them, are signified by “locusts” in the Word, therefore they are called “locusts,” as also “crowned” and “commanders,” in Nahum:

The fire shall devour thee, it shall eat thee up like the canker worm; make thyself many as the canker worm, make thyself many as the locust; thy crowned are as the locust, and thy commanders as the locust of locusts, (Nahum 3:15-17).

It is in consequence of falsities in the outermost parts consuming the truths and goods of the church, as they spring up in man, that they are signified by “locusts,” which consume the grass and the herbs of the fields, as may be evident from these passages:

Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, but the locust shall consume it, (Deuteronomy 28:38).

That which the palmer worm left hath the locust eaten, and that which the locust left hath the canker worm eaten, and that which the canker worm left hath the caterpillar eaten, (Joel 1:4).

And I will compensate to you the years that the locust, the cancer worm, the caterpillar, and the palmer worm have consumed, (Joel 2:25).

[3] The same is signified by “the locusts in Egypt,” concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the east wind brought the locust. And the locust went up over all the land of Egypt; before it there was no such locust, and it did eat every herb of the field, and afterwards Moses stretched forth his rod, and the locust was cast into the Red Sea, (Exodus 10:12, and subsequent verses).

And in David:

He gave their produce to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust, (Psalms 78:46; 105:34-35).

By the miracles in Egypt is described the vastation of the church; and by this miracle, vastation by falsities in outermost things; and the outermost things of man’s life, when the interiors on which they depend are closed, are infernal; for this reason “the locusts were cast into the Red Sea,” by which is signified hell.

[4] As few at this day know what is meant by the sensual, and what the quality of the sensual man is; and as “locusts” signify that, the following extracts are therefore adduced concerning it from our Arcana Coelestia. That the sensual is the ultimate of the life of man’s mind, adhering and cohering to his five bodily senses, (Arcana Coelestia 5077, 5767, 9212, 9216, 9331, 9730). That he is called a sensual man who judges of all things from the bodily senses, and who believes nothing but what he can see with his eyes, and touch with his hands; saying that these are something, and rejecting the rest, (5094, 7693). That the interiors of his mind, which see from the light of heaven, are closed, so that he sees nothing of truth there, which is of heaven and the church, (6564, 6844-6845). That such a man thinks in outermost things, and not interiorly from any spiritual light, (5089, 5094, 6564, 7693). In a word, that they are in a gross natural light [lumen] (6201, 6310, 6564, 6844-6845, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6524). That thence interiorly they are against the things which are of heaven and the church, but that exteriorly they can speak in favor of them, and ardently, according to the dominion they exercise by means of them, (6201, 6316, 6844-6845, 6948-6949). That the learned and erudite, who have confirmed themselves deeply in falsities, and still more they who have confirmed themselves against the truths of the Word, are more sensual than others, (6316). That sensual men reason acutely and skillfully, because their thought is so near their speech that it is almost in it, and as it were in their lips, and because they place all intelligence in speech from memory only; also that some of them can dexterously confirm falsities, and that after confirmation they believe them to be truths, (195, 196, 5700, 10236). But that they reason and confirm things from the fallacies of the senses, by which the common people are captivated and persuaded, (5084, 6948, 6949, 7693). That sensual men are more cunning and malicious than others, (7693, 10236). That the avaricious, adulterers, the voluptuous and the deceitful, are especially sensual, although in the eyes of the world they do not appear so, (6310). That the interiors of their minds are foul and filthy, (6201). That by these they communicate with the hells, (6311). That they who are in the hells are sensual, and the more so the deeper they are in it, (4623, 6311). That the sphere of infernal spirits conjoins itself with the sensual of man from behind, (6312). That they who have reasoned from sensual things only, and thence against the genuine truths of the church, were called by the ancients, serpents of the tree of knowledge, (195, 196, 197, 6398, 6399, 10313). Moreover the sensual of man, and the sensual man, are described, (10236); and the extension of things sensual in man, (9731). That sensual things ought to be in the last place, and not in the first, and that in a wise and intelligent man they are in the last place, and subject to the interiors; but that with an unwise man, they are in the first place, and govern; these are they who are properly called sensual, (5077, 5125, 5128, 7645). If sensual things are in the last place, a way is opened by them to the understanding, and truths are elaborated by a mode of extraction, (5580). That those sensual things are in close contact with the world, and admit the things which flow from the world, and, as it were, sift them, (9726). That man by means of those sensual things, communicates with the world, and, by means of rational things, with heaven, (4009). That sensual things supply such as are subservient to the interiors of the mind, (5077, 5081). That there are sensual things which minister to the intellectual part; and such as minister to the voluntary part, (5077). That unless the thought be elevated above sensual things, man enjoys but little wisdom, (5089). That a wise man thinks about sensual things, (5089, 5094). That man, when his thought is elevated above sensual things, comes into a clearer light, and, at length, into heavenly light, (6183, 6313, 6315, 9407, 9730, 9922). That elevation above sensual things, and abstraction from them, was known to the ancients, (6313). That man, by his spirit, might perceive the things which are done in the spiritual world, if he could be withdrawn from sensual things, and be elevated into the light of heaven by the Lord, (4622). The reason is, because the body does not think, but the spirit of man in the body; and in proportion as it thinks in the body, in the same proportion it thinks obscurely and in darkness; and in proportion as it does not think in the body, in the same proportion it thinks clearly and in the light; but in spiritual things, (4622, 6614, 6622). That the sensual scientific is the ultimate of the understanding, and the sensual delight, the ultimate of the will, (9996). What the difference is between the sensual things common to beasts, and the sensual things not common to them, (10236). That there are sensual men not evil, by reason that their interiors are not so closed (concerning whose state in another life, see 6311).

425. And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power, signifies the power of persuading that their falsities are truths. By “a scorpion” is signified a deadly persuasive power; and, by “a scorpion of the earth,” persuasive power in things relating to the church, “the earth” signifying the church, (285); for a scorpion, when he stings a man, induces a stupor upon the limbs, and if it is not cured, death; their persuasion produces a corresponding effect upon the understanding. Such is also the signification of “scorpion” in these passages:

Fear not thou on account of them and their words, they are thorny; thou dwellest among scorpions, they are hard of face and obstinate in heart, (Ezekiel 2:4, 6).

Jesus said unto the seventy whom he had sent forth, Behold, I give unto you power to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and on all the power of the enemy; and nothing shall by any means hurt you, (Luke 10:19).

426. Verse 4. And it was said to them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing; nor any tree; but only the men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads, signifies the Divine providence of the Lord, that they should not be able to take away any truth and good of faith, nor affection and perception of them, from any others than such as are not in charity and thence not in faith. By “it was said to them,” is signified the Lord’s Divine providence, because it was said from heaven; by “not hurting the grass of the earth nor any green thing,” is signified not to be able to take away any truth and good of faith; for by “grass” is signified the truth of faith, which is what first springs up in man, (401); and, by “green thing,” is signified the living principle of faith, which is from good, (401); by “not hurting any tree,” is signified not to be able to take away the affection and perception of truth and good; for by “a tree” is signified man as to these, (400); by “those who had not the seal of God in their foreheads” are signified those who are not in charity, and thence in faith; for “the forehead” signifies love and charity, (347); and “to have the seal,” signifies to know and distinguish them from others, (345).

[2] The reason why they who have confirmed faith alone, to the very arcana of justification and salvation by it, cannot take away any truth and good of faith, nor the affection and perception of them, from any but those who are not in the faith of charity, is, because they are scarcely comprehended by anyone but the prelate who teaches and preaches them. The layman hears them, but they enter in at one ear and go out at the other; which the mystery-teaching priest himself, who utters those arcana, may know of a certainty from this circumstance, that he himself spent the whole force of his genius in acquiring a knowledge of them in his youth, and afterwards in retaining them in the following age, likewise from his considering himself as a man of extraordinary learning on account of them. What then must be the case with a layman, who simply thinks of faith from charity, when he hears these mysteries? From what has been said, it may be seen that faith alone justifying is the faith of the clergy, and not of the laity, except of those who live unconcernedly, who imbibe no more from their arcana than that faith alone saves; that they cannot do good from themselves, nor fulfil the law, that Christ suffered for them; besides some other universals of a similar nature.

427. Verse 5. And it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months, signifies that from the Divine providence of the Lord, they are not able to take away from those who are not in the faith of charity the faculty of understanding and willing what is true and good, but that they should only be able to induce stupor for a short time. By “its being given them,” is signified that it is from the Divine providence of the Lord, as above; “not to be able to kill them,” signifies not to be able to take away from those who are not in the faith of charity the faculty of understanding and willing what is true and good, for when this faculty is taken away, man is spiritually killed. By “tormenting them five months,” is signified to induce stupor for a short time; “five” signifies a little, or a short time, and “to torment” signifies to induce stupor, because this is what is signified by “a scorpion” (425); and by “the torment like that of a scorpion,” as follows, (428). That the faculty of understanding truth and of willing it, or rationality and liberty, cannot be taken away from man, is amply shown in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (73, 74, 82-86, 92-99, 138-149, 322).

[2] That “five months” signify a little, and a short time, is because that is signified by “five;” for times, whether they be hours, days, weeks, months, or years, do not signify time but state; and the numbers determine its quality, (4, 10, 348, 947). That “five” signifies something, and also a little, may appear from these passages:

A thousand shall flee at the rebuke of five, (Isaiah 30:17).

Five shall pursue a hundred, (Leviticus 26:8).

Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto ten virgins, of whom five were prudent and five were foolish, (Matthew 25:1-2.

By “ten virgins” are signified all in the church; by “five” are signified a certain part or some of them. The like is signified by “ten” and “five” in the parable:

There were given unto the servants talents that they should trade, and one with his talent gained ten talents, and another five, (Luke 19:13-20).

“Ten talents” signify much, and “five talents” a little. Besides other places (as in Isaiah 17:6; 19:18-19; Matthew 14:15-22).

428. And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man, signifies that this is from their persuasive power. This follows from what was said, (427); for by “torment” is signified the stupor, which their persuasive power induces upon the understanding, as the scorpion does upon the body when he stings it. “The scorpion” signifies that persuasive power, (425). In the spiritual world there exists a persuasive power which takes away the understanding of truth, and induces stupor and thus distress upon the mind; but this persuasive power is unknown in the natural world.

429. Verse 6. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them, signifies that it is the desire of those who are in the doctrine of faith separated, that in matters of faith the understanding should be shut up and the will closed, and thus that they should not have any spiritual light and life; but that it is nevertheless provided by the Lord that the understanding should not be shut up, nor the will closed, lest spiritual light and life with man should be extinguished. “In those days,” signifies the last state of the church, when the doctrine of faith alone is universally received. “Men shall seek death,” signifies that they will that, in matters of faith, the understanding should be shut up; “and shall not find it,” signifies that it is provided of the Lord, that this should not be done; “and shall desire to die,” signifies that they also wish to have the will closed in them; “and death shall flee from them,” signifies that it is provided that neither should take place; for thus spiritual light and life would be extinguished, and man would spiritually die. “To seek,” is predicated of the understanding; and “to desire,” of the will; and “death,” of both. That this is the signification of these words, is evident; otherwise, what meaning could there be in that “men should seek death in those days and not find it, and should desire to die and death should flee from them?” For by “death,” no other death is meant but spiritual death, which is induced when the understanding is removed from the things that are to be believed; for in this case man does not know whether he thinks and does what is true, or what is false, thus whether he thinks and acts with the angels of heaven, or with the devils of hell.

430. Verse 7. And the likenesses of the locusts, signifies the appearances and images of those who have confirmed in themselves faith separated from charity. By “likenesses,” is signified their appearances in a representative image; by “locusts,” are signified falsities in outermost things, (424); and as falsities make one with those who are in falsities, they also are signified by “locusts.” That they who have confirmed themselves in faith alone, or their falsities, are meant by “locusts,” appeared evident to me from this circumstance, that the presbyters who were in that faith, embraced the locusts that were seen, and kissed them, and were desirous of introducing them into their houses. For the images, which are forms representative of the affections and thoughts of angels and spirits in the spiritual world, appear as if they were alive, in like manner as the animals, birds, and fishes, mentioned above.

431. Were like unto horses prepared for war, signifies that because they can reason, they appear to themselves as if combating from the understanding of truth from the Word. By “a horse” is signified the understanding of the Word, (298); by “war” is signified spiritual war, which consists in reasonings and arguments, (500, 586); by “like,” or similitudes, are signified appearances, as above, (430).

432. And upon their heads as it were crowns like gold, signifies that they appeared to themselves as conquerors. By “crowns on their heads like gold,” are signified tokens of victory, because formerly kings wore crowns of gold in battle, (300); for it is said that they were seen “like horses,” that is, on horses prepared for war, (431), for they had the faces of men, as follows; and they are in the persuasion that they cannot be conquered.

433. And their faces were as the faces of men, signifies that they appeared to themselves to be wise. By “man,” in the Word, is signified one wise and intelligent, (243); and by his “face,” wisdom and intelligence; hence it is, that by “their faces as the faces of men,” is signified that they appeared to themselves to be wise. They are also called wise, learned, and erudite, although they are among the foolish virgins, who had no oil in their lamps, (Matthew 25:1-2). “Oil” signifies love and charity; and among the foolish means among those who hear the Lord, that is, read the Word, and do not do it, (Matthew 7:26).

434. Verse 8. And they had hair as the hair of women, signifies that they appeared to themselves to be in the affection of truth. By “man” in the Word, is signified the understanding of truth; and “woman,” the affection of truth, because the man is born understanding, and the woman affection; on which subject, see in The Angelic Wisdom Concerning Marriage. By “hair” in the Word, is signified the ultimate of man’s life, which is the sensual (see 424). This is what gives them the appearance of being in the affection of truth, when yet they are in the affection of falsity; for this they believe to be truth. That a “woman” signifies the affection of truth, may appear from many passages in the Word; hence it is, that the church is called “a wife,” “a woman,” “a daughter,” and “a virgin,” and the church is a church from the love or affection of truth; for from this comes the understanding of truth.

[2] The church is called “a woman” in these passages:

There were two women of one mother, and they committed whoredom in Egypt, Ohola which is Samaria, and Oholiba which is Jerusalem, (Ezekiel 23:2-4).

Jehovah hath called thee as a woman deserted and afflicted in spirit, and a woman of youth, (Isaiah 54:6-7).

Jehovah will create a new thing in the earth, a woman shall compass a man, (Jeremiah 31:21-22).

By “the woman clothed with the sun, whom the dragon persecuted” (Revelation 12:1, 13), is signified the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. By “women” are signified the affections of truth, from which the church is a church, in many passages, as in the following:

The women of My people have ye driven out from the house of her delights, (Micah 2:9).

The families of houses shall mourn apart, and the women apart, (Zechariah 12:11-13).

Stand up, ye secure women, hear my speech, (Isaiah 32:9)

Wherefore do ye evil to cut off from you man and woman? (Jeremiah 44:7).

I will disperse man and woman, (Jeremiah 51:22).

By “man” and “woman,” here and elsewhere, is signified, in the spiritual sense, the understanding of truth and the affection of truth.

435. And their teeth were as those of lions, signifies that sensual things, which are the ultimates of the life of the natural man, appeared with them to have power over all things. “Teeth” signify the ultimates of the life of the natural man, which are called sensual things; concerning which above, (424). Sensual things are of two kinds, one which is of the will, and the other of the understanding; the sensual things of the will are signified by “the hair of women,” of which above, (434); and the sensual things of the understanding are signified by “teeth;” the latter, or what is the same, sensual men who are in falsities from confirmation, seem to themselves to be in power over all things, so that they cannot be conquered; wherefore the “teeth of the locusts,” by which such sensual things are signified, “were as the teeth of lions,” for by “a lion” is signified power, (241). That “teeth” signify the ultimates of man’s life, which are called sensual things, and which, when separated from the interiors of the mind, are in mere falsities, and do violence to truths even to destroying them, may appear from the following passages:

My soul, I lie down in the midst of lions, their teeth are spears and darts, (Psalms 57:4).

O God, destroy their teeth in their mouth, break out the great teeth of the young lions, (Psalms 58:6).

A nation is come up upon my land, strong, its teeth are the teeth of a lion, and it hath the great teeth of a lion, (Joel 1:6).

Jehovah, Thou breakest the teeth of the ungodly, (Psalms 3:7).

There came up out of the sea a beast terrible and dreadful, and exceedingly strong, which had great iron teeth, it devoured and crushed, (Daniel 7:7).

Blessed be Jehovah, who hath not given us a prey to their teeth, (Psalms 124:6).

Since sensual men do not see any truth in its own light, but ratiocinate and dispute about everything, whether it is so; and since these disputes in the hells are heard without as the gnashing of teeth, being in themselves the collisions of falsity and truth, it is evident what is signified by “the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke 13:28); and in a measure what by “gnashing with the teeth” (Job 16:9; Psalms 35:15-16; 37:12; 112:10; Micah 3:5; Lamentations 2:16).

436. Verse 9. And they had breastplates, as breastplates of iron, signifies arguments from fallacies, by which they fight and prevail, which appeared to them so powerful that they could not be refuted. By “breastplates” are signified defenses, because they protect the breast; here, defenses of falsities, which are effected by arguments from fallacies, by which a false principle is defended. For from a false principle nothing but falsities can flow. If truths are advanced, they are only viewed outwardly or superficially, thus also sensually, and are consequently falsified, and, with such persons, become fallacies. The reason why “breastplates” have this signification, is because “wars,” in the Word, signify spiritual wars, and thence the “arms of war” signify the various things relating to such wars; as in Jeremiah:

Harness the horses and mount, ye horsemen, and stand ye in helmets; polish the lances, and put on the cuirass, (Jeremiah 46:4).

In Isaiah:

For he put on justice as a cuirass, and an helmet of salvation upon His head, (Isaiah 59:17).

In David:

Under His wings shalt thou trust, His truth shall be thy shield and buckler, (Psalms 91:4; besides other places; as in Ezekiel 23:24; 38:4; 39:9; Nahum 2:3; Psalms 5:12; 35:2-3).

“Their breastplates were as of iron,” signifies that their arguments seemed to them so strong that they could not be refuted; for “iron” from its hardness, signifies what is strong.

437. And the voice of their wings was as the voice of chariots of many horses running to war, signifies their reasonings as if they were from truths of doctrine from the Word fully understood, for which they must ardently fight. “The voice of wings” signifies reasonings, because “to fly” signifies to perceive and instruct, (245, 415); “chariots” signify doctrinals, as will be seen presently; “horses” signify the understanding of the Word, (298); and “many horses,” what is plenary; that “running to war” signifies ardor for fighting, is evident. That “a chariot” signifies doctrine, is plain from these passages:

The chariots of God are two myriads, thousands of peaceful ones, the Lord is among them, (Psalms 68:17).

Jehovah maketh the clouds His chariots; He walketh upon the wings of the wind, (Psalms 104:2-3).

Jehovah, Thou didst ride upon thine horses, Thy chariots are salvation, (Habakkuk 3:8).

Behold, Jehovah will come with fire and with His chariots like a whirlwind, (Isaiah 66:15).

Ye shall be satisfied at My table with horse and chariot; and I will set My glory among the nations, (Ezekiel 39:20-21).

I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, (Zechariah 9:10).

I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, I will overthrow the chariot, and those that ride in them, (Haggai 2:22).

Set a watchman who may look, let him announce; and he saw a chariot with a pair of horsemen, and a camel chariot and the chariot of a man, and he said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, (Isaiah 21:6-7, 9).

“Elijah” and “Elisha” represented the Lord as to the Word, and thence signify doctrine from the Word, as did all the prophets, (8), therefore they were called “the chariot of Israel and the horsemen thereof;” and for the same reason:

Elijah was seen taken into heaven in a chariot of fire, and there were seen by Elisha’s boy chariots and horses of fire round about him, (2 Kings 2:11-12; 6:17; 13:14; besides other places where “chariots” occur; as in Isaiah 31:1; 37:24; 66:20; Jeremiah 17:25; 22:4; 46:2-3, 8-9; 50:37-38; 51:20-21; Ezekiel 26:7-8, 10-11; Daniel 11:40; Nahum 3:1-3; Joel 2:1-5).

438. Verse 10. And they had tails like unto scorpions, signifies the truths of the Word falsified, by means of which they induce stupor. By “the tail” is signified the ultimate of the head, because the brain is continued through the backbone into the tail, therefore the head and tail make one; as the first and last; when, therefore, by “the head,” faith alone justifying and saving is signified, by “the tail” is signified all the confirmations thereof in a summary, which are from the Word, thus which are the truths of the Word falsified. Everyone, who from his own intelligence assumes a principle of religion, and establishes it as the head, also takes confirmations from the Word, and makes them the tail; thus he induces a stupor upon others, and so hurts them. Therefore it is said, that “they had tails like unto scorpions;” and presently after, “that there were stings in their tails, and that their power was to hurt men;” for by “a scorpion” is signified the power of persuasion inducing stupor upon the understanding, (425). That “the tail” is a continuation of the brain through the backbone to its ultimate, any anatomist will tell you; or merely observe a dog or any other wild beast with a tail, and encourage and coax him, and you will see that the ridge of his back will become smooth, and his tail move correspondingly; but that, on the contrary, he will set his back up if you provoke him.

[2] The primary tenet of the understanding which is assumed as a principle, is signified by “the head,” and the ultimate thereof by “the tail,” in these passages also:

He will cut off from Israel head and tail, the old and the honored, he is the head, and the prophet that teacheth lies, he is the tail, (Isaiah 9:14-15).

Egypt shall not have any work to make head and tail, (Isaiah 19:15).

Nothing else is signified by:

The seven heads of the dragon, and by his tail, with which he drew a third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth, (Revelation 12:4);

Also by:

The tails like serpents, having heads with which they do hurt, (Revelation 9:10.

Since by “the tail” is signified the ultimate, and the ultimate is the complex of all, therefore Jehovah said to Moses:

Take the serpent by the tail; and he took it, and it became a rod, (Exodus 4:3-4).

And therefore it was commanded that:

They should take off the tail entire near the backbone, and sacrifice it together with the fat that was upon the entrails, kidneys, intestines, and liver, (Leviticus 3:9-11; 8:25; 9:19; Exodus 29:22).

That the ultimate is that which contains and comprehends all prior things, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scriptures, (38, 65), and in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, (209-222).

439. And there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months, signifies subtle falsifications of the Word, by which, for a short time, they darken and fascinate the understanding, and thus deceive and captivate. By “stings in their tails” are signified subtle falsifications of the Word; by “stings,” subtlety; and by “tails,” the truths of the Word falsified, (438). By “the power to hurt,” is signified that by means of these they can induce stupor, that is, they can darken and fascinate the understanding, and thus deceive and captivate; “for their tails were like scorpions,” and by “scorpions” such things are signified, (425). By “five months” is signified for a short time, as above, (427). This takes place when they quote and apply anything from the Word; for the Word is written according to correspondences, and correspondences are in part appearances of truth, containing within them genuine truths. If these truths are not known in the church, many things may be taken from the Word, which at first appear as if in agreement with heresy; but when genuine truths are known in the church, then the appearances of truth are rendered manifest, and genuine truths come to view. But before this is done, a heretic, by various things drawn from the Word, may obscure and fascinate the understanding, and thus deceive and captivate. That this is done by those who assert that man’s sins are remitted, or, in other words, that he is justified by an act of faith, concerning which no one knows anything, and this in a moment, and if not before, even at the last hour of death, might be illustrated by examples, but this is not the place to do so. By “stings” are signified falsities from evil, doing hurt, also in Amos:

Behold, the days shall come upon you, when they shall take you away with stings, (Amos 4:2).

And in Moses:

That they should extirpate the inhabitants of the land, lest they should be thorns in their eyes, and stings in their sides, (Numbers 33:55).

“Thorns,” “briers,” “brambles,” and “thistles,” also signify falsities of evil, from their stings.

440. Verse 11. And they had a king over them, the angel of the abyss; whose name in the Hebrew is Abaddon, and in the Greek he hath the name Apollyon, signifies that they are in the satanic hell who are in falsities from lusts, and, by the total falsification of the Word, have destroyed the church. By “the king, the angel of the abyss,” is not signified any angel who is a king there, but the falsity reigning therein; for by “a king,” in the genuine sense, is signified one who is in truths from the affection of good, and, abstractly, that truth itself, (20); and thence, in the opposite sense, by “a king” is signified one who is in falsities from the lusts of evil, and, abstractly, that falsity itself. By the “abyss” is signified the satanic hell, where they are, (387, 421); by “name” is signified the quality of the state, (81, 122, 165); “Abaddon,” in the Hebrew tongue, is he that destroys and a destroyer; so “Apollyon,” in the Greek tongue; and this is falsity in outermost things, which, by the total falsification of the Word, has destroyed the church. By “Abaddon,” in the Hebrew text, is signified destruction, in these places:

Thy truth in destruction, (Psalms 88:11).

Hell is naked before Him, and destruction hath no covering, (Job 26:6).

For a fire consumeth even to destruction, (Job 31:12).

Destruction and Death say, (Job 28:22).

In other places, hell and the devil are called “destruction” and “destroyer” (Isaiah 54:16; Ezekiel 5:16; 9:1; Exodus 12:13); but by another word.

441. Verse 12. One woe is past; behold, there come two woes more hereafter, signifies further lamentations over the devastation of the church. That “woe” signifies lamentation over calamity, unhappiness, and damnation, see 416; here, then, by “two woes to come,” are signified further lamentations over the state of the church.

442. Verse 13. And the sixth angel sounded, signifies the exploration and manifestation of their state of life in the church of the Reformed who are not so wise, and yet place the all of religion in faith, and think of it alone and of nothing except it, and the customary worship, and so live as they please. That these are treated of to the end of this chapter, will appear from the explanation of what follows. That “to sound” signifies to explore and make manifest the state of the church, and thence of the life of those whose religion consists in faith alone, may be seen above, (397).

[2] These who are now treated of, are altogether distinct from those referred to thus far in this chapter, the falsities of whose faith were seen in the form of locusts. They are distinct in this: those already described are studious in exploring the arcana of justification by faith, and also in giving the signs of it, and its testimonies, which, with them, are the goods of moral and civil life; insisting that the precepts of the Word are indeed in themselves Divine, but that with man they become natural, because they proceed from his will, which have no conjunction with the spiritual things of faith; and because they confirm these things by rational considerations, which savor of erudition, they dwell in the southern quarter of the abyss, according to the description above, (421).

[3] But they who are treated of in what follows to the end of the chapter, do not study those arcana, but only make mere faith the all of religion, and nothing besides it and the customary worship, and so live as they please. I have been permitted to see and converse with these also; they live in the northern quarter, in huts that are scattered about, and constructed of reeds and rushes plastered over with lime, in which the ground is the floor. The more ingenious, who, by means of natural light, know how to establish that faith by reasonings, and confirm that it has nothing in common with life, dwell in front, the more simple behind them, and the more stupid toward the western part of that region; the multitude of them is so great that it is incredible. They are instructed by angelic spirits, but they who do not receive the truths of faith, and live according to them, are let down into the hell which is under them, and imprisoned.

443. And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God (verse 14), saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, signifies a command from the Lord out of the spiritual heaven to those who were to explore and make manifest. By “a voice” is signified a Divine command; by “the golden altar,” or altar of incense, is signified the spiritual heaven, (277, 392); by “the four horns” of that altar is signified its power, (270); here, the power of loosing the four angels bound at the river Euphrates, as follows: by “the sixth angel” who had the trumpet, is signified to those to whom the office of exploring and making manifest these things was enjoined, (442).

444. Loose the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates, signifies that external bonds should be removed from them, that the interiors of their minds might appear. That this is the signification of these words, no one can know, and scarcely can suspect, unless he knows what is meant by “the great river Euphrates,” and what by “the four angels bound there.” By “Euphrates,” in the Word, are signified the interiors of man’s mind, which are called things rational, which, with those who are in truths from good, are full of wisdom, but in those who are in falsities from evil, are full of insanity. The reason why these are signified in the Word by “the river Euphrates,” is, because that river divided the land of Canaan from Assyria; and by “the land of Canaan” was signified the church; and by “Assyria,” its rational; and thence by the river which bounded it, are signified the interiors of the mind which are called rational, in both senses. For there are three things which constitute the man of the church, the spiritual, the rational or intellectual, and the natural, which is also the scientific. The spiritual of the church was signified by “the land of Canaan” and its rivers; the rational or intellectual of the church, by “Ashur” or “Assyria” and its “river Euphrates;” and the natural, which is also the scientific of the church, by “Egypt” and its “river” the Nile; but concerning these more may be seen below, (503). By “the four angels bound at the river Euphrates,” are signified those interiors with the men of the church which are said “to be bound,” because they are not openly avowed; for they are infernal spirits, who are meant by these four angels, since it is said of them, in what follows, (446), that “they were prepared to kill the third part of men,” and the interiors of men make one with spirits, either infernal or celestial, because they cohabit: by “loosing them” is signified to remove external bonds, that the interiors of their minds may appear. Such is the signification of these words.

[2] By “Euphrates” are signified the interiors of man’s mind bordering upon the spiritual things of his church, may appear from those passages in the Word where “Ashur” or “Assyria” is mentioned; but “Euphrates” occurs in the opposite sense, in which it signifies the interiors full of falsities and thence of insanities, in these passages:

Behold, God bringeth up over them the waters of the river (Euphrates) strong and many; the King of Assyria, he shall go through Judah; he shall overflow and go over, (Isaiah 8:7-8).

What hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, that thou drinkest the waters of Sihor? and what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, that thou drinkest the waters of the river? (Jeremiah 2:18).

Jehovah shall curse the tongue of the sea of Egypt, and shall shake His hand over the river Euphrates, (Isaiah 11:15-16).

The sixth angel poured out his vial upon the river Euphrates, whose water was dried up, (Revelation 16:12).

It was commanded the prophet that he should put a girdle upon his loins, and should afterwards hide it in a hole of a rock by the Euphrates, and when after a short time he took it again, behold, it was rotten, nor was it good for anything, (Jeremiah 13:1-7, 11).

And it was also commanded him that after he should finish reading the book, he should throw it into the midst of the Euphrates, and say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise again, (Jeremiah 51:63-64).

By these things the interiors of the state of the church with the sons of Israel were represented. That the “river of Egypt,” the Nile, and “the river of Assyria,” the Euphrates, were the boundaries of the land of Canaan, is manifest from this:

Jehovah made a covenant with Abraham, Unto thy seed will I give this land, from the river of Egypt even to the great river Euphrates, (Genesis 15:18).

That the Euphrates was a boundary, see Exodus 23:31; Deuteronomy 1:7-8; 11:24; Joshua 1:4; Micah 7:12.

445. Verse 15. And the four angels were loosed, signifies that when the external bonds were taken away, the interiors of their minds appeared. This follows from what is said above.

446. Prepared for an hour and a day and a month and a year, to kill a third part of men, signifies that they were in the perpetual effort to take away from the men of the church spiritual light and life. By “prepared” is signified that they were in the effort; by “an hour, a day, a month, and a year,” is signified continually and perpetually, the same as by “all time;” by “to kill” is signified to take away spiritual light and life from the men of the church, (325); and the third part signifies all, (400).

447. Verse 16. And the number of the armies of horsemen was two myriads of myriads, signifies reasonings concerning faith alone, with which the interiors of their minds were filled, from the abundance of mere falsities of evil. By “armies” are signified goods and truths; and, in the opposite sense, evils and falsities; here, the falsities of evil, of which below. By “horsemen” are signified reasonings concerning faith alone; because by “a horse” is signified the understanding of the Word, (298); and also the understanding of the Word destroyed, (305, 313, 320); therefore by “horsemen” are signified reasonings from the understanding of the Word destroyed; here, concerning faith alone; because they who are principled therein are treated of. By “two myriads of myriads” are not meant so many in number, but a great abundance; “two” are mentioned, because two are predicated of good, and, in the opposite sense, of evil, (322); and “myriads” are predicated of truths, and, in the opposite sense, of falsities, (287). Hence it may be seen that by “the number of the armies of horsemen, two myriads of myriads,” are signified reasonings concerning faith alone, with which the interiors of their minds were filled, from the abundance of mere falsities of evil.

[2] That by “armies,” in the Word, are signified the goods and truths of heaven and the church, and, in the opposite sense, evils and falsities, may appear from those places where the sun, moon, and stars are called “armies” (hosts); and by “the sun” is signified the good of love; by “the moon,” the truth of faith; and by “the stars,” the knowledges of good and truth; and the contrary, in the opposite sense, (51, 53, 332, 413); both the former and the latter are called “armies” (hosts), in these passages:

Praise Jehovah all His hosts, praise ye Him sun and moon, praise Him all stars, (Psalms 148:2-3.

My hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their hosts have I commanded, (Isaiah 45:12).

By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth, (Psalms 33:6).

The heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them, (Genesis 2:1).

The horn of the he-goat grew even to the host of the heavens; and it cast down unto the earth from the host and from the stars; yea, it raised itself up even to the prince of the host: and the host was delivered to it on account of the continual sacrifice for transgression, because he cast down the truth to the earth: the Holy One said, How long is the holy place and the host given to be trodden down? (Daniel 8:10-14).

Jehovah uttered His voice before the army, (Joel 2:11).

Upon the roofs of the houses they have offered incense to all the host of the heavens, (Jeremiah 19:13).

Lest thou shouldst bow thyself down and serve the sun, the moon, the stars, and all the hosts of the heavens, (Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3; Jeremiah 8:2; so too in Isaiah 13:4; 34:4; 40:26; Jeremiah 33:22; Zechariah 9:8; Revelation 19:14).

[3] Since the goods and truths of heaven and the church are signified by “the hosts (armies) of the heavens,” the Lord is therefore called “Jehovah Zebaoth,” that is, Jehovah of armies (hosts); and on this account the ministry of the Levites was called a military service, (Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 39); and it is said in David:

Bless Jehovah, all His hosts, His ministers that do His will, (Psalms 103:21).

The evils and falsities in the church are signified by:

The army of the nations, (Isaiah 34:2).

The army of the king of the north with which he came against the king of the south, (Daniel 11:13, 15, 20).

“The king of the north” is the falsity of evil in the church, and “the king of the south” is the truth of good therein. It is said by the Lord:

When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed with armies, know that its devastation is near, (Luke 21:20).

By “Jerusalem” the church is here signified, and by “armies” the evils and falsities which were devastating it. The consummation of the age is there treated of, which is the last time of the church. Evils and falsities are signified by armies in Joel:

I will recompense to you the years which the locust hath consumed, the canker worm, the caterpillar, and the palmer worm, the great army, which I have sent among you, (Joel 2:25).

That by “the locust” and the rest falsity in outermost things is signified, may be seen above, (424).

448. And I heard the number of them, signifies their quality perceived, that it was as follows: By “hearing” is signified to perceive: by “number” the quality and state of a thing is signified, (10, 348, 364). It is the quality of their state as now follows, because it is described in the following; on which account it is said, “and thus I saw.”

449. Verse 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat upon them, signifies that then it was discovered that the reasonings of the interiors of their minds concerning faith alone were imaginary and visionary, and that they themselves were insane from them. “To see” signifies to discover their quality; by “horses” are signified the reasonings of the interiors of their minds concerning faith alone; in the present case, imaginary and visionary reasonings, because it is said, that he saw them “in vision.” By “those sitting upon horses” are signified such as are intelligent from the Word understood, but here, such as are insane from imaginary and visionary things which are contrary to the Word.

[2] Because the interiors of their minds appeared under such forms as signify imaginary and visionary reasonings concerning faith alone, a few of them, which I have heard from their own mouths, shall be made public; as these: “Was not faith alone, after the grievous fall of man, made the only means of salvation? How can we appear before God without that means? Is it not the only means? Are we not born in sins, and is not our nature entirely corrupted by the transgression of Adam? Can there be any other means of healing but faith alone? What can our works contribute towards this? Who can do any good work from himself; who can purify, forgive, justify, and save himself? Does not merit and self-righteousness lurk in every work that man does from himself? And if, perchance, we should do anything that was good, could we do all, and fulfil the law? Besides, if anyone sins against one commandment, he sins against all, because they cohere. Why did the Lord come into the world, and suffer so grievously on the cross, but to take away from us damnation and the curse of the law, to reconcile God the Father, and become merit and righteousness alone, which might be imputed to man through faith? Otherwise, what good could be answered by His coming? Since, then, Christ suffered for us, and fulfilled the law for us, and took away its right of condemnation, can evil then any longer condemn, and can good save us? Therefore we who have faith, are in the full liberty of thinking, willing, speaking, and doing whatever we please, provided we do no injury to our reputation, honor, and interest, nor incur the penalties of the civil law, which would be a disgrace and hurt to us.”

Some, who wander further north, said, “That good works, which are done for the sake of salvation, are hurtful, pernicious and cursed; among these, also, there were some presbyters.

[3] These things are what I heard, but they mumbled and muttered many more, which I did not hear. They spoke, also, shamelessly with all license, and were lascivious, both in words and deeds, without fear for any wicked deed, except out of pretense, for the sake of appearing honest. Such are the interiors of the mind, and thence the exteriors of the body of those who make faith alone the all of religion. But all those things, which were uttered by them, fall to the ground, if the Lord Himself, the Savior, is immediately approached, and believed in, and good is done, each for the sake of salvation, and by man as from himself, with a belief, however, that it is from the Lord. Unless these things are done as by man, neither faith nor charity can be given at all; nor, consequently, can religion nor salvation.

450. Having breastplates of fire, and jacinth, and brimstone, signifies their imaginary and visionary arguments from infernal love and their own intelligence, and from the lusts thence. By “breastplates” are signified arguments from which they fight for faith alone, (436); by “fire” is signified celestial love, and in the opposite sense, infernal love, (452, 468, 494); by “jacinth” is signified intelligence from spiritual love, and, in the opposite sense, intelligence from infernal love, which is one’s own intelligence, of which below; and by “brimstone” is signified lusts from that love through one’s own intelligence, (452). Hence it follows, that by “breastplates of fire, jacinth, and brimstone,” such things are signified.

[2] The reason why their arguments in favor of faith alone are thus described, is because all they who believe themselves justified, that is, absolved from sins by faith alone, never think of repentance; and an impenitent man is in mere sins, and all sins are derived from, and thence draw their nature from infernal love, one’s own intelligence, and from the lusts thence; and they who are in these things, not only act from them, but also speak, yea, think and will, and consequently reason and argue from them; these constitute, indeed, the very man, because they are his very life; but a man devil, and his life which is an infernal life. They who live a moral life, only for the sake of themselves and the world, do not know this; the reason is, because their interiors are infernal whilst their exteriors are similar to the exteriors of those who live a Christian life: let them know, however, that everyone, when he dies, comes into his interiors, because he becomes a spirit, this being the internal man; and then the interiors accommodate the exteriors to themselves, and they become alike; wherefore the morality of their life in the world then becomes as the scales of fishes which are wiped away. The case is quite different with those who hold the precepts of moral life to be Divine, and then also civil, because they are of love towards the neighbor.

[3] “A jacinth” signifies intelligence from the affection of spiritual love, because that color partakes of the redness of fire and the whiteness of light; and by “fire” is signified love; and by “light,” intelligence: this intelligence is signified by:

The hyacinthine blue in the coverings and veils of the tabernacle, (Exodus 26:31, 36; 27:16).

In Aaron’s ephod, (Exodus 28:6, 15).

By the cloth of hyacinth which was placed over the ark, the table, the candlestick, and the altar, when they journeyed, (Numbers 4:6-7, 9, 11-12).

By the thread of blue on the skirts of their garments, (Numbers 15:38-39).

And by hyacinth, (Ezekiel 27:7, 24).

But intelligence from the affection of infernal love, is signified by “hyacinth” in Ezekiel:

Oholah, or Samaria, committed whoredom and delighted in her lovers, the Assyrians, her neighbors, clothed in hyacinth, horsemen riding upon horses, (Ezekiel 23:4-6).

Hereby the church is described, which, by reasonings from their own intelligence, had falsified the truths of the Word. And in Jeremiah:

They are infatuated and foolish; the teaching of vanities is wood; silver spread into plates is brought from Tarshish, the work of the workmen and of the hands of the founder; hyacinth and purple is their clothing, they are all the work of the wise, (Jeremiah 10:8-9).

“The work of the workmen and of the hands of the founder, and all the work of the wise,” signify here, that they are all from their own intelligence.

451. And the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions, signifies fantasies concerning faith alone, as if it were in power. By “heads” are signified the imaginary and visionary things with them about faith alone, which are here treated of, and which in one word are called fantasies. By “horses” are signified the reasonings of the interiors of their minds, which are such, (449); by “lions” are signified power, (241); but it is power from fallacies, because they are sensual, and the sensual reason from fallacies, by which they persuade and captivate, (424).

[2] That their arguments in favor of faith alone are imaginary and visionary, anyone may see who elevates his mind a little. What are faith in act and faith in state, as conceived by them, but visionary things? Who is there among them that knows anything concerning faith in act; and what avails faith in state, when no good enters from man into faith in act. What is remission of sins and consequent instantaneous salvation, but a result of visionary thought? That it is “a fiery flying serpent” in the church, see The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (340). What is the conceit of immunity, merit, justice, and holiness from imputation, but visionary things? see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (18).

[3] What is the Divine operation in internals, without man’s cooperation in externals as from himself? For to separate the internal from the external so that there can be no conjunction of them, is merely visionary (see below, 606). Such a visionary thing is faith separated from charity; for charity in works is the containant and foundation of faith; it is its ground and earth, also its essence and life; in a word, faith from charity is the man; but faith, without charity, is a specter, and a creature of the imagination, like a bubble of water floating in the air. But perhaps some may say, If you remove the understanding from faith, you will not see visionary things; but be it known, that he who can remove the understanding from faith, may obtrude a thousand visionary things upon every religious tenet, as has been done for ages past by the Roman Catholics.

452. And out of their mouths issued fire, and smoke, and brimstone, signifies that in their thoughts and discourses, viewed interiorly, there is nothing, and from them there proceeds nothing but the love of self and of the world, which is the proprium of the will, the pride of one’s own intelligence, which is the proprium of the understanding, and the lusts of evil and falsity, which is the general proprium flowing forth from those two. “Out of their mouths” means out of their thoughts and discourses; by “fire” is signified the love of self and of the world, which love is the proprium of man’s will, (450, 468, 494); by “smoke” is signified the pride of one’s own intelligence, which is the proprium of his understanding, going forth from the love of self and of the world, as smoke does from fire, (422); and by “brimstone” is signified the lusts of evil and falsity, which is the general proprium flowing from those two. These things, however, do not appear from their discourses before men in the world, but manifestly before the angels in heaven; therefore it is said, that, when viewed interiorly, they are such. “Fire” signifies infernal love, and “brimstone,” the lusts flowing from that love through the pride of one’s own intelligence, in the following passages:

I will make it rain fire and brimstone upon him, (Ezekiel 38:22).

Jehovah will rain upon the wicked fire and brimstone, (Psalms 11:6).

The day of the vengeance of Jehovah; the streams shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone; the smoke of it shall go up forever, (Isaiah 34:8-10).

In the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven: so shall it be in the day when the Son of man shall be revealed, (Luke 17:29-30; Genesis 19:24).

He that adoreth the beast and his image shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, (Revelation 14:9-10).

The beast, the false prophet, and the devil were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, (Revelation 19:20; 20:10; 21:8).

The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, shall kindle the pile, (Isaiah 30:33).

The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it shall not be sown, it shall not spring forth, according to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, (Deuteronomy 29:23).

Brimstone shall be scattered upon the habitation of the wicked, (Job 18:15).

453. Verse 18. By these three was a third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, that issued out of their mouths, signifies that it is from these that the men of the church perish. “A third part of men being killed,” signifies that the men of the church perish by the three things just now mentioned, (452); for by “being killed” is signified to be killed spiritually, which is to perish as to the soul; and by “a third part” is signified all who are in those falsities, which have been frequently enumerated above; what is signified by “fire,” “smoke,” and “brimstone,” and what by “issuing out of their mouths,” may be seen above, (452). It is from these falsities, that in the whole Christian world it is not known that “fire” here spoken of is the love of self and of the world, and that this love is the Devil; also that “the smoke” from this fire is the pride of one’s own intelligence, and that this pride is Satan; as also that “brimstone” kindled by this fire, by means of that pride, is the lusts of evil and falsity; and that these lusts are the crew of the Devil and Satan, of which hell consists; and when these things are not known, it cannot be known what sin is, for sin derives all its delight and pleasantness from them.

454. Verse 19. For their power was in their mouth, signifies that they only prevail by their discourse in confirmation of faith. By “power in their mouth” is signified power in discourse confirming doctrine; for neatness and elegance of language, pretended zeal, ingenious confirmation of what is false, especially from the appearances of truth in the Word, authority, closure of the understanding, and the like, effect all things, whilst truth and the Word effect nothing; for truth shines only before those who are in charity and thence in faith, nor does the Word teach any others.

455. For their tails were like unto serpents having heads, and with them they hurt, signifies the reason, because they are sensual and inverted, speaking truths with their lips, but falsifying them by the principle which constitutes the head of the doctrine of their religion, and thus they deceive. The like is here signified as above by the locusts, (438-439); but it is there said, that they had “tails like scorpions,” whereas here, like “serpents,” for they who are described by the locusts, speak and persuade from the Word, the sciences, and from erudition; but these only from arguments which are appearances of truth and fallacies; and they who use such arguments ingeniously, and as it were wisely, do indeed deceive, but not in so great a degree.

[2] By “serpent” in the Word, are signified sensual things, which are the ultimates of man’s life, as above, (424); the reason is, because all animals signify the affections of man, wherefore also the affections of angels and spirits, in the spiritual world, appear at a distance as animals, and affections merely sensual, as “serpents;” and this because serpents creep on the ground and lick the dust, and sensual things are the lowest of the understanding and will, being in close contact with the world, and nourished by its objects and delights, which only affect the material senses of the body. Noxious serpents, which are of many kinds, signify the sensual things that depend on the evil affections which constitute the interiors of the mind with those who are insane from the falsities of evil; and harmless serpents signify the sensual things that are dependent on the good affections, which constitute the interiors of the mind with those who are wise from the truths of good.

[3] Sensual things dependent an evil affections, are signified by serpents in these passages:

They lick the dust like a serpent, (Micah 7:17).

Dust shall be the serpent’s bread, (Isaiah 65:25).

He said to the serpent, Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life, (Genesis 3:14).

The sensual is thus described, which, because it communicates with hell, where all are sensual, turns heavenly wisdom into infernal insanity in spiritual things.

Be not glad, Philistia, for out of the serpent’s root shall go forth a basilisk, whose fruit is a flying fiery serpent, (Isaiah 14:29).

They lay asp’s eggs; he that eateth of its eggs dieth, and when one presses it out, a viper is hatched, (Isaiah 59:5).

Because the sons of Israel desired to return into Egypt, they were bitten by serpents, (Numbers 21:4-9).

“To return into Egypt,” signified to become sensual from being spiritual; on which account it is said:

The hirelings of Egypt have turned themselves away, the voice thereof shall go like a serpent, (Jeremiah 46:21-22).

[4] Because Dan was the farthest of the tribes, and thence signified the ultimate of the church, which is the sensual subject to the interiors, it is therefore said thus of him:

Dan is a serpent upon the way biting the horse’s heels, and the rider shall fall backwards, (Genesis 49:17).

By “the horse’s heels” the ultimates of the understanding, which are sensual, are signified: by “biting” is signified to adhere to them: by “the rider” is signified the lack of knowledge from them, by which truths are perverted; for which reason it is said, “His rider shall fall backwards.” Since sensual men are crafty and cunning like foxes, the Lord therefore says:

Be ye prudent as serpents, (Matthew 10:16).

For the sensual man speaks and reasons from appearances and fallacies; and if he is skilled in the gift of arguing, he knows how to confirm every falsity skillfully, and also the heresy concerning faith alone, and still is so dull in the power of seeing truth that it is scarcely possible to be duller.

456. Verse 20. And the rest of the men who were not killed by these plagues, signifies those in the church of the Reformed, who are not so spiritually dead from visionary reasonings and from self-love, the pride of their own intelligence, and from the lusts thence, as the former, and yet have made faith alone the head of their religion. By “the rest of the men” are meant they who are not as the former, but yet make faith alone the head of their religion; by “those who were not killed,” are signified those who are not so spiritually dead; by “these plagues” in which they are, self-love, the pride of their own intelligence, and the lusts of evil and falsity from them are meant; these three being signified by “fire,” “smoke,” and “brimstone,” concerning which above, (452, 453). That such is the signification of “plagues,” will be seen below.

[2] But something must first be said respecting this class of persons, whom also it has been granted me to see and to converse with. They dwell in the northern quarter towards the west, where some of them have cottages with roofs, and some without roofs. Their beds are of bulrushes, their garments of goat’s hair. In the light flowing in from heaven their faces appear livid and also stupid. The reason is, because they know nothing more about religion than that there is a God, that there are three Persons, that Christ suffered for them on the cross, and that it is faith alone by which they are saved; and likewise by worship in temples, and by prayers at stated times. As to the rest of the things relating to religion and its doctrine, they pay no attention; for the worldly and corporeal things, with which their minds are filled and overcharged, close up their ears against them. There are many of the presbyters among them, whom I asked, “What do you think, when you read in the Word of works, of love and charity, of fruits, of the precepts of life, of repentance, in brief of things to be done?” They replied, that they did indeed read them, and thus saw them; but still they did not see them, because they held their minds in faith alone, and therefore thought that all these were faith, and did not think that they were effects of faith. That such ignorance and stupidity prevails with those who have embraced faith alone, and made it the all of their religion, is scarcely credible; nevertheless it has been granted me to know it by much experience.

[3] That by plagues are meant spiritual plagues, by means of which man dies as to his spirit or soul, is evident from these passages:

Thy breach is desperate, thy plague grievous; I will restore health unto thee, I will heal thee of thy plagues, (Jeremiah 30:12, 14, 17).

Everyone that passeth by Babylon shall hiss at all her plagues, (Jeremiah 50:13).

In one day shall the plagues come upon Babylon, death and lamentation, (Revelation 18:8).

I saw the seven angels that had the seven last plagues, by which the anger of God is to be consummated, (Revelation 15:1, 6).

Woe to the sinful nation, to the people heavy with iniquity; from the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness in it, a wound and a scar and a recent stroke, not pressed, not bound up, not softened with oil, (Isaiah 1:4, 6).

In the day that Jehovah bound up the breach of His people, and healed the wound of their plague, (Isaiah 30:26 and other places, as Deuteronomy 28:59; Jeremiah 49:17; Zechariah 14:12, 15; Luke 7:21; Revelation 11:6; 16:21).

457. Yet repented not of the work of their hands, signifies that neither did they shun their own things, which are evils of every kind, as sins. By “the works of a man’s hands” are signified man’s own things, which are evils and falsities thence, because by “hand” are signified those things in the aggregate which proceed from man; for the powers of the mind, and thence of its body, are determined to the hands and there terminate; wherefore by “hands,” in the Word, is signified power: consequently, by “the works of a man’s hands,” his own things are signified, which are evils and falsities of every kind; his own things in the will are evils, and his own things in the understanding are falsities thence. It is said of those who are here treated of, that they repented not; the reason is, because they who make faith alone the all of religion, say in themselves, “What need is there of repentance, when by faith alone sins are remitted, and we are saved? Of what avail are our own works in this matter? I know that I was born in sins, and that I am a sinner; if I confess this, and pray that my faults may not be imputed to me, is not the work of repentance then performed, and what need is there for anything more?” Thus he has no thought at all about sins, even so that at length he does not know that there are sins; wherefore he is continually borne along within them and into them, by the delight and pleasantness which flow from them, in like manner as a ship is carried by the wind and tide toward the rocks, whilst the pilot and mariners are asleep.

[2] By “the works of men’s hands,” in the Word, in its natural sense, are meant graven images, molten images, and idols; but in the spiritual sense, by them are signified evils and falsities of every kind, which are man’s own things; as in these passages:

Provoke me not to anger by the works of your hands; if ye provoke Me to anger by the works of your hands, to your own evil, I will recompense them according to their works, and according to the deeds of their hands, (Jeremiah 25:6-7, 14).

The sons of Israel provoked Me to anger by the works of their hands, (Jeremiah 32:30; 44:8).

I will speak judgments with them touching all their wickedness, that they have bowed themselves down to the works of their hands, (Jeremiah 1:16).

In that day the eyes shall look to the Holy One of Israel, and not to the altars, the work of their hands, and which their fingers have made, (Isaiah 17:7-8; 31:7; 37:19; Jeremiah 10:9).

[3] That “the work of a man’s hands” is his proprium, and the evil and falsity thence, may be manifestly evident from this, that for that reason it was prohibited to build the altar and the temple of hewn stones, and to lift up a tool of iron upon those stones; for by this “the work of man’s hands” was signified.

If thou makest an altar of stones unto me, thou shalt not build them hewn; because if thou movest a chisel upon it, thou wilt profane it, (Exodus 20:25).

Joshua built an altar of stones, upon which he did not move any iron, (Joshua 8:30-31).

The temple of Jerusalem was built of whole stone, and neither hammer nor axe nor any instruments of iron were heard when it was building, (1 Kings 6:7).

[4] All things also which are done by the Lord, are called “the works of his hands;” which are his own and in themselves goods and truths; as in these places:

The works of the hands of Jehovah are truth and judgment, (Psalms 111:7).

O Jehovah, Thy mercy is for ever; forsake not the works of Thy hands, (Psalms 138:8).

Thus said Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and His Former, ask signs of Me concerning My sons, concerning the work of My hands command ye Me, (Isaiah 45:11).

Thy people shall all be just, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, (Isaiah 60:21).

O Jehovah, Thou art our Father; we are the clay, and Thou our Potter; and we all are the work of Thy hands, (Isaiah 64:8).

458. That they should not adore demons, signifies that thus they are in the evils of their lusts, and make one with their like in hell. By “demons” are signified the lusts of evil springing from the love of the world; the reason is, because in hell they are called demons who are in those lusts; and men also, who are in the same, become demons after death. There is also a conjunction between them and such men; for every man is conjoined with spirits as to his affections, even so that they make a one; from which it is evident, that to “adore” demons, is to sacrifice to those lusts from the love of them. Therefore he who invokes faith alone, as the head of his religion, or as his idol, remains in evil, by reason of his not searching out any evil in himself which he calls a sin, and consequently is not desirous of removing it by repentance; and as every evil is composed of lusts, being nothing but a bundle of lusts, it follows, that he who does not search out any evil in himself, and shun it as a sin against God, which can only be done by repentance, becomes a demon after death.

[2] Nothing but such lusts are signified by “demons” in the following passages:

They sacrifice to demons, not to God, (Deuteronomy 32:17).

The sons of Israel shall no longer sacrifice to demons, after which they have committed whoredom, (Leviticus 17:7; Psalms 106:37).

The Ziim shall meet with the Ijim, and the demon of the woods shall meet with his companion, (Isaiah 34:14).

The Ziim shall lie there, and their houses shall be full of Ochim, and the daughters of the owl shall dwell there, and the demons of the woods shall dance there, (Isaiah 13:21).

By “Ziim,” “Ijim,” “Ochim,” “the daughters of the owl,” are signified various lusts; “wood demons” are such lusts as appertain to priapuses and satyrs:

Babylon is become the habitation of demons, and the hold of every unclean spirit, (Revelation 18:2).

The demons, which the Lord cast out, were such lusts, when they lived in the world (concerning which see Matthew 8:16, 28; 9:32-33; 10:8; 12:22; 15:22; Mark 1:32, 34; Luke 4:33-37, 41; 8:2, 26-40; 9:1, 37-42, 49; 13:32).

459. And idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood, signifies that thus they are in worship from mere falsities. By “idols” in the Word, are signified the falsities of worship, and therefore to adore them signifies worship from falsities; and by “adoring idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood,” is signified worship from falsities of all kinds, and, taken collectively, worship from mere falsities. Moreover, the material of which idols were made, their forms, and their garments, among the ancients, represented the falsities of religion, from which was their worship: “idols of gold” signified falsities concerning Divine things; “idols of silver,” falsities concerning spiritual things; “idols of brass,” falsities concerning charity; “idols of stone,” falsities concerning faith; and “idols of wood,” falsities concerning good works. All these falsities exist in those who do not do the work of repentance, that is, shun evils as sins against God.

[2] These things are signified in the spiritual sense by idols which were graven images and molten images, in the following passages:

Every man has become foolish by knowledge, every founder is affected with shame by his graven image, because his molten image is a lie, neither is there breath in them; they are vanity, a work of errors; in the time of their visitation they shall perish, (Jeremiah 10:14-15; 51:17-18).

The graven images are the work of the hands of the workman; they speak not; they are infatuated and grow foolish together; the wood is a teaching of vanities; they all are the work of the wise, (Jeremiah 10:3-5, 8-10).

What profiteth the graven image, that the maker and teacher of lies has graven it; that the maker of a lie has trusted in it? there is no breath in the midst of it, (Habakkuk 2:18-19).

In that day a man shall cast away his idols of silver and his idols of gold, which they made for themselves to bow themselves down to, to the moles and to the bats, (Isaiah 2:18, 20).

They have made for themselves a molten image of their silver, idols according to their own intelligence, the whole the work of the artificers, (Hosea 13:2).

I will sprinkle clean waters upon you, that ye may be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols, (Ezekiel 36:25).

“Clean waters” are truths; “the idols” are the falsities of worship:

Ye shall judge unclean the covering of thy graven images of silver, and the clothing of thy molten image of gold; thou shalt scatter it as a menstruous cloth, thou shalt call it dung, (Isaiah 30:22).

[3] Nor is anything but the falsities of religion and thence of worship signified by:

The gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone, which Belshazzar, king of Babylon, praised (worshiped), when he drank wine with his magnates, wives, and concubines out of the vessels of gold and silver of the temple of Jerusalem; for which the king was driven out from man and became like a beast, (Daniel 5:1-5 seq.);

besides many other places (as Isaiah 10:10-11; 21:9; 31:7; 40:19-20; 41:29; 42:17; 48:5; Jeremiah 8:19; 50:38-39; Ezekiel 6:4-5; 14:3-6; Micah 1:7; 5:13; Psalms 115:4-5; 135:15-16; Leviticus 26:30). By idols are properly signified the falsities of worship from one’s own intelligence. How a man fashions them, and afterwards accommodates them, so as to appear as truths, is fully described in Isaiah 44:9-20).

460. Which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk, signifies in which there is nothing of spiritual and truly rational life. The reason why this is said, is, because idolaters believe that their idols see and hear, for they make them gods; but still this is not what is meant by these words; but, that in the falsities of worship there is nothing of spiritual nor truly rational life, for by “seeing” and “hearing” is signified to understand and perceive, (2, 7, 25, 87); and by “walking” is signified to live, (167[1-2]); therefore by these three things is signified spiritual and truly rational life; this is signified, because by “idols” are signified the falsities of worship, in which there is nothing of spiritual and rational life. That idols do not see, hear, and walk, is a thing too obvious to be here mentioned, were there not some inward signification involved within it. The like is also said of idols in other parts of the Word, as in these passages:

They know not nor understand, and their eyes do not see, nor do their hearts know, they have no knowledge nor intelligence, (Isaiah 44:9, 18-19).

They speak not, neither do they walk, (Jeremiah 10:3-10).

They have a mouth but they speak not, eyes have they but they see not, (Psalms 115:5; 135:15-16).

By these like things are signified, because by “idols” are signified the falsities of worship, and in falsities of worship there is nothing of life which is really life.

461. Verse 21. Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their enchantments, nor of their whoredoms, nor of their thefts, signifies that the heresy of faith alone induces on their hearts stupidity, tergiversation, and hardness, so that they do not think anything concerning the precepts of the Decalogue, nor indeed concerning any sin, that it ought to be shunned because it is with the devil and against God. What murders, whoredoms, and thefts, signify in every sense, may be seen in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem from the Precepts of the Decalogue, where it is shown; therefore it is unnecessary to repeat the explanation here; but what is signified by enchantments shall be explained in the following article. Faith alone induces stupidity, tergiversation, and hardness in the hearts of those who are in the churches of the Reformed, because the good of life is not the religion where faith alone prevails; and if the good of life is not the religion, then the second table of the Decalogue, which is the table of repentance, is like an erased tablet on which no writing appears. That the second table of the Decalogue is a table of repentance, is evident, because it is not there said that good works are to be done, but that evil works are not to be done, as, “Thou shalt not kill,” “thou shalt not commit whoredom,” “thou shalt not steal,” “thou shalt not bear false witness,” “thou shalt not covet the things which are thy neighbor’s;” and if these things do not constitute the religion, the result is as here stated: “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their enchantments, nor of their whoredoms, nor of their thefts.” That the good of life is not the religion where faith alone prevails, will be clearly shown in what follows.

462. Since at this day it is not known what is meant by “enchantments,” it shall briefly be explained. “Enchantments” are mentioned in the above passage, in place of the eighth precept of the Decalogue, “Thou shalt not bear false witness,” for the three other evils, which are “murder,” “whoredom,” and “thefts,” are there named. “To bear false witness” signifies, in the natural sense, to act the part of a false witness, to lie and defame; and in the spiritual sense, to confirm and persuade that falsity is truth, and that evil is good; from which it is evident, that by “to enchant” is signified to persuade to what is false, and thus to destroy truth.

[2] Enchantments were in use among the ancients, and were performed in three ways: First, they kept the hearing and thus the mind of another continually intent upon his words and sayings, without relaxing anything from them; and, at the same time, aspiring and inspiring thought conjoined with affection, by means of the breath, into the sound of the speech, whereby the hearer could not think anything from himself; thus the falsifiers poured in their falsities with violence. Secondly, they infused a persuasion, which was done by detaining the mind from everything contrary, and keeping the attention exclusively to the idea of that which was said by them, hence the spiritual sphere of his mind dispelled the spiritual sphere of the mind of the other, and stifled it. This was the spiritual fascination which the magi of old used, and which was called the binding and tying of the understanding. This kind of enchantment pertained only to the spirit or thought, but the former to the lips or speech also.

[3] Thirdly, the hearer kept his mind so fixed in his own opinion, that he almost shut his ears against hearing anything from the speaker, which was done by holding the breath, and sometimes by a tacit muttering, and thus by a continual denial of his adversary’s sentiment. This kind of enchantment was practiced by those who heard others, but the two former by those who spoke to others. These three kinds of enchantment prevailed among the ancients, and prevail still among infernal spirits; but with men in the world there remains only the third kind, and this with those who, from the pride of their own intelligence, have confirmed in themselves the falsities of religion; for these, when they hear things contrary, admit them no further into their thought than to mere contact, and then from the interior recess of their mind they emit as it were fire which consumes them, about which the other knows nothing except by indications from the countenance and the sound of the voice in the reply; provided the enchanter does not, by dissimulation, restrain that fire, or what is the same, the anger of his pride. This kind of enchantment operates at the present day to prevent truths from being accepted, and, with many, to their not being understood.

[4] That in ancient times many magical arts prevailed, and among these enchantments, is evident from Moses:

When thou shalt come into the land, thou shalt not learn to do according to the abominations of those nations; there shall not be found in thee one that passeth his son or his daughter through the fire; a diviner by divination, a magician and a soothsayer, a sorcerer, and an enchanter of enchantment, and one that interrogateth a python, and an augur, and one that inquireth of the dead; for all these are an abomination to Jehovah, (Deuteronomy 18:9-11).

The persuasion of falsity, and thus the destruction of truth, are signified by “enchantments” in these passages:

Thy wisdom and thy knowledge hath seduced thee; therefore shall evil come upon thee; persist in thine enchantments, and in the multitude of thy divinations, (Isaiah 47:10-12).

All nations were seduced by the enchantment of Babylon, (Revelation 18:23).

Without shall stand dogs, enchanters, whoremongers, murderers, (Revelation 22:15).

Jehoram said to Jehu, Is it peace? he said, What peace to the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and her many enchantments, (2 Kings 9:22).

By her “whoredoms” are signified falsifications, (134), and by “her enchantments” the destructions of truth by persuasions of falsity.

[5] That “enchantment,” on the other hand, signifies the rejection of falsity by truths, which was also done by tacitly thinking and muttering from a zeal for truth against falsity, is manifest from these passages:

Jehovah will remove out of Zion the mighty, the man of war, the counselor, the learned in muttering, the skilful in enchantment, (Isaiah 3:1-3).

Their poison is as the poison of the deaf asp; that stoppeth her ear that she may not hear the voice of him who muttereth, of the wise enchanter of enchantments, (Psalms 58:4-5).

Behold, I send against you basilisk serpents, against which there is no enchantment, (Jeremiah 8:17).

In distress they sought thee, they cried out in muttering, (Isaiah 26:16).

463. To this I will add this Relation. I looked forth to the seacoast in the spiritual world, and saw there a magnificent dock. I drew near, and looked at it; and, behold, there were vessels there great and small, and merchandise in them of every kind; and upon the decks were boys and girls distributing it to those that wished. And they said, “We are waiting to see our beautiful tortoises, which now and then rise up to us out of the sea.” And, behold, I saw tortoises great and small, upon whose shells and scales young tortoises were sitting, which were looking at the islands around. The father tortoises had two heads, the one large, covered over with a shell similar to the shell of their body, whence they had a reddish glow; and the other small, such as tortoises have, which they drew back into the front parts of the body, and also to insert in an unobserved manner in the larger head. But I kept my eyes on the great reddish head; and I saw that this had a face like a man, and spoke with the boys and girls upon the decks, and licked their hands. And the boys and girls then stroked them, and gave them eatables and dainties, and also costly things, as pure silk for garments, thyine wood for tablets, purple for decorations, and scarlet for paints.

[2] Seeing these things, I desired to know what they represented; as I knew that all the things that appear in the world of spirits are correspondences, and represent something spiritual coming down from heaven. And they then spoke with me out of heaven, and said, “You yourself know what the dock represents, also what the ships, and the boys and the girls upon the decks; but you do not know what the tortoises represent.” And they said, “The tortoises represent those of the clergy there, who altogether separate faith from charity and its good works, affirming in themselves that there is plainly no conjunction between them; but that the Holy Spirit, through faith in God the Father for the sake of the Son’s merit, enters into a man, and purifies his interiors even to his own will, out of which they make as it were an oval plane; and that when the operation of the Holy Spirit approaches this plane, it bends itself around it on the left side, and does not at all touch it: and thus that the interior or higher part of a man’s nature is for God, and that the exterior or lower is for man; and that thus nothing that the man does, neither good nor evil, appears before God: not the good, because this is meritorious; and not the evil, because this is evil; since, if these appeared before God, the man would perish from both; and since it is so, that man is permitted to will, think, speak, and do whatever he pleases, provided he is careful before the world.”

[3] I asked whether they also assert that it is permitted to think of God, that He is not omnipresent and omniscient? They said from heaven, that “this also is permitted them; because God, in him who has once been purified and so justified, does not look at anything of his thought and will; and that he still retains in the interior bosom or higher region of the mind or nature the faith which he had received in its first operation; and that that operation may sometimes return, when the man does not know it. These are the things which the small head represents, which they draw into the fore parts of the body, and conceal, and also insert in the great head, when they speak with the laity: for they do not speak with them from the small head, but from the large one, which appears in front as furnished with a human face. And they speak with them from the Word concerning love, charity, good works, the precepts of the Decalogue, repentance, and they quote from the Word almost all the things that are there on these subjects. But they then insert the small head into the large one, from which they understand inwardly in themselves, that all those things are not to be done for the sake of God, of heaven, and of salvation; but only on account of the public and private good. But because they speak concerning these things from the Word, especially concerning the Gospel, the operation of the Holy Spirit, and salvation, agreeably and elegantly, they therefore appear before their hearers as handsome men, and as wise above all others in the whole world. For which reason also you saw that rich and precious things were given to them by the boys and girls that sat upon the decks of the vessels.

[4] “It is these, therefore, whom you saw represented as tortoises. In your world they are little distinguished from others, only by this, that they believe themselves to be wiser than all, and laugh at others, especially at their companions who they say are not wise as themselves, and whom they despise. They carry a kind of small seal with them on their garments, by which they are known to one another.”

[5] He that spoke with me said, “I shall not tell you what they think concerning other matters of faith; as election, free agency, Baptism, the Holy Supper; which are such things as they do not divulge, but we in heaven know. But because they are such in the world, and after death it is not permitted anyone to speak otherwise than he thinks, therefore because they cannot then do otherwise than speak from the insane things of their thoughts, they are reputed as insane, and are cast out of the societies, and are at length let down into the pit of the abyss, and become corporeal spirits, and appear like mummies: for a callousness is induced over the interiors of their minds, because in the world also they had interposed a barrier. There is an infernal society of them on the confines of the infernal society from the Machiavellists, and they sometimes enter from the one into the other, and call themselves companions; but they go away because there is a diversity, on this account, that there was with them something religious concerning faith in act, but none with the Machiavellists.”

[6] Afterwards I saw them cast out of the societies, and gathered together to be cast down; there was seen a vessel in the air flying with seven sails, and therein officers and sailors clothed in a purple dress, having magnificent laurels upon their hats, crying, “Lo, we are in heaven; we are the purple-robed doctors, and crowned with laurel above all, because we are the chief of the wise from all the clergy in Europe.” I wondered what this was; and it was said to me that they were images of the pride, and the ideal thoughts which are called fantasies, from those who were before seen as tortoises, and now as the insane ones cast out of the societies, and gathered together into one, and they stood together in one place. And I then desired to speak with them; and I approached the place where they were standing, and saluted them, and said, “Are you they who have separated men’s internals from their externals, and the operation of the Holy Spirit as in faith from its cooperation with man outside of faith, and so have separated God from man? Have you not thus removed not only charity itself and its works, from faith, like many other doctors from the clergy, but also faith itself as to its manifestation before God, from man? But, I pray, do you wish that I should speak with you on this matter from reason, or from the Sacred Scripture?” They said, “Speak first from reason.”

[7] And I spoke, saying, “How can the internal and the external with a man be separated? Who does not see, or cannot see, from common perception, that all of a man’s interiors proceed and are continued into his exteriors and even into the outermosts, that they may produce their effects and do their works? Are not the internals for the sake of the externals, that they may terminate in them, and subsist in them, and so exist, scarcely otherwise than as a column does upon its pedestal? You can see that if there were not continuation, and so conjunction, the outermosts would be dissolved, and would disperse like bubbles in the air. Who can deny that the interior operations of God with men are myriads of myriads, of which man knows nothing. And what use is it to know them, provided he knows the outermosts, in which he is together with God in his thought and will.

[8] But this shall be illustrated by an example. Does a man know the interior operations of his speech? as how the lungs draw in the air, and fill the vesicles, the bronchia, and the lobes with it? how it emits this air into the trachea, and there turns it into sound? how that sound is modified in the glottis by the help of the larynx? and how the tongue then articulates it, and the lips complete the articulation, so that it becomes speech? All these interior operations, of which the man knows nothing, are they not for the sake of the outermost, that man may be able to speak? Remove or separate one of those internal things from its continuous connection with the outermosts, could the man speak any more than a stock?

[9] “Take another example. The two hands are the ultimates of man. Are there not interiors, which are continued thither? They are from the head through the neck, then through the breast, the shoulders, the arms, and the forearms; and there are the innumerable muscular textures, the numberless orders of the moving fibers, the innumerable bundles of the nerves and blood vessels, and the many connections of the bones with their membranes and ligaments. Does man know anything concerning these? and yet his hands are operated from all of them. Suppose that those interiors around the elbow were turned to the left, and did not enter the hand; would not the hand from the elbow pine away, and go to decay like something torn off without life? Indeed, if you are willing to believe it, it would be as with the body, if the man were beheaded. It would be altogether similar with the will and thought of man, if the Divine operation should cease before it reaches them, and not flow into them. These things are according to reason.

[10] “Now if you are willing to hear it, these same things are also according to the Sacred Scripture. Does not the Lord say:

Abide in me, and I in you; I am the Vine, and ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye cannot do anything, (John 15:4-5)?

Is not the fruit the good works which the Lord does through the man, and which the man does as of himself? Does not the Lord also say that:

He stands at the door and knocks; and that to him who opens He will enter in, and will sup with him, and he with Him, (Revelation 3:20)?

Does not the Lord:

Give the pounds and the talents, that man may trade with them, and get gain; and as he gains, give him eternal life, (Matthew 25:14-30; Luke 19:13-26)?

Also that:

He gives reward to everyone according to his labor in His vineyard, (Matthew 20:1-17).

These are but a few passages. Pages might be filled from the Word concerning this, that man ought to produce fruit as a tree; he should do the commandments, love God and the neighbor, and other like things. But I know that your own intelligence can hold no such principle, as it really is, in common with the Word, which although you quote, still your ideas pervert it. And you cannot do otherwise, because you remove all the things of God away from man as regards communication and thence conjunction. What then remains, except also all the things of worship?”

[11] They were afterwards seen by me in the light of heaven, which discloses and makes manifest what the quality of each one is; and then they were not seen as before in a vessel in the air as it were in heaven, nor in purple garments, nor with heads crowned with laurel; but in a sandy place, and in garments of rags, and girded with fishing nets as it were around the loins; through which their nakedness appeared; and they were then sent down into the society on the confines next the Machiavellists, spoken of above.

Chapter 10 (464-484)

464. Revelation 10

1. And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, encompassed with a cloud; and a rainbow was over his head, and his face was as the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire.

2. And he had in his hand a little book open. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth.

3. And he cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth. And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices.

4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write; and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

5. And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven.

6. And sware by Him that liveth for ages of ages, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein, that time shall be no longer.

7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God shall be finished; as He hath declared to His servants the prophets.

8. And the voice which I heard from heaven, spake unto me again, saying, Take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing upon the⁴⁴ earth.

9. And I went unto the angel, saying unto him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey.

10. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it up, my belly was made bitter.

11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

The exploration and manifestation of those who are in the churches of the Reformed is still treated of; here what they believe concerning the Lord, as being the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself taught, (Matthew 28:18); and that His Human is Divine; and that this is not received there; and that it can be received with difficulty, so long as the dogma of justification by faith alone is seated in their hearts.

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven,” signifies the Lord in Divine majesty and power, (465). “Encompassed with a cloud, and a rainbow was over his head,” signifies His Divine natural and Divine spiritual, (466). “And his face was as the sun,” signifies the Divine love, and at the same time the Divine wisdom, (467). “And his feet as pillars of fire,” signifies the Lord’s Divine natural as to the Divine love, which sustains all things, (468).

Verse 2. “And he had in his hand a little book open,” signifies the Word as to this doctrinal point therein, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth and that His Human is Divine, (469). “And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth,” signifies that the Lord has the whole church under His auspices and dominion, (470).

Verse 3. “And cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth,” signifies grievous lamentation that the church is taken from Him, (471). “And when He cried, seven thunders uttered their voices,” signifies that the Lord will disclose throughout the whole heaven what is in the little book, (472).

Verse 4. “And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven, saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not,” signifies that these things indeed are made manifest, but that they are not received till after they who are meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, are cast out of the world of spirits, because there would be danger were they to be received before, (473).

Verse 5. (Revelation 10:5) “And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven (verse 6), and swore by Him that liveth for ages of ages,” signifies the attestation and testification of the Lord by Himself, (474). “Who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein” signifies, who vivifies all that are in heaven and that are in the church, and each and everything with them, (475). “That time shall be no longer,” signifies that there cannot be any state of the church, or any church, except one God be acknowledged, and that the Lord is that God, (476).

Verse 7. “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound” signifies the final exploration and manifestation of the state of the church which must perish, unless a new one be established by the Lord, (477). “And the mystery of God shall be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets,” signifies that then it will appear, that it is foretold in the Word of both Testaments, but has hitherto been concealed, that after the Last Judgment is executed upon those who have devastated the church, the Lord’s kingdom will come, (478).

Verse 8. “And the voice which I heard from heaven, spake unto me again, saying, Take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing upon the sea and upon the earth,” signifies a command from heaven, that they should admit that doctrine, but that it should be made manifest by John how it would be received in the church, before those are removed, who are meant by “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet” (479).

Verse 9. “And I went unto the angel, saying unto him, Give me the little book,” signifies a motion of the mind with many to receive the doctrine, (480). “And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey,” signifies that reception of the acknowledgment that the Lord is the Savior and Redeemer, is grateful and pleasing, but that the acknowledgment that He alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Human is Divine, is disagreeable and difficult by reason of falsifications, (481).

Verse 10. “And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey; and when I had eaten it up, my belly was made bitter,” signifies that so it came to pass, and was thus manifested, (482).

Verse 11. “And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings,” signifies that because it is so, the quality of those who are in faith alone must be further shown, (483).

THE EXPLANATION.

In this and the following chapter the Lord is treated of, that He is the God of heaven and earth, and that as to His Human also He is God; consequently that He is Jehovah Himself. That this is the subject treated of in these two chapters, may be seen from the particulars in the spiritual sense, and from their conclusion, (Revelation 11:15-17).

465. Verse 1. And I saw another mighty angel coming down from heaven, signifies the Lord in Divine majesty and power. That this “angel” is the Lord, is evident from the description of him, as being “encompassed with a cloud, a rainbow over his head, his face as the sun, his feet like columns of fire,” and that he set his feet upon the sea and upon the earth; as also that he cried with a great voice as a lion roareth, and spoke as thunder. He was seen as an angel, because He appears as an angel in the heavens and below the heavens, when He manifests Himself; for He fills some angel with His Divine in accommodation to the reception of those to whom He grants to see Him. His presence itself, such as He is in Himself or in His own essence, cannot be supported by any angel, much less by any man; wherefore He appears above the heavens as a sun, at a distance from the angels, as the sun of this world is from men. There He dwells in His Divine from eternity, and at the same time in His Divine Human, which are a one like soul and body. He is here called “a mighty angel” from His Divine power; and it is said, “another angel,” by reason of another Divine attribute of His, different from the former, being here described.

466. Encompassed with a cloud; and a rainbow was over His head, signifies His Divine natural and Divine spiritual. By “the cloud” with which He was encompassed, is signified the Divine natural; wherefore the Word in its natural sense, which also is from Him, thus is His and Himself, is signified by “cloud” (24). By “the rainbow” is signified the Divine spiritual, and as this is above the natural, therefore the rainbow appeared over the head. It is to be known, that the Lord is present with men in His Divine natural, but, with the angels of His spiritual kingdom, in His Divine spiritual, and with the angels of His celestial kingdom, in His Divine celestial; still He is not divided, but appears to everyone according to his quality. The Lord’s Divine spiritual is also signified by the rainbow in Ezekiel:

And above the expanse of the cherubim was the likeness of a throne, and upon it the appearance of a man; and from the fire of His loins there was as it were the appearance of the rainbow which is in the cloud in the day of rain, this was the appearance of the glory of Jehovah, (Ezekiel 1:26-28).

By “the throne” is signified heaven; by “the man upon it” the Lord; by “the fire of the loins,” celestial love; and by “the rainbow,” Divine truth spiritual, which also is of His Divine wisdom. It is written in Moses:

I have set My bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth, and when I shall see it in the cloud, I will remember the eternal covenant, (Genesis 9:12-17).

By “the rainbow” here nothing else is meant but the Divine truth spiritual in the natural with the man who is regenerated; for man, when he is regenerated, from natural becomes spiritual; and in as much as there is then a conjunction of the Lord with him, therefore it is said, that the bow in the cloud should be for “a sign of the covenant.”“Covenant” signifies conjunction. That there is no conjunction of the Lord with man by rainbows in the world, is evident.

467. And his face was as the sun, signifies the Divine love, and at the same time the Divine wisdom, as is evident from the explanation above, (53); where the same is said of the Son of man.

468. And his feet as pillars of fire, signifies the Lord’s Divine natural as to the Divine love, which sustains all things. This also appears from the explanation above, (49[1-8]) where it is said of the Son of man, that “His feet were like fine brass, as if glowing in a furnace.” The reason why His feet seemed like “pillars of fire” is, because the Lord’s Divine natural, which in itself is the Divine Human which He assumed in the world, sustains His Divine from eternity, as the body does the soul, and in like manner as the natural sense of the Word sustains its spiritual and celestial sense; on which subject see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (27-49). That “the feet” signify the natural, may be seen, (49[1-8]) and that “a pillar” signifies support, (191). “Fire” signifies love, because spiritual fire is nothing else; therefore it is customary in worship to pray, that “heavenly fire may kindle the heart;” that is, celestial love. That there is a correspondence between fire and love, may be known from this: that man grows warm from love, and grows cold from the privation thereof, there being nothing else that produces vital heat, but love in both senses. The origin of correspondences is from two suns, one in the heavens which is pure love, and the other in the world which is pure fire; hence, also, is derived the correspondence between all spiritual and natural things.

[2] Since “fire” signifies the Divine love, therefore:

Jehovah was seen by Moses upon Mount Horeb in a bush on fire, (Exodus 3:1-3).

And He came down on Mount Sinai in fire, (Deuteronomy 4:36).

And therefore:

The seven lamps of the lampstand in the tabernacle were kindled every evening, that they might burn before Jehovah, (Leviticus 24:2-4).

Also that the fire burned perpetually upon the altar, and was not extinguished, (Leviticus 6:13).

And that they took fire from the altar in the censers, and offered incense, (Leviticus 16:12-13; Numbers 16:46-47).

That Jehovah went before the sons of Israel by night in a pillar of fire, (Exodus 13:21-22).

That there was fire by night upon the habitation, (Exodus 40:38; Psalms 105:39; Isaiah 4:5-6).

That fire from heaven consumed the burnt-offerings upon the altar, as a sign of good pleasure, (Leviticus 9:24; 1 Kings 18:38).

That the burnt-offerings were called offerings by fire to Jehovah, and the offerings by fire for an odor of rest to Jehovah, (Exodus 29:18; Leviticus 1:9, 11, 13, 17; 2:2, 9-11; 3:5, 16; 4:31, 35; 5:12; 6:18; 21:6; Numbers 28:2; Deuteronomy 18:1).

That the eyes of the Lord were seen as a flame of fire, (Revelation 1:14; 2:18; 19:12; Daniel 10:5-6).

That the seven lamps of fire burned before the throne, (Revelation 4:5).

Hence it is manifest what is signified by:

The lamps with oil and without oil, (Matthew 25:1-11).

By “the oil” is meant fire, and thus love. Besides many other places. That “fire” in the opposite sense signifies infernal love, is manifest from so many places in the Word, that it is needless to adduce them on account of their abundance: see something on this subject in the work on “Heaven and Hell,” published at London, (566-575).

469. Verse 2. And he had in his hand a little book open, signifies the Word as to this point of doctrine therein, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine. That by “the book” which the Lamb took from Him that sat on the throne, and of which he loosed the seven seals, (5:1, 7; 6:1) is meant the Word, may be seen above, (256, 259, 295, and following). Therefore by “the little book” in the hand of the angel, who also is the Lord, (465), nothing else is here meant but the Word as to some essential therein. That this is the doctrinal point in the Word, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine is evident from the spiritual sense of all the particulars in this and the following chapter, and also from the natural sense of the next chapter, (11:15-17).

[2] “The little book” is said “to be open” because that doctrine appears manifestly in the Word, and is evident to everyone who reads it, if he attends. This is the subject now treated of, because it is the very essential of the New Church. The reason is, because on the knowledge and acknowledgment of God depends the salvation of everyone; for, as was observed in the Preface, “The whole heaven, and the whole church on earth, and, in general, all religion, is founded on a just idea of God; because by it there is conjunction, and by conjunction light, wisdom, and eternal happiness.”

[3] Since the Lord is the very God of heaven and earth, therefore, no one, who does not acknowledge Him, is admitted into heaven, for heaven is His body; but he stands below, and is bitten by serpents, that is, by infernal spirits, for whose bite there is no cure but that which the sons of Israel experienced by looking up to “the brazen serpent” (Numbers 21:1-9); by which is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, as is plain from this passage in John:

As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up; that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life, (John 3:14-15).

470. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the earth, signifies that the Lord has the whole church, as well those therein who are in its externals, as those who are in its internals, under His auspices and dominion. By “the sea and the earth” is signified the entire church; by “the sea,” the external church, that is, they who are in its externals; and by “the earth,” the internal church, that is, they who are in its internals, (398). By “setting his feet upon them,” is signified to hold all in subjection to Himself, consequently, under His Divine auspices and dominion. Since the Lord’s church on earth is beneath the heavens, therefore it is called “the footstool of His feet,” as in these passages:

He hath cast forth out of heaven unto the earth the ornament of Israel, He doth not remember the footstool of His feet, (Lamentations 2:1).

The earth is the footstool of My feet, (Isaiah 66:1).

We will enter into His habitations, we will bow ourselves down at the footstool of His feet, (Psalms 132:7).

Thou shalt not swear by heaven, because it is the throne of God, neither by the earth, because it is the footstool of His feet, (Matthew 5:34-35).

I will make the place of My feet honorable, (Isaiah 60:13).

Thou hast made Him to rule over the works of Thy hands, Thou hast put all things under His feet, (Psalms 8:6).

This is said of the Lord. That “he put his right foot upon the sea and his left upon the earth” is because they who are in the externals of the church have not so confirmed falsities with themselves as those who are in its internals.

471. Verse 3. And cried with a great voice, as a lion roareth, signifies grievous lamentation that the church has been taken away from Him. That by “crying as a lion roareth” is signified grievous lamentation respecting the church, and that it has been taken away from Him is evident from what is explained in the foregoing chapter, where the states of life of those who are of the church were explored and made manifest, which were lamentable; also from its being said in this chapter, that “the angel swore by him that liveth for ages of ages, that there should be time no longer,” by which is signified that there would be no church; and, in the following chapter, that “the beast, which came up out of the abyss, killed his two witnesses;” and especially from his not being acknowledged and approached, although He is the God of heaven and earth. Lamentation concerning these things is signified by “His roaring as a lion,” for a lion roars when he sees his enemies and is assaulted by them, and when he sees his whelps and prey taken away; so does the Lord, comparatively, when He sees His church taken away from Him by devils.

[2] That this is what is signified by “roaring as a lion” may appear from these passages:

As the lion roareth, and the young lion, over its prey, when plenty of shepherds go forth against him, so Jehovah Zebaoth cometh down to fight for Mount Zion, (Isaiah 31:4).

The anger of Jehovah was kindled against His people, His roaring is like a lion’s, He roareth like the young lions, and He growleth and seizeth the prey; for, behold, darkness, anxiety, and the light is darkened in the ruins thereof, (Isaiah 5:25-30).

Jehovah shall roar from on high, and shall utter His voice from the habitation of His holiness; roaring He shall roar against His habitations, (Jeremiah 25:30).

Jehovah shall roar out of Zion, and shall utter His voice out of Jerusalem, (Joel 3:16).

I will not destroy Ephraim; they shall go after Jehovah; as a lion shall He roar, because He shall roar, (Hosea 11:9-10).

The lion roareth, who shall not fear? the Lord Jehovah hath spoken, who shall not prophesy, (Amos 3:8)?

God roareth with His voice, He thundereth with the voice of His majesty, (Job 37:4-5).

That “roaring” signifies grievous lamentation is evident from these:

My bones have become old through my roaring all the day, (Psalms 32:3).

I am feeble and broken; I have roared because of the roaring of my heart, (Psalms 38:8).

My sighing is before my bread, and my roarings are poured out like water, (Job 3:24).

472. And when he cried, seven thunders uttered their voices signifies that the Lord throughout the entire heaven disclosed what was in the little book. This signification is evident, because it presently follows, that he wished “to write what the seven thunders uttered,” but was enjoined from heaven “to seal it up and not to write it;” and afterwards “to eat up the little book;” and that “in his mouth it was sweet as honey” but that “it made his belly bitter;” by which is signified that such things were in it as could not yet be received: the reason may be seen in the following article. But I will open what was in the little book. In the little book were those things which are contained in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Lord, from beginning to end, which are as follows:

[2] That the whole Sacred Scripture is concerning the Lord, and that the Lord is the Word, (1-7).

That by the Lord fulfilled all things of the law is meant that He fulfilled all things of the Word, (8-11).

That the Lord came into the world to subdue the hells and glorify His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last combat, by which He fully conquered the hells, and fully glorified His Human, (12-14).

That the Lord, by the passion of the cross, did not take away sins, but that He bore them (n. . 15-17).

That the imputation of the Lord’s merit is nothing else than the remission of sins after repentance (n. . 18).

That the Lord, as to His Divine Human, is called the Son of God, and, as to the Word, He is called the Son of man, (19-28).

That the Lord made His Human Divine from the Divine in Himself, and thus He became one with the Father (n. . 29-36).

That the Lord is God Himself, from whom and concerning whom the Word is, (37-44).

That there is one God, and that the Lord is that God, (45).

That the Holy Spirit is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, and that it is the Lord Himself, (46-54).

That the doctrine of the Athanasian faith agrees with the truth, if only by a Trinity of Persons is understood a Trinity of Person, which is in the Lord (n. . 55-61).

[3] The reason why it is said that “the seven thunders uttered their voices,” is, because what the Lord speaks, as it descends through the heavens into the lower parts, is heard as thunder; and because He speaks through the whole heaven at once, and thus fully, they are called “seven” thunders, for by “seven” are signified all, all things, and the whole, (10, 391); therefore also by “thunder” is signified instruction and the perception of truth, (236); here also disclosure and manifestation. That a voice from heaven is heard as thunder, when from the Lord, is evident from these passages:

Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name: and there came forth a voice out of heaven, and said, I have glorified it, and I will glorify it: the multitude heard this as thunder, (John 12:28-30).

God roareth with His voice, He thundereth with the voice of majesty, (Job 37:4-5).

Jehovah thundered out of heaven, and the Most High uttered His voice, (2 Samuel 22:14).

I heard a voice out of heaven, as the voice of great thunder, (Revelation 14:2).

Thou calledst unto me, and I answered thee in secret thunder, (Psalms 81:7).

473. Verse 4. And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not, signifies that these things indeed are made manifest, but that they are not received till after they who are meant by “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” are cast out of the world of spirits, because there would be danger were they to be received before. “The voices” which the seven thunders uttered, are the things just mentioned above, (472), which are three times mentioned, because they are the very essentials of the New Church. By “writing,” in the natural sense, is signified to commit to paper, and thus for the information of posterity, but, in the spiritual sense, by “writing” is signified to commit to the heart for reception; hence by “sealing them up and not writing them,” is signified that they will not be committed to the heart and received, till after the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, are cast out of the world of spirits, because there would be danger if they were received before. The reason is, because by “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” are signified they who are in faith separated from charity, and these constantly and tenaciously adhere to their belief, that God the Father is to be approached, and not the Lord immediately, and that the Lord is not the God of heaven and earth as to His Human; therefore if the above-mentioned doctrine, (472), which has been manifested and is still being manifested, which is signified by “the little book was opened,” were to be received by any others than those who are in charity and its faith, who also are those who are signified by “John” (5, 17), before the dragon is cast out, it would be rejected not only by them, but also through them, by the rest; and if not rejected, still it would be falsified, yea, profaned.

[2] That this is the case, evidently appears from what now follows in Revelation, when seen in its series, as, that they killed the Lord’s two witnesses, (Rev 11:7); that the dragon stood by the woman who was about to be delivered, that he might devour her offspring; and after he had fought with Michael he persecuted the woman, (Rev 12:1-17); and that the two beasts which came up, one out of the sea, and the other out of the earth, made one with him, (Rev 13:1-18); as also that he gathered together his followers to battle at the place called Armageddon, (Rev 16:16); and, finally, that they assembled the nations, Gog and Magog, to war, (Rev 20:8-9). But that the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, (Rev 20:10); and this being effected, the New Church, which is to be the Lamb’s wife, came down out of heaven (Revelation 21-22). Such is the signification of these words:

Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not, (Rev 10:5-6).

Also of the following in this chapter:

In the days of the voice of the seventh angel the mystery of God will be finished, as He hath declared to His servants the prophets, (Revelation 10:7).

And by these words in the next chapter:

And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, (Rev 11:15).

And likewise by many things to the same effect in the chapters which follow. Something may be seen on this subject in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. . 61).

474. Verse 5. And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, (verse 6), and swore by Him that liveth for ages of ages, signifies the attestation and testification of the Lord by Himself. By “the angel standing upon the sea and the earth” is meant the Lord, (470); by “lifting his hand up to heaven” is signified this attestation, that “there should be time no longer” (verse 6); by “swearing” is signified this testification, that “in the days of the voice of the seventh angel the mystery of God should be finished (verse 7); by “Him that liveth for ages of ages” is meant the Lord Himself, as above, (Revelation 1:18; 4:9-10; 5:14; Daniel 4:34). That the Lord testifies by himself will be seen presently. From what has been said, it is evident, that by these words, “and the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and swore by Him that liveth for ages of ages” is signified the attestation and testification of the Lord by himself.

[2] That Jehovah swears, that is, testifies, by Himself is evident from these passages:

I have sworn by Myself, the word hath gone out of My mouth which shall not be recalled, (Isaiah 45:23).

I have sworn by Myself, that this house shall be a desolation, (Jeremiah 22:5).

Jehovah hath sworn by His soul, (Jeremiah 51:14; Amos 6:8).

Jehovah hath sworn by His holiness, (Amos 4:2).

Jehovah hath sworn by His right hand, and by the arm of His strength, (Isaiah 62:8).

Behold, I have sworn by My great name, (Jeremiah 44:26).

Jehovah, that is, the Lord, “swearing by Himself” signifies that the Divine truth testifies, for He is the Divine truth itself, and thus testifies from itself and by itself. Besides which, that “Jehovah swears” may also be seen in Isaiah 14:24; 54:9; Psalms 89:3, 35; 95:11; 110:4; 132:11. It is said that “Jehovah hath sworn” because the church instituted among the sons of Israel was a representative church, and the Lord’s conjunction with the church was thence represented by a covenant, such as is made between two who swear to their compact; therefore, because an oath was a part of the covenant, it is said that “Jehovah swore;” by which, nevertheless, it is not meant that He swore, but that the Divine truth testifies it.

[3] That an oath was a part of a covenant, appears from these passages:

I have sworn unto thee, and entered into a covenant, and thou shouldest be Mine, (Ezekiel 16:8).

To remember the covenant, the oath which he swore, (Luke 1:72-73; Psalms 105:9; Jeremiah 11:5; 32:22; Deuteronomy 1:34; 10:11; 11:9, 21; 26:3, 15; 31:20; 34:4).

As a covenant was a representative of the conjunction of the Lord with the church, and, reciprocally, of the church with the Lord; and as the oath was a part of the covenant, and man was to swear from the truth therein, thus also by it, therefore the sons of Israel were permitted to swear by Jehovah, and thus by the Divine truth, (Exodus 20:7; Leviticus 19:12; Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20; Isaiah 48:1; 65:16; Jeremiah 4:2; Zechariah 5:4); but after the representatives of the church were abrogated, the oaths of a covenant were also abrogated by the Lord, (Matthew 5:33-37; 23:16-22).

475. Who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things that are therein, signifies who vivifies all that are in heaven and that are in the church, and each and every thing in them. By “creating” in the natural sense is signified to create; but, in the spiritual sense, by “creating” is signified to reform and regenerate, (254, 290), which is also to vivify. By “heaven” is meant heaven where the angels are; by “the earth and the sea” is signified the church; by “the earth,” they who are in its internals, and by “the sea,” they who are in its externals, (398, 470). By “the things that are therein,” are signified each and all the things with them.

476. That there should be time no longer, signifies that there cannot be any state of the church, nor any church, unless one God be acknowledged, and that the Lord is He. By “time” is signified state; and, because the church is here treated of, the state of the church is signified. Therefore “there shall be time no longer,” signifies that there will not be any state of the church. That it also means that there is not any church, unless one God be acknowledged, and that the Lord is He, follows as a consequence. But what is the case at this day? That there is one God is not denied, but that the Lord is He is denied; and yet there is not one God, in whom is the Trinity at the same time, but the Lord. That the church is from Him, who is the Savior and Redeemer, is not denied; but that He, as the Savior and Redeemer, ought to be approached immediately, is denied. Hence it is evident, that the church is about to expire, unless a new one comes into existence, which acknowledges the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, and, for this reason, immediately approaches Him (see Matthew 28:18). Therefore these words, “there shall be time no longer,” that is, there shall be no church, relate to what follows in this chapter (verse 7); and this again, to what is written in chapter 11 (verse 15); where it is said there will be a church which will be from the Lord alone .

[2] By “time” is signified state, because in the spiritual world time is not measured by days, weeks, months, and years, but by states, which are progressions of the life of those who are there, from which they remember things past; on which subject see the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London in the year 1758 (162-169), where time in heaven is treated of. The reason why the state of the church is here meant by “time,” is because day and night, morning and evening, summer and winter, constitute time in this world, and when understood in the spiritual sense, they constitute the states of the church; therefore when these states no longer exist, there is no church; and there is then no church, when there is no longer any good and truth, thus when the light of truth is thick darkness, and the heat of good is cold; this is what is meant by “there is time no longer.” Something similar is meant by the following passages in the Word:

The fourth beast will think to change the times, (Daniel 7:25).

But it shall be one day which is known to Jehovah, not day nor night (thus there would be no time) (Zechariah 14:7).

I will cause the sun to set at noon, and I will darken the earth in the day of light (thus there would be no time) (Amos 8:9).

Behold, one evil is come, the end is come, the end is come, the morning is come upon thee, O thou that dwellest in the land, the time is come, (Ezekiel 7:5-7).

“The morning” is the beginning of a new church, (151[1-3]), therefore it is said “the time is come.”

477. Verse 7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he is about to sound, signifies the final exploration and manifestation of the state of the church, which must perish, unless the new one be established by the Lord. That by “sounding a trumpet” is signified to explore and manifest the state of life of those who are of the church, consequently the state of the church, may be seen above, (397); and seven angels sounded, by “the voice of the seventh angel” is signified the final exploration and manifestation, which is that the church is about to perish, unless the New one be established by the Lord; that it is about to perish, is meant by “there being time no longer” (476), and that the New Church is to be established by the Lord, is meant by what now follows.

478. The mystery of God shall be finished; as He hath declared to His servants the prophets, signifies that then it will appear that it is foretold in the Word of both Testaments, but has hitherto been hidden, that after the Last Judgment is executed upon those who have devastated the church, the Lord’s kingdom will come. By “being finished” is signified to be fulfilled, to have an end, and then to appear. By “the mystery of God declared to the prophets,” is signified that which is foretold by the Lord in the Word, and hitherto hidden. By “declaring” (evangelizing) is signified to announce the Lord’s advent and His kingdom, for the Gospel is a glad messenger. That this will come to pass, after the Last Judgment is executed upon those who have devastated the church, is also foretold in the Word, therefore this also is signified. From this it may appear, that all these are meant by these words.

[2] Something shall first be said of what is foretold in the Word of both Testaments, concerning the coming of the Lord, and His kingdom. In the Word of the Old Testament, which is called prophetic, in the spiritual sense, and also where this sense shines forth, in the natural sense, the Lord alone is treated of, that is to say, His advent in the fullness of time; which is, when there is no longer any good of charity and truth of faith in the church, which state of the church is called the consummation, devastation, desolation, and decision. It also treats of His combats with the hells and victories over them, which likewise constitute the Last Judgment executed by Him; and afterwards of the creation of a new heaven, and the establishment of a new church, which are the Lord’s kingdom that is to come. These things are also treated of in the Word of the New Testament, which is called apostolic, and particularly in Revelation.

[3] That it is the Lord’s kingdom, that “will be declared in the days of the voice of the seventh angel,” appears plainly in the next or eleventh chapter from these things:

And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world have become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign for ages of ages; and the twenty-four elders fell upon their faces, and adored God, saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, who art and who wast and who art to come, that Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power, and hast entered into the kingdom, (Rev 11:15-17).

[4] This mystery is described in Daniel almost in the same manner as here in Revelation, where are these words:

I heard the man clothed in linen, that he lifted up his hands to heaven, and swore by Him that liveth forever, that it should be unto the stated time of stated times and a half, when all these things should be finished: but he said, Go, Daniel, because the words are shut up and sealed even to the time of the end, (Daniel 12:7, 9).

“Even to the time of the end” is even to this time. That then the Son of man will take the kingdom He foretells in these words:

I saw in the vision of the night, and behold, there was one like the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven; and to Him was given dominion, and glory, and a kingdom; and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall worship Him. His dominion is the dominion of an age which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not perish, (Daniel 7:13-14).

[5] That “to declare good tidings” [evangelize] signifies the Lord’s coming and His kingdom at that time is manifest from these passages:

O Zion, that declarest good tidings, get thee up upon the mountain: O Jerusalem, that declarest good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength; say, Behold your God; behold the Lord Jehovih cometh in strength, and His arm shall rule for Him, (Isaiah 40:9-10).

How delightful upon the mountains are the feet of him that declareth good tidings, that maketh us to hear peace, that declareth good tidings of good, that maketh us to hear salvation, that saith to Zion, thy God shall reign, (Isaiah 52:7-8; Nahum 1:15).

Sing unto Jehovah, bless His name, declare the good tidings of His salvation from day to day; for Jehovah cometh, (Psalms 96:2, 13).

The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon me, therefore Jehovah hath anointed me to declare good tidings to the poor, to preach liberty to the captives, to proclaim the year of the good pleasure of Jehovah, (Isaiah 61:1-2).

The angel said to Zechariah, Behold, thy wife shall bring forth a son, who shall go forth before the Lord God in the spirit and power of Elias, and to prepare the people for the Lord. I am Gabriel, and I was sent to declare to thee this good tidings, (Luke 1:13, 17, 19).

The angel said to the shepherds, Fear not; behold, I declare to you good tidings of great joy; for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord, (Luke 2:10-11).

The Lord declared the glad tidings of the kingdom of God, (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; Mark 1:15; Luke 7:22; 8:1; 9:1-2).

John the Baptist also, (Luke 3:18).

Jesus also said to the disciples, Go into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature, (Mark 16:15).

This also is “the everlasting gospel” which the angel had that was flying in the midst of heaven, “to declare to them that dwell upon the earth” (Revelation 14:6).

[6] It is said that “the mystery of God shall be finished;” by which is meant that now will be fulfilled that which has not been fulfilled before, which is that the kingdom will be the Lord’s. For it was not fulfilled by the Jews, because they did not acknowledge the Lord. Nor was it fulfilled by the Christians, for neither did they acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth even as to His Human; for they make this like the human of another man: wherefore they do not go immediately to Him; when yet He is Jehovah, who came into the world.

479. Verse 8. And the voice which I heard from heaven spoke unto me again, saying, Take the little book, which is open in the hand of the angel who is standing upon the sea and upon the earth, signifies a command from heaven, that they should admit that doctrine concerning the Lord, but that it should be made manifest by John, how it would be received in the church, before they who are meant by “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet” are removed. By “the voice which he heard from heaven” now again speaking with him, is meant the voice which said to him to seal up the things which the seven thunders uttered, and not to write them (verse 4), by which is signified that the doctrine concerning the Lord would not be received till after they who are meant by “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” should be cast out of the world of spirits, because there would be danger were it to be received before, as may be seen above, (473). That this is the case, is now made manifest by John, by his “eating up the little book,” as presently follows. That by “the little book” is meant the doctrine concerning the Lord, may be seen, (469, 472); and that by “the angel standing upon the sea and upon the earth” is meant the Lord, (465, 470).

480. Verse 9. And I went unto the angel, saying unto him, Give me the little book, signifies an inclination of the mind, with many in the church, to receive the doctrine. This is signified, because by John is here manifested how the doctrine concerning the Lord is received by many in the church, as just observed; an inclination of the mind with these to receive this doctrine is meant, because an inclination was apparent in John, in that he went and asked for it. As these things involve such a meaning, therefore John was first told to take the little book; he then went and asked for it; then the angel said that he would give it him, but that the little book would make his belly bitter; and lastly it is said that it was given him, and that it so came to pass; all these things being significative.

481. And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up; and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall be sweet as honey, signifies that reception from acknowledgment that the Lord is the Saviour and Redeemer, is agreeable and pleasant, but that the acknowledgment that He alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, is disagreeable and difficult to receive by reason of falsifications. By “taking the little book,” is signified to receive the doctrine concerning the Lord; by “eating it up,” is signified to acknowledge it; by “making the belly bitter,” is signified that it will be disagreeable and difficult from falsifications, for “bitter” signifies truth falsified, (411); by “being in the mouth sweet as honey,” is signified that the beginning of its reception is agreeable and pleasant. These things that are now applied to that doctrine, which is meant by “the little book open in the hand of the angel” (469, 472), signify that reception from acknowledgment that the Lord is the Saviour and Redeemer, is agreeable and pleasant; but that the acknowledgment that He alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, is disagreeable and difficult from falsifications. The falsifications, by which that doctrine is perceived as disagreeable and difficult are especially that the Lord is not acknowledged to be one with the Father, although He Himself so taught; they have not acknowledged the Lord’s Human to be Divine, which, nevertheless, is the Son of God, (Luke 1:35); and thus it may be said, that they have made God three, and the Lord two; besides the falsities continued from them: from these falsities flows faith alone, and faith alone afterwards confirms those falsities. That from these falsities, so great a bitterness and internal repugnance exists, that they cannot, after death, even name the Divine Human from acknowledgment in thought, may be seen above, (294).

482. Verse 10. And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand and ate it up, and it was in my mouth sweet as honey, and when I had eaten it my belly was made bitter, signifies that so it came to pass, and was thus manifested what reception that doctrine would meet with, before they who are meant by “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” were removed. As this is a consequence of what was said above, it needs no further explanation. It is written that the prophet Ezekiel was also commanded:

To eat the volume of the book, and that in his mouth it was sweet as honey, (Ezekiel 2:8-10; 3:1-3).

483. Verse 11. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings, signifies, that because it is so, the quality of those who are in faith alone must be further taught. That this is signified, appears from what follows, down to chapter 17, which treats of those who are in faith alone; and afterwards of the Roman Catholic religion, and then of the expulsion of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet, into hell, and thus concerning the New Church, in which the Lord alone will be worshiped. To prophesy signifies to teach, (8, 133), therefore “to prophesy again” signifies to teach further; by “peoples” are signified those who are in the truths or the falsities of doctrine; and by “nations,” those who are in the goods or the evils of life, as will be seen presently; by “tongues” are signified those who are exteriorly in them, (282); and by “kings” are signified those who are interiorly in them; for by “kings” are signified those who are in truths from good; and, in the opposite sense, those who are in falsities derived from evil, and, abstractly, truths from good or falsities from evil, as may be seen, (20, 664, 704, 720, 830, 921); and since they who are in interior falsities are specifically treated of in what follows, it is said, “and many kings,” by whom are signified falsities of evil in abundance. “Peoples,” “nations,” “tongues,” and “kings” are mentioned that all who are such in the church may be meant. John being told that “he must prophesy again” signifies that it is necessary to teach further what is the quality of those who are in faith alone, to the end that their falsities may be disclosed and thus abolished; inasmuch as no falsity is abolished before it is disclosed.

[2] That “peoples” signify those who are in truths or falsities of doctrine, and “nations” those who are in goods or in evils of life, may appear from many passages in the Word, where “peoples” and “nations” are mentioned; but in confirmation of this, only those passages shall be here adduced, where “peoples” and “nations” are mentioned together, from which this may be concluded, since in the Word in each and every thing there is a marriage of the Lord and the church, and thence a marriage of good and truth; and “peoples” relate to truth, and “nations” to good. That there is such a marriage in each and every thing of the Word, may be seen in Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (80-90).

[3] The passages in the Word are as follows:

Woe to the sinful nation, to the people laden with iniquity, (Isaiah 1:4).

I will send him against a hypocritical nation, I will command him against the people of my wrath, (Isaiah 10:6).

Jehovah smiteth the peoples with a plague not curable, He ruled the nations with anger, (Isaiah 14:6).

In that day shall there be brought as a present to Jehovah a people distracted and plundered, and a nation meted out and trodden down, (Isaiah 18:7).

The strong people shall honor thee, the city of the powerful nations shall fear thee, (Isaiah 25:3).

Jehovah shall swallow up the covering over all peoples, and the veil over all the nations, (Isaiah 25:7).

Approach, ye nations, and hearken, ye peoples, (Isaiah 34:1).

I have called thee for a covenant of the peoples, and for a light of the nations, (Isaiah 42:6).

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples assemble, (Isaiah 43:9).

Behold, I will lift up My hand to the nations, and My ensign to the people, (Isaiah 49:22).

I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and a lawgiver to the nations, (Isaiah 55:4).

Behold a people coming from the land of the north, and a great nation from the sides of the earth, (Jeremiah 6:22).

Many peoples shall come, and numerous nations, to seek Jehovah Zebaoth in Jerusalem, (Zechariah 8:22).

Jehovah rendereth void the counsel of the nations, He overturneth the thoughts of the peoples, (Psalms 33:10).

Jehovah will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet: Jehovah reigned over the nations; the willing of the peoples are gathered together, (Psalms 47:3, 8-9).

The peoples shall confess Thee, the nations shall be glad, for Thou shalt judge the peoples righteously, and lead the nations on the earth, (Psalms 67:2-4).

Remember me, O Jehovah, with the favor that Thou bearest to Thy people, that I may be glad in the joy of Thy nations, (Psalms 106:4-5).

All peoples, nations, and tongues shall worship the Son of man, (Daniel 7:14. Besides other places, as Psalms 18:43; Isaiah 9:2-3; 40:10; Ezekiel 36:17; Joel 2:17; Zephaniah 2:9; Revelation 5:9; Luke 2:30-32).

484. To this I will add three Relations, of things that occurred in the spiritual world. The First Relation is this: I once heard there the sound as of a mill. It was in the northern quarter. I wondered at first what this was; but I recollected that by “a mill” and by “grinding” in the Word is meant to seek from the Word what is serviceable for doctrine, (794). On which account I approached the place where that sound was heard; and when I was near, the sound died away; and I then saw a kind of arched roof above the earth, the entrance to which was through a cave. Seeing which, I descended and entered. And behold there was a chamber, in which I saw an old man sitting among books, holding before him the Word, and seeking therefrom what might be serviceable for his doctrine. Scraps of paper lay around, on which he wrote down what served him. There were scribes in an adjoining room, who gathered up the papers, and copied them upon an entire sheet. I asked first about the books around him. He said that they all treated of justifying faith; “those which were from Sweden and Denmark profoundly, those which were from Germany more profoundly, and those that were from Britain more profoundly still, and most profoundly those from Holland.” And he added that they disagree in various things, but that in the article of justification and salvation by faith alone they all agree. Afterwards he said to me that he was now collecting from the Word this first point of justifying faith, that God the Father fell away from grace towards the human race on account of their iniquities; and that it was therefore a Divine necessity for the saving of men, that satisfaction, reconciliation, propitiation, and mediation should be made by some one, who should take upon himself the condemnation of justice; and this could by no means be done but by His only Son; and that after this was done, access to God the Father was open for His sake. And he said, “I see and have seen, that this is according to all reason. How otherwise could God the Father be approached, except through faith in that merit of the Son? I have now found also, that this is likewise according to Scripture.”

[2] I heard this, and was astounded that he should say that it was according to reason and according to Scripture, when yet it is contrary to reason and contrary to Scripture; which I also told him plainly. He then rejoined in the wrath of his zeal, “How can you speak so?” Wherefore I opened my mind, saying, “Is it not contrary to reason to think that God the Father fell away from grace towards the human race, and rejected it?

“Is not the Divine Grace an attribute of the Divine Essence? Wherefore, to fall away from grace would be to fall away from His Divine Essence; and to fall away from His Divine Essence, would be to be no longer God. Can God be alienated from Himself? Believe me, that grace on the part of God, as it is infinite, is also eternal. The grace of God may be lost on the part of man, if he does not receive it; but never on the part of God. If grace should recede from God, there would be an end of the entire heaven and with it the entire human race, insomuch that man would no longer be man in any respect; for which reason grace on the part of God endures forever, not only towards angels and men, but also towards the devil himself. Since this is according to reason, why do you say that the only access to God the Father is through faith in the Son’s merit, when yet there is perpetual access through grace?

[3] “But why do you say, access to God the Father for the sake of the Son? and why not to God the Father through the Son? Is not the Son the Mediator and Saviour? Why do you not go to the Mediator and Saviour Himself? Is He not God and Man? Who on the earth goes immediately to an emperor, king, or prince? Must there not be a deputy or introducer? Do you not know that the Lord came into the world, that He might introduce us to the Father; and that access is not given, except through Him? Search now in the Scriptures, and you will see that this is according to them; and that your way to the Father is contrary to Scripture, as it is contrary to reason. I tell you, too, that it is presumption to climb up to God the Father, and not through Him who is in the bosom of the Father, and alone is with Him. Have you not read John 14:6?” Hearing these things, the old man was so angry, that he leaped from his seat, and cried out to his scribes to cast me out. And when I immediately went out of myself, he threw out of doors after me the book which his hand by chance took hold of, and that book was the Word.

[4] The Second Relation. After I went out, I again heard a harsh sound, but like that of two millstones in collision with each other. I went in the direction of the sound, and it died away. And I saw a narrow gate leading obliquely downwards into a kind of roofed building divided into little cells, in each of which two were sitting, who were also collecting from the Word confirmations in favor of faith; one collected, and the other wrote; and this alternately. I went up to one cell, and stood in the door, and asked, “What are you collecting and writing?” They said, “Concerning the act of justification, or, concerning faith in act; which is faith itself justifying, vivifying, and saving, and is the chief doctrine in Christendom.” And I then said to him, “Tell me some sign of the act, when that faith is brought into the heart and into the soul of a man.” He answered, “The sign of the act is in the moment when the man, moved with distress that he is condemned, thinks of Christ, that He took away the condemnation of the law, and takes hold of this His merit with confidence; and with this in his thought, goes to God the Father, and prays.”

[5] Then I said, “Thus the act takes place, and this is the moment.” And I asked, “How shall I comprehend what is said of this act, that not anything of the man contributes to it, any more than it would if he were a stock or a stone; and that the man, as to that act, cannot begin, will, understand, think, operate, cooperate, apply, and accommodate himself in any respect. Tell me how this agrees with your saying, that the act takes place at the time when the man thinks of the rightful power of the law, of his condemnation as taken away by Christ, of the confidence by which he takes hold of that merit of His; and when in thought concerning this he goes to God the Father, and prays; and all those things are done by the man as of himself.” But he said, “They are not done actively by the man, but passively.”

[6] And I replied, “How can one think, have confidence, and pray, passively? Take away the active or the reactive from the man at that time, do you not take away the receptiveness also, and thus the whole, and with it the act itself? What then becomes of your act, unless it be a mere ideal, which is called a thing of the reason? I know that you do not believe, with some, that such an act is given only with the predestined, who know nothing whatever of the infusion of faith with themselves. These may play at dice, to find out whether it is so. For which reason, my friend, believe that in the things of faith man operates and cooperates as of himself; and that without that cooperation, the act of faith, which you have called the chief of doctrine and of religion, is nothing but the statue of Lot’s wife, tinkling as mere salt when scratched by the scribe’s pen, or fingernail, (Luke 17:32). I have said this, because, as to that act, you make yourselves like statues.” When I said this, he rose, and seized the candlestick with the full force of his hand to cast it in my face; but the candle being then suddenly extinguished, in the thick darkness he threw it against the forehead of his companion; and I went away laughing.

[7] The Third Relation. In the northern quarter of the spiritual world I heard as it were the roar of waters; therefore I approached thither; and when I was near, the roar ceased, and I heard a sound like that from a congregation. And then a house was seen full of holes, surrounded by a rough wall, from which that sound proceeded. I approached, and there was a doorkeeper there, whom I asked who were there. He said that they were the wisest of the wise, who decide among themselves concerning supernatural things. He spoke thus from his simple belief. And I asked whether it was permitted to enter. He said that it was, “provided you say nothing. I may admit you, because I have leave to admit Gentiles, who stand with me at the door.” I therefore entered; and behold, it was a circus, and in the midst of it a pulpit; and an assembly of the wise, and thus of the learned, were discussing the arcana of faith. And the matter or proposition then submitted for discussion was, whether the good which a man does in the state of justification by faith, or in the progression of it after the act, is the good of religion or not. They said unanimously, that by the good of religion was meant the good which contributes to salvation.

[8] The discussion was sharp; but those prevailed who said that the goods which a man does in the state or in the progression of faith, are only moral, civil, and political goods, which contribute nothing to salvation; but that faith only can do this. And they confirmed it thus. “How can any work of man be conjoined with free grace? Is not salvation of free grace? How can any good of man be conjoined with Christ’s merit? Is not salvation by that alone? And how can man’s operation be conjoined with the operation of the Holy Spirit? Does not this do all, without the man’s help? Are not these three things alone saving in the act of faith? And these three things also remain as alone saving in the state or progression of faith. For which reason accessory good from the man can by no means be called the good of religion, which, as was said, contributes to salvation. But if one does this for the sake of salvation, it is rather to be called the evil of religion.”

[9] Two Gentiles were standing in the entry near the doorkeeper; and they heard these things, and said to each other, “These people have not any religion. Who does not see that to do good to the neighbor for the sake of God, and thus with God, and from God, is what is called religion?” And the other said, “Their faith hath infatuated them.” And they then asked the doorkeeper, “Who are these?” The doorkeeper said, “They are wise Christians.” And they answered, “Nonsense, you are deceiving us; they are play-actors; they speak like them.” And I went away. And when I looked, after a time, to the place where that house was, behold it was a marsh.

[10] These things which I saw and heard, I saw and heard in the wakefulness of my body and at the same time of my spirit; for the Lord has so united my spirit to my body, that I may be in both at the same time. It was of the Divine auspices of the Lord, that I came to those houses, and that they then deliberated concerning these things, and that it took place as it is described.

Chapter 11 (485-531)

485. Revelation 11

1. And there was given me a reed like a staff; and the angel stood near, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that adore therein.

2. And the court which is without the temple cast out, and measure it not; for it is given to the Gentiles; and the holy city shall they trample forty-two months.

3. And I will give to My two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.

4. These are the two olive trees, and the two lamp stands, which are standing before the God of the earth.

5. And if anyone will hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies; and if anyone will hurt them, thus must he be killed.

6. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain no rain in the days of their prophecy: and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood; and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they will.

7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them.

8. And their bodies shall be upon the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

9. And they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, shall see their bodies three days and a half, and shall not permit their bodies to be put into tombs.

10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and shall be glad, and shall send gifts one to another; because those two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth.

11. And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them.

12. And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither. And they went up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

13. And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were killed the names of men seven thousand; and the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven.

14. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

15. And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign for ages of ages.

16. And the four-and-twenty elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell upon their faces, and adored God;

17. Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who is, and who was, and who is to come, because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and hast entered into the kingdom.

18. And the nations were angry; and Thy anger is come, and the time of judging the dead, and of giving reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear Thy name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth.

19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven; and there was seen in His temple the ark of His covenant; and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

It still treats of the state of the church among the Reformed, as to the quality of those who are interiorly in faith alone, contrary to the two essentials of the New Church, which are that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine; and that men ought to live according to the precepts of the Decalogue. That these two essentials were declared to them (verses 3-6), but that they were totally rejected (verses 7-10). That they were raised up again by the Lord (verses 11-12). That they who rejected them, perished (verse 13). That the state of the New Church was manifested from the New Heaven (verses 15-19).

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “And there was given me a reed like a staff,” signifies that the faculty and power of knowing and seeing the state of the church in heaven and in the world was given, (485). “And the angel stood by, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that adore in it,” signifies the Lord’s presence and His command, that he should see and know the state of the church in the New Heaven, (486).

Verse 2. “And the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not,” signifies that the state of the church on earth, such as it is at present, is to be removed, and not known, (487). “For it is given to the Gentiles,” signifies, because the state of that church is destroyed and desolated by evils of life, (488). “And the holy city shall they trample forty-two months,” signifies that it would disperse every truth of the Word, even so that nothing remained, (489).

Verse 3. “And I will give My two witnesses,” signifies those who confess and acknowledge in heart that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, and who are conjoined to Him by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue, (490). “And they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and sixty] days,” signifies that these two articles, the acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life according to the commandments of the Decalogue, which are the two essentials of the New Church, are to be taught until the end and the beginning, (491). “Clothed in sackcloth,” signifies mourning in the meantime on account of the nonreception of truth, (492).

Verse 4. “These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands, which are standing before the God of the earth,” signifies love and intelligence, or charity and faith, from the Lord with them, (493).

Verse 5. “And if anyone will hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies,” signifies that they who wish to destroy these two essentials of the New Church, will perish from infernal love, (494). “And if anyone will hurt them, he must thus be killed,” signifies that he who condemns them shall in like manner be condemned, (495).

Verse 6. “These have power to shut heaven, that it rain no rain in the days of their prophecy,” signifies that they who turn themselves away from these two essentials cannot receive any truth from heaven, (496). “And they have power over the waters to turn them into blood,” signifies that they who turn themselves away from them falsify the truths of the Word, (497). “And to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they will,” signifies that they who would destroy them, will cast themselves into all kinds of evils and falsities, as often as and as far as they do so, (498).

Verse 7. “And when they shall have finished their testimony,” signifies that after the Lord taught those two essentials of the New Church, (499). “The beast that ascendeth out of the abyss shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them,” signifies that they who are in the internals of the doctrine of faith alone will reject these two, (500).

Verse 8. “And their bodies shall lie on the street of the great city,” signifies that they are totally rejected, (501). “Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,” signifies two infernal loves, which are the love of dominion from the love of self, and the love of rule from the pride of one’s own intelligence, which exist in the church where one God is not acknowledged, and the Lord not worshiped, and where they do not live according to the precepts of the Decalogue, (502, 503). “Where also our Lord was crucified,” signifies non-acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine Human, and, consequently, a state of rejection, (504).

Verse 9. “And they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, shall see their bodies three days and a half,” signifies when all they, who, until the end of the present church and the beginning of the New Church, have been and will be in falsities of doctrine and evils of life from faith alone, have heard and shall hear of these two essentials, (505). “And shall not permit their bodies to be put into tombs,” signifies that they have condemned and will condemn them, (506).

Verse 10. “And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and be glad,” signifies the delight of the affection of the heart and soul in the church among those who were in faith alone, (507). “And shall send gifts one to another,” signifies consociation through love and friendship, (508). “Because these two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth,” signifies that these two essentials of the New Church, by reason of their contrariety in the two essentials in the church of the Reformed, are held in contempt, dislike, and aversion, (509).

Verse 11. “And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet,” signifies that these two essentials, during the commencement and progress of the New Church, with those who receive them, will be vivified by the Lord, (510). “And great fear fell upon them that saw them,” signifies commotion of mind and consternation at Divine truths, (511).

Verse 12. “And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying to them, Come up hither,” signifies that these two essentials of the New Church were taken up by the Lord into heaven, from whence they came, and where they are, and the protection of them, (512). “And they went up into heaven in a cloud,” signifies the taking them up into heaven, and conjunction there with the Lord by the Divine truth of the Word in its literal sense, (513). “And their enemies saw them,” signifies that they who are in faith separated from charity heard them, but remained in their own falsities, (514).

Verse 13. “And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell,” signifies a remarkable change of state which then took place with them, and that they were torn away from heaven, and cast down into hell, (515). “And in the earthquake were killed the names of men seven thousand,” signifies that all those who confessed faith alone, and therefore made no account of the works of charity, perished, (516). “And the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven,” signifies that they who saw their destruction acknowledged the Lord, and were separated, (517).

Verse 14. “The second woe is past; behold the third woe cometh quickly,” signifies lamentation over the perverted state of the church, and then the last lamentation, to be treated of presently, (518).

Verse 15. “And the seventh angel sounded,” signifies the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church after the consummation, at the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom, (519). “And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign for ages of ages,” signifies celebrations by the angels, because heaven and the church are become the Lord’s, as they were from the beginning, and because now they belong to His Divine Human, consequently that now, the Lord as to both will reign over heaven and the church to eternity, (520).

Verse 16. “And the four-and-twenty elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell upon their faces, and adored God,” signifies the acknowledgment by all the angels of heaven, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and the highest adoration, (521).

Verse 17. “Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who is, and who was, and who is to come,” signifies confession and glorification by the angels of heaven, that it is the Lord who is, who has life and power from Himself, and who rules all things, because He alone is eternal and infinite, (522). “That Thou hast taken Thy great power, and hast entered into the kingdom,” signifies the New Heaven and the New Church, where they acknowledge Him to be the only God, (523).

Verse 18. “And the nations were angry,” signifies those who are in faith alone, and thence in evils of life, that they were enraged, and infested those who are against their faith, (524). “And Thy anger is come, and the time of judging the dead,” signifies their destruction, and the execution of the Last Judgment upon those who have not any spiritual life, (525). “And of giving reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints,” signifies the felicity of eternal life to those who are in the truths of doctrine from the Word, and in a life according to them, (526). “And to them that fear Thy name, small and great,” signifies who love the things which relate to the Lord in a lesser and in a greater degree, (527). “And to destroy them that destroy the earth,” signifies the casting of those into hell who have destroyed the church, (528).

Verse 19. “And the temple of God was opened in heaven; and there was seen in His temple the ark of His covenant,” signifies the New Heaven, in which the Lord in His Divine Human is worshiped; and where they live according to the precepts of His Decalogue, which are the two essentials of the New Church, whereby conjunction is effected, (529). “And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail,” signifies the ratiocinations, commotions, and falsifications of good and truth, that ensued in the lower parts.

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And there was given me a reed like a staff, signifies that the faculty and power of knowing and seeing the state of the church in heaven and in the world was given to him by the Lord. By “a reed” is signified feeble power, such as man has from himself; and by “staff,” is signified great power, such as man has from the Lord; therefore by “a reed was given like a staff,” is signified power from the Lord. That it is the faculty and power of knowing and seeing the state of the church in heaven and in the world, is plain from what follows in this chapter to the end.

[2] That by “a reed” or cane, is signified feeble power, such as man has from himself, is evident from these passages:

Lo, thou trustest in the staff of a broken reed, on Egypt; on which when a man leans it will go into his hand, and pierce it, (Isaiah 36:6).

And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know, that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel; when they held thee by the hand thou didst break, and perforate all their shoulder, (Ezekiel 29:6-7).

By “Egypt” is signified the natural man who trusts in his own strength, therefore he is called “the staff of a bruised reed.” By “reed” is signified feeble power, in Isaiah:

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench, (Isaiah 42:3).

[3] But by a “staff” is signified strong power, which is from the Lord; here of knowing the state of the church, because “the temple and altar were measured” with a staff; and by “measuring” is signified to know, and by “the temple and altar” is signified the church; as will be seen presently. “A staff” signifies power, because wood, of which staffs were made among the ancient people, signifies good; and because it is instead of the right hand, and supports it, and by “the right hand” is signified power; hence it is, that a scepter is a short staff and by “a scepter” is signified the power of a king; and a “scepter” and “staff” are the same word in the Hebrew language.

[4] That a staff signifies power, is evident from these passages:

Say ye, How is the staff of strength broken, the staff of beauty; descend from glory, and sit in thirst, (Jeremiah 48:17-18).

Jehovah will send the staff of thy strength out of Zion, (Psalms 110:2).

Thou didst strike through with staffs the head of the unbelieving, (Habakkuk 3:14).

Israel the staff of Jehovah’s inheritance, (Jeremiah 10:16; 51:19).

Thy rod and Thy staff shall comfort me, (Psalms 23:4).

Jehovah hath broken the staff of the wicked, (Isaiah 9:4; 14:5; Psalms 125:3).

My people inquire of wood; and his staff answers them, (Hosea 4:12).

Jehovah that removeth from Jerusalem the whole staff of bread and the whole staff of water, (Isaiah 3:1; Ezekiel 4:16; 5:16; 14:13; Psalms 105:16; Leviticus 26:26).

By “the staff of bread and water” the power of good and truth is signified, and by “Jerusalem” the church:

The staff of Levi, upon which Aaron’s name was, which blossomed with almonds in the tent, (Numbers 17:2-10),

signifies nothing else in the spiritual sense but the power of truth and good, because by “Levi” and “Aaron” the truth and good of the church were signified.

[5] That power is signified by “a staff” is manifest from the power of Moses’ staff:

That by the stretching out of the staff the waters were turned into blood, (Exodus 7:20).

That by it frogs came up upon the land of Egypt, (Exodus 8:1, etc .).

That by it there became lice, (Exodus 8:16, etc.).

That by it there were thunders and hail, (Exodus 9:23, etc .).

That by it the locusts went forth, (Exodus 10:12, etc.).

That by it the Red Sea was divided and turned back, (Exodus 14:16, 21, 26).

That by it the waters flowed forth from the rock of Horeb, (Exodus 17:5, etc. ;Numbers 20:7-13).

That by it Joshua with Moses prevailed over the Amalekites, (Exodus 17:9-12).

That fire went forth out of the rock by the staff of the angel, (Judges 6:21).

From these passages it is manifest that by “a staff” power is signified; and also elsewhere (as Isaiah 10:5, 24, 26; 11:4; 14:5; 30:31-32; Ezekiel 19:10-14; Lamentations 3:1; Micah 7:14; Zechariah 10:11; Numbers 21:18).

486. And the angel stood by, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that adore in it, signifies the Lord’s presence and His command, that he should see and know the state of the church in the New Heaven. By “angel” is meant the Lord (here as in 5, 415, and other places), because an angel never does anything from himself, but only from the Lord; therefore he says, “I will give My two witnesses” (verse 3), and these were the Lord’s witnesses. By “standing by” is signified the Lord’s presence; and by “saying” is signified His command; by “rise and measure” are signified to see and know; that “to measure” signifies to know and scrutinize the quality of a state, will be seen below. By “the temple, the altar, and them that adore in it,” is signified the state of the church in the New Heaven; by “the temple,” the church as to the truth of doctrine, (191); by “the altar,” the church as to the good of love, (392); and by “them that adore” is signified the church as to worship from these two. By “them that adore” is here signified adoration, which is worship, because the spiritual sense is abstracted from the persons, (78-79, 96); that this is the case in the present passage, is evident from this, that he was told “to measure” them that adore; for these three things make the church, the truth of doctrine, the good of love, and worship from them.

[2] That it is the church in the New Heaven which is meant, is plain from the last verse of this chapter, where it is said, that “the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of the covenant” (verse 19). The reason why “the measuring the temple” is spoken of at the beginning of this chapter is in order that the state of the church in heaven, before it was brought into conjunction with the church in the world, might be seen and known. The church in the world is meant by “the court without the temple, which was not to be measured, because it was given to the Gentiles” (verse 2); and then it is described by “the great city, which is called Sodom and Egypt” (verses 7-8); but afterwards “that great city fell” (verse 13); it follows that the church “was become the Lord’s” (verse 15, and subsequent verses). It is to be known, that there is a church in the heavens as well as on earth; and that they make one, like the internal and external with man; wherefore the church in the heavens is first provided by the Lord, and from it, or by it, the church on earth; thence, it is said, that the New Jerusalem came down from God out of the New Heaven (chapter 21:1-2). By “the New Heaven” is meant the New Heaven from Christians, which is frequently treated of in the following pages.

[3] “To measure” signifies to know and scrutinize the quality; because by “a measure” is signified the quality of a thing, or state; this is signified by all the measures of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21); and also by these words, which occur there:

The angel having a golden reed, measured the city and the gates thereof; and he measured the wall, one hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of an angel, (Revelation 21:15, 17).

And as by “the New Jerusalem” is signified the New Church, it is plain by “measuring” it and the things which are of it, is signified to know the quality. The same is signified by “measuring” in Ezekiel, where it is said that:

The angel measured the house of God, the temple, the altar, the court, the chambers, (Ezekiel 40:3-17; 41:1-5, 13-14, 22; 42; 43).

He measured the waters, (Ezekiel 47:3-5).

And therefore it is said:

Show the form to the house of Israel, and let them be ashamed of their iniquities: and they shall measure the form and its exit and its entrance and all the forms of it, that they may guard all the form, (Ezekiel 43:10-11).

The same is signified by “measuring” in these places:

I lifted up my eyes, and behold, a man, in whose hand was a measuring line; and I said, Whither goest thou? and he said, To measure Jerusalem, (Zechariah 2:1-2).

He stood and measured the earth, (Habakkuk 3:6).

The Lord Jehovah measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and meted out the heavens with the span, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance, (Isaiah 40:12).

Where wast thou when I founded the earth? who set the measures of it? and who stretched out the line upon it, (Job 38:4-5)?

487. Verse 2. But the court which is without the temple cast out, and measure it not, signifies that the state of the church on earth, such as it is at present, is to be removed, and not to be known. By “the court without the temple” is signified the church on earth, this being out of heaven, that is, out of “the temple” (486). By “casting it out” is signified to remove it, in this instance, from heaven, because such is its state; and by “not measuring” is signified not to scrutinize and know its quality, (486). The reason follows; “because it is given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they trample forty-two months.” That by “the court out of the temple” is here signified the church on earth such as it still is, appears from what follows in this chapter, where it is described by “the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt,” in which the Lord’s two witnesses lay killed, and which afterwards fell in a great earthquake, wherein were killed the names of men seven thousand; besides other circumstances.

[2] By “a court” in the Word in other places, is signified the external of the church; for there were two courts, through which it was necessary to pass, in order to go into the temple itself at Jerusalem; and because by “the temple” was signified the church as to its internal, therefore by “the courts” was signified the church as to its external; wherefore the strangers, who were from the Gentiles, were admitted into the courts, but not into the temple itself. And as the external of the church is signified by “a court,” therefore also the church on earth is signified thereby, and also heaven in ultimates, because the church on earth is the entrance to heaven, and likewise heaven in ultimates.

[3] That is what is signified by “the court” in these passages:

Happy is he whom Thou choosest, he shall dwell in Thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of Thy house, with the holiness of Thy temple, (Psalms 65:4).

Praise ye the name of Jehovah, ye who stand in His house, in the courts of the house of our God, (Psalms 135:1-2).

How lovely are Thy habitations, O Jehovah; yea, my soul is consumed for the courts of Jehovah, (Psalms 84:1-2).

Enter into His gates with confession, into His courts with praise, (Psalms 100:4).

The just shall flourish like the palm tree; they that be planted in the house of Jehovah shall spring up in the courts of our God, (Psalms 92:12-13).

A day in Thy courts is better than a thousand; I have chosen to stand at the door in the house of my God, (Psalms 84:10).

(Besides other places, as Psalms 96:8; 116:19; Isaiah 1:12; 62:9; Zechariah 3:7; Ezekiel 10:3-5).

Concerning the courts of the temple of Jerusalem, (1 Kings 6:3, 36). Concerning the courts of the new temple, (Ezekiel 40:17-44; 42:1-14; 43:4-7).

And the court without the tabernacle, (Exodus 27:9-18).

488. For it is given unto the Gentiles, signifies because the state of that church is destroyed and desolated by evils of life, as is evident from the signification of “Gentiles,” as being those who are in evils of life, and, abstractly, evils of life, (147, 483).

489. And the holy city shall they trample forty-two months, signifies that it would disperse every truth of the Word, even so that nothing would remain. By “the holy city” is meant the holy Jerusalem; and by “the holy Jerusalem” is meant the New Church which is in truths of doctrine, for “holy” is predicated of the Divine truth, (173); and “a city” signifies doctrine, (194); therefore by “trampling” that metropolis or city is signified to disperse the truths of its doctrine; by “forty-two months” is signified until there is an end, when there is nothing left; by truths of doctrine are meant truths from the Word, because the doctrine of the church, and all that relates to it, is thence derived. That they who are, at this day, in the internals of the church, have so dispersed the truths of the Word, and thence the doctrines of the church, and everything of it, is described in this chapter by “the beast coming up out of the abyss,” in that “he killed the two witnesses” (verse 7), and may also be seen from the Relations from the spiritual world, annexed to each chapter.

[2] By “forty-two months” is signified even to the end, and till no truth and good of the church is left, because the same thing is signified by forty-two and by six weeks, for six times seven is forty-two, and by “six weeks” is signified what is complete even to the end; for “six” has this signification, and “a week” signifies state, and “the seventh week” a holy state, which is a new state of the church, when the Lord begins His reign. This number has a similar signification in the following passage:

And there was given unto the beast which came up out of the sea a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and power was given unto him to continue forty-two months, (Revelation 13:5)(see 583).

The reason why “six” signifies what is complete to the end, is, because “three” has that signification, (505), and “six” is double that number, and a number doubled has the same signification as the simple number; besides, the same is signified by this number as by three and a half, because “forty-two months” make three years and a half. “Months” are mentioned because by “a month” is signified a full state (as in Isaiah 66:23; Revelation 22:1-2; Genesis 29:14; Numbers 11:18-20; Deuteronomy 21:11, 13).

490. Verse 3. And I will give unto My two witnesses, signifies those who confess and acknowledge from the heart that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, and who are conjoined to Him by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue. The reason why these are here meant by “the two witnesses,” is, because these two are the two essentials of the New Church. That the first essential, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, is “a testimony,” and consequently, that they are “witnesses” who confess and acknowledge it in the heart, may be seen, (6, 846), and likewise from the following passages:

I am the fellow servant of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, (Rev 19:10).

The angels of Michael overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of His testimony: and the dragon went away to make war with the rest of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 12:11, 17).

The souls of them that were smitten with the axe for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, (Rev 20:4).

These are they who acknowledged the Lord. This is called “the testimony of Jesus,” because the Lord testifies it from His Word, thus from Himself; on which account He is called:

The Faithful and True Witness, (Revelation 1:5; 3:14).

And He says:

I testify of Myself, and My testimony is true; because I know whence I come, and whither I go, (John 8:14).

Also:

When the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall testify of Me, (John 15:26).

That the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, which is also the Holy Spirit, is the proceeding Divine, and that this is the Lord Himself, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (46-54 Now because the Lord Himself is the Witness, therefore those also are meant by “witnesses” who testify this from the Lord, as John did:

Jesus said, Ye sent unto John, and he was a witness to the truth; yet I receive not testimony from man, (John 5:33-34).

John came for a testimony, that he might testify concerning the light: he was not the Light, but that he might testify of the Light. The Word, which was with God, and which was God, was the true Light, (John 1:1-14, 34).

[2] That the second essential of the New Church, which is conjunction with the Lord by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue, is “a Testimony,” is manifest from the fact that the Decalogue is called “the Testimony;” as in these passages:

Thou shalt put into the ark the Testimony which I will give thee, (Exodus 25:16).

Moses put the Testimony into the Ark, (Exodus 40:20).

The mercy-seat which is over the Testimony, (Leviticus 16:13).

Leave the staffs of the tribes before the Testimony, (Numbers 17:4. Beside, (Exodus 25:22) (Exodus 31:7) (Exodus 31:18) (Exodus 32:15) s, (Psalms 78:5) (Psalms 132:12) other places, as Exodus 25:22; 31:7, 18; 32:15; Psalms 78:5; 132:12).

[3] Something shall here be said concerning conjunction with the Lord by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue. There are two tables upon which those precepts are written, one for the Lord, the other for man. The first table, teaches that many gods are not to be worshiped, but one; the second table, that evils are not to be done; therefore, when one God is worshiped, and man does not do evils, conjunction takes place; for so far as a man desists from evils, that is, does the work of repentance, so far he is accepted by God, and does good from Him. But who now is the one God? A trine or triune God is not one God when this trine and triune is in three Persons; but He, in whom the trine or triune is in one Person, is one God, and that God is the Lord. Entangle the ideas as far as you can, yet you will never be able to extricate the idea that God is one, unless He is also one Person. That this is so, the whole Word teaches, both in the Old Prophetic, and in the New Apostolic, as may be clearly seen from The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord.

491. And they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, signifies that these two, the acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue, which are the two essentials of the New Church, are to be taught until the end and the beginning. That these two, the acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue, are the two essentials of the New Church, and are meant by “the two witnesses,” may be seen above, (490); and that “to prophesy” signifies to teach, (8, 133). By “one thousand two hundred and sixty days,” is signified until the end and the beginning, that is, until the end of the former church, thus to the beginning of the New. The reason why this is signified by this number, is, because it has the same signification as three and a half, and by three and a half is signified an end and a beginning, (505); for the number one thousand two hundred and sixty, when reduced into years, makes three years and a half. The like is signified by the same number in the next chapter:

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days, (Rev 12:6).

492. Clothed in sackcloth, signifies mourning in the meantime on account of the non-reception of truth. By “clothed in sackcloth” is signified mourning on account of the devastation of truth in the church; for “garments” signify truths, (166, 212, 328, 378, 379); therefore “to be clothed in sackcloth,” which is not a garment, signifies mourning because there is no truth, and where there is no truth there is no church. The sons of Israel represented mourning by various things, which, from correspondences, were significative, as by putting ashes on the head, by rolling themselves in the dust, by sitting a long time silent upon the earth, by shaving themselves, by lamentation and howling, by rending the garments, and also by “putting on sackcloth,” besides other particulars; and each of these signified some evil of the church among them, for which they were punished; and when they were punished, they represented repentance by such things, and on account of the representation of repentance and then at the same time of humiliation they were heard.

[2] That mourning on account of the devastation of truth in the church, was represented by “putting on sackcloth,” may be seen from the following passages:

The lion is come up from the thicket, he has gone forth from His place to reduce the land to wasteness; for this gird you with sackcloth, lament, howl, (Jeremiah 4:7-8).

O daughter of my people, gird thee with sackcloth, and roll thyself in ashes, for the waster shall suddenly come upon us, (Jeremiah 6:26).

Woe unto thee, Chorazin and Bethsaida, for if the mighty works which have been done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented in sackcloth and ashes, (Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13).

The king of Nineveh, after he heard the words of Jonah, put off his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, and proclaimed a fast, and that man and beast should be covered with sackcloth, (Jonah 3:5-6, 8);

besides other places; as in Isaiah 3:24; 15:2-3; 22:12; 37:1-2; 50:3; Jeremiah 48:37-38; 49:3; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 7:17-18; 27:31; Daniel 11:3; Joel 1:8, 13; Amos 8:10; Job 16:15-16; Psalms 30:11; 35:13; 69:10-11; 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 6:30; 19:1-2).

493. Verse 4. These are the two olive trees, and the two lampstands which are standing before the God of the earth, signifies love and intelligence, or charity and faith, both from the Lord with them. By “an olive tree” is signified love and charity, of which presently; and by “lamp stands” is signified enlightenment in truths, (43), and thence intelligence and faith, because intelligence is from enlightenment in truths, and faith is from this. By “standing before God” is signified to hear and do what He commands 366), here therefore that these two are with them from the Lord, who is the God of the earth, that is, with those who are in the two essentials of the new church, spoken of above; from which it is plain, that by the two witnesses being “two olive trees and two lampstands” is signified that they were love and intelligence, or charity and faith, for these two make the church; love and charity its life, and intelligence and faith its doctrine.

[2] An olive signifies love and charity, because the olive tree signifies the celestial church, and thence “the olive,” which is its fruit signifies celestial love, which love is love to the Lord; hence it is that this love is also signified by the oil, by which all the holy things of the church were anointed. The oil, which was called the oil of holiness, was:

From olives mixed with aromatics, (Exodus 30:23-24).

And also:

The lamps of the lampstand in the tabernacle were made to burn every evening from olive oil, (Exodus 27:20-21; Leviticus 24:2).

“An olive tree” and “olives” have a like signification in Zechariah:

There were two olive trees near the lampstand, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on its left, and two olive berries: these are the two sons of the olive tree standing before the Lord of the whole earth, (Zechariah 4:3, 11-12, 14).

In David:

I am like a green olive tree in the house of God, (Psalms 52:8).

And in Jeremiah:

Jehovah called thy name a green olive tree fair with beautiful fruit, (Jeremiah 11:16-17; besides other places).

[3] Since “Jerusalem” signified the church, therefore also many things that were in and about it signified such things as pertain to the church. Near it was also the Mount of Olives, which signified the Divine love, wherefore:

Jesus in the day was teaching in the temple, and at night He went out, and passed the night in the Mount of Olives, (Luke 21:37; 22:39; John 8:1).

And Jesus spoke with His disciples on that mount concerning the consummation of the age, and His coming at that time, (Matthew 24:3, and following verses; Mark 13:3, and following verses).

And also He went from that mountain to Jerusalem, and suffered, (Matthew 21:1; 26:30; Mark 11:1; 14:26; Luke 19:29, 37).

And this according to the prediction of Zechariah:

His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, (Zechariah 14:4).

Because “the olive tree” signified the celestial of the church, therefore:

The cherubs in the midst of the temple of Jerusalem were made of the wood of the olive tree; in like manner the doors of the oracle, and the posts, (1 Kings 6:23-33).

494. Verse 5. And if anyone will hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies, signifies that they who would destroy these two essentials of the new church will perish from infernal love. “To will to hurt the two witnesses” signifies to will to destroy these two essentials of the New Church, which are the acknowledgment of the Lord that He is the God of heaven and earth even as to the Human, and a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue; that these are “the witnesses” may be seen above, (490). “Fire shall go forth out their mouth” signifies infernal love; “and shall devour their enemies” signifies that they who hurt them will perish from that love; but it is not here to be understood that fire will proceed “out of the mouth of the witnesses,” but from those who would destroy these two essentials of the New Church, which are meant by “the witnesses” (490). “Fire” is infernal love; for he who does not live according to the precepts of the Decalogue, and who does not approach to God the Savior and Redeemer, cannot be otherwise than in infernal love, and perish.

[2] This is similar to what is said elsewhere in the Word, that from Jehovah there is “fire which consumes the wicked;” and that Jehovah acts “from the fire of his wrath,” “anger,” and “fury;” besides other similar expressions, by which it is not meant that this comes from Jehovah, but from the infernal love of the wicked. Such things are said in the Word, because they are appearances; and the Word, in its literal sense, is written by correspondences and appearances. Since it is said that “fire should go forth out of their mouth” and that thereby is meant that it is from those who are in infernal love, some passages shall be adduced in which it is said that “fire is from Jehovah”:

The breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone, shall consume it, (Isaiah 30:33).

Smoke goeth up out of His nostrils, and fire out of His mouth, coals burned from it, (Psalms 18:8).

I will pour out upon them the wrath of Mine anger, for in the fire of My zeal shall the whole earth be consumed, (Zephaniah 3:8).

Behold, Jehovah shall come in fire, for retribution in the wrath of His anger, and His rebuke in flames of fire, (Isaiah 66:15).

Thou shalt be visited by Jehovah in a flame of devouring fire, (Isaiah 29:6; 30:30; besides many elsewhere).

495. And if anyone will hurt them, thus must he be killed, signifies that he who condemns them shall in like manner be condemned. By “hurt them” here signifies to condemn, because it follows, “thus must he be killed,” and by “being killed,” in the Word, is signified to be killed spiritually, which is to be condemned; for the Lord says:

With what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged, (Matthew 7:1-2).

496. Verse 6. These have power to shut heaven, that it rain no rain in the days of their prophecy, signifies that they who turn themselves away from these two essentials of the New Church, cannot receive any truth from heaven. By “heaven” is here meant the angelic heaven; consequently, by “rain,” the truth of the church thence is signified; wherefore, by “shutting heaven that it rain no rain” is signified that they are not able to receive any truth of the church from heaven; the truth of the church from heaven is the truth of doctrine from the Word. It is said that the witnesses had this power, but it is meant here as above, (494), that they have not the power to shut heaven, but that they shut heaven to themselves who turn themselves away from these two essentials of the New Church, because they remain in their own falsities. That “rain” signifies the Divine truth from heaven, appears from these passages:

My doctrine shall flow down as the rain, My word shall drop as the dew, (Deuteronomy 32:2).

If ye serve other gods, Jehovah will shut heaven, that there be no rain, (Deuteronomy 11:11, 14, 16-17).

I will lay My vineyard a desolation, and I will command the clouds that they rain no rain upon it, (Isaiah 5:6).

The showers have been withholden, and there hath been no latter rain; but still the forehead of a harlot woman remained to thee, (Jeremiah 3:3).

As the rain cometh down from heaven, so shall My word be that goeth forth out of My mouth, (Isaiah 55:10-11).

Ye sons of Zion rejoice and be glad in Jehovah, for He hath given you the former rain in justice, (Joel 2:23).

Thou, O God, didst make to drop down a rain of good pleasure, (Psalms 68:9).

He shall come down like rain upon the herb of the meadow, in His days shall the just flourish, (Psalms 72:6-7).

Jehovah shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter rain irrigateth the earth, (Hosea 6:3).

My word shall drop upon them, and they shall wait for Me as the rain, and he shall open his mouth to the latter rain, (Job 29:22-23).

Son of man, say, Thou art the land that is not cleansed, on which there is no rain in the day of anger, there is a conspiracy of the prophets in the midst of it, (Ezekiel 22:24-25);

besides other places (as in Isaiah 30:23; Jeremiah 5:24; 10:12-13, 14:3-4; 51:16; Ezekiel 34:26-27; Amos 4:7-8; Zechariah 10:1; Psalms 65:9-10; 135:7; 2 Samuel 23:3-4). “An inundating rain” is for the devastation of truth, (Ezekiel 13:11, 13-14; 38:22); and for temptation, (Matthew 7:24-27).

497. And have power over the waters to turn them into blood, signifies that they who turn themselves away from these two essentials falsify the truths of the Word. By “waters” are signified truths, (50); and by “blood,” the falsification of the truth of the Word, (379); therefore, by “turning the waters into blood” is signified to falsify the truths of the Word. This is to be understood in the same manner as before, namely, that they who turn themselves away from the two essentials of the New Church can see nothing but the falsities in which they are, which, if they confirm these by the Word, they falsify its truths.

498. And to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will, signifies that they who would destroy these two essentials of the New Church will cast themselves into all kinds of evils and falsities, as often and so far as they do so. By “the earth” is signified the church, (285); and by “a plague” is signified evil and falsity, (456); hence by “smiting the earth with every plague,” is signified to ruin the church by all kinds of evils and falsities. But this passage is to be understood in the same manner as the former, viz. , that they who would smite these two essentials of the New Church with a plague, that is, destroy them, which is done by evil through falsities, will cast themselves into all kinds of evils and falsities; and as the natural sense is thus changed while it becomes spiritual, therefore also this expression, “as often as they will,” is changed in like manner into this, as often and so far as they do this. The reason is, because in proportion as anyone destroys these two essentials, he so far destroys the truths of the Word; and so far as he destroys the truths of the Word, so far he casts himself into evils and falsities; for these two essentials are the truths of the Word, as may appear manifestly from The two Doctrines of the New Jerusalem; one concerning The Lord, and the other concerning The Doctrine of Life from the Precepts of the Decalogue. This passage, that “the witnesses had the power of smiting the earth with every plague as often as they will,” is similar to many others in the Word, which attribute to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, that “He smites men with plagues,” and that this is His will, when yet it must be understood that He neither smites them, nor is it His will to do so, as in Zechariah:

This shall be the plague with which Jehovah shall smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem, (Zechariah 14:12, a nd following verses).

And in Jeremiah:

I have smitten thee with the plague of the enemy, with the chastisement of a tyrant, for the multitude of thine iniquity, (Jeremiah 30:14);

likewise in many other places. See also above, (494).

499. Verse 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, signifies that after the Lord has taught that He is the God of heaven and earth, and that there is conjunction with Him by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue. “When they shall have finished,” signifies after the Lord has taught; the two witnesses, indeed, taught, yet not from themselves, but from the Lord. That “testimony” signifies these two, may be seen above, (490).

500. The beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall make war with them, and shall overcome them, and kill them, signifies that they who are in the internals of the doctrine of faith alone will oppose them, and assault these two essentials of the New Church, and will reject them, and, as far as lies in their power, will cause others to reject them. By “the beast that cometh up out of the abyss,” are meant they who came up out of the abyss, and appeared like locusts (chapter 9:1-12). That these are they who are in the internals of the doctrine of faith alone, may be seen in the explanation there given; by “making war” is signified to oppose and assault these two essentials of the church, as will be seen presently; by “overcoming and killing” them is signified to reject and extirpate them in themselves, and, as far as lies in their power, to cause others to do the same.

[2] The reason why they who are principled in the internals of the doctrine of faith alone will impugn and reject these two essentials, is, because they have confirmed themselves in two things diametrically opposite to them, First, that it is not the Lord, but God the Father, who is to be approached; and Secondly, that a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue is not a spiritual life, but only a moral and civil life, and this they confirm, lest anyone believe that he can be saved by works, but only by their faith. All they who have had these dogmas impressed deeply on their minds in schools and academies, do not recede from them afterwards. There are three reasons for this which hitherto have not been known: First, because they have entered, as to their spirit, into association with their like in the spiritual world, where there are many satans, who are delighted with nothing but falsities, from which they cannot at all be separated but by rejecting those falsities; nor can this be done but by immediately approaching God the Savior, and beginning a Christian life according to the precepts of the Decalogue.

[3] The second reason is because they believe that remission of sins, and thus salvation, is given in a moment in the act of faith, and afterwards in the state or in the progression by the same act continued, preserved, and retained, from the Holy Spirit, separate from the exercises of charity; and they who have once imbibed these doctrines afterwards make no account of sins before God, and so live in their uncleanness. And because they know how to confirm such things subtly before the unlearned by falsifications of the Word, and before the learned by sophistry, it is here said that “the beast which came up from the abyss overcame and killed the two witnesses.” But this takes place only with those who love to follow their own inclinations, being borne along by the delights of their lusts. When these think about salvation, they cherish those lusts in their hearts and embrace their faith with both hands, thinking that they may be saved by uttering certain words with a tone of confidence, and that they need not attend to anything of their life for the sake of God, but only for the sake of the world.

[4] The Third reason is that they who, in youth, had imbibed the internals of that faith which are called the mysteries of justification, on being afterwards promoted to an honored ministry, do not think in themselves concerning God and heaven, but concerning themselves and the world, retaining only the mysteries of their faith for the sake of reputation, that they may be honored as wise, and by reason of their wisdom, be thought worthy of being rewarded with wealth. The reason why this is an effect of that faith is because there is nothing of religion in it. That this is so may be seen in the third relation above, (484).

[5] That by “wars” in the Word, are signified spiritual wars, which are fightings against truth, and are effected by reasonings from falsities, is evident from these passages:

Spirits of demons go forth to gather them to war in the great day of God Almighty, (Revelation 16:14).

The dragon was angry against the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 12:17).

It was given to the beast of the dragon to make war with the saints, (Revelation 13:7).

Consecrate war against the daughter of Zion, and let us go up at noon, (Jeremiah 6:4).

Ye have not gone up into the breaches to stand in war in the day of Jehovah, (Ezekiel 13:5).

In Salem is the habitation of God and a dwelling in Zion, where He broke the fiery darts of the bow, and the battle, (Psalms 76:2-3).

Jehovah shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up zeal like a man of war, (Isaiah 42:13; Psalms 24:8).

In that day Jehovah shall be for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment, who repels war from the gate, (Isaiah 28:5-6).

Deliver me from the evil man, and preserve me from the man of violence; all the day they gather together for war; they have sharpened their tongue like serpents, (Psalms 140:1-3).

Many shall come in My name, saying, I am Christ, and shall mislead many, and ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that ye be not troubled, (Matthew 24:5-6; Mark 13:6-7; Luke 21:8-9).

The wars of the kings of the north, and of the south, and others, in Daniel, (10:11, 12) signify no other than spiritual wars; besides “the wars” mentioned in other places (as in Isaiah 2:3-5; 13:4; 21:14-15; 31:4; Jeremiah 49:25-26; Hosea 2:18; Zechariah 10:5; 14:3; Psalms 27:3; 46:8-9).

[6] Since by “wars” in the Word, are signified spiritual wars, therefore the ministry of the Levites was called “military service,” as appears from these things:

It was commanded that the Levites should be numbered, to perform military service, to do work in the tent of the congregation, (Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47).

This is the office of the Levites: to perform military service in the ministry of the tent of the congregation; but from a son of fifty years he shall withdraw from the military service of the ministry, nor shall he minister any more, (Numbers 8:24-25).

See also above, (447), where it is confirmed from the Word, that “armies” signify the goods and truths of the church, and, in the opposite sense, its evils and falsities.

501. Verse 8. And their bodies shall be upon the street of the great city, signifies that the two essentials of the New Church are totally rejected by those who are interiorly in the falsities of doctrine concerning justification by faith alone. By “the bodies of the two witnesses” are signified the two essentials of the New Church, which are the acknowledgment of the Lord as the only God of heaven and earth, and that conjunction with Him is by a life according to the precepts of the Decalogue, (490, etc.). By “the street of the great city,” is signified the falsity of the doctrine concerning justification by faith alone; by “a street” is signified falsity, as will be seen presently; and by “a city” is signified doctrine, (194). It is called “a great city,” because it is the doctrine which reigns in the whole Reformed Christian world among the clergy, though not in like manner among the laity. “By streets,” in the Word, almost the same is signified as by “ways,” because streets are ways in a city; but still by “streets” are signified the truths or falsities of doctrine, because “a city” signifies doctrine, (194); and by “ways” are signified the truths or falsities of the church, because “the earth” signifies the church, (285). That “streets” signify truths or falsities of doctrine, may be seen from the following passages:

And judgment is rejected, and justice hath stood afar off: for truth is stricken in the street, and rectitude cannot come, (Isaiah 59:14).

The chariots shall rage in the streets, they shall run to and fro in the broad ways, (Nahum 2:4).

In the days of Jael the ways ceased, the broad ways ceased in Israel, (Judges 5:6-7).

How is the city of glory left? therefore her young men shall fall in the streets, (Jeremiah 49:25-26; 50:30).

They that did feed delicately are devastated in the streets. The form of the Nazarites is darker than blackness; they are not known in the streets. They wandered blind in the streets. They hunted our steps, that we cannot go in the streets, (Lamentations 4:5, 8, 14, 18).

I will cut off the nations, their corners shall be laid waste, I will desolate their streets, (Zephaniah 3:6).

Afterwards in sixty-two weeks the streets of Jerusalem shall be built again, but in troublous times, (Daniel 9:25).

The street of the city New Jerusalem was pure gold, as clear glass, (Rev 21:21).

In the midst of the street of it, on this side and that, the tree bearing twelve fruits, (Rev 22:2; besides other places; as in Isaiah 15:3; 24:10-11; 51:20; Jeremiah 5:1; 6:16; 7:17; 9:21; 11:13; Ezekiel 16:24-25, 31; Jeremiah 44:9, 17; Lamentations 2:11, 19; Ezekiel 11:6; 26:11-12; Amos 5:16; Zechariah 8:3-5; Psalms 144:13; Job 18:17).

Since “streets” signify the truths of doctrine of the church, therefore:

They taught in the streets, (2 Samuel 1:20).

And it was said:

We have eaten before Thee and drunk before Thee, and Thou hast taught in our streets, (Luke 13:26).

And therefore:

Hypocrites prayed in the corners of the streets, (Matthew 6:2-5).

And therefore:

The householder commanded the servants to go into the streets and broad ways, and bring them in, (Luke 14:21).

For the same reason, also, what is false and falsified is called:

Mire, dirt, and dung of the streets, (Isaiah 5:25; 10:6; Micah 7:10; Psalms 18:42).

The prophets who prophesied what was false, should be cast out into the streets of Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them, (Jeremiah 14:16).

502. Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt signifies the two infernal loves, which are the love of dominating from self-love, and the love of ruling from the pride of one’s own intelligence, which are in the church where one God is not acknowledged, and the Lord is not worshiped, and where they do not live according to the precepts of the Decalogue. By “Sodom,” in the spiritual sense, is signified the love of dominating from self-love, as will be seen presently; and by “Egypt,” in the spiritual sense, is signified the love of ruling from the pride of one’s own intelligence, which also will be spoken of presently; and because these two loves are signified, therefore it is spiritually called “Sodom and Egypt.” The reason why these loves prevail in the church where one God is not acknowledged, and the Lord is not worshiped, and where they do not live according to the precepts of the Decalogue, is, because man is born into those two loves, and comes into them as he grows up, and those loves cannot be removed but by God the Savior, and by a life according to His precepts; and they cannot be removed by God the Savior, unless He is approached; nor can a life according to His precepts be given, unless man is led by Him. It can indeed be given, but not a life in which there is anything of heaven and thence of the church. That life is given only by Him who is life. That the Lord is that life, may be seen, (John 1:1, 4; 5:26; 6:33-35, and following verses; 11:25-26; 14:6, 19; and in many other places).

[2] That the love of dominating from self-love, and the love of ruling from the pride of one’s own intelligence, are the heads of all the loves of hell, and thus the heads of all the evils and thence of the falsities in the church, is unknown at this day; the delights of those loves, which exceed the delights of all the pleasures of the mind, are the causes of its not being known, when yet, “spiritually, they are Sodom and Egypt.” That “Sodom” is the love of dominating from self-love, may appear from the description of Sodom in Moses, that they wished to do violence to the angels who came into Lot’s house; and that fire and brimstone rained upon them out of heaven, (Genesis 19:1, and following verses). By “fire and brimstone,” that love with its lusts is signified. I saw similar things happen when the cities and societies of such were overthrown in the day of the Last Judgment, and they were cast into hell. These loves and their evils are signified by “Sodom and Gomorrah” (in these places:Isaiah 1:10; 3:8-9; 13:19; Jeremiah 23:14; 49:18; 50:37, 40; Lamentations 4:6; Ezekiel 16:46-50; Amos 4:11; Zephaniah 2:9-10; Deuteronomy 29:23; 32:32; Matthew 10:14-15; 11:23; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:10-12; 17:28-29).

[3] That this love is signified by “Sodom,” is not known in the world; but keep this in mind and remember it when you come into the world of spirits, as is done after death, and you will be fully convinced. But it is to be known, that there is a love of dominating from self-love, and a love of dominion from the love of uses; the latter love is celestial, but the former infernal. Therefore when one makes the head, the other makes the feet, that is, when the love of dominating from self-love makes the head, then the love of dominion from the love of uses, which is also the love of serving the neighbor from the Lord, at first makes the feet, afterwards the soles of the feet, and, lastly is trodden under foot. But when the love of dominion from the love of uses, which, as was said, is celestial love, makes the head, then the love of dominating from self-love, which, as was observed, is an infernal love, at first makes the feet, afterwards the soles of the feet, and, finally, is trodden under foot. These two loves, however, are with difficulty distinguished by man in the world, because their external forms are similar; yet they may be distinguished by this, that the celestial love is with those who approach the Lord, and live according to the precepts of the Decalogue; and that the infernal love is with those who do not approach the Lord, and who do not live according to the precepts of the Decalogue.

503. It shall now be said what is signified by “Egypt” in the Word. “Egypt” signifies the natural man in conjunction with the spiritual, and thus the affection of truth and thence science and intelligence; but, in the opposite sense, it signifies the natural man separated from the spiritual, and then the pride of one’s own intelligence, and thence insanity in spiritual things. “Egypt” signifies the natural man in conjunction with the spiritual, and then the affection of truth, and thence science and intelligence, in the following passages:

In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt swear to Jehovah of Hosts. In that day shall there be an altar to Jehovah in the midst of the land of Egypt; then shall Jehovah be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know Jehovah in that day, (Isaiah 19:18-21).

In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt into Assyria, that Assyria may come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians may serve with Assyria. In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; whom Jehovah of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel Mine inheritance, (Isaiah 19:23-25).

Egypt there is the natural, Assyria is the rational, and Israel is the spiritual; these three make the man of the church. Hence the king of Egypt was called “the son of the wise,” “the son of the kings of antiquity;” and Egypt was called “the cornerstone of the tribes” (Isaiah 19:11, 13); and it is said of Solomon that:

His wisdom excelled the wisdom of the Egyptians, (1 Kings 4:30). And that he took pharaoh’s daughter to wife, and brought her into the city of David, (1 Kings 3:1).

And that he built Pharaoh’s daughter a house near the porch, (1 Kings 7:8).

[2] For the same reason also:

Joseph was carried into Egypt, and was there made the ruler over all the land, (Genesis 41:37-57).

Since “Egypt” signified the natural man as to the affection of truth and thence science and intelligence, therefore:

Joseph, the husband of Mary, being warned of an angel, departed into Egypt with the infant Lord, (Matthew 2:14-15).

According to the prediction:

When Israel was a boy then I loved him, and called My son out of Egypt, (Hosea 11:1).

Thou hast caused a vine to come out of Egypt, Thou hast planted it, and didst cause it to take deep root, (Psalms 80:8-9).

For man is born natural, becomes rational, and afterwards spiritual, thus the vine out of Egypt is planted and takes root. For the sake of this representation also:

Abraham journeyed into Egypt, (Genesis 12:10, a nd following verses).

And Jacob was commanded to go with his sons into Egypt, and also abode there (Genesis 46 and following chapters).

Thence, also, the land of Canaan, by which the church is signified, is described as to its extent:

As far as the river of Egypt, (Genesis 15:18; 1 Kings 4:21; Micah 7:12).

And Egypt is compared:

To the garden of Eden, the garden of God, (Ezekiel 31:2, 8; Genesis 13:10).

And the sciences of the natural man are called:

The desirable things of Egypt, (Daniel 11:43).

And fine linen in needlework from Egypt, (Ezekiel 27:7; besides other passages, where Egypt is favorably spoken of as in Isaiah 27:12-13; Ezekiel 29:13-16; 31:1-18; Hosea 11:11; Zechariah 10:10-11; 14:16-18; Psalms 68:31-32; Isaiah 19:23-24).

[3] But “Egypt” in the opposite sense signifies the natural man separated from the spiritual, and then the pride of his own intelligence, and thence insanity in spiritual things, in these passages:

Because the heart of Pharaoh is lifted up in his height, and he hath put his top among the thick boughs, strangers shall cut him off, and cast him down. In the day that thou shalt go down into hell, I will cover the deep over him, and thou shalt lie in the midst of the uncircumcised, (Ezekiel 31:10, 18).

The foundations of Egypt shall be overturned; the pride of his strength shall come down; and his cities shall be devastated in the midst of the desolate cities. I will give fire in Egypt, and I will disperse Egypt among the nations, and scatter them in the lands, (Ezekiel 30).

Woe to them that go down into Egypt for help, and look not to the Holy One of Israel; for Egypt is man, and not God; and its horses are flesh and not spirit, (Isaiah 31:1, 3).

Egypt ascendeth as a river; it saith, I will ascend, I will cover the earth, and I will destroy: come up, ye horses; rage, ye chariots; the sword shall devour you, and shall be made drunk with blood; there is no healing to thee, (Jeremiah 46:2, 8-11).

How say ye to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, and the son of the kings of antiquity? where now are thy wise men? let them know: the princes of Zoan have become foolish; they have seduced Egypt, the cornerstone of the tribes; there shall be no work for Egypt, that it may make the head and the tail, (Isaiah 19:1-17).

Prophesy against Egypt: O great whale, that liest in the midst of thy rivers; because he hath said, The river is mine, and I have made it myself; therefore I will put hooks in thy jaws, and I will make the fish of thy rivers to stick to thy scales, and I will leave thee in the wilderness: and therefore shall the land of Egypt become a desert and a waste, (Ezekiel 29:1-12). Besides other places, as Isaiah 30:6-7; Jeremiah 2:17-18, 36; 42:13-18; Ezekiel 16:26, 28-29; 23:2-33; Hosea 7:11, 13, 16; 9:1, 3, 6; 11:5; 12:1; Joel 3:19; Lamentations 5:2, 4, 6, 8; Deuteronomy 17:16; 1 Kings 14:25-26; 2 Kings 18:21.

[4] Because the Egyptians had become such, therefore they were devastated as to all the goods and truths of the church. Their devastations are described by the miracles performed there, which were plagues, and signified so many lusts of the natural man separated from the spiritual, which acts solely from one’s own intelligence and the pride thereof. The plagues significative of his lusts were that:

The waters in the river were turned into blood, insomuch that the fish died, and the river stank, (Exodus 7:17-18).

That from the rivers and pools frogs were produced over the land of Egypt; that the dust of the earth was turned into lice; that swarms of noxious flies were sent, (Exodus 8:3-4, 17-18).

That boils breaking forth with pustules were brought upon man and beast; that it rained hail mingled with fire, (Exodus 9:8-10).

That locusts were sent; that there was thick darkness in all the land of Egypt, (Exodus 10:4-6, 13-15).

That all the first-born in the land of Egypt died, (Revelation 11:4-6).

And, finally, that the Egyptians were drowned in the Red Sea, (Exodus 14:28).

By these hell is signified. What these things specifically signify, may be seen in The Arcana Coelestia, where they are explained. Hence it is evident, what is meant by “the plagues and diseases of Egypt” (Deuteronomy 7:15; 28:60); what by “being drowned by the river of Egypt” (Amos 8:8; 9:5); and whence it is that Egypt is called “the land of bondage” (Micah 6:4); “the land of Ham” (Psalms 106:22); also “the iron furnace” (Deuteronomy 4:20; 1 Kings 8:51).

[5] The reason why “Egypt” signifies not only intelligence but also insanity in spiritual things, is because the Ancient Church, which extended through many kingdoms of Asia, was also in Egypt, at which time the Egyptians excelled all others in cultivating the science of correspondences between spiritual things and natural, as appears from their hieroglyphics. But when that science was turned by them into magic, and became idolatrous, then their intelligence in things spiritual became insanity; for which reason, “Egypt,” in the opposite sense, signifies such insanity. From what has been said, it may now be seen, what is meant by “the great city which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.”

504. Where also our Lord was crucified, signifies non-acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine Human, and thus a state of rejection. It is said in the church, that they “crucify the Lord” who blaspheme Him; as do those also who, like the Jews, deny Him to be the Son of God. The reason why they who deny the Lord’s Human to be Divine are like the Jews is because every man regards the Lord as a Man, and he who regards His Human as like the human of another man cannot then think of His Divine, howsoever he may call this the Son of God, born from eternity, and equal to the Divine of the Father. When it is spoken and read, it is heard indeed, but still it is not at the same time believed; when the Lord is thought of as a material man like any other man, and retaining the like properties of the flesh; and as His Divine is then removed and not regarded, therefore the same state is induced as if it were denied, for he denies that His Human is the Son of God, as did the Jews, for which reason they crucified Him. That the Lord’s Human is nevertheless the Son of God, is openly said (in Luke 1:32, 35; Matthew 3:16-17; and in other places).

[2] From these things it appears, why the men of the church approach God the Father immediately, and many also the Holy Spirit immediately, but scarcely anyone approaches the Lord immediately. Since the Jews, from the denial that the Lord was the Messiah, the Son of God, crucified Him, therefore their Jerusalem is also called Sodom, (Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 16:46, 48). And the Lord says:

On the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all; even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed, (Luke 17:29-30).

What is meant by fire and brimstone may be seen above, (452, 494).

505. Verse 9. And they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, shall see their bodies three days and a half, signifies that when all they who, until the end of the present church and the beginning of the New Church, have been and will be in falsities of doctrine and thence in evils of life from faith alone, have heard and shall hear of these two essentials, which are the acknowledgment of the Lord and of works according to the Decalogue. By “peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations,” are meant all of the Reformed who have been and will be in falsities of doctrine, and thence in evils of life from faith alone; by “peoples” are signified those who are in falsities of doctrine, (483); by “tribes” falsities and evils of the church, (349); by “tongues,” confession and reception thereof, (483); and by “nations” those who are in evils of life, (483). Therefore, by these four are signified all and everyone who have been and who will be such, thus all they who have been “in that great city,” and they that are like unto them; who will thenceforth come there out of the world. By “their bodies,” or those “of the two witnesses,” are signified the two essentials of the New Church above mentioned, (501); by “they shall see” is signified when they have heard and shall hear of them, because “to see” is said of their bodies, and “to hear,” of these two essentials; by “three days and a half” is signified to the end and the beginning, that is, to the end of the present church and the beginning of the New. Now from these things collected into one sense, it is evident, that by these words, “They of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, shall see their bodies three days and a half,” the things above mentioned are signified in the spiritual sense. The reason why “three days and a half” signify to the end and the beginning is because “day” signifies state; the number “three,” what is complete to the end; and “a half,” the beginning; for the same is signified by “three days and a half” as by “a week,” six days of which signify what is complete to the end, and the seventh day signifies what is holy; for the number “3 1/2” is half of the number “7,” which makes a week, and a double number, and the divided number of which it consists, have a similar signification.

[2] That “three” signifies what is complete, thus to the end, may be seen from these passages in the Word, that:

Isaiah walked naked and barefoot three years, (Isaiah 20:3).

Jehovah called Samuel three times, and Samuel ran three times to Eli, and the third time Eli understood, (1 Samuel 3:1-8).

Elijah stretched himself three times over the widow’s son, (1 Kings 17:21).

Elijah commanded them to pour water upon the burnt-offering three times, (1 Kings 18:34).

Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures till the whole was leavened, (Matthew 13:33).

Jesus said unto Peter, that be would deny Him three times, (Matthew 26:34).

The Lord asked Peter three times, Lovest thou Me? (John 21:15-17).

Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights, (Jonah 1:17).

Jesus said the temple would be destroyed, and He would build it up again in three days, (Matthew 26:61).

Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane, (Matthew 26:39-44).

Jesus rose again on the third day, (Matthew 28:1). Besides many others; as in Isaiah 16:14; Hosea 6:2; Exodus 3:18; 10:22-23; 19:1, 11, 15-16, 18; Leviticus 19:23-25; Numbers 19:11, to the end; 31:19-25; Deuteronomy 19:2-3; 26:12; Joshua 1:11; 3:2; 1 Samuel 20:5, 12, 19-20, 35-36, 41; 2 Samuel 24:11-13; Daniel 10:1-3; Mark 12:2, 4, 6; Luke 13:32-33; 20:12.

“Seven” as well as “three” signifies what is full and complete; but “seven” is said of things holy, and “three” of things not holy.

506. And shall not suffer their bodies to be put into monuments, signifies that they condemned and will condemn them. By “bodies” are here signified the two essentials of the New Church (of which, 505 and above); and by “not suffering them to be put into monuments,” is signified to reject them as condemned. This is signified, because by “being put into monuments,” or “buried,” is signified resurrection and continuation of life, for then those things are committed to the earth which are from the earth, thus which are earthly and thence unclean; therefore by “not being put into monuments,” or “not being buried,” is signified to continue in things earthly and unclean, and for that reason to be rejected as condemned. It was on this account that in the church with the sons of Israel, which was a representative church, it was instituted, that they who were considered as condemned, should be cast forth and not buried, as is evident from these things:

Thus saith Jehovah concerning them, they shall die of grievous deaths, they shall not be lamented, neither shall they be buried; they shall be as dung upon the face of the earth; and their carcass shall be for food to the birds of the heavens, and for the beasts of the earth, (Jeremiah 16:3-4).

The prophets that prophesy a lie shall be cast out in the streets of Jerusalem, none burying, (Jeremiah 14:16).

In that day they shall bring out the bones of the kings of Judah, the bones of his princes, and the bones of the priests, and the bones of the prophets out of their sepulchers; they shall not be collected nor buried; they shall be for dung upon the face of the earth, (Jeremiah 8:1-2).

That the dogs devoured Jezebel in the field, none burying, (2 Kings 9:10).

Thou wast cast out of thy sepulchre like an abominable shoot; as a carcass trodden under feet, (Isaiah 14:19-20);

besides other places; as in Jeremiah 25:32-33; 22:19; 7:32-33; 19:11-12; 2 Kings 23:16).

507. Verse 10. And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and be glad, signifies the delight of the affection of the heart and the soul in the church on that account among those who were in faith alone, as to doctrine and life. By “them that dwell on the earth” are meant they who are in the church, in the present case, they who are in the church where faith alone prevails; the earth signifies the church in which they are, (285); “to rejoice and be glad” signifies to have the delight of the affection of the heart and soul; the delight of the affection of the heart is of the will, and the delight of the affection of the soul is of the understanding; for, in the Word, by “heart and soul” are meant man’s will and understanding; hence it is, that it is said “to rejoice and be glad,” although joy and gladness seem to be one thing; yet in these two expressions there is the marriage of the will and the understanding, which also is the marriage of good and truth, which exists in the whole and in every particular of the Word, as is shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (80-90). This is the reason why both these expressions, “to rejoice and be glad” and “joy and gladness,” frequently occur in other parts of the Word, as in these passages:

Behold, joy and gladness, killing an ox, (Isaiah 22:13; 35:10; 51:11).

Joy and gladness are cut off from the house of our God, (Joel 1:16).

The voice of joy and the voice of gladness shall cease, (Jeremiah 7:34; 15:10).

The fast of the tenth shall be for joy and gladness, (Zechariah 8:19).

Rejoice ye in Jerusalem, be ye glad in her, (Isaiah 66:10).

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, (Lamentations 4:21).

Let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be glad, (Psalms 96:11; 68:3).

Make me to hear joy and gladness, (Psalms 51:8).

Joy and gladness shall be found in Zion, (Isaiah 51:3).

Thou shalt have gladness, many shall rejoice at his birth, (Luke 1:14).

Then will I cause to cease the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, (Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9; 25:10; 33:10-11).

Let all that seek thee rejoice and be glad, (Psalms 40:16; 70:4).

But let the just be glad and rejoice in gladness, (Psalms 68:3).

Be glad in Jerusalem, rejoice for joy with her, (Isaiah 66:10).

508. And shall send gifts one to another, signifies consociation through love and friendship. “To send gifts” signifies to be consociated by love and friendship, because a gift consociates, for it produces love, and causes friendship; “one to another” signifies mutually.

509. Because these two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth, signifies that these two essentials, one concerning the Lord and concerning the Divine Human; and the other concerning a life according to the commandments of the Decalogue, are contrary to the two essentials received in the church of the Reformed, one of which relates to a Trinity of Persons, and the other to faith alone being saving without the works of the law, and that by reason of this contrariety, those two essentials of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, are held in contempt, dislike, and aversion. That this is what is signified, when by “the two prophets” or “witnesses” are meant the two essentials of the New Church, and when by “them that dwell upon the earth” are meant they who are in the two essentials of the church of the Reformed, follows as a necessary consequence; by “tormenting” is signified to be held in contempt, dislike, and aversion.

510. Verse 11. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, signifies that these two essentials of the New Church, at the end of the former, when the New Church is beginning and progressing, are vivified by the Lord with those who receive them. By “three days and a half” is signified to the end and the beginning, (505), thus from the end of the present church to the beginning of the New, in this case, with those among whom the New Church begins and progresses, because it is now said of “the witnesses,” that “the spirit of life entered into them, and they stood upon their feet.” By “the spirit of life from God” is signified spiritual life; and by “standing upon their feet” is signified natural life agreeing with spiritual life, and thus vivification from the Lord. The reason why this is signified, is, because by “the spirit of life” is meant the internal of man, which is called the internal man, which, considered in itself, is spiritual, for the spirit of man thinks and wills, and to think and will in itself is spiritual. By “standing upon their feet” is signified the external of man, which is called the external man, which is in itself natural; for the body speaks and acts what its spirit thinks and wills, and to speak and to act is natural; that feet signify things natural, may be seen, (49, 468).

[2] What is specifically meant by this expression, shall be explained: Every man who is reformed, is first reformed as to the internal man, and afterwards as to the external. The internal man is not reformed by merely knowing and understanding the truths and goods by which man is saved, but by willing and loving them; but the external man, by speaking and doing the things which the internal man wills and loves, and, in proportion as this takes place, in the same proportion man is regenerated. The reason why he is not regenerated before, is, because his internal is not before in the effect, but only in the cause, and, unless the cause be in the effect, it is dissipated. It is like a house built upon ice, which sinks to the bottom when the ice is melted by the sun; in a word, it is like a man without feet to stand and walk upon. It is the same with the internal or spiritual man, if it is not founded on the external or natural man. Such then is the signification of “the two witnesses standing upon their feet after the spirit from God entered into them;” and also of similar expressions in Ezekiel:

Jehovah said unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, and when I prophesied, the spirit entered into them, and they stood upon their feet, (Ezekiel 37:9-10).

In the same:

A voice speaking unto me, said, Son of man, stand upon thy feet; and the spirit entered into me and stood me upon my feet, (Ezekiel 2:1-2).

And in the same:

I fell on my face, then the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, (Ezekiel 3:23-24).

This is what is meant also by the Lord’s words to Peter:

Peter said, Thou shalt not wash my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, and the whole is clean, (John 13:9-10).

511. And great fear fell upon them that saw them, signifies commotion of mind and consternation at Divine truths. “Fear” has various significations according to the thing which causes it; here “great fear” signifies commotion of mind, and consternation at Divine truths; for Divine truths have these effects with the evil, for they terrify them when at the same time they hear of hell and eternal damnation; but that terror soon vanishes, together with the faith that there is any life after death.

512. Verse 12. And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither, signifies that these two essentials of the New Church were taken up by the Lord into heaven, whence they came, and where they are, and the protection of them. By “a great voice from heaven” is signified from the Lord, for a voice from heaven is from no other source; “come up hither,” signifies their being taken up into heaven, whence they came, and where they are, and their protection.

513. And they went up into heaven in a cloud, signifies the taking them up into heaven, and conjunction there with the Lord by the Divine truth of the Word in its literal sense. By “ascending up to heaven” is signified their being taken up by the Lord into heaven, as above, (512); in the present case, also, conjunction with the Lord there, because they ascended “in a cloud,” for by “a cloud” is signified the literal sense of the Word, (24), and by this there is conjunction with the Lord, and consociation with the angels, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (62-69).

514. And their enemies saw them, signifies that they who are in faith separated from charity heard them, but remained in their own falsities. By “seeing the two witnesses” is signified to hear these two essentials of the New Church, and also to see the confirming things from the Word; because they saw them “ascending in a cloud,” and by “a cloud” is signified the sense of the letter of the Word, (24, 513); that, nevertheless, they did not receive them, but remained in their own falsities, is evident from this, that no more is said than that “they saw,” and it follows that “there was a great earthquake,” in which they perished. By “enemies” are meant “they who were in the great city, which is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt,” who were those that are in faith separated from charity, as may be seen above, (501, 502, and following numbers).

515. Verse 13. And in that hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, signifies a remarkable change of state then took place with them, and they were torn away from heaven and sank down into hell. “In that hour” signifies at the time when they saw “the two witnesses” ascend into heaven, and nevertheless they remained in their falsities as above, (514); for “the two witnesses prophesied,” that is, taught them (verse 3), and afterwards were killed, and revived; they also saw them ascend up to heaven, and still did not recede from their falsities, then there became a great earthquake. That a similar thing happened with the Two Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, one concerning the Lord, and the other concerning the Life according to the Commandments of the Decalogue, may in some measure be seen from the Relations after each chapter. Those two doctrines are the two witnesses here treated of. By “an earthquake” is signified a change of state, (331), here their destruction, because in it “a tenth part of the city fell;” by “a tenth part” is signified all there, for “ten” signifies much and all, (101); in like manner, “the tenth part,” or “a tenth,” as “the fourth part,” or “a fourth,” signifies the same as “four” (322); and “the third part” or “a third” the same as “three” (400). By “falling” is signified to sink down into hell, which takes place when they are torn away from heaven; for the cities in the world of spirits which are in evils and falsities, after they that dwell therein are visited, informed, and warned, and still remain in their evils and falsities, are shaken with an earthquake, by which a gulf is opened, into which they sink down, and then their inhabitants appear to themselves to be at the bottom, as it were, in a desert, whence they are severally removed to their places in hell. That it was so done to this city, will be seen below, (531).

516. And in the earthquake were killed the names of men seven thousand, signifies that in that state all they who were in the confession of faith alone, and therefore made no account of works of charity, perished. By “being killed” is signified here, as before, to be killed spiritually, which is to perish as to the soul; by an “earthquake” is signified a change of state among them, and their destruction, as above; by “names of men seven thousand” are signified all who were in the confession of faith alone, and for that reason made no account of the works of charity, and therefore condemned those two holy essentials of the New Church; by “names” are signified they who are such, for “a name” signifies the quality of a man, (81, 122, 165); and by “seven thousand” are signified all who were such, for the same is signified by “seven thousand” as by “seven,” just as by “twelve thousand” is signified the same as by “twelve” (348). That “seven” signifies all, and all things and is predicated of the holy things of heaven and the church, and, in the opposite sense, of the same when profaned may be seen, (10, 391).

517. And the rest were terrified, and gave glory to the God of heaven, signifies that they who had adjoined some goods of charity to faith, when they saw their destruction, acknowledged the Lord, and were separated. By “the rest” are here meant they who adjoined some goods of charity to faith; by “being terrified” is signified through fear, when they saw the destruction of the others; by “giving glory to the God of heaven” is signified to acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth; by “giving glory” is signified to acknowledge and worship; and by “the God of heaven and earth” is meant the Lord, because He is the God of heaven and earth, (Matthew 28:18). These, because they acknowledged the Lord from fear, were separated, in order that they might be explored as to the origin from which they did good, whether from themselves or from the Lord. All they do good from themselves who do not shun evils as sins, that is, who do not live according to the commandments of the Decalogue; but they do good from the Lord, who so shun and live.

518. Verse 14. The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly, signifies lamentation over the perverted state of the church, and then the last lamentation, to be treated of presently. That “woe” signifies lamentation over the perverted state of the church, may be seen above, (416); by “the third woe” is signified the last lamentation, when it is complete and there is an end; for “three” and “a third” have that signification, (505). “To come quickly” signifies hereafter, and “hereafter” means from chapter 12-17, and, lastly, chapter 20, where it treats of the Last Judgment upon them.

519. Verse 15. And the seventh angel sounded, signifies the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church after the consummation, when the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom takes place. By “sounding with a trumpet” is signified to explore and make manifest the state of the church after its consummation, when the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom takes place. The reason is, because this is signified by “the seventh angel sounding;” for by the six angels and their trumpets sounding, were signified explorations and manifestations of the state of the consummated church, as appears from the foregoing chapter, where its consummation only is treated of; but that now its state after consummation, which is the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom, is treated of, appears from what follows in this verse, and afterwards in this verse:

And the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign for ages of ages, (Revelation 11:15).

The reason why this manifestation is effected by “the sounding of the seventh angel,” is, because “seven” signifies the same as a week, and six days of the week are days of labor, and of what belongs to man, and the seventh is holy and the Lord’s. That by consummation is meant the devastation of the church when there is no longer any truth of doctrine and good of life therein, thus when its end has come, may be seen, (658, 750); and because then is the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom, therefore both “the consummation of the age” and “the coming of the Lord” are spoken of in Matthew 24:3, and they are both also foretold in that chapter.

520. And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s and He shall reign for ages of ages, signifies celebrations by the angels, because heaven and the church are become the Lord’s, as they were from the beginning; and that now they have also become the kingdom of His Divine Human, thus that the Lord as to both will now reign over heaven and the church to eternity. “There were great voices” signifies celebrations by the angels; saying, “The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s” signifies that heaven and the church are become the Lord’s, as they were from the beginning, and that now they are also the kingdom of His Divine Human; “and He shall reign for ages of ages” signifies that the Lord, both as to His Human and Divine, will reign over them. “Great voices in heaven” signify celebrations of the Lord, because He has now taken His great power, appears from verse 17 where “those great voices” are extant in a summary. By “the Lord” is here meant the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah; and by “Christ” is meant His Divine Human, which is the Son of God, (Luke 1:32, 35).

[2] That the Lord as to His Divine Human also will reign, manifestly appears from these words:

The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son, (John 3:35).

The Father hath given the Son power over all flesh, (John 17:2).

Father, all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine, (John 17:10).

All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth, (Matthew 28:18).

Of His Divine Human he also said that:

The Father and He are one. And that He is in the Father and the Father in Him, (John 10:30, 38; 14:5-12).

To this may be added, that unless the Lord’s Human is acknowledged to be Divine the church must perish, for in that case the Lord cannot be in man and man in the Lord, as He Himself teaches, (John 14:20; 15:4-6; 17:23); and this conjunction makes the man of the church, and thus the church.

[3] The reason why the Lord’s Divine Human is meant by “Christ” is because Christ is the Messiah, and the Messiah is the Son of God, who was expected to come into the world. That Christ is the Messiah appears from this:

We have found the Messiah, which is, being interpreted, the Christ, (John 1:41).

The woman said, I know that the Messiah cometh, which is called Christ, (John 4:25).

For “Messiah,” in the Hebrew language, is the Anointed, as Christ is in the Greek language. That the Messiah is the son of God, appears from the following passages:

The high priest asked Him, whether He was the Christ (Messiah) the Son of God, (Matthew 26:63; Mark 14:61; Luke 22:67; John 20:31).

Thou art the Christ the Son of God, which should come into the world, (John 11:27).

Peter said, We believe and acknowledge that Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God, (John 6:69).

That the Lord as to the Divine Human is the Son of God:

The angel said to Mary, Thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son; He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore, that Holy One that shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God, (Luke 1:31-32, 35; and many others).

From these things it is plain what is signified by “their becoming the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.”

521. Verse 16. And the four-and-twenty elders, who sit before God on their thrones, fell upon their faces and adored God, signifies the acknowledgment by all the angels of heaven, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and the highest adoration. By “the four-and-twenty elders who sit on thrones” are signified all in heaven, specifically in the spiritual heaven, (233, 251); and by “falling upon their faces and adoring God” is signified the highest adoration, and acknowledgment that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth.

522. Verse 17. Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who is, and who was, and who is to come, signifies the confession and glorification by the angels of heaven, that the Lord is He who is, who lives, and has power from Himself, and who rules all things, because He alone is eternal and infinite. By “giving thanks” is signified the acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord; that the Son of man, who is the Lord as to the Divine Human, is the Almighty, the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, also who is, and who was, and who is to come, may be seen above in Revelation (chapter 1:8, 11, 17; 2:8; 4:8); and that thereby is signified that it is He who is, lives, and has power from Himself, who rules all things, and is alone eternal and infinite, and God, may be seen above, (13, 29-31, 38, 57, 92).

523. Because Thou hast taken Thy great power, and hast entered into Thy kingdom, signifies the New Heaven and the New Church, where they acknowledge Him to be the only God, as He is and was. “Because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power” signifies the Divine omnipotence, which is His, and was His from eternity. “That Thou hast entered into Thy kingdom” signifies that heaven and the church are now His, as before; by His “kingdom” is here meant the New Heaven and New Church, treated of in Revelation (chaps. 21, 22). Revelation from beginning to end treats only of the state of the former heaven and church, and of their abolition, and afterwards of the New Heaven and New Church, and of their establishment, in which one God will be acknowledged in whom there is a Trinity, and that that God is the Lord. This Revelation teaches from beginning to end; for it teaches that the Son of man, who is the Lord as to the Divine Human, is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, He that is, was, and is to come, and the Almighty, (522); and, lastly, that the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, will be the church of the Lamb, that is, of His Divine Human, thus at the same time of the Divine, from whence all things are, as is plain from the following passages:

Let us rejoice and exult, for the time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready, (Rev 19:7).

And there came one of the seven angels, and said unto me, Come, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife; and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem, (Rev 21:9-10).

I Jesus am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning star; the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come, (Rev 22:16-17).

There was given unto the Son of man, dominion and glory, and a kingdom; His dominion is the dominion of an age, and His kingdom shall not perish, (Daniel 7:14).

524. Verse 18. And the nations were angry, signifies those who were in faith alone, and thence in evils of life, that they were enraged, and infested those who are against their faith. By “the nations” are meant those who are in evils of life, and abstractly, evils of life, (147, 483); but here they who are in faith alone, because these are here treated of, and these are in evils of life, because their religion is that the law does not condemn them, provided they have faith that Christ took away its condemnation. “Their being angry” signifies not only that they were enraged, but also that they infested those who are against that faith, as may appear from what follows concerning “the dragon” (chapter Revelation 12:17, and afterwards).

525. And Thy anger is come, and the time of judging the dead, signifies their destruction, and the Last Judgment upon those who have not any spiritual life. By “Thy anger” is signified the Last Judgment, (340), thus their destruction; the reason why this is signified by “the Lord’s anger,” is, because it seems to them as if the Lord cast them down into hell from anger, when nevertheless it is the wicked who cast themselves down. For it is like a malefactor who attributes his punishment to the law, or to the fire that burns, if he thrusts his hand in it, or like ascribing to a drawn sword in the hand of one defending himself, if he is thrust through, when he has run against its point. Thus it happens with everyone who is against the Lord, and, out of anger, rushes against those whom the Lord protects. By “the dead” who are to be judged, in the universal sense, are meant they who have died out of the world, but, in a proper sense, are meant they who have not any spiritual life; judgment being predicated of these, (John 3:18; 5:24, 29). The reason is, because they are called “the living” who have spiritual life. Spiritual life is with those only who approach the Lord, and at the same time shun evils as sins.

[2] They who have no spiritual life are meant in these passages:

They joined themselves to Baalpeor and ate the sacrifices of the dead, (Psalms 106:28).

The enemy persecuteth my soul, he hath caused me to sit in darkness as the dead of the world, (Psalms 143:3).

To hear the groaning of the bound, and to open to the sons of death, (Psalms 102:20).

I know thy works, that thou hast a name, that thou livest, but art dead; be watchful and strengthen the remaining things which are ready to die, (Rev 3:1-2).

The reason these are meant by “the dead,” is because spiritual death is meant; therefore also by “the slain” they are signified who are destroyed by that death, (321, 325), and in other places. But they who have died out of the world are meant by the dead in these passages:

And the dead were judged from those things which were written in the books, (Rev 20:12).

The rest of the dead lived not again (Revelation 20:5).

The reason is, because, by “the first death” there is meant natural death, which is from the world; and by “the second death” is meant spiritual death, which is damnation.

526. And of giving reward to Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, signifies the happiness of eternal life to those who are in truths of doctrine from the Word, and in a life according to them. By “reward” is signified the happiness of eternal life, as will be seen presently; by “prophets” are signified they who are in truths of doctrine from the Word, (8, 133); and by “saints” they who are in a life according to them, (173). By “reward” is here meant the happiness of eternal life, arising from the delight and pleasantness of the love and affection of good and truth; for every affection of love has its accompanying delight and pleasantness, and the affection of the love of good and truth has a delight and pleasantness such as the angels of heaven have; and all affection continues with man after death. The reason is, because affection is of the love, and love is the life of man, therefore the life of everyone after death is such as his ruling love had been in the world; and the ruling love of truth and good is with those who have loved the truths of the Word, and have lived according to them. Nothing else but the delight of good and the pleasantness of truth is meant by “reward” in the following passages:

Behold the Lord Jehovah will come in strength; behold, His reward is with him, (Isaiah 40:10; 62:11).

Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, (Rev 22:12).

My judgment is with Jehovah, and the reward of my work is with my God, (Isaiah 49:4).

For I Jehovah love judgment, I will give the reward of their work, (Isaiah 61:8).

Do good hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great; and ye shall be the sons of the Highest, (Luke 6:35).

And in other places; as in Jeremiah 31:15-17; Matthew 2:18; 5:3-12; 10:41-42; Mark 9:41; Luke 6:22-23; 14:12-14; John 4:35-36.

527. And to them that fear Thy name, the small and the great, signifies who love the things which are of the Lord in a lesser and in a greater degree. By “fearing the name of the Lord” is signified to love the things which are of the Lord; “to fear” signifies to love, and “the name of the Lord” signifies all things by which He is worshiped, (81); by “the small and the great” are signified they who fear the Lord in a lesser and a greater degree. The reason why “to fear” here signifies to love is because everyone who loves also fears to do evil to him whom he loves. Genuine love is not given without that fear. Therefore he who loves the Lord fears to do evils, because evils are contrary to Him, being contrary to His Divine laws in the Word, which are from Him and thus are Himself; yea, they are contrary to His Divine essence, which is that He wills to save all, for He is the Savior, and cannot save man unless man lives according to His laws and commandments. And, what is more, he who loves evils also loves to do evil to the Lord, yea to crucify Him. This lies inmostly hid in all evil, even among those who confess Him with their lips in the world. That it is so is unknown to men, but it is well known to the angels.

[2] That “to fear God” signifies to love the things which are of God, by doing them, and by not willing to do those which are against Him, appears from these passages:

What doth Jehovah God require of thee, but to fear Jehovah thy God, to walk in all His ways, and to love Him, (Deuteronomy 10:12, 20).

Ye shall walk after Jehovah your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments, (Deuteronomy 13:4).

Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, Him shall thou serve, and to Him shalt thou cleave, (Deuteronomy 10:20; 6:2, 13, 24; 8:6; 17:19; 28:58; 31:12).

Who shall grant that there may be a heart in them, to fear Me, and to keep My commandments, (Deuteronomy 5:29).

Teach me Thy way, O Jehovah, unite my heart to the fear of Thy name, (Psalms 86:11).

Happy is he that feareth Jehovah; that walketh in His ways, (Psalms 128:1; 112:1; Jeremiah 44:10).

If I am the Father, where is My honor? and if I am the Lord, where is My fear? (Malachi 1:6; 2:5; Isaiah 11:2-3.

I will give them one heart and one way to fear Me, and I will put My fear in their heart, that they depart not from Me, (Jeremiah 32:39-40).

The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, (Psalms 111:10).

Besides other places; as in Isaiah 8:13; 25:3; 29:13; 50:10; Jeremiah 33:9; Psalms 22:23; 33:8, 18; 34:7, 9; 55:19; 115:11, 13; 147:11; Rev 14:7; Luke 1:50. But the fear of God with the evil is not love, but the fear of hell.

528. And to destroy them that destroy the earth, signifies the casting of those into hell who have destroyed the church. The reason why by “destroying them that destroy the earth,” is signified the casting of those into hell who have destroyed the church, is, because by “the earth” the church is signified, (285), and because it follows after these things, “And the time of the dead is come that they should be judged,” by which is signified the Last Judgment upon those who have no spiritual life, (525); thus here, by “the time is come of destroying them that destroy the earth,” is signified the casting down into hell of those who have destroyed the church. The like is said of Lucifer, by whom Babylon is meant, in Isaiah:

Because thou hast destroyed thy land and hast slain thy people, (Isaiah 14:20).

529. Verse 19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in His temple the ark of His covenant, signifies the New Heaven, in which the Lord in His Divine Human is worshiped, and they live according to the commandments of His Decalogue, which are the two essentials of the New Church, by which is conjunction. By “the temple of God” is signified the Lord’s Divine Human, likewise heaven, where angels are, and also the church on earth; that these three are signified by “the temple of God,” and that they cannot be separated, may be seen, (191); but here, by “the temple of God,” is signified the Lord in His Divine Human in heaven where the angels are, because it is called “the temple of God in heaven.” By “the ark in the temple” is meant the Decalogue, for in the ark there were only the two tables on which the Decalogue was written. By the temple being “open” is signified that these two, the Divine Human and the Decalogue, which are the two essentials of the New Church, are now seen, and were seen after the evil were cast into hell, (528). The reason why it is said “the ark of His covenant was in His temple,” is, because a covenant signifies conjunction, as will be seen below.

[2] But something shall first be said of the Decalogue. What nation is there in the whole world which does not know that it is evil to kill, to commit adultery, to steal, to testify falsely? If mankind did not know these things, and if laws were not made to guard against these crimes, they must perish; for a society, republic, and kingdom, would fall without such laws. Who can suppose that the Israelitish nation could have been so much more stupid than all others, as not to know that these things were evils? Therefore anyone may wonder why these laws, universally known throughout the whole world, should have been promulgated by Jehovah Himself from Mount Sinai with so great a miracle, and were written with His own finger. But hear: they were promulgated with so great a miracle by Jehovah Himself, and were written by His finger, to make known to them that those laws were not only civil and moral laws, but also spiritual laws, and that to act contrary to them, was not only to commit evil against a fellow citizen and against society, but that it was also to sin against God.

Wherefore these laws, by being promulgated from Mount Sinai by Jehovah, were made laws of religion. For it is evident that whatsoever Jehovah God commands, He commands that it may be a thing of religion, and that it should be done for His sake, and for man’s sake, that he may be saved.

[3] These laws, because they were the first fruits of the church about to be established by the Lord among the Israelitish nation, and because they were in a short summary the complex of all things of religion, whereby a conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord was given, therefore they were so holy, that nothing could be more holy. That they were most holy may appear from this that:

Jehovah Himself, that is the Lord, descended in fire, and the mountain then smoked and quaked, and there were thunders, and lightnings, and a thick cloud, and the voice of a trumpet, (Exodus 19:16, 18; Deuteronomy 5:22-26).

The people before the descent of Jehovah prepared and sanctified themselves three days, (Exodus 19:10-11, 15).

The mountain was hedged about lest anyone come near to the lowest part, lest he die, (Exodus 19:12-13, 20-23; 24:1-2).

This law was written upon two tables of stone, and that it was written with the finger of God, (Exodus 31:18; 32:15-16; Deuteronomy 9:10).

The face of Moses shone, when he brought those tables a second time down from the mount, (Exodus 34:29-35).

Those tables were deposited in the ark, (Exodus 25:16; 40:20; Deuteronomy 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9).

The place in the tabernacle, where the ark was, was called the Holy of Holies, (Exodus 26:33; and in other places).

The ark, from the law in it, was called Jehovah there, (Numbers 10:35-36; 2 Samuel 6:2; Psalms 132:8).

Jehovah spoke with Moses over the ark, (Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89).

On account of the holiness of that law, it was not permitted Aaron to enter within the veil, where the ark was, except with sacrifices and incense, lest he die, (Leviticus 16:2-14 seq.).

From the Lord’s presence and power in the law which was in the ark, the waters of Jordan were divided, and so long as it rested in the midst, the people passed over on dry ground, (Joshua 3:1-17; 4:5-20).

By carrying the ark around Jericho, the walls fell down, (Joshua 6:1-20).

Dagon, the god of the Philistines, fell down to the earth before the ark, and afterwards lay upon the threshold of the temple with his head broken off, (1 Samuel 5:3-4).

The Ekronites and the Bethshemites were smitten on account of the ark to the number of several thousands, (1 Samuel 5; 6).

The ark was introduced by David into Zion with sacrifices and rejoicing, (2 Samuel 6:1-19).

Uzzah, because he then touched it, died, (2 Samuel 6:6-7).

The ark in the temple of Jerusalem was the inmost part, (1 Kings 6:19 seq. ; 8:3-9).

The tables upon which the law was written, were called the tables of the covenant, and the ark, from them, was called the ark of the covenant, and the law itself the covenant, (Numbers 10:33; Deuteronomy 4:13, 23; 5:2-3; 9:9; Joshua 3:11; 1 Kings 8:19, 21; and other places).

[4] By that law called “a covenant,” conjunction is signified; the reason is, because covenants were entered into for the sake of love, of friendship, of consociation, and thus of conjunction. Therefore it is said of the Lord, that:

He shall be for a covenant to the people, (Isaiah 42:6; 49:8).

And He is called:

The angel of the covenant, (Malachi 3:1).

And His blood:

The blood of the covenant, (Matthew 26:28; Zechariah 9:11; Exodus 24:4-10).

And therefore the Word is called the Old and the New Testament or Covenant.

530. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail, signifies that then below there were reasonings, commotions, and falsifications of good and truth. By “lightnings, voices, and thunders,” are signified reasonings, (396); by “earthquakes” are signified changes of the state of the church, (331), here commotions; by “great hail” are signified falsifications of truth and good, (399). These things took place in the parts below, where the evil still abode, before the Last Judgment was executed upon them; for it is said in the preceding verse, (Revelation 11:18), “And the time is come of judging the dead, and of destroying them which destroy the earth.” Such things exist in the world of spirits, from the presence and influx of heaven which is above them.

531. To the above I will add this Relation. I was once seized suddenly with a disease almost deadly. My whole head was weighed down. A pestilential smoke ascended from that Jerusalem which is called “Sodom and Egypt.” I was half dead with the severe pain. I expected the end. Thus I lay in my bed three days and a half. My spirit became such, and from it my body. And then I heard voices about me, saying, “Lo, he who preached repentance for the remission of sins, and the Man Christ alone, lies dead in the streets of our city.”

And they asked some of the clergy whether he was worthy of burial. They said, “No; let him lie to be looked at.” And they passed to and fro, and mocked. All this befell me, of a truth, when I was explaining this chapter of Revelation. Then were heard harsh speeches of scoffers, especially these, “How can repentance be performed without faith? How can the man Christ be adored as God? Since we are saved of free grace without any merit of our own, what need we then but the faith alone, that God the Father sent the Son to take away the curse of the law, to impute His merit to us, and so to justify us in His sight, and absolve us from our sins by His herald the priest, and then give us the Holy Spirit to operate all good in us? Are not these things according to Scripture, and also according to reason?” These things the crowd standing by applauded.

[2] I heard these things, nor could I reply, because I lay almost dead. But after three days and a half my spirit recovered, and, being in the spirit, I left the street and went into the city, and said again, “Do the work of repentance, and believe in Christ, and your sins will be remitted, and ye will be saved; but otherwise ye will perish. Did not the Lord Himself preach repentance for the remission of sins, and that they should believe in Him? Did not He command the disciples to preach the same? Does not a full security of life follow the dogma of your faith?” But they replied, “What idle talk! Has not the Son made satisfaction? And does not the Father impute it to us, and justify us who have believed in it? Thus are we led by the spirit of grace; what sin can then be with us? What power has death over us? Do you comprehend this Gospel, thou preacher of sin and repentance?” But then a voice came forth out of heaven, saying, “What is the faith of an impenitent man, but a dead faith? The end is come, the end is come upon you that are secure, blameless in your own eyes, justified in your own faith, devils.” And suddenly a deep gulf was opened in the midst of that city, which spread itself far and wide; and the houses fell one upon another, and were swallowed up; and presently water began to bubble up from the wide whirlpool, and overflowed the waste.

[3] When they were thus submerged, and they seemed inundated, I desired to know their lot in the deep. And it was said to me from heaven, “Thou shalt see and hear.” And then the waters, in which they seemed to be inundated, disappeared before my eyes; for waters in the spiritual world are correspondences, and hence appear around those who are in falsities. Then they appeared to me in a sandy place, where heaps of stones were piled up; amongst which they were running, and lamenting that they were cast out of their great city. And they lifted up their voices, and cried, “Why has all this befallen us? Are we not, by our faith, clean, pure, just, and holy?” And others said, “Are we not, by our faith, cleansed, purified, justified, and sanctified?” And others said, “Are we not, by our faith, become such as to appear before God the Father, and to be seen and reputed clean, pure, just, and holy, and declared so before the angels? Are we not reconciled, propitiated, expiated, and thus absolved, washed, and cleansed from sins? And is not the condemnation of the law taken away by Christ? Why then are we cast down here as the condemned? We have heard from an audacious preacher of sin in our great city, ‘Believe in Christ and repent. ‘ But have we not believed in Christ whilst we believed in His merit? And have we not done the work of repentance while we confessed ourselves sinners? Why then has all this befallen us?”

[4] But immediately a voice from one side said to them, “Do you know any sin in which you are? Have you ever examined yourselves? Have you, in consequence, shunned any evil as a sin against God? For he who does not shun sin, remains in it; and is not sin the devil? Ye are therefore of those of whom the Lord said:

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in Thy presence, and Thou hast taught in our streets; but He shall say, I say to you, I know you not, whence ye are; depart from Me all ye workers of iniquity, (Luke 13:26-27); and of whom in Matthew 7:22-23. Depart ye, therefore, everyone to his own place. You see the openings into those caverns, enter, and there work shall be given each of you to do, and afterwards food in proportion to your work; if not, still hunger will compel you to enter.”

[5] After this there came a voice from heaven to some on earth, who were without that great city, and who are described also (verse 13), crying aloud, “Take heed to yourselves, take heed how you associate with such persons; can you not understand that evils, which are called sins and iniquities, render man unclean and impure? How can man be cleansed and purified from them, but by actual repentance, and by faith in Jesus Christ? Actual repentance is to examine one’s self to know and acknowledge his sins, to hold himself guilty, to confess them before the Lord, to implore help and the power to resist them, and thus to desist from them, and lead a new life, doing all these things as of yourselves. Do this once or twice a year, when you approach the Holy Communion, and afterwards when the sins, of which you have found yourselves guilty, recur; then say to yourselves, We will not consent to them because they are sins against God. This is actual repentance.

[6] “Who cannot understand that he who does not search out and see his sins, remains in them? For all evil is delightful from birth; for it is delightful to revenge, to commit whoredom, to defraud, to blaspheme, and especially to rule over others from self-love; is it not the delight that causes them not to be seen, and if perchance it is said they are sins, do you not from that delight excuse them? Yea, you persuade yourselves by falsities and confirm that they are not sins, and thus continue in them, and practice them afterwards more than before, even till you no longer know what sin is, or whether there be sin. It is otherwise with everyone who actually repents. His evils which he knows and acknowledges, he calls sins, and on that account begins to shun and turn away from them, and to feel their delight as undelightful. And in proportion as this is the case, he sees and loves goods, and at length feels delight in them, which is the delight of heaven. In a word, so far as anyone rejects the devil, so far he is adopted by the Lord, and by Him is taught, led, withheld from evils, and is held in goods. This and no other is the way from hell to heaven.”

[7] It is wonderful, that the Reformed have a certain deep-rooted opposition and aversion to actual repentance, which is so great, that they cannot force themselves to examine themselves, neither can they see their sins, and confess them before God. It is as if a horror invades them when they think of it. I have inquired of many in the spiritual world concerning this, and they all said that it was beyond their power. When they heard that the Papists do it, that is, that they examine themselves and confess their sins openly before a monk, they have greatly wondered, more especially as the Reformed cannot do the same in private before God, although it is alike enjoined them before they approach the Holy Supper. Some have inquired into the cause of this, and it was discovered that faith alone induced such a state of impenitence, and such a heart. And then it was given them to see that those of the Papists who adore Christ, and do not invoke saints, nor adore His vicar, so-called, and any key-bearer of His, are saved.

[8] After this, there was heard as it were thunder, and a voice speaking from heaven, saying, “We are astonished! say to the assembly of the Reformed, Believe in Christ, and do the work of repentance, and you will be saved.” And I said further, “Is not Baptism a sacrament of repentance, and thence an introduction into the church? What else do the sponsors promise for the person to be baptized, but that he will renounce the devil and his works? Is not the Holy Supper a sacrament of repentance, and hence an introduction into heaven? Is it not declared to the communicants, that they should by all means do the work of repentance before they approach? Does not the Catechism, which is the universal doctrine of the Christian church, teach repentance? Is it not said in the six commandments of the second table, Thou shalt not do this and that evil, and not, Thou shalt do this and that good? Hence you may know, that as far as anyone shuns evil, so far he loves good, and that before this he does not know what good is, nor even what evil is.”

Chapter 12 (532-566)

532. Revelation 12

1. And a great sign was seen in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.

2. And being with child, she cried, travailing and pained to bring forth.

3. And another sign was seen in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems.

4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth; and the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, that after she had brought forth, he might devour her offspring.

5. And she brought forth a son, a male, who was to tend all nations with a rod of iron; and her offspring was caught up unto God and His throne.

6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared by God, that they may nourish her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days.

7. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels.

8. And they prevailed not, and their place was not found any more in heaven.

9. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the Devil and Satan, that seduceth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

10. And I heard a great voice in heaven saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, that accused them before our God day and night.

11. And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of their testimony; and they loved not their soul even unto death.

12. For this rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to those that inhabit the earth and the sea, for the Devil is come down unto you, having great anger, knowing that he hath but a short time.

13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman that brought forth the son.

14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time [and times],⁴⁵ and half a time, from the face of the serpent.

15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a river after the woman, that he might cause her to be swallowed up by the river.

16. And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth.

17. And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

18. And I stood upon the sand of the sea.⁴⁶

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

It treats here of the New Church and its doctrine: by “the woman” is here meant the New Church, and by “the offspring” which she brought forth, its doctrine: and it also treats of those in the present church, who from doctrine believe in a Trinity of Persons, and in the duality of the Person of Christ, likewise in justification by faith alone; these are meant by “the dragon.” Then it treats of the persecution of the New Church by these, on account of its doctrine, and its protection by the Lord, until from a few it increases among many.

The contents of each verse, (Revelation 12:1)

Verse 1. “And a great sign was seen in heaven,” signifies revelation from the Lord concerning His New Church in the heavens and on earth, and concerning the difficult reception of and resistance to its doctrine, (532). “A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,” signifies the Lord’s New Church in the heavens, which is the New Heaven, and the Lord’s New Church about to be upon earth, which is the New Jerusalem, (533). “And upon the head a crown of twelve stars,” signifies its wisdom and intelligence from the knowledges of Divine good and Divine truth from the Word, (534).

Verse 2. “And being with child, she cried travailing and pained to bring forth,” signifies the doctrine of the New Church about to come forth, and its difficult reception on account of the resistance by those who are meant by the dragon, (535).

Verse 3. “And another sign was seen in heaven,” signifies revelation from the Lord concerning those who are against the New Church and its doctrine, (536). “And behold a great red dragon,” signifies those in the Church of the Reformed who make God three and the Lord two, and who separate charity from faith, and make faith saving, and not charity at the same time, (537). “Having seven heads,” signifies insanity from the truths of the Word falsified and profaned, (538). “And ten horns,” signifies much power, (539). “And upon his heads seven diadems,” signifies all the truths of the Word falsified and profaned, (540).

Verse 4. “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth,” signifies that by falsifications of the truths of the Word they have alienated all spiritual knowledges of good and truth from the church, and by applications to falsities have entirely destroyed them, (541). “And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, that after she had brought forth, he might devour her offspring,” signifies that they who are meant by “the dragon” will endeavor to extinguish the doctrine of the New Church at its first appearance, (542).

Verse 5. “And she brought forth a son, a male,” signifies the doctrine of the New Church, (543). “Who was to tend all nations with a rod of iron,” signifies which, by truths from the literal sense of the Word, and, at the same time, by rational things from natural light will convince all who are in dead worship from faith separated from charity, that are willing to be convinced, (544). “And her offspring was caught up unto God and His throne,” signifies the protection of the doctrine by the Lord, and its being guarded by the angels of heaven, (545).

Verse 6. “And the woman fled into the wilderness,” signifies the church at first among a few, (546). “Where she hath a place prepared by God, that they may nourish her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days,” signifies the state of that church then, that meanwhile provision is making for its increase among many until it arrives at its full growth, (547).

Verse 7. “And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels,” signifies the falsities of the former church fighting against the truths of the New Church, (548).

Verse 8. “And they prevailed not, and their place was not found any more in heaven;” signifies that they were convinced of being in falsities and evils, but still they remained in them, and that therefore they were torn away from conjunction with heaven and cast down, (549).

Verse 9. “And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan,” signifies this turning from the Lord to themselves, and from heaven to the world, and thence coming into the evils of their lusts and into falsities, (550). “That seduceth the whole world,” signifies that they pervert all things of the church, (551). “He was cast out into the earth, and his angels ¹ with him,” signifies into the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell, from whence there is immediate conjunction with men upon earth, (552).

Verse 10. “And I heard a great voice in heaven saying, Now is come the salvation and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ,” signifies the joy of the angels of heaven, because the Lord alone now reigns in heaven and in the church, and that they are saved who believe in him, (553). “For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, that accused them before our God day and night,” signifies that by the Last Judgment they are removed who opposed the doctrine of the New Church, (554).

Verse 11. “And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of their testimony,” signifies victory by the Divine truth of the Word, and by the acknowledgment of the Lord, (555). “And they loved not their soul even unto death,” signifies who did not love themselves more than the Lord, (556).

Verse 12. “For this rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them,” signifies a new state of heaven, that they are in the Lord and the Lord in them, (557). “Woe to those that inhabit the earth and the sea! for the Devil is come down unto you, having great anger,” signifies lamentation over those in the church who are in the falsities of faith, and thence in evils of life, because they are in conjunction with the dragon, (558). “Knowing that he hath but a short time,” signifies, because he knows that the New Heaven is formed, and that thus there is about to be the New Church upon earth, and that then he with his like will be cast into hell, (559).

Verse 13. “And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman that brought forth the son,” signifies that the dragonists in the world of spirits, immediately upon their being thrust down, began to infest the New Church on account of its doctrine, (560).

Verse 14. “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place,” signifies the Divine circumspection over that church, and its protection, while as yet confined to a few, (561). “Where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent,” signifies that by reason of the craftiness of seducers, provision is made with circumspection that its numbers may increase until it comes to its full growth, (562).

Verse 15. “And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a river after the woman, that he might cause her to be swallowed up by the river,” signifies reasonings from falsities in abundance to destroy the church, (563).

Verse 16. “And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth,” signifies that those reasonings in all their abundance fall to nothing before the spiritual truths rationally understood, which the Michaels, of whom the New Church consists, bring forward, (564).

Verse 17. “And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” signifies hatred kindled in those who think themselves wise from their confirmations of the mystical union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord, and of justification by faith alone, against those who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth, and that the Decalogue is the law of life; and their assaults on novitiates with intent to seduce them, (565a).

Verse 18. [English Bible 13:1]. “And I stood upon the sand of the sea,” signifies his state now spiritual-natural, (565).

1. The original Latin omits “were cast out, (Revelation 12:1).”

THE EXPLANATION.

Verse 1. And a great sign was seen in heaven, signifies revelation from the Lord concerning His New Church in the heavens and on earth, and concerning the difficult reception and resistance to its doctrine. By “a sign from heaven” is here meant a revelation concerning things to come; and by “a great sign seen in heaven” is meant a revelation concerning the New Church, for “the woman clothed with the sun,” which is the subject treated of in this chapter, signifies that church. “The male” which she brought forth signifies its doctrine; her being pained to bring forth signifies its difficult reception; “the dragon desiring to devour the male” and afterward “he persecuted the woman,” signifies the resistance it meets with. These things are meant by “a great sign was seen in heaven.”“A sign” is mentioned in the Word of things to come, and then it is revelation; it is also spoken of truth, and then it is testification; and it is also spoken of the quality of any state or thing, and then it is manifestation. “A sign” is spoken of things to come, and then it is revelation, in the following passages:

They shall tell you what shall happen, that we may know their end, or make you hear things to come; show signs of the future, (Isaiah 41:22-23).

The disciples said unto Jesus, What shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age? (Matthew 24:3; Mark 13:4; Luke 21:7).

There shall be signs from heaven, and signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, (Luke 21:11, 25).

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man, (Matthew 24:30).

It was said unto king Hezekiah, This shall be a sign unto thee that Jehovah will do this thing, the shadow on the degrees of Ahaz shall be brought back. Afterwards Hezekiah said, What is the sign that I shall go up into the house of Jehovah? (Isaiah 38:7-8, 22; and in other places).

That “a sign” is said of truth, and then it is testification, and also it is said of the quality of any state, and then it is manifestation, is evident from other passages in the Word.

533. A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, signifies the Lord’s New Church in the heavens, which is the New Heaven, and the Lord’s New Church about to be upon earth, which is the New Jerusalem. That the Lord’s New Church is signified by this “woman,” is evident from the particulars in this chapter understood in the spiritual sense; that by “a woman,” in other parts of the Word also, the church is signified, may be seen, (434); and the church is signified, because the church is called the Bride and Wife of the Lord. The reason why she was seen “clothed with the sun,” is because the church is in love to the Lord, for it acknowledges Him and does His commandments, and this is to love Him, (John 14:21-24). That “the sun” signifies love (see 53). The reason why “the moon” was seen under the woman’s feet is because the church on earth, which is not yet conjoined with the church in the heavens, is meant. By “the moon” is signified intelligence in the natural man, and faith, (423); and by being seen “under the feet,” is signified that it is about to be upon earth; otherwise by “feet” is signified the church itself when it is conjoined.

[2] It is to be known, that there is a church in the heavens as well as on earth, for there also is the Word; there are temples also, and preachings in them, and there are ministerial and priestly offices. For all angels there were men, and their departure out of the world was only a continuation of their life; therefore they are also perfected in love and wisdom, everyone according to the degree of the affection of truth and good which he took with him out of the world. The church among them is here meant by “the woman clothed with the sun,” who had upon her head a crown of twelve stars;” but because the church in the heavens cannot subsist, except there be also a church on earth, which is in concordant love and wisdom, and as this was about to be, therefore “the moon was seen under the feet of the woman,” which here specifically signifies faith, by which, such as it is at this day, there is no conjunction.

[3] The reason why the church cannot subsist in the heavens unless there is a church on earth in conjunction with it, is because heaven where angels are, and the church where men are, act as one, like the internal and the external with man; and the internal with man cannot subsist with its state, unless an external be conjoined with it; for an internal without an external is like a house without a foundation, or like seed upon the ground and not in the ground, thus like anything without a root; in a word, like a cause without an effect in which it may exist. From these things, it may be seen how absolutely necessary it is that there should be a church somewhere in the world, where the Word is, and where by it the Lord is known.

534. And upon her head a crown of twelve stars, signifies its wisdom and intelligence from knowledges of Divine good and Divine truth from the Word. By “the crown upon the head” is signified wisdom and intelligence, (189, 235, 252); by “stars” are signified the knowledges of Divine good and Divine truth from the Word, (51, 420); and by “twelve” are signified all things of the church, which have relation to its good and truth, (348); consequently, by “a crown of twelve stars on the woman’s head,” is signified the wisdom and intelligence of the New Church from the knowledges of Divine good and Divine truth from the Word.

535. Verse 2. And being with child, she cried, travailing, and pained to bring forth, signifies the nascent doctrine of the New Church, and its difficult reception on account of the resistance by those who are meant by “the dragon.”“To be with child” signifies the nascent doctrine, because by “the offspring which was in the womb” (whose birth is treated of in verse 5), is signified the doctrine of the New Church; for nothing else is signified by “being with child,” “in travail,” and “bringing forth,” in the spiritual sense of the Word, than to conceive and bring forth those things which are of spiritual life, concerning which presently. By “she cried, travailing, and pained to bring forth,” is signified the difficult reception of that doctrine, because of resistance by those who are meant by “the dragon.” This is plain from what follows in this chapter, as “that the dragon stood before the woman about to bring forth, that he might devour her offspring,” and afterwards he pursued her into the wilderness.

[2] That by “being with child,” “travailing,” and “bringing forth,” nothing else is signified in the Word, appears from the following passages:

Jesus said, except one be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God; that which is born of the flesh is flesh, but that which is born of the spirit is spirit, (John 3:3-6).

Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear, shout, thou that didst not travail, for more are the sons of the desolate than the sons of the married, (Isaiah 54:1).

They have ceased until the barren hath borne seven, and she that hath many children lacketh, (1 Samuel 2:5).

By “the barren” are signified the Gentiles, who had no genuine truths, because they had not the Word; by “the married” and “she that hath many children” are signified the Jews who had the Word.

She that hath borne seven languisheth, she hath breathed out her soul, (Jeremiah 15:9).

Speaking also of the Jews:

We have conceived, we have travailed, we have as it were brought forth wind, we have not wrought any deliverance in the earth, (Isaiah 26:18).

Before she travailed, she brought forth, before her pain came she was delivered of a male; hath the earth travailed in one day, shall a nation be born at once? shall I break and not bring forth? and cause to be generated and shut, (Isaiah 66:7-9)?

Thou travailest, O earth, before the Lord, before the God of Jacob, (Psalms 114:7).

Alas, this day, sons have come to the mouth of the matrix, and there is not strength to bring forth, (Isaiah 37:3).

Sin shall travail, and No shall be for a breaking through, (Ezekiel 30:15-16).

I have heard the voice of one sick, as of her that travaileth with her first born, the voice of the daughter of Zion, she sighs, she spreadeth her hands, Woe is me, my soul is wearied because of slayers, (Jeremiah 4:31).

Pangs and sorrows take hold, they travail like one bringing forth, (Isaiah 13:8).

The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, the pains of one in travail shall come upon him; he is a son not wise, for he stayeth not the time in the womb of sons, (Hosea 13:12-13).

Ephraim, thy glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the belly, and from conception; give them, O Jehovah, a miscarrying womb, and dry breasts; even when they have begotten, I will slay the desires of their belly, (Hosea 9:11, 14, 16).

In these passages also is described the difficulty of receiving the truths of doctrine from the Word, by many things relating to “pain in bringing forth,” and in like manner in many other places. Moreover, Jehovah, that is, the Lord, is called “the Former from the womb” (Isaiah 44:2, 24; 49:1, 5); and by “Former from the womb” is meant the Reformer.

536. Verse 3. And another sign was seen in heaven, signifies revelation from the Lord concerning those who are against the New Church and its doctrine. By “a sign” is signified revelation from the Lord, as above, (532). It is called “another sign” because it is a revelation concerning those who will be against the New Church.

537. And behold, a great red dragon, signifies those in the church of the Reformed who make God three, and the Lord two, and separate charity from faith, and who make faith saving but not charity together with it. These are here meant, and in what follows, by “the dragon;” for they are against the two essentials of the New Church, which are, that God is one in Essence and in Person, in whom there is a Trinity, and that the Lord is that God; also that charity and faith are one like an essence and its form; and that no others have charity and faith, but they who live according to the commandments of the Decalogue, which are that evils are not be done; and so far as anyone does not do evils, shunning them as sins against God, in the same proportion he does the goods which are of charity, and believes the truths which are of faith.

[2] That they who make God three, and the Lord two, and who separate charity from faith, and make faith saving, and not charity, are against those two essentials of the New Church, may be seen by anyone who considers the matter. It is said, they who make God three, and the Lord two, by whom are meant those who think of three Persons as three Gods, and separate the Lord’s Human from His Divine. And who thinks otherwise, or can think otherwise, whilst, according to a formula of faith, he prays, “That God the Father for the sake of the Son would send the Holy Spirit?” Does he not pray to God the Father as to one God, and for the sake of the Son as another, and concerning the Holy Spirit as a third? From which it is evident that although in thought he makes three Persons one God, still he divides them, that is, divides his idea into three gods when he so prays. The same formula of faith also makes the Lord two, since he thinks only of the Lord’s Human, and not at the same time of His Divine; “for the sake of the Son” means for the sake of His Human which suffered the cross. From what has now been said, it may appear who they are that are meant by the dragon, who would devour the woman’s offspring, and afterwards “pursued the woman into the wilderness on account of her offspring.”

[3] The reason why the dragon is called “great,” is because all the churches of the Reformed distinguish God into three Persons, and make faith alone saving, except some here and there, who do not think alike concerning the Trinity, and concerning faith. They who divide God into three Persons, and adhere to these words of the Athanasian doctrine, “There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit;” and also to these, “The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;” these, I say, cannot make one God out of three; they may indeed say that they are one God, but they cannot think so. In like manner they who think concerning the Lord’s Divine from eternity as concerning the second Person of the Divinity, and concerning His Human in time as concerning the human of another man, cannot do otherwise than make the Lord two, although it is said in the Athanasian doctrine that His Divine and Human are one Person, united as the soul and the body.

[4] The dragon is called “red” because “red” signifies falsity from the evils of lusts, which is infernal falsity. Now because these two essentials of the doctrine in the churches of Reformed are falsities, and as falsities devastate the church, since they take away its truths and goods, therefore they were represented by “a dragon.” The reason is, because by “a dragon,” in the Word, is signified the devastation of the church, as may appear from the following passages:

I will make Jerusalem heaps, a habitation of dragons, and I will reduce the cities of Judah to a waste, (Jeremiah 9:11).

Behold, a great tumult out of the land of the north, to reduce the cities of Judah to a waste, a habitation of dragons, (Jeremiah 10:22).

Hazor shall become a habitation of dragons, a desolation forever, (Jeremiah 49:13).

That it may be a habitation of dragons, a court for the daughters of the owl, (Isaiah 34:13).

In the habitation of dragons is his couch, (Isaiah 35:7).

I will go despoiled and naked, I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning like the daughters of the owl, (Micah 1:8).

I cried, I am become a brother to dragons, and a companion to the daughters of the screech owl, (Job 30:28-29).

The ijim shall answer in his palaces, and dragons in temples, (Isaiah 13:22).

Babylon shall become heaps, a habitation of dragons, a hissing and an astonishment, (Jeremiah 51:37).

Thou hast broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death, (Psalms 44:19).

I have laid the mountains of Esau and his heritage a waste for the dragons of the wilderness, (Malachi 1:3, besides other places; as in Isaiah 43:20; Jeremiah 14:6; Psalms 91:13-14; Deuteronomy 32:33).

[5] That by “the dragon” are here meant those who are in faith alone, and reject the works of the law as not saving, has sometimes been testified to me in the spiritual world by living experience. I have seen several thousands of them assembled together, when from a distance they have appeared like a dragon with a long tail, that seemed set with spines like thorns, which signified falsities. Once, also, there was seen a dragon still larger, which raising his back and lifting up his tail towards heaven, endeavored to draw down the stars from thence. Thus it was made manifest before my eyes that no others are meant by “the dragon.”

538. Having seven heads, signifies insanity from the truths of the Word falsified and profaned. By “the head” is signified wisdom and intelligence, and, in the opposite sense, insanity; but by “seven heads” here, because they were the dragon’s, is properly signified insanity from the truths of the Word falsified and profaned; for “seven” is predicated of things holy, and, in the opposite sense, of things profane, (10); therefore it follows that on his heads were seen “seven diadems,” and by “diadems” are signified the truths of the Word, here falsified and profaned. That by “the head” is signified wisdom and intelligence, is plain from these passages:

I will give you men wise, and intelligent, and make them your heads, (Deuteronomy 1:13).

Jehovah hath closed your eyes, the prophets, and your heads, the seers, hath he covered, (Isaiah 29:10).

By the head of Nebuchadnezzar’s image of pure gold, (Daniel 2:32),

nothing else is signified but the wisdom of the first age, which was with the men of the Most Ancient Church. By “the head” in the opposite sense is signified insanity and folly; in David:

God shall wound the head of the enemies, the hairy crown of him who goeth on in his guilt, (Psalms 68:21).

Nor is anything else signified by “the head of the serpent,” which was to be trodden down, (Genesis 3:15); and by “smiting the head over many countries” (Psalms 110:6-7); also by “putting dust on the head;” and by “inducing baldness,” and by “putting the hand on the head,” when they were ashamed, or grieved at having acted insanely against wisdom, (Isaiah 7:20; 15:2; Ezekiel 7:18; 27:30; Jeremiah 2:37; 14:3-4; Lamentations 2:10; 2 Samuel 13:19). But by “seven heads” is also signified insanity from truths falsified and profaned in what follows in Revelation 13:1, 3; 17:3, 7, 9.

539. And ten horns, signifies much power. “A horn” signifies power, (270), and “ten” signifies much, (101[1-3]). The reason why it is said that the dragon has much power, is, because the salvation of man by faith alone, without the works of the law, which faith is meant by “the dragon,” captivates minds, and then confirmations persuade. It captivates, because man, on hearing that the damnation of the law is taken away, and the Lord’s merit is imputed to him through faith alone in this, he can indulge in the pleasures of his mind and body, without any fear of hell; hence comes the power which is signified by “the ten horns of the dragon.” That such has been his power, evidently appears from the reception of that faith everywhere throughout the Reformed Christian world.

540. And upon his heads, seven diadems, signifies all the truths of the Word falsified and profaned. By “diadems” or precious stones, are signified the truths of the Word; specifically, the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, but here, those truths falsified and profaned, from their being seen “upon the seven heads of the dragon,” by which is signified insanity from truths falsified and profaned, (538).

[2] That by “diadems,” or precious stones, are signified the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Concerning the Sacred Scripture, (Doctrine of Sacred Scripture 43-45); where it is shown that Divine truths in ultimates, which are the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, are signified by:

The twelve precious stones in the breastplate of Aaron, which was the Urim and Thummim, (Exodus 28:6, 15-21, 30).

And by the precious stones in the garden of Eden, in which the king of Tyre is said to have been, (Ezekiel 28:12-13).

Also by the twelve precious stones, of which the foundations of the wall of the New Jerusalem consisted, (Revelation 21:17-20).

The truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are signified by “diadems,” or precious stones, because all things of the sense of the letter of the Word are transparent before angels, from its spiritual sense, thus from the light of heaven, in which the spiritual truths of the Word are; for “a stone,” in the Word, signifies truth in ultimates; hence, “a precious stone” signifies that truth transparent.

[3] The reason why the truths of the Word, when falsified and profaned, are also called “diadems,” is because they shine from themselves, whether they be possessed by this person or that; in the same manner as diadems on earth, in whosesoever hand they are. It has sometimes been given me to see adulterous women, on their first coming from the earth into the world of spirits, decked with diadems; and Jews, likewise, selling diadems, which they had procured to themselves from heaven; from which it was plain, that evils and falsities, with such, do not change the light and splendor of the truths of the Word. Therefore the like is signified by:

The ten diadems upon the horns of the beast which came up out of the sea, (Revelation 13:1).

And by the precious stones on the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, (Revelation 17:3-5).

That the truths of the Word are what are signified by “diadems,” appears manifestly in Revelation, that:

There were seen upon the head of Him who sat upon the white horse, and whose name was the Word of God, many diadems, (Revelation 19:12-13).

541. Verse 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth, signifies that by falsifications of the truths of the Word they have alienated all spiritual knowledges of good and truth from the church, and, by applications to falsities, have entirely destroyed them. By “the tail,” when the subject treated of relates to those who have confirmed heretical things from the Word, are signified the truths of the Word falsified, (438); by “stars” are signified spiritual knowledges of good and truth, (51, 420); by “the third part” is signified all, (400, 505); and by “drawing them from heaven, and casting them to the earth,” is signified to alienate them from the church, and to destroy them utterly; for when they are drawn down from heaven, they are also drawn down from the church, because every truth of the Word is insinuated from the Lord through heaven into the man of the church; nor are truths drawn down by anything else than by falsifications of them in the Word, since there and thence are the truths of heaven and the church.

[2] That all the truths of the Word have been destroyed by those who are meant by “the dragon” spoken of above, (537), cannot be believed by anyone in the world, and yet they have been so destroyed, so that not one doctrinal truth remains; this was examined into in the spiritual world, with the learned of the clergy, and was found to be so. The reasons I know, but I shall here mention only one of them. They assert, that whatsoever proceeds from man’s will and judgment is not good; and that therefore the goods of charity, or good works, being done by man, contribute nothing to salvation, but faith only; when, nevertheless, that alone, by virtue of which man is man, and by which he is conjoined with the Lord, is that he can do good and believe truth, as from himself, that is, as from his own will according to his own judgment. If this faculty were taken away from him, all power of conjunction of man with the Lord, and of the Lord with man, would also be taken away at the same time; for this is the reciprocal of love, which the Lord gives to everyone who is born a man, and which He also preserves in him to the end of his life, and afterwards to eternity. If this were taken away from man, every truth and good of the Word would also be taken away, insomuch that the Word would be nothing but a dead letter and an empty volume; for the Word teaches nothing but the conjunction of man with the Lord by charity and faith, and both from man as from himself.

[3] They who are meant by “the dragon” (spoken of above, 537), have broken this only bond of conjunction, by asserting that the goods of charity, or good works, which proceed from man, and his will and judgment, are only moral, civil, and political works, by which man has conjunction with the world, and none at all with God and with heaven; and when that bond is thus broken, there is then no doctrinal truth of the Word remaining; and if the truths of the Word are applied to confirm faith alone as saving without the works of the law, then they are all falsified; and if the falsification proceeds so far as to affirm, that the Lord has not commanded good works in the Word for the sake of man’s conjunction with Himself, but only for the sake of his conjunction with the world, then the truths of the Word are profaned; for thus the Word becomes no longer a Holy Book, but a profane book; but see the experience on this subject at the end of the chapter. The like things are signified by these words in Daniel, concerning the he-goat:

The he-goat with his horn cast down some of the host of heaven and of the stars to the earth, and trampled upon them; and he cast down truth to the earth, (Daniel 8:10, 12).

542. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to bring forth, that after she had brought forth, he might devour her offspring, signifies that they who are meant by “the dragon” will endeavor to extinguish the doctrine of the New Church in its first origin. Who they are that are meant by “the dragon” may be seen above, (537); that by “the woman” is signified the New Church, (533); that by “bringing forth” is signified to receive the goods and truths of doctrine from the Word, (535); that by “the offspring” which she brought forth is signified the doctrine of the New Church, will be seen in the next article. “To devour” signifies to extinguish, because by “the offspring” is signified doctrine; and when “to devour” is said in relation to the offspring, to extinguish is said in relation to doctrine. The reason why this was the case in its first origin, is because it is said, that “the dragon” stood before the woman, to devour her offspring after she had brought forth.

543. Verse 5. And she brought forth a son, a male, signifies the doctrine of the New Church. By “a son,” in the Word, is signified the truth of doctrine, and also the understanding, and thence the thought, of truth and good; but by “a daughter” is signified the good of doctrine, as also the will, and thence the affection of truth and good; and by “a son, a male” is signified truth conceived in the spiritual man, and born in the natural man. The reason is, because by “generations and births,” in the Word, are signified spiritual generations and births, all which in general relate to good and truth, (535); for nothing else is begotten and born of the Lord as Husband, and of the church as Wife. Now since by “the woman” who brought forth is signified the New Church, (533), it is plain that by “the son, a male” is signified the doctrine of that church. The doctrine here meant is The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, published in London, 1758; as also The Doctrines concerning the Lord, concerning The Sacred Scripture, and concerning Life according to the Commandments of the Decalogue, published in Amsterdam; for by doctrine all the truths of doctrine are meant, because doctrine is the complex of them. When these doctrines were written, the dragonists stood around me, and endeavored, with all their fury, to devour, that is, to extinguish them. This news it is permitted me to relate, because of a truth it so happened. The dragonists who stood around me were from all parts of the Reformed Christian world.

[2] Since there is no other offspring born from the spiritual marriage, a male offspring is truth and good in the understanding and thence in the thought; and a female offspring is truth and good in the will, and thence in the affections; therefore by “a son” in the Word is signified truth. To confirm this some passages shall be adduced, from which this may in some measure be seen:

Lo, sons are an heritage of Jehovah, and the fruit of the belly is His reward; as arrows in the hand of a mighty man, so are the sons of youth, (Psalms 127:3-5).

Make thee bald, and poll thee for the sons of thy delights, for they have gone from thee, (Micah 1:16).

I saw two olive trees near the lampstand; and he said, These are the two sons of the olive tree that stand near the Lord of the whole earth, (Zechariah 4:11, 14).

My tent is devastated, My sons have gone forth from Me, and they are not, (Jeremiah 10:20).

My sons are become devastated, because the enemy hath prevailed, (Lamentations 1:16).

Thy sons, O Jerusalem, have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, (Isaiah 51:20).

The fathers shall eat the sons in the midst of thee, and the sons shall eat their fathers, and the whole remnant of thee will I scatter to every wind, (Ezekiel 5:10).

The son shall be divided against the father, and the father against the son, (Matthew 10:21; Mark 13:12; Luke 12:53).

Thou hast taken the vessels of thy ornament from My gold, and hast made to thyself images of a male, with which thou didst commit whoredom, (Ezekiel 16:17).

Jesus said, The seed are the sons of the kingdom, and the tares are the sons of the evil one, (Matthew 13:38).

[3] That “the Son of man” is the Divine truth of the Word, thus the Lord, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (19-28). In the passages quoted above, by “sons” are meant they who are in truths of doctrine from the Word, and, abstractly, the truths themselves; in like manner in other places; as in Isaiah 13:17-18; 14:21-22; 43:6; 49:17, 22; 51:17-18; 60:9; Jeremiah 3:24-25; 5:17; Ezekiel 14:16-18, 20; 16:20, 36, 45; 20:26, 31; 23:37; Hosea 11:9-11; Zechariah 9:13; Psalms 144:11-12; Deuteronomy 32:8. That by “a daughter” is signified the affection of the truth of the church, thus the church as to that affection, appears from so many passages in the Word, that to adduce them would fill many pages; nothing else is meant by “the daughter of Zion,” “the daughter of Jerusalem,” “the daughter of Judah,” “the daughter of Israel.” Some passages respecting “the daughter of Zion” may be seen adduced, (612). Who cannot see that not any “daughter of Zion,” “Jerusalem,” “Judah,” and “Israel,” so often mentioned in the Word, can be meant?

544. Who was to tend all nations with a rod of iron, signifies which, by truths from the sense of the letter of the Word, and, at the same time, by rational things from natural light, will convince all who are in dead worship from faith separated from charity, that are willing to be convinced. This is concerning the doctrine of the New Church, because it is spoken of “the son a male,” by whom that doctrine is signified, (543); “to tend” signifies to teach and instruct, (383); here to convince those who are willing to be convinced; by “nations” are signified they who are in evils of life, (483); here, they who are in dead worship from faith separated from charity, because these are here treated of; and these are in evils of life, for when charity is separated, there is not any good of life, and where good is not, there evil is. That “to rule with a rod of iron” signifies by the truths of the literal sense of the Word, and, at the same time, by rational things from natural light, may be seen above, (148).

545. And her offspring was caught up unto God and His throne, signifies the protection of the doctrine by the Lord, because it is for the New Church, and its being guarded by the angels of heaven. By these words is signified the protection of the doctrine by the Lord, because it is said that “the dragon stood before the woman about to bring forth, to devour her offspring after it was brought forth;” and by “offspring” and “a son, a male” is signified the doctrine for the New Church, (542, 543). Being guarded by the angels is also signified, because it is said, that “it was caught up unto God and to His throne;” and by “a throne” is signified the angelic heaven, (14, 221, 222).

546. Verse 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, signifies the church which is the New Jerusalem, at first among a few. By “the woman” is signified the New Church, (533); and by “a wilderness” is signified where there are no longer any truths. That its being at first among a few is signified, because it follows, “where she hath a place prepared by God, that they should nourish her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days,” by which is signified its state at that time, that in the meanwhile it may be provided among many; even until it increases to its appointed state, (547). By “a wilderness,” in the Word, is signified: (1) The church devastated, or in which all the truths of the Word are falsified, such as it was among the Jews at the time of the Lord’s advent. (2) The church in which there are no truths, because they have not the Word, such as it was among the upright Gentiles in the Lord’s time. (3) A state of temptation in which man is, as it were, without truths, because he is surrounded by evil spirits who induce temptations, and then as it were they deprive him of truths.

[2] (1) That by “a wilderness” is signified the church devastated, or in which all the truths of the Word are falsified, such as it was among the Jews in the Lord’s time, appears from these passages:

Is this the man that made the earth to quake, that did shake kingdoms, that made the world a wilderness? (Isaiah 14:16-17).

This is concerning Babylon:

Thorns and briers are come up on the land of My people; the palace shall be a wilderness, (Isaiah 32:13-14).

I saw, and lo, Carmel was a wilderness, the whole land shall be waste, (Jeremiah 4:26-27).

“The earth” is the church, (285):

The pastors have destroyed My vineyard, they have made My desirable places a wilderness of solitude; the wasters are come in the wilderness, (Jeremiah 12:10, 12).

A vine is planted in the wilderness, in a dry and thirsty land, (Ezekiel 19:13).

The fire hath consumed the habitations of the wilderness, (Joel 1:19-20).

The day of Jehovah cometh, the land is as the garden of Eden before Him, but behind Him a waste wilderness, (Joel 2:1, 3).

See ye the word of Jehovah; have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of darkness? (Jeremiah 2:31).

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of Jehovah; make straight in the desert a highway for our God, (Isaiah 40:3; besides other places; as in Isaiah 33:9; Jeremiah 3:2; 23:10; Lamentations 5:9; Hosea 2:2-3; 13:15; Joel 3:19; Malachi 1:3; Psalms 107:33-34; Matthew 24:26; Luke 13:35).

That such also is the state of the church at this day, may be seen below, (566).

[3] (2) That by “a wilderness” is signified the church in which there are no truths, because they have not the Word, as with the upright Gentiles in the Lord’s time, appears from these passages:

The spirit shall be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness shall be a fruitful field, then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, (Isaiah 32:15-16).

I will place fountains in the midst of the valleys, and make the wilderness a pool of waters; I will give in the wilderness the cedar, shittim, and the olive tree, (Isaiah 41:18-19).

He shall make the wilderness into a pool of waters and the dry land to springs of water, (Psalms 107:35).

I will make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My people, My chosen, (Isaiah 43:19-20).

Jehovah will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah; gladness and joy shall be found therein, (Isaiah 51:3).

The habitations of the wilderness drop, (Psalms 65:12).

Let the wilderness lift up its voice, let the inhabitants of the rock sing, (Isaiah 42:11).

[4] (3) That by “a wilderness” is signified a state of temptation, in which man is as it were without truths, because surrounded by evil spirits, who induce temptation, and then as it were deprive him of truths, appears from Matthew 4:1-3; Mark 1:12-13;Luke 4:1-3; Ezekiel 20:34-37; Jeremiah 2:2, 6-7; Hosea 2:13-16; Psalms 107:4-7; Deuteronomy 1:31, 33; 8:2-4, 15-16; 32:10.

547. Where she hath a place prepared by God, that they may nourish her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days, signifies the state of the church at that time, that in the meantime it may be provided among many, even until it increases to its appointed state. By “place” is signified state, (947); and by “to nourish,” provision for its increase, for thus is the church nourished; hence by “having a place prepared by God that they may nourish her,” is signified the state of the church that in the meantime it may be provided among many; by “a thousand two hundred and sixty days” is signified to the end and the beginning, (491), that is, to the end of the former church and the beginning of the New, the same as by a time, and times, and half a time, verse 14 (562); thus, also, to its appointed state, that is, until it exists as has been provided. It is of the Lord’s Divine providence, that the church should at first be among a few, and that it should successively increase among many, because the falsities of the former church must first be removed; for before this, truths cannot be received, since truths, which are received and implanted before falsities are removed, do not remain, and they are also dissipated by the dragonists; the like happened with the Christian church, which increased successively from a few to many. Another reason is, that the New Heaven is first to be formed, which will act as one with the church that will be on earth; therefore we read that:

He saw a New Heaven, and the Holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:1-2).

It is certain that the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, will exist, because it is foretold in Revelation (Revelation 21-22); and it is also certain that the falsities of the former church are first to be removed, because they are what it treats of in Revelation as far as chapter 20.

548. Verse 7. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, signifies the falsities of the former church fighting against the truths of the New Church. By “war” is signified spiritual war, which is of falsity against truth, and truth against falsity, (500), for no other war can take place in heaven, where this is said to have existed; neither can it take place in heaven, when once formed of angels; but it was done in “the former heaven which passed away” (spoken of in Revelation 21:1). Concerning which heaven, see the explanation there given; for that heaven passed away by the Last Judgment on the dragon and his angels, which is also signified by “the dragon was cast down, and his place was found no more in heaven,” as appears from what follows. What the falsities are, which are meant by “the dragon,” and which are about to fight against the truths of the New Church, may be seen above, (537). By “Michael” is not meant any archangel; neither by “Gabriel, and Raphael,” but ministries in heaven are meant; the ministry signified by “Michael” is performed by those who confirm from the Word, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that God the Father and He are one, as the soul and body are one; also that men ought to live according to the commandments of the Decalogue, and that then men have charity and faith. “Michael” is also mentioned in Daniel 10:13, 21; 10:2; 12:1); and by him a similar ministry is meant, as appears from chapters 9-11, and from the last verses of chapter 12. But by “Gabriel” is meant the ministry of those who teach from the Word, that Jehovah came into the world, and that the Human He there assumed is the Son of God, and Divine; for which reason, the angel who announced the same to Mary is called “Gabriel” (Luke 1:19, 26-35). They also, who are engaged in those ministries, are named “Michaels” and “Gabriels” in heaven. By “an angel,” in the highest sense, is meant the Lord; and, in a relative sense, the heaven of angels, as also an angelic society as may be seen above, (5, 65, 258, 342, 344, 415, 465); but here, a ministry is signified, because they are mentioned by name; and, in Daniel, Michael is called “a prince;” and by “a prince” in the Word, is signified a principal truth, and by “a king,” truth itself, (20).

549. Verse 8. And they prevailed not, and their place was not found any more in heaven, signifies that they were convicted of being in falsities and evils, but still they remained in them, and that therefore they were torn away from conjunction with heaven and cast down. That this may be understood, something must first be said concerning the state of those who come into the other life after death. All there are first instructed by angels, and led from one society to another, and explored whether they will receive the truths of heaven, and live according to them. But still, all those who have confirmed themselves in falsities in the world do not receive them; therefore they are sent into societies where they are who are in similar falsities, which societies have no conjunction with heaven, but with hell. Therefore after some time in the world of spirits they sink down into hell, and are sent away to their places, everyone according to his evil and falsity thence; this is what is meant by their being convicted of being in falsities and evils, and still they remain in them, and that therefore they are torn away from conjunction with heaven, and cast down. What their lot is there, may be seen above, (153, 531).

550. Verse 9. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, signifies that they who are meant by “the dragon” turned from the Lord to themselves, and from heaven to the world, and thence became sensual from the corporeal, who could not but be in the evils of their lusts and thence in falsities, and by separation from the Lord and heaven became devils and satans. Who are meant by “the dragon,” may be seen, (537); these, inasmuch as they make God three, and the Lord two, and because they place the commandments of the Decalogue among works by which there is not any salvation, are called “the old serpent, the Devil, and Satan;” and by “a serpent” is signified a man sensual from the corporeal, (424), who turns from the Lord to himself, and from heaven to the world; and by “the Devil” are signified they who are in the evils of lusts; and by “Satan,” they who are thence in falsities, (97, 153, 856, 857). Such, also, was the serpent which seduced Eve and Adam, as appears from his description and the curse pronounced upon him, (Genesis 3:1-5, 14-15). “The dragon” is here called “the Devil and Satan,” but he is so called, because all in hell are devils and satans; and thence hell in the aggregate is so called.

551. That seduceth the whole world, signifies that they pervert all things of the church. By “to seduce” is signified to pervert, and by “the world” is signified the church; the same as by “earth” (285). By “the world” is not signified the world of the earth, but the church therein, in the following passages:

The earth shall mourn and be confounded, the world shall languish and be confounded, (Isaiah 24:4).

The earth shall learn Thy judgments, and the inhabitants of the world Thy justice, (Isaiah 26:9).

The Maker of the earth by Thy⁴⁷ power, preparing the world by Thy ¹ wisdom, (Jeremiah 10:12; 51:15).

The foundations of the world were revealed at the blast of Thy breath, (Psalms 17:15).

The earth is Jehovah’s and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein; He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers, (Psalms 24:1-2).

The heavens are Thine, the earth, the world and the fullness thereof Thou hast founded, (Psalms 89:11).

He will make us inherit the throne of glory, for the bases of the earth are Jehovah’s, and He hath set the world upon them, (1 Samuel 2:8).

Thou, O Babylon, hast made the world a wilderness, thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people, (Isaiah 14:17, 20 Besides other passages; as in Isaiah 18:3; 26:18; 27:6; 34:1; Nahum 1:5; Psalms 9:8; 77:18; 98:9; Lamentations 4:12; Job 18:18; Matthew 24:14; Luke 21:26; Revelation 16:14. But it is to be known, that when “the world” and “the earth” are mentioned together, “the world” signifies the church as to good, and “the earth” signifies the church as to truth.

552. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him, signifies that he was cast down into the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell, from whence there is immediate conjunction with the men of the earth [tellus]. The reason why by “the earth,” upon which the dragon is said to have been cast out, is meant the world of spirits, is, because that world is immediately beneath the heavens, and when anyone is cast down from heaven, he does not fall immediately into hell, but upon the earth of the world immediately beneath it, for that world is intermediate between heaven and hell, or below the heavens and above the hells. Many things concerning that world may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London in the year 1758 (421-535) All who are in that world communicate immediately with men upon earth; consequently, the dragon and his angels communicate with those who are in falsities, and thence in evils, through the received heresy of faith alone; on which account, it is said below, “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens; woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the Devil is come down unto you, having great anger, knowing that he hath but a short time (verse 12 of this chapter). Also that “he pursued the woman into the wilderness, and went to make war with the rest of her seed” (verses 13-17). It is to be known that every man, as to his affections and thoughts thence, is in society with those who are in the world of spirits, and mediately through them, with those who are either in heaven or in hell. The life of every man depends on that conjunction.

553. Verse 10. And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, signifies the joy of the angels of heaven, because the Lord alone now reigns in heaven and in the church, and because they are saved who believe in him. By “a great voice in heaven” is signified the joy of the angels of heaven; for which reason it follows, “Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them,” verse 12; the voice also is great because it is exalted from joy of heart. “Now is come the salvation and the power” signifies that now they are saved from the Lord’s Divine power; “and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ” signifies because the Lord alone reigns in heaven and in the church. That by “God” is meant the Divine Itself from whom are all things, and which is called Jehovah the Father; and by “Christ” is meant His Divine Human which is called the Son of God, may be seen above, (520); and because the Divine from whom are all things, and the Lord’s Divine Human are one, like the soul and the body, it follows that the Lord alone reigns. This is meant by “the gospel of the kingdom,” and by “the kingdom of God.”(Matthew 3:2; 4:17, 23; 7:21; 9:35; 11:11; 12:28; Mark 1:14-15; 9:1; 15:43; Luke 4:43; 8:1; 9:60; 10:8-11; 11:17-18, 20; 16:16; 21:31; 22:18; 23:50-51.

[2] That the Lord has all power in heaven and on earth, appears manifestly in Matthew 28:18; John 3:35; 17:2, 10. That they are saved who are in the Lord and the Lord in them, and that it is the Divine Human in which they are, John 17:14-15, 17; and that no others are saved, but they that believe in Him, appears from these passages:

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to become the sons of God, to them that believe in His name, (John 1:12).

That everyone that believeth in the Son should not perish, but have eternal life, (John 3:18).

God so loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him may have eternal life, (John 3:16).

He that believeth in the Son is not judged; but he that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Only-begotten Son of God, (John 3:18).

He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth on him, (John 3:36).

He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth in Me shall never thirst. Verily I say unto you, he that believeth in Me hath eternal life, (John 6:33, 35, 47).

Unless ye believe that I am, ye shall die in your sins, (John 8:24).

Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, shall live; whosoever liveth and believeth in Me, shall not die to eternity, (John 11:25-26 besides other places as in 6:38-40; 7:37-38; 8:12; 12:36-46.

To believe in the Lord is to approach Him immediately, and to have confidence that He saves; and since no one can have this confidence except he who lives well, therefore this also is meant by “believing in Him” (see above, 67).

554. For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, that accused them before our God day and night, signifies that by the Last Judgment they are removed who opposed the doctrine of the New Jerusalem. By the dragon “being cast down” is signified that they were removed who are meant by “the dragon;” that they were removed by being cast down from heaven into the world of spirits, and then into hell, which is their Last Judgment, was said before. By “brethren” are meant they who are the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and in a life according to it; by “accusing” is signified to oppose the doctrine, to maintain that it is false, and to cry out against it; and because they do this continually, as it were before God, the dragon is called “the accuser of our brethren, accusing them before God day and night.” This also the devil does when he tempts, for he brings forth various things out of man, which he calls falsities, and condemns.

555. Verse 11. And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of their testimony, signifies victory by the Divine truth of the Word, and thence by the acknowledgment that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that the precepts of the Decalogue are precepts of life according to which one must live. That “the blood of the Lamb” is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the Divine truth of the Word, may be seen above, (379[1-7]); at “the testimony” is the Divine truth, above, (6, 16), and that it specifically consists in these two things, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that the commandments of the Decalogue are precepts of life, (490, 506); for which reason, the Decalogue is also called “the testimony” (Exodus 25:22; 31:7, 18; 32:15; Leviticus 16:13; Numbers 17:4; Psalms 78:5; 132:12). Those at the present day, that are in faith alone, believe that, by “the blood of the Lamb,” is here meant the Lord’s passion of the cross, and this because they make the Lord’s passion of the cross the principal one of their dogmas, saying, that thereby He transferred to Himself the condemnation of the law, made satisfaction to the Father, and reconciled the human race to Him; besides many other things. That this, however, is not the case, but that the Lord came into the world to subdue the hells and glorify His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last combat, by which He fully conquered the hells and fully glorified His Human, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord 12-14. Hence it may be seen, that by “the blood of the Lamb” is not here meant the passion of the cross according to the modern dogma. That by “the blood of the Lamb” is meant the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the Divine truth of the Word, may appear from this consideration, that the Lord is the Word; and because He is the Word, the Divine truth therein is His blood, and the Divine good therein, His body. This may be made manifest in this manner: Is not every man his own good and his own truth? And, since good is of the will, and truth of the understanding, every man is his own will and his own understanding. What else constitutes a man? Is not man, as to his essence, these two? But the Lord is good itself and truth itself, that is Divine good and Divine truth, which two are also the Word.

556. And they loved not their soul unto death, signifies who loved not themselves more than the Lord. By “loving their soul” is signified to love themselves and the world, for by the soul is signified man’s own life, which everyone has by birth, which is to love himself and the world above all things; therefore by “not loving his soul” is signified not to love himself and the world more than the Lord and the things which are of the Lord; “unto death,” signifies to be willing to die rather; consequently it is to love the Lord above all things, and the neighbor as one’s self, (Matthew 22:35-39); and to be willing to die rather than recede from those two loves. The same is signified by these words of the Lord:

Whosoever will find his soul, shall lose it, and whosoever shall lose his soul for the sake of Jesus, shall find it, (Matthew 10:39; Luke 17:33).

He that loveth his soul shall lose it; but he that hateth his soul in this world, shall keep it unto life eternal, (John 12:25).

Jesus said, If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself; for whosoever will save his soul, shall lose it; but whosoever will lose his soul, for My sake, shall find it. What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, but cause the loss of his soul? or what shall a man give as a sufficient price of redemption for his soul? (Matthew 16:24, 26; Mark 8:35-37; Luke 9:24-25).

By “loving the Lord” is meant to love to do His commandments, (John 14:20-24). The reason is, because He Himself is His own commandments, for they are from Him, consequently He is in them, thus in the man in whose life they are inscribed; and they are inscribed in man by willing and doing them.

557. Verse 12. For this rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them, signifies a new state of heaven, in that they are in the Lord, and the Lord in them. By “heavens” is meant the heaven of Christians, in which the Lord alone is acknowledged as the God of heaven and earth; by “rejoice” is signified its new state full of joy; by “they that dwell” are signified they who are in good, (380); and because all good is from the Lord, it signifies that they are in the Lord, and the Lord in them.

558. Woe to those that inhabit the earth and the sea, for the Devil is come down unto you, having great anger, signifies lamentation over those who are in the internals and the externals of the doctrine of faith alone, and thence in evils of life, because their like are cast down from heaven into the world of spirits, and are thence in conjunction with men on the earth, whom, out of hatred against the New Church, they excite to persevere in their falsities and evils thence. By “woe to those that inhabit the earth and the sea” is signified lamentation over those in the church who are in the doctrine of faith alone; by “woe” is signified lamentation, (416); by “those that inhabit” are signified they who are in the church whose doctrine is faith alone; by “earth” are meant they who are in its internals, and by “sea” they who are in its externals, (470); by “great anger” is signified hatred against the New Church, because it is against “the woman” (525); “to come down unto them” signifies to those who are in the world of spirits, and as these are in conjunction with men upon the earth, it also signifies to such on the earth. That the dragon was cast out of heaven into the world of spirits, and that they who are there are in conjunction with men on the earth, see above, (552).

[2] The dragon is here called the Devil, because they are meant who from that heresy are in evils of life; and they are in evils of life from that heresy who live according to this tenet of their faith, that they have no sins who pray in confidence to God the Father, and that if they have they are remitted. All such, because they do not examine themselves, do not know any sin in themselves, and at length do not even know what sin is, as may be seen above, (531). That by the dragon, as “the Devil,” are meant they who are in the evils of their lusts, (550). The reason why every man is in conjunction with those who are in the world of spirits, is because man, as to the affections of his mind and the thoughts thence proceeding, is a spirit; therefore as to such affections and thoughts, he is continually in conjunction with spirits who are in a similar affection, and thence in similar thoughts. There is such a conjunction, that if this bond was broken for a single moment, man would fall down dead. The church has hitherto known nothing of this; nor that man, after death, is his own affection and thought thence, therefore his own charity and faith thence, and that no one can be faith separated from charity.

559. Knowing that he hath but a short time, signifies, because he knows that the New Heaven has been formed, and that thus the New Church upon earth is about to be, and that then he, with his like, will be cast into hell. This is signified, because the dragon knows that the New Heaven has been formed, for he was cast down from it (verses 8-9); he knows also that the New Church upon earth is about to be from what is foretold in Revelation, (21); and he also knows that he and his like are then to be cast into hell, from what is also foretold, (20:1-2, 10).

560. Verse 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman that brought forth the son, signifies that the dragonists in the world of spirits, immediately after their being cast down, began to infest the New Church on account of its doctrine. “When the dragon saw that he was cast upon the earth,” signifies that when the dragonists saw that they were separated from heaven, and in conjunction with men on the earth, (552, 558); “he persecuted the woman,” signifies that they immediately began to infest the Lord’s church; that “the woman” whom he persecuted is that church, may be seen, (533); “who brought forth the son,” signifies on account of the doctrine; that “the offspring,” or “the male, a son” which the woman brought forth, is the doctrine of the New Church (see 535, 542, 543, 545).

561. Verse 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, signifies the Divine circumspection over that church, and its protection, while as yet among a few. By “the woman” is signified the New Church, (533); by “wings” is signified power and protection, (245); by “an eagle” is signified intellectual sight, and thought thence, (245); by “flying” is signified seeing and circumspection, (245); by “a wilderness” is signified the church desolated, and thus among a few, (546); by “place” is signified its state there. From these things it follows, that “there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place,” is signified the Divine circumspection over the New Church, and its protection, while yet it is among a few.

562. Where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time from the face of the serpent, signifies that by reason of the craftiness of seducers, provision is made with circumspection that it may come among many even until it increases to its appointed state. By “being nourished” when said of the New Church, is signified to provide that it may come among many, as above, (547); by “a time, and times, and half a time,” is signified to the end and the beginning, thus while from a few to many, until it reaches its appointed state, as above, (547). By “the face of the serpent” is signified the subtle arts of seducers; by “the face,” subtle artfulness; and by “the serpent,” seducers. That by “the serpent” are signified seducers, is plain from the following passage in this chapter:

The great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, which seduceth the whole globe of earth, (Revelation 12:9).

And again:

He laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, and cast him into the abyss, that he should seduce the nations no more, (Revelation 20:2-3).

The like is here meant as by the serpent which seduced Eve and Adam, of whom it is said:

And the serpent was more subtle than any wild beast of the field; and the woman said to Jehovah, The serpent seduced me, (Genesis 3:1, 13).

[2] By “face,” in the Word, is signified that which is interior in man, because the face is the type of his mind formed to correspondence; therefore, by “the face of the serpent” is signified anger, hatred, and subtlety. By “a time, and times, and half a time,” is signified the same here, as by “a thousand two hundred and sixty days,” verse 6, where it is said:

And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should nourish her a thousand two hundred and sixty days, (Revelation 12:6);

which may be seen explained above, (547). The same is also signified by “three days and a half” (Rev 11:9-10); also by “the three years and six months” of famine, (Luke 4:25); and in Daniel, by

A stated time of stated times and a half when he shall have finished to scatter the hand of the people of holiness, (Daniel 12:7).

563. Verse 15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a river after the woman, that he might cause her to be swallowed up by the river, signifies reasonings from falsities in abundance, to destroy the church. By “the serpent” is here signified, as above, the dragon which seduces; by “the woman,” the New Church, (533); by “water” are signified truths, and, in the opposite sense, falsities, (50, 409); by “a river” truths in abundance are signified, and in the opposite sense, falsities in abundance, (409); “out of the mouth of the serpent,” signifies reasonings; therefore by “casting out water as a river” are signified reasonings from falsities in abundance. The reasonings of those who are meant by “the dragon,” are all from fallacies and appearances, which, if confirmed, appear outwardly like truths, but within they conceal falsities in abundance. This I can declare, that those in the church, who hereafter confirm themselves in faith alone, cannot recede from it, except by serious repentance, because they conjoin themselves with the dragonists, who now are in the world of spirits, and are tumultuous, and there out of hatred against the New Church, they infest all whom they meet; and as they are conjoined with men on the earth, as observed above, they will not suffer those who have once been caught by their reasonings to recede from them; for they hold them bound in chains, as it were, and then shut their eyes so that they can no longer see any truth in light.

564. Verse 16. And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of her mouth, signifies that reasonings from falsities in abundance, which the dragonists produce, fall to nothing before the spiritual truths rationally understood, which the Michaels, of whom the New Church consists, bring forward. By “the earth,” which helped the woman, is signified the church as to doctrine, (285); and because the reasonings from falsities, which the dragonists produce, are treated of, they are truths from the Word, by which “the earth,” that is, the church, “helps the woman;” by “opening her mouth,” is signified to adduce those truths; by “the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth,” are signified reasonings from falsities in abundance, (563); by “swallowing up” is signified to make them fall to nothing; by the Michaels are meant the men of the New Church; by “Michael,” the wise therein; and by “his angels,” the rest.

[2] Since in the New Church this dogma is rejected, that the understanding is to be held captive under obedience to faith, and in the place of it, this is received, that the truth of the church should be seen, in order that it may be believed, (224); and since truth cannot be seen otherwise than rationally, therefore, it is said, from truths rationally understood. How can any man be led by the Lord, and conjoined with heaven, who shuts up his understanding in such things as relate to salvation and eternal life? Is it not the understanding which will be enlightened and taught? And what is the understanding closed by religion, but thick darkness, and such thick darkness as rejects from itself the illuminating light? Again, who can acknowledge any truth and retain it, unless he sees it? What is truth not seen but a voice not understood, which, with sensual corporeal men, is usually retained in the memory, but cannot be with the wise? The wise, indeed, cast out empty or unmeaning words from the memory, that is, such as have not entered from the understanding; as that one God consists of three Persons, also that the Lord, born from eternity, is not one and the same with the Lord born in time, that is, that one Lord is God and not the other; and again, that the life of charity, which consists in good works, and likewise in repentance from evil works, effects nothing to salvation; a wise man does not understand such things; therefore from his rationality he says, religion does not effect anything. Is not religion to shun evil and do good? Must not the doctrine of the church teach this, as also what a man should believe, that he may do the good works of religion from God?

565. Verse 17. And the dragon was angry against the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, signifies the burning hatred with those who believe themselves wise from confirmations in favor of the mystic union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord, and in favor of justification by faith alone, against those who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth, and that the Decalogue is the law of life, approaching novitiates with intent to seduce them. All this is contained in those few words, because it follows in a series from what went before, where it is said, that “the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth,” by which is signified that their reasonings from falsities fell to nothing, (564); consequently that their endeavors to destroy the New Church were vain. Therefore by “the dragon being angry with the woman,” is signified that he burned with hatred and breathed revenge against the church; by “the dragon’s anger” is signified hatred, (558); by “making war” is signified to assault and impugn by reasonings from falsities, (500); by “the rest of her seed which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ,” are meant novitiates who receive the doctrine concerning the Lord and concerning the Decalogue; what “the testimony of Jesus Christ” is, may be seen above, (6, 490).

[2] The reason why by “the dragon” are here meant those who believe themselves wise from confirmations in favor of the mystic union of the Lord’s Divine and Human, is because these are in the pride of their own wisdom, and know how to reason; and from pride proceeds hatred, and from hatred proceed anger and revenge against those who do not believe likewise. By the mystic union, which is also called the hypostatic union, are meant their fictions concerning the influx and operation of the Divine in the Lord’s Human as upon another; not knowing that God and Man, or the Divine and the Human in the Lord, are not two but one Person, united like soul and body, according to the doctrine received throughout the whole Christian world, which has its name from Athanasius; but to adduce their fictitious things respecting this mystic union would be an idle thing, because they are absurd.

[3] That by “the seed of the woman” are here meant those who are of the New Church, and are in the truths of its doctrine, may appear from the signification of “seed,” in the following passages:

Their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring in the midst of the people, all that see shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Jehovah hath blessed, (Isaiah 61:9).

They are the seed of the blessed Jehovah, (Isaiah 65:23).

As the new heavens and the new earth which I will make, shall remain before Me, so shall your seed, (Isaiah 66:22).

The seed which shall serve Him, it shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation, (Psalms 22:30).

I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and the woman’s seed, (Genesis 3:15).

Does one seek a seed of God? (Malachi 2:15).

Behold the days come, when I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man, (Jeremiah 31:27).

If thou shalt make his soul a guilt offering, he shall see seed, (Isaiah 53:10).

Fear not, for I am with thee, I will bring thy seed from the east, (Isaiah 43:5-6 Thou shalt break forth on the right and on the left, and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, (Isaiah 54:3).

I had planted thee a noble vine, a seed of truth; how then art thou turned into the branches of a vine strange unto Me? (Jeremiah 2:21).

Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from the sons of man, (Psalms 21:10).

The seed are the sons of the kingdom, (Matthew 13:38).

The same is signified by “the seed of Israel,” because “Israel” is the church, (Isaiah 41:8-9; 44:3; Jeremiah 23:8; 31:35-36); and also by “the seed of David,” because “David” is the Lord, (Jeremiah 30:10; 33:22, 25-26; Psalms 89:3-4, 29); and by “the seed of the field,” because “a field” signifies the church in many places. But the opposite is signified by “the seed of the evil” (Isaiah 1:4; 14:20; 57:3-4), and by “the seed of the serpent” (Genesis 3:15).

565b. Verse 18,⁴⁸ And I stood upon the sand of the sea, signifies his state spiritual-natural, now such as it is with those who are in the first or lowest heaven. By “the sand of the sea” that state is signified, because “by the sea” is signified the external of the church; the state called spiritual-natural, such as it is with those who are in the first or lowest heaven. He had been above in heaven previously, where he saw the dragon, his combat with Michael, his being cast out, and his persecution of the woman; but now, when the dragon was cast down, and continues to be treated of in what follows, John is let down in spirit, to the end that he may see more of the dragon beneath the heavens, and describe the same; in which state he saw two “beasts” come up, one out of the sea, and the other out of the earth, which he could not see from heaven, because it is not granted to any angel to look down from heaven into the parts below, but if he chooses he may go down. It is to be known, that in the spiritual world place corresponds to state, for no one can be anywhere else than where the state of his life is; and as John now stood upon “the sand of the sea,” it follows that his state now was spiritual-natural.

566. To these things I will add this Relation. There arose a strife among some spirits, whether anyone can see any doctrinal theological truth in the Word, except from the Lord. They all agreed in this, that no one can, except from God, because:

No man can receive anything except it be given him from heaven, (John 3:27).

For which reason the dispute was, whether it is possible to anyone unless he goes immediately to the Lord. They said on the one hand, that the Lord is to be approached directly, because He is the Word; and on the other, that doctrinal truth may also be seen when God the Father is immediately approached. On which account the dispute centered upon this point, Whether it is lawful for any Christian to go immediately to God the Father, and so to climb above the Lord; and whether this is not insolence and audacity both indecent and rash; because the Lord says that:

No one cometh to the Father but through Him, (John 14:6).

But they left this, and said that a man can see a doctrinal truth in the Word from his own natural light [lumen]; but this was rejected. Wherefore they insisted that it might be seen by those who pray to God the Father. Therefore something was read to them from the Word; and then they prayed upon their knees, that God the Father would enlighten them; and as to the words which were read before them from the Word, they said that this and that was the truth therein; but it was false; and this repeatedly even to tediousness. At length they confessed that it was not possible. But on the other side, they who went immediately to the Lord, saw truths, and informed the others.

[2] After this dispute was thus finished, there came up some out of the abyss, who appeared at first like locusts, but afterwards as men. They were those who in the world prayed to the Father, and confirmed themselves in justification by faith alone; and they said that they saw the tenet that man is justified by faith alone without the works of the law, in clear light, and also from the Word. They were asked, “By what faith?” They answered, “In God the Father.” But after they were examined, it was said to them from heaven, that they did not know even one doctrinal truth from the Word. But they replied that still they saw this in the light. It was then said to them that they saw it in fatuous light. They asked, “What is fatuous light?” They were informed that fatuous light is the light of the confirmation of falsity; and that this light corresponds to the light in which owls and bats are, to which darkness is light, and light is darkness. This was confirmed by the fact, that when they looked upwards to heaven, where light itself is, they saw darkness; but when they looked downwards to the abyss whence they were, they saw light.

[3] Being indignant at this confirmation, they said that “thus light and darkness are not anything, but only a state of the eye, from which light is called light, and darkness, darkness.” But it was shown that their light was fatuous light, which is the light of the confirmation of falsity; and that it was only the activity of their minds arising from the fire of lusts, not unlike the light of cats, whose eyes, owing to their burning appetite for mice in cellars in the nighttime, appear like candles. On hearing these things, being angry, they said that they were not cats, nor like cats; because they could see, if they would. But because they feared being asked why they would not, they retired, and let themselves down into their abyss and into their light. They who are there, and those who are like them, are also called owls and bats.

[4] When they came to their companions in the abyss, and related that “the angels said that we do not know any doctrinal truths, not even one;” and that “they therefore called us bats and owls,” there was a great tumult. And they said, “Let us pray to the Lord for permission to ascend, and we will show clearly that we have many doctrinal truths, which the archangels themselves will acknowledge.” And because they prayed to the Lord, leave was given, and they ascended to the number of three hundred. And when they appeared above the earth, they said, “We were celebrated and famed in the world, because we knew and taught the arcana of justification by faith alone; and from confirmations we not only saw the light, but also as it were a flashing radiance; as we still do in our cells. And yet we have heard from our companions who were with you, that this light is not light, but darkness; for the reason that we have not, as you said, any doctrinal truth from the Word. We know that every truth of the Word shines; and we believe that our radiance is thence, when we profoundly meditate upon our arcana. We will, therefore, demonstrate that we have truths from the Word in great abundance.” And they said, “Have we not this truth, that there is a Trinity, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit; and that the Trinity must be believed in? Have we not this truth, that Christ is our Redeemer and Savior? Have we not this truth, that Christ alone is justice, and that He alone has merit? and that he is unjust and impious, who wishes to ascribe to himself anything of His justice and merit? Have we not this truth, that no mortal can do any spiritual good of himself, but that all good which is good in itself is from God? Have we not this truth, that there is given meritorious and also hypocritical good, and that these goods are evil? Have we not this truth, that man of his own powers can contribute nothing to his salvation? Have we not this truth, that the works of charity are still to be done? Have we not this truth, that there is faith, and that one must believe, and that everyone has life according to his belief? Besides many other things from the Word? Who of you can deny anyone of these? And yet you said that we have not any truth in our schools, not even one. Have you not asserted such things against us through prejudice?”

[5] But they then received the answer, “All the things which you have advanced are in themselves truths; but you have falsified them, by applying them to confirm a false principle; and hence with you and in you they are falsified truths, which are false by being derived from a false principle. That it is so, we will demonstrate even to the sight. Not far from here is a place into which light flows immediately from heaven. In the midst of it there is a table. When any paper on which a truth from the Word is written is placed upon it, that paper, from the truth written on it, shines like a star. Write your truths, therefore, on a paper, and let it be put upon that table; and you will see.” They did so, and gave it to the keeper, who put it upon the table; who then said to them, “Withdraw a little and look at the table.” And they withdrew and looked; and behold, the paper shone like a star. And then the keeper said, “You see that the things which you have written upon the paper are truths. But come nearer, and look intently at the paper!” And they did so; and then the light suddenly disappeared, and the paper became black, as if covered with the soot of a furnace. And the keeper said further, “Touch the paper with your hands, but be careful not to touch the writing.” And when they did so, a flame burst forth, and consumed it. Seeing this, they fled away; and it was said to them, “If you had touched the writing, you would have heard an explosion, and would have burned your fingers.” And it was then said by them that stood behind, “You have now seen that the truths which you have abused to confirm the arcana of your justification, are truths in themselves; but that in you they are truths falsified.” They then looked up, and heaven appeared to them as blood, and afterwards as thick darkness; and they seemed before the eyes of angelic spirits, some like bats, some like owls, some like moles, and some like horned owls; and they fled away into their darkness, which to their eyes shone fatuously.

[6] The angelic spirits who were present wondered that they had not before known anything of that place, and of the table there. And a voice then came to them from the southern quarter, saying, “Come hither, and you will see something still more wonderful.” And they came, and entered into a chamber, the walls of which shone as if from gold; and they saw there also a table, upon which lay the Word, set around with precious stones in heavenly forms. And the angel keeper said, “When the Word is opened, a light beams forth thence of ineffable brightness; and at the same time there appears from the precious stones a rainbow above and around the Word. When any angel from the third heaven comes thither, and looks at the open Word, there appears above and around the Word a rainbow of various colors on a red ground. When an angel comes thither from the second heaven, and looks, there appears a rainbow on a blue ground. When an angel from the lowest heaven comes and looks, there appears a rainbow on a white ground. When any good spirit comes and looks, there appears a variegation of light, as of marble.” That it was so, was also shown them visibly. The angel keeper further said, “If anyone approaches, who has falsified the Word, the splendor is then first dissipated; and if he approaches, and fixes his eyes on the Word, there is an appearance of blood around; and he is then admonished to depart, because there is danger.”

[7] But a certain one, who in the world had been a prominent author on the doctrine of faith alone, boldly approached, and said, “When I was in the world, I did not falsify the Word; I also exalted charity together with faith; and I taught that man in the state of faith, in which he does charity and its works, is renewed, regenerated, and sanctified; and also that faith is then not solitary, that is, without good works; as a tree is not without fruit, the sun without light, and fire without heat; and I also blamed those who said that good works were not necessary, and moreover I magnified the precepts of the Decalogue, and also repentance; and I thus applied all things of the Word in a wonderful manner to the article of faith, which I set forth and demonstrated to be still alone saving.” In the confidence of his assertion that he had not falsified the Word, he came up to the table, and, contrary to the warning of the angel, touched the Word. But then suddenly fire with smoke issued from the Word, and an explosion took place with a great crash, by which he was thrown to a corner of the chamber, and lay there as dead for half an hour. This the angelic spirits wondered at; but it was said to them, that that prelate had exalted the goods of charity as proceeding from faith more than others; but that still he meant no other than political works, which are also called moral and civil, and which are to be done for the sake of the world and of prosperity therein; but not any works which are to be done for the sake of God and salvation: and also that he included the unseen works of the Holy Spirit, of which the man knows nothing; which are implanted in the act of faith during its state.

[8] The angelic spirits then conversed among themselves concerning the falsification of the Word: and they agreed upon this, that to falsify the Word is to take truths from it, and apply them to confirm falsities; which is to drag them forth from the Word outside of it, and slay them. As for example: he who takes therefrom this truth, that the neighbor is to be loved, and that good is to be done to him from love for the sake of God and eternal life; if anyone then confirms this, that it is to be done, but not for the sake of salvation, because all good from man is not good, he drags that truth from the Word outside of the Word, and destroys it; since the Lord in His Word enjoins it upon every man who wishes to be saved, to do good to his neighbor as of himself, and yet to believe that it is of the Lord.

Chapter 13 (567-611)

567. Revelation 13

1. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.

2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet like a bear’s, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion; and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority.

3. And I saw one of his heads as if wounded to death; and the stroke of his death was healed; and the whole earth wondered after the beast.

4. And they adored the dragon, which gave authority to the beast; and they adored the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to fight with him?

5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and there was given unto him authority to work forty-two months.

6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven.

7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them; and there was given him authority over every tribe and tongue and nation.

8. And all that dwell on the earth shall adore Him whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

9. If anyone hath an ear let him hear.

10. If anyone shall lead into captivity he shall go into captivity, if anyone shall kill with the sword, he must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

11. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon.

12. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast before him, and he causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to adore the first beast, whose stroke of his death was healed.

13. And he doeth great signs, so that he also maketh fire to come down from heaven unto the earth before men.

14. And he seduceth them that dwell upon the earth, on account of the signs which were given for him to do before the beast; saying to them that dwell upon the earth, that they should make an image to the beast which hath the stroke of the sword and did live.

15. And it was given unto him to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast may both speak, and cause that as many as do not adore the image of the beast should be killed.

16. And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that he should give them a mark upon their right hand, and upon their foreheads.

17. And that no one could buy or sell, if he hath not the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18. Here is wisdom. He that hath intelligence let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is six hundred sixty-six.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

In this chapter the dragon continues to be treated of, and the doctrine and faith which is meant by it is described; what its quality is with the laity, and afterwards what its quality is with the clergy: by “the beast coming up out of the sea,” that doctrine and faith with the laity is described (verses 1-10); and by “the beast out of the earth,” the same with the clergy (verses 11-17): lastly, concerning the falsification of the truth of the Word by the latter (verse 18).

The contents of each verse.

Verse 1. “And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea” signifies the laity in the churches of the Reformed, who are principled in the doctrine and faith of the dragon concerning God and salvation: “Having seven heads” signifies insanity arising from mere falsities: “And ten horns” signifies much power: “And upon his horns ten diadems” signifies the power of falsifying many truths of the Word: “And upon his heads the name of blasphemy” signifies denial of the Lord’s Divine Human, and doctrine of the church not drawn from the Word, but from self-derived intelligence. Verse 2. “And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard” signifies a heresy destructive of the church because derived from truths of the Word falsified: “And his feet like a bear’s” signifies full of fallacies from the literal sense of the Word read but not understood: “And his mouth as the mouth of a lion” signifies reasonings from falsities as if from truths: “And the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority” signifies that this heresy prevails and reigns in consequence of its reception by the laity. Verse 3. “And I saw one of his heads as if wounded to death” signifies that the doctrine of faith alone does not accord with the Word, in which works are so often enjoined: “And the stroke of his death was healed” signifies the remedy applied on this account: “And the whole earth wondered after the beast” signifies that then this doctrine and faith was gladly received. Verse 4. “And they adored the dragon which gave authority to the beast” signifies the acknowledgment that it is such as is laid down by the leaders and teachers, who have established its authority on the reception they have procured for it among the community at large: “And they adored the beast” signifies the acknowledgment on the part of the community that it is holy truth: “Saying, who is like unto the beast? Who is able to fight with him?” signifies the excellence of that doctrine, because it cannot be contradicted by anyone. Verse 5. “And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies” signifies that it teaches what is evil and false: “And there was given unto him authority to work forty-two months” signifies the liberty of teaching and doing the evils and falsities of that doctrine, even to the end of that church and the beginning of the new. Verse 6. “And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name” signifies their sayings, which are scandals against the essential Divinity and Divine Human of the Lord, and at the same time against everything relating to the church derived from the Word, whereby the Lord is worshiped: “And his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven” signifies scandals against the Lord’s celestial kingdom and against heaven. Verse 7. “And it was given unto him to make war with the saints and to overcome them,” signifies that they have impugned the Divine truths of the Word, and cast them down to the ground: “And there was given him authority over every tribe and tongue and nation” signifies consequent dominion over all things of the church, both as to its doctrine and as to its life. Verse 8. “And all that dwell on the earth shall adore him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb” signifies that all acknowledged that heretical doctrine as holy in the church, except those who believed in the Lord: “Slain from the foundation of the world” signifies the Lord’s Divine Human not acknowledged from the first establishment of the church. Verse 9. “If anyone hath an ear let him hear” signifies that they should attend to this who desire to attain wisdom. Verse 10. “If anyone shall lead into captivity he shall go into captivity” signifies that he who by means of this heretical doctrine misleads others from believing well and living well, will himself be drawn into hell by his own evils and falsities: “If anyone shall kill with the sword he must be killed with the sword” signifies that he who by means of falsities destroys the soul of another, is himself destroyed by falsities, and perishes: “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints” signifies that the man of the Lord’s New Church, by temptations from such things, is explored as to the quality of his life and faith. Verse 11. “And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth” signifies the clergy who are principled in the doctrine and faith of the dragon concerning God and salvation: “And he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon” signifies that what they say, teach, and write is from the Word, as though it were the Lord’s Divine truth, and yet it is truth falsified. Verse 12. “And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast before him” signifies that they confirmed these tenets, which thence derive their authority: “And he causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to adore the first beast whose stroke of his death was healed” signifies that from their being received by the community at large, it is established and confirmed that they ought to be acknowledged and held sacred in the church. Verse 13. “And he doeth great signs” signifies testifications that the things they teach are true, although they are false: “So that he also maketh fire to come down from heaven unto the earth before men” signifies attestations that their falsities are truths. Verse 14. “And he seduceth them that dwell upon the earth, on account of the signs, which were given him to do before the beast” signifies that by their testifications and attestations they lead the men of the church into errors: “Saying to them that dwell upon the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which hath the stroke of a sword and did live” signifies that they induce the men of the church to receive for doctrine, that faith is the only medium of salvation, for the reasons already mentioned. Verse 15. “And it was given unto him to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast may both speak” signifies that it was permitted them to confirm that doctrine by means of the Word, whereby it does as it were receive life when it is taught: “And cause that as many as do not adore the image of the beast should be killed” signifies that they denounce damnation against those who do not acknowledge their doctrine of faith to be the holy doctrine of the church. Verse 16. “And he causeth all, both the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond” signifies all in that church, whatsoever may be their condition, learning, and intelligence: “That he should give them a mark in their right hand or in their foreheads” signifies that no one is acknowledged to be a Reformed Christian unless he receives that doctrine in faith and love (verse 17). “And that no one could buy or sell, if he hath not the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his name” signifies that it is not lawful for anyone to teach from the Word, unless he acknowledges it, and swears to the belief and love thereof, or to something which amounts to the same. Verse 18. “Here is wisdom” signifies that it is the part of a wise man, from what had been said and explained in this chapter, to see and understand the nature of the doctrine and faith of the clergy respecting God and salvation: “He that hath intelligence let him count the number of the beast” signifies that he who is in illumination from the Lord, may know the nature and quality of the proofs they produce from the Word in confirmation of that doctrine and faith: “For it is the number of a man” signifies the quality of the Word and thence of the church: “And his number is six hundred sixty-six” signifies this quality, that all the truth of the Word is falsified by them.

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, signifies the laity in the churches of the Reformed who are in the doctrine and faith of the dragon concerning God and salvation. What the faith of the dragon is, and its quality, may be seen, (537). The same faith continues to be treated of in this chapter; and by this “beast” which “was seen to come up out of the sea,” is meant that faith with the laity; but by “the beast out of the earth” (mentioned at verse 11), is meant that faith with the clergy. That the dragon continues to be treated of here is evident from these things in this chapter; that “the dragon gave the beast coming up out of the sea his power, and throne, and great authority” (verse 2); and that “they adored the dragon which gave authority to the beast” (verse 4); and of “the beast from the earth, that he spoke like the dragon” (verse 11); and that he exerciseth all the authority of the former beast before the dragon (verse 12). The reason why the laity are meant by “the beast out of the sea,” and the clergy by “the beast out of the earth,” is because by “the sea” is signified the external of the church, and by “the earth” its internal, (398, and in other places); and the laity are in the externals of the doctrine of the church, and the clergy are in its internals; on this account “the beast out of the earth” is also called, in what follows, “the false prophet.” That they who are in the churches of the Reformed are meant, is because the Reformed are treated of as far as chapter 16 inclusive, and the Roman Catholics in chapters 17, 18, and afterwards the last judgment, and finally the new church.

[2] They were seen as “beasts,” because a dragon is a beast, and because “a beast” in the Word signifies man as to his affections; harmless and useful beasts signify man as to good affections, and noxious and useless beasts signify man as to his evil affections; on which account the men of the church in general are called “sheep,” and a congregation of them, “a flock,” and their teacher is called “a pastor.”

Hence also it is that the Word as to its power, affection, understanding, and wisdom, is described above, by “four animals,” which were “a lion, a calf, an eagle, and a man” (Revelation 4); and that the understanding of the Word is described by “horses” (Revelation 6). The reason is because the affections of a man, in the spiritual world, appear at a distance as beasts, as has been stated before; and beasts, considered in themselves, are nothing but forms of natural affections, but men are not only forms of natural, but of spiritual affections at the same time.

[3] That men, as to their affections, are meant by “beasts,” may appear from these passages:

Thou didst cause a bountiful rain to drop, thou didst confirm thy inheritance, when it was laboring; the beast of thy assembly shall dwell in it, (Psalms 68:9-10).

Every wild beast of the forest is mine, the beasts upon a thousand mountains. I know every bird of the mountains, the beasts of the fields are mine, (Psalms 50:10).

Assyria is a cedar in Lebanon, he has become of high stature, in his branches all the birds of the heavens made their nests, and under his branches all the beasts of the field have brought forth, and under his shadow have dwelt all great nations, (Ezekiel 31:3-6, 10, 13; Daniel 4:7-13).

In that day I will make a covenant for them with the beast of the field, and with the bird of the heavens, and I will betroth thee unto me forever, (Hosea 2:18-19).

Rejoice and be glad, be not afraid, ye beasts of my fields, for the habitations of the wilderness have become herbaceous, (Joel 2:21-22).

In that day there shall be a great tumult, Judah shall fight against Jerusalem, and there shall be a plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of every beast; then shall everyone that is left go up to Jerusalem, (Zechariah 14:13-16).

The birds shall abominate it, and every beast of the earth shall condemn it, (Isaiah 18:6).

Thou, son of man, say to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves to my sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel; so will I give my glory among the nations, (Ezekiel 39:17-21).

Jehovah gathered the outcasts of Israel; all ye beasts of my fields, come ye, (Isaiah 56:8-9).

Jehovah will destroy Assyria, every wild beast of the nation shall rest in the midst of her; both the spoonbill and the bittern in her pomegranates, (Zephaniah 2:13-14).

The sheep are scattered without a shepherd, and are food for every wild beast of the field, (Ezekiel 34:5, 8).

I will cast thee forth upon the faces of the field, and will make every bird of the heavens to dwell upon thee, and I will satisfy every wild beast of the earth from thee, (Ezekiel 32:4; 5:17; 29:5; 33:27; 39:4; Jeremiah 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 27:5-6).

The enemy reproacheth Jehovah; O give not to the beast the soul of the turtledove, (Psalms 74:18-19).

I saw in vision four beasts coming up out of the sea, the first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings, the second was like a bear, the third like a leopard, and the fourth was terrible, (Daniel 7:2-7).

The spirit impelling Jesus made Him go into the wilderness, and He was with the beasts, and the angels ministered unto him, (Mark 1:12-13).

[4] He was not with beasts, but with devils, who are here meant by “beasts;” besides other passages where “beasts” and “wild beasts” are named (as in Isaiah 35:9; 43:20; Jeremiah 12:4, 8-10; Ezekiel 8:10; 34:23, 25, 28; 38:18-20; Hosea 4:2-3; 13:8; Joel 1:16, 18, 20; Habakkuk 2:17; Daniel 2:37-38; Psalms 8:6-8; 80:13; 104:10-11, 14, 20, 25; 148:7, 10; Exodus 23:28-30; Leviticus 26:6; Deuteronomy 7:22; 32:24). In all these places by “beasts” are signified men as to their affections.

[5] By “man and beast” together is signified man as to spiritual and natural affection (as in the following passages:Jeremiah 7:20; 21:6; 27:5; 31:27; 32:43; 33:10-12; 36:29; 50:3; Ezekiel 14:13, 17, 19; 25:13; 32:13; 36:11; Zephaniah 1:2-3; Zechariah 2:4; 8:9-10; Jonah 3:7-8; Psalms 36:6; Numbers 18:15). By all the beasts that were sacrificed were signified good affections; and likewise by the beasts which were eaten; but the contrary by the beasts which were not to be eaten, (Leviticus 20:25-26).

568. Having seven heads, signifies insanity from mere falsities, in like manner as by “the seven heads of the dragon” (538).

569. And ten horns, signifies much power, in like manner as the horns of the dragon, which also were ten, (539).

570. And upon his horns ten diadems, signifies the power of falsifying many truths of the Word. By “a horn” is signified power, (539); by “ten” is signified much, (101[1-3]) and by “diadems” are signified the truths of the Word falsified, (540); therefore by “upon his horns ten diadems,” is signified to have it in his power to falsify many truths of the Word. Of the dragon it is said that he had “seven diadems” on his heads, but of this beast that he had “ten diadems” on his horns; the reason is, because here it signifies the power of falsifying many truths of the Word, but there the falsification of all; for the laity are able, but do not; for they who are in falsities and in the belief of them, are opposed to truths, consequently, when they see truths in the Word, they falsify them.

571. And upon his heads the name of blasphemy, signifies the denial of the Lord’s Divine Human and the doctrine of the church derived not from the Word, but from one’s own intelligence. By “seven heads” is signified insanity from mere falsities, as above, (568); and this insanity speaks blasphemy, when it denies the Lord’s Divine in His Human; and also when it does not draw the doctrine of the church from the Word, but hatches it from its own intelligence. As to the first, that it is blasphemy to deny the Lord’s Divine in His Human, the reason is that he who denies it is opposed to the faith received throughout the whole Christian world, named from Athanasius, where it is expressly said, that in Jesus Christ, God and Man, that is, the Divine and the Human, are not two but one, and that they are one Person, united like soul and body. Therefore they who deny the Divine in His Human, are not far from the Socinians and Arians, especially when they think of the Lord’s Human alone as of that of another man, and nothing at all of His Divine from eternity.

[2] As to the second, that it is blasphemy not to draw the doctrine of the church from the Word, but to hatch it out of one’s own intelligence, the reason is, because the church is from the Word, and its quality is according to the understanding of the Word, as may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 76-79. And the doctrine that faith alone, that is, faith without the works of the law, justifies and saves, is not from the Word, but from a single expression of Paul falsely understood, (Romans 3:28, see 417); and every falsity of doctrine is derived from no other source than from one’s own intelligence. For what is more universally taught in the Word, than to shun evil and do good? And what is more evident than that God and the neighbor ought to be loved? And who does not see, that no one can love the neighbor, unless he lives according to the works of the law, and he who does not love his neighbor does not love God? For in the love of the neighbor the Lord conjoins himself with man, and man conjoins himself with the Lord, that is, the Lord and man are together in that love. And what is it to love the neighbor but not to do him evil, according to the commandments of the Decalogue, (Romans 13:8-11)? And as far as man does not will to do evil to the neighbor, so far he is willing to do him good; hence it is evident that it is blasphemy to exclude the works of this law from salvation, as they do, who make faith alone saving, which is faith separated from good works. By “blasphemy” (Matthew 12:31-32; Revelation 17:3; Isaiah 37:6-7, 23-24) is meant to deny the Lord’s Divine, as the Socinians do, and to deny the Word; for they who thus deny the Lord’s Divine cannot enter heaven, for the Lord’s Divine is the all in all in heaven, and he who denies the Word denies all things of religion.

572. Verse 2. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, signifies a heresy destructive of the church, because it is from the truths of the Word falsified. By “beasts” in general are signified men as to affections, (567); and by “a leopard” is signified the affection or lust of falsifying the truths of the Word; and because it is a ferocious beast, and kills harmless animals, it signifies also a heresy destructive of the church. That “a leopard” signifies the truths of the Word falsified, is owing to its black and white spots, for by the black spots are signified falsities, and by the white among them is signified truth. Therefore because it is a fierce and savage beast, it signifies the truths of the Word falsified and thus destroyed. Similar is the signification of a “leopard” in the following passages:

Can the Ethiopian change his skin, and the leopard his spots? Then may ye also do good that have been taught to do evil, (Jeremiah 13:23).

The lion out of the forest hath smitten the magnates, and a wolf of the fields shall devastate them, a leopard shall watch over their cities, everyone that goeth out shall be torn in pieces, because their backslidings are strong, (Jeremiah 5:6).

“The leopard watching against their cities,” means watching against the truths of doctrine. “A city” means doctrine, (194[1-4]).

As they have forgotten Me, therefore I have become unto them as a lion, as a leopard by the way will I observe them, (Hosea 13:6-7).

“A way” also signifies truth, (176).

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard with the kid, (Isaiah 11:6).

Here the Lord’s kingdom which is to come is treated of; “a kid” signifies the genuine truths of the church, and “a leopard” the same falsified.

The third beast which came up out of the sea was like a leopard which had upon the back of it four wings, (Daniel 7:6).

Concerning the four beasts seen by Daniel, see below, (574[1-3]).

573. And his feet like a bear’s, signifies full of fallacies from the sense of the letter of the Word read but not understood. By “feet” is signified the natural, which is the ultimate, upon which that heresy, meant by “the leopard,” subsists, and as it were walks, and this is the sense of the letter of the Word, and by “a bear” are signified those who read the Word and do not understand it, whence they have fallacies. That these are signified by “bears” was clear to me from the bears seen in the spiritual world, and from some there who were clothed in bear skins, who had all read the Word, but had not seen any doctrinal truth therein; also who had confirmed the appearances of truth therein, whence they had fallacies. In that world there appear bears that are hurtful, and bears that are harmless, and some that are white; but they are distinguished by their heads; those which are harmless have heads like calves or sheep. “Bears” have such a signification in the following passages:

He hath overturned my highways, as a bear lying in wait for me, as a lion in secret places, he hath turned aside my ways, he hath made me desolate, (Lamentations 3:9-11).

I will meet them as a bear that is bereaved, and there will I devour them like an immense lion, the wild beast of the field shall tear them, (Hosea 13:7-8).

The calf and the young lion shall lie down together, and the cow and the bear shall feed, (Isaiah 11:6-7 The second beast coming up out of the sea was like a bear, and it had three ribs in its mouth between its teeth, (Daniel 7:5).

The lion and the bear, which David took by the beard and smote, (1 Samuel 17:34-37)

has a like signification and likewise 2 Samuel 17:8.

[2] “The lion and the bear” are mentioned in those places, because by “a lion” is signified falsity destroying the truths of the Word, and by “a bear” are signified fallacies, which also destroy, but not in so great a degree; therefore it is said in Amos:

The day of Jehovah is a day of darkness and not of light, as if one fleeth from a lion, and he falls upon a bear, (Amos 5:18-19).

We read in the second book of Kings, that:

Elisha was mocked by boys, and they called him bald-head; and therefore forty-two boys were torn by the two bears out of the forest, (2 Kings 2:23-24).

This took place because Elisha represented the Lord as to the Word, (298); and because “baldness” signifies the Word without the sense of the letter, thus not anything, (47); and the number forty-two, blasphemy, (583); and “bears” signify the sense of the letter of the Word, read indeed, but not understood.

574. And his mouth as the mouth of a lion, signifies reasonings from falsities as if from truths. By “mouth” is signified doctrine, preaching and discourse, (452), here reasoning from falsities of doctrine, because by “the head,” in which is the mouth, is signified insanity from mere falsities, (568); by “a lion” is signified Divine Truth in power, (241, 471), but here falsity in power appearing like truth by reasonings, (573); hence by “his mouth being as the mouth of a lion,” are signified reasonings from falsities as if from truths. That “a leopard,” “a bear,” and “a lion,” signify such things, may appear from similar beasts that were seen by Daniel, of which it is thus written:

Four great beasts came up out of the sea; the first was like a lion, and had eagle’s wings; I beheld till the wings thereof were plucked, and it was lifted up from the earth, and erected upon its feet like a man, and a man’s heart was given to it. The second beast was like a bear, and it raised up itself on one side; and it had three ribs in its mouth, between its teeth; and it was said, Arise, devour much flesh. The third beast was like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings as of birds; the beast had also four heads, and dominion was given to it. The fourth beast was terrible and dreadful, and exceedingly strong, and it had great iron teeth; it devoured and broke in pieces, and trampled the residue with its feet, (Daniel 7:3-7).

[2] By these four “beasts” are described the successive states of the church, from its first to its last, even to its utter devastation as to every good and truth of the Word; after which is the Lord’s advent. By “the lion” is signified the Divine Truth of the Word in its first state, and the establishment of the church thereby, which is meant by “being lifted up from the earth, and erected upon the feet like man, and a man’s heart being given to it.” By “the bear” is described the second state of the church, when the Word is read indeed, but not understood; by “the three ribs between the teeth” are signified appearances and fallacies, and by “much flesh” is signified the sense of the letter of the Word as a whole. The third state of the church is described by “the leopard,” by which is signified the Word falsified as to its truths; by “the four wings, as of birds, on his back,” are signified confirmations of what is false. The fourth or last state of the church is described by “the beast terrible and dreadful,” by which is signified the destruction of all truth and good, for which reason it is said that “it crushed in pieces and devoured, and trampled the residue with its feet;” lastly, the Lord’s advent is described, and then the destruction of that church, and the establishment of a new one (from Verse 9-18).

[3] These four beasts were seen by Daniel to come up out of the sea successively, but by John the first three beasts were seen united in one body, and also coming out of the sea; the reason is, because in Daniel the successive states of the church are described by them, but here in Revelation its last state is described, in which all the former states exist together; but as to the body this beast appeared like a leopard, and as to its feet like a bear, and as to its mouth like a lion; “the leopard” and “the bear” have everywhere a like signification; but by “a mouth like that of a lion” are signified reasonings from falsities, because it follows that “The beast out of its mouth spoke blasphemies” (verses 5-6), and by “his heads” insanity from mere falsities is signified.

575. And the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority, signifies that this heresy prevails and reigns in consequence of its reception by the laity. By “the dragon” is signified that heretical doctrine (concerning which see, (537); by “this beast” the laity are signified, (567), who do not speak from themselves, but from their teachers; and as they are the people themselves, it is manifest that from reception by them that heresy prevails and reigns. This therefore it is, which is signified by “the power, throne, and great authority,” which the dragon gave to this beast, and by these words following, “And they adored the dragon who gave authority to the beast” (verse 4). The dragon prevails and reigns through them, especially through this dogma of their religion: That the understanding is to be kept under obedience to faith; and that it is a faith which is not understood; and that, in spiritual things, faith in a thing which is understood is intellectual faith, which is not justifying. When these prevail with the laity, the clergy have authority, veneration, and a species of adoration, on account of the divine things which they believe they know, and which are to be received from their mouths. By “power” is signified prevalence; by “throne,” government; and by “great authority,” dominion.

576. Verse 3. And I saw one of his heads as it were wounded unto death, signifies that this point of doctrine, which is the head of the rest, that man is justified and saved by faith alone without the works of the law, does not agree with the Word, where works are so often commanded. By “one of the heads” is signified the chief and fundamental article of the whole doctrine of the church of the Reformed. For the beast had seven heads, by which is signified insanity from mere falsities, (568); thus also all falsities in the aggregate: for by “seven” in the Word is signified all, (10, 391). And as all the falsities of their doctrine concerning salvation depend on this one, that man is justified and saved by faith alone without the works of the law, it is this which is signified by “one of the heads of the beast.” By its being “as it were wounded unto death,” is signified that it does not agree with the Word, where works are so often commanded. For everything of the doctrine of the church, which does not agree with the Word, is not sound, but is sick with a deadly disease; for the doctrine of the church must be from the Word, and from no other source.

577. And the stroke of his death was healed, signifies the healing of that head of the doctrine by this reasoning, that no one can do a good work of himself, and fulfil the law, and that there is on that account provided another means of salvation instead, which is faith in the justice and merit of Christ, who suffered for man, and thereby took away the condemnation of the law. That this is the healing for “the wounded head,” and is also applied, is known, when by the wounded head is meant that which precedes, (576); and therefore there is no need to explain it further.

578. And the whole earth wondered after the beast, signifies that then that faith was received with joy, and became the doctrine of the whole church, because they thus would not be servants under the law, but free under faith. And “it wondered,” signifies astonishment that the stroke of death was healed, and thence reception with joy. By “the whole earth” is signified the whole church of the Reformed, for the earth is the church, (285); therefore by “the whole earth wondered after the beast” is signified that this faith was received with joy, and became the doctrine of the whole church. It is received with joy because they thus are not bondmen under the law, but free under faith; not knowing that the very reverse is true, namely, that they who believe themselves to be free under faith, or from that faith, or through that faith, are slaves under sin, that is, under the devil, for sin and the devil are one and the same; for thus they believe that the law does not condemn, and therefore that to sin without the condemnation of the law is freedom, provided they have faith; when nevertheless this is slavery itself; but man when he shuns sin, that is, the devil, from being a slave becomes free.

[2] Here I will add this Relation: I spoke in the world of spirits with some doctors of the church, about what they meant by “works of the law,” and what by “the law” under whose yoke, servitude, and condemnation, they say they are not. They said they meant the works of the law of the Decalogue. And I then said, “What are the things decreed in the Decalogue? Are they not these: Thou shalt not kill;’ thou shalt not commit whoredom;’ thou shalt not steal;’ thou shalt not bear false witness’? Are these the works of the law, which you separate from faith, saying, that faith alone, without the works of the law, justifies and saves,’ and are these what Christ made satisfaction for?” And they replied, “They are.” And then there was heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Who can be so insane?” And immediately their faces were turned towards some diabolical spirits, among whom was Machiavelli, and several from the order of Jesuits, who permit all these things provided they guard themselves from the laws of the world; and they would have associated themselves with these, had not a society interposed which separated them.

It is said that “all the earth wondered after the beast;” that “after” the beast means to follow and obey it, appears from these passages:

David hath kept My commandments, and hath walked after Me with the whole heart, (1 Kings 14:8).

The sons of Jesse went after Saul to the war, (1 Samuel 17:13).

Thou shalt not go after many to do evil. Thou shalt not answer in a cause after many, to pervert, (Exodus 23:2).

Go not after other gods, whom ye know not, (Jeremiah 7:9).

They went after other gods to serve them, (Jeremiah 11:10; Deuteronomy 8:19).

The men that went after Baalpeor Jehovah will destroy, (Deuteronomy 4:3).

579. Verse 4 (Revelation 13:4). And they adored the dragon, which gave authority to the beast, signifies the acknowledgment of the doctrine of justification by faith, without the works of the law, by the leaders and teachers, who have caused it to prevail through reception by the common people. By “adoring” is signified to acknowledge it as holy in the church; by “the dragon” is signified the doctrine of justification and salvation by faith alone, without the works of the law, (537); by this “beast” is signified the common people because it is the laity, (567); by “giving power” is signified to cause it to prevail by its reception among the laity, (575).

580. And they adored the beast, signifies the acknowledgment by the common people that it is holy truth, that no one can do good works from himself, nor fulfill the law. “To adore” signifies to acknowledge it as holy in the church, as above, (579), here, to acknowledge it as holy truth, that no one can do good works of himself, and fulfil the law; and these two being regarded as holy truths, it follows, that the works of the law are to be removed from faith, as not saving. But that these truths, and many others, are falsified, may be seen above, (566). By “the beast” is here signified the same as by “the dragon,” on account of the reception and acknowledgment; therefore it is said that they “adored the dragon,” and “adored the beast.”

581. Saying, Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to fight with him? signifies the excellence of that doctrine above all others, because it cannot be contradicted by anyone. “Who is like unto the beast,” signifies the opinion of the excellence of that church above all others on account of its doctrine; by “the beast” is signified the common people, thus the church, and abstractly its doctrine. “Who is able to fight with him,” signifies, who can contradict that man is not able to do any spiritual good from himself, besides other things, as above, (566); and as this cannot be contradicted, “are we not therefore saved by faith without the works of the law?” But that this conclusion is absurd, yea, insanity itself, may be seen by everyone who knows anything and is wise from the Word. “Who is able to fight with him,” also signifies that this doctrine has been so ingeniously and subtly confirmed, and so fortified by its leaders, and the teachers after them, that it cannot be impugned.

582. Verse 5. And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, signifies that it teaches evils and falsities. By “a mouth speaking” is signified doctrine, preaching, and discourse, (452); by “speaking great things and blasphemies,” is signified to teach evils and falsities; for “great” is predicated of good, and in the opposite sense of evil, (656, 663, 896, 898), and by “blasphemies” are signified the truths of the Word falsified thus falsities; what is here signified by “blasphemies” in particular, may be seen above, (571). The reason why it teaches evils is because it removes the works of the law, thus the things which ought to be done, from salvation, and he who does this, is in spiritual evils, which are sins.

583. And there was given unto him authority to work forty-two months, signifies the ability of teaching and doing the evils and falsities of that doctrine, even to the end of that church, and the beginning of the New. By “authority was given him of working” is signified the authority of speaking great things and blasphemies, that is, of teaching and doing the evils and falsities mentioned above, (582); “forty-two months” signify even to the end of the former church and beginning of the New, as above, (489[1-2]); the same as is signified by “three days and a half” (505); and by “a time and times and half a time” (562); and also by “a thousand two hundred and sixty” (491), because forty-two months make three years and a half.

584. Verse 6. And he opened his mouth in blasphemy against God, and His name, signifies their sayings, which are scandals, against the Divine Itself and the Divine Human of the Lord, and at the same time against everything of the church from the Word, by which the Lord is worshiped. “He opened his mouth in blasphemy,” signifies the things uttered, which are false; by “a mouth” is signified doctrine, preaching, and discourse, (452), thus by “opening the mouth,” is signified to utter them; and “blasphemies” signify falsifications of the Word, and other things, as above, (571, 582), and in the present case, scandals, because it follows, against God and His name; by “God” is signified the Lord’s Divine, as also in many other parts of Revelation; and by “his name” is signified everything by which the Lord is worshiped, likewise the Word, because worship is according to it, (81[1-4]) that by “the name” of Jehovah, or of God, is signified the Lord’s Divine Human, and at the same time the Word, likewise everything by which He is worshiped, may further appear from the following passages:

Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name; then came a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again, (John 12:28).

Jesus said, I have manifested Thy name to men, and I have made known to them Thy name, (John 17:6, 26).

Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son; if ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it, (John 14:13-14).

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. But as many as received, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name; and the Word was made flesh, (John 1:1, 12, 14).

Jesus said, He that believeth not in Him is condemned already, because He hath not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God, (John 3:18).

By “the name of Jehovah God,” which is not to be profaned, in the second commandment of the Decalogue; and by “the name of the Father,” which is to be hallowed, in the Lord’s prayer, nothing else is meant.

585. And His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven, signifies scandals against the Lord’s celestial church and against heaven. By “a tabernacle” nearly the same is signified as by “a temple,” namely, in the supreme sense, the Lord’s Divine Human, and, in a relative sense, heaven and the church, (191, 529). But by “a tabernacle,” in this latter sense, is signified the celestial church, which is in the good of love from the Lord to the Lord; and by “a temple,” the spiritual church, which is in the truths of wisdom from the Lord; by “them that dwell in heaven” is signified heaven. “The tabernacle” signifies the celestial church, because the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, because in love to the Lord, held holy worship in tabernacles; and the Ancient Church, which was a spiritual church, held holy worship in temples. Tabernacles were of wood, and temples of stone, and “wood” signifies good, and “stone” truth.

[2] That by “a tabernacle” is signified the Lord’s Divine Human as to the Divine Love, likewise heaven and the church, which are in love to the Lord, may appear from the following passages:

Jehovah, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle; who shall dwell in the mountain of Thy holiness? He that walketh uprightly and doeth justice, and speaketh the truth, (Psalms 15:1-2).

Jehovah shall hide me in His tent, in the secret of His tabernacle shall He hide me, He shall exalt me, (Psalms 27:5).

I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever, (Psalms 61:4).

Look upon Zion; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be dissipated, (Isaiah 33:20).

Jehovah that spreadeth out the heavens as a tabernacle to dwell in, (Isaiah 40:22).

Thou hast made Jehovah the Most High thy habitation, neither shall any plague come nigh thy tabernacle, (Psalms 91:9-10).

Jehovah hath set His tabernacle in their midst, and will walk in their midst, (Leviticus 26:11-12).

Jehovah forsook the tent of Shiloh, the tabernacle in which He dwelt among men, (Psalms 78:60).

I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, (Revelation 21:3).

My tabernacle is devastated, (Jeremiah 4:20; 10:20).

He shall pluck thee out of the tabernacle, and root thee out of the land of the living, (Psalms 52:5; besides other places, as Isaiah 16:5; 54:2; Jeremiah 30:18; Lamentations 2:4; Hosea 9:6; 12:9; Zechariah 12:7).

[3] Since the Most Ancient Church, which was a celestial church, because in love to the Lord, and thence in conjunction with Him, held holy worship in tabernacles, therefore:

The Lord commanded Moses to erect a tabernacle, in which all things of heaven and the church were represented; which was so holy, that it was not lawful for anyone to go into it, except Moses, Aaron, and his sons; and if anyone of the people entered he would die, (Numbers 17:12-13; 18:1, 22-23; 19:14-19).

In the inmost part of it was the ark, in which were the two tables of the Decalogue, over which was the mercy-seat and the cherubim; and outside the veil was the table on which was the bread of faces, the altar of incense, and the lampstand with seven lamps; all which were representatives of heaven and the church. It is described, (Exodus 26:7-16; 36:8-37); and we read that:

The pattern thereof was shown to Moses on Mount Sinai, (Exodus 25:9; 26:30).

And whatsoever is given to be seen from heaven, the same is representative of heaven, and thence of the church. In memory of the holy worship of the Lord in tabernacles by the most ancient people, and of their conjunction with Him by love, “the feast of tabernacles” was instituted, as mentioned in Leviticus 23:39-44; Deuteronomy 16:13-14; Zechariah 14:16, 18-19.

586. Verse 7. And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them, signifies that they have assailed the Divine truths of the Word, and have overthrown them. By “war” is signified spiritual war, which is that of falsity against truth, and of truth against falsity, (500); hence “to make war” is to assail; by “saints” are meant they who are in Divine truths from the Lord through the Word, and thence, abstractly from persons, Divine truths, (173); therefore, by “overcoming them” is signified to cause that truths should not prevail, thus to overthrow them. The like is signified by these words in Daniel:

The fourth beast that came up out of the sea, which had a mouth speaking great things, made war with the saints and prevailed, (Daniel 7:20-21).

Also by these:

The he-goat ran at the ram, and cast him to the earth, and stamped upon him; and lifted himself up against the prince of the host, and the habitation of his sanctuary was cast down; and he cast down the truth to the earth, (Daniel 8:5-7, 11-12).

That by the “he-goat” is meant faith separated from charity, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Faith 61-68. In like manner by these words:

A king shall arise hard of faces, understanding subtle things; he shall destroy the mighty, and the holy people, and he shall rise up against the Prince of princes; and fraud shall succeed and shall prosper in his hand, (Daniel 8:23-25).

That this “king” is the “he-goat,” is said there (verse 21). The like is also signified by:

The beast that came up out of the abyss, and made war with the two witnesses, and overcame and killed them, (Revelation 13:7; see 500)

They overcame, because the laity do not discern their subtleties, which they call mysteries, for they conceal them under appearances and fallacies; therefore they said, “Who is like unto the beast? Who is able to fight with him?” (verse 4), (579, 581).

[2] That by “saints” are meant those who are in truths from the Lord through the Word, may appear from the passages adduced above, (173), and also from the following:

Jesus said, Father, sanctify them in Thy truth, Thy Word is truth. I sanctify Myself, that they may be sanctified in the truth; I in them, and Thou in Me, (John 17:17, 19, 23).

Jehovah came from Sinai, He came from the myriads of holiness, from His right hand went the fire of the law to them, all His saints are in Thy hand; he shall receive of thy words, (Deuteronomy 33:2-3 From this it is plain, that they are called “saints” who are in Divine truths from the Lord through the Word: also, that they who live according to the commandments, that is, according to the truths of the Word, were the “saints of Jehovah” (Leviticus 19:2; Deuteronomy 26:18-19). And if they would keep the covenant, they would be a “holy nation” (Exodus 19:5-6). The Decalogue is the covenant which they were to do, (529). Thence the place in the tabernacle, where the ark was, in which was the Decalogue, was called the holy of holies, (Exodus 26:33-34).

[3] They are called “saints” who live according to the truths of the Word; not that they are holy, but the truths in them are holy, and they are holy when they are in them from the Lord; and the Lord is in them when the truths of His Word are in them, (John 15:7). By virtue of truths from the Lord the angels are called “holy” (Matthew 25:31; Luke 9:26); and in like manner the prophets, (Luke 1:70; Revelation 18:20; 22:6); and the apostles, (Revelation 18:20). It is for this reason that the temple is called “the temple of holiness” (Psalms 5:7; 65:4) and Zion, “the mountain of holiness” (Isaiah 65:11; Jeremiah 31:23; Ezekiel 20:40; Psalms 2:6; 3:4; 15:1). And Jerusalem is called “the holy city” (Isaiah 48:2; 64:10; Revelation 21:2, 10; Matthew 27:53). And the church is called “the people of saints” (Isaiah 62:12; 63:18; Psalms 149:1); and also the “kingdom of saints” (Daniel 7:18, 22, 27). The reason why they were called holy, is because “angels,” in an abstract sense, signify Divine truths from the Lord; “prophets,” truths of doctrine; “apostles,” truths of the church; “the temple,” heaven and the church as to Divine truth; and, in like manner, “Zion,” “Jerusalem,” “the people” and “the kingdom of God.” That no one is holy from himself, not even the angels, may be seen in Job 15:14-15, but from the Lord, because “the Lord alone is holy” (Revelation 15:4 (See 173)

587. And there was given to him authority over every tribe and tongue and nation, signifies thus dominion over all things of the church, both as to its doctrine and as to its life. By “authority” is signified dominion as above, (575); by “tribe” is signified the church as to its truths and goods, and, in an opposite sense, as to its falsities and evils, (27, 349); by “tongue” is signified its doctrine, (282, 483) and by “nation” is signified a life according to it, (483).

588. Verse 8. And all that dwell on the earth shall adore him, whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life, signifies that all of the church of the Reformed acknowledged that heretical doctrine, which is meant by the “dragon” and the “beast,” as holy in the church, except those who believed in the Lord. “To adore” signifies to acknowledge as a holy thing of the church, as above, (579-580); by “all that dwell on the earth,” are signified all of the church of the Reformed (as in 558); by “names not written in the Lamb’s book of life,” is signified, except those who believe in the Lord; by “names,” they are signified as to their quality, (81[1-4], 122, 165); by “the book of life” is signified the Word of the Lord, and all doctrine respecting Him, (256, 257, 259, 469); and as all the doctrine of the church from the Word refers to this point, that they should believe in the Lord, therefore this is here meant by “name written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Concerning faith in the Lord, see above, (67, 533).

589. Slain from the foundation of the world, signifies the Lord’s Divine Human not acknowledged from the establishment of the church. By “the Lamb slain” is signified that the Lord’s Divine Human is not acknowledged, may be seen above, (59, 269), where these words are explained:

I am the First and the Last, and am He that liveth, and was dead, and behold I am alive for ages of ages, (Revelation 1:17-18).

And the following:

And I saw, and behold, in the midst of the throne, a Lamb standing as it were slain; and they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, for Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God, (Revelation 5:6, 9).

“From the foundation of the world,” signifies from the establishment of the church, both the Jewish and the Christian. That the Jews did not acknowledge the Lord’s Divine Human, is known. That the Roman Catholics do not, is also known. And that the Reformed do not, may be seen above, (294). By “the foundation of the world” is not here meant the creation of the world, but the establishment of the church; for by “the world,” in the most extensive sense, is meant the whole world, and the good as well as the evil therein, and sometimes the evil only; but in a less extensive sense, by “the world” is meant the same as by “the globe” and “the earth,” thus the church. That by “the globe” is signified the church, may be seen, (551), and the same by “the earth” (285). That by “laying the foundation of the globe and the earth” is signified to establish the church, and that by “the founding” and “foundation” thereof, its establishment is signified, may appear from Isaiah 24:18; 40:21; 48:12-13; 51:16-17; 58:12; Jeremiah 31:37; Micah 6:1-2; Zechariah 12:1; Psalms 18:7, 15; 24:2; 82:5; 89:11. That “the world” also signifies the church, may be seen in Matthew 13:37-39; Joel 1:9-10; and that the Lord from faith in Him is called “the Savior of the world” (John 3:16-19; 4:42; 6:33, 51; 8:12; 9:4-5; 12:46-47). That “the world” also means the people of the church, (John 12:19; 18:20). From this it may be seen what is signified by “the foundation of the world” (also in Matthew 25:34; Luke 11:50; John 17:24; Revelation 17:8).

590. Verse 9. If anyone hath an ear, let him hear, signifies that they should attend to this, who desire to attain wisdom. That by “having an ear to hear” is signified to perceive and obey, and also to attend, may be seen above, (87); that it also means those who desire to be wise, follows. Here it is said, “If anyone hath an ear let him hear,” in order that they may attend to what goes before, and that otherwise they are not wise.

591. Verse 10. If anyone shall lead into captivity he shall go into captivity, signifies that he who by means of this heretical doctrine leads others away from believing well and living well, will himself be led away into hell by his own falsities and evils. By “leading into captivity” is signified to persuade and draw over to his own party, that they may consent and adhere to that heresy, which is meant by “the dragon” and “the beast,” and so to lead away from believing well and from living well. By “going into captivity” is signified to be led away into hell by his own falsities and evils. By “captivity” is here meant spiritual captivity, which is to be seduced, and thus led away from truths and goods, and led into falsities and evils. That by “captivity” in the Word is meant this spiritual captivity, may appear from the following passages:

Hear all ye people, and see my sorrow; my virgins and my young men have gone into captivity, (Lamentations 1:18).

God forsook His habitation and tent where He dwelt among men, and gave his strength into captivity, (Psalms 78:60-61).

The wind shall feed all thy pastors, and thy lovers shall go away into captivity; then shalt thou be ashamed for all thy wickedness, (Jeremiah 22:22).

I will make Mine arrows drunk with the blood of the pierced and of the captivity, (Deuteronomy 32:42).

They bend down and bow down, and their soul will go into captivity, (Isaiah 46:1-2).

Jehovah hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, to the bound, to the blind, (Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18-19).

I have raised him up in justice; and he shall let go my captivity, not for price nor reward, (Isaiah 45:13).

Thou hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive, (Psalms 68:18).

Shall the just captive be delivered? Even the captivity of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the violent shall be delivered, (Isaiah 49:24-25).

Shake thyself from the dust, sit down, O Jerusalem, open the bands of thy neck, O captive daughter of Zion, (Isaiah 52:2; besides other passages, (Jeremiah 48:46-47; 50:33-34; Ezekiel 6:1-10; 12:1-12; Obadiah 1:11; Psalms 14:7; Jeremiah 50:33-34; Psalms 53:6).

By the captivities of the sons of Israel by their enemies, spoken of in the book of Judges, and 2 Kings 25 and in the prophets, were represented, and thence signified, spiritual captivities, of which elsewhere; similar things are signified by “the bound,” as by “captives,” in the following passages:

By the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth the bound out of the pit, (Zechariah 9:11).

Let the sighing of the bound come to thee, (Psalms 79:11).

The bound shall be gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, (Isaiah 24:22).

That made the world as a wilderness, he opened not the house to his bound, (Isaiah 14:17).

The King said, I was in prison, and ye came not unto me, (Matthew 25:36, 43).

Jesus said, Ought not this daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day? (Luke 13:16).

592. If anyone shall kill with the sword, he must be killed with the sword, signifies that he who by falsities destroys the soul of another, is himself destroyed by falsities, and perishes. By “a sword,” “a sabre,” and “a long sword,” is signified truths, and in the opposite sense, falsity, both combating, (52, 836); therefore by “killing” and “being killed” is signified to destroy and be destroyed, or to destroy and perish, which is effected by falsities.

593. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints, signifies that the man of the Lord’s New Church, by temptations from them, is explored as to the quality of his life and faith. By “patience” is here signified patience in temptations, and then exploration of man’s quality as to life according to the Lord’s commandments, and as to faith in the Lord; therefore it is said, “here is the patience and the faith;” by “saints” are signified they who are of the Lord’s New Church, specifically they who are in Divine truths therein, (586). Patience is predicated of temptations, whereby man is explored as to what he really is; also elsewhere in Revelation, (as in chapters 1:9; 2:3, 19; 3:10). That it is as to life according to the Lord’s commandments, and as to faith in Him, is evident from these words:

They have no rest day nor night who adore the beast and his image, here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus, (Revelation 14:11-12).

594. Verse 11. And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth, signifies the clergy in the churches of the Reformed who are in the doctrine and faith of the dragon concerning God and salvation. What the faith of the dragon is and its quality, may be seen above, (537). That it is the laity that are meant by “the beast which came up out of the sea,” and the clergy by “the beast which came up out of the earth,” because by “the sea” is signified the external of the church, and by “the earth” its internal, (398, 567); and the laity are in the externals of the doctrine of the church, and the clergy are in its internals. That the clergy are now described, appears from all the particulars which follow, when understood in the spiritual sense; and manifestly from this, that this beast is also called “the false prophet” (Revelation 16:13; 19:20; 20:10); and especially from the following passage:

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that did signs before him, by which he seduced them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that adored his image, (Revelation 19:20).

That this beast did signs before the other, by which he seduced them, is said in this chapter in these words:

And he doeth great signs, and he seduceth them that dwell on the earth, on account of the signs which it was given him to do before the beast, saying to them to make an image to the beast, and adore it, (Revelation 13:13-15).

595. And he had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like the dragon, signifies that they speak, teach, and write from the Word, as if it were from the Lord’s Divine truth, and yet it is truth falsified. By “horns” is signified power, (270, 443), here the power of speaking, teaching, and writing, thus of reasoning and arguing. That the horns were seen “like a lamb,” signifies that they propagate these their notions as though they were the Lord’s Divine truths, because they are from the Word; for by “a lamb” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, and also as to the Word, which is the Divine truth from the Divine good; hence it is that upon this beast, which is also the false prophet, (594), there appeared two horns like a lamb; but that they were Divine truths falsified, is signified by “he spoke like a dragon.” That all the truths of the Word are falsified by those who are in the faith of the dragon concerning God and salvation, may be seen above, (566).

[2] That these two things are signified by “this beast had two horns like a lamb and he spoke like a dragon,” appears evidently from these words of the Lord in Matthew:

If anyone shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not; for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall give great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they shall lead into error the elect; behold I have told you before, (Matthew 24:23-25).

By “Christ” is signified the same as here by “lamb;” namely the Lord as to the Divine truth of the Word; therefore their saying, “Lo, here is Christ,” signifies that they would say that this is the Divine truth of the Word; but that it is that falsified is signified by these words: “If anyone shall say unto you, here is Christ, or there, believe it not, for there shall arise false Christs and false prophets.” That these are they concerning whom the Lord prophesied, is plain from this, that it is said they would give great signs and wonders, and would if possible lead into error the elect; the same as is said of the beast, which is the false prophet (in verses 13, 14, of this chapter). The things which the Lord foretold in that chapter of Matthew relate to the last time or state of the church, which is there meant by “the consummation of the age.”

596. Verse 12. And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast before him, signifies that they have confirmed the dogmas which are signified by “the dragon,” and are received by the laity, and that through it they prevail. That this is signified, may be seen from the explanation above concerning the authority given by the dragon to the beast coming up out of the sea, (575, 579); and because this beast, which is the false prophet, exercised that authority before the dragon, nothing else is signified than that they caused them to prevail by confirmations.

597. And He causeth the earth and them that dwell therein to adore the first beast the stroke of whose death was healed, signifies that thus by confirmations they have established this, that it is to be acknowledged as a holy thing of the church, that because no one can do a good work from himself and fulfill the law, the only means of salvation is faith in the justice and merit of Christ, who suffered for man, and thereby took away the condemnation of the law. It is unnecessary to explain this any further, because it follows from the explanations given above, (566, 577-582). By “the earth and them that dwell therein,” are signified the churches of the Reformed as above; “to adore” signifies to acknowledge as a holy thing of the church, as appears also above; here this is meant by “the beast coming up out of the sea, after the stroke of his death was healed;” and this has been explained already.

598. Verse 13. And he doeth great signs, signifies testifications that the things they teach are true, although they are false. By “signs” are signified testifications that things are true, because formerly signs were wrought to bear testimony to the truth. But after signs and miracles ceased, their signification still remains, which is a testification of the truth. But here by “signs” are signified testifications from the beast or false prophet, that his falsities were truths, by reason that after they are confirmed they do not appear otherwise. That the testifications that it is the truth are signified by signs, may appear from the following passages:

In the consummation of the age there shall arise false Christs and false prophets, and shall give great signs and portents, and, if it were possible, they shall lead into error the very elect, (Matthew 24:24; Mark 13:22).

There shall also be dreadful signs from heaven; and there shall be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, the sea and the waves roaring, (Luke 21:11, 25).

Jehovah maketh void the signs of the liars. He maketh the diviners mad, rejecting the wise men backward and maketh their science foolish, (Isaiah 44:25).

Learn not the way of the nations, and be not dismayed by the signs of the heavens, (Jeremiah 10:2).

They are the spirits of demons working signs to gather them to the battle of that great day, (Revelation 16:14).

The beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that did signs before him, and seduced, (Revelation 19:20).

[2] That “signs” were testifications that it was truth, appears further from the following passages:

The disciples said to Jesus, What sign doest Thou, that we may believe Thee? What dost Thou work? (John 6:30-33).

The Jews, Scribes, and Pharisees sought a sign of the Lord, that they might know that He was the Christ, (Matthew 12:38-40; 16:1-4; Mark 8:11-12; Luke 11:16, 29-30; John 2:16, 18-19).

The disciples said to Jesus, What is the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age? (Matthew 24:3; Mark 13:4).

If they will not believe thee, nor hear the voice of the first sign, yet they will believe the voice of the latter sign, (Exodus 4:8).

“The voice of a sign” is testification.

They showed among them the words of His signs, (Psalms 105:27).

He said unto Ahaz, Ask thee a sign from Jehovah, (Isaiah 7:11, 14).

This shall be a sign from Jehovah unto thee, behold, I will bring again the shadow of the degrees, which is gone down in the sun dial of Ahaz, (Isaiah 38:7-8).

Hezekiah had said, What is the sign that I shall go up to the house of Jehovah? (Isaiah 38:22).

This shall be a sign unto you, that I will visit upon you in this place, that ye may know that my words shall stand, (Jeremiah 44:29-30).

O Jehovah, make me a sign for good, that they which hate me may see and be ashamed, (Psalms 86:17).

Let them announce to you⁴⁹ what shall happen, that we may set our heart; show a sign of what is to come, that we may know that ye are gods, (Isaiah 41:22-23).

Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy festival, they have set up their signs for signs, (Psalms 74:3-4, 9; besides other places; as Isaiah 45:11, 13; Jeremiah 32:20-21; Ezekiel 4:3; Psalms 65:6-8; 78:42-43; Exodus 7:3; Numbers 14:11, 22; Deuteronomy 4:34; 13:1-3; Judges 6:17, 21; 1 Samuel 2:34; 14:10; Mark 16:17-18, 20; Luke 2:11-12, 16).

The like is signified by “the sign of the covenant” (Genesis 9:13; 17:11; Ezekiel 20:12, 20).

[3] Hence it may clearly be seen, that by “the great signs,” which this beast of the dragon works, are not meant signs, but the testifications by them that what they teach are truths; for every heretic who has confirmed himself in falsities, after confirmation strives to prove that his falsities are truths; for then he no longer sees truths, inasmuch as the confirmation of falsity is the denial of truth, and a truth denied loses its light; and so far as falsities shine from the light of confirmation, which is a fatuous light, so far the light of truth becomes darkness, as may be seen above, (566).

599. So that he also maketh fire to come down from heaven upon earth before men, signifies attestations that their falsities are truths of heaven, and that they who receive them are saved, and that they who do not receive them perish. The reason why this is signified by these words, is, because the greatest signs were made by fire from heaven; whence it was a common expression among the ancients in confirmation of anything, when the attestation of truth was spoken of, that “they could bring down fire from heaven and testify it;” by which was signified that they could testify even to that extent. That the truth was also attested by “fire from heaven,” appears from the following passages:

That the burnt-offering which was offered by Aaron was consumed by fire from heaven, (Leviticus 9:24).

In like manner the burnt-offering offered by Elijah, (1 Kings 18:38).

[2] “Fire from heaven,” in the opposite sense, was a sign testifying that they were in evils and thence in falsities and that they would perish; but this fire was a consuming fire; as:

The fire from heaven that consumed the two sons of Aaron, (Leviticus 10:1-6).

That which consumed two hundred and fifty men, (Numbers 26:10).

That which consumed the uttermost parts of the camp, (Numbers 11:1-4).

That which twice consumed fifty men sent by the king to Elijah, (2 Kings 1:10, 12).

The fire and brimstone from heaven upon Sodom, (Genesis 19:24-25).

The fire from heaven which consumed those who compassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city (concerning which see Revelation 20:9).

The disciples being angry with the impenitent, said to Jesus, Lord, wilt Thou that we call fire to come down from heaven and consume them? (Luke 9:54).

These passages are adduced to show that “fire from heaven” signifies a testification, yea, an attestation, that truth is truth, and, in the opposite sense, that falsity is truth, as here. “Fire” also signifies celestial love, and thus zeal for the truth, and in the opposite sense, infernal love, and thence zeal for falsity, (468, 494).

600. Verse 14. And he seduceth them that dwell on the earth, on account of the signs which were given him to do before the beast, signifies that by their testifications and attestations they lead the men of the church into errors. “To seduce” signifies to lead into errors; by “them that dwell on the earth” are signified the men of the churches of the Reformed, as above, (578, 588, 597); by “the signs” which it was given him to do before the beast, are signified testifications, and attestations, (598-599); by “the beast out of the sea,” before which the signs were done, is signified the faith of the dragon among the laity, (567); and by “the beast coming up out of the earth,” which did signs, and which in other places is called the false prophet, is signified the faith of the dragon among the clergy, (594). The like is said by the Lord in Matthew 24:24-26.

601. Saying to them that dwell upon the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which hath a stroke of a sword and liveth, signifies that they induce the men of the church to receive for doctrine, that faith is the only means of salvation, because no one can do good from himself but what is meritorious, and because no one can fulfil the law, and so be saved. By “them that dwell on the earth,” are meant the men of the churches of the Reformed, as above, (600); by “an image” is signified the doctrine of that church, of which below; and by “the image of the beast, which had the stroke of a sword and lived,” is signified this point of doctrine, that “Faith is the only means of salvation, because no one can do good from himself, but what is meritorious, and because no one can fulfil the law, and so be saved,” as above, (576-577, etc.).

[2] Every church appears before the Lord as a man; if it is in truths from the Word, it appears as a beautiful man, but if it is in truths falsified, it appears as a man-monster. The church so appears from its doctrine and from a life according to it; from which it follows, that the doctrine of a church is its image. This may also be seen from this: Every man is his own good and truth, or his own evil and falsity, from this and from no other source man is a man. Consequently it is doctrine and life according to it which makes “the image” of the man of the church, the image being that of a beautiful man, if the doctrine and the life according to it is from the genuine truths of the Word; but it is the image of a man-monster, if from falsified truths of the Word.

[3] Man, also, in the spiritual world, appears like some animal; but it is his affection which thus appears at a distance. They who are in truths and goods from the Lord, appear as lambs and doves; but they who are in falsified truths and adulterated goods, appear as owls and bats. They who are in faith separated from charity, appear as dragons and goats; they who are in falsities from evil, as basilisks and crocodiles. And they who are such, and yet have confirmed the doctrinals of the church, appear like fiery flying serpents. From these things it may be seen, that the doctrine of the church and life according to it are meant by “the image of the beast” which they made for “them that dwell upon the earth.”

[4] But what became of those who “adored the image of the beast,” may be seen, (Revelation 14:9-11; 19:20; 20:4). In the spiritual sense, “images” have a similar signification, (Exodus 20:4-5; Leviticus 26:1; Deuteronomy 4:16-18; Isaiah 2:16; Ezekiel 7:20; 16:17; 23:14-16). The idols and graven images with the ancients were images of their religious principle, on which account falsities and evils of doctrine are signified by them, (459).

602. Verse 15. And it was granted to him to give breath unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should also speak, signifies that it was permitted them to confirm that doctrine by the Word, from which it is as it were vivified when it is taught. By “granted” is signified that it was permitted; for all falsities of doctrine, as well as evils of life, are done from permission, concerning which see Angelic Wisdom concerning Divine Providence, (234-284, 296). By “the image of the beast,” that doctrine is signified, (601); by “giving breath to the image of the beast” is signified to confirm it from the Word, for there is no spirit and life to any doctrine of the church from any other source. That “the image of the beast might speak,” signifies that thus it is as it were vivified when it is taught. That this is meant by “giving breath to the image of the beast, that it might speak,” is, because in every particular of the Word there is spirit and life, for the Lord spoke the Word, therefore He Himself is in it, and He so spoke the Word as that everything therein should have communication with heaven, and through heaven with Himself. There is a spiritual sense there by which communication is effected; wherefore the Lord says:

The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and life, (John 6:63).

603. And cause that as many as do not adore the image of the beast should be killed, signifies that they pronounce damnation upon those who do not acknowledge their doctrine of faith to be the holy doctrine of the church. “To adore the image of the beast” signifies to acknowledge their doctrine of faith as the holy doctrine of the church, for by “adoring” is signified to acknowledge as a holy thing of the church, (579, 580, 588, 597); and by “the image of the beast” is signified that doctrine, (601); by “being killed” is signified to be killed spiritually, which is to be condemned, (325, and elsewhere); and as “being killed” signifies to be condemned, it also signifies to be declared as heretical and excluded from the communion of the church, for such a one, in their eyes, is considered as condemned. This the learned among the clergy do who have imbibed the mysteries of justification in schools and academies, especially they who are in the pride of erudition on account of such things. These condemn all who do not think as they do, and so far as they dare, they fulminate against them.

[2] This I can relate, that they who have imbibed these mysteries, and thence were in the pride of erudition in the spiritual world, are so enraged against those who adore the Lord alone, and do not acknowledge faith alone as the only means of salvation, that they burn with wrath, anger and fury when they see them, and also when they feel at a distance the Divine sphere of the Lord and a sphere of charity encompassing them. Since they are such, the dragon is therefore described as a most bitter enemy against them; as that:

He stood before the woman about to bring forth that he might devour her offspring after it was born. And the serpent cast out of its mouth water as a river after the woman, that he might cause her to be swallowed up by the rivers. And the dragon was angry against the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, (Revelation 12:4, 15, 17).

That out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, there came forth three unclean spirits like frogs, to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty, (Revelation 16:13-16; 19:19-20; 20:8-10).

Also that the beast that came up out of the abyss slew the two witnesses, and cast out their bodies upon the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, and did not permit them to be put into graves, (Revelation 11:7-9).

By “not permitting them to be put into graves” is signified to reject them as condemned, (506).

604. Verse 16. And he causeth all, the small and the great, and the rich, and the poor, the free and the bond, signifies all in that church, whatsoever may be their condition, learning and intelligence. By “the small and the great” are here meant they who are in a greater or lesser degree of dignity, thus of whatever condition; by “the rich and the poor” are meant they who are more or less in knowledges and sciences, (206), thus of whatever degree of learning; by “the free and the bond” are meant they who are wise from themselves, and they who are wise from others, (337), thus of whatever degree of intelligence. Therefore by “all, the small and the great, the rich and the poor, the free and the bond,” are meant all in that church whatever may be their condition, learning and intelligence. These are the things that are meant in the spiritual sense.

605. That he should give them a mark upon their right hand and upon their foreheads, signifies that no one is acknowledged as a Reformed Christian unless he receives that doctrine in faith and love. By “giving a mark” is signified to acknowledge as a Reformed Christian, or of the confession which that doctrine teaches; “a mark” is such acknowledgment and confession; by “the right hand” is signified the all of man as to intellectual power, thus as to faith, for “the right hand” signifies the power of man, (457); by “the forehead” is signified the all of man as to voluntary power, thus as to love, for “the forehead” signifies the love, (347).

606. Verse 17. And that no one could buy or sell if he hath not the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name, signifies that it is not lawful for anyone to teach from the Word, nor consequently to be inaugurated into the priesthood, honored with the laurel of a mastership, invested with the doctor’s cap, and called orthodox, unless he acknowledges that doctrine, and swears to the belief and the love of it, or to that which is in agreement, or to that which does not disagree with it. By buying and selling is signified to procure knowledges for one’s self, here such as belong to that doctrine, and to teach them, as will appear presently. By “a mark” is signified the acknowledgment as a Reformed Christian, and confession that he is so, (605); by “the name of the beast” is signified the quality of the doctrine, by “name” the quality, (81[1-4], 122, 165, 584), and by “the beast” is signified the doctrine received by the laity, thus by the general body, (567); and as it is said, “or the name of the beast,” that which is in agreement with it and its quality is signified; by “number” is signified the quality of a thing, (448); and because it is said, “or the number of his name,” that which does not disagree with it and its quality is signified. It is so said, because the doctrine which is signified by the dragon and his beast, varies in the different kingdoms in which the Reformed are; but it is the same as to this chief or head of doctrine, THAT FAITH WITHOUT THE WORKS OF THE LAW JUSTIFIES AND SAVES.

[2] That “to buy and sell” signifies to procure knowledges, and teach them, in like manner “to merchandise,” “trade,” and “gain” appears from the following passages:

Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy and eat; yea come, buy wine and milk without silver and without price, (Isaiah 55:1).

Ye have sold yourselves for nought, therefore ye shall not be redeemed by silver, (Isaiah 52:3).

With thy wisdom and with thy intelligence thou hast made for thyself wealth; and by the multitude of wisdom and by thy traffic thou hast multiplied for thyself wealth, (Ezekiel 28:4-5).

Since by “Tyre” is signified the church as to the knowledges of good and truth, therefore it is said of Tyre:

All the ships of the sea were for trading thy merchandise; Tarshish was thy merchant in silver; Javan, Tubal, and Meshech, they were thy merchants, they gave thy merchandise with the soul of man. Syria was thy merchant in chrysophasus; thy wealth, thy traffic, thy merchandise, they that carry on thy merchandise, shall fall into the heart of the seas in the day of thy fall, (Ezekiel 27).

Howl, ye ships of Tarshish, for Tyre is laid waste, whose merchants are princes, and whose traffickers are the honored of the earth, (Isaiah 23:1-8).

The same is meant by trading, in the Lord’s parable:

Of the man who travelled abroad, and gave his servants talents, that they might trade with them and gain, (Matthew 25:14-30).

And of the other, who gave his servant ten pounds to trade with, (Luke 19:12-26).

And of the treasure hid in a field; which when a man found, he hid, and sold all that he had and bought the field, (Matthew 13:44).

And of him that sought beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one precious one, sold all and bought it, (Matthew 13:45-46).

Such have thy merchants been from thy youth; they wandered everyone from his quarter, none shall save thee, (Isaiah 47:15).

607. Verse 18. Here is wisdom, signifies that it is the part of a wise man, from what has been said and explained in this chapter, to see and understand the quality of the doctrine and faith of the clergy concerning God and salvation. It is said “here,” because those things are meant which are declared and explained in this chapter, specifically concerning “the beast out of the earth,” by which is signified the doctrine and thence the faith of the clergy concerning God and salvation, (594), for the things contained in this verse are said of that beast; and as it is the part of a wise man, or of wisdom, to see and understand what that doctrine and thence the faith is, it is said, “Here is wisdom.”

608. He that hath intelligence let him count the number of the beast, signifies that he who is in enlightenment from the Lord, may know the quality of the confirmations of that doctrine and faith from the Word that is, with them. “To have intelligence” signifies to be in enlightenment from the Lord; “to count the number” signifies to know the quality, “number” signifying quality, (348, 364, 448), and “to count” signifies to know; and because the quality which is signified by “number” is its quality as to truth, and all the truth of doctrine and faith in the church is from the Word, therefore it means the quality of their confirmations from the Word; this also is the quality which is signified by the number “six hundred sixty-six,” as will be seen presently.

609. For it is the number of a man, signifies the quality of the Word and thence of the church. By “man” is signified wisdom and intelligence, (243), here wisdom and intelligence from the Word; thus also the Word as to the wisdom and intelligence in the man of the church. The church itself likewise appears before the Lord as a man; hence a man of the church, as to his spirit, appears in heaven as a man according to the quality of the church from the Word in him. This therefore it is which is signified here by “the number of a man,” because it follows after these words, “Let him that hath intelligence count the number of the beast,” by which is signified that he who is in enlightenment from the Lord may know what the quality of the confirmations of the doctrine and faith concerning God and salvation among the clergy really is. The quality of the church from the Word is also signified by “man” (920, and also in other places).

610. And his number is six hundred sixty-six, signifies this quality, that all the truth of the Word is falsified by them. By “the number of the beast” is signified the quality of the confirmations of doctrine and faith from the Word with them, (608, 609); by “six hundred sixty-six” is signified every truth of good, and as this is said of the Word, it signifies every truth of good in the Word, here the same falsified, because it is “the number of the beast.” The reason of this signification is, because “six” signifies the same as “three” multiplied by “two;” and “three” signifies what is full and all, and is predicated of truths, (505), and “two” signifies the marriage of truth and good; and as “six” is composed of those two numbers multiplied by each other, it therefore signifies every truth of good in the Word, here the same falsified; that it is also falsified by them may be seen above, (566). The number “six hundred sixty-six” is used, because in that number six is tripled, and triplication completes; the multiplying by one hundred, whence comes “six hundred,” and by ten, whence comes “sixty,” changes nothing (see 348).

[2] That “six” signifies what is full and all, and is used where the truths of good are treated of, may appear from those passages in the Word where that number occurs; but the signification of this number does not clearly appear except to those who see the things concerning which it treats in the spiritual sense, as when the Lord said:

That the seed which fell on good ground, brought forth fruit, some thirty, some sixty, some an hundred, (Mark 4:8, 20; Matthew 13:8, 23).

That the householder went out and brought laborers into his vineyard at the third hour and at the sixth hour, (Matthew 20:3, 5).

That upon the table in the tabernacle the cakes of bread were arranged in two rows, six in each, (Leviticus 24:6).

That there were set six water pots, after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, (John 2:6).

That there were six cities of refuge or asylums, (Numbers 35:6-7; Deuteronomy 19:1-9).

That the measuring reed with which the angel measured all parts of the new temple and the new city, was six cubits, (Ezekiel 40:5).

That the prophets should drink water by measure, the sixth part of a hin, (Ezekiel 4:11).

That they should take for an offering the sixth part of an ephah of a homer of wheat, (Ezekiel 45:13).

Because “six” signifies what is full, the word “to take a sixth part,” came into use, by which, in the spiritual sense, is signified what is complete and entire; as that:

They should offer the sixth part of an ephah out of a homer of wheat, (Ezekiel 45:13).

And it is said of Gog:

I will turn thee back, and leave the sixth part of thee, (Ezekiel 39:2).

By this is signified that with him every truth of good in the Word was utterly destroyed; who are meant by “Gog,” may be seen, (859).

611. To these I will add this Relation. All who are prepared for heaven, which is effected in the world of spirits, which is in the midst between heaven and hell, after a certain time, desire heaven with a certain longing, and presently their eyes are opened, and they see a way which leads to some society in heaven. They enter this way and ascend, and in the ascent there is a gate, and a keeper there. The keeper opens the gate, and thus they go in. Then an examiner meets them, who tells them from the governor, that they may enter in still further, and inquire whether there are any houses which they can recognize as their own, for there is a new house for every novitiate angel; and if they find any, they give notice of it and remain there. But if they do not find any, they come back and say they have not seen any. And then they are examined by a certain wise one there, to discover whether the light that is in them agrees with the light of that society, and especially whether the heat does; for the light of heaven in its essence is Divine truth, and the heat of heaven in its essence is Divine good, both proceeding from the Lord as the sun there. If any other light and any other heat than the light and heat of that society is in them, they are not received; that is, if any other truth and any other good is in them. Therefore, they depart thence, and go in the ways which are opened among the societies in heaven, and this till they find a society which agrees in every respect with their affections, and here they take up their abode to eternity. For they are here among their like, as among relations and friends whom, because they are in a similar affection, they love from the heart and there they are in the enjoyment of their life, and in a fullness of bosom delight derived from peace of soul; for there is in the heat and light of heaven an ineffable delight, which is communicated. Such is the case with those who become angels.

[2] But they who are in evils and falsities may, by leave given to them, ascend into heaven; but when they enter, they begin to draw their breath or to respire with difficulty, and presently their sight is obscured, their understanding is darkened, and thought ceases, and death seems present before their eyes, and thus they stand like a stock. And then they begin to have a beating at the heart, and a straitness over the breast, the mind is seized with anguish, and they become more and more tormented, and in that state writhe themselves about like a serpent laid before the fire; therefore, they roll themselves away, and cast themselves headlong down a precipice which then appears to them; nor do they rest till they are in hell among their like, where they can respire, and their heart can vibrate freely. Afterwards they hate heaven, and reject truth, and in heart blaspheme the Lord, believing that their tortures and torments in heaven proceeded from him.

[3] From these few things it may be seen what their lot is who make no account of truths, which yet make the light in which the angels of heaven dwell, and who make no account of goods, which yet make the heat in which the angels of heaven are. From these things it may appear how much they are in error, who believe that everyone may enjoy heavenly beatitude by mere admission into heaven. For the faith at this day is, that heaven is received from mercy alone; and that reception into heaven is like being admitted, in this world, into a house where there is a marriage, and then at the same time into the joy and gladness. But let them know, that there is a communication of affections in the spiritual world, man being then a spirit, and the life of a spirit is affection, from which, and according to which, is thought; and that homogeneous affection conjoins and heterogeneous affection disjoins, and that heterogeneity would torment a devil in heaven, and an angel in hell. For which reason they are separated exactly according to the diversities, varieties, and differences of the affections which are of love.

[4] It was granted me to see upwards of three hundred of the clergy of the Reformed world, all men of learning, who knew how to confirm the doctrine of faith alone even to justification, and some of them still further. And because there prevailed a belief among them also, that heaven consists only in admission by favor, leave was given them to ascend to a society in heaven, though not one of the higher ones. And as they ascended together, they appeared at a distance like calves. And when they entered into heaven they were received with civility by the angels, but when they discoursed with them, they were seized with trembling, afterwards with horror, and lastly with the agonies as it were of death, and then they cast themselves down headlong, and in their descent they appeared like dead horses. The reason of their appearing like calves as they ascended, was, because from correspondence the natural affection of seeing and knowing appears gamboling like a calf; and the reason why they appeared like dead horses as they fell, was, because from correspondence the understanding of truth from the Word appears like a horse, and the non-understanding of truth in the Word, like a dead horse.

[5] There were boys below, who saw them falling, to whom in their descent they seemed like dead horses. And then they turned away their faces, and said to their master, who was with them, “What is this portent? We beheld men and now instead of them there are dead horses, the sight of which we could not bear, and we therefore turned away our faces. Master, let us not stay in this place, but let us go away:” and they departed. The master then instructed them in the way what “a dead horse” is, saying, “‘A horse’ signifies the understanding of the Word; all the horses which you saw, signified that; for when a man goes meditating from the Word, then his meditation, at a distance, appears as a horse, noble and lively, as he meditates spiritually on the Word, and, on the contrary, poor and dead, as he meditates materially.”

[6] The boys then asked, “What is it to meditate on the Word spiritually and materially?” And the master replied, “I will illustrate it by examples. Who, when he reads the Word, does not think of God, his neighbor, and heaven?

Everyone who thinks of God only from Person, and not from Essence, thinks materially; also he who thinks of the neighbor only from form, and not from quality, thinks materially; and he who thinks of heaven only from place, and not from the love and wisdom which heaven is, he also thinks materially.” But the boys said, “We have thought of God from Person, of the neighbor from form, that he is a man, and of heaven from place; did we therefore, when we were reading the Word, appear to anyone as dead horses?”

[7] The master said, “No, you are yet boys, and could not think otherwise; but I have perceived in you an affection of knowing and understanding, which, because it is spiritual, shows that you have also thought spiritually. But I will return to what I said at first, that he who thinks materially, when he reads the Word or is meditating from it, appears at a distance like a dead horse; but he who reads it spiritually, like a living horse; and that he thinks materially concerning God and the Trinity, who thinks of God only from Person, and not from essence. For there are many attributes of the Divine essence, such as omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, mercy, grace, eternity, and others; and there are attributes proceeding from the Divine essence, which are creation and preservation, salvation and redemption, enlightenment and instruction. Everyone who thinks of God only from person, makes three Gods, saying that one God is the Creator and Preserver, another the Saviour and Redeemer, and the third the Enlightener and Instructor. But everyone who thinks of God from essence, makes one God, saying, God created and preserves us, redeems and saves us, enlightens and instructs us.

“This is the reason why they who think of the Trinity in God from Person, and thus materially, cannot, from the ideas of their thought, which are material, do otherwise than out of one God make three; but yet, contrary to their thought, they are held to saying, that in each there is a communion of all the attributes, and this solely because they have also thought of God obscurely from essence. Therefore, my pupils, think of God from His essence, and from that of His Person, and not from His Person, and from this of His essence, for to think of His essence from Person, is to think materially of His essence also; but to think of His Person from essence, is to think spiritually even of His Person. The ancient Gentiles, because as they thought materially of God, and also of the attributes of God, not only imagined three gods, but many even to the number of a hundred. Know then that the material does not flow into the spiritual, but the spiritual into the material. It is similar with the thought of the neighbor from form, and not from his quality, and with the thought of heaven from place, and not from the love and wisdom which heaven is. It is similar with each and everything in the Word. Therefore, he who cherishes a material idea of God, and likewise of the neighbor and of heaven, cannot understand anything there. The Word is to him a dead letter, and he himself, when he reads it or meditates on it, appears at a distance as a dead horse.

[8] “They whom you saw falling from heaven, and who appeared in your sight like dead horses, were such as had closed the rational sight in themselves and others by this peculiar dogma, that the understanding is to be kept in subjection to their faith; not considering that the understanding, when closed by religion, is as blind as a mole, and there is mere thick darkness in it, and such thick darkness as rejects from itself all spiritual light, opposes its influx from the Lord and from heaven, and sets up a barrier against it in the sensual corporeal part, far below the rational in matters of faith, that is, places it near the nose, and fixes it in its cartilage, on which account they cannot afterwards so much as scent spiritual things; whence some have become such that when they sensate the odor from spiritual things they fall into a swoon; by odor I mean perception. These are they who make God three. They say indeed from essence that God is one; but yet when they pray from their faith, which is that “God the Father would have mercy for the sake of the Son and send the Holy Spirit,” they evidently make three Gods. They cannot do otherwise, for they pray to one to have mercy for the sake of another, and send a third.” And then their master taught them concerning the Lord, that He is the one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity.

Chapter 14 (612-655)

612. Revelation 14

1. And I saw, and behold a Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written upon their foreheads.

2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of great thunder; and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps.

3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four animals, and the elders; and no one was able to learn the song but the hundred forty-four thousand bought from the earth.

4. These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins; these are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth: these were bought from among men, the firstfruits to God and the Lamb.

5. And in their mouth was found no deceit, for they are spotless before the throne of God.

6. And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, and unto every nation and tribe and tongue and people;

7. Saying with a great voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come; and adore Him that made the heaven and the earth and the sea, and the fountains of waters.

8. And another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the anger of her whoredom.

9. And a third angel followed them, saying with a great voice, if anyone hath adored the beast, and his image, and hath received his mark upon his forehead or upon his hand,

10. He also shall drink of the wine of the anger of God mixed with unmixed wine in the cup of His wrath, and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb.

11. And the smoke of their torment shall go up for ages of ages; and they shall have no rest day and night that adore the beast and his image, and if anyone shall have received the mark of his name.

12. Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus Christ.⁵⁰

13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying to me, Write, Happy are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors; for their works follow with them.

14. And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sitting like unto the Son of man, having upon His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle.

15. And another angel went out from the temple, crying with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Send Thy sickle, and reap; for the hour for Thee to reap is come, for the harvest of the earth is dried up.

16. And He that sat upon the cloud sent His sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped.

17. And another angel went out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle.

18. And another angel went out from the altar, having authority over fire; and he cried with a great cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send thy sharp sickle, and gather the vintage, the clusters of the vineyard of the earth; for her grapes are ripened.

19. And the angel sent his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vineyard of the earth, and he cast it into the great winepress of the anger of God.

20. And the winepress was trodden without the city; and there went out blood from the winepress even unto the bridles of the horses, for a thousand six hundred stadia.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

Concerning the New Christian Heaven: it is described (verses 1-5). The proclamation of the Lord’s coming, and then the New Church (verses 6-7, 13). An exhortation to recede from faith separated from charity, in which is the church at the present day (verses 9-12). The exploration of these, and the manifestation that their works are evil (verses 14-20).

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “And I saw, and behold a Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred forty-four⁵¹ thousand,” signifies the Lord now in the New Heaven from Christians, who acknowledged Him as the God of heaven and earth, and were in truths of doctrine from Him through the Word, (612). “Having His Father’s name in their foreheads,” signifies acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine and the Divine Human with them, (613).

Verse 2. “And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters,” signifies the Lord speaking through the New Heaven from Divine truths, (614). “And as the voice of great thunder,” signifies and from the Divine love, (615). “And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps,” signifies confession of the Lord from gladness of heart by the spiritual angels in the lower heavens, (616).

Verse 3. “And they sung as it were a new song before the throne and before the four animals and before the elders,” signifies celebration and glorification of the Lord before Him and before the angels of the higher heavens, (617). “And no one was able to learn the song but the hundred forty-four thousand,” signifies that no others from among Christians could understand, and thus from love and faith acknowledge, that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, but they who were received by the Lord into this New Heaven, (618). “Bought from the earth,” signifies that they are those who could be regenerated by the Lord and thus be redeemed in the world, (619). Vers, (Revelation 14:4) e 4. “These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins,” signifies that they did not adulterate the truths of the church, and defile them with falsities of faith, but that they loved truths because they are truths, (620). “These are they who follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth,” signifies that they are conjoined with the Lord by love and faith in Him, because they have lived according to His commandments, (621). “And were bought from among men,” signifies here as before, (622). “Firstfruits unto God and the Lamb,” signifies the first beginning of the Christian heaven, that acknowledges one God in whom is the Trinity, and that the Lord is He, (623).

Verse 5. “And in their mouth was found no deceit,” signifies that they do not from cunning and design speak and persuade to falsity and evil, (624). “For they are spotless before the throne of God,” signifies because they are in truths from good from the Lord, (625).

Verse 6. “And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven having the eternal gospel to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth,” signifies the annunciation of the Lord’s coming, and of the New Church that is to come down out of heaven from Him, (626). “And to every nation and tribe and tongue and people,” signifies to all who are in goods from religion, and in truths from doctrine, (627).

Verse 7. “Saying with a great voice, Fear God,” signifies admonition not to do evils, because this is against the Lord, (628). “And give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come,” signifies the acknowledgment and confession that all the truth of the Word is from the Lord, according to which every man will be judged, (629[1-2]); “and adore Him who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and the fountains of waters,” signifies that the Lord alone is to be worshiped, because He alone is the Creator, Saviour, and Redeemer, and from Him alone are the angelic heaven and the church and all things of them, (630).

Verse 8. (Revelation 14:8) “And another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city,” signifies that the Roman Catholic religion, as to its dogmas and doctrinals, is now dispersed, (631). “Because she made all nations drink of the wine of the anger of her whoredom,” signifies because by profanations of the Word and adulterations of the good and truth of the church, she has seduced all whom she could subject to her dominion, (632).

Verse 9. (Revelation 14:9) “And a third angel followed them, saying with a great voice,” signifies further revelation from the Lord concerning those who are in faith separated from charity, (633). “If anyone hath adored the beast and his image, and hath received his mark upon his forehead and upon his hand,” signifies whoever acknowledges and receives the doctrine concerning justification and salvation by faith alone, confirms it, and lives according to it, (634).

Verse 10. “He also shall drink of the wine of the anger of God mixed with unmixed wine in the cup of His wrath,” signifies that they falsify the goods and truths of the Word, and imbue their life from those falsified things, (635). “And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and the Lamb (verse 11), and the smoke of their torment shall go up for ages of ages,” signifies the love of self and the world and the lusts therefrom, and from these the pride of their own intelligence, and thence torment in hell, (636). “And they shall have no rest day and night that adore the beast and his image, and if anyone shall have received the mark of his name,” signifies a perpetual state in undelightful things with those who acknowledge and receive that faith, confirm it, and live according to it, (637).

Verse 12. “Here is the patience of the saints, here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus,” signifies that the man of the Lord’s church is explored by temptations from them, as to the quality of his life according to the commandments of the Word and of his faith in the Lord, (638).

Verse 13. “And I heard a voice from heaven, saying to me, Write,⁵² Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord from henceforth,” signifies a prediction from the Lord concerning the state of those after death who will be of His New Church, that they will have eternal life and happiness, (639). “Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors,” signifies that the Divine truth of the Word teaches that they who afflict their soul and crucify their flesh for the sake of those things, will have peace in the Lord, (640). “For their works follow with them,” signifies according as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken, (641).

Verse 14. “And I saw, and behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sitting like unto the Son of man,” signifies the Lord as to the Word, (642). “Having upon His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle,” signifies the Divine wisdom from His Divine love, and the Divine truth of the Word, (643).

Verse 15. “And another angel went out from the temple,” signifies the angelic heaven, (644). “Crying with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Send Thy sickle, and reap, for the hour for Thee to reap is come, for the harvest of the earth is dried up,” signifies the supplication of the angels of heaven to the Lord, that He would make an end and execute judgment, because now is the last state of the church, (645).

Verse 16. “And He that sat upon the cloud sent His sickle, and the earth was reaped,” signifies the end of the church, because there is no longer any Divine truth there, (646).

Verse 17. “And another angel went out from the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle,” signifies the heavens of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, and the Divine truth of the Word with them, (647).

Verse 18. “And another angel went out from the altar, having authority over fire,” signifies the heavens of the Lord’s celestial kingdom, which are in the good of love from the Lord, (648). “And he cried with a great cry to him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send thy sharp sickle, and gather the vintage, the clusters of the vineyard of the earth,” signifies the Lord’s operation from the good of His love by the Divine truth of His Word into the works of charity and faith, with the men of the Christian church, (649). “For her grapes are ripened,” signifies because it is the last state of the Christian church, (649b). Verse 19. “And the angel sent his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vineyard of the earth,” signifies the end of the present Christian church, (650). “And he cast it into the great winepress of the anger of God,” signifies exploration of the quality of their works, that they were evil, (651).

Verse 20. “And the winepress was trodden without the city,” signifies that exploration was made from the Divine truths of the Word as to the quality of the works which flow forth from the doctrine of faith of the church, (652). “And there went out blood from the winepress even unto the bridles of the horses,” signifies violence done to the Word by dreadful falsifications of the truth, and the understanding so closed up thereby, that man can scarcely be taught any longer, and thus be led of the Lord by Divine truths, (653). “For a thousand six hundred stadia,” signifies mere falsities of evil, (654).

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And I saw, and behold a Lamb standing on the Mount Zion, and with Him a hundred forty-four thousand, signifies the Lord now in the New Heaven collected out of those in the Christian churches who have acknowledged the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, and have been in the truths of doctrine from the good of love from Him by the Word. By “I saw,” are signified the things which follow in this chapter; by “a Lamb” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, (269, 271); by “mount Zion” is signified heaven, where they are who are in love to the Lord, as will be seen presently; by “a hundred forty-four thousand” are signified all who acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, and who are in the truths of doctrine from the good of love from Him through the Word, (348). These were treated of in chapter 7; but there, that “they were sealed on their foreheads,” and thus were distinguished and separated from the rest; now however that they were collected together into one, and that a heaven was from them.

[2] The heaven here treated of, is the heaven collected from Christians, from the time the Lord was in the world, and from such of them as approached the Lord alone, and lived according to His precepts in the Word, by shunning evils as sins against God. This heaven is the New Heaven, from which the Holy Jerusalem, that is, the New Church upon earth, will descend, (Revelation 21:1-2). But the heavens which were formed before the Lord’s coming are above this heaven, and are called the ancient heavens; in which likewise all acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth. These heavens communicate with this New Heaven by influx.

[3] It is known, that by “the land of Canaan” is signified the church, because the Word was there, and by it the Lord was known; also because in the midst of it was the city Zion, and under it the city Jerusalem, both upon a mountain. Hence by “Zion” and “Jerusalem” are signified the inmost things of the church; and as the church in the heavens makes one with the church on earth, therefore by “Zion” and “Jerusalem” is meant the church everywhere, but by “Zion” the church as to love, and by “Jerusalem” the church as to doctrine from love. It is called “Mount Zion” because by “a mountain” is signified love, (336[1-4]).

[4] That by “Mount Zion” is signified heaven and the church where the Lord alone is worshiped, may appear from the following passages:

I have anointed My King upon Zion; I will announce concerning the statute, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee; I will give the nations for Thy inheritance; Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and ye perish; happy are all that trust in Him, (Psalms 2:6-8, 12).

O Zion, that bringest good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain; say, Behold the Lord Jehovah will come in strength, (Isaiah 40:9-10).

Exult greatly, O daughter of Zion; behold thy King cometh unto thee Just and a Savior, (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:2, 4-5; John 12:14-15).

Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee, (Isaiah 12:6).

The redeemed of Jehovah shall return to Zion with a song, (Isaiah 35:10).

Shout and be glad, O daughter of Zion, behold I come that I may dwell in the midst of thee, (Zechariah 2:10-11).

Who will give the salvation of Israel in Zion, (Psalms 14:7; 53:6).

The Lord Jehovih will found in Zion a tried stone, and then shall your covenant with death be abolished, (Isaiah 28:16-18).

My salvation shall not tarry, I will give salvation in Zion, (Isaiah 46:13).

Then the Redeemer shall come to Zion, (Isaiah 59:20).

Jehovah of Hosts shall reign in Mount Zion, (Isaiah 24:23).

Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob; glorious things are to be proclaimed in thee, O city of God; this one was born there; all my fountains are in thee, (Psalms 87:2-3, 6-7).

Jehovah hath chosen Zion, He hath desired it for His seat; this is my rest forever, there will I dwell, (Psalms 132:13-14).

Let the sons of Zion exult in their King, (Psalms 149:2).

O Jehovah arise, and have mercy on Zion, the set time is come; the name of Jehovah shall be declared in Zion, when the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms to serve Jehovah, (Psalms 102:13-16, 21-22).

Out of Zion God shall shine; our God cometh, and shall call to the heaven above, and to the earth, Gather My saints together unto Me, (Psalms 50:2-5). Besides other places, as Isaiah 1:27; 4:2, 5; 31:4, 31:9; 33:5, 20; 37:22; 52:1; 64:10; Jeremiah 6:2; Lamentations 4:2; Amos 1:2; Micah 3:10, 12; 4:1-3, 7-8; Zephaniah 3:14, 16; Joel 3:16-17, 21; Zechariah 8:3; Psalms 20:2; 48:2-3, 11-14; 76:2; 78:68; 110:1-2; (149:2, 4); 125:1; 126:1; 128:5-6; 134:3; 135:21; 146:10; In many places it is said “the virgin and the daughter of Zion;” by whom is not meant any virgin or daughter there, but the church as to the affection of good and truth; the same as by “the Bride of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:2, 9; 22:17). “The virgin and the daughter of Zion” signifies the Lord’s Church in these passages:Isaiah 1:8; 3:16-26; 4:4; 10:32; 16:1; 37:22; 52:2; 62:11; Jeremiah 4:31; Jeremiah 6:(2,) 23; Lamentations 1:6; 2:1, 4, 8, 10, 13, 18; 4:22; Micah 1:13; 4:8, 10, 13; Zephaniah 3:14; Zechariah 2:10; 9:9; Psalms 9:14.

613. Having His father’s name written on their foreheads, signifies their acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine and Divine Human from love and faith with them. By “the name of the Father” is meant the Lord as to the Divine from whom all things are, which is called the Father, and at the same time, as to the Divine Human, which is called the Son, because they are One and one Person, united like soul and body; for which reason, in heaven, by “God the Father” no other is meant than the Lord, and the Lord is also called Father in the New Heaven. The reason why it is here said, “the name of His Father on their foreheads,” is also because by “Father” is meant the Divine good of the Lord’s Divine love, which in the Word of the Evangelists is everywhere meant by “the Father,” when named by the Lord, and the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom by “the Son;” which two were united as soul to body and body to soul, when the Lord glorified His Human (see 21, 170); and since they are one, it is therefore said in another place:

The name of God and of the Lamb on their forehead, (Revelation 22:4).

Concerning these, therefore, who are here treated of, it is said, that “they had the Father’s name written on their foreheads,” because by “the one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed out of the twelve tribes of Israel,” are meant the angels of the higher heavens, who are all in the good of celestial love, and by the Father, as was said, that good is meant. That the angels here treated of are angels of the higher heavens, may be seen in the explanation of chapter 7, particularly at 362. By “written on their foreheads” is signified acknowledgment from love and faith in them; by “written” or “inscribed” is signified acknowledgment in them, and by “the forehead” is signified love and thence intelligence or faith, (347, 605).

[2] That the Divine, which is called the Father, and the Divine Human, which is called the Son, are One, like soul and body, and consequently that the Lord is to be approached as to the Divine Human, and that thus and not otherwise the Divine, which is called the Father, is approached, appears from so many passages in the Word, that they would fill many pages, if they were to be adduced; a large collection of them may be found in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord 29-36, 38-45, and following; from which a few only shall here be quoted by way of confirmation, which are these:

The angel said to Mary, Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. But Mary said, How shall this be, since I know not a man. The angel answered, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, therefore also, that Holy One which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God, (Luke 1:30-35).

The angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Fear not to take Mary thy bride, for that which is born in her is from the Holy Spirit; and Joseph knew her not, until she brought forth her firstborn Son, (Matthew 1:20, 25).

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word, and the Word was made flesh, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, (John 1:1-2, 14).

The Jews sought to kill Jesus, because He had said that God was His own Father, making Himself equal to God. Jesus answered, Whatsoever the Father doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise; as the Father raiseth up the dead and vivifieth them, even so the Son vivifieth whom He will; Verily I say unto you, that the hour shall come, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live, (John 5:18-26).

As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, (John 5:26).

I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh to the Father but by Me; if ye have known Me, ye have known my Father also; and from henceforth ye have known Him and have seen Him. Philip saith unto Him, Show us the Father; Jesus saith unto Him, Have I been so long time with you, and thou hast not known Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe me, that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, (John 14:6-11).

I give unto my sheep eternal life; I and the Father are one. And the Jews were indignant that He made Himself God; and He said, I do the works of the Father; believe the works; that ye may know and believe that the Father is in Me and I in the Father, (John 10:28-38).

He that seeth Me, seeth Him who sent Me, (John 12:45).

All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine, (John 16:15).

That the Father had given all things into His hands, (John 13:3).

Father, Thou hast given Me power over all flesh; this is life eternal, that they should know Thee the only God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent. All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine, (John 17:2-3, 10).

All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth, (Matthew 28:18).

Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, this I will do; and I will do it, (John 14:13-14).

The Spirit of Truth shall not speak from Himself, but He shall receive of Mine and declare it unto you, (John 16:13-14).

He that abideth in Me, and I in Him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing, (John 15:5 besides other places).

[3] There are still more in the Old Testament, from which also a few shall be adduced:

Unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, Father of eternity, Prince of peace, (Isaiah 9:6).

A virgin shall conceive a Son, and His name shall be called God with us, (Isaiah 7:14).

Behold, the days shall come, that I will raise up unto David a just branch, who shall reign a King; and this is His name, which they shall call Him, Jehovah our justice, (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16).

Then it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God whom we have waited for, that He may free us; this is Jehovah whom we have waited for; let us exult and be glad in His salvation, (Isaiah 25:9).

Only in thee is God, and there is no God beside; verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior, (Isaiah 45:14-15).

Am not I Jehovah, and there is no God else beside Me, a just God and a Savior, there is none beside Me, (Isaiah 45:21-22).

I am Jehovah, and beside Me there is no Savior, (Isaiah 43:11).

I Jehovah am thy God, and thou shalt not acknowledge a God beside Me, and there is no Savior beside Me, (Hosea 13:4).

Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, Thy name is from everlasting, (Isaiah 63:16).

Thus said the king of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts, I am the First and the Last, and beside Me there is no God, (Isaiah 44:6).

Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, I am Jehovah that maketh all things, and alone by Myself, (Isaiah 44:24).

Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah thy God, (Isaiah 48:17).

Jehovah, my Rock, and my Redeemer, (Psalms 19:14).

Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of Hosts is His Name, (Jeremiah 50:34).

Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called, (Isaiah 54:5).

That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty one of Jacob, (Isaiah 49:26; 60:16).

As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, (Isaiah 47:4).

Thus said thy Redeemer Jehovah, (Isaiah 43:14; 49:7 And elsewhere, as Luke 1:68; Isaiah 62:11-12; 63:1, 4, 9; Jeremiah 15:20-21; Hosea 13:4, 14; Psalms 31:5; 44:26; 49:15; 55:17-18; 69:18; 71:23; 103:4; 107:2; 130:7-8).

And in Zechariah:

In that day Jehovah shall be King over all the earth; in that day Jehovah shall be one, and His name one, (Zechariah 14:9).

But these are few.

614. Verse 2. And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, signifies the Lord speaking through the New Heaven from Divine truths. By “a voice from heaven” is signified a voice or speech from the Lord through heaven; for when a voice is heard from heaven, it is from the Lord; here, through the New Heaven of Christians, which is meant by “Mount Zion,” upon which “the Lamb was seen standing, and with him a hundred forty-four thousand” (612, 613); by “many waters” are signified Divine truths, (50). The like is said of the Lord speaking through heaven from Divine truths, in the following passages:

The voice of the Son of man was heard as the voice of many waters, (Revelation 1:15).

And a voice from the throne, as the voice of many waters, (Revelation 19:6).

And the voice of the God of Israel as the voice of many waters, (Ezekiel 43:2).

The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters, Jehovah is upon many waters, (Psalms 29:3).

The sound of the wings of the cherubim was like the sound of great waters, (Ezekiel 1:24).

By “the cherubim” is signified the Word, (239), thus Divine truth, from which the Lord speaks.

615. And as the voice of great thunder, signifies the Lord speaking through the New Heaven from the Divine love. That “lightnings, thunders, and voices,” signify enlightenment, perception, and instruction, may be seen above, (236); and that “the seven thunders speaking,” signify the Lord speaking through the entire heaven, (472). The Lord, when He speaks through heaven, speaks from the third heaven through the second heaven, thus from Divine love through Divine wisdom, for the third heaven is in His Divine love, and the second heaven in His Divine wisdom. The Lord never speaks otherwise when He speaks from the higher heavens; and this is what is meant by “a voice as of many waters,” and by “a voice of great thunder;” “many waters” are the Divine truths of the Divine wisdom, and “great thunder” is the Divine good of the Divine love.

616. And I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps, signifies confession of the Lord from joy of heart by the spiritual angels in the lower heavens. To harp upon the harp signifies to confess the Lord from spiritual truths, see above, (276); that this is from joy of heart follows; hence by “harpers” are signified spiritual angels. The reason why they are angels of the lower heavens, is because the voice of the Lord through the higher heavens was heard as “the voice of many waters,” and as “the voice of great thunder” (614, 615). There was heard “a voice of harpers harping upon harps,” because sound or speech descending from the lower heavens is sometimes heard like the sound of harps; not that they are harping upon harps, but because the voice of confession of the Lord from joy of heart is so heard below.

617. Verse 3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four animals and the elders, signifies the celebration and glorification of the Lord before Him and before the angels of the higher heavens. By “they sung a new song” is signified the acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord, that He alone is Judge, Redeemer, and Savior, thus the God of heaven and earth, see above, (279). “Before the throne” is before the Lord, because He alone sits upon the throne; that “before the four animals and the elders” is before the angels of the higher heavens, (369); by “as it were a new song,” is signified the celebration and glorification of the Lord in the New Christian Heaven, here in particular that He is acknowledged as the God of heaven and earth, in like manner as in the ancient heavens. This is implied in the expression “as it were,” for “as it were a new song,” signifies as though it were new, when nevertheless it is not new. That the New Heaven mentioned in Revelation (chapter 21:1) is a New Heaven from Christians, and that the former heavens are from the ancient and most ancient people, also that the Lord is acknowledged in these heavens as the God of heaven and earth, has been said before.

618. And no one was able to learn the song but the hundred forty-four thousand, signifies that no others from Christians could understand, and thus from love and faith acknowledge, that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, but those who were received by the Lord into this New Heaven. By this “song” is signified the acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord, that He is the God of heaven and earth, (279, 617); by “learning” is signified to perceive interiorly in oneself that it is so, which is to understand, and so to receive and acknowledge; he who learns otherwise, learns and does not learn, because he does not retain. By the hundred forty-four thousand are meant they who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth, (612). The reason why no others from Christians could learn this song, that is, acknowledge that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth is because they have imbibed from infancy the idea that there are three Persons of the Divinity distinct from each other; for it is said in the doctrine of the Trinity, “There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit;” likewise, “the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;” and although it is there added, that these three are one, yet in their thought they have divided the Divine essence into three, which nevertheless cannot be divided; and for that reason they approach the Father, because He is first in order. And besides, the leaders in the church have taught, that they should pray to the Father to send the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Son; by this their idea of three has been confirmed, so that they cannot think of the Son as God, equal with the Father, and one with the Father, but of the Son as equal with any other man, although He alone as to His Human is justice, and is called “Jehovah our justice” (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16).

[2] From this idea of their thought it has come to pass, that they are not able to comprehend how the Lord, as born in the world, can be the God of heaven and earth, and still less, that He is God alone notwithstanding they have heard and read all the passages cited above, (613), and also these:

All things that the Father hath are Mine, (John 16:15; (see also 12:45).

The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son, (John 13:3).

Father, thou hast given Me power over all flesh; all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine, (John 17:2-3, 10).

All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth, (Matthew 28:18).

Also that He was conceived of Jehovah the Father, and hence that His soul was from Him, (Luke 1:34, 38); and consequently, the Divine essence itself was His; besides many other like things in other places. That they were said of the Lord who was born in the world, anyone may see; as also that:

He and the Father are one; and that He is in the Father and the Father in Him; and that he who seeth Him seeth the Father, (John 10:28, 38; 14:6-11).

Although they may have heard and read these things, yet they cannot give up the idea which was conceived in boyhood and confirmed in them afterwards by their teachers, and which has so closed up their rational faculty that they are incapable of seeing, that is, of understanding these words of the Lord:

I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one cometh unto the Father but by Me, (John 14:6).

He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber; I am the door, by Me if anyone enter in, he shall be saved, (John 10:1, 9).

[3] Also that the Lord glorified His Human, that is, united it to the Divine of the Father, that is, to the Divine which was in Him from conception, for the sake of rendering it possible for the human race to be united to God the Father in Him and through Him. That this was the reason of the Lord’s coming into the world, and of the glorification of His Human, He fully teaches in John; for He says:

In that day ye shall know, that I am in my Father, and ye in Me, and I in you, (John 14:20).

He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing; if anyone abide not in Me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is dried up in the fire, (John 15:5-6).

And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also might be sanctified in the truth, that all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, I in them and Thou in Me, (John 17:19, 21, 23, 26; 6:56 and other places).

From which it clearly appears, that the Lord’s coming into the world, and the glorification of His Human, had for its end the conjunction of men with God the Father in Him and through Him, thus that He is to be approached. This is also confirmed by the Lord’s so often saying, that they must believe in Him, that they might have eternal life (see ab, (553) ove, 553).

[4] Who cannot see that all this is said by the Lord concerning Himself in His Human and that He never would have said, nor could say, that He was in men and men in Him, and that it was necessary to believe in Him, that they might have eternal life, if His Human was not Divine? “To ask the Father in His name,” does not mean to approach God the Father immediately, nor to ask for His sake, but to approach the Lord, and the Father through Him, because the Father is in the Son, and they are one, as He Himself teaches. This is what is signified by asking “in His name;” as may appear also from these passages:

He that believeth not in the Son is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Only-begotten Son of God, (John 3:18).

These things are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye might have life in His name, (John 20:31).

Jesus said, Whosoever receiveth this Boy in My name receiveth Me, and whosoever receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me, (Luke 9:48).

Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, (John 14:13-14).

Besides other places, in which the expression “in the name of the Lord” occurs, (Matthew 7:22; 18:5, 20; 19:29; 23:39; Mark 9:37; 16:17; Luke 13:35; 19:38; 24:47; John 1:12; 2:23; 5:43; 12:13; 15:16; 16:23-24, 26-27; 17:6). What is meant by “the name of God,” and that “the name of the Father” is the Lord as to the Divine Human, may be seen above, (81[1-4], 165, 584).

619. Bought from the earth, signifies that they are such as can be regenerated by the Lord and thus redeemed in the world. By “bought from the earth,” is signified redeemed in the world; that redemption is deliverance from hell, and salvation by conjunction with the Lord, may be seen, (281); and since this is effected by regeneration, therefore by “those bought” are signified they who are regenerated and thus redeemed by the Lord; and since all may be regenerated and thus redeemed, if they will, and few are willing, therefore by “those bought from the earth” is signified that they are those who could be regenerated by the Lord, and thus redeemed; who these are, is now described (verses 4-5).

620. Verse 4. These are they who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins, signifies that they had not adulterated the truths of the church, and defiled them with the falsities of faith, but that they had loved truths because they are truths. That “a woman” signifies the church from the affection of truth, and thence, in the opposite sense, the church from the affection of falsity, may be seen above, (434, 533), here the church from the affection of truth, because it is said “not defiled with women;” by “to be defiled with women,” the same is signified as by to commit adultery and whoredom. That “to commit adultery and whoredom” signifies to adulterate and falsify the Word, may also be seen above, (134). “For they are virgins,” signifies because they have loved truths because they are truths, thus from spiritual affection; the reason why these are meant by “virgins,” is because “a virgin” signifies the church as a bride, who desires to be conjoined with the Lord, and to become a wife; and the church which desires to be conjoined with the Lord, loves truths because they are truths, for by truths, when one lives according to them, conjunction is effected. Hence it is that Israel, Zion, and Jerusalem, in the Word, are called “virgins” and “daughters;” for by “Israel,” “Zion,” and “Jerusalem,” is signified the church.

[2] That all they who are such in the Lord’s church, whether they be virgins or young men, wives or husbands, boys or old men, girls or old women, are meant by “virgins,” may appear from the Word, where virgins are mentioned, as “the virgin Israel” (Jeremiah 18:13; 31:4, 21; Amos 5:2; Joel 1:8). “The virgin daughter of Judah” (Lamentations 1:15). “The virgin daughter of Zion” (2 Kings 19:21; Isaiah 37:22; Lamentations 1:4; 2:13). “The virgins of Jerusalem” (Lamentations 2:10). “The virgin of My people” (Jeremiah 14:17). Therefore the Lord likened the church to “ten virgins” (Matthew 25:1, and following verses). And it is said in Jeremiah:

I will build thee, and thou shalt be built, O virgin Israel, and shalt go forth in the dances of them that play, (Jeremiah 31:4, 13).

And in David:

They have seen Thy goings, O God, even the goings of my God, my King, in the sanctuary; among them were the virgins playing with timbrels, (Psalms 68:24-25).

Kings’ daughters were among Thy precious ones, at Thy right hand did stand the queen in gold of Ophir; hear, O daughter, and see; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty; and the daughter of Tyre shall bring a gift, the rich among the people shall entreat thy favor; the king’s daughter is all precious within; her clothing is of woven gold, she shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework; the virgins her companions that follow her shall enter into the king’s palace, (Psalms 45:9-15).

By “the king” in this passage is meant the Lord, by “the queen,” the church as a wife, by “daughters” and “virgins,” the affections of good and truth.

[3] Similar affections are signified by “virgins” in other parts of the Word, where mention is made at the same time of “young men,” because “young men” signify truths, and “virgins” the affections thereof; as in the following passages:

Behold, the days come, in which I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah; in that day shall the beautiful virgins and the young men faint for thirst, (Amos 8:11, 13).

Be thou ashamed, O Zidon; for the sea hath said, I travail not, nor bring forth, neither do I nourish young men, nor bring up virgins, (Isaiah 23:4).

The Lord hath trodden the virgin, the daughter of Judah, as a wine-press; behold my sorrow, the virgins and the young men have gone into captivity, (Lamentations 1:4, 15, 18).

How great is His goodness and how great is His beauty; corn shall make the young men grow up, and new wine, the virgins, (Zechariah 9:17).

And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in the streets thereof, (Zechariah 8:5).

The virgins of Jerusalem sit on the earth; to what shall I liken thee, O virgin daughter of Zion? My virgins and young men lie in the streets, (Lamentations 2:10, 13, 21; besides other passag es, as Jeremiah 51:20-23; Lamentations 5:10-12; Ezekiel 9:4, 6; Psalms 78:62-64; Deuteronomy 32:25).

621. These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth, signifies that they are conjoined with the Lord through love and faith in Him, because they have lived according to His commandments. That this is what is signified is evident from these words of the Lord:

He that doeth My commandments, he loveth Me, and I will love him, and will come to him, and make My abode with him, (John 14:20-23).

The shepherd of the sheep, when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice; My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me, (John 10:4-5, 27).

622. These were bought from among men, signifies that they are such as were capable of being regenerated by the Lord, and thus redeemed in the world, as above, (619), where similar things are said.

623. The firstfruits unto God and the Lamb, signifies the beginning of the Christian heaven, which acknowledges one God in whom there is the Trinity, and that the Lord is that God. By “firstfruits” is meant that which is born first, also what is first gathered, thus the beginning, in this case, the beginning of the New Heaven from Christians; by “God and the Lamb” is here meant, as above, the Lord as to the Divine itself from which are all things, and as to the Divine Human, and also as to the proceeding Divine, thus the one God in whom is the Trinity. Here something shall be said concerning the firstfruits. In the Israelitish church it was commanded that:

The first of thy ripe fruits, of all corn, oil, and must, of the fruits of trees, as also of the fleece, should be given to Jehovah as holy, and they were given by Jehovah to Aaron, and after him to the high priest, (Exodus 22:29; 23:10; Numbers 13:20; 15:17-22; 18:8-20; Deuteronomy 18:4; 26:1).

And likewise, that:

They should celebrate the feast of the firstfruits of harvest and of bread, (Exodus 23:14-16, 19, 26; Leviticus 23:9-15, 20-25; Numbers 28:26-31).

The reason was, because “the firstfruits” signified that which is born first, and afterwards grows, as an infant grows up to a man, or as a young plant grows up to a tree, and hence they signified all the subsequent stages even to the completion of the thing, for all that is to follow exists in the first, as the man in the infant, and the tree in the tender shoot; and as this first exists before its successions, in like manner in heaven and in the church, therefore “the firstfruits” were holy unto the Lord, and “the feast of the firstfruits” was celebrated. (The like is signified by “firstfruits” in Jeremiah 24:1-2; Ezekiel 20:40; Micah 7:1; Deuteronomy 33:15, 21).

624. Verse 5. And in their mouth was found no deceit, signifies that they do not, from cunning and design, speak and persuade to falsity and evil. By “the mouth” is signified speech, preaching, and doctrine, (452), and by “deceit” is signified persuasion to evil by falsity, properly from cunning and design; for he who persuades to anything from cunning or deceit also persuades from design; for cunning or deceit proposes something to itself, conceals its purpose, and does it when opportunity offers. By a “lie,” in the Word, is signified falsity and false speaking; by “deceit” is signified both from design; as in the following passages:

Jesus said of Nathanael, Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no deceit, (John 1:47).

The remnant of Israel shall not speak a lie, neither shall a deceitful tongue be found in their mouth, (Zephaniah 3:13).

He did no violence, neither was deceit in His mouth, (Isaiah 53:9).

For the rich men are filled with violence, and the inhabitants speak a lie, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth, (Micah 6:12).

Thou shalt destroy them that speak a lie, Jehovah will abhor a man of blood and deceit, (Psalms 5:6).

Deliver my soul, O Jehovah, from lying lips and a tongue of deceit, (Psalms 120:2-3).

They have taught their tongue to speak a lie, thine habitation is in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know Me, (Jeremiah 9:5).

Ephraim hath encompassed Me with a lie, and the house of Israel with deceit, (Hosea 11:12).

If anyone had a design to kill his companion with deceit, thou shalt take him from Mine altar and he shall die, (Exodus 21:14).

Cursed be he that doeth the work of Jehovah with deceit, (Jeremiah 48:10 Besides other passages as, (Jeremiah 5:26-27; 8:5; 14:14; 23:26; Hosea 7:16; Zephaniah 1:9; Psalms 17:1; 24:4; 35:20-21; 36:3; 50:19; 52:2, 4; 72:14; 109:2; 119:118; Job 13:7; 27:4).

The deceitful are signified in the Word by poisonous “serpents,” and by “crocodiles” and “vipers,” and deceit is signified by their “poison.”

625. For they are spotless before the throne of God, signifies because they are in truths from good from the Lord. By “spotless” are signified those who are not in falsities, consequently who are in truths; for “spots” signify falsities, properly falsities from evil; by “the throne of God” is signified the Lord and heaven, (14, 233); and as all who are in good from the Lord, appear as if they were in truths, therefore by “they are spotless before the throne of God” is signified that they are in truths from good from the Lord. For all who are led by the Lord are kept by Him in good, and from that good there proceeds nothing but truth; and if a falsity does proceed from it, it is an apparent falsity, which is regarded by the Lord as like truth, only by the modification of the light of heaven it is in another color; for the good that is within it, so qualifies it; for there is given falsity from evil, and also falsity from good; both may appear alike in the external form, but still they are altogether dissimilar, because that which is within makes the essence, and produces its quality. Since “spots” signify falsities, therefore:

It was forbidden that anyone of the seed of Aaron in whom there was a spot, should approach the altar, and enter within the veil, (Leviticus 21:17, 23).

By this was signified that they should be spotless.

And also it was forbidden that any sacrifice should be offered of oxen, calves, sheep, goats or lambs, on which there was a spot, (Leviticus 22:19-25).

The spots are also enumerated.

626. Verse 6. (Revelation 14:6) And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, signifies the annunciation of the Lord’s advent, and of the New Church about to come down out of heaven from Him. By “an angel,” in the highest sense, is meant the Lord, and thence also heaven (5, 344, 465). By “another angel” is signified something new from the Lord; by “flying in the midst of heaven” is signified to look down on, to observe, and to provide for, (415), here something new out of heaven from the Lord in the church. By the “eternal gospel” is signified the annunciation of the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom, (478, 553). By “them that dwell on the earth,” are signified the men of the church to whom the annunciation will be made. The reason why it also means to announce that the New Church is now about to descend out of heaven from Him, is, because the Lord’s coming involves two things, the Last Judgment, and after it the New Church. The Last Judgment is treated of in chapters 19, 20, and the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, in chapters 21; 22. That by “the gospel” and “proclaiming” is signified the annunciation of the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom, appears evidently from the passages cited in 478, which may there be seen.

627. And unto every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people, signifies to all who from religion are in goods and from doctrine in truths. By “nation” are signified they who are in goods, and abstractly goods, (483); by “tribe” is signified the church as to religion, (349); by “tongue” is signified doctrine, (282); and by “people” are signified they who are in truths, and abstractly truths, (483). Therefore by “proclaiming unto every nation, and tribe, and tongue, and people” is signified to announce it to all who are in goods from religion, and in truths from doctrine; for these and no others receive the gospel. Such is the signification of these words in the spiritual sense.

628. Verse 7. Saying with a great voice, Fear God, signifies an admonition not to do evils, because this is against the Lord. By “a great voice” is signified admonition; and by “fearing God,” is signified not to do evils, because this is against the Lord. That “to fear God” is to love Him, by fearing to do evil because it is against Him, and that all love has within it this fear, may be seen above, (527). These things are now said to those who will be of the New Church upon earth, because the first step of reformation is to live according to the commandments of the Decalogue, where those evils are recounted which are not to be done. For he who does them, fears not God; but he, who does them not, by shunning them, because they are against the Lord, the same fears and also loves the Lord, as He Himself teaches in John (chapter 14:20-24).

629. And give glory to Him, for the hour of His judgment is come, signifies acknowledgment and confession that every truth of the Word, from which the church is a church, is from the Lord, according to which every man will be judged. That “to give glory to Him” signifies to acknowledge and confess that all truth is from the Lord, may be seen above, (249). And as every truth, from which the church is a church, is from the Word, therefore the truth of the Word is meant. “For the hour of His judgment is come,” signifies, because every man will be judged according to the truth of the Word. This is signified, because by “giving glory to Him” is signified to acknowledge and confess that every truth of the Word is from the Lord, and it is now said, “For the hour of the judgment is come,” and “for” involves this as the cause.

That the truth of the Word will judge everyone, may be seen above, (233, 273); and that the church is from the Word, and its quality is according to its understanding of the Word, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 76-79. From these things it is evident that such is the spiritual sense of these words. The reason why it is such is because the angels of heaven by “glory” perceive nothing else than the Divine truth, and because all Divine truth is from the Lord, by “giving glory to Him,” they perceive to acknowledge and confess that all truth is from Him. For all glory in the heavens is from no other source, and so far as a society of heaven is in the Divine truth, so far all things there are resplendent, and so far the angels are in the splendor of glory.

[2] That by “glory” is meant the Divine truth, may appear from the following passages:

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of Jehovah; the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see, (Isaiah 40:3, 5).

Shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of Jehovah is risen upon thee. Jehovah shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee, (Isaiah 60:1).

I will give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles, and My glory I will not give to another, (Isaiah 42:6, 8).

For Mine own sake, even for Mine own sake I will do it, and I will not give My glory to another, (Isaiah 48:11).

They shall fear His glory from the rising of the sun, and the Redeemer shall come to Zion, (Isaiah 59:19-20).

Thy light shall break forth as the dawn, the glory of Jehovah shall gather thee, (Isaiah 58:8).

I will come to gather all nations and tongues, that they may see My glory, (Isaiah 66:18).

And Jehovah said, As I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of Jehovah, (Numbers 14:21).

The fullness of all the earth is His glory, (Isaiah 6:3).

In the beginning was the Word, and God was the Word. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; that was the true light; and the Word was made flesh, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, (John 1:1, 4, 9, 14).

These things said Isaiah, when he saw His glory, (John 12:41).

And they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with glory, (Matthew 24:3, 30).

The heavens declare the glory of God, (Psalms 19:1).

And the nations shall fear the name of Jehovah, and the kings of the earth Thy glory. For He hath built up Zion, and hath appeared in His glory, (Psalms 102:15-16).

The glory of God shall enlighten the holy Jerusalem, and her lamp is the Lamb, and the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it, (Revelation 21:23-24).

The Son of man shall come in His glory. He shall sit upon the throne of His glory, (Matthew 25:31; Mark 8:38).

That the glory of Jehovah filled and covered the tabernacle, (Exodus 40:34-35; Leviticus 9:23-24; Numbers 14:10-12; 16:19, 42).

That it filled the house of Jehovah, 1 Kings 8:10-11 and other places, as Isaiah 24:23; Ezekiel 1:28; 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18-19; 11:22-23; Luke 2:32; 9:26; John 2:11; 7:18; 17:24).

630. And adore Him that made the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters, signifies that the Lord alone is to be worshiped, because He alone is the Creator, Savior, and Redeemer, and from Him alone are the angelic heaven and the church, and all things of them. “To adore” signifies to acknowledge as holy, see above, (579, 580, 588, 603); therefore “to adore,” when spoken of the Lord, signifies to acknowledge Him as the God of heaven and earth and to worship. “To make the heaven and the earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters,” in the natural sense, means to create them, but in the spiritual sense it signifies to make the angelic heaven and the church, and all things of them. For by “heaven,” in the spiritual sense, is signified the angelic heaven; by “the earth and the sea,” in that sense, is signified the church internal and external, (403, 404, 420, 470), and by “fountains of waters” are signified all the truths of the Word serving the church for doctrine and life, (409).

[2] That Jehovah the Creator is the Lord from eternity, and that the Lord the Savior and Redeemer is the Lord born in time, thus as to His Divine Human, may appear from the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, from beginning to end. Who cannot understand that one God is the Creator of the universe, and that there are not three Creators? as also that creation had for its end a heaven and church from the human race? on which subject see the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence 27-45. Hence it is that by “making heaven and earth” is signified in the spiritual sense, to make the angelic heaven and the church. These things are said for the reason mentioned above, (613), where it is explained what is signified by “their having the Father’s name written on their foreheads;” and because that was said, therefore it is here said, “adore Him who made heaven, earth, the sea, and the fountains of waters.”

631. Verse 8. And another angel followed, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, signifies that now the Roman Catholic religion as to its dogmas and doctrinals is dispersed. By “another angel” is signified now a new thing from the Lord, as above, (626). By “Babylon the great city,” is signified the Roman Catholic religion as to its dogmas and doctrinals. By “falling” is signified to be dispersed, for “to fall” is said of a city, but “to be dispersed” of a religion and its doctrine, as signified by “the city Babylon.” That “a city” signifies doctrine, see above, (194[1-4]). The reason why this is now said of “Babylon,” is, because after the New Christian Heaven was made by the Lord, a new one was made at the same time of those who were of the Roman Catholic religion.

The reason is, because the Christian heaven collected out of the Reformed, constitutes the center, and the Papists are round about it; therefore, when the center is made new, something new is at the same time produced in the circumference. For the Divine light, which is the Divine truth, diffuses itself around, from the middle as from a center, to the circumference, and reduces the things which are there also to order. On this account some mention is here made of Babylon, but it is treated of more particularly in chapters 17, 18. That the Reformed Christians constitute the center, and that the Papists form a large circumference around it, and that spiritual light, which is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, diffuses itself as from its center to all the circumferences even to the last; may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 104-113, and in the small work on the Last Judgment 48. From these things it may be seen, that this mention of Babylon follows in order, after treating of the New Christian Heaven and of evangelization; this is also what is signified by the expression, “followed.”

632. Because she made all nations drink of the wine of the anger of her whoredom, signifies, because by profanations of the Word, and adulterations of the good and truth of the church, she has seduced all whom she could subject to her dominion. By “Babylon” is signified the Roman Catholic religion as above. “Wine” signifies truth from good, and, in the opposite sense, falsity from evil, (316); and “whoredom” signifies the falsification of truth, and the “anger of whoredom” signifies adulteration and profanation, (134). By “making all nations drink” is signified to seduce all whom they could subject to their dominion. By “making them drink” of that wine is signified to seduce, and by “nations” are signified those who are under their dominion.

633. Verse 9. And a third angel followed them, saying with a great voice, signifies something further from the Lord concerning those who are in faith separated from charity. By “a third angel following them,” is signified something further from the Lord which follows in order, for by “an angel,” in the highest sense, is meant the Lord, (626). The reason is, because an angel, when he speaks the Word, as here, does not speak from himself, but from the Lord. By “saying with a great voice,” is signified what follows, which relates to the damnation of those who in life and doctrine confirm themselves in faith separated from charity. This chapter, from verse 1-5, treats of the New Christian Heaven; and in verses 6, 7, of the preaching of the gospel, that is, of the Lord’s advent to establish the New Church; and because they who are in faith separated from charity oppose this, there now follows a threatening and denunciation of damnation against those who still persist in that faith.

634. If anyone hath adored the beast, and his image, and hath received his mark upon his forehead, or upon his hand, signifies he who acknowledges and receives the doctrine of justification and salvation by faith alone, confirms himself in it, and lives according to it. “To adore the beast” signifies to acknowledge that faith, (580). “To adore his image” signifies to acknowledge and receive that doctrine, (603). “To receive his mark upon the forehead and upon the hand,” signifies to receive it in love and faith, and to confirm himself in it, (605-606); and since they who confirm themselves in that love and faith, also live according to it, this likewise is meant.

[2] There are three degrees of the reception of that doctrine, which are described by these words. The first degree is to acknowledge that doctrine; the second degree is to confirm it in oneself; and the third degree is to live according to it; to acknowledge it is effected in the thought, to confirm it in oneself is effected in the understanding, and to live according to it is effected in the will. There are those who are in the first degree, and yet are not in the second and third; and there are those who are in the first and second, and yet are not in the third; but they who are in the third degree, which is that of living according to it, are those concerning whom the following verses, (10-11), are spoken. To live according to it, is to make nothing of evil, by thinking that evil does not condemn, because the works of the law do not save, but faith only. Also to make nothing of good, by thinking within oneself that no one can do good from himself, except it be meritorious. Thus they are such as only shun evils on account of the civil and moral laws, and not on account of the Divine laws; these are they who do goods only for the sake of themselves and the world, consequently from self-love, and not for the Lord’s sake, consequently not from love towards the neighbor.

[3] The reason why what now follows (in verses 10-11), is said of these, is because all that which enters only into the thought and into the understanding does not condemn, but that which enters into the will condemns; for this enters into the life, and remains. For nothing can enter into the will but what is also of the love, and the love is the life of man. These also are they who do not examine themselves, know their sins, and do the work of repentance, and therefore they are condemned; for they say in their hearts, “What need is there of examination, or of a knowledge and acknowledgment of sins, and of repentance, when all these are included in faith alone?” I have seen many such in the spiritual world, who have shunned evils and have done goods on account of civil and moral laws only, and not at the same time on account of spiritual laws, and they were cast into hell.

635. Verse 10. He also shall drink of the wine of the anger of God mixed with unmixed wine in the cup of His wrath, signifies that they falsify the goods and truths of the Word, and imbue the life with such falsifications. This is the signification of these words, because by “the wine of the anger of God mixed with unmixed wine” is signified the truth of the Word falsified. And by “the cup of His wrath,” is signified truth by which is good, in like manner falsified. And by “drinking” is signified to appropriate them, or to imbue the life with them. That by “wine” is signified the truth of the Word, may be seen, (316); by “the wine of the anger of God,” the truth of the Word adulterated and falsified, (632); by “mixed with unmixed wine” is evidently signified its being falsified; by “a cup” also, the like is signified as by “wine,” because a cup is that which contains it. The reason why “to drink” signifies to imbue the life with them, is because this is said to those who live according to the doctrine of justification by faith alone; see above, (634). By “mixing wine” and by “mixture” is signified the falsification of truth, in David:

In the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and the wine is mixed, it is full of mixture, and He poureth it out, and all the wicked of the earth drink, (Psalms 75:8).

[2] In many parts of the Word “anger” and “wrath” are mentioned together, and in such cases “anger” is predicated of evil, and “wrath” of falsity, because they who are in evil are angry, and they who are in falsity are in wrath; and both in the Word, are attributed to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, but it is meant that they take place in man against the Lord; see above, (525). That, in the Word, “anger” and “wrath,” are mentioned together, appears from these passages:

Jehovah cometh in wrath and anger; the earth shall remove out of her place, in the day of the wrath of His anger, (Isaiah 13:5, 9, 13).

Assyria, the rod of My anger, I will command him against the people of My wrath, (Isaiah 10:5-6).

I will fight against you in anger and in wrath, (Jeremiah 21:5).

The anger of Jehovah is against all nations, and His wrath against all their armies, (Isaiah 34:2).

Jehovah will recompense His wrath with anger, (Isaiah 66:15).

I will tread down the people in My anger, and make them drunk in My wrath, (Isaiah 63:6).

My anger and My wrath shall be poured out upon this place, (Jeremiah 7:20; besides other passages, as in Jeremiah 33:5; Ezekiel 5:13; Deuteronomy 29:27; and wrath of anger:Isaiah 13:13; Psalms 78:49-50; Deuteronomy 6:14-15).

And in Isaiah:

Only in Jehovah is there justice and strength, and all that are incensed against Him shall be ashamed, (Isaiah 45:24).

636. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb. Verse 11. And the smoke of their torment shall go up for ages of ages, signifies self-love and the love of the world and their derivative lusts, and the pride of their own intelligence from these, and torment in hell from them. By “fire” is signified the love of self and of the world, (494); by “brimstone” are signified lusts derived from those two loves, (452); and since all torment in hell results from these three, therefore it is said, “shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and the smoke of their torment shall go up for ages of ages.” It is said, “before the angels and the Lamb,” because these loves are contrary to Divine truths and contrary to the Lord, who is the Word; for by “angels” Divine truths are signified, because they are recipients, (170), and by “the Lamb” is signified the Lord as to the Divine Human and also as to the Word, (595). That torments in hell proceed from the above-mentioned loves, and that they are in those loves who are in faith separated from charity, may be seen above, (421, 502, 591).

637. And they shall have no rest day and night, who adore the beast and his image, and if anyone shall have received the mark of his name, signifies a perpetual state of things undelightful with those who acknowledge that faith and receive its doctrine, confirm it and live according to it. By “having no rest day and night,” is signified their perpetual state in things undelightful after death, because just before it speaks of their torment. By “day and night” is signified all time; and, in the spiritual sense, in every state, thus perpetually, for “day and night” in that sense signify states of life, (101[1-3], 476). That by “adoring the beast and his image, and receiving the mark of his name,” is signified to acknowledge that faith, receive its doctrine, confirm it in oneself, and live according to it, may be seen above, (634), where similar things are said.

638. Verse 12. Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, signifies that the man of the Lord’s church, by temptations from them, is explored with regard to his quality as to a life according to the commandments of the Word, and as to faith in the Lord. That this is the signification of these words, see above, (593). “To keep the commandments” signifies to live according to the precepts which are contained in a summary in the Decalogue; and by “the faith of Jesus” is signified faith in Him, for these have faith from the Lord, which is the faith of Jesus.

639. Verse 13. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Happy are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth, signifies a prediction from the Lord concerning the state of those after death who will be of His New Church, which is, that they who suffer temptations on account of faith in the Lord and life according to His precepts, will have eternal life and happiness. “To hear a voice from heaven saying,” signifies a prediction from the Lord. The reason why it relates to their state after death who will be of His New Church, is, because that state is treated of in this verse; by “them that die henceforth,” is signified their state after death; “write,” signifies that it may be for a remembrance to posterity, (39, 63). By “happy” are signified they who have eternal life and happiness, because they are happy. By “the dead” are signified they who afflicted their soul, crucified their flesh, and suffered temptations; that these are here meant by “the dead,” will be seen below.

[2] That they have eternal life and happiness who have suffered temptations on account of their faith in the Lord and their life according to His commandments, appears from what goes before, where it is said, “Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus:” by which is signified that the man of the New Church is explored by temptations in regard to his quality as to a life according to the commandments, and as to faith in the Lord (see above, 638); and from the following, “and that they may rest from their labors,” by which is signified that they who are tempted will have peace in the Lord (as will be seen below, 640). By “temptations” are here meant spiritual temptations, which exist with those who have faith in the Lord and live according to His commandments, when they drive away the evil spirits that are with them, who act as one with their lusts. These temptations are signified by “the cross” in the following passages:

And he that taketh not his cross and followeth after Me, is not worthy of Me, (Matthew 10:38).

Jesus said, If anyone will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me, (Matthew 16:24; Luke 9:23-25; 14:26-27).

Also by “crucifying the flesh” in Paul:

They that are Christ’s crucify the flesh with the passions and lusts, (Galatians 5:24).

[3] The reason why they are signified by “the dead” who have afflicted their soul, crucified their flesh, and suffered temptations, is, because thereby they have mortified their former life, and therefore are become as it were dead before the world; for the Lord says:

Except a grain of wheat falling on the earth die, it abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit, (John 12:24).

Nor are any others meant by “the dead” in John:

Jesus said, As the Father raiseth up the dead, and vivifieth them, even so the Son vivifieth whom He will, (John 5:21).

In the same:

Jesus said, The hour cometh, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and live, (John 5:25).

And also by “the resurrection of the dead” (Luke 14:14; Revelation 20:5, 12-13; and in other places; see above, (106), and in David:

Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the death of His saints, (Psalms 116:15).

Jesus also said, He that loseth his soul for My sake, shall find it, (Matthew 10:39; 16:25; Luke 9:24-25; 17:33; John 12:25).

640. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, signifies that the Divine truth of the Word teaches, that they who afflict their soul and crucify the flesh on account of it, shall have peace in the Lord. “Yea, saith the spirit,” signifies that the Divine truth of the Word teaches, (87, 104). “That they may rest,” signifies that they will have peace in the Lord; by “peace” is meant rest of the soul when no longer infested as before by evils and falsities, thus by hell. By “labors” are meant labors of the soul, which consist in afflicting and crucifying the flesh, and in being tempted; therefore by “they shall rest from their labors,” is signified that they who afflict the soul and crucify the flesh in this world for the sake of the Lord and of life eternal will have peace in the Lord; for the Lord says:

In Me ye shall have peace; in the world ye shall have affliction, (John 16:33).

Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you, (John 14:27).

Such affliction is meant by “labor” in these passages:

By the labor of His soul He shall see and be satisfied, and He shall justify many, (Isaiah 53:11).

Jehovah seeth our affliction, and our labor, and our oppression, (Deuteronomy 26:7).

They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth in terror, (Isaiah 65:23).

I know thy labor, and thy patience, but hast borne, and hast patience, and for My name’s sake thou hast labored, (Revelation 2:2-3).

641. For their works follow with them, signifies as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken. By “the works which follow with them” are signified all things which remain with man after death. It is known, that the externals, which appear before men, derive their essence, soul, and life from the internals, which do not appear before men, but which appear before the Lord and the angels; the latter and the former, or the externals and the internals taken together, are works; good works, if the internals are in love and faith, and the externals act and speak from them; but evil works, if the internals are not in love and faith, and the externals act and speak from them. If the externals act and speak as if from love and faith, those works are either hypocritical or meritorious. Ten persons may do works which are similar in externals, but still they are dissimilar, because the internals from which the externals proceed are dissimilar.

[2] Who does not see that there is an internal and an external, and that these two make one? For who does not see that the understanding and will are the internal of man, and speech and action his external? For who can speak and act without the understanding and the will? And since everyone sees this, he may also see that works are external and internal at the same time; and because the external derives its essence, soul, and life from its internal, as was said above, it follows that the external is such as is its internal; consequently, that “the works which follow with them” are according as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken. That good works are charity and faith, may be seen above, (73, 76, 94, 141); and that the internal of man or the internal man does not consist in understanding without willing, but in willing and thence understanding, consequently that it does not consist in believing without loving, but in loving and thence believing; and that the doing these things is the external of man, or the external man, may also be seen above, (510[1-2]); from these things it is evident, that by “the works that follow with them” is signified according as they have loved and believed, and thence have done and spoken. The same is signified by “works” in the following passages:

In the day of judgment God will render to every man according to his works, (Romans 2:6).

We must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may give account of the things which he hath done by the body, whether good or evil, (2 Corinthians 5:10).

The Son of man will come in the glory of His Father, and then shall He render to everyone according to his works, (Matthew 16:27).

They that have done good shall come forth unto the resurrection of life, but they that have done evil unto the resurrection of judgment, (John 5:29).

They were judged according to those things which were written in the books, all according to their works, (Revelation 20:12-13).

Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his works, (Revelation 22:12).

I will give to everyone of you according to his works, (Revelation 2:23).

I know thy works, (Revelation 2:1-2, 4, 9, 13, 19, 26; 3:1-3, 7-8, 14-15, 19).

I will recompense them according to their work, and according to the deed of their hands, (Jeremiah 25:14).

Jehovah doeth with us according to our ways and according to our works, (Zechariah 1:6).

642. Verse 14. And I saw, and, behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sitting like unto the Son of man, signifies the Lord as to the Word. By “a cloud” is signified the Word in the sense of the letter, and by “a white cloud” the Word in the sense of the letter such as it is interiorly; and by “the Son of man” is meant the Lord as to the Word; therefore it is said, “on the cloud One sitting like the Son of man.” That by “a cloud” the Word is signified as to the sense of the letter, see above, (24, 513). The reason why “white cloud” signifies the sense of the letter of the Word such as it is interiorly, is because “white” is predicated of truths in the light, (167[1-2], 367), and interiorly in the sense of the letter there are spiritual truths, which are in the light of heaven. That by “the Son of man” is meant the Lord as to the Word, see above, (44[1-2]). The same is also abundantly proved in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord 19-28).⁵³

[2] The Lord frequently said:

That they should see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven (as in Matthew 16:27; 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:61-62; Luke 21:27; 22:69).

And no one knows that it has any other signification than that when He comes to judgment, He will appear in the clouds of heaven; but this is not meant, for the meaning is that when He comes to judgment, He will appear in the sense of the letter of the Word. And because He has come now, He has therefore appeared in the Word by revealing that there is a spiritual sense in every particular of the literal sense of the Word; that in it He alone is treated of; and that He alone is the God of heaven and earth. These are the things that are meant by His coming in the clouds of heaven. That there is a spiritual sense in every particular of the sense of the letter of the Word, and that in it the Lord alone is treated of, and that He alone is the God of heaven and earth, is shown in the two Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, one concerning the Lord, and the other concerning the Sacred Scripture.

[3] Since by “the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven” is meant His coming in His Word, and this at the time when He is to execute judgment, and this being what Revelation treats of, therefore it is said:

Behold, He cometh with clouds, (Revelation 1:7).

And here:

I saw, and, behold, a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sitting like the Son of man, (Revelation 14:14).

And in the Acts of the Apostles:

While they beheld, Jesus was taken up into heaven, and a cloud received Him from their eyes; and two men in white raiment said, This Jesus, who is taken up into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen Him going into heaven, (Acts of the Apostles 1:9, 11).

By “a cloud” is signified the sense of the letter of the Word, because that sense is natural, and Divine truth in natural light appears as a cloud before the eyes of angels who are in spiritual light; as a white cloud with those who are in genuine truths from the sense of the letter of the Word, as a dark cloud with those who are not in genuine truths, as a black cloud with those who are in falsities, and as a black cloud mingled with fire with those who are in faith separated from charity, because in evils of life. I have seen it.

643. Having upon His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle, signifies the Divine wisdom from His Divine love, and the Divine truth of the Word. That by “a crown upon the head” is signified wisdom, see above, (189, 252); and by “a golden crown,” wisdom from love, (235); and because it was seen upon the head of the Son of man, or the Lord, by “a golden crown” is signified the Divine wisdom from His Divine love. The reason why “a sickle” signifies the Divine truth of the Word, is, because by “a harvest” is signified the state of the church as to the Divine truth, here its last state; and therefore by “reaping,” which is done with a sickle, is here signified to put an end to the state of the church, and to execute judgment; and because these things are done by the Divine truth of the Word, therefore this is signified by “a sickle;” and by “a sharp sickle,” the doing it exactly and exquisitely. By “a sickle” the like is signified as by “a sword,” “a saber,” and “a long sword;” but “a sickle” is named where a harvest is treated of, and “a sword,” when war is treated of. That by “a sword,” “a saber,” and “a long sword” is signified the Divine truth fighting against falsities, and vice versa, see above, (52, 108, 117).

644. Verse 15. And another angel went out from the temple, signifies the angelic heaven. What is signified by “an angel” and “angels,” may be seen above (n. 5, 65, 170, 258, 342, 343, 344, 415, 465); here the angelic heaven, because it is said that he went out “from the temple,” and by “the temple” is signified heaven as to the church, (191, 529, 585); for there is a church in the heavens equally as on earth.

645. Crying with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud, send Thy sickle and reap; for the hour has come for Thee to reap, for the harvest of the earth is dried up, signifies the supplication of the angels of heaven to the Lord, that He would make an end, and execute judgment, because now is the last state of the church. By “crying with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud,” is signified the supplication of the angels of heaven to the Lord, because there was not anything corresponding on the earth; for the church on earth is to the angelic heaven, as a foundation is to a house which rests upon it, or as the feet upon which a man stands, and by which he walks; wherefore, when the church on earth is destroyed, the angels lament, and make supplication to the Lord. They supplicate that He would make an end of the church, and raise up a new one. Hence it is, that by “the angel cried with a great voice to Him that sat on the cloud,” is signified the supplication of the angels of heaven to the Lord. That by “Him that sat on the cloud” is signified the Lord as to the Word, see above, (642); that “to send His sickle and reap” signifies to make an end and execute judgment, see above, (642, 643). By “for the hour is come to reap” is signified that it is the end of the church. “For the harvest is dried up” signifies that it is the last state of the church; by “harvest” is signified the state of the church as to the Divine truth; the reason is, because from the harvest grain is procured, from which bread is made, and by “grain” and “bread” is signified the good of the church, this being procured by truths.

[2] That this is the signification of this passage, may be seen more clearly from those places in the Word where “harvest,” “reaping” and “sickle” are mentioned, as in the following:

I will sit to judge all the nations; put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; for their wickedness is great, (Joel 3:12-13).

Cut ye off the sower, and him that taketh the sickle in the time of harvest, (Jeremiah 50:16).

The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing-floor; yet a little while, and the time of harvest will come, (Jeremiah 51:33).

It shall come to pass when the standing corn of the harvest is gathered, and his arm reapeth the ears; in the morning thy seed flourisheth, the harvest shall be a heap in the day of possession, and desperate sorrow, (Isaiah 17:5, 11).

The husbandmen were ashamed, because the harvest of the field perished, (Joel 1:11).

Jesus said to the disciples, There are yet four months, and then cometh harvest, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, that they are white already to harvest. I sent you to reap, (John 4:35-38).

Jesus said to the disciples, The harvest is plenteous, but the laborers are few; pray ye the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest, (Matthew 9:37-38; Luke 10:2).

In these passages, and also in Isaiah 16:9; Jeremiah 5:17; 8:20, the church as to the Divine truth is signified by “harvest.”

[3] But all the things which are contained in these verses in this chapter, and also in the two chapters which follow, were foretold by the Lord in the parable concerning the sower and the gathering of the harvest; which, because it teaches and illustrates what they signify, shall be adduced:

Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man that sowed good seed in his field, but an enemy came and sowed tares; when the blade was sprung up, then appeared the tares also. The servants said, Wilt thou that we gather them up? but He said, Nay, lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up the wheat with them; let both grow together until the harvest, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn; but gather the wheat into My barn. And the disciples came to Jesus, saying, Explain unto us the parable. Jesus said, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man (or the Lord); the field is the world (the church); the seed are the sons of the kingdom (the truths of the church); the tares are the sons of the wicked one (falsities from hell); the enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the consummation of the age (the end of the church); the reapers are the angels (the Divine truths): as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the consummation of the age (at the end of the church) (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43).

646. Verse 16. And He that sat on the cloud sent His sickle, and the earth was reaped, signifies the end of the church, because there was no longer any Divine truth therein. This is signified, because by “Him that sat on the cloud” is signified the Lord as to the Word, (642). By “sending the sickle and reaping” is signified to make an end and execute judgment, (643). By “harvest” is signified the state of the church, here its last state, (643, 645); and by “the earth” is signified the church, (285). From these connected into one sense, it appears, that by “Him who sat on the cloud sending His sickle, and the earth being reaped” is signified the end of the church, because there is no longer any Divine truth therein.

647. And another angel went out of the temple which is in heaven, he also having a sharp sickle, signifies the heavens of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, and the Divine truth of the Word with them. By “an angel” is signified, in the highest sense, the Lord, also the angelic heaven, and likewise the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord (see above, 5, 65, 170, 258, 342, 343, 344, 415, 465); but here by “an angel” the heavens of the spiritual kingdom are signified, and thence the Divine truths there, because it follows that “another angel went out from the altar,” by whom the heavens of the Lord’s celestial kingdom are signified, thus the Divine goods there, which will be treated of in the next article. There are two kingdoms into which all the heavens are distinguished, the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is the kingdom of the Lord’s wisdom, because the angels there are in wisdom from Divine truths from the Lord; and the celestial kingdom is the kingdom of the Lord’s love, because the angels there are in love from the Lord, and thence in all good. That there are two kingdoms, into which all the heavens are distinguished, may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, published at London, 1758 (20-28), and in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, published at Amsterdam, 1763 (101, 381). By “the temple” is signified the whole heaven, as above, (644); but as it is here said, “the temple which is in heaven,” and afterwards “the altar,” by “the temple” is signified the heaven of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, as was observed above; and by “a sharp sickle” is signified the Divine truth of the Word, as above, (643, 645).

[2] The reason why it is said above, that “He that sat on the cloud sent his sickle and the earth was reaped,” and now that “an angel went out of the temple from heaven, he also having a sickle, and he sent it into the earth and gathered the vineyard of the earth,” is, because by “the earth,” which was reaped by Him who sat on the cloud, or by the Lord, is signified the church in the whole earth, but by “the vineyard of the earth” is signified the church in the Christian world. These words involve things similar to what the Lord foretold in the parable of the sower and the gathering in of harvest, Matthew 13 as above cited, (645, at the end), where it is said that “the harvest is the consummation of the age,” that is, the end of the church, and that “the reapers are the angels,” by whom are signified Divine truths. For the angels are not sent to reap, that is, to do those things, but the Lord does them by the Divine truths of His Word; for the Lord says:

The Word that I have spoken, it will judge in the last day, (John 12:48).

See above, (233, 273).

648. Verse 18. And another angel went out from the altar, having authority over fire, signifies the heavens of the Lord’s celestial kingdom, which are in the good of love from the Lord. By “another angel” the heavens of the Lord’s celestial kingdom are here signified, because he was seen to go out from the altar, for by “an altar” is signified the worship of the Lord from love, see above, (392), and by “fire” is signified love, (468), and by “fire upon the altar” is signified the Divine love, (395). It is said that “he had power over fire,” because the angels watch over that love in themselves.

649. And he cried with a great cry to Him that had the sharp sickle, saying, Send thy sharp sickle, and gather the vintage, the clusters of the vineyard of the earth, signifies the Lord’s operation from the good of His love through the Divine truth of His Word into the works of charity and faith which are with the men of the Christian church. This is the spiritual sense of these words, because by those two “angels” are signified the heavens of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom and of His celestial kingdom, (647, 648); and the heavens do nothing from themselves, but from the Lord, for the angels in the heavens are only recipients, therefore nothing else is signified in the spiritual sense but the operation of the Lord, here into the church in the Christian world, and into the works of charity and faith with the men there. For by “vineyard” that church is signified, which will be further treated of in article, (651); and by “clusters” and “grapes” are signified works of charity. The reason why these are signified by “clusters” and “grapes,” is, because they are the fruits of the vine in the vineyard, and by “fruits” in the Word are signified good works.

[2] The reason why “the angel who went out from the altar, said to the angel who went out from the temple, that he should send his sickle and gather the vintage,” is because by “the angel who went out from the altar” the heavens of the celestial kingdom, or the heavens which are in the goods of love, are signified; and by “the angel who went out from the temple” the heavens of the spiritual kingdom, or the heavens which are in the truths of wisdom, are signified, as was said above, and the good of love does not operate anything from itself, but by the truth of wisdom, nor does the truth of wisdom operate anything from itself, but from the good of love. That this is the case, is shown in many places in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom. This is the reason why “the angel who went out from the altar” said to “the angel who went out from the temple,” “to send his sickle and gather the vintage, the clusters of the vineyard of the earth.” Hence then it is, that by these words the Lord’s operation from the good of His love by the Divine truth of His Word is signified.

[3] That “grapes” and “clusters” signify the goods and works of charity, may appear from the following passages:

Woe unto me, I have become as the gatherings of the summer, as the grape-gleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat; my soul desires the firstfruits; the holy one has perished from the earth, and the upright among men, (Micah 7:1-2).

Their grapes are grapes of gall, their clusters are bitter, (Deuteronomy 32:32).

My beloved had a vineyard; he looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes, (Isaiah 5:1-2, 4).

These look to strange gods, and love flagons of grapes, (Hosea 3:1).

Every tree is known by its own fruit; for of thorns men do not gather a fig, nor of a bramble-bush gather they a grape, (Luke 6:44).

There shall be in the midst of the land as it were grape-gleanings, when the vintage is finished, (Isaiah 24:13).

If grape gatherers come to thee, would they not leave grape-gleanings, (Jeremiah 49:9; Obadiah 1:4-5)?

The waster is fallen upon thy vintage, (Jeremiah 48:32-33).

Ye shall be moved, ye confident ones, for the vintage shall be consumed, the gathering shall not come, (Isaiah 32:9-10).

Besides other passages in which “the fruit of the vineyard,” and “from the vine” are mentioned. There are goods of celestial love, and there are goods of spiritual love; the goods of celestial love are of love to the Lord, and the goods of spiritual love are of love towards the neighbor; the latter goods are called the goods of charity, and are meant by “the fruit of the vineyard,” which consists of grapes and clusters; but the goods of love to the Lord are meant in the Word by “the fruits of trees,” especially by “olives.”

649b. For her grapes are ripened, signifies because it is the last state of the Christian church. The same is signified by “the grapes of the vineyard are ripened” as above by “the harvest was dried up,” but “a harvest” is said of the church in general and “a vineyard” of the church in particular; that “the harvest was dried up” signifies the last state of the church, see above, (645); therefore the like is meant by “the grapes of the vineyard are ripened.”“A vineyard” signifies the church where the Divine truth of the Word is, and where the Lord is known thereby; because “wine” signifies interior truth, which is from the Lord through the Word, therefore “a vineyard” here signifies the Christian church. That “wine” signifies truth from the good of love, thus from the Lord, see above, (316).

650. Verse 19. And the angel sent his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vineyard of the earth, signifies the end of the present Christian church. By “sending his sickle and gathering,” the like is signified as by “sending his sickle and reaping,” but the latter is said of a harvest and the former of a vineyard. That “to gather” is to take down the vine and gather the grapes, and that “to reap” signifies to cut down the harvest and gather the corn, is evident. That “a vineyard” signifies the church where the Word is, by which the Lord is known, thus here the Christian church, may appear from the following passages:

Jesus said, I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing. If anyone abide not in Me, he is cast forth, and is as a dried branch in the fire, (John 15:5-6).

Jesus likened the kingdom of the heavens to a householder, who brought laborers into his vineyard, (Matthew 20:1, 8).

Of the sons who were to labor in the vineyard, (Matthew 21:28).

Of the fig tree planted in the vineyard which bore no fruit, (Luke 13:6-9).

Jesus spoke a parable; a man planted a vineyard, and encompassed it with a hedge, and let it out to husbandmen, that he might receive the fruits of it, but they slew the servants sent to them, and at last the son, (Matthew 21:33-39; Mark 12:1-9; Luke 20:9-16).

I will sing a song of my beloved concerning his vineyard. My well-beloved hath a vineyard which he fenced about, and planted with a noble vine, (Isaiah 5:1-2.

In that day answer ye unto her, a vineyard of unmixed wine; I, Jehovah, do keep it; I will water it every moment, (Isaiah 27:2-3).

Many shepherds have destroyed My vineyard; they have placed it in a solitude, (Jeremiah 12:10-11).

Jehovah cometh into judgment with the elders, for you have kindled the vineyard, (Isaiah 3:14).

In all vineyards there is wailing, (Amos 5:17).

In the vineyards there is no singing, neither is there shouting, (Isaiah 16:10).

651. And he cast it into the great winepress of the anger of God, signifies exploration of the quality of their works, that they were evil. By “casting the clusters of the vineyard into the winepress,” is signified to explore their works, for these are signified by “clusters,” as may be seen above, (649). But as it is called “the great winepress of the anger of God,” it signifies exploration of their works as being evil, for the “anger of God” is said of evil, (635). “A winepress” signifies exploration, because, in presses, must is pressed out from clusters, and oil from olives, and from the must and oil which are pressed out is perceived the quality of the grapes and olives. And as by “a vineyard” is signified the Christian church, and by its “clusters” are signified works, therefore the exploring of these with the men of the Christian church is signified by “casting them into the winepress.” But because they have separated faith from charity, and have made faith without the works of the law saving; and since from faith separated from charity none but evil works proceed, therefore it is called “the great winepress of the anger of God.” The exploration of works is also signified by a winepress in the following passages:

My beloved hath a vineyard in the horn of a son of oil; he planted it with a noble vine, he also hewed out a winepress therein, and he looked that it should bring forth grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes, (Isaiah 5:1-2).

Send ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe; come, get you down; for the winepress is full, the vats overflow, for their wickedness is great, (Joel 3:13).

The threshing-floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the must shall fail in her, (Hosea 9:2).

The waster is fallen upon thy vintage, I have caused wine to fail from the winepresses, none shall tread with shouting, the shouting shall be no shouting, (Jeremiah 48:32-33).

A householder planted a vineyard, and digged a winepress in it, and let it out to husbandmen, but they slew the servants sent unto them, and last of all the son, (Matthew 21:33-39).

A winepress is also spoken of the goods of charity, from which truths of faith proceed, in Joel:

Rejoice O daughters of Zion, and the threshing-floors are full of grain, and the winepresses shall overflow with must and oil, (Joel 2:23-24).

652. Verse 20. And the winepress was trodden without the city, signifies that exploration was made from the Divine truths of the Word, into the quality of the works flowing forth from the doctrine of faith of the church. By “the winepress was trodden” is signified that the quality of their works was explored. “To tread the winepress” signifies to explore, and “the clusters” which are trodden signify works, as above, (649), here works flowing forth from the doctrine of faith of the church, which are evil works; by “the city” is here meant the great city, of which above (chapter 11:8), which is called “the great city, spiritually Sodom and Egypt;” that it means the doctrine of faith separated from charity, which is the doctrine of the church of the Reformed, see above, (501, 502). And as all exploration of the doctrine of the church is made by the Divine truth of the Word, and this is not in that doctrine, but out of it, that also is signified by the winepress being trodden “without the city.” From these things it may appear, that by “the winepress was trodden without the city,” is signified that exploration was made, from the Divine truths of the Word, into the quality of the works flowing forth from the doctrine of faith of the church. “To tread the winepress” not only signifies to explore evil works, but likewise to bear with them in others, also to remove and cast them into hell, in the following places:

I speak in justice, great to save. Wherefore art Thou red as to Thy garment, and Thy garments like Him that treadeth in the winepress? I have trodden the winepress alone, (Isaiah 63:1-3).

The Lord hath thrown down all my mighty men, the Lord hath trodden the winepress of the daughter of Judah, (Lamentations 1:15.

He that sitteth on the white horse shall tend the nations with a rod of iron, and He treadeth the winepress of the wine of the fury and the anger of God, (Revelation 19:15).

653. And blood went out of the winepress even unto the bridles of the horses, signifies violence done to the Word by direful falsifications of truth, and thence the understanding so closed that man is scarcely capable any longer of being taught, and thus led by Divine truths from the Lord. By “blood” is signified violence done to the Word, (327), and the Divine truth of the Word falsified and profaned, (379[1-7]); for by “the blood out of the winepress” is meant the must and wine from the clusters that were trodden, and the must and wine have a similar signification, (316).

By “the bridles of the horses” are signified the truths of the Word, by which the understanding is led; for “a horse” signifies the understanding of the Word, (298); hence “a bridle” signifies truth by which the understanding is led. “Even unto the bridles of the horses” means even into the mouth, into which the bridle is inserted, and by the mouth the horse drinks and feeds; therefore it also signifies that such violence is done to the Word by dire falsifications, that man is scarcely capable of being taught any longer, and thus of being led by Divine truths from the Lord. By “a bridle” is also signified that by which the understanding is led, (Isaiah 30:27-28; 37:29). And by “the blood of the grapes” is signified the Divine truth of the Word, (Genesis 49:11; Deuteronomy 32:14); but here in the opposite sense.

654. For a thousand six hundred stadia, signifies mere falsities of evil. By “stadia” the like is signified as by “ways,” because stadia are measured ways, and by “ways” are signified leading truths, (176), and, in the opposite sense, leading falsities; and by “a thousand six hundred” are signified evils in the whole complex, for by “a thousand six hundred” the like is signified as by sixteen, and by sixteen the like as by four, because sixteen is the product of four multiplied by itself, and four is said of good and of the conjunction of good and truth, (322), hence, in the opposite sense, of evil and the conjunction of evil and falsity, as here; and as the multiplying of any number by a hundred does not take away its signification, but exalts it, therefore, “for a thousand six hundred stadia” signifies mere falsities of evil. That all numbers in the Word signify things, may be seen above, (348), and that a number signifies the quality of a thing, (448, 608-610).

655. Here I will add this Relation. I spoke with some of those who are meant by “the dragon” in Revelation; and one of them said to me, “Come with me, and I will show you the delights of our eyes and hearts.” And he led me through a gloomy forest to the top of a hill, from which I could have a view of the delights of the dragons. And I saw an amphitheater erected in the form of a circus, with rows of benches one above another, on which the spectators were seated. They who sat on the lowest benches appeared to me, at a distance, like satyrs and priapi, some with a slight covering and some naked without it.

On the benches above them sat whoremongers and harlots; they appeared such to me, from their gestures. And then the dragon said to me, “Now thou shalt see our sport.” And I saw, as it were, bullocks, rams, sheep, kids, and lambs, driven into the area of the circus, and when they were in, a gate was opened, and there rushed in, as it were, young lions, panthers, leopards, and wolves, which attacked the flock with fury, and tore them in pieces and slaughtered them. But the satyrs, when the bloody slaughter was over, strewed sand over the place of the slaughter.

[2] Then the dragon said to me, “These are our sports which delight our minds.” And I replied, “Get thee hence, demon, in a short time thou wilt see this amphitheater converted into a lake of fire and sulphur.” At this he laughed and went away. And afterwards I was thinking within myself, why such things are permitted by the Lord, and I received an answer in my heart, that they are permitted so long as they are in the world of spirits, but when the time of their stay in that world is at an end, those theatrical scenes are changed into such as are direful and infernal.

[3] All the things which were seen were induced by the dragonists by phantasies; therefore they were not bullocks, rams, sheep, kids, and lambs, but the genuine goods and truths of the church, which they hold in hatred, they made to so appear. The young lions, panthers, leopards, and wolves were appearances of the lusts with those who seemed like satyrs and priapi. They who were without any covering, were such as believed that evils do not appear before God; and they who had a covering, were such as believed that they do appear, but yet do not condemn, provided they are in faith; the whoremongers and harlots were falsifiers of the truth of the Word, for whoredom signifies the falsification of truth. In the spiritual world all things appear, at a distance, according to correspondences, the forms of such appearances being called representations of spiritual things in objects similar to those that are natural.

[4] After this I saw them going out of the forest, the dragon being in the midst of the satyrs and priapi, and after them, their servants and scullions, for such were the whoremongers and harlots. Their company increased in the way, and then it was given to hear what they were talking about among themselves. They were saying that they perceived a flock of sheep with lambs in a meadow, which was a sign that one of the cities of Jerusalem, where charity is primary, was near. And they said, “Let us go and take that city, and cast out its inhabitants, and plunder their goods.” They drew near; but there was a wall around it, and angel guards upon the wall. Then they said, “Let us take it by deceit; let us send one who is skilled in the art of mussitation, who can make black white, and white black, and can give to any object whatever color he pleases.” And there was found one who was expert in the art of metaphysics, who could change the ideas of things into the ideas of terms, and conceal the things themselves under formulas, and thus fly away, like a hawk, with his prey under his wings. He was instructed how to speak with the citizens, that they were in fellowship in religion, and that they should be admitted. Coming to the gate he knocked, and when it was opened, he said that he wished to speak with the wisest person in the city. Then he entered and was conducted to one, whom he thus addressed, saying, “There are some of my brethren, without the city, who request to be received. They are consociates in religion. You and we, make faith and charity the two essentials of religion; the only difference is, that you say charity is primary and faith is thence, whereas we say that faith is primary and charity is thence. But what matters it whether one or the other is called the primary when both are believed in?”

[5] The wise man of the city replied, “We will not talk this matter over alone, but in the presence of several, who may act as arbiters and judges, or else there would be no decision.” And then they were summoned, to whom the draconic spirit spoke the same words as before. And then the wise man of the city replied, “Thou hast said, that it is the same thing whether charity or faith be assumed as the primary of the church, provided it be agreed that each constitutes the church and its religion. And yet the difference between them is the same as between prior and posterior, between cause and effect, between the principal and the instrumental, and between the essential and the formal. I speak in this manner, because I have observed that thou art expert in the art of metaphysics, which art we call mussitation, and some call it incantation. But let us leave these terms. The difference is the same as between what is above and what is below; yea! if you will believe it, the difference is as between heaven and hell; for that which is primary constitutes the head and the breast, and that which is thence derived, the feet and the soles of the feet. But let us first agree what charity is and what faith is. Charity is the affection of the love of doing good to the neighbor for the sake of God, salvation, and eternal life, and faith is thought from confidence concerning God, salvation, and eternal life.”

[6] But the emissary said, “I concede that this is faith, and I also concede that charity is that affection for the sake of God, because for the sake of His command; but not for the sake of salvation and eternal life.” And the wise man of the city said, “Let it be this, provided it is for the sake of God.” After this agreement the wise man of the city said, “Is not affection the primary? And is not thought from it?” But he that was sent by the dragon said, “This I deny.” But he received for answer, “You cannot deny it. Does not a man think from affection? Take away affection, and can you think anything? It is altogether as if you should take away sound from speech. If you take away sound, can you speak anything? Sound also is of the affection, and speech is of the thought; for the affection sounds, and the thought speaks. And it is also like flame and light. If you take away the flame, does not the light perish? It is the same with charity, because this is affection; and with faith, because this is thought. Can you not thus comprehend that the primary is the all in the secondary, altogether as the sound is in speech? From which you may see, that if you do not make that to be the primary which is the primary, you are not in the other. Wherefore, if you take faith, which is in the second place, and put it in the first, you will not appear otherwise in heaven than as a man inverted, whose feet stand upwards, and his head downwards; or like a mountebank, who, with his body upside down, walks upon the palms of his hands. When ye appear such in heaven, what then are your good works, which are charity, but such as that mountebank would do with his feet, because he cannot with his hands? Hence it is that your charity, as you also have seen, is natural, and not spiritual, because it is inverted.”

[7] The emissary understood this; for every devil can understand truth, when he hears it; but he cannot retain it, because when the affection of evil returns, it casts out the thought of truth. And afterwards the wise man of the city described by many things what the quality of faith is when it is received as the primary, that it is merely natural; and that it is mere science, without any spiritual life; consequently, that it is not faith. “For your charity is nothing but natural affection; and from natural affection no other than natural thought proceeds, which is your faith.

And I may almost say, that in merely natural faith there is scarce any more that is spiritual, than in a knowledge of the kingdom of the Mogul, of the diamond mine there, and of the treasure and court of the emperor.” Hearing this, the dragonist went away in a rage, and reported to his friends without the city. And when they heard that it was said that charity is the affection of the love of doing good to the neighbor for the sake of God, of salvation, and of eternal life, they all cried out, “This is a lie:” and the dragon himself exclaimed, “O the wickedness, are not all the good works which are charity, when done for the sake of salvation, meritorious?”

[8] Then they said among themselves, “Let us call together still more of our friends, and we will besiege this city: let us make ladders, scale the wall, and rush in by night, and cast out these charities.” But when they attempted this, lo, there appeared as it were fire out of heaven, which consumed them. But the fire from heaven was an appearance of their anger from hatred against the others, because they rejected faith from the first place into the second. The reason that they appeared to be consumed as if by fire, was because hell was opened under their feet, and swallowed them up. Things similar to this happened in many places at the time of the Last Judgment, and this is what is meant by these words in Revelation:

The dragon shall go out to seduce the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, to gather them together to war: and they went up on the plain of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city; but fire came down from God out of heaven, and consumed them, (Revelation 20:8-9).

Chapter 15 (656-675)

656. Revelation 15

1. And I saw another sign in heaven great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is consummated the anger of God.

2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, standing by the sea of glass, having the harps of God.

3. And they were singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb; saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty; just and true are Thy ways, O King of saints.

4. Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord; and glorify Thy name, for Thou alone art Holy: therefore all the nations shall come, and shall adore before Thee; because Thy judgments are made manifest.

5. And after these things I saw, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.

6. And the seven angels that had the seven plagues went out of the temple, clothed in linen clean and bright, and girded about the breasts with golden girdles.

7. And one of the four animals gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the anger of God who liveth for ages of ages.

8. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power: and no one could enter into the temple, until the seven plagues of the seven angels were consummated.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

The preparation for disclosing the last state of the church, and for laying open the evils and falsities in which they are (verses 1, 5-8); from whom those are separated who have confessed the Lord, and have lived according to His precepts (verses 2-4).

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous,” signifies revelation by the Lord concerning the state of the church on earth, what it is as to love and faith, (656). “Seven angels having the seven last plagues,” signifies the evils and falsities in the church, such as they are in its last state, disclosed universally by the Lord, (657). “For in them is consummated the anger of God,” signifies the devastation of the church, and then its end, (658).

Verse 2. “And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire,” signifies the farthest boundary of the spiritual world, where those were gathered together who had religion, and worship from it, but not the good of life, (659). “And them that had the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name,” signifies those who have rejected faith alone and the doctrine of it, and so have not acknowledged and imbued its falsities, nor falsified the Word, (660). “Standing by the sea of glass, having the harps of God,” signifies the Christian heaven in the boundaries, and the faith of charity with those who were there, (661).

Verse 3. “And they were singing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,” signifies confession from charity, and thus from a life according to the precepts of the law, which is the Decalogue, and from faith in the Divinity of the Lord’s Human, (662[1-3]); “saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty,” signifies that all things of the world, of heaven, and of the church were created and made by the Lord from Divine love by Divine wisdom, (663). “For just and true are Thy ways, O King of saints,” signifies that all things which proceed from Him are just and true, because He is Divine good itself and Divine truth itself in heaven and in the church, (664).

Verse 4. “Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name,” signifies that He alone is to be loved and worshiped, (665). “For Thou alone art Holy,” signifies that He is the Word, the Truth, and Enlightenment, (666).” Wherefore all nations shall come and adore before Thee,” signifies that all who are in the good of love and charity acknowledge the Lord alone as God, (667). “Because Thy judgments are made manifest,” signifies that the truths of the Word openly testify this, (668).

Verse 5. “After these things, I saw, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened,” signifies that the inmost of heaven was seen, where the Lord is in His holiness in the Word, and in the Law, which is the Decalogue, (669).

Verse 6. “And the seven angels that had the seven plagues went out of the temple,” signifies preparation by the Lord for influx from the inmost of heaven into the church, that its evils and falsities might be disclosed, and thus the evil be separated from the good, (670). “Clothed in linen clean and bright, and girded about the breasts with golden girdles,” signifies that this was from the pure and genuine truths and goods of the Word, (671).

Verse 7. “And one of the four animals gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials,” signifies those truths and goods, by which the evils and falsities of the church are disclosed, taken from the sense of the letter of the Word, (672). “Full of the anger of God that liveth for ages of ages,” signifies the evils and falsities that would appear and would be exposed by the pure and genuine truths and goods of the Word, (673).

Verse 8. “And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power,” signifies the inmost of heaven full of the Lord’s spiritual and celestial Divine Truth, (674a). “And no one could enter into the temple, until the seven plagues of the seven angels were consummated,” signifies to such a degree there, that more could not be endured, and this until after devastation the end of that church was seen, (674b).

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, signifies revelation from the Lord concerning the state of the church upon earth, what it is as to love and faith. These are what this chapter and the following treat of; therefore they are signified by “a sign in heaven, great and marvelous.” That “a sign in heaven” signifies revelation from the Lord concerning heaven and the church and of their state, see above, (532, 536); it is concerning love and faith, because it is called “great and marvelous;” and “great,” in the Word, is said of such things as are of affection and love, and “marvelous,” of such things as are of thought and of faith.

657. Seven angels having the seven last plagues, signifies the evils and falsities in the church, such as are in its last state, universally disclosed by the Lord. By “seven angels” the entire heaven is signified; but as heaven is not heaven from anything proper to the angels, but from the Lord, therefore by “seven angels” the Lord is signified, nor can any other disclose the evils and falsities which are in the church. That by “angels” is signified heaven, and, in the highest sense, the Lord, may be seen above, (5, 258, 344, 465, 644, 647, 648). By “plagues” are signified evils and falsities, evils of love and falsities of faith. For they are those which are described in the next chapter, and are signified by “evil and noxious sores,” by “the blood as it were of one dead, whereby every living soul died,” and by “the blood into which the waters of the rivers and fountains were turned,” by “the scorching of fire which afflicted men,” by “the unclean spirits like frogs, which were demons,” and by “great hail;” the evils and falsities which are signified by all these things, are here meant by “plagues;” by “the last plagues” are signified the same in the last state of the church; by “seven” are signified all, (10, 390); but because these evils, which are signified by “the plagues” in the next chapter, are not all in particular, but are all in general, by “seven” are here signified all universally, for the universal embraces all the particulars. From these things it appears, that by “I saw seven angels having the seven last plagues,” is signified that the evils and falsities in the church, such as they are in its last state, were disclosed universally by the Lord.

[2] That “plagues” signify spiritual plagues, which affect men as to their souls, and destroy them, which are evils and falsities, may appear from the following passages:

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness, a fresh plague not pressed out, nor bound up, nor mollified, (Isaiah 1:6).

Jehovah smiteth the people in anger with an incurable plague, (Isaiah 14:6).

O Jehovah, remove Thy plague from me, I am consumed by the blow of Thy hand, (Psalms 39:10).

Thy breaking is without hope, with the plague of an enemy have I smitten thee for the multitude of thine iniquity, thy sins have become very many; but I will heal thee of thy plagues, (Jeremiah 30:12, 14, 17).

If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of the law, Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, plagues great and lasting, and every plague which is not written in the book of this law, even until thou art destroyed, (Deuteronomy 28:58-59, 61).

There shall no evil befall thee, and neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent, (Psalms 91:10).

Edom shall be a desolation, everyone that passeth by shall hiss at all her plagues, (Jeremiah 49:17).

It shall be a devastation; everyone that passeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and shall hiss at all her plagues, (Jeremiah 50:13).

In one day shall plagues come upon Babylon, (Revelation 18:8).

The two witnesses shall smite the earth with every plague, (Revelation 11:6).

By “the plagues of Egypt,” which were in part similar to the plagues described in the following chapter, nothing else was signified but evils and falsities; which plagues you may see enumerated above, (503) they are also called “plagues” (Exodus 9:14; 11:1). From this it is manifest, that by “plagues” nothing else is signified but spiritual plagues, which affect men as to their souls, and destroy them; as also Isaiah 30:26; Zechariah 14:12, 15; Psalms 38:5, 11; Revelation 9:20; 16:21; Exodus 12:13; 30:12; Numbers 11:33; Luke 7:21.

658. For in them is consummated the anger of God, signifies the devastation of the church and then its end. By “consummation” is signified the devastation of the church and then its end, as will be seen presently; by “the anger of God” is signified evil with men, which, because it is against God, is called the anger of God; not that God is angry with man, but because man, from his evil, is angry with God, and because it appears to man, when he is punished and tormented for it, as is the case after death in hell, as if it were from God, therefore, in the Word, anger and wrath, yea evil, is attributed to God. But this in the sense of the letter only, because this sense is written according to appearances and correspondences, but not in the spiritual sense, for in this latter there is no appearance and correspondence, but truth in its light; concerning that wrath, see above, (525, 635). It is said that in those plagues “the anger of God is consummated,” and that thereby is signified the devastation of the church and then its end; the reason shall be explained. Every church, in process of time, decreases, by receding from the good of love and the truths of faith, until there is nothing of them left; and this takes place by the successive increase of evil and falsity; and when there is no longer any good of love and faith, then there is nothing but evil and falsity; and when this is the case, there is an end of the church. In this end, man knows no other than that evil is good and falsity truth, for he loves them from the delight he feels in them, and therefore confirms them.

[2] This is the end which is signified by “consummation,” and is called “devastation,” in the following passages:

I have heard a consummation and decision from Jehovah upon the whole earth, (Isaiah 28:22).

The consummation being decreed, justice has overflowed, for the Lord Jehovih of Hosts maketh a consummation and decision in the whole earth, (Isaiah 10:22-23).

In the fire of the zeal of Jehovah shall the whole earth be eaten up, for He shall make a speedy consummation with all the inhabitants of the earth, (Zephaniah 1:18).

At length upon the bird of abominations there shall be desolation, and even to a consummation and decision shall it drop upon the devastation, (Daniel 9:27).

The whole earth shall be a waste, yet will I not make a consummation, (Jeremiah 4:27).

Jehovah said, I will go down, and will see whether they have made a consummation according to the cry which is to come unto me, (Genesis 18:21).

This is concerning Sodom.

The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet consummated, (Genesis 15:16).

The end of the church is also meant by “the consummation of the age” spoken of by the Lord in these passages:

The disciples asked Jesus, What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age? (Matthew 24:3).

At the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares to burn; gather the wheat into the barn; so shall it be in the consummation of the age, (Matthew 13:30, 40).

In the consummation of the age, the angels shall go forth, and shall separate the evil from among the just, (Matthew 13:49).

Jesus said to the disciples, Behold, I am with you until the consummation of the age, (Matthew 28:20).

“Until the consummation of the age” is until the end of the church, when there is the New Church, with which the Lord will then be.

659. Verse 2. And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire, signifies the ultimate boundary of the spiritual world, where are collected those who had religion and thence worship, but not the good of life. By “a sea of glass” (chapter 4:6) is signified the New Heaven from Christians, who were in general truths from the sense of the letter of the Word, (238[1-5]). They who are in general truths, are also in the borders of heaven, therefore, at a distance, they appear to be in the sea, (398, 403, 405). But here by “the sea of glass” is signified the ultimate boundary of the spiritual world, where those were collected who have religion and thence worship, but not the good of life. Because a collection of these is signified, therefore it is said, “as it were a sea of glass,” and further, it appeared “mingled with fire,” and by “fire” there is signified the love of evil, and thence the evil of life, (452, 468, 494, 766, 767, 787); thus not the good of life, for where good is not, there evil is. That a collection of these is here meant by “as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire,” appears also from what next follows, as that “they who had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image stood beside this sea,” by whom are signified those who, in consequence of the rejection of faith separated from charity, were in the good of life and thence in heaven, (660). This sea is also meant in chapter 21:1 by “the sea which was no more” (878). What the nature and quality of this sea is and of those who were in it, has also been granted me to see. They were those who had religion, frequented churches, listened to preachings, received the Holy Supper, but never thought any further about God, salvation, and eternal life, not knowing what sin is. Therefore they were men as to the face; and many of them as to civil and moral life, but not at all as to spiritual life, by virtue of which nevertheless man is man.

660. And them that had the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, signifies those who have rejected faith alone and its doctrine, and thus have not acknowledged and imbued its falsities, nor falsified the Word. By “the beast” is signified the faith of the dragon with the laity, (treated of in chapter 13:1-10). Because its image was made (verse 14); by “its image” is signified doctrine, (602, 634, 637). By “mark” is signified the acknowledgment of that faith, (605, 606, 634, 637, 679). By “the number of his name” is signified the falsification of the Word, (610[1-2]) once it appears, that by these words they are signified who have rejected faith alone and its doctrine, and thus have not acknowledged and imbued its falsities, nor falsified the Word.

661. Standing by the sea of glass, having the harps of God, signifies the Christian heaven in its boundaries, and the faith of charity with those who are there. Since “by the sea of glass” is signified a collection of those who have indeed some religion and worship, but not the good of life, (659). Therefore, by those who were seen “standing by that sea,” is signified the Christian heaven in its boundaries, with whom there were religion, worship, and the good of life, because “they had the victory over the beast and over his image.” The higher Christian heaven is treated of in the foregoing chapter; they who composed that heaven are meant by “the hundred forty-four thousand,” who were seen standing with the Lamb on mount Zion, (612-625). By “harps” is signified the confession of the Lord from spiritual truths, (276, 616).

[2] Spiritual truths are of faith from charity. Their being seen to have harps, and heard to sing the song afterwards mentioned, was a representative of confession springing from the faith of charity. The affections of the thoughts and thence the sound of the discourse of the angels of heaven, are variously heard below in the spiritual world, either as the sound of waters, or of thunder, as above, chapter 14:2, or as the sound of trumpets, as above, chapter 4:1, or, as here, like the sound of harps, as also above, chapter 5:8; 14:2; but yet they are not waters which make the sound, nor thunders which thunder, nor trumpets and harps which sound, nor, indeed, are they songs; but the discourses of the angels and their confessions according to their affections and thence their thoughts, are thus heard below, from which the quality of their love and wisdom is perceived. That such things are heard is from the correspondence of affection with sound, and of thought with speech.

662. Verse 3. And they were singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, signifies confession from charity, thus from the life according to the commandments of the Law, which is the Decalogue, and from faith in the Divinity of the Lord’s Human. That “to sing a new song” is to confess, from joy of heart and from affection, that the Lord alone is the Savior, the Redeemer, and the God of heaven and earth, may be seen above, (279, 617). Here, however, it is not called “a new song,” but “the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb,” and by “the song of Moses” is signified confession from life according to the commandments of the Law, which is the Decalogue, thus from charity, and by “the song of the Lamb,” confession from faith concerning the Divinity of the Lord’s Human; for by “the Lamb” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, (269, 291, 595), and by “Moses” is meant, in a wide sense, all the Law written in his five books, and in a restricted sense, the Law which is called the Decalogue. And because this serves man for life, it is called “the song of Moses, the servant of God,” for by “a servant,” in the Word, is meant one who serves and that which serves, (380), here for life.

[2] The reason why by “Moses,” in a wide sense, is meant the Law, is because his five books are called “the Law.” That all the commandments, judgments, and statutes given by him in his five books are called “the Law,” may be seen above, (417). That everything written in those books is called “the Law of Moses,” and also “Moses,” may appear from the following passages:

Philip⁵⁴ said, We have found Jesus, of whom Moses in the Law, and the Prophets, did write, (John 1:45).

In the Law Moses commanded that such should be stoned, (John 8:5).

The days of their purification, according to the Law of Moses, were fulfilled, (Luke 2:22).

All things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law of Moses and in the Prophets concerning Me, (Luke 24:27, 44).

Did not Moses give you the Law? Moses gave circumcision; that the Law of Moses should not be broken, (John 7:19, 22-23).

Abraham said to the rich man in hell, They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them; if they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded if one rose from the dead, (Luke 16:29, 31).

The curse is poured upon us and the oath that is written in the Law of Moses the servant of God; as it is written in the Law of Moses, all this evil hath come upon us, (Daniel 9:11, 13).

Remember the Law of Moses the servant of God, which I commanded him, (Malachi 4:4).

Jehovah said unto Moses, Behold, I will come unto thee in the mist of a cloud, that the people may hear when I shall speak unto thee, and may also believe in thee forever, (Exodus 19:9).

[3] It may be evident from these passages, that by “Moses” in the wide sense is meant the Word that was written by him, which is called the Law. It follows from this, that the Law which is the Decalogue is meant by “Moses;” and the more so, because Moses hewed out the tables after he had broken the former ones, (Exodus 34:1, 4); and when he carried them down, his face was radiant, (Exodus 34:29-35); on which account Moses is represented in pictures holding these tables in his hand. It is also said in Mark:

Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother, (Mark 7:10).

And Joshua wrote a copy of the Law of Moses upon the stones of the altar, (Joshua 8:32).

That Law was the Decalogue. From these things it may be seen, that nothing else is here meant by “the song of Moses the servant of God,” but confession from charity, and thus from life according to the commandments of the Law, which are the Decalogue.

663. Saying, Great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty, signifies that all things of the world, of heaven, and of the church, were created and made by the Lord from His Divine love by His Divine wisdom. By “the works of the Lord” are signified all thing which were created and made by Him, these being in general all things of the world, all things of heaven, and all things of the church, which it is not possible to enumerate particularly. They are called “great and marvelous,” because “great” is said of love, and “marvelous” of wisdom, as above, (656). The Lord is also in the Word called “Lord” from the Divine good of the Divine love, and “God” from the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom. That the Lord is called “Almighty” because He is, lives, and does all things from Himself, and also rules all things from Himself, may be seen above, (31). Hence it is, that by “great and marvelous are Thy works, O Lord God Almighty,” in the universal sense, is signified that all things of the world, of heaven, and of the church, were created and made by the Lord from His Divine love by His Divine wisdom.

664. Because just and true are Thy ways, O King of saints, signifies that all things which proceed from Him are just and true, because He is the Divine good and the Divine truth itself in heaven and in the church. By “ways” are signified truths leading to good, (176), and by “King,” when speaking of the Lord, is signified the Divine truth, and by “King of saints,” the Divine truth in heaven and in the church from Him; for by “saints” are signified they who are in Divine truths from the Lord, (173, 586). Hence by “just and true are Thy ways, O King of saints,” is signified that all things which proceed from the Lord are just and true, because He is the Divine truth itself in heaven and in the church. The Lord is called “King” in His Divine Human, because this is the Messiah, the Anointed the Christ, the Son of God; that “Messiah” in the Hebrew language is “Christ” in the Greek, and that “the Messiah” or “Christ” is the Son of God, may be seen above, (520); that “Messiah” signifies both King and Anointed in the Hebrew language, is known. The reason why the Lord, as King, is the Divine truth, is because this is signified by “a king” (20, 483). Hence it is that by “kings” are signified they who are in Divine truths from the Lord, (Revelation 1:6; 5:10). It is on this account that heaven and the church are called His “kingdom.” Then His coming into the world is called the gospel of the kingdom. Heaven and the church are called “His kingdom” (Daniel 2:44; 7:13-14, 27; Matthew 12:28; 16:28; Mark 1:14-15; 9:1; 15:43; Luke 1:33; 4:43; 8:1, 10; 9:2; 19:11, 27; 10:11; 16:16; 19:11; 21:31; 22:18; 23:51). And His coming is called “the gospel of the kingdom” (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14). But more may be seen on this subject in Doctrine of the Lord.

[2] That the Lord is called King is evident from the following passages:

They shall make war with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, (Revelation 17:14).

He that sitteth upon the white horse is called the Word, and His name is Lord of lords and King of kings, (Revelation 19:13, 16; Daniel 2:47).

Nathanael said, Thou art the Son of God, Thou art the King of Israel, (John 1:49).

When the Son of man shall come in His glory, He shall sit upon the throne of His glory, and the King shall say to them that are on His right hand and on His left, (Matthew 25:31, 34, 41).

They cried, Hosanna, blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord, the King of Israel, (John 12:13).

Pilate asked Jesus whether He was a king. Jesus answered, I am a king; for this I was born, and for this I came into the world, (John 18:37).

Thine eyes shall see the King in His beauty; Jehovah is our King, He will save us, (Isaiah 33:17, 22).

I Jehovah am your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King, (Isaiah 43:15).

Thus said Jehovah the King of Israel, and His Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts, I am the First and the Last, and besides Me there is no God, (Isaiah 44:6).

Jehovah shall be King over the whole earth, (Zechariah 14:9; Psalms 47:2, 6-8).

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that the King of glory may come in; Jehovah of Hosts, He is the King of glory, (Psalms 24:7-10).

I will raise up unto David a just branch, who shall reign King, and shall do judgment and justice in the earth, (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; besides other places, a, (Isaiah 6:5) (Isaiah 52:7) s Isaiah 6:5; 52:7; Jeremiah 10:7, 10; 46:18; Ezekiel 37:22, 23; 7:24; Zephaniah 3:15; Psalms 20:9; 45:11, 13, 15; 68:24; 74:12).

665. Verse 4. (Revelation 15:4) Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? signifies that He alone is to be loved and worshiped. “To fear God” signifies to love Him; and “to glorify His name” signifies to worship Him. That He alone is to be loved and worshiped is meant by “who shall not,” and by “because Thou alone art holy.” That to fear God is to love Him, by fearing to do what is contrary to Him, and that such fear is in all love, see above, (527, 628). That “to glorify His name” is to worship Him is because by “the name” of Jehovah is signified everything by which He is worshiped, (81[1-4]); and “to glorify” signifies to acknowledge and confess.

666. For thou alone art holy, signifies that He is the Word, the truth, and enlightenment. That the Lord alone is holy, see above, (173); and that it is the Divine truth which is called holy, (173, 580); and as the Word is the Divine truth, and the Lord is that, and as the Divine truth spiritually enlightens, for it is light in heaven, but from the Lord, therefore by, “because He alone is holy,” is signified that the Lord is the Word, the truth, and enlightenment. Since the Word is the Divine truth, and the Divine truth spiritually enlightens, therefore it is said that the Word was dictated by Jehovah through the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit enlightens and teaches man; but who does not know that God is omnipresent, and that what is holy proceeds from Him, and that where He is received He enlightens? Who may not thence conclude, that the Holy Spirit is not a God by itself, distinct from Jehovah, or the Lord, as one Person from another, but that it is Jehovah, or the Lord Himself? He who acknowledges the Divine omnipresence, will also acknowledge this. That by “the Holy Spirit,” in the Word, is meant the Divine life of the Lord, thus Himself, and in particular the life of His wisdom, which is called the Divine truth, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord 50-53, where it is shown from the Word. That the Lord is the Word, may be seen, (John 1:1, 14). That He is the truth, (John 14:6): that He is the Light, and consequently enlightenment, (John 12:34-36).

667. Therefore all the nations shall come and adore before Thee, signifies that all who are in the good of love and charity, will acknowledge the Lord alone as God. By “all nations” are signified they who are in the good of love and charity; that these are meant by “nations,” in a good sense, may be seen above, (483). “To come and adore before Him,” signifies to acknowledge the Lord as God, and as there is one God in whom there is the Trinity, and that the Lord is He, it signifies to acknowledge Him alone as God.

668. Because Thy judgments are made manifest, signifies that the truths of the Word, when opened, testify it. By “judgments” are signified Divine truths, according to which man should live, from which his quality is known, and according to which he will be judged; and because those Divine truths are in the Word, and the Word is now opened, and this testifies that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, therefore by “because Thy judgments are made manifest” is signified because the truths of the Word testify it. That the Word is now opened, and that it testifies that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that one ought to live according to His commandments, and that the faith of the present day should be removed, may appear from the four doctrines just published, Doctrine of the Lord, Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, Doctrine of Life, and Doctrine of Faith; these are meant by “because Thy judgments are made manifest.”

[2] Since the Lord is the Divine good and the Divine truth, and since by “judgment” is signified the Divine truth, and by “justice” the Divine good, therefore, in many passages where the Lord is spoken of, “justice and judgment” are mentioned, as in the following:

Zion shall be redeemed in justice, and her restored one in judgment, (Isaiah 1:27).

He shall sit upon the throne of David and upon His kingdom to establish it in judgment and justice, (Isaiah 9:7).

Jehovah shall be exalted, for He dwelleth on high, and hath filled the earth⁵⁵ with judgment and justice, (Isaiah 33:5).

Let him that glorieth glory in this, that Jehovah doeth judgment and justice in the earth, (Jeremiah 9:24).

I will raise up unto David a just branch, who shall reign King and do judgment and justice in the earth, (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15).

I will betroth me to Thee⁵⁶ in justice and in judgment, (Hosea 2:19.

Judgment shall flow as water, and justice as a mighty torrent, (Amos 5:24).

O Jehovah, Thy justice is like the mountains of God, Thy judgments a great abyss, (Psalms 36:6).

Jehovah shall bring forth Thy justice as the light, and Thy judgment as the noonday, (Psalms 37:6).

Jehovah will judge thy people in justice, and thy poor in judgment, (Psalms 72:2).

Justice and judgment are the support of His⁵⁷ throne, (Psalms 89:14).

When I shall have learned the judgments of Thy justice; seven times in a day do I praise Thee, because of the judgments of Thy justice, (Psalms 119:7, 164).

And in other places, that men ought to do justice and judgment, as Isaiah 1:21; 5:16; 56:1; 58:2; Jeremiah 4:2; 22:3, 13, 15; Ezekiel 18:5; 33:14, 16, 19; Amos 6:12; Micah 7:9; Deuteronomy 33:21; John 16:8, 10. There “justice” is said of the good of truth, and “judgment” of the truth of good.

[3] Since judgment is said of truth, and justice of good, therefore we read in some places of “truth and justice” (Isaiah 11:5; Psalms 85:11); and in David:

The judgments of Jehovah are truth, they are just altogether; more to be desired than gold, and sweeter than honey, (Psalms 19:9-10).

That the Lord’s government in the celestial kingdom is called justice, and in the spiritual kingdom judgment, may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell published at London, (214-216).

669. Verse 5. After these things I saw, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened, signifies that the inmost of heaven was seen, where the Lord is in His holiness in the Word, and in the Law, which is the Decalogue. By “the temple” is signified, in the highest sense, the Lord as to His Divine Human, and heaven and the church thence, (191, 529), here the Christian heaven. By “the tabernacle of the testimony” is signified the inmost of that heaven, where the Lord is, in His holiness in the Word, and in the Law, which is the Decalogue, because “the tabernacle” likewise signifies heaven, (585), and the inmost of the tabernacle was where the ark was, in which were the two tables, upon which the ten words were written with the finger of God, which are the ten commandments of the Decalogue, which are meant by “the testimony,” and also are called “the testimony;” from which it is evident, that by “I saw, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened,” is signified that the inmost of heaven was seen, where the Lord is in His holiness in the Law which is the Decalogue. “The tabernacle of the testimony” also signifies where the Word is, because “the testimony” is mentioned not only in relation to the Law, which is the Decalogue, but also to the Word, and to the Lord as the Word, because the Word testifies of Him, (490, 555).

[2] That the Word is in heaven, and is deposited in the inmost part thereof, which is called the sacred repository, and that the light there is flaming and bright, exceeding every degree of light that shines without in the other parts of heaven, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 70-75, and concerning that sacred repository Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 73. Respecting the holiness of the Law, which is the Decalogue, see the Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem from the Commandments of the Decalogue 53-60. That the ark, in which were contained the two tables of the Decalogue, constituted the sanctuary or inmost part of the temple in Jerusalem, and consequently of the tabernacle there, see 1 Kings 6:19-28; 8:3-9. That the law which is the Decalogue was called the testimony, is evident from these passages:

Moses came down, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand; the tables were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, graven upon the tables, (Exodus 32:15-16).

The two tables of the testimony, tables of stone, written by the finger of God, (Exodus 31:18).

Jehovah said, Thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I will give thee, (Exodus 25:16, 21-22).

And Moses took and put the testimony into the ark, (Exodus 40:20).

That the cloud of incense may cover the mercy-seat which is upon the testimony, (Leviticus 16:13).

Jehovah said unto Moses, Leave the rods before the testimony, and afterwards Aaron’s rod before the testimony, (Numbers 17:4, 10).

And Moses left the rods before Jehovah, (Numbers 17:7).

The ark is called the ark of the testimony, (Exodus 31:7).

And the tabernacle is called the habitation of the testimony, (Exodus 38:21).

670. Verse 6. And the seven angels that had the seven plagues came out of the temple, signifies the preparation by the Lord for influx from the inmost of heaven into the church, that its evils and falsities may be universally disclosed, and thus the evil be separated from the good. That by “the seven angels” the Lord is meant, see above, (657); that by “the seven plagues” are signified all evils and falsities understood universally, see also above, (657). By “the temple” is meant the inmost of heaven, where the Word and the Decalogue are, as above, (669). That by “their going out from the temple” is signified preparation for influx is because they went out that afterward they might receive the vials, and cast the plagues in the vials into the earth, the sea, the rivers, and fountains, the sun, upon the throne of the beast, and into the air; by which is signified influx into the church, that its evils and falsities might be disclosed. That this was done for the sake of separating them from the good, will be seen in the next chapter.

671. Clothed in linen, clean and bright, and girded about the breasts with golden girdles, signifies this from the pure and genuine truths and goods of the Word. By “linen clean and bright” is signified truth pure and genuine, as will be seen presently. By “the golden girdle about the breast” is signified the proceeding and at the same time conjoining Divine, which is the Divine good, as above, (46). By “being clothed and girded” is signified to appear and be presented in them; for garments signify truths clothing good, (166); and zones or girdles signify containing truths and goods in their order and connection, (46). From these things it is evident, that by “angels clothed in linen, clean and bright, and having their breasts girded about with golden girdles,” are signified truths and goods pure and genuine, which because they are from no other source than the Word, signify the truths and goods of the Word.

[2] That “linen” signifies Divine truth, may appear from the following passages, as that:

Aaron had breeches of linen, when he entered into the tent, and drew near to the altar, (Exodus 28:42-43).

When Aaron entered into the holy-place, he put on the linen coat of holiness, breeches of linen were upon his flesh; with a linen belt he girdled himself, and put upon himself the linen miter; these were the garments of holiness, and he put on the same garments, when he made atonement for the people, (Leviticus 16:4, 32).

In like manner that:

The priests, the Levites, when they entered at the gates of the inner court, put on linen garments, linen miters upon their head, and linen beeches upon their loins, (Ezekiel 44:17-18).

The priests wore linen ephods, (1 Samuel 2:18).

Samuel, when he ministered while a boy before Jehovah, was clothed with a linen ephod, (1 Samuel 2:18).

David, when the ark was transferred into his city, was girded with a linen ephod, (2 Samuel 6:14).

From these things it may be evident why:

The Lord, when He washed the disciples’ feet, girded Himself with a linen cloth, and wiped their feet with the linen cloth, (John 13:4-5 (, 6).

That angels appeared clothed with linen, (Daniel 10:5; Ezekiel 9:2-4, 11; 10:2-7).

Also the angels seen in the Lord’s sepulcher appeared clothed with bright and shining white, (Matthew 28:3).

The angel that measured the new temple had a linen line in his hand, (Ezekiel 40:3).

Jeremiah, that he might represent the state of the church as to truth:

Was commanded to buy a linen girdle, and hide it in a hole of a rock by the Euphrates, and afterwards found it spoiled, (Jeremiah 13:1-7).

It is also said in Isaiah:

A bruised reed shall He not break, and the smoking flax shall He not quench, He shall bring forth judgment unto truth, (Isaiah 42:3).

By linen in these places nothing else is meant than truth.

672. Verse 7. And one of the four animals gave to the seven angels seven golden vials, signifies those truths and goods by which the evils and falsities of the church are disclosed, taken from the sense of the letter of the Word. That “the four animals,” which are cherubim, signify the Word in ultimates, and guards lest its genuine truths and goods should be violated, may be seen above, (239); and because the interior truths and goods of the Word are guarded by the sense of its letter, that sense of the Word is therefore signified by “one of the four animals.” The same is signified by “the seven vials” as by “the seven plagues,” for they are that which contains; and that which contains in the Word signifies the same as the things which are contained; as by “a cup” the same as by “wine,” and by “a platter” the same as by “food.” That by “cups,” “goblets,” “vials,” and “plates,” similar things are signified as by their contents, will be seen in what now follows. What is signified by “the seven angels” has been said above. That “vials were given to them,” is because the subject treated of is the influx of truth and good into the church, that evils and falsities may be disclosed; and naked goods and truths cannot flow in, for these are not received; but truths clothed, such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word. And besides, the Lord always operates from inmosts through ultimates, or in fullness. This is the reason that “vials were given to the angels,” by which is signified, containing truths and goods such as those are of the sense of the letter of the Word, by which falsities and evils are detected. That the sense of the letter of the Word is a container may be seen in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 27-36, 37-49.

[2] That by “vials,” “plates,” “cups,” and “goblets,” and by “bottles” those things are signified which are contained in them; may be evident from the following passages:

Jehovah said, Take the cup of anger from My hand, and make all the nations to drink; when they refuse to take the cup, thou shalt say, Ye shall certainly drink, (Jeremiah 25:15-16, 28).

Babylon is a golden cup in the hand of Jehovah, that maketh the whole earth drunken, (Jeremiah 51:7).

I will give the cup of thy sister into thy hand; thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sadness, with the cup of devastation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria, (Ezekiel 23:31-34).

The cup of Jehovah shall go around to thee, that there may be vomit upon thy glory, (Habakkuk 2:16).

Even unto thee, O daughter of Edom, shall the cup pass over; thou shalt be made drunken and shalt make thyself bare, (Lamentations 4:21).

Jehovah shall rain upon the wicked winds of storms; the portion of their cup, (Psalms 11:6).

In the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and He hath mixed the wine, He hath filled it with the mixture and hath poured out; all the wicked of the earth shall drink, (Psalms 75:8).

They who adore the beast shall drink of the wine of the anger of God, mixed with unmixed wine in the cup of His wrath, (Revelation 14:10).

Awake, rise up, O Jerusalem, who hast drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of His anger; thou hast drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling, (Isaiah 51:17).

The woman having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and the uncleanness of whoredom, (Revelation 17:4).

Double unto her double; in the cup which she hath mingled, mingle to her double, (Revelation 18:6).

I make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all people, (Zechariah 12:2).

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup, that the outside⁵⁸ may be clean also, (Matthew 23:25-26; Luke 11:39).

Jesus said to the sons of Zebedee, Can ye drink of the cup that I shall drink of? (Matthew 20:22-23; Mark 10:38-39)

Jesus said to Peter, The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? (John 18:11).

Jesus said in Gethsemane, If possible, let this cup pass from Me, (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44).

Jesus taking the cup said, Drink all ye of it; this is My blood, of the New Testament, (Matthew 26:27-28; Mark 14:23-24; Luke 22:17).

Jehovah is my cup, thou maintainest my lot, (Psalms 16:5).

Thou preparest a table before me, my cup shall abound, (Psalms 23:5).

What shall I render unto Jehovah? I will take the cup of salvation, (Psalms 116:12-13).

To drink of the cup of consolation, (Jeremiah 16:7).

The same as by “a goblet” and “a cup” is also signified by a “vial,” likewise by “a bottle” (Matthew 9:17; Luke 5:37-38; Jeremiah 13:12; 48:12; Habakkuk 2:15). By “vials,” “censers,” and “incense-boxes,” containing incense, the same is signified as by “incense”: in general, by vessels of every kind the same is signified as by the things in them.

673. Full of the anger of God that liveth for ages of ages, signifies the evils and falsities that are to appear and are to be exposed by the pure and genuine truths and goods of the Word. It is said that the vials were “full of the anger of God,” because they were full of the plagues; by which are signified the evils and falsities of the church, (657); but still they were not full of these, but full of pure and genuine truths and goods from the Word, by which the evils and falsities of the church would be disclosed; but still they were not vials, with truths and goods in them; but by them the influx from heaven into the church was signified. It is according to the style of the Word in the sense of its letter, that they are said to be “full of the anger of the living God;” as may be evident from the passages adduced above, in which “anger” and “wrath” are ascribed to Jehovah; when yet Jehovah has no anger and wrath, but man has it against Him. The reason that it is so said in the sense of the letter, may be seen above, (525, 635, 658). From this it is manifest that by “the vials full of the anger of God that liveth for ages of ages,” are signified the direful evils and falsities of the church that are to appear and be exposed by the goods and truths of the Word. Evils and falsities are exposed in no other way than by truths and goods; for these are in the light of heaven, but falsities and evils are in the darkness of hell; and in darkness nothing is exposed, because nothing but evil and falsity appears there. But by light from heaven all things are exposed, because in that all things appear; for the light of heaven is the Divine truth of the Lord’s Divine wisdom.

674. Verse 8. (Revelation 15:8) And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, signifies the inmost of heaven full of spiritual and celestial Divine truth from the Lord. By “the temple,” the inmost of heaven is signified, as shown above, (669). By “smoke” is signified the Divine in the ultimates, as will be seen presently. By “glory” is signified spiritual Divine truth, (249, 629[1-2]); and by “power” celestial Divine truth is signified, (373). Hence by “the temple being filled with the smoke from the glory of God and from His power,” is signified the inmost heaven full of Divine truth spiritual and celestial. “Smoke” signifies the Divine truth in ultimates, because “fire,” from which is smoke, signifies love; “the fire of the altar of burnt-offering,” celestial love, (395, 494); and “the fire of the altar of incense,” spiritual love, (277, 392, 394). That “smoke” signifies these things may be evident from these passages:

Jehovah will create upon every habitation of mount Zion a cloud by day, and smoke and the brightness of fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a covering, (Isaiah 4:5).

The posts of the threshold were moved at the voice of the seraphim that cried, and the house was filled with smoke, (Isaiah 6:4).

The smoke of the incense went up with the prayers of the angels⁵⁹ out of the hand of the angel before God, (Revelation 8:4).

The smoking flax shall He not quench, He shall bring forth judgment into truth, (Isaiah 42:3).

That “smoke” in the opposite sense signifies the falsities of lusts, may be seen above, (422); and falsities originating from the pride of one’s own intelligence, (452). Also “smoke” in many places signifies the same as “a cloud.”

674b. And no one could enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were consummated, signifies to such a degree there that more could not be endured, and this until, after devastation, the end of that church was seen. By “no one could enter into the temple,” is signified that the inmost of heaven was full of spiritual and celestial Divine truth to such a degree that more could not be endured. By “the temple,” here as above, the inmost of heaven is signified. By “until the seven plagues of the seven angels were consummated,” is signified that this would continue until the end of the church after devastation, (658). And by “the seven plagues of the seven angels,” the evils and falsities which devastate the church and make an end of it are signified, (657).

675. To this I will add this Relation. There was seen a certain paper sent down from the Lord through heaven to a society of the English, but that society was one of the smallest of them, where also there were two bishops. The paper contained an exhortation that they should acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, as He taught, (Matthew 28:18); and that they should recede from the doctrine of justifying faith without the works of the law, because it is erroneous. This paper was read and copied by many; and respecting the things that were in it they thought and spoke soundly from interior judgment, and were enlightened by the Lord; and the enlightenment was received in the light, which is implanted with the English more than with others. Yet after they had received those things, they said among themselves, “Let us hear the bishops.” And they were heard; but they contradicted and disapproved. For those bishops who were there, were of those who had become in the world hard of heart as to the spiritual things of faith and charity, from the love of dominion over the holy things of the church, and of super-eminence by means of them even in political affairs. Wherefore, after a short consultation among themselves, they sent the paper back to heaven, whence it came. This being done, after some murmuring, most of the laity receded from their former assent; and then their light in spiritual things, which before shone brightly, was suddenly extinguished; and they were afterwards admonished again, but in vain. I saw that society sinking down, but how deeply I did not see, thus it was withdrawn from the sight of the angels, who worship the Lord alone, and are averse to faith alone.

[2] But after some days, I saw as many as a hundred of them ascending from the lower earth, whither that small society sank down; who approached me, and a wise man from among them spoke and said, “Hear a wonder: when we sank down, the place at first appeared to us like a lake, but soon like dry land; and afterwards like a small city, in which everyone had his house, but a poor one. After a day we consulted among ourselves what was to be done. Many said that we must go to the two bishops, and mildly argue with them, because they sent back the paper into heaven, whence it was let down; on account of which this had happened to us. They chose some, who went to the bishops, and he that was speaking with me said that he was one of them. “And then a certain one among us who excelled in wisdom, addressed the bishops thus. ‘Hear, ye fathers; we believed that with us above others was the church which deserved to be called the first in the Christian world, and a religion which deserves to be called the greatest. But there has been given to us enlightenment from heaven, and in the enlightenment a perception that at this day there is no longer any church in the Christian world, nor any religion. ‘

[3] The bishops said ‘What are you saying? Is not the church where the Word is, where Christ the Savior is known, and where are the sacraments?’ To this our spokesman replied, ‘Those things are the church, and they make the church; but they do not make it outside of man, but within man. ‘ And he said further, ‘As to the church: can the church be where three gods are worshiped? Can the church be where the whole of its doctrine is founded upon a single saying of Paul falsely understood, and hence not upon the Word? Can the church be where the Savior of the world is not approached, and where He is divided into two? As to religion: who can deny that religion is to shun evil and to do good? Is there any religion where it is taught that faith alone saves, and not charity? Is there religion where it is taught that charity proceeding from a man is nothing but moral and civil charity? Who does not see that in that charity there is not anything of religion? Is there in faith alone anything of deed or of work? And yet religion consists in doing. Is there given in the entire world a nation with any religion, which excludes everything saving from the goods of charity, which are good works, when yet the all of religion consists in good, and the all of the church in doctrine, which must teach truths, and good by truth? See, fathers, what glory we should have, if the church, which is not, and religion, which is not, should begin and arise with us. ‘

[4] Then those bishops replied, ‘You speak too loftily. Is not faith in act, which is faith fully justifying and saving, the church? And is not faith in state, which is faith proceeding and perfecting religion? Apprehend this, O sons. ‘ But the wise Englishman then said, ‘Hear, O fathers; does not a man conceive faith in act like a stock? Is the church, according to your idea, in a stock that is then vivified? Is not faith in state the continuation and progression of faith in act? And since according to your idea everything saving is in faith, and not anything in the good of charity from man, where then is religion?’ The bishops then said, ‘Friend, you speak thus, because you do not know the mysteries of justification by faith alone; and he who does not know them, does not know the way of salvation from within. Your way is an external and plebeian way. Go that way if you will; but know only that all good is from God, and nothing from man; and that thus in spiritual things a man can do nothing at all of himself. How then can a man do good, which is spiritual good, from himself?’

[5] The Englishman that was speaking with them, being indignant at this, said, ‘I know your mysteries of justification better than you do yourselves; and I tell you plainly, that in these interior mysteries of yours I have seen nothing but specters. Is not religion to acknowledge and love God, and to shun and hate the devil? Is not God good itself, and the devil evil itself? Who in the whole world, who has any religion, does not know this? Is not acknowledging and loving God the doing of good because this is of God and from God? And is not shunning and hating the devil, to do no evil, because it is of the devil and from the devil? Your faith in act, which you called faith fully justifying and saving, or, what is the same, your act of justification by faith alone, does it teach the doing of any good which is of God and from God? And does it teach the shunning of any evil which is of the devil and from the devil? Nothing at all, because you have decided that there is nothing of salvation in either. What is your faith in state, which you have called faith proceeding and perfecting, but the same with faith in act? How can this be perfected, when you exclude all good done by man as of himself? saying: “How can a man be saved by any good from himself, when salvation is gratuitous?” Also, “What good is from man but meritorious good? And yet Christ’s merit is all; and therefore to do good for the sake of salvation would be to attribute to oneself what is Christ’s alone; and thus it would be also to will to justify and save oneself.” Also, “How can anyone operate good, when the Holy Spirit operates all things without any help from man? What need is there then of any accessory good from man, when all the good from man is in itself not good?” and more besides.

[6] ‘Are not these your mysteries? But in my eyes they are mere subtleties and artifices contrived for the end that you may remove good works, which are the goods of charity, to establish your faith alone. And because you do this, you regard man as to these things, and in general as to all spiritual things which are of the church and religion, as a stock, or as a lifeless image, and not as a man created in the image of God, to whom was given, and is continually given, the faculty of understanding and willing, of believing and loving, and of speaking and doing, altogether as of himself; especially in spiritual things, because man is man from them. If man did not think and operate as of himself in spiritual things, what then would faith be? and charity? and worship? Yea, what then would the church and religion be? You know that charity is to do good to the neighbor from love. Yet you do not know what charity is; when yet charity is the soul, the life, and the essence of faith. And because charity is all that, what then is faith when charity is removed, but dead faith? And dead faith is nothing but a specter. I call it a specter, because the apostle James calls faith without good works not only dead, but also diabolical. ‘

[7] Then one of those two bishops, when he heard his faith called dead, diabolical, and a specter, became so enraged, that he snatched the miter from his head, and threw it upon a table, saying, ‘I will not resume it until I have been avenged on the enemies of the faith of our church. ‘ And he shook his head, murmuring and saying, ‘That James, that James!’ Upon the miter was a plate, on which was engraved ‘Faith Alone. ‘ And then there suddenly appeared a monster rising out of the earth with seven heads, whose feet were like a bear’s, and his mouth like a lion’s, altogether like the beast which is described, (Revelation 13:1-2); whose image was made and adored, (Revelation 13:14-15). This specter took the miter from the table, and stretched it out beneath, and put it upon his seven heads; after which, the earth opened under his feet, and he sank down into hell. Seeing this, that bishop cried out, ‘Violence, violence!’ We then departed from them; and behold, there were steps before our eyes, by which we ascended, and returned upon the earth, and into the sight of heaven, where we were before.” These things the wise Englishman related to me.

Chapter 16 (676-716)

676. Revelation 16

1. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth.

2. And the first went forth and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there came an evil and noxious sore on the men that had the mark of the beast, and that adored his image.

3. And the second angel poured out his vial into the sea; and it became blood as of one dead, and every living soul in the sea died.

4. And the third angel poured out his vial into the rivers and into the fountains of waters; and they became blood.

5. And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Thou art just, O Lord, who art, and who wast, and art holy, because Thou hast judged these things.

6. Because they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy.

7. And I heard another out of the altar saying, Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just art Thy judgments.

8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and it was given him to scorch men with fire.

9. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God who hath authority over these plagues, and they repented not to give Him glory.

10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became dark, and they gnawed their tongues for distress.

11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven for their distresses and for their sores, and repented not of their works.

12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared.

13. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.

14. For they are spirits of demons, doing signs, to go away unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

15. Behold, I come as a thief; happy is he that is awake and keepeth his garments, that he may not walk naked, and they see his shame.

16. And he gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew Armageddon.

17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there went forth a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done.

18. And there were voices, and lightnings, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great.

19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His anger.

20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.

21. And great hail as of the weight of a talent cometh down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail: for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

In this chapter the evils and falsities in the church of the Reformed are disclosed by influx out of heaven (verse 1): Into the clergy (verse 2): Into the laity (verse 3): Into their understanding of the Word (verses 4-7): Into their love (verses 8-9): Into their faith (verses 10-11): Into their interior reasonings (verses 12-15): Into all things of them together (verses 17-21).

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go, and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth,” signifies influx from the Lord from the inmost of heaven into the church of the Reformed, where they are who are in faith separated from charity as to doctrine and as to life, (676).

Verse 2. “And the first went forth, and poured out his vial on the earth,” signifies into those who are in the interiors of the church of the Reformed, and study the doctrine of justification by faith alone, and are called the clergy, (677). “And there came an evil and noxious sore,” signifies interior evils and falsities destructive of all good and truth in the church, (678). “Upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and that adore his image,” signifies in those who live faith alone and receive the doctrine of it, (679).

Verse 3. “And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea” signifies influx among those there who are in its externals, and in that faith, and are called the laity, (680). “And it became blood as of one dead, and every living soul died in the sea,” signifies infernal falsity with them, by which every truth of the Word and thence of the church and of faith was extinguished, (681).

Verse 4. “And the third angel poured out his vial into the rivers and the fountains of waters,” signifies influx into the understanding of the Word with them, (683). “And they became blood,” signifies the truths of the Word falsified, (684).

Verse 5. “And I heard the angel of the waters saying,” signifies the Divine truth of the Word, (685). “Thou art just, O Lord, who art, and who wast, and art holy, because Thou hast judged these things,” signifies that this is from the Divine Providence of the Lord, who is and who was the Word, which otherwise would be profaned, (686).

Verse 6. “Because they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets,” signifies that this is for the reason, that this alone, that faith alone without the works of the law saves, being received, perverts all doctrinal truths from the Word, (686). “And Thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy,” signifies that it was permitted those who have confirmed themselves in faith alone in doctrine and in life, to falsify the truths of the Word, and to imbue their life from falsified things, (688).

Verse 7. “And I heard another out of the altar, saying, Yea, O Lord God Almighty, true and just are Thy judgments,” signifies the Divine good of the Word confirming that Divine truth, (689).

Verse 8. “And the fourth angel poured out his vial into the sun,” signifies influx into their love, (690). “And it was given him to scorch men with fire,” signifies that love to the Lord tortured them, because they were in the lusts of evils from the delight of their love, (691).

Verse 9. “And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who hath authority over these plagues,” signifies that on account of the delight of the love of self arising from vehement lusts of evils they did not acknowledge the Divinity of the Lord’s Human, from which nevertheless flows all good of love and truth of faith, (692). “And they repented not to give Him glory,” signifies that on that account they cannot receive with any faith that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth as to His Human also, although the Word teaches it, (693).

Verse 10. “And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast,” signifies influx into their faith, (694). “And his kingdom became dark,” signifies that nothing but falsities appeared, (695).

Verse 11. “And they gnawed their tongues for distress,” signifies that they could not endure truths, (696). “And they blasphemed the God of heaven for their distresses and for their sores,” signifies that they could not acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth on account of resistance from interior falsities and evils, (697). “And repented not of their works,” signifies that though instructed from the Word, they still do not recede from falsities of faith and the evils of life thence, (698).

Verse 12. “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates,” signifies influx into their interior reasonings, by which they confirm justification by faith alone, (699). “And the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared,” signifies that the falsities of their reasonings were removed with those who are in truths from good from the Lord, and are to be introduced into the New Church, (700).

Verse 13. “And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet,” signifies the perception that from a theology founded upon the doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the Divinity, and upon the doctrine of justification by faith alone without the works of the law, (701). “Three unclean spirits like frogs,” signifies that there arose mere reasonings and lusts of falsifying truths, (702).

Verse 14. “For they are spirits of demons,” signifies that they were the lusts of falsifying truths and of reasoning from falsities, (703). “Doing signs, to go away unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty,” signifies attestations that their falsities are truths, and the stirring up of all in the whole of that church who are in the same falsities, to attack the truths of the New Church, (704).

Verse 15. “Behold, I come as a thief; happy is he that is awake and keepeth his garments,” signifies the Lord’s coming, and heaven then for those who look to Him, and remain steadfast in a life according to His precepts, which are the truths of the Word, (705). “That he may not walk naked, and they see his shame,” signifies lest they should be with those who are in no truths, and their infernal loves should appear, (706).

Verse 16. “And he gathered them together into a place called in Hebrew Armageddon,” signifies the state of combat from falsities against truths, and the disposition of destroying the New Church, arising from the love of dominion and supereminence, (707).

Verse 17. “And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air,” signifies influx into all things together with them, (708). “And there went forth a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done,” signifies that it was thus made manifest by the Lord, that all the things of the church were devastated, and that now the Last Judgment is at hand, (709).

Verse 18. “And there were voices, and lightnings and thunders,” signifies reasonings, falsifications of truth, and arguments from the falsities of evil, (710). “And there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great,” signifies as it were shakings, convulsions, overturnings, and the drawing down from heaven of all the things of the church, (721).

Verse 19. “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell,” signifies that the church as to doctrine was altogether destroyed by them, and so too all the heresies which have emanated from it, (712). “And great Babylon came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His anger,” signifies the destruction also at that time of the dogmas of the Roman Catholic religion, (713).

Verse 20. “And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found,” signifies that there was no longer any truth of faith, nor any good of love, (714a). Verse 21. “And great hail as of the weight of a talent cometh down from heaven upon men,” signifies direful and atrocious falsities, by which every truth of the Word and thence of the church was destroyed, (714b). “And they blasphemed God because of the plague of hail, for the plague thereof was exceeding great,” signifies that because they confirmed such falsities with themselves, they denied truths to such a degree that they could not know them, on account of repugnances arising from their interior falsities and evils, (715).

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth, signifies influx from the Lord out of the inmost heaven into the church of the Reformed, where they are who are in faith separated from charity as to doctrine and as to life, to deprive them of truths and goods, and lay open the falsities and evils in which they are, and thus to separate them from those who believe in the Lord, and are in charity and its faith from him. This is a summary of what is contained in this chapter. By “the temple” is signified the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony, mentioned in the foregoing chapter, (Revelation 15:5), whereby is signified the inmost of heaven, where the Lord is in His holiness in the Word, and in the Law which is the Decalogue, (669). By “a great voice” thence, is signified a divine mandate to go and pour out the vials. By “the seven angels” the Lord is meant, as above, (657). By “pouring out the vials upon the earth,” which contained the plagues, is signified influx into the church of the Reformed; by “pouring out the vials” is signified the influx, and by “the earth” is signified the church, (285).

[2] The church with the Reformed is still treated of; but in the next chapter the subject is concerning the Roman Catholic church, and afterwards concerning the Last Judgment, and finally concerning the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem (see the preface and 2). Chapters 8, 9 treat of “the seven angels who had the seven trumpets,” which they sounded, and since many similar things occur there, it shall here be said what is signified by those seven angels, and what by these. By “the seven trumpets,” which the seven angels sounded, is signified the exploration and manifestation of the falsities and evils, in which they are who are in faith separated from charity; but by “the seven vials full of the seven last plagues,” is signified their devastation and consummation, for the Last Judgment is not executed upon them until they are devastated.

[3] Devastation and consummation in the spiritual world take place in this manner: From those who are in falsities as to doctrine, and thence in evils as to life, are taken away all the goods and truths which they possessed only in the natural man, and from which they simulated Christian men; on being deprived of which, they are separated from heaven, and conjoined with hell. And then they are arranged into societies in the world of spirits according to the varieties of lusts, and afterwards these societies sink down.

[4] They are deprived of goods and truths by an influx from heaven. The influx is effected from genuine truths and goods, by which they are tortured and tormented; scarcely otherwise than as a serpent when put near a fire, or thrown upon an ant hill. Therefore they reject from themselves the goods and truths of heaven, which are also the goods and truths of the church, and at last they condemn them because they feel as if infernal torment proceeded from them. When this has come to pass, they enter into their own evils and falsities, and are separated from the good. These are the things which are described and signified in this chapter by “the pouring out of the vials, wherein were the seven last plagues.” The vials did not contain the evils and falsities signified by “the plagues,” but they were genuine truths and goods, the effect of which was such as has been described. For the angels went out of “the temple of the tabernacle of testimony,” by which is meant the inmost of heaven, where there are nothing but truths and goods in Divine holiness, (Revelation 15:6).

[5] Of this devastation and consummation the Lord speaks in these words:

Unto everyone that hath, to him shall be given, that he may have more abundantly; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath, (Matthew 13:12; Mark 4:25).

Take the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents; for unto everyone that hath shall be given, that he may abound, but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that he hath, (Matthew 25:28-29; Luke 19:24-26).

677. Verse 2. (Revelation 16:2) And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth, signifies influx into those who are in the interiors of the church of the Reformed and study the doctrine of justification by faith alone, who are called the clergy. By “pouring out his vial” is signified influx, as above, (676). By “the earth” is signified the church, (285), here those therein who are in its interiors who are such as study the doctrine of justification by faith alone. These also say that they know its interior things; but these interior things are only confirmations of this single position, that faith alone justifies without the works of the Law. Other interior things they do not know; and as these are chiefly priests, professors of theology, and lecturers in colleges, in short doctors and pastors, therefore this first influx was into them, who are called the clergy. The reason why they are meant, is because it is said that the first angel poured out his vial into “the earth” and the second angel into “the sea,” and then by “the earth,” is meant the church with those who are in its internals, and by “the sea” is meant the church with those who are in its externals, as above, (398, 403, 420, 470); that these are meant, is also evident from its being said that there came “a sore” upon them.

678. And there came an evil and noxious sore, signifies interior evils and falsities destructive of all good and truth in the church. By “a sore,” here nothing else is signified but evil originating in a life according to this head of doctrine, that faith alone without the works of the Law justifies and saves; because it came “upon the men who had the mark of the beast, and adored his image,” by which that faith, and a life according to it, are signified; wherefore by “an evil and noxious sore” are signified interior evils and falsities, destructive of all good and truth in the church. By “noxious” is signified what is destructive, for evil cannot but destroy good, and falsity truth. “A sore” has this signification because the sores of the body originate from a corrupt state of the blood, or from some other interior malignity. It is the same with sores meant in the spiritual sense, these originate from lusts and their delights, which are interior causes. The evil itself which is signified by “a sore” and which appears in externals as delightful, conceals within it the lusts whence it originates, and of which it is composed.

[2] It should be clearly known, that the interiors of the human mind exist in successive order and in simultaneous order with everyone. They are in successive order from its higher or prior things to its lower or posterior things. They are in simultaneous order in the ultimates or postremes, but in these latter they exist from interior things to exterior, as from a center to its circumference. This is shown in many places in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (173-281), where degrees are treated of; from which it is evident that the ultimate is the complex of all the prior things. Hence it follows, that all the lusts of evil exist in simultaneous order inwardly in the very evil which the man perceives in himself, every evil which a man perceives in himself being in ultimates; for which reason when a man rejects evil from himself, he at the same time rejects its lusts; but still not from himself, but from the Lord. A man can indeed of himself reject evil, but not its lusts; wherefore, when he wills to reject evil, by fighting against it, he will look up to the Lord; for the Lord operates from inmosts to ultimates, for He enters through the soul of man, and purifies him. These things are said that it may be known that “a sore” signifies the evil appearing in ultimates or extremes, and originating from internal malignity. This takes place with all who persuade themselves that faith alone saves, and therefore they do not reflect upon any evil in themselves, nor do they look to the Lord.

[3] “Ulcers” and “wounds” signify evils in the extremes, springing from interior evils, which are lusts, also in the following passages:

From the sole of the foot even to the head there is no soundness; wound and scar, and a fresh stroke; they have not been pressed out nor bound up, nor softened with oil, (Isaiah 1:6).

My iniquities have gone over my head; my wounds have putrefied, they have wasted away, because of my foolishness, (Psalms 38:4-5).

In the day that Jehovah shall bind up the breach of His people, and shall heal the wound of their stroke, (Isaiah 30:26).

If thou wilt not obey the voice of Jehovah, observing to do His commandments, Jehovah will smite thee with the sore of Egypt, with emerods and with the scab, and with the itch, and with an evil sore upon the knees and thighs, of which thou canst not be healed, from the sole of the foot even to thy crown, (Deuteronomy 28:15, 27, 35).

The sore with blains breaking out on man and on beast in Egypt, (Exodus 9:8-11) signifies nothing else; for the miracles done there signify the evils and falsities in which they were. And because the Jewish nation was in the profanation of the Word, and this is signified by leprosy, therefore they had leprosy not only in their flesh, but also in their garments, houses, and vessels; and the kinds of profanation are signified by the various evils of leprosy, which were:

Tumors, ulcerous tumors, white and red pimples, abscesses, burnings, tetters, scurfs, etc. (Leviticus 13).

For the church with that nation was a representative church, in which internal things were represented by external things which corresponded.

679. Upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and that adored his image, signified with those who live faith alone, and receive its doctrine. By “having the mark of the beast” is signified to acknowledge faith alone, to confirm it in oneself, and to live according to it; and by “adoring his image” is signified to receive its doctrine, see above, (602, also 634, 637). By living faith alone, and receiving its doctrine, is meant to make no account of life for the sake of salvation, nor of any truth, believing that if they only pray to God the Father, to have mercy for the Son’s sake, they will be saved. This is especially the case with those who know and acknowledge the interiors of that doctrine; such being here treated of, see above, (677).

680. Verse 3. And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea, signifies an influx of truth and good from the Lord with those in the church of the Reformed who are in its externals, and are in that faith, and are called the laity. By “pouring out his vial” is signified the influx of truth and good from the Lord, as above, (676, 677); by “the sea” is signified the external of the church, thus those who are in its externals, when “the earth” signifies the internal of the church, thus those who are in its internals, (398, 403, 404, 420, 470, 677); these are they who are called the laity, and are in that faith.

681. And it became blood as of one dead, and every living soul died in the sea, signifies infernal falsity with them, by which every truth of the Word, and thence of the church, and of faith, is extinguished. By “blood as of one dead,” or by gore and matter, is signified infernal falsity; for by “blood” is signified the Divine truth, and, in the opposite sense, the same falsified, (379[1-7], but by “blood as of one dead,” is signified infernal falsity, for by “death” is signified the extinction of spiritual life, and thence by “dead” is signified what is infernal, (321, 525). By “every living soul died,” is signified that every truth of the Word, of the church, and of faith was extinguished, for by “living soul” is signified the truth of faith, and by “the living soul died,” is signified the extinction of the truth of faith. By “soul” in the Word, when spoken of man, is signified his spiritual life, which also is the life of his understanding, and as the understanding is the understanding from truths, and truths are of faith, therefore by “soul” is signified the truth of faith. That this is the signification of “soul” may appear from many passages in the Word, and also from those where soul and heart are spoken of. That by “soul and heart” is meant the life of man, is evident, but his life is from the will and the understanding, or spiritually speaking, from love and wisdom, then from charity and faith; and the life of the will from the good of love, or of charity, is meant by “the heart,” and the life of the understanding from the truths of wisdom or of faith, is meant by “the soul.” This is what is meant by “soul and heart” in Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33; Luke 10:27; Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41, and in other places. It is the same in those passages where “the heart” is mentioned by itself, and “the soul” by itself. That the reason of their being named is from the correspondence of the heart with the will and love, and of the respiration of the lungs with the understanding and wisdom, may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, chapter 5 (Divine Love and Wisdom 371-431), where that correspondence is treated of.

683.⁶⁰ Verse 4. (Revelation 16:4) And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, signifies influx into their understanding of the Word. By “the third angel pouring out his vial,” in like manner as by the former, is signified influx from the Lord from truths and goods, here into the understanding of the Word with them; for by “rivers” are signified truths in abundance, serving the rational man, thus the understanding, for doctrine and life, (409); and by “a fountain of waters” is signified the Lord as to the Word, thus the Word of the Lord, and therefore by “fountains of waters” are signified Divine truths thence, (384, 409).

684. And they became blood, signifies the truths of the Word falsified. That by “blood,” in the good sense, is signified the Divine truth, and in the opposite sense, the Divine truth falsified, see above, (379[1-7]); the reason why Divine truth falsified and profaned is signified by “blood,” is because the Jews shed the Lord’s blood, who was the Divine truth itself, or the Word, and this they did because they had falsified and profaned all the truths of the Word. That the Lord suffered as the Word, or that the Jewish nation did the same violence to the Lord as they had done to the Word, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem respecting the Lord 15-17. The reason why they who are in faith alone falsify all the truths of the Word, is because the whole Word treats of life according to the commandments therein, and of the Lord that He is Jehovah and the only God, and they who are in faith alone, do not think of life according to the commandments in the Word, nor do they approach the Lord.

685. Verse 5. And I heard the angel of the waters saying signifies the Divine truth of the Word. By “the angel of the waters” nothing else is signified but the Divine truth of the Word, because “waters” signify truths, (50), and “an angel” signifies what is Divine from the Lord, (415, 631, 633), and also truth from Him, (170).

686. Thou art just, O Lord, Who art, and Who wast, and art holy, because Thou hast judged these things, signifies that this is of the Divine Providence of the Lord, Who is and Who was the Word, and the Divine truth itself, which otherwise would be profaned. “Thou art just, O Lord, because thou hast judged these things,” signifies that this is of the Lord’s Divine Providence, as will be seen presently. “Who art, and Who wast,” signifies the Lord as to the Word, that He is and was the Word, according to John 1:1-2, 14. The reason why the Lord is here meant by the Word, is, because it now treats of the understanding of the Word with those who are of the church. What is further signified by “Is and Was,” “the Beginning and the End,” “the First and the Last,” “the Alpha and the Omega,” when applied to the Lord, may be seen above, (13, 29-31, 38, 57). By “holy” is signified that He is the Divine truth itself, (173, 586, 666). From these things it is evident that by “Thou art just, O Lord, Who art, and Who wast, and art holy, because Thou hast judged these things,” is signified that this is of the Divine Providence of the Lord, Who is and was the Word and Divine truth itself.

[2] The reason why it is of the Lord’s Divine Providence that they who are in faith alone should falsify the truths of the Word, is because if they knew them, so as to think of them interiorly, they would profane them; for they are in evils, because they do not shun evils as sins, nor approach the Lord immediately. Wherefore if they were to receive the genuine truths of the Word, they would mix them with the evils of their life; and the result of this would be the profanation of what is holy. It is therefore one of the laws of permission, which are also laws of the Divine Providence, that they should from themselves falsify truths, and this in proportion as they are in evils of life. That it is of the Divine Providence, that they who are in evils of life should never be otherwise than in falsities of doctrine, lest the Divine truths of the Word should be profaned, may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (221-233, and 257).

687. Verse 6. Because they have poured out the blood of saints and prophets, signifies, this by reason that the single tenet, that faith alone saves without the works of the law, when received, perverts all true doctrinals from the Word. By “pouring out blood” is signified here, as above, (684), to falsify the truths of the Word, thus to pervert them. By “saints” are signified they who are in truths in the church, thus also abstractly, the truths of the church, (586). By “prophets” are signified they who are in doctrinals from the Word, thus also abstractly doctrinals from the Word, (133).

688. And thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy, signifies that they who have confirmed themselves in faith alone both in doctrine and in life, have been permitted from the Divine Providence of the Lord to falsify the truths of the Word, and to imbue their lives with such falsifications. By “drinking blood” is signified not only to falsify the truths of the Word, but also to imbue their life with such falsifications; for he who drinks appropriates to himself and imbues. It is said, “because they are worthy,” by reason that they who receive faith alone, and live according to it, are in evils as to life, and evil operates that in them; and of those who are in evils, it is here said, that “they are worthy,” as it is said in the world of those who are punished for evil doing. Concerning the Divine Providence in relation to this subject, see above, (686).

689. Verse 7 (Revelation 16:7). And I heard another out of the altar saying, Lord God Almighty; true and just are Thy judgments, signifies the Divine good of the Word confirming that Divine truth. By “another” (namely an angel), is signified the Divine good of the Word; by “an angel” is signified the Divine from the Lord, (415, 631, 633); and by an angel out of the altar is signified the Divine good of love, (648); here, the Divine good of the Word, because the Word still continues to be treated of, and because by “the angel of the waters” is signified the Divine truth of the Word, (685). Now, since the Divine good of the Word and the Divine truth of the Word make one, therefore the signification of what was spoken by the angel of the waters is similar to that which was spoken by the angel out of the altar; for the angel of the waters said, “Thou art just, O Lord, Who art, and Who wast, and art holy, because Thou hast judged these things;” but the angel out of the altar said, “Yea, Lord God Almighty; true and just are Thy judgments.” Both these expressions have a similar signification, but with this difference, that one spoke from truth, and the other from good, and one confirmed what the other spoke, but by different words; one by words which belong to the class of truth, and the other by words which belong to the class of good; for there is a marriage of truth and good in every particular of the Word, (97), and there are words which relate to good, and words which relate to truth, which seem different, but nevertheless involve things which are similar.

690. Verse 8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, signifies influx into their love. By “pouring out his vial” is signified here, as before, influx from goods and truths, here into their love; for by “the sun” is signified the Divine love of the Lord, and, in the opposite sense, self-love, (53, 382, 414), here self-love, because it follows, that men were scorched with fire, and burned with great heat, by which are signified the concupiscences of that love.

691. And it was given unto him to scorch men with fire, signifies that love to the Lord tormented them, because they were in the lusts of evils from the delight of the loves of them. Since by “pouring out his vial” is signified influx from the Lord from goods and truths, therefore by “pouring his vial upon the sun” is signified influx from the Lord from the Divine love, in order to disclose the quality of the love with the men of that church. Hence, by “it was given to the angel to scorch men with fire,” is signified that the Divine love of the Lord tormented them, and because the Divine love of the Lord does not torment any but those who are in the lusts of evils from the delight of self-love, it thence follows, that by “it was given unto him to scorch men with fire,” is signified that love to the Lord tormented them, because they were in the lusts of evils from the delight of self-love. That “heat” signifies lusts for evils and thence for falsities may be seen above, (382); and that “fire” signifies the Divine love, and, in the opposite sense, infernal love, (494). That self-love is infernal love, and that its delight is infernal delight, and that the delight of that love exists from and consists of innumerable lusts of evils, is shown in many places in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, and also in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom. That this is the case is not known in the Christian world, because it is not known what love to the Lord is, and this love will teach the nature of self-love.

692. Verse 9. (Revelation 16:9) And men were scorched with great heat and they blasphemed the name of God, who hath authority over these plagues, signifies that by reason of the delight of self-love originating in grievous lusts of evils, they did not acknowledge the Divinity of the Lord’s Human, from which nevertheless flows all the good of love and the truth of faith. By “heat” the lust of evils are signified, which are contained in self-love and its delight, (382, 691), therefore by “burning with great heat,” is signified to be in grievous lust, and so in the delight of love. By “blaspheming the name of God,” is signified to deny or not to acknowledge the Divinity of the Lord’s Human, nor the sanctity of the Word, (517, 582). “To blaspheme” is to deny or not to acknowledge, and “the name of God” is the Lord’s Divine Human, and at the same time the Word, (584). By “having authority over the plagues,” is signified that from Him flows every good of love and truth of faith, by which evils and falsities are removed, (673, 680, 690), and because the seven angels having the seven plagues went out from the tabernacle of the testimony, (Rev 15:5-6), and by “the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony” is signified the inmost of heaven, where the Lord is in His holiness in the Word and in the Law, which is the Decalogue, (669), and thence was the influx, which is signified by “pouring out the plagues” (676), it is evident, that by “God having authority over the plagues” is meant the Lord from whom the influx is.

[2] The nature of self-love shall be explained in a few words; the delight of it exceeds every delight in the world, for it is composed of mere lusts of evils, and each lust breathes out its delight. Every man is born into this delight, and as it compels the mind of man to think constantly of himself, it withholds it from thinking of God and of the neighbor, except from himself and concerning himself. Wherefore if God does not favor his lusts, he is angry with God, just as he is angry with the neighbor who does not favor them. This delight, when it increases, renders man unable to think above self, but under self, for it immerses his mind in the proprium of his body; thence the man becomes successively sensual, and a sensual man speaks in a high and lofty tone about worldly and civil affairs, but of God and Divine things he can only speak from the memory. If he is a person engaged in civil affairs, he acknowledges nature as the creator, and his own prudence as the governor, and he denies a God. If he is a priest, he speaks of God and of Divine things from the memory, yet in a high and lofty tone, but in his heart he has little belief in them.

693. And they repented not to give Him glory, signifies that therefore they cannot receive with any faith, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth even as to the Human, although the Word teaches it. “Not to repent,” signifies not to depart from evils, but to abide in them; and “not giving Him glory,” signifies not to receive in faith that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, for this is to give Him the glory. That the Lord is the God of heaven and earth He Himself teaches openly in Matthew 28:18; John 16:3; 17:2-3; as also that the Father and He are one,John 10:30; 12:45; 14:6-11; 16:15, and in other places; and moreover, the doctrine of the church teaches, that the Divine and the Human are one Person, united like soul and body.

694. Verse 10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast, signifies influx from the Lord into their faith. By “the angel poured out his vial” is signified here, as before, influx; and by “the throne of the beast” is signified where faith alone reigns; by “a throne” is signified a kingdom, and by “the beast” faith alone, (567, 576-577, 594, 601, 660). That “a throne” is also mentioned in relation to the government of evil and falsity, appears from the following passages:

The dragon gave the beast his power and his throne, and great authority, (Revelation 13:2).

I know thy works, and where thou dwellest, where Satan’s throne is, (Revelation 2:13).

I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the Ancient of Days did sit, (Daniel 7:9).

And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and the strength of the kingdoms of the nations, (Haggai 2:22).

Lucifer hath said, I will exalt my throne above the stars, (Isaiah 14:13, and in other places).

695. And His kingdom became dark, signifies that nothing but falsities appeared. By “darkness” falsities are signified, because “light” signifies truth; that “darkness” signifies falsities, by which are evils, and “thick darkness,” falsities from evils, see above, (413). Therefore by “the kingdom of the beast became dark” is signified that nothing but falsities appeared. That they who have confirmed faith separated from charity, falsify the whole Word, may be seen above, (136, 610[1-2]); that they are not in any truths, (489[1-2], 501, 653), but in mere falsities, (563, 597, 602). But the falsities of their faith do not indeed appear before themselves as darkness, that is, as falsities, but they appear to them as if they were lucid, that is, as truths, after they have confirmed them; but nevertheless while they are viewed from the light of heaven, which discloses all things, they appear as darkness. For which reason, when the light of heaven flows into their dens in hell, the darkness is such that they cannot see one another; on which account every hell is closed so as not to leave a crevice open, and then they are in their own light [lumen]. The reason why they do not appear to themselves to be in darkness but in light, although they are in falsities, is because their falsities, after confirmation, appear to them as truths, hence comes their light; but it is the light of infatuation, such as is the light of the confirmation of what is false. This light corresponds to that to which owls and bats owe their sight, to which darkness is light and light darkness, yea, to which the sun itself is thick darkness. Such eyes do they have after death, who in the world confirmed themselves in falsities to such a degree as to see falsity as truth and truth as falsity.

696. And they gnawed their tongues for distress, signifies that they could not endure truths. By distress is not meant distress from falsities, for these do not give them any distress, but distress from truths is meant, thus that they could not endure them. By “gnawing⁶¹ their tongues” is signified that they would not hear truths, “the tongue” signifying the confession of truth, because the tongue serves the thought for speech, and spiritually for confession; “to gnaw the tongue” signifies to detain the thought from hearing truths. That this is the signification of “gnawing the tongue” cannot be confirmed from the Word, by reason that the expression does not occur anywhere else, but it has been granted me to know this from experience in the spiritual world, where, if anyone speaks the truths of faith, those spirits who cannot bear to hear truths keep their tongues between their teeth, and also bite their lips, and induce others likewise to press their tongues and lips with their teeth, and this to such a degree as to produce distress. From these considerations it is evident, that by “gnawing their tongues for distress,” is signified that they could not endure truths. That the tongue, as the organ of speech, signifies thought and confession, and also the doctrine of truth, see above, (282).

697. Verse 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven, because of their distresses and their sores, signifies that they could not acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth by reason of repugnances arising from the interior falsities and evils, that spring from the acknowledgment and reception of the dogma concerning faith alone. “To blaspheme the God of heaven,” signifies to deny or not to acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, (571, 582); by “distresses” is signified the distresses of acknowledging it, as above, (696), thus repugnances arising from interior falsities, for what is repugnant is a distress. Distress is predicated of falsities; by “sores” are signified interior evils, as above, (678); and as interior evils and falsities spring from the acknowledgment and reception of the dogma concerning faith alone, therefore this also is signified.

698. And they repented not of their works, signifies that although instructed from the Word, still they would not recede from the falsities of faith and the evils of life thence. “Not to repent” signifies not to recede from, as above, (693), and by “works” are here signified the falsities of faith, and evils of life thence, as above, (641). According to the sense of the letter, neither distresses, nor sores could compel them to repent of their falsities and evils, but it is according to the spiritual sense, that instruction from the Word could not drive them from their falsities and evils, because these are infernal. Hence it appears, that by “They repented not of their works,” is signified, that although instructed from the Word, yet they would not recede from their falsities of faith and the evils of life thence. It is said that “works” here signify the falsities of faith and evils of life thence; and it is so said because falsity of faith precedes, and the evil of life follows. For it is a falsity of faith, that evil does not condemn him who is in faith, thence man lives securely not thinking about any evil, and thus never repents, or does the work of repentance. In like manner, if he persuades himself that works contribute nothing to salvation, but faith alone without them.

699. Verse 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, signifies influx from the Lord into their interior reasonings, whereby they confirm themselves in justification by faith alone. By “the sixth angel pouring out his vial,” is here signified, as before, influx. By “the great river Euphrates” interior reasonings are signified, as above, (444, 445); here the interior reasonings of that church, whereby they confirm justification by faith alone, these reasonings being treated of in what now follows.

700. And the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared, signifies that the falsities of those reasonings were removed with those who are in truths from good from the Lord, and are to be introduced into the New Church. By “the water was dried up,” is signified that the falsities of their interior reasonings were removed; by “being dried up” is signified that they were removed, and by “water” is signified truths, and, in the opposite sense, falsities, (50, 614); here the falsities of interior reasonings, because it was the water of the river Euphrates, by which river such reasonings are signified, (699). By “the kings” for whom a way was to be prepared, are signified they who are in truths derived from good from the Lord, (20, 483). By “the rising of the sun” is signified the beginning of the New Church from the Lord, the same as by “morning” (151[1-3]). By “preparing the way” is signified to prepare for introduction. From these things it is evident, that by “the water was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared,” is signified that the falsities of their interior reasonings were removed with those who are in truths from good from the Lord, and are to be introduced into the New Church.

[2] This is the series of the subjects under consideration: It treats here of the consummation or end of the present church, and of the establishment or beginning of the New Church, and of contentions. They of the present church who are in faith alone, are meant by “the dragon,” “the beast” and “the false prophet,” of which mention is made below. And his contentions with those who will be of the New Church, are meant by “the gathering together of the kings of the earth to battle;” but they who will be of the New Church, with whom they will contend, are meant by those for whom “the water of the river Euphrates was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun.” This involves something similar to the introduction of the sons of Israel into the land of Canaan, with this difference, that for the former the river Jordan was dried up, but for the latter the river Euphrates. The reason why the river Euphrates was dried up for the latter, is, because, here they contend by interior reasonings, which are to be dried up, that is, removed, before introduction can be effected; which also is the cause why their interior reasonings are disclosed in this work; and unless they were disclosed a man unacquainted with them, though intelligent, might easily be seduced.

701. Verse 13. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, signifies the perception that from the theology founded on the doctrine of a Trinity of Persons in the Divinity, and on the doctrine of justification by faith alone without the works of the law. By “the mouth” is signified doctrine, and thence preaching and discourse, (463, 574[1-3] “the dragon” is signified the acknowledgment of three Gods, and of justification by faith alone, and thence the devastation of the church, (537). By “the beast out of the sea,” which is here meant, the men of the external church are signified, who are in that acknowledgment and faith, (567, 576, 577, 601). By “the false prophet” are signified the men of the internal church, who teach theology from those doctrines; the false prophet is not mentioned before, but “the beast out of the earth” which is now so called, see above, (594). Now as all these things are signified by “the dragon,” “the beast out of the sea,” and “the false prophet,” which here is “the beast out of the earth,” it follows that by “I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet,” is signified a perception that is from the theology founded on the doctrine of the Trinity of Persons in the Divinity, and on the doctrine of justification by faith alone without the works of the law.

702. Three unclean spirits like frogs, signifies there arise mere reasonings and cupidities of falsifying truths. By “spirits” the same is here signified as by demons, because it is presently said that they were “spirits of demons,” and by “demons,” are signified the lusts of falsifying truths, (458). By “three” are signified all, (400, 505), here therefore mere; by “frogs” are signified reasonings from lusts, because they croak, and have itching desires; hence it is plain, that by “the three unclean spirits like frogs,” are signified mere reasonings and lusts of falsifying truths. “Frogs” here have a like signification with “the frogs of Egypt,” because the devastation of the church with the Egyptians is in like manner described by the miracles performed, concerning which it is thus written in Moses:

Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt, and the frogs came up, and covered the land, and afterwards the frogs were removed, and remained in the river only, (Exodus 8:5-14; Psalms 78:45; 105:30).

The reason why frogs were produced from the waters of Egypt, and remained in the river, was, because the waters in Egypt, and especially the waters of its rivers, signified the falsities of doctrine from which they reasoned.

703. Verse 14. For they are the spirits of demons, signifies that they were cupidities of falsifying truths, and of reasoning from falsities. That by “demons” are signified the cupidities of falsifying truths, see above, (458), and as they were “like frogs,” they were also the cupidities of reasoning from falsities, as above, (702).

704. Doing signs to go away unto the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, signifies attestations that their falsities are truths, and the stirring up of all in the whole of that church who are in the same falsities, to impugn the truths of the New Church. That “to do signs” is to testify and also to make attestation that a thing is true, see above, (598, 599), here that their falsities are truths. By “the kings of the earth and of the whole world,” are signified they who are principally in falsities from evil, here all who are in the same falsities in the whole church; for by “kings” are signified they who are in truths from good, and, in the opposite sense, they who are in falsities from evil, (483). By “the earth” is signified the church, (285); in like manner, by “the world” (551). By “going away to gather them together to battle,” is signified to incite them to combat or to attack; for by “war” is signified spiritual war, which is of falsity against truth, and of truth against falsity, (500, 586).

The reason why it means to attack the truths of the New Church is because it is called “the great day of God Almighty,” and by that day the coming of the Lord is signified, and then the New Church; that this is the signification of “the great day” will be seen presently. It is said that “the spirits of demons” would do this, because they signify the cupidities of falsifying truths, and of reasonings from falsities, as above, (703). From these things it is evident, that by “spirits of demons doing signs to go away unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty,” are signified attestations by those who are meant by “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” as above, (701, 702), that their falsities are truths, and the stirring up of all those in the whole church, who are in the same falsities, to attack the truths of the New Church.

[2] That “the great day of God Almighty” signifies the coming of the Lord, and then the New Church, is evident from many passages in the Word, as from these:

In that day Jehovah alone shall be exalted, (Isaiah 2:11).

In that day Israel shall stay upon Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth, (Isaiah 10:20).

In that day shall the nations seek the Root of Jesse, and His rest shall be glory, (Isaiah 11:10).

In that day shall the eyes have respect unto the Holy One of Israel, (Isaiah 17:7, 9).

In that day shall they say, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him; that He should save us, (Isaiah 25:9).

My people shall know My name, and in that day they shall know that I am He that doth speak, behold, it is I, (Isaiah 52:6).

Alas, the great day of Jehovah, and there shall not be like it, (Jeremiah 30:7).

Behold, the days come in which I will make a new covenant, and in which the city of Jehovah shall be built, (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 38).

In those days I will make a just Branch to grow up unto David, (Jeremiah 33:15).

They shall not stand in the battle of the day of Jehovah, (Ezekiel 13:5).

In that day shall Michael the great prince rise up, who standeth for the sons of his people. In that day shall everyone who is found written in the book be delivered, (Daniel 12:1).

In that day thou shalt call me, My husband. In that day I will make a covenant with them. In that day I will hear, (Hosea 2:16, 18, 21).

Behold, I send Elijah before the great day of Jehovah cometh, (Malachi 4:5).

In that day Jehovah shall save his people as a flock, (Zechariah 9:16).

In that day shall Jehovah protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, (Zechariah 12:8).

Behold, the day of Jehovah cometh. One day which shall be known to Jehovah. In that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His name one. In that day shall there be a great tumult. In that day there shall be upon the bells of the horses, Holiness to Jehovah Zechariah 14:(1, 4) 6-9, 13, 20-21).

Besides these places there are many more, in which the Lord’s coming and the New Church from Him at that time are meant by “the day of Jehovah;” as in these: Isaiah 4:2; 19:16, 18, 21, 24; 20:6; 22:20; 25:9; 28:5; 29:18; 30:25-26; 31:7; Jeremiah 3:16-18; 23:5-7, 12, 20; 50:4, 20, 27; Ezekiel 24:26-27; 29:21; 34:11-12; 36:33; Hosea 3:5; 6:1-2; Joel 2:29; 3:1, 14, 18; Obadiah 1:15; Amos 9:11, 13; Micah 4:6; Habakkuk 3:2; Zephaniah 3:11, 16, 19-20; Zechariah 2:11; Psalms 72:7-8. And that day is called “the day of Jehovah” (Joel 1:15; 2:1-2, 11; Amos 5:13, 18, 20; Zephaniah 1:7, 14; 2:2-3; Zechariah 14:1 and elsewhere). Since the consummation of the age, that is, the end of the old church, takes place when the coming of the Lord, and the commencement of the New Church exists, therefore by “the day of Jehovah,” in many passages, is also signified the end of the former church, and it is said that then there will be rumors, tumults, and wars, which passages are adduced in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord 4, 5.

705. Verse 15. Behold, I come as a thief; happy is he that is awake and keepeth his garments, signifies the Lord’s coming, and then heaven to those who look to Him, and remain in a life according to His commandments, which are truths of the Word. That “to come as a thief,” when said of the Lord, signifies His advent, and then those will have heaven who have lived well, and those who have lived wickedly will have hell, see above, (164). That he is called “happy” who receives eternal life, (639). “To watch” signifies to live spiritually, that is, to be in truths and in a life according to them, and to look to the Lord, (158); and “to keep his garments” signifies to remain therein even to the end of life; for “garments” signify investing truths, (166, 212, 328), thus the Lord’s commandments in the Word, for these are truths. Now these things follow in their order from what precedes; for what precedes relates to the Lord’s advent, and to the New Church; as also to the opposition it will meet with from those who are of the Old Church; and inasmuch as combat is at hand, they who are in truths from the Word are admonished to remain in them, lest they succumb in battle, spoken of in the next verse.

706. Lest he walk naked and they see his shame, signifies, lest they should be with those who are in no truths, and their infernal loves should appear. “To walk naked,” signifies to live without truths. “The shame of nakedness,” or the secret parts, signifies unclean loves, which are infernal loves; and inasmuch as it is said, “lest they see his shame,” it signifies lest they should appear. That by “nakedness” is signified ignorance of truth, and by “shame of nakedness” infernal love, see above, (213[1-4]). These things are said for those who will be of the Lord’s New Church, that they may learn truths and remain in them, for without truths their connate evils, which are infernal loves, cannot be removed. A man may, indeed, live like a Christian without truths, but this only before men, but not before angels. The truths which they should learn relate to the Lord, and to the commandments according to which they should live.

707. Verse 16. And he gathered them together into the place called in Hebrew Armageddon, signifies a state of combat of falsities against truths, and a desire to destroy the New Church, springing from the love of dominion and preeminence. “To gather together into a place,” here to battle, signifies to excite to combat from falsities against truths. It is the state of combat, because “place” signifies the state of a thing. That it is from the purpose of destroying the New Church, is because combat between the Old Church and the New is meant, and the purpose of the combat is to destroy. What is signified by “Armageddon” will be told below. It has been said before, that:

The dragon went away to make war with the rest of the seed of the woman, that keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 12:17);

Also that:

It was given to the beast out of the sea to make war with the saints, (Revelation 13:7).

And in this chapter that:

The spirits of demons that went out of the mouth of the dragon, of the beast, and of the false prophet, went away to the kings of the earth, to gather them together to the war of that great day of God Almighty, (Revelation 16:13-14).

Here the battle itself is now treated of, the success of which is not described, but only its state, which is signified by “Armageddon.”

[2] By “Armageddon” is signified in heaven the love of honor, of dominion, and of supereminence; and also in the Hebrew language by Aram or Arom loftiness is signified, and love from loftiness is by “Megiddo” in the ancient Hebrew language, as is manifest from its signification in the Arabic language. The same is signified by “Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddo” in Zechariah 12:11. In that chapter the coming of the Lord is also treated of, and the end of the Jewish Church at that time, and the beginning of a New Church to be established by the Lord, and also the collision between those churches; on which account the expression “in that day” so often occurs in that chapter; and by “that day” is signified the Coming of the Lord, as above, (704). That it may be seen, I will adduce the passages:

In that day I will make Jerusalem a stone of burden unto all peoples. In that day I will smite every horse with astonishment and his rider with madness. In that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a furnace of fire in wood. In that day Jehovah will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, that those driven out may be among them. In that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem, (Zechariah 12:3-4, 6, 8-9).

And lastly:

In that day there shall be a wailing in Jerusalem like the wailing in Hadradrimmon in the valley of Megiddo, (Zechariah 12:11).

And in the following chapter:

In that day a fountain shall be opened to the house of David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. In that day the prophets shall be ashamed, and shall put on a garment of hair, that they may deceive, (Zechariah 13:1, 4).

[3] By “that day” is signified the coming of the Lord and then the end of the Old Church and the beginning of a New Church, as was said above. But what is signified there by “the valley of Megiddo” cannot be seen, unless the series of things in that chapter and the two following in that prophet be disclosed by means of the spiritual sense; which, as it has been disclosed to me, shall be explained, but in a brief summary. In the twelfth chapter of Zechariah it is described in the spiritual sense:

That the Lord is about to form a New Church, (Zechariah 12:1).

That there will then be nothing of doctrine in the Old Church, and that therefore they will flee from it, (Zechariah 12:2-3.

That there will no longer be any understanding of truth, only with those who are in the Word, and who are of the New Church, (Zechariah 12:4).

That these will learn the good of doctrine from the Lord, (Zechariah 12:5).

That the Lord will then destroy all falsities by the truths of the Word, lest the doctrine of the New Church should teach anything else but the truth, (Zechariah 12:6-7).

That the church will then be in doctrine concerning the Lord, (Zechariah 12:8).

That He will destroy all and all things that are contrary to that doctrine, (Zechariah 12:9);

And that then there will be a New Church from the Lord, (Zechariah 12:10).

And that then each and everything of the church will be in mourning, (Zechariah 12:10-14).

These are the contents of chapter 12 in the spiritual sense.

[4] The contents of chapter 13 are these:

That the Word will be for the New Church, and will be opened to them, (Zechariah 13:1).

That falsities of doctrine and worship will be altogether destroyed, (Zechariah 13:2-3).

That the old prophetic or doctrinal teaching is to cease, and that there will no longer be falsities of doctrine, (Zechariah 13:4-5).

That the Lord will be slain by those who are in the Old church, from their intention to disperse them that believe in Him, (Zechariah 13:6-7).

That they who are of the vastated church will perish, and that those who are of the New Church are to be purified and taught by the Lord, (Zechariah 13:8-9).

These are the contents of chapter 13 in the spiritual sense.

[5] The contents of chapter 14 are these:

The Lord’s combats against the evil, and their dispersion, (Zechariah 14:1-5).

That then there will be no truth, but there will be Divine truth from the Lord, (Zechariah 14:6-7).

That the Divine truth will proceed from the Lord, (Zechariah 14:8-9).

That truth will be multiplied in the New Church, nor will there be any falsity of evil there, (Zechariah 14:10-11).

That he who combats against those truths, will give himself up to falsities of every kind, (Zechariah 14:12).

That then will be the destruction of all things of the church, (Zechariah 14:13-15).

That they will then approach to the worship of the Lord, even from the Gentiles who are external natural, (Zechariah 14:16-19).

And that then there will be intelligence from the good of charity, from which will be their worship, (Zechariah 14:20-21).

These are the contents of the three chapters, 12-14 of Zechariah, in the spiritual sense, disclosed because in them also the last state of the Old Church and the first state of the New Church are treated of. And as it is said that “they are to be gathered together into a place called in Hebrew Armageddon,” it is evident that the same things were said in this prophet concerning the last state of the church of this day and the first state of the New Church. By “Armageddon” is signified, as was said, the love of honor, of dominion, and of supereminence; for from that is the combat, and from that and on account of it is lamentation which is described there, (Zechariah 12:11-14). The like is also signified by “Megiddo” (2 Kings 23:29-30; 2 Chronicles 35:20-24); but in the spiritual sense.

708. Verse 17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, signifies influx from the Lord into all things collectively with the men of the church of the Reformed. By “the seventh angel pouring out his vial” is here signified influx as before. By “the air” is signified all the things of perception and thought, thus of their faith; thence also the general quality of all those there, who are in faith separate from charity: for by “the air” their respiration is signified; and respiration corresponds to the understanding, and thus to perception and thought, and also to faith; because faith is of thought according to the perception of the understanding. That there is this correspondence, and that everyone in the spiritual world breathes according to his faith, as been fully shown in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, in chapter 5 371-431.

709. And there went forth a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne, saying, It is done, signifies that it was thus made manifest by the Lord, that all the things of the church were devastated, and that the Last Judgment was now at hand. By “a great voice going forth out of the temple of heaven” is signified a manifestation from the Lord out of the inmost of heaven; by “a great voice” is signified manifestation; and by “the temple of heaven” the inmost of heaven is signified, from which the influx is, (669). It is said “out of the throne,” because heaven is signified by “the throne,” and likewise judgment; that it signifies heaven, see 221, 222; and judgment, 229: and this because it is now made manifest that all things of the church were devastated, and thus that its end has come; and at the end of a church a judgment is executed: wherefore this is said when the last angel “poured out his vial from the temple of heaven from the throne.” By “It is done” is signified that it is consummated; that is, that all things of the church are devastated; see above, (676).

710. Verse 18. And there were voices and lightnings and thunders, signifies reasonings, falsifications of truth, and arguments from the falsities of evil in the church among those who are in faith alone, and refuse to reflect upon the evils in themselves, since they do not wish to recede from them if they know them. That by “voices,” “lightings,” and “thunders” are signified reasonings, falsifications of truths, and arguments from falsities, may be evident from what is said above, (396, 530), and from similar things there. That they who are in faith separate from the works of the Law, and thence in evils of life, refuse to reflect upon the evils in themselves, because they do not wish to recede from them if they know them, is manifest without explanation. Experience teaches this; for evils are delights because they are loves and no one wishes to recede from delights unless he looks to the life after death, and first to hell to see what it is, and afterwards to heaven, what that is, and thinks of them aside from any evil act. If he then looks to the Lord also, and thinks, “What is the temporal in comparison with the eternal? Is it not as nothing?” He can then reflect upon his evils, and wish to know them, and to recede from them. But if he had confirmed himself in faith alone, he will then say in his heart, Our theological faith, that God the Father has mercy for the sake of the Son who suffered for our sins, if I supplicate this with some confidence, it effects all things; he then does not reflect upon any evil in himself; he also says with himself from that faith, that evil does not condemn, and that salvation is pure mercy, besides other similar things: he thus remains in his evils, and delights himself in them even to the end of life. Such are the reasonings, the falsifications of truth, and the arguments from the falsities of evil, which are here signified by “the voices, the lightnings, and the thunders.”

711. And there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, such an earthquake, so great, signifies as it were shakings, convulsions, overturnings, and the drawing down from heaven, of all the things of the church. That by “an earthquake” changes in the state of the church are signified, may be seen above, (331): and as earthquakes are lighter and more severe, here the most severe, because it is said that such an earthquake had not occurred since men were made, it is manifest that by “the earthquake” here are signified the shakings, convulsions, and overturnings of all things in the church, and the drawing of them down from heaven. It is also said of the dragon, who is called the old serpent, the Devil, and Satan, that:

His tail drew down from heaven the third part of the stars, and cast them unto the earth, (Revelation 12:4).

In like manner of the he-goat, (Daniel 8:10-12). The Lord also says of the end of this church:

There shall then be great affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the world to this time, nor ever shall be, (Matthew 24:21).

The end of the church is also described in the prophets by the shakings, overthrowings, and castings down, of the earth, and by other things which relate to earthquakes.

712. Verse 19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, signifies that that Church as to doctrine was altogether destroyed by them, and likewise all the heresies which have emanated from it. That the doctrine of the church is signified by “a city,” or what is the same, the church as to doctrine, may be seen above, (194[1-4], 501, 502): hence by “the cities of the nations” are signified the heretical doctrines or heresies which have emanated from it, which are many. By “being divided into three parts” is signified to be altogether destroyed; for by “being divided” in the Word is signified to be dissipated, because in that case they do not cohere, and by “three” is signified all and the whole, (400, 505); hence by “being divided into three parts” is signified to be altogether destroyed. By “falling,” which is said of the cities of the nations, is also signified to be destroyed. It is said that “the city was divided into three parts,” and that “the cities of the nations fell,” because an earthquake was mentioned just before, in which such effects have place. By “the great city” is meant the great city spoken of above (chapter 11:8), which is there called “Sodom and Egypt,” as may be seen above, (501-504). The reason why “a city” signifies doctrine, and thence “cities” signify doctrinals, is, because by “land,” and particularly by “the land of Canaan,” is signified the church; and since the church is a church from doctrine and according to it, therefore by “cities” are signified doctrinals. These were also taught in cities, because in them were synagogues, and in Jerusalem was the temple; hence it is that by Jerusalem is signified the church as to doctrine in a universal sense.

713. And great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the wrath of His anger, signifies then the destruction also of the dogmas of the Roman Catholic religion. By “Babylon” as a city, as here, is signified that religious persuasion as to its dogmas and doctrinals, (631). By “giving her the cup of wine of the wrath of the anger of God,” is signified to devastate until there is nothing but evil and falsity; that this is meant by “the cup of the wine of the wrath of the anger of God,” see above, (631, 632).

714. Verse 20. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, signifies that there was no longer any truth of faith nor any good of love.⁶²

714b. Verse 21. And great hail as of the weight of a talent cometh down from heaven upon men, signifies direful and atrocious falsities, by which every truth of the Word, and thence of the church, is destroyed. That “hail” signifies falsity destroying truth and good, may be seen above, (399); and because it is said “great hail as of the weight of a talent,” is signified direful and atrocious falsities, by which every truth and good of the Word and thence of the church is destroyed. The reason why it is said “of the weight of a talent” is because a talent was the largest weight of silver and also of gold; and by “silver” is signified truth, and by “gold” good, and in the opposite sense falsity and evil, (211). Its being said that “the hail cometh down from heaven upon men,” is according to the appearances from which and from correspondences is the literal sense of the Word. This is similar to what was said before of “the plagues,” that “they were poured out from heaven upon men by angels” when yet they are truths and goods sent down by the Lord, which among those who are below, are turned into falsities and evils, (673). In the spiritual world also, among those who are engaged in reasonings from falsities against the truths of the Word, hail sometimes appears to come down, and upon others sulphur and fire, and because these appear in the atmosphere above them, and come as it were from heaven, therefore from that appearance it is said that such hail came down from heaven.

715. And men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great signifies that because they had confirmed themselves in such falsities, they have denied truths to that degree as not to be able to acknowledge them, by reason of the repugnances arising from their interior falsities and evils. “To blaspheme” God signifies to deny and not to acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, (571, 582, 697) and in like manner the truth of the Word; “for the plague thereof was exceeding great,” signifies by reason of those direful and atrocious falsities from the confirmed dogma of justification by faith alone, (714). The reason why they cannot acknowledge truths on account of those falsities, is, because the confirmation of falsity is the denial of truth. It appears as if it was meant that “the plague of hail” was so great, that from torment or pain they blasphemed God when it fell upon them; but this is not meant, but that they could not acknowledge truths on account of falsities; in like manner as before in this chapter, where it is said that they blasphemed the name of God “on account of the heat” (verse 9); and that “they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their distresses and sores” (verse 11); the explanation of which may be seen, (692, 697).

716. To the above I will add this Relation. In the spiritual world I spoke with some English bishops concerning the small works published there at London in the year 1758, which were Concerning Heaven and Hell, Concerning the New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, Concerning the Last Judgment, Concerning the White Horse and Concerning the Earths in the Universe; which small works were sent as a gift to all the bishops, and to many of the nobles or lords. They said that they received them, and saw them, but did not think them worthy, although skillfully written; and likewise that they persuaded as many as they could not to read them. I asked, “Why so, when yet there are there arcana concerning heaven and hell, and concerning the life after death, and more things most worthy of attention, which have been revealed by the Lord for those who will be of His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem?” But they said, “What is this to us?” and they poured out vituperations against them as formerly in the world. I heard them. And then these things were read before them from Revelation:

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water of it was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared; and I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons doing signs to go away unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them together unto the battle of that great day of God Almighty; and He gathered them together unto the place called in Hebrew Armageddon, (Revelation 16:12-16).

This was explained before them; and it was said that they, and similar persons elsewhere, were meant by these things.

[2] The king, grandfather⁶³ to the king now reigning, heard from heaven these things which were said to the bishops; and being somewhat indignant said, “What is this?” And then a certain one of them, who had not made one with them in the world, turned to the king, and said, “These, whom you now see with your eyes, thought in the world, and hence also think now, of the Lord’s Divine Human as of the human of a common man, and attribute all salvation and redemption to God the Father, and not to the Lord, except as a cause for the sake of which they are. For they believe in God the Father, and not in His Son, although they know from the Lord, that it is the will of the Father, that they should believe in the Son; and that they who believe in the Son should have eternal life; and that they who do not believe in the Son, will not see life. Besides this, they cast out charity, which is done by the Lord through man as by him, from the smallest part in salvation.”

[3] Speaking further with the king, he exposed the hierarchy which many of them continually affect and also exercise, which they strengthen by conjunction and combination with all of their order, by means of emissaries, internuncios, letters, and conversations, upheld by ecclesiastical and at the same time political authority; from which they almost all hold together like one bundle. And it is also effected by that hierarchy, that the above-named works for the New Jerusalem, though published at London, and sent to them as a gift, have been so shamefully rejected, that they have not even been held worthy to be named among the books of their catalogue. On hearing this the king was astonished, especially at their thinking so of the Lord, who yet is the God of heaven and earth, and of charity, which yet is religion itself. And then the interiors of their mind and faith were laid open by light let in from heaven; and the king saw, and then said, “Depart; alas, who can grow so callous against hearing anything concerning heaven and eternal life?”

[4] The king then inquired, whence so universal an obedience was paid to them by the clergy; and it was said that it was from the authority conceded to every bishop in his diocese, of nominating to the king only one candidate to the churches, and not three, as in other kingdoms. Also that from that power they had the influence to advance their dependents to higher honors and larger incomes, each one according to the obedience which he manifests. It was also disclosed how far that hierarchy might go, and that it might advance so far that dominion would be the essential, and religion formal. The ardor of these for dominion was also laid open, and viewed by the angels; and it was seen to exceed the ardor for dominion of those who are in secular authority.

Chapter 17 (717-752)

717. Revelation 17

1. And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven vials and spoke with me, saying unto me, Come; I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot, that sitteth upon many waters;

2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her whoredom.

3. And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.

4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold, and precious stones, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and uncleanness of her whoredom.

5. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of whoredoms and abominations of the earth.

6. And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus; and when I saw her, I wondered with great wonder.

7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns.

8. The beast that thou sawest, was, and is not; and is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition; and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, seeing the beast that was and is not, and yet is.

9. This is the mind that hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, where the woman sitteth upon them.

10. And they are seven kings; five have fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he is come, he must remain a short time.

11. And the beast that was, and is not, is himself the eighth, and is of the seven; and he goeth into perdition.

12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom; but they receive authority as kings one hour with the beast.

13. These have one mind, and they shall give over their power and authority unto the beast.

14. These shall fight with the Lamb; but the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings; and they who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful.

15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues.

16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the harlot, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire.

17. For God gave into their hearts to do His mind, and to do one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be consummated.

18. And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city that hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

Concerning the Roman Catholic religion: It is described in what manner it had falsified the Word, and thence had perverted all the truths of the church (verses 1-7); how it had falsified and perverted them with those who were subject to its dominion (verses 8-11); that it was less with those who had not thus subjected themselves to its dominion (verses 12-15). Concerning the Reformed: That they had withdrawn themselves from the yoke of its domination (verses 16-17); concerning its domination still (verse 18).

The Contents of Each Verse

Verse 1. “And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven vials, and spoke with me” signifies influx and revelation now from the Lord out of the inmost of heaven, concerning the Roman Catholic religion, (718). “Saying unto me, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters,” signifies revelation concerning that religion as to its profanations and adulterations of the truths of the Word, (719).

Verse 2. “With whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom,” signifies that it has adulterated the truths and goods of the church which are from the Word, (720). “And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her whoredom,” signifies insanity in spiritual things from the adulteration of the Word with those who are in that religion, (721).

Verse 3. “And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness,” signifies that he was carried in a spiritual state to those with whom all things of the church were devastated, (722). “And I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy,” signifies that religion founded upon the Word profaned by them, (723). “Having seven heads and ten horns,” signifies intelligence from the Word, holy at the beginning, afterwards none, and at length insanity, and much power from the Word continually, (724).

Verse 4. “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet,” signifies the celestial Divine good and Divine truth, which are of the Word, among them, (725). “And inwrought with gold and precious stones,” signifies spiritual Divine good and Divine truth, which are of the Word, with them, (726). “And pearls,” signifies the knowledges of good and truth, which are of the Word, with them, (727). “Having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and uncleanness of her whoredom,” signifies that religion from the holy things of the Word profaned, and from its goods and truths defiled by direful falsities, (728).

Verse 5. “Upon her forehead⁶⁴ written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of whoredoms and abominations of the earth,” signifies the Roman Catholic religion, as to its interior quality, which is concealed, that from its origin, from the love of dominating, from the love of self over the holy things of the church and over heaven, and thus over all things of the Lord and His Word, it has defiled and profaned the things which are of the Word and thence of the church, (729).

Verse 6. “And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus,” signifies that religion insane from adulterated and profaned Divine truths and goods of the Lord, of the Word, and thence of the church, (730). “And when I saw her I wondered with great wonder,” signifies astonishment that that religion is such interiorly, when yet it appears otherwise exteriorly, (731).

Verse 7. “And the angel said unto me, Wherefore dost thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns,” signifies the disclosure of what the things which precede and were seen signify, (732).

Verse 8. “The beast which thou sawest was, and is not,” signifies the Word acknowledged as holy with them, and yet really not acknowledged, (733). “And is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition,” signifies deliberation at different times in the Papal Consistory respecting the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and the common people, but rejected, (734). “And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the Lamb’s book of life from the foundation of the world, seeing the beast which was, and is not, and yet is,” signifies the amazement of those who are of that religion, all who from its establishment have aimed at dominion over heaven and earth, that the Word, although thus rejected, still is, (735).

Verse 9. “This is the mind that hath wisdom,” signifies that this is the interpretation in the natural sense, but for those who are in the spiritual sense from the Lord, (736). “The seven heads are seven mountains, where the woman sitteth upon them (verse 10): and they are seven kings,” signifies the Divine goods and Divine truths of the Word, upon which that religion is founded, destroyed in time, and at length profaned, (737). “Five have fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he is come, he must remain a short time,” signifies that all the Divine truths of the Word have been destroyed except this one, that all the power in heaven and in earth was given to the Lord; and except another, which has not yet come into question, but will not remain, which is, that the Lord’s Human is Divine, (738).

Verse 11. “And the beast, that was, and is not, is himself the eighth, and is of the seven, and he goeth into perdition,” signifies that the Word, as explained above, is the Divine good itself, and that it is the Divine truth; and that it is taken away from the laity and the common people, lest the profanations and adulterations made in it by their leaders should appear, and they should on that account recede, (739).

Verse 12. “And the ten horns⁶⁵ are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom,” signifies the Word as to power from Divine truths with those who are in the kingdom of France, and are not so much under the yoke of the Papal dominion; with whom however there has not yet been formed a church fully separated from the Roman Catholic religion, (740). “But they receive authority as kings one hour with the beast,” signifies that the Word has power with them, and they by the Word are as if they were in its Divine truths, (741).

Verse 13. “These have one mind, and they shall give their power and authority to the beast,” signifies that they acknowledge unanimously that government and dominion over the church are solely through the Word, (742).

Verse 14. “These shall fight with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings,” signifies the Lord’s combat with them concerning the acknowledgment of His Divine Human, because in it the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and is also the Word, (743). “And they who are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful,” signifies that they who approach and worship the Lord alone are they that come into heaven, as well they who are in the externals of the church as they that are in its internals and inmosts, (744[1-2]). Verse 15. “And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues,” signifies that they are under the Papal dominion, but in the truths of the Word variously adulterated and profaned by that religion, who are of its varieties of doctrine and discipline, and its varieties of religion and confession, (745).

Verse 16. “And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the harlot,” signifies the Word as to power from Divine truths with the Protestants, who have altogether cast off from themselves the yoke of the Papal dominion, (746). “And shall make her desolate and naked,” signifies that they will put off from themselves its falsities and evils, (747). “And shall eat her flesh, and burn her up with fire,” signifies that from hatred they will condemn and destroy from among themselves the evils and falsities which are proper to that religion, and will hold that religion itself accursed, and will blot it out from among them, (748).

Verse 17. “For God gave into their hearts to do His mind, and to do one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast,” signifies judgment with them from the Lord, that they should altogether repudiate and hold accursed the Roman Catholic religion, and should destroy and root it out from among themselves; and the unanimous judgment, that they should acknowledge the Word, and should found the church upon it, (749). “Until the words of God should be consummated,” signifies until all the things which have been foretold concerning them shall be fulfilled, (750).

Verse 18. “And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city that hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth,” signifies that the Roman Catholic religion reigns as to doctrine in the Christian world, and also still in some measure among the Reformed, although they are not under the Papal dominion.

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. What goes before, from chapter 7 to chapter 16, inclusive, treats of the Reformed; this chapter and the next treat of the Papists, among whom they who have claimed to themselves the power of opening and shutting heaven are meant by “Babylon.” Here therefore it shall first be said what is specifically meant by “Babylon.” By “Babylon” or “Babel” is meant the love of dominion over the holy things of the church from self-love, and because that love ascends in proportion as the reins are relaxed to it, and as the holy things of the church are also the holy things of heaven, therefore by “Babylon” or “Babel” is also signified dominion over heaven. And because this love thus acts the part of the devil, because it aspires to the same things, it cannot do otherwise than profane things holy, by adulterating the goods and truths of the Word, therefore by “Babylon” or “Babel” is also signified the profanation of what is holy, and the adulteration of the good and truth of the Word. Such is the signification of “Babylon” here in Revelation, and of “Babel” in the prophetic and historical Word, in these passages:

Concerning Babel: Behold the day of Jehovah cometh cruel; the stars of the heavens and the constellations thereof shall not shine with their light; the sun is darkened in his rising, and the moon shall not cause her light [lumen] to shine. I will cause the exaltation of the proud to cease, and I will humble the pride of the violent. Babel, the ornament of kingdoms, shall be as God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah; the tziim shall lie there, their houses shall be filled with the ochim, and the daughters of the owl shall dwell there, and the satyrs shall dance there; the ijim shall answer in her palaces, and the dragons in the palaces of her delights, (Isaiah 13:1, 9-11, 19, 21-22).

Besides many other things in the whole of the chapter.

Thou shalt declare this parable concerning the king of Babel: Thy magnificence is brought down into hell; thou hast fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend the heavens, above the stars of God I will exalt my throne, I will ascend above the heights of the cloud, I will become like the Most High; but yet thou shalt be brought down to hell; I will rise against thee, ³ and will cut off from Babel the name and residue, (Isaiah 14:4, 11-15, 22).

Besides more things in the whole chapter.

Jehovah hath spoken against Babel: Your mother was exceedingly ashamed, she that brought you forth was suffused with shame; behold, the last end shall be a wilderness, a dry land, and a desert. Set yourselves in array against Babel round about, shoot against her, spare no arrows; how is Babel become a desolation among the nations! She acted insolently against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel. A drought is upon her waters, that they may dry up, because it is a land of graven images, and it glories in horrible things; therefore the ziim shall dwell there with the ijim, and the owls shall dwell therein, as God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, (Jeremiah 50:1, 12, 14, 23, 29, 31, 38-40).

Besides many other things concerning “Babel” in that whole chapter.

Babel is a cup of gold in the hand of Jehovah, making the whole earth drunken; the nations have drunk of her wine, therefore they are mad; forsake her, for her judgment hath reached to the heavens, and hath lifted itself up even to the clouds; behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, that destroyest the whole earth. I will roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a mountain of burning. I will visit upon Bel in Babel; I will bring forth his morsel out of his mouth, that the nations may no longer flow together unto him; yea the wall of Babel shall fall. Behold the days are coming, in which I will visit upon the graven images of Babel, that her whole land may be ashamed. Though Babel should ascend into the heavens, and though she should fortify the high places of her strength, from Me shall wasters come. Yea, I will make drunk her princes and her wise ones, and her leaders, and her primates, that they may sleep the sleep of an age, and not awake, (Jeremiah 51:1, 7, 9, 25, 44, 47, 53, 57).

Besides many other things concerning “Babel” in that whole chapter.

Come down and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babel, sit on the earth; there is no throne; take the millstones and grind meal; uncover the thigh, pass over the streams, thy nakedness shall be uncovered, thy disgrace shall be seen. Thou hast said, I shall be mistress to eternity; thou didst not remember the end; thou hast trusted in thy wickedness; thou hast said, No one seeth me; thy wisdom and thy knowledge hath seduced thee, when thou saidst in thy heart, I, and there is none else like me; devastation shall come suddenly, thou shalt not know; persist in thy enchantments, in the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast labored from thy youth, peradventure they will be able to profit, peradventure thou shalt become terrible, (Isaiah 47:1-3, 7, 10-12).

Besides other things concerning “Babel” in that chapter. Similar things are signified by:

The city and tower whose head was in heaven, which they that came from the east attempted to build in the valley of Shinar, whose speech Jehovah descending from heaven confounded; whence the name of the place was called “Babel” [confusion] (Genesis 11:1-9).

Similar things are signified by the following passages in Daniel:

By the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel, the feet of which were partly iron and partly clay, which the stone cut out not by a hand smote and ground to pieces, and all the parts of the statue became as the chaff in the threshing floors; and the stone became a great rock, (Daniel 2:31-47).

By the great image which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babel made, and commanded that they should fall down and adore before it; and that they who would not should be cast into the furnace of fire, (Daniel 3:1-7).

By the tree that grew until its height reached unto heaven, and the sight of it unto the end of the earth, which a watcher and a holy one, coming down from heaven, commanded to hew down, to cut off, to strip off, and to scatter; and because the king of Babel was represented by it, it came to pass that he was driven away from man, dwelt with the beasts, and ate the herbage like an ox, (Daniel 4).

By Belshazzar king of Babel drinking wine with his nobles, wives, and concubines, out of the vessels of gold and silver of the temple of Jerusalem, and praising the gods of gold, silver, brass, iron, and stone; on account of which there was a writing on the wall, and the king himself was slain the same day, (Daniel 5).

By the decree of Darius the Mede, king of Babel; that no one for thirty days should seek anything from God or man, but from the king alone; if otherwise, he should be cast into the den of lions, (Daniel 6:8-28).

And by the four beasts seen by Daniel to come up out of the sea, of which the fourth, terrible, strong, having great teeth of iron, it devoured and crushed in pieces, and trampled the residue with his feet; and that then the judgment was set, and the books were opened, and the beast was slain, and given into the burning of fire; and that then there was seen coming with the clouds of heaven one like the Son of man, to whom was given dominion and glory and the kingdom, and all peoples, and nations and tongues shall worship Him; His dominion is the dominion of an age which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not perish, (Daniel 7:1-14).

718. And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven vials, and spoke with me, signifies influx now and revelation from the Lord, from the inmost of heaven, concerning the Roman Catholic religion. Thus far the state of the church of the Reformed at the end has been treated of; but now the state of the Roman Catholic religious persuasion at its end is treated of; and this follows in the order mentioned in the introduction. It is not called the Roman Catholic church, but the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, because they do not approach the Lord, nor read the Word, and because they invoke the dead; and a church is a church from the Lord, and from the Word, and its perfection is according to its acknowledgment of the Lord, and according to its understanding of the Word. The reason why one of the seven angels having the seven vials came and spoke with John, is because by “the seven angels who had the seven vials,” is signified influx from the Lord out of the inmost of the Christian heaven into the church, to disclose the evils and falsities therein, see above, (672, 676-677, 683, 690-691, 699-700); here therefore by those “seven angels” is signified the Lord speaking from the inmost of heaven, and revealing the state of the Roman Catholic religious persuasion at its end. Hence also it is, that one of those seven angels took John upon a high mountain, and showed him the Lamb’s wife, which is the New Jerusalem, (Revelation 21:9-10).

719. Saying unto me,⁶⁶ I will show unto thee the judgment of the great harlot, that sitteth upon many waters, signifies a revelation concerning that religious persuasion, as to its profanations and adulterations of the truths of the Word. “To say” and “to show” signifies revelation. By “judgment” is signified its state at its end. By “the great harlot” is signified the profanation of the holy things of the Word and church, and the adulteration of good and truth. By “many waters” are signified the truths of the Word adulterated. By “sitting upon them” is signified to be and to live in them. That by “committing whoredom” [meretricari], harlotry [moechari], scortation [scortari], and adultery [adulterari], is signified to falsify and adulterate the Word, see above, (134, 620, 632); and that by “waters” are signified its truths, (50, 563, 614, 685); here, those truths adulterated and profaned, because it says “the harlot” sat upon them. From these things it is evident, that by “saying unto me, I will show unto thee the judgment of the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters,” is signified revelation concerning that religious persuasion, as to its profanations and adulterations of the truths of the Word.

[2] The like is said of “Babel” in Jeremiah:

Jehovah hath done that which He spoke against the inhabitants of Babel; O thou that dwellest upon many waters, great in treasures, thy end is come, and the measure of thy gain, (Jeremiah 51:12-13).

The reason why they are said to have adulterated and profaned the truths of the Word, is, because they have applied the truths of the Word to obtaining dominion over the holy things of the church and heaven, and to claiming to themselves the Divine authority of the Lord; and to apply the truths of the Word to obtaining dominion over the holy things of the church and heaven, is to adulterate them; and to apply them to the purpose of claiming to themselves the Divine authority of the Lord, is to profane them. That they have confirmed their dogmas from the Word, is known. But read them with attention, and you will see that they applied all those things taken from the Word to obtaining dominion over the souls of men, and to acquiring to themselves Divine power, authority, and majesty. It is on this account that Babylon is called “the mother of whoredoms and the abominations of the earth” (verse 5).

720. Verse 2. With whom the kings of the earth have committed whoredom, signifies that it has adulterated the truths and goods of the church which are from the Word. “To commit whoredom” signifies to falsify and adulterate truths, as above, (719); by “the kings of the earth” are signified the truths of the church which are from the Word, by “kings,” truths from good, and by “earth,” the church. That by “kings” are signified those who are in truths from good from the Lord, and thence abstractly the truths from good, may be seen above, (20, 664); here those truths adulterated and profaned. It is said that “the kings of the earth” committed whoredom with the great harlot, as though the truths of the church which are from the Word, which are signified by “the kings of the earth,” had so done; but this is according to the style of the Word in the sense of the letter, in which are ascribed to God and to the Divine things which are from Him, such as are the truths of the Word, the things which come nevertheless from man and his evils, as has been frequently observed above. Therefore the genuine sense, which is the spiritual sense, is that that religious persuasion adulterated, yea, profaned the truths of the church which are from the Word. He who does not know the spiritual sense of the Word may easily be misled by believing that by “the kings of the earth” are meant kings of the earth, when yet kings are not meant, but truths from good, and in the opposite sense, falsities from evil.

[2] To render it more fully evident that by “the kings of the earth” nothing else but the truths or falsities of the church are meant, and by “their whoredoms,” the truths of the church, which are from the Word, falsified, adulterated, and profaned, some passages shall be adduced from Revelation and from Daniel, from which anyone capable of reflection may see that kings are not meant, which are:

Jesus Christ hath made us kings and priests, (Revelation 1:6).

And hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign over the earth, (Revelation 5:10).

That ye may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, (Revelation 19:18).

The seven heads of the scarlet beast are seven mountains. And they are seven kings; five have fallen, and one is; and the beast is the eighth king, and is of the seven, (Revelation 17:9-11).

The ten horns are ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, (Revelation 17:12).

It is also said as here, that:

The kings of the earth committed whoredom, and lived luxuriously with the harlot, (Revelation 18:3, 9).

[3] Who that is able to reflect at all, may not see that “kings” here do not mean kings? In like manner that by “the rough goat” is meant the king of Grecia, in Daniel:

And the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king; and when transgressors are come to the full, a king, hard of face and understanding subtle things, shall rise up, (Daniel 8:21, 23).

That the four beasts coming out of the sea were four kings who shall arise from the earth and that the ten horns of the fourth beast were ten kings, and that another should rise after them who should humble the three kings, (Daniel 7:17, 24).

In like manner, that the king of the south and the king of the north should fight with each other; and that the king of the south should send his daughter to the king of the north; and that this king should exalt himself against God, and acknowledge a strange god; and that he should honor with gold and silver, and with precious stones, and desirable things, those who acknowledged that god, and should cause them to have dominion over many, and divide the land for a price; and that he should plant the tent of his tabernacle between the seas, around the mountain of the ornament of holiness; but that he should come to his end; with much more to the same purpose, (Daniel 11:1).

[4] By “the king of the south” is signified the kingdom or church of those who are in truths, and by “the king of the north” is signified the kingdom and church of those who are in falsities; for it is a prophecy concerning the churches to come, showing their quality in the beginning, and afterwards. The reason why they who are in truths from good from the Lord are called “kings,” is because they are called “the sons” of the Lord; and because they are regenerated by Him, they are called “born from Him,” and also “heirs;” and because the Lord is Himself a king, and heaven and the church are his kingdom.

721. And the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her whoredom, signifies the insanity in spiritual things from the adulteration of the Word with those who are in that religious persuasion. By “being made drunk with the wine of whoredom” is signified to be insane in spiritual things from the falsification of the truths of the Word, here from their adulteration; by “wine” the Divine truth of the Word is signified, (316), and by “whoredom” is signified its falsification and adulteration, (134, 620, 632, 635). Therefore by “being made drunk with that wine” is signified to be insane in spiritual things; by “the inhabitants of the earth” are signified they who are in the church, as above (chapter 11:10; 12:12; 13:13-14; 14:6); but here, they who are in that religious persuasion since the church is not there, because they do not approach the Lord, nor read the Word, and because they invoke the dead, see above, (718). “To be made drunk with that wine” signifies to be insane in spiritual things, may indeed be seen without confirmation from other passages in the Word; but as many are not able to see this, on account of their not thinking spiritually but sensually, that is, materially, concerning the particulars of the Word, when they read it, I will adduce some passages from the Word, to confirm that there “to be made drunk” signifies insanity in spiritual, that is, in theological things; thus:

They are drunken, but not with wine; they stagger, but not with strong drink, (Isaiah 29:9).

Hear, thou afflicted, drunken, but not with wine, (Isaiah 51:21).

A cup of gold is Babel in the hand of Jehovah, making the whole earth drunken; the nations have drunk of her wine, therefore the nations are mad, (Jeremiah 51:7).

Babel shall be a hissing; when they have become warm I will make their banquets, and I will make them drunken, that they may exult, and may sleep the sleep of an age, and not awake, (Jeremiah 51:37, 39).

Babylon is fallen, is fallen, because she hath made all the nations drink of the wine of her whoredom, (Revelation 14:8; 18:3).

Every bottle shall be filled with wine; behold, I will fill all the inhabitants of this land, kings, priests, and prophets, with drunkenness, (Jeremiah 13:12-13).

Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sadness, with the cup of devastation and desolation, (Ezekiel 23:32-33).

Daughter of Edom, even to thee shall the cup pass; thou shalt be drunken and shalt be uncovered, (Lamentations 4:21).

Thou also shalt be drunken, (Nahum 3:11).

Drink and be drunken, and vomit, and fall so as not to rise again, (Jeremiah 25:27).

Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and intelligent before their own faces; woe to them that are heroes to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, (Isaiah 5:21-22). Besides other places (as Isaiah 19:11-12, 14; 24:20; 28:1, 3, 7-8; 56:12; Jeremiah 23:9-10; Lamentations 3:15; Hosea 4:11-12, 17-18; Joel 1:5-7; Habakkuk 2:15; Psalms 75:8; 107:27).

722. Verse 3. And he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, signifies that he was carried in a spiritual state to those with whom all things of the church were devastated. By “a wilderness” is signified a church in which there is no longer any truth, and thus where all the things of it are devastated, (546); and by being “in the spirit” is signified to be in a spiritual state from the Divine influx, as shown above, (36); hence by “he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness,” is signified to be carried in a spiritual state to those with whom all things of the church were devastated.

723. And I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, signifies that religious persuasion founded upon the Word profaned by them. By “the woman” is signified the Roman Catholic or Babylonian religious persuasion, for it follows, “Upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery, Babylon the great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth.” That by “a woman” is signified the church from the affection of truth (see 434), here the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, which is in an opposite affection. By “the scarlet beast” is signified the Word, as will be seen presently; and by “full of names of blasphemy,” is signified that it was totally profaned; for by “blasphemy” is signified the denial of the Lord’s Divine in His Human, and the adulteration of the Word, (571, 582, 692, 715), thus profanation. For he who does not acknowledge the Lord’s Divine in His Human, and falsifies the Word, though not intentionally, indeed profanes, but lightly; they who ascribe to themselves all the power of the Lord’s Divine Human, and therefore deny it, and they who apply all things of the Word to acquiring to themselves dominion over the holy things of the church and heaven, and for that reason adulterate the Word, these profane grievously. From these things it may appear, that by “I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy,” is signified that religious persuasion founded upon the Word profaned by them. By “scarlet” is signified the truth of the Word from a celestial origin.

[2] That by “the scarlet beast” is signified the Word as to celestial Divine truth, appears at first thought remote and strange, yea, absurd, because it is called “a beast;” but that by “a beast,” in the spiritual sense, is signified natural affection, and that the expression is thus applied to the Word, to the church, and to man, may be seen above, (239, 405, 567). That “the four animals,” one of which was a lion, another a calf, and the fourth an eagle, signify the Word, and are also called “beasts” in Ezekiel, (239, 275, 286, 672). That “a horse,” which is also a beast, signifies the understanding of the Word, (298). That “a lamb” signifies the Lord, “a sheep” the man of the church, and “a flock” the church itself, is known. These are quoted, lest anyone should wonder that “the scarlet beast” signifies the Word. And because the Roman Catholic religious persuasion rests its strength and dignity upon the Word, therefore that woman appeared “sitting upon a scarlet beast,” as she had before appeared “upon many waters” (verse 1), by which are signified the truths of the Word adulterated and profaned, as above, (719). That by that “beast” is signified the Word, appears manifestly from the things said of it in the following passages of this chapter, as:

The beast that thou sawest, was, and is not; and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder on seeing the beast that was, and is not, and yet is, (Revelation 17:8).

The beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth king, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition, (Revelation 17:11).

The ten horns are ten kings, who shall give their power and authority to the beast, (Revelation 17:12-13).

God hath given it in their hearts to give their kingdom to the beast, (Revelation 17:17).

Such things can only be said of the Word.

724. Having seven heads and ten horns, signifies intelligence from the Word, at first holy, afterwards none, and at length insanity, and much power continually from the Word. That “the head” signifies intelligence and wisdom when spoken of the Lord and of the Word, and in the opposite sense insanity and folly, may be seen above, (538, 568). That “seven” does not signify seven, but all, and is applied to holy things, (10, 391). That “a horn” signifies power, (270), and that “ten horns” signify much power, (539); that by “seven heads” is signified intelligence at first holy, and afterwards none, and at length insanity, appears from verses 9 and 10 of this chapter where the angel mentions the signification of “seven heads,” as will be seen below. Hence it is plain that by “the beast having seven heads and ten horns,” is signified intelligence from the Word, at first holy, afterwards none, and at length insanity, and much power from the Word continually.

725. Verse 4. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, signifies celestial Divine good and Divine truth, which are of the Word with them. By “purple” is signified celestial Divine good, and by “scarlet” is signified celestial Divine truth, as will be seen presently; by “being clothed” with them is signified to have them about them, consequently with them. The reason why these principles are with them from the Word, is because by “the scarlet beast” upon which the woman sat is signified the Word, (723). That the Divine good and truth of the Word is about them as a garment, thus with them, is known, for they adore the Word from without and not from within; they acknowledge it, because it treats of the Lord, and of His power over heaven and the church, which they have transferred to themselves; and it treats of the keys given to Peter, whose successors they say they are. And since upon these two they found their majesty, dignity, and authority, they of necessity acknowledge the holiness of the Word. But yet the Word to them is only like the garment of “purple and scarlet and of gold, precious stones and pearls,” upon a harlot holding in her hand a golden cup, full of abominations and uncleanness of whoredom.

[2] Since “purple and scarlet” are mentioned, and then “gold, precious stones, and pearls,” and by “purple and scarlet” is signified celestial Divine good and truth, and by “gold and precious stones” spiritual Divine good and truth, both from the Word, therefore something shall be said concerning the celestial Divine and the spiritual Divine. There are two kingdoms into which the whole heaven of the Lord is distinguished, the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom; the celestial kingdom consists of angels who are in love from the Lord, and the spiritual kingdom of angels who are in wisdom from the Lord. In both kingdoms there is good and truth; the good and truth with the angels of the celestial kingdom is signified by “purple and scarlet,” and the good and truth with the angels of the spiritual kingdom is signified by “gold and precious stones.” Both these goods and truths the angels have from the Lord through the Word; wherefore there are two interior senses of the Word, the celestial and the spiritual. This then is the reason why “the woman sitting upon the scarlet beast appeared arrayed in purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold and precious stones, and pearls.”

[3] The same which is signified by this woman is also signified by:

The rich man, who was clothed in purple and fine linen, and indulged in delicacies every day splendidly at whose gateway Lazarus was cast, desiring to be filled with the crumbs that fell from his table, (Luke 16:19-21).

By “the rich man clothed in purple and fine linen” the Jews are meant, who had the Word; and by “Lazarus” are meant the Gentiles, who had it not. Similar things are signified in the following passages:

They that have eaten delicacies are devastated in the streets; they that were brought up in scarlet have embraced the dunghill, (Lamentations 4:5).

Therefore, thou wasted one, what wilt thou do? Though thou clothest thyself in scarlet, though thou adornest thyself with an ornament of gold, in vain shalt thou make thyself beautiful, (Jeremiah 4:30).

Daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet with delightful things, and who put an ornament of gold upon your apparel, (2 Samuel 1:24).

Fine linen of needlework was that which thou spreadest forth, hyacinth and purple were thy covering, (Ezekiel 27:7).

This is said of Tyre, by which the knowledges of truth and good from the Word are signified.

[4] Since celestial good and truth are signified by “purple and scarlet,” therefore the garments of Aaron, as also the veils and curtains of the tabernacle, were woven of hyacinth, purple, scarlet and fine linen, (Exodus 26:4, 31, 36; 27:16; 28:6, 15); the curtains also, (Exodus 26:1); and the veil before the ark, (Exodus 26:31); the covering for the door of the tent, (Exodus 26:36); and the covering of the gate of the court, (Exodus 27:16); the ephod, (Exodus 28:6); the belt, (Exodus 28:8); the breastplate of judgment, (Exodus 28:15); the skirts of the cloak of the ephod, (Exodus 28:33); the cloth of scarlet over the bread of faces, (Numbers 4:8). It is manifest from these passages what is signified by “the purple and scarlet” with which the woman that sat upon the scarlet beast appeared arrayed. In like manner in the following passages, where it is said:

Alas, the great city, which was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, inwrought with gold and precious stone and pearls; for in one hour so great riches are devastated, (Revelation 18:16-17).

Also that purple and scarlet, gold, precious stone, and pearls, were among the merchandise of Babylon, see Revelation 18:12.

726. And inwrought with gold and precious stone, signifies spiritual Divine good and Divine truth, which are of the Word, with them. By “gold” is signified good, (211); by “precious stone” is signified truth, (231, 540, 570); both from the Word. That spiritual good and truth are signified is because celestial good and truth are signified by “purple and scarlet;” and both are conjoined in the Word on account of the marriage of good and truth therein, (373); and celestial good and truth, because they are of love, are in their essence good; and spiritual good and truth, because they are of wisdom, are in their essence truth. That celestial good and truth are of love, and that spiritual good and truth are of wisdom, may be seen above, (725). What is meant besides by this woman’s being thus arrayed and adorned may be seen in the preceding article.

727. And pearls, signifies the knowledges of good and truth which are of the Word with them. By “pearls,” in the spiritual sense, are signified the knowledges of good and truth both celestial and spiritual which are from the Word, particularly from the sense of its letter; and because “pearls” signify those knowledges, they are therefore named after “purple and scarlet,” and after “gold and precious stones.” The same knowledges are signified by pearls in the following passages:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant seeking beautiful pearls; who, when he had found one precious pearl, went and sold all that he had, and bought it, (Matthew 13:45-46).

By this is signified knowledge concerning the Lord.

The twelve gates of the wall of the New Jerusalem were twelve pearls, everyone of the gates was one pearl, (Revelation 21:21).

“The gates of The New Jerusalem” signify introduction into the New Church, and introduction is effected by the knowledges of good and truth from the Word.

Neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and rend you, (Matthew 7:6).

By “swine” are signified they who only love worldly riches, and not spiritual riches, which are the knowledges of good and truth from the Word. Because by “Babylon” is signified that religious persuasion by which all the knowledges of good and truth derived from the Word were rejected, it is said of her:

And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over Babylon, for no one buyeth their merchandise; the merchandise of gold and silver, of precious stone and of pearls, (Revelation 18:11-12).

728. Having a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and uncleanness of her whoredom, signifies that religious persuasion from the holy things of the Word profaned, and its goods and truths defiled by direful falsities. That by “a cup” or “chalice” the same thing is signified as by “wine,” because it is what contains, may be seen above, (672), and by “the wine of Babylon” is signified that religious persuasion as to its direful falsities, (632, 635). By “abominations” are signified the profanations of what is holy; and by the “uncleanness of whoredom” are signified the defilements of the good and truth of the Word. Therefore by “having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and uncleanness of her whoredom,” is signified that religious persuasion consisting of the holy things of the church profaned and defiled, and of the goods and truths of the Word profaned, by direful falsities. These things are similar to what the Lord said to the Scribes and Pharisees:

Woe unto you hypocrites, for ye make yourselves like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful on the outside, but within are full of the bones of the dead, and of all uncleanness, (Matthew 23:27).

729. Verse 5. And upon her forehead was a name⁶⁷ written, Mystery, Babylon the great, mother of whoredoms and abominations of the earth, signifies the Roman Catholic religious persuasion as to the quality of its interiors, which were hidden, that from its origin from the love of dominating from self-love, over the holy things of the church and over heaven, thus over all things relating to the Lord and His Word, it defiled and profaned the things which relate to the Word, and thence to the church. By “written upon her forehead” is signified to be implanted in the love, for “the forehead” signifies the love, (347, 605). By “mystery” is signified what is concealed interiorly. By “Babylon the great” is signified the Roman Catholic religious persuasion and all its quality, as above, (717). By “whoredoms” are signified the adulterations of the good and truth of the Word, (719-721); and also their defilements, as above, (728). By “abominations” are signified the profanations of the holy things of the church, as also just above, (728). By “the earth” is signified the church, (285). Thence by “mother of whoredoms and abominations of the earth” is signified their origin. Now because these words were written on her forehead, and by “written on the forehead” is signified to be implanted in the love, and their love is the love of dominating from the love of self, over all things of the church and over heaven, thus over all things of the Lord and His Word, therefore this is signified.

[2] From these things it may be seen, that by “written upon her forehead, Mystery, Babylon the great, mother of whoredoms and abominations of the earth,” is signified the Roman Catholic religious persuasion as to its interior hidden quality, that from its origin from the love of dominating from self-love over the holy things of the church, and over heaven, and thus over all things of the Lord and His Word, it has defiled and profaned those things which are of the Word, and thence of the church. That it is the love of dominating over all things of the church, is known from the authority claimed over the souls of men and over all things relating to their worship. That it is over heaven is known from the authority they assume of loosing and binding, and thus of opening and shutting. That it is over all things of the Lord is known from the vicarship, by which they attribute to themselves all that is His. That it is over all things of the Word is also known from their reserving to themselves alone the right of interpretation. It is called the love of dominating from the love of self, because there is also a love of dominion from the love of uses, which two loves are diametrically opposite to one another, for the love of dominating from the love of self is diabolical, for it regards itself only, and the world for the sake of self; but the love of dominion from the love of uses is celestial, for it regards the Lord, from whom all things which proceed are uses, and uses to him consist in doing good to the church for the sake of the salvation of souls; wherefore this love abominates the love of dominating from the love of self.

730. Verse 6 (Revelation 17:6). And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus, signifies that religious persuasion insane from the adulterated and profaned Divine truths and goods of the Lord, of the Word, and thence of the church. By “the woman” is signified that religious persuasion, as above, (723, 725); by “being drunken” is signified to be insane in spiritual things, (721). By “blood” is signified the falsification, adulteration, and profanation of the Word, (327, 379[1-7], 681, 684). By “saints” are signified they who, by the Word, are in Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, the Divine truths of the Lord, of the Word, and thence of the church, (173, 586, 666). By “the witnesses of Jesus” are signified abstractly the truths and goods from the Lord through the Word in the church, (6, 16, 490, 506, 668), here the same profaned, because it says “the blood of the martyrs” or “witnesses of Jesus,” and is spoken of Babylon, by which is also signified the profanation of the good and truth of the Word and of the church, (717, 718). From these things it is evident, that by “I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus,” is signified that religious persuasion insane from the adulterated and profaned Divine truths and goods of the Lord, of the Word, and thence of the church.

731. And when I saw her I wondered with great wonder, signifies astonishment that that religious persuasion is such interiorly, when, nevertheless, it appears otherwise exteriorly. “To wonder with great wonder” is to be greatly astonished; “seeing her” signifies that the woman, that is, the religious persuasion, is such interiorly, when nevertheless it appears otherwise exteriorly; for he was astonished to see the woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, arrayed in purple and scarlet, inwrought with gold, precious stones, and pearls, and having a golden cup in her hand, which things were her outward appearance, and yet the cup was full of abominations and uncleanness of whoredom. And he saw written in her forehead, “Mother of whoredoms and abominations of the earth,” which are her internals. These things were said by John, because everyone even at this day cannot but be astonished at seeing that religious persuasion so holy and splendid in externals, not knowing that it is so profane and abominable in internals.

732. Verse 7. (Revelation 17:7) And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and the ten horns, signifies the disclosure of the signification of the things which precede and were seen. This has no need of further explanation.

733. Verse 8. The beast that thou sawest, was and is not, signifies the Word with them acknowledged as holy, and yet in reality not acknowledged. That by “the beast” is signified the Word, may be seen above, (723). By “was, and is not,” is signified that it was acknowledged to be holy, and yet in reality was not acknowledged. That the Word was with them, and also is, and yet is not, is known. It is acknowledged indeed to be holy, because it treats of the Lord, and of His authority over the church, and over heaven, and of Peter and his keys; but yet it is not acknowledged, for it is not read by the people, because they are withheld from reading it, and it is taken away from them, yea, even prohibited under various pretenses of the monks, being kept only in libraries and monasteries, where few read it, much less attend to anything true that is in it; but only to the dictates of the Pope, which they say are in like manner holy. Yea when they speak from their hearts, they vituperate and blaspheme the Word. From these things it may appear, that by “the beast which was, and is not,” is signified the Word acknowledged with them as holy, and yet in reality not acknowledged.

734. And is about to come up out of the abyss, and to go into perdition, signifies deliberation at different times in the Papal Consistory concerning the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and common people, but rejected. By “the beast which was about to come up” the Word is signified, as above, (723, 733); by “the abyss” out of which he was about to come up nothing else can be signified but that religious persuasion, and especially where its throne is, thus the Papal Consistory. It is “an abyss,” because that which is decreed there regards domination over the holy things of the church and over heaven, and thus over all things of the Lord and His Word, (729). These they have for their end as the essentials, but the good of the church and the salvation of souls as formal things necessary as means to the end. By “going away into perdition” is signified to be rejected. It is known from ecclesiastical history that the reception and reading of the Word by the laity and the common people has been several times deliberated there, but rejected. It was also proposed by a Pontiff who is now among the Reformed and the blessed, who is spoken of in the Continuation concerning the spiritual world, (59), but it was not accepted; and this is especially known from the Bull Unigenitus, and besides from the Councils.

735. And they that dwell upon the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, seeing the beast which was and is not, but yet is, signifies the amazement of those who are of that religion, all who from its establishment have aspired to domination over heaven and earth, that the Word, although thus rejected, still is. By “wondering” is signified to be amazed; by “them that dwell upon the earth” are signified those who are of the church, here those who are of that religious persuasion, as above, (721); “whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world,” signifies those who do not believe in the Lord, and are not in doctrine from the Word; all since the establishment of the church, here since the establishment of this religious persuasion, (588, 589); and these are no others than they who aspire to domination over heaven and over the earth. By “the beast which was and is not, but yet is,” is signified that the Word, so rejected, still is. It is manifest from this, that by “they that dwell upon the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, seeing the beast which was and is not, but yet is,” is signified the amazement of those who are of that religious persuasion all who since its establishment have aspired at domination over heaven and earth, that the Word, though it has been thus rejected, still is. For all who aspire at domination over the holy things of the church and over heaven, hate the Word, because they hate the Lord; if not in the mouth, still in the heart. That it is so, few know in the world, because they are then in the body; but it is made manifest after death, when everyone is in his spirit. Hence it is that they wonder that the Word still is, though it has been so rejected; as was said above, (734). The reason that the Word still is, is because it is Divine, and the Lord is in it.

736. Verse 9. Here is the mind that hath wisdom, signifies that this is the interpretation in the natural sense, but for those who are in the spiritual sense from the Lord. “Here is the mind” signifies that this is the understanding and interpretation of those things that were seen: “that hath wisdom” signifies for those that are interiorly wise. That the interpretation is in the natural sense for those who are in the spiritual sense, is because the interpretation was made by the angel in the natural sense, and not in the spiritual; for he said that the seven heads of the beast were “seven mountains,” and likewise that “they were seven kings;” and that “one of them is, and another is not yet come;” also that the beast “is the eighth, and is of the seven;” besides more things which follow even to the end of the chapter; and these things cannot be understood except by those who are in the spiritual sense from the Lord; this is therefore signified by “having wisdom.” The reason that the interpretation was made by the angel in the natural sense, and not in the spiritual, is because the natural sense is the basis, the containant and the support of its spiritual and celestial sense; see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 27-49. Therefore also elsewhere in the Word interpretations are given in the natural sense; and still they cannot be understood interiorly except by the spiritual sense: as may be seen in the prophets, and also in the evangelists, in many places.

737. The seven heads are seven mountains where the woman sitteth upon them (verse 10), and they are seven kings, signifies the Divine goods and Divine truths of the Word, upon which the Roman Catholic religious persuasion is founded, destroyed in time, and at length profaned. Since the Word is signified by “the scarlet beast,” and therefore the goods of love and the truths of wisdom therein are signified by his “heads,” on this account the quality of the Word as to these two with those that are meant by “Babylon,” is here described, the Divine good of love there by “mountains,” and the Divine truth there by “kings.” That the goods of love are signified by “mountains,” may be seen, (336[1-4], 339, 714); and that the truths of wisdom are signified by “kings” (20, 664, 704), and that by “the head,” when the Lord is spoken of, the Divine love of His Divine wisdom and the Divine wisdom of His Divine love are signified, (47, 538, 568); and that by “seven” is signified all and complete; and that it is said of holy things, (10, 391, 657); and that by “the woman” is signified the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, (723). Hence now by “the seven heads are seven mountains where the woman sitteth upon them,” are signified the Divine goods and the Divine truths of the Word, upon which the Roman Catholic religious persuasion is founded. The reason is, that the whole Word is profaned and adulterated by that religious persuasion, see above, (717, 719-721, 723, 728-730).

[2] It is said to have been profaned in time, since in the beginning the Word was holy to them; but as they saw that they could dominate by the holy things of the church, they receded from the Word, and acknowledged their own edicts, precepts, and statutes as of equal, but really of superior holiness; and at length they transferred all the Lord’s authority to themselves, not leaving anything. It is from their first state, when they held the Word holy, that Lucifer, by whom is meant Babel, (717), was called “Son of the morning;” but it is on account of their later state, that “he was let down into hell” (Isaiah 14:5). But more may be seen on this subject in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (257). It may seem as if by “the seven mountains where the woman sitteth” is meant Rome; because that is built upon seven mountains, from which also it is named. But although Rome is meant, since the throne and tribunal of that religious persuasion is there, nevertheless by “the seven mountains” the Divine goods of the Word, and thence of the church, profaned, are here signified; for the number seven adds nothing else but what is holy, here what is profaned, as the same number does elsewhere; as where are mentioned:

Seven spirits before the throne of God, (Revelation 1:4).

Seven candlesticks, in the midst of which was the Son of man, (Revelation 1:13; 2:1).

Seven stars, (Revelation 2:1; 3:1).

Seven lamps of fire before the throne, (Revelation 4:5).

Seven seals, with which the book was sealed, (Revelation 5:1).

Seven horns and seven eyes of the Lamb, (Revelation 6:6).

Seven angels with seven trumpets, (Revelation 8:2).

Seven thunders, (Revelation 10:3-4).

Seven angels having seven plagues in vials, (Revelation 15:1, 6-7).

In like manner here that the scarlet beast had “seven heads;” and that “the seven heads were seven mountains,” and likewise were “seven kings.”

738. Five have fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he is come, he must remain a short time, signifies that all the Divine truths of the Word have been destroyed, except this one, that all authority in heaven and in earth was given to the Lord; and except another, which has not yet come into question; and when it does, it will not remain; which is, that the Lord’s Human is Divine. By “five” is not signified five, but all the rest; here all the rest of the Divine truths of the Word, which are signified by “kings.” For numbers in Revelation, and in the Word generally, signify the quality of the things with which they are connected. They are like certain adjectives united with substantives, or like certain predicates adjoined to subjects; as may be seen from the numbers two, three, four, six, seven, ten, twelve, a hundred and forty-four, explained above. Here therefore “five” signifies all the rest, because “seven” signifies all the holy things of the Word; and it follows that “one is,” and that “the other is to come;” and thus that there are two out of them all which remained. From which it is manifest, that by “five have fallen” is signified that all the rest have been destroyed. They are said “to fall,” because kings are spoken of, who fall by the sword. By “one is” nothing else is signified but this Divine truth, that all power in heaven and on earth was given to the Lord according to the words of the Lord Himself, (Matthew 28:18; John 13:3; 17:2-3, 10), as may be see n above, (618). That this one has not been destroyed is because otherwise they could not claim to themselves dominion over all things of the church and the Word and over heaven.

[2] By “the other who is not yet come, and when he cometh must remain but a short time,” is signified the Divine truth which has not yet come in question, and when it does, will not remain with them, which is, that the Lord’s Human is Divine. It is said that “it must remain but a short time,” because this is according to the Divine Providence, spoken of above, (686).

That it is a Divine truth that the Lord’s Human is Divine, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord 1, from beginning to end. But the reason that it has not yet come in question, is, because, after they had transferred to themselves all the Lord’s power, they could not acknowledge the Lord’s Human as Divine, because it would then be said by the laity and the common people that they had transferred Divine power to themselves, and thus that the Pontiff himself was God, and his ministers were gods. But that this will yet come in question, may be evident from the fact that it is here foretold in Revelation.

[3] That they have seen this other truth, which is that the Lord’s Human is Divine, though as with closed eyes, is manifest from these things with them, that they say in the Eucharist there is not only the body and blood of the Lord, but also His soul and Divinity; thus that there is omnipresence as well of His Human as of His Divine; and the Human cannot be omnipresent unless it is Divine: also that they say, that Christ as to His body and blood, and at the same time as to His soul and Divinity is in them, and they are in Him by the Eucharist; and this is said of His Human; which cannot be said, because it is not possible, unless His Human is Divine. Besides these things they also say that the saints will reign with Christ, and that Christ is to be adored, and that the saints are to be invoked and venerated; also that Christ is the true Light, and that in Him they live and have merit, and other similar things, which involve the Divinity of His Human. These things are from the Council of Trent and from its bull. Thus, as was said, they may see that truth, but as if with closed eyes.

739. Verse 11. And the beast which was and is not is himself the eighth, and is of the seven, and he goeth into perdition, signifies that the Word, as explained above, is the Divine good itself, and that it is the Divine truth, and that it is taken away from the laity and the common people, lest the profanations and adulterations made in it by their leaders should appear, and they should on that account recede. By “the beast which was and is not” is signified the Word, as before (verse 8); by “his being himself the eighth,” here the eighth mountain, is signified that it is the Divine good itself; for by “the seven mountains” the Divine goods of the Word are signified, (737); hence by “the beast himself is the eighth” mountain is signified that it is the Divine good itself. Good is also signified by “the eighth;” and as all the goods of the Word among them were profaned, he himself is not said to be of the seven mountains, as he is just said to be of the seven kings, by whom the Divine truths of the Word are signified, not all of which were adulterated, (737, 738). From these few things the arcanum may be seen which lies hidden in these words. By “his going into perdition” is signified that it is rejected, as above, (734); but because the Word is not so rejected but that it is acknowledged as holy, but is taken away from the laity and the common people lest the profanations of good and the adulterations of truth made in it by their leaders should appear, and the laity should on that account withdraw, therefore this, because it is the cause itself, is signified by “going into perdition.” That the Word is the Divine good itself and the Divine truth is because there is in each and every thing of it the marriage of the Lord and the church, and thence the marriage of good and truth; also because there is in every thing of it a celestial sense and a spiritual sense; and in the celestial sense it is the Divine good, and in the spiritual sense it is the Divine truth; and these are in the Word, because the Lord is the Word; which things are all demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, published at Amsterdam.

740. Verse 12. And the ten horns⁶⁸ are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, signifies the Word as to power from the Divine truths with those who are in the kingdom of France, and are not so much under the yoke of the Papal dominion, with whom however there has not yet been formed a church thus separated from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion. That these things are said of those who are in the kingdom of France may be evident from the series of things in the spiritual sense; for it now treats of the reception of the Word by those who are in the Christian world: the reception of the Word, and the state of the church thence, with the Roman Catholics (verses 9-11); the reception of the Word, and the state of the church thence, with those who are attached to that religious persuasion only as to externals, who are especially in the kingdom of France (verses 12-14). The rest, who indeed profess that religion, but still dissent in various things, are treated of in Verse 15, and the Protestants, or Reformed, who have openly receded from that religion (verses 16-17).

[2] But it can by no means be known that all these are here treated of, unless it is known that the Word is meant by “the scarlet beast,” and that the church is according to the reception of the Word. That by the “scarlet beast” is meant the Word, may be seen above, (723); and that the church is a church from the Word and according to its understanding, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture 76-79. By “horns,” here the horns of the beast, the power of the Word is signified; and by “ten horns” much power, here Divine power, because it is that of the Lord through the Word. That “horns” signify power, and “ten horns” much power, may be seen above, (270, 539, 724). That by “kings” are signified those who are in Divine truths from the Word, and abstractly the Divine truths therein, (90, 664, 704); and that by “ten” is not meant ten but many and many things, (101[1-3]). By “a kingdom” is signified the church from the Word, because by “kings” are signified those who are in Divine truths from the Word, and abstractly the Divine truths therein. Hence by “they had not yet received a kingdom” is signified with whom there is not yet formed a church, thus separated from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion.

[3] It may be seen from this, that by “the ten horns are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom,” is signified the Word as to power from Divine truths with those who are in the kingdom of France, and in some other places; also those who are called Jansenists, and are not much under the yoke of the Papal dominion; with whom, however, there is not yet formed a church thus separated from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion. The church with those in the kingdom of France is said not yet to be separated from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, because it coheres with it in externals, but not so much in internals. The externals are formalities and the internals are essentials. That they still adhere to it, is because there are so many monasteries there, and because the priesthood there is under the authority of the Pontiff; and these in all formalities are governed according to the Papal edicts and statutes; and hence are still very much in the essentials of that religious persuasion. On which account the church there is not yet separated. This is what is signified by “they have not yet received a kingdom.”

741. But they receive authority as kings one hour with the beast, signifies that the Word has power with them, and they by the Word, as if they were in its Divine truths. By “receiving authority with the beast” is signified to have power together with the Word, and thus that the Word has power with them, and they by means of the Word. By “receiving authority” is signified to be strong, and by “the beast,” the Word is signified, (723); by “as kings” is signified as if they were in Divine truths from the Word. That by “kings” are signified those who are in Divine truths from the Word, and abstractly the Divine truths therein, (20, 664, 704, 740); by “one hour” is signified for some time, and also in some degree. From these things it is manifest that by “their receiving power as kings one hour with the beast,” is signified that the Word has power with them, and they through the Word, as if they were in its Divine truths. These things are said, because they acknowledge that the Word is divinely inspired, and hence that the church is a church from the Word. But still they do not as yet draw Divine truths from it, except these general ones: that God alone is to be worshiped, and not any man like God; and that the authority given to Peter is not in itself Divine, and yet that it is Divine to open and shut heaven, which is not in any man’s own power. These things they confirm in themselves from the Word; but before others, who do not hear the Word, they do it from rationality, which is given by continual influx out of heaven to everyone who wishes to be in truths. That they do not progress further, and draw the doctrinals of faith and life from the Word, is of the Lord’s Divine Providence, because they still adhere in externals, or in formalities, to the Roman Catholic religious persuasion; lest truth and falsity should be mixed together, and thence an interior strife should arise, which is like fermentation that produces disturbance.

742. Verse 13. These have one mind, and shall give over their power and authority to the beast, signifies that they acknowledge unanimously that government and dominion over the church are solely through the Word. By “having one mind” is signified to acknowledge unanimously; by “giving power and authority to the beast” is signified to ascribe government and dominion over the church to the Word. The reason that government and dominion over the church are meant, is because the Word, and therefore the church, is treated of. From these things it is manifest, that by “these have one mind, and give their power and authority to the beast,” is signified that they unanimously acknowledge that government and dominion over the church are solely through the Word. They indeed acknowledge the Pontiff as the head of the church; but they say that his government and dominion over the church is not like that of the head over the body, but is like one supreme over the body that does not rule and govern from itself, but from God through the Word; and that it is then to be obeyed. Consequently that the interpretation of the Word does not belong to his arbitrary determination alone, as has come to pass; because thus the Divine authority of the Word is perverted and perishes.

743. Verse 14. These shall fight with the Lamb, but the Lamb shall overcome them; for He is the Lord of lords and King of kings, signifies the Lord’s combat with them concerning the acknowledgment of His Divine Human, because in it the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and also the Word. By their “combat” with the Lord and the Lord’s with them is not meant a combat such as that from the evil and with the evil, but as from those and with those who are not yet in truths concerning the Lord. By “the Lamb” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human and also as to the Word, (269, 291, 595); and by “overcoming them” is signified to convince through the Word. “For He is Lord of lords and King of kings” signifies because He is God of heaven and earth. From His dominion over all the goods of heaven and the church He is called “Lord of lords,” and from His kingdom over all the truths of heaven and the church He is called King of kings, (664). It is manifest from this, that by “these shall fight with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them because He is Lord of lords and King of kings,” is signified the Lord’s combat with them concerning the acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine Human, because the Lord in His Divine Human is the God of heaven and earth.

[2] That the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, He teaches in plain words; for He says:

All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine, (John 16:15).

The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son, (John 3:35-36; 13:3).

Father, Thou hast given Me power over all flesh; all Mine are Thine and Thine are Mine, (John 17:2-3, 10).

All authority is given unto Me in heaven and in earth, (Matthew 28:18).

I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh to the Father but by Me; He that knoweth and seeth Me, knoweth and seeth the Father; because I am in the Father, and the Father in Me, (John 14:6-11).

The Father and I are one, (John 10:30).

That everyone that believeth in the Lord, should have eternal life and he that believeth not in Him, shall not see life, (John 3:15, 17-18, 36; 6:47; 11:26 and elsewhere).

Who does not know that the Lord was conceived from God the Father, (Luke 1:34-35); and who may not know from this, that God the Father, who is Jehovah, assumed the Human in the world? and hence that the Human is the Human of God the Father? and thus that God the Father and He are one, as the soul and the body are one? Can anyone, indeed, approach the soul of man and descend thence to his body? Is not his human to be approached, and then his soul approached?

[3] By these and many other things which are in the Word, the Lamb will overcome them. Therefore because they have ceased to worship the Pope, let them worship Him from whom the Pope says that he has all authority over the church and heaven. The Pope is a man, and the Lord is God; and God alone is to be approached, invoked, and adored, that is, worshiped. The Lord alone is the Holy One who is to be invoked, (Revelation 15:4). I know that they will think, “How can Jehovah the Father, who is the Creator of the universe, descend and assume the Human?” But let them think also, How can the Son from eternity, who is equal to the Father, and is also the Creator of the universe, do it? Is it not the same thing? It is said, The Father and the Son from eternity but there is not any Son from eternity. There is the Divine Human, which is called “the Son sent into the world” (Luke 1:34-35; John 3:17). But on this subject see below, (961).

744. And they who are with Him, are called, chosen, and faithful, signifies that those who approach and worship the Lord alone, are they that come into heaven, as well they who are in the externals of the church, as they that are in its internals and inmosts. “They who are with Him” signifies those who approach the Lord, for these are with Him. By “the called, the chosen, and the faithful,” are signified those who are in the externals, the internals, and the inmosts of the church; who, because they are in the Lord, come into heaven. By “the called” indeed all are meant, because all are called; but by “the called who are with the Lord” are meant they who are in heaven with the Lord, as all are called who are at the nuptials with the Bridegroom. By “the chosen” is not meant that some are elected from predestination, but they who are with the Lord are so called. By “the faithful” are meant those who have faith in the Lord.

[2] These are they who are in the externals, the internals, and the inmosts of the church, because the Lord’s church is distinguished, like heaven, into three degrees. In the lowest degree are they who are in its externals, in the second degree are they who are in its internals, and in the third degree are they who are in its inmosts. They who are with the Lord in the externals of the church are said to be “called,” they that are in its internals are “chosen,” and they that are in its inmosts “faithful:” for they are so called in the Word; where Jacob is said to be “called,” and Israel “chosen;” since by “Jacob” those are there meant who are in the externals of the church, and by “Israel” those who are in its internals. The reason that it is here said, “They that are with Him are called, chosen, and faithful,” is because it is said before that “they will fight with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them;” so that they may know that they whom the Lord overcomes, that is, convinces by the Word, are with Him in heaven; some in the lowest heaven, some in the second, and some in the third, each one according to reception.

745. Verse 15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the harlot sitteth, are peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues, signifies that they are under the Papal dominion, but in the truths of the Word variously adulterated and profaned by that religious persuasion, who are of its varieties of doctrine and discipline, and of its varieties of religion and confession. “The waters” which he saw, “where the harlot sits” are the waters which are mentioned in verse 1 of this chapter; where it is said, “I will show thee the judgment of the harlot that sitteth upon many waters.” That the truths of the Word adulterated and profaned are there signified by “the waters” may be seen above, (719). It is said that these waters “are peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues,” because by these are signified all those who are under the Papal dominion, of its varieties of doctrine and discipline and religion and confession; for by “peoples” are signified they who are in doctrine, (483); by “multitudes” those who are in discipline, by “nations” those that are in religion, (483); and by “tongues” those who are in confession, (282, 483). These things are now said, because what precedes is concerning the reception and understanding of the Word by those who are in the Roman Catholic religious persuasion itself (from verses 8-11); and afterwards concerning the reception and understanding of the Word by the noble French nation (from verses 12-14); here therefore concerning the reception and understanding of the Word with the rest who are under the Papal domination. After this it follows concerning the Protestants (verses 16-17); thus all things are foretold in a right order. It is known that there are those who under the papal domination are in various doctrine, discipline, religion, and confession; for that religious persuasion is not observed in the same manner in the various kingdoms.

746. Verse 16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the harlot, signifies the Word as to power from the Divine truths with the Protestants, who have altogether rejected from themselves the yoke of the papal domination. It is said here, as above (verse 12), “the ten horns which thou sawest;” but there they are “ten kings;” but here, “these:” because there, as here, those who have receded from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion are treated of; yet there those who have receded in part; but here, altogether. That it here treats of the Protestants or Reformed, is manifest from these things that follow: that they shall make the harlot desolate and naked, shall eat her flesh and shall burn her up with fire, and they shall give their kingdom to the beast. That the Word as to power from Divine truths is signified by the “ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast,” may be seen above, (740). “To hate the harlot” is, not to endure the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, and therefore to cast off from themselves the yoke of the papal dominion.

747. And shall make her desolate and naked, signifies that they will put off from themselves her falsities and evils. By “making her desolate” is signified to put off from themselves her falsities; and by “making her naked” is signified to put off from themselves her evils; for they make her desolate and naked with themselves. Desolation in the Word is predicated of truths and falsities, and nakedness of goods and evils; as may be evident from the passages that were adduced above concerning nakedness, (213[1-4], 706). From these things it may be evident that by “their making her desolate and naked” is signified that they will put off from themselves all the falsities and evils of that religious persuasion. That the Protestants or the Reformed have done so, is known.

748. And shall eat her flesh and burn her up with fire, signifies that from hatred they will condemn and destroy with themselves the evils and falsities which are proper to that religious persuasion, and they will hold the religious persuasion itself accursed, and will blot it out with themselves. This is concerning the Protestants, who will do thus with the harlot, that is, with the Roman Catholic religious persuasion. By “eating her flesh” is signified to condemn from hatred and to destroy among themselves the things proper to that religion, which are evils and falsities, as treated of in what follows; and by “burning her up with fire” is signified to hold that religious persuasion as accursed and profane, and to blot it out with themselves. That “to burn up with fire” has this meaning, is because the punishment of the profanation of what is holy was burning; wherefore it was of the Divine law that:

They who profaned the name of Jehovah by worshiping other gods, should themselves and all that they had be burned up with fire, (Deuteronomy 13:12-18).

Therefore the golden calf, which the sons of Israel profanely worshiped, Moses burned up with fire, (Exodus 32:20; Deuteronomy 9:21).

And the two sons of Aaron were consumed by fire from heaven, because they profaned holy things, (Leviticus 10:1-6).

Nor is anything else signified by “the fire and pile in Tophet,” but the fire of hell, which is for those who profane holy things, (Isaiah 30:33; Jeremiah 7:11, 31-32; 19:5-6; 2 Kings 23:10);

for there they worshiped Moloch by a heinous sacrifice.

[2] Since by “the fourth beast” in Daniel 7 the religious persuasion which profanes the Word and thence the holy things of the church is signified, (717), it is therefore said, that “it was burnt up with fire” (Daniel 7:11). Now as it is profane worship to worship a man in place of the Lord, it is therefore said here, that “they should burn up the harlot herself with fire,” by which is signified that they should hold as accursed the religious persuasion itself, and destroy it with themselves. The reason that “by eating her flesh” is signified to condemn from hatred and to destroy with themselves the evils and falsities which are proper to that religious persuasion, is because that is signified by “eating flesh:” for by “flesh” are signified the things proper to anyone, which have relation to goods and truths, and in the opposite sense to evils and falsities; and by “eating” is signified to consume, and thus to destroy. That by “flesh” is signified what is proper to anyone, which in itself is evil, is evident from these passages:

It is the Spirit that quickeneth, the flesh profiteth nothing, (John 6:63).

That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is generated of the spirit i, (John 3:6) s spirit, (John 3:6).

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, (John 1:12-13).

God remembered that they were flesh, a breath that passeth away and returneth not, (Psalms 78:39).

Egypt is man, and not God; and its horses are flesh, and not spirit, (Isaiah 31:3).

Jerusalem hath committed whoredom with the sons of Egypt great in flesh, (Ezekiel 16:26).

Jesus said to Peter, Flesh and blood hath not revealed these things to thee, (Matthew 16:17).

Cursed is he that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm, (Jeremiah 17:5).

[3] Because “flesh” signifies man’s proprium, and they who hate another assail the things that are his own with the purpose of destroying them, this therefore is signified by “eating flesh,” as also in these passages:

He that dieth let him die, and he that is cut off let him be cut off, let the rest eat each one the flesh of another, (Zechariah 11:9).

They shall eat up Israel with every mouth; they shall eat every man the flesh of his arm, Manasseh Ephraim, and Ephraim Manasseh, (Isaiah 9:12, 20-21).

I will feed thy oppressors with their own flesh, (Isaiah 49:26).

They shall eat everyone the flesh of his companion, (Jeremiah 19:9).

Eating the flesh of sons and daughters, (Jeremiah 19:9; Leviticus 26:29; Deuteronomy 28:53),

signified to destroy truths and goods with themselves; for by “sons” are signified truths, and by “daughters” goods, see above, (139, 543, 546, 612). Besides, in the Word “all flesh” is spoken of; and by it is signified every man, (Genesis 6:12-13, 17, 19; Isaiah 40:5-6; 49:26; 66:16, 23-24; Jeremiah 25:31; 32:27; 45:5; Ezekiel 20:48-49).

749. Verse 17. For God hath given into their hearts to do His mind, and to do one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, signifies judgment with them from the Lord, that they should altogether repudiate and hold accursed the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, and should destroy and root it out with themselves; and the unanimous judgment, that they should acknowledge the Word, and found the church upon it. Since the Roman Catholic religious persuasion is signified by “the harlot,” and the Protestants are signified by “the ten horns that shall hate the harlot,” as above, (746-748); it is manifest that by “doing His mind” is signified that they have judged and concluded that they should altogether repudiate that religious persuasion and hold it accursed, and should destroy and root it out with themselves, as above, (748). And it is also manifest, that by “doing one mind and giving the kingdom to the beast,” is signified to judge and conclude unanimously, that they should acknowledge the Word, and found the church upon it. By “the beast” is signified the Word, as everywhere above (see 723); and by “kingdom” the church is signified, and the government over it, as is shown just below. By “God gave into their hearts” is signified that they are from the Lord.

[2] That “kingdom” signifies the church may be evident from these passages:

The sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness, (Matthew 8:12).

The seed is the sons of the kingdom, (Matthew 13:38).

He that heareth the Word of the kingdom, and attendeth not, (Matthew 13:19).

The kingdom shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bearing fruits, (Matthew 21:43).

Everyone that putteth his hand to the plough, and looking back,⁶⁹ is not fit for the kingdom of God, (Luke 9:62).

Thy kingdom come, and Thy will be done, as in heaven so on the earth, (Matthew 6:10).

Jesus, John, and the disciples preached that:

The kingdom of God was at hand, (Matthew 3:2; 4:17; 10:7; Luke 10:11; 16:16).

Also the Gospel of the kingdom, (Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14; Luke 8:1).

If I by the finger of God cast out demons, no doubt the kingdom of God is come unto you, (Luke 11:20).

Besides many other places where the kingdom of God is spoken of. In like manner in these:

If ye shall hear My voice and keep My covenant, ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, (Exodus 19:5-6).

Thou, O tower of the flock, O hill of the daughter of Zion, to thee shall the former kingdom return, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem, (Micah 4:8).

Afterwards the saints shall receive the kingdom, and shall strengthen the kingdom even for ages of ages, (Daniel 7:18, 22).

The kingdom and dominion and the majesty of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints; whose kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and all dominions shall worship and obey Him, (Daniel 7:27).

Unto the Son of man was given a kingdom which shall not perish; and all peoples, nations, and tongues shall worship Him, (Daniel 7:14). Besides other places.

The church is signified by “a kingdom,” because the Lord’s kingdom is in heaven and on earth; and His kingdom on the earth is the church; hence also the Lord is called “King of kings.”

750. Until the words of God shall be consummated, signifies until all the things which have been foretold concerning them shall be fulfilled. By “being consummated” is signified to be fulfilled; and by “the words of God” are signified the things which are foretold in the Word; and because it is said “to be consummated” it signifies until they all are fulfilled. This is said of the Protestants, and of “their giving the kingdom to the beast;” that is, that they will acknowledge the Word, and found the church upon it, as just above, (749). But they do indeed acknowledge the Word, and say that the church is founded upon it; and still they found the doctrine of their church upon a single saying of Paul, that “man is justified by faith alone without the works of the law” (Romans 3:28), altogether falsely understood, (417). Because it is here said, “until the words of God are consummated,” it shall also be told what is signified by the Lord’s last words to the disciples, which are these:

Go ye and make disciples of all nations, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and behold, I am with you all the days, even until the consummation of the age. Amen, (Matthew 28:19-20).

“Until the consummation of the age” is until the end of the church, (658); and then, if they do not go to the Lord Himself, and live according to His commandments, they are left by the Lord; and being left by the Lord they become like pagans, who have no religion; and then the Lord is with those only, who will be of His New Church. These things are signified by “until the words of God are consummated,” and by “even until the consummation of the age.”

751. Verse 18. And the woman whom thou sawest is the great city, that hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth, signifies that the Roman Catholic religious persuasion as to doctrine reigns in the Christian world, and still also in some respects with the Reformed, although they are not under the papal dominion. That all these things are signified by these words, is because they make the conclusion; and thence they involve not only the things which are said concerning the Roman Catholics, but also those concerning the French nation, and those concerning the Protestants, thus that “the woman,” who is “the great city,” has a kingdom also over these. But how, shall be told. She does not have a kingdom over the Protestants, as she has over those who are attached to her religious persuasion; but only so far as they have in some part received her doctrinals. The doctrinals which they have received are these: That they approach God the Father, and not the Lord; that they do not acknowledge the Lord’s Human as Divine: that His passion of the cross is expiation, propitiation, and satisfaction to God the Father; concerning the imputation of the Lord’s merit; some things concerning Baptism, concerning original sin, and concerning free will; and with the Lutherans, that they accede nearly to transubstantiation. These doctrinals, the residue from papal Catholicism, and agreeing with it in part, are the things from which it is said, that “the woman,” who is “the great city,” “hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth.” By “the woman” the Roman Catholic religious persuasion is signified, as above; by “the city” is signified doctrine, (194[1-4], 501, 502, 712); by “kingdom” the church is signified, (749); hence by “having a kingdom” is signified government; by “the kings of the earth” are signified the truths or falsities of the church, (20, 483, 664, 704, 720, 737, 704); hence also doctrinals; by “the earth” is signified the church, (285). From these things it is evident that by these words, “the woman whom thou sawest is the great city which hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth,” is signified that the Roman Catholic religious persuasion reigns as to doctrine in the Christian world, and as to some part even with the Reformed, although they are not under the papal dominion.

752. To this I will add this Relation. It was granted me to speak with Pope Sextus Quintus. He came out of a certain society in the west to the left. He said to me that he was appointed as chief governor of a society collected from Catholics who excel the rest in judgment and industry; and that he was made their chief governor for the reason that he had believed for half a year before his death that the vicarship was an invention for the sake of dominion; and that the Lord the Savior, because He is God, is He who is alone to be adored and worshiped; also that the Sacred Scripture is Divine, and thus more holy than the edicts of popes. He said that he remained firm in the belief of these two heads of religion until the end of his life. He also said that their saints are not anything. He wondered when I related that it was decreed in a synod, and confirmed by a bull, that they should be invoked. He said that he led an active life as he had done in the world; and that he proposed to himself every morning nine or ten things, which he wished should be accomplished before evening.

I asked whence he obtained in so few years so great a treasure as he had laid up in the castle of Angelo. He replied that he wrote with his own hand to the rulers of the rich monasteries, to send him at their discretion from their resources as much as they were willing, as it was for a holy use; and that they sent abundantly, because they feared him. And when I said that that treasure was still remaining, he said, “For what use is it now?”

[2] While speaking with him, I related that since his time the treasure in Loretto had been immensely increased and enriched, and in like manner the treasures in certain monasteries, especially in Spain; but not to so great a degree at this day as in former ages. And I added, that they keep them without any end of use, other than to enjoy themselves from their possession. And when I related this, I said also that they are thus like the infernal gods, which the ancients called Plutos. When I mentioned Plutos, he replied, “Be silent, I know.” He said again, that no others are admitted into the society over which he presided, but those who excel in judgment, and can receive the belief that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, and that the Word is the Holy Divine; and that under the Lord’s auspices he is every day perfecting that society. And he said that he has spoken with the saints so called; but that they become foolish, when they hear and believe that they are saints. He also called the pontiffs and cardinals stupid, those who wish to be adored like Christ, though not in person, and who do not acknowledge the Word as the Holy Divine itself, according to which alone one should live.

[3] He wishes me to say to those who are now living, that Christ is the God of heaven and earth, and that the Word is the Holy Divine; and that the Holy Spirit does not speak through the mouth of anyone, but Satan, who wishes to be adored as God; and that they who do not attend to these things, as stupid, go away to their own, and after a time are cast down into hell, to those who labor in the fantasy that they are gods; who have no other life than the life of a wild beast. To this I said, “Perhaps these things are too hard for me to write.” But he answered, “Write, and I will endorse it, because they are true.” And then he went away from me into his society, and endorsed one copy, and transmitted it as a Bull to the other societies devoted to the same religion.

Chapter 18 (753-802)

753. Revelation 18

1. And after these things I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lightened by his glory.

2. And he cried out mightily with a great voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird.

3. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the anger of her whoredom, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich from the abundance of her luxuries.

4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye become not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues.

5. For her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her injustices.

6. Render unto her even as she hath rendered unto you; and double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath mingled, mingle to her double.

7. As much as she hath glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so much torment and mourning give her, for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am not a widow, and shall not see mourning.

8. For this shall her plagues come in one day, death and mourning and famine; and she shall be burned up in fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her.

9. And the kings of the earth shall weep for her, and wail over her, who have committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning;

10. Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, that great city Babylon, that mighty city; for in one hour is thy judgment come.

11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, because no one buyeth their merchandise any more;

12. Merchandise of gold and silver, and precious stone and pearls, and fine linen and purple, and silk and scarlet, and all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, and every vessel of precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble,

13. And cinnamon and incense, and ointment and frankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour and wheat, and beasts of burden and sheep, and horses, and carriages, and bodies and souls of men.

14. And the fruits of the desire of thy soul have departed from thee, and all fat and splendid things have departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all.

15. The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, shall stand afar off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,

16. And saying, Woe, woe, that great city, arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold, and precious stone, and pearls; ¹ for in one hour so great riches were devastated.

17. And every pilot and everyone employed upon ships, and sailors, and as many as work at sea, stood afar off,

18. And cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this great city?

19. And they cast dust upon their heads, and cried, weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, that great city, in which all that had ships in the sea were made rich by her costliness; for in one hour they were devastated.

20. Exult over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath judged your judgment upon her.

21. And one strong angel took up a stone like a great mill-stone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be cast down, and shall not be found anymore.

22. And the voice of harpers, and musicians, and pipers, and trumpeters shall not be heard in thee anymore; and no craftsman of any craft shall be found in thee anymore; and the voice of a millstone shall not be heard in thee anymore;

23. And the light of a lamp shall not shine in thee anymore, and the voice of bridegroom and bride shall not be heard in thee anymore; because thy merchants were the great ones of the earth; because by thy sorcery have all nations been seduced.

24. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth.

Footnotes:

1. English version, verse 17 begins here.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

Continuation concerning the Roman Catholic religious persuasion. That on account of adulterations and profanations of the truths of the Word, and thence of the church, it will perish (verses 1-8). Concerning the highest in the ecclesiastical order there, what their quality is, and concerning their mourning (verses 9-10). Concerning the lower ones in that order (verses 11-16). Concerning the laity and the common people, who are under obedience to them (verses 17-19). The joy of the angels on account of its removal (verse 20). Concerning its destruction in the spiritual world on account of its having no acknowledgment of, inquiry after, enlightenment in, and reception of truth, and hence no conjunction of truth and good, which makes the church (verses 21-24).

The contents of each verse

Verse 1. “After these things I saw,” signifies a continuation respecting the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, (753). “I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lightened by his glory,” signifies a strong influx of the Lord out of heaven by the Divine truth, from which His church was in celestial light, (754).

Verse 2. “And he cried out mightily with a great voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” signifies that he made it known, that by the Lord’s Divine power all who have been in that religion and at the same time in the love of domineering from it, were destroyed in the spiritual world, and cast into many hells, (755). “And is become a habitation of demons,” signifies that their hells are the hells of the lusts of domineering from the fire of the love of self, and of the lusts of profaning the truths of heaven from the spurious zeal of that love, (756). “And a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird,” signifies that the evils of will and thence of the deed, and the falsities of thought and thence of design, of those who are in those hells, are diabolical, because they are turned away from the Lord to themselves, (757).

Verse 3. “For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the anger of her whoredom, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her,” signifies that they have put forth wicked dogmas, which are adulterations and profanations of the good and truth of the Word, and have imbued with them all that have been born and brought up in the kingdoms under their domination, (758). “And the merchants of the earth have become rich from the abundance of her luxuries,” signifies the greater and less in rank in that hierarchy, who through dominion over holy things strive for Divine majesty and super-regal glory, and continually aim to establish it by the multiplication of monasteries and of possessions under them, and by the treasures which without end they gather together and heap up from the world, and thus procure to themselves corporeal and natural delights from the celestial and spiritual dominion attributed to them, (759).

Verse 4. “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye become not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues,” signifies exhortation from the Lord to all, as well those who are in that religion as those who are not in it, to beware of conjunction with it by acknowledgment and affection, lest as to their souls they should be conjoined to its abominations, and should perish, (760).

Verse 5. “For her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her injustices,” signifies that its evils and falsities infest the heavens, and that the Lord will protect these from violence thence, (761).

Verse 6. “Render unto her even as she hath rendered unto you; double unto her double according to her works; in the cup which she hath mingled, mingle to her double,” signifies just retribution and punishment after death, that then the evils and falsities by which they have seduced and destroyed others, will return upon them, according to their quantity and quality, (762).

Verse 7. As much “as she hath glorified herself and lived luxuriously, so much torment and mourning give her,” signifies that in the degree of their elation of heart from dominion and according to their exultation of mind and body from riches, they have after death internal pain from being cast down and derided, and from want and misery, (763). “For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am not a widow, and shall not see mourning,” signifies that they have these things, because from elation of heart over their dominion and from exultation of mind over their riches, they are in trust and confidence that they will have dominion forever, and shall protect themselves, and that they can never be deprived of them, (764).

Verse 8. “For this in one hour⁷⁰ shall her plague come, death and mourning and famine,” signifies that on this account, at the time of the Last Judgment, the punishments of the evils which they have done will return upon them, which are death, which is infernal life, and internal grief from being cast down from dominion; mourning which is internal grief from want and wretchedness in place of opulence; and hunger, which is the deprivation of the understanding of all truth, (765). “And she shall be burned up in fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her,” signifies that they will be hatreds against the Lord and against His heaven and church, because they then see that the Lord alone had dominion and reigns over all things in the heavens and on earth, and not at all any man from himself, (766).

Verse 9. “And the kings of the earth shall weep for her and wail over her, who have committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,” signifies the more interior pains of those who have been in higher dominion and its delights, by means of the falsified and adulterated truths of the Word which they made the holy things of the church, when they see them turned into profane things, (767).

Verse 10. “And standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, that great city Babylon, that mighty city; for in one hour is thy judgment come,” signifies their fear of punishments, and their grievous lamentation that that religious persuasion, so fortified, could be so suddenly and completely overturned, and that they could perish, (769).

Verse 11. “And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, because no one buyeth their merchandise anymore,” signifies the lesser in the order, who minister and make gain by holy things, here their griefs that after the destruction of Babylon they cannot make profits by them as before, (771).

Verse 12. “Merchandise of gold and silver and precious stone and pearls,” signifies that they no longer have these things, because they have no spiritual goods and truths, to which such things correspond, (772). “And fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet,” signifies that they no longer have these things, because they have not the celestial goods and truths to which such things correspond, (773). “And all thyine wood and every vessel of ivory,” signifies that they no longer have these, because they have not the natural goods and truths to which such things correspond, (774). “And every vessel of precious wood and of brass and iron and marble” signifies that they no longer have these, because they have not the scientific goods and truths in things of the church to which such things correspond, (775).

Verse 13. “And cinnamon and incense and ointment and frankincense,” signifies that they no longer have worship from spiritual goods and truths, because they have nothing within their worship, which corresponds to the things here named, (777). “And wine and oil and fine flour and wheat,” signifies that they no longer have worship from celestial truths and goods, because they have not within their worship the things which correspond to those here named, (778). “And beasts of burden and sheep,” signifies that they no longer have worship from the external or natural goods and truths of the church, because they have not anything within their worship which corresponds to the above mentioned things, (780). “And horses and carriages and bodies and souls of men,” signifies all those things according to the understanding of the Word and doctrine thence, and according to the goods and truths of the sense of its letter, which they have not, because they have falsified and adulterated them, (781).

Verse 14. “And the fruits of the desire of thy soul have departed from thee, and all fat and splendid things have departed from thee, and thou shalt find them no more,” signifies that all the blessedness and happiness of heaven, even the external, such as are desired by them, will altogether flee away, and will no longer appear, because they have no celestial and spiritual affections of good and truth, (782).

Verse 15. “And the merchants of these things, who became rich by her, shall stand afar off, for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,” signifies the state before damnation, and then their fear and lamentation who have made gain by various dispensations and promises of heavenly joys, (783).

Verse 16. “And saying, Woe, woe, that great city, arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold and precious stone and pearls, for in one hour so great riches were devastated,” signifies grievous lamentation that their magnificence and their gains are so suddenly and so fully destroyed, (785).

Verse 17. “And every pilot, and everyone employed upon ships, and sailors, and as many as work at sea,” signifies those who are called the laity, as well they who are placed in greater dignity as those that are in less, even to the common people, who are attached to that religious persuasion, and love and kiss it, or acknowledge and venerate it in heart, (786). “Stood afar off (verse 18) and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What city is like unto this city?” signifies their mourning in a remote state over the condemnation of that religious persuasion, which they believed to be supereminent above every religion in the world, (787).

Verse 19. “And they cast dust upon their heads, and cried weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, that great city,” signifies their interior and exterior grief and mourning which is lamentation that so eminent a religious persuasion should be altogether destroyed and condemned, (788). “In which all that had ships in the sea were made rich by her costliness, for in one hour they were devastated,” signifies on this account, that by the holy things of that religious persuasion all, as many as were willing to buy, were absolved, and for worldly and temporal riches received heavenly and eternal riches, (789).

Verse 20. “Exult over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath judged your judgment upon her,” signifies that the angels of heaven and the men of the church who are in the goods and truths from the Word should now rejoice in heart that those who are in the evils and falsities of that religious persuasion are removed and rejected, (790).

Verse 21. And one strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city, Babylon, be cast down, and shall not be found anymore,” signifies that by a strong influx of the Lord out of heaven, that religious persuasion with all its adulterated truths of the Word, will be cast headlong into hell, and will not appear to the angels anymore, (791).

Verse 22. “And the voice of harpers and musicians and pipers and trumpeters shall not be heard in thee anymore,” signifies that there will not be with them any affection of spiritual truth and good nor any affection of celestial good and truth, (792). “And no craftsman of any craft shall be found anymore in thee,” signifies that they who are in that religious persuasion from doctrine and from a life according to it, have no understanding of spiritual truth, and thence no thought of spiritual truth, so far as it is from themselves, (793). “And the voice of a millstone shall not be heard in thee anymore,” signifies that with those who are in that religious persuasion from its doctrine and from a life according to it, there is no searching for, investigation of and confirmation of spiritual truth, because the falsity received and confirmed, and thus implanted, stands in the way, (794).

Verse 23. “And the light of a lamp shall not shine in thee anymore” signifies that they who are in that religious persuasion from doctrine and from a life according to it, have no enlightenment from the Lord, and hence no perception of spiritual truth, (796). “And the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall not be heard in thee anymore,” signifies that they who are in that religious persuasion from doctrine and from a life according to it, have no conjunction of good and truth, which makes the church, (797). “For thy great ones were the merchants⁷¹ of the earth” signifies that the higher ones in their ecclesiastical hierarchy are such; because by the various and arbitrary rights left to them in the statutes of the order, they make gain and profit, (799). “For by thy sorcery all the nations were seduced,” signifies their wicked arts and devices, by which they have led away the minds [animus] of all from the holy worship of the Lord to the profane worship of living and dead men and idols, (800).

Verse 24. “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth,” signifies that from the religious persuasion which is meant by “the city Babylon” is the adulteration and profanation of every truth of the Word and thence of the church, and that falsity has emanated therefrom into the whole Christian world.

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. And after these things I saw, signifies the manifestation concerning the destruction and condemnation of those who were in the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, and exercised authority over the holy things of the church and heaven, with the purpose of having dominion over all, and of possessing all the goods of others. These things are here signified by “after these things I saw,” because they are treated of in this chapter. The dogmas of that religious persuasion are prefixed to this work, that they who are in enlightenment from the Lord may see that they regard nothing else than dominion over the souls of men, to the end that they may be worshiped as gods, and may alone possess the goods of the whole world.

And because that was their end, and not at all the salvation of souls, they could not take their dogmas from any other source than from hell; for they could not from heaven, that is, from the Lord, but from themselves, because they transferred all things of the Lord to themselves. What is more detestable than to divide the body and blood of the Lord, or the bread and wine in the Holy Supper, manifestly against its institution, and this by fictions, and solely for the sake of the daily and nightly sacrifices of the Mass, by which they make worldly gains? What is more detestable than to worship dead men with Divine invocation, and to fall down on the knees to their images, and to kiss them in a holy manner, yea, the bones and remains of their dead bodies, and thus to lead away the people from Divine worship and to lead them into profane worship; and this also for the sake of gains? What is more detestable than to make Divine worship on the Lord’s day and on festivals to consist in masses not understood, and thus in externals which are of the body and its affections without internals which are of the soul and its affections, and to ascribe to the former all sanctity, and thus to hold all in ignorance and blind faith, that they may have dominion and make gain? What is more detestable than to transfer all things of the Lord’s Divine authority to themselves? which is nothing else than to draw down the Lord from His throne, and to put themselves upon it. What is more detestable than to take away the Word, which is the Divine truth itself, from the laity and the common people, and to issue edicts and dogmas in its place, in which there is scarcely one genuine truth of the Word? These are the things which are treated of in this chapter of Revelation.

754. I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, and the earth was lightened by his glory, signifies a strong influx of the Lord out of heaven by the Divine truth, from which His church was in heavenly light. By “an angel” the Lord is signified; by “an angel coming down out of heaven” is signified the Lord’s influx out of heaven; by “having great authority,” is signified strong influx; by “the earth was lightened by his glory” is signified the church in heavenly light from the Lord by Divine truth. That by “an angel” and by “angels” in the Word the Lord is meant, may be seen, (258, 344, 465, 649, 657, 718). By “coming down” is signified to flow in, because it is said of the Lord. That the church is signified by “the earth” (285, 721). That glory is said of the Divine truth, and signifies it, (249, 629[1-2]); it is said, Divine truth in heavenly light, because the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is the light of heaven, which enlightens the angels, and makes their wisdom. The influx of the Lord by Divine truth is now spoken of, and the enlightenment of the church by it, because by that influx those that are in falsities are separated from those who are in truths; and likewise, falsities from the light of truth appear as they really are.

755. Verse 2. And he cried out mightily with a great voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, signifies that he made it known that by the Lord’s Divine power all who have been in that religious persuasion, and at the same time in the love of dominion from it, are destroyed in the spiritual world, and are cast into many hells. That this is signified by these words may be evident from the small work on The Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon, published at London in the year 1758; where its destruction is described, (53-64); from which it may be seen that those of that religious persuasion who from the heat of the love of self have exercised dominion over the holy Divine things of the Lord, which are those of heaven and the church, and who have been mere idolaters, were destroyed and cast into hell. But that those of the same religious persuasion, who had lived according to the precepts of the Decalogue, shunning evils as sins, and at the same time looked to the Lord, were saved, may be seen in The Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and Concerning the Spiritual World, (58); to which there is no need to add more. The like is said of Babel in Isaiah:

A lion cried upon the watch-towers, and said, Babel is fallen, is fallen, and all the graven images of her gods hath he broken on the earth, (Isaiah 21:8-9).

Similar ones are collected from that religious persuasion since the Last Judgment, and from time to time are sent to their like.

756. And is become the habitation of demons, signifies that their hells are the hells of the lusts of dominion from the heat of the love of self, and of the lusts of profaning the truths of heaven from the spurious zeal of that love. By “demons” the lusts of evils are signified, (458), and also the lusts of falsifying truths. But demons, like lusts, are of many kinds; but the worst are those who are lusts of having dominion over the holy things of the church and over heaven from the heat of the love of self. And because this domineering disposition is seated in their hearts, they are also lusts of profaning the truths of heaven from the spurious zeal of that love. And as these, when they become demons, which takes place after death, know that the Lord alone rules over heaven and earth, they become hatreds against Him, till at length, as after the lapse of an age, they cannot endure to hear Him named. It is manifest from this, that by “Babylon has become a habitation of demons,” is signified that their hells are the hells of the lusts of having dominion from the heat of the love of self, and the lusts of profaning the truths of heaven from the spurious zeal of that love.

[2] It is not known in the world, that all after death become affections of the ruling love in themselves. Those become good affections, who have looked to the Lord and to heaven, and at the same time have shunned evils as sins; but those become evil affections, which are lusts, who have looked only to themselves and the world, and have shunned evils not as sins, but only as hurtful to one’s reputation and honor. Those affections appear to the life and are perceived in the spiritual world, but in the natural world, only the thoughts from the affections. Hence it is, that man does not know that hell is in the affections of the love of evil, and heaven in the affections of the love of good. That man does not know and that he does not perceive it, is because the lusts of the love of evil derive from heredity that they are delightful in the will, and thence are pleasant in the understanding; and a man does not reflect upon that which is delightful and pleasant, because it leads his mind [animus] along, as the current of a swift river carries a vessel. Wherefore they who have immersed themselves in those delights and pleasures cannot come to the delights and pleasures of the affections of the love of good and truth any otherwise than as those who urge the oars against the current of the swift river with the strong power of the arms. But it is otherwise with those who have not immersed themselves deeply.

757. And the hold of every unclean spirit, and the hold of every unclean and hateful bird, signifies that the evils of the will and thence of the deed, and the falsities of thought and thence of design, of those who are in those hells, are diabolical, because they are turned away from the Lord to themselves. By “a hold” is signified hell, because there they are imprisoned; by “spirit” is signified everything that is of the affection or the will and thence of the deed; and by “bird” is signified everything that is of the thought or the understanding and thence of the design. Therefore by “unclean spirit” and “unclean bird” are signified all the evils which are of the will and thence of the deed, and all the falsities which are of the thought and thence of the design. And because these are with them in the hells, it is therefore signified that they are diabolical; and because they are turned away from the Lord to themselves, it is also called, “a hateful bird.” Babel is described by similar things in the prophets; thus in Isaiah:

Babel shall be as God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah; it shall not be inhabited to eternity, so that the Arab shall not tarry there; the ziim shall lie down there, and their houses shall be filled with ochim, and the daughters of the owl shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there; the ziim also shall answer in her palaces, and the dragons in her palaces of luxuries, (Isaiah 13:19-22).

In the same:

I will cut off from Babel the name and remnant; I will make her an inheritance for the bittern, (Isaiah 14:22-23).

And in Jeremiah:

In Babel shall dwell the ziim and ijim and daughters of the owl, according to God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah and its villages; no son of man shall dwell there, (Jeremiah 50:39-40).

It is manifest from these passages, that by “the hold of every unclean spirit, and of every unclean and hateful bird,” is signified that the evils of the will and thence of the deed, and the falsities of the thought and thence of the design, of those who are in those hells, are diabolical, because they are turned away from the Lord to themselves.

[2] It is manifest from the Word, that “birds” signify such things as are of the understanding and thought and thence of design, in each sense, both evil and good. In the evil sense they are mentioned in these passages:

In the midst of the week I will make the sacrifice to cease, at length upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, unto the consummation it shall drop upon the devastation, (Daniel 9:27).

The cormorant and the bittern shall possess the land, the screech owl and the raven shall dwell in it, (Isaiah 34:11).

Nothing else but infernal falsities are signified by “the ochim,” “the ziim,” “the daughters of the owl,” and “the dragons,” in the passages adduced above; also by:

The birds which came down upon the carcasses, which Abram drove away, (Genesis 15:11).

By the birds to which their carcasses should be given for food, (Jeremiah 7:33; 15:3; 16:4; 19:7; 34:20; Ezekiel 29:5; Psalms 79:1-2);

Also by the birds which devour that which was sowed, (Matthew 13:3-4).

[3] In the good sense, in these passages:

Let the creeping thing and the bird praise the name of Jehovah, (Psalms 148:10).

I will make a covenant for them in that day with the bird of the heavens and the creeping thing of the earth, (Hosea 2:18).

Ask the beasts and they shall teach thee, and the birds of heaven and they shall declare unto thee; who from all these hath not known that the hand of Jehovah doeth it? (Job 12:7-9)

I saw, when, behold, there was no man, every bird of the heavens flew away, (Jeremiah 4:25).

From the bird of the heavens even to the beast they are fled, because I will make Jerusalem heaps, the habitation of dragons, (Jeremiah 9:10-11; 12:9).

There is no truth, no mercy, no knowledge of God; therefore the land shall mourn as to the beast of the field and as to the bird of the heavens, (Hosea 4:1, 3).

I am God, that calls the bird from the east, the man of My counsel out of a land afar off, (Isaiah 46:9, 11).

Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon; all the birds of the heavens nested in its branches, and in its shadow dwelt all great nations, (Ezekiel 31:3, 6).

[4] Things similar to this are said of Ashur as a cedar elsewhere, as Ezekiel 17:23; Daniel 4:10-14, 20-21; Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:32; Luke 13:19. Say to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field, come to the great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel; so will I give My glory among the nations, (Ezekiel 39:17, 21; Revelation 19:17; besides other places, as Isaiah 18:1, 6; Ezekiel 38:20; Hosea 9:11; 11:9, 11; Zephaniah 1:3; Psalms 8:6-8; 50:11; 104:10, 12).

That “birds” signify the things which are of the understanding and thence of thought and design is clearly manifest from the birds in the spiritual world, where there appear also birds of every genus and every species; in heaven most beautiful ones, birds of paradise, turtledoves, and doves, in hell dragons, screech owls, horned owls, and other similar ones; all of which are representations to the life, of thoughts from good affections in heaven, and of thoughts from evil affections in hell.

758. Verse 3. For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the anger of her whoredom, and the kings of the earth committed whoredom with her, signifies that they have put forth wicked dogmas, which are adulterations and profanations of the good and truth of the Word, and have imbued with them all that have been born and educated in the kingdoms under their domination. That this is signified by these words may be evident from the explanations above, (631, 632, 720, 721); where are like things, to which there is no need of adding more; only that similar things are said of Babel in Jeremiah:

A cup of gold is Babel in the hand of Jehovah making the whole earth drunken, the nations have drunk of her wine, therefore they are insane, (Jeremiah 51:7).

Also:

Let Babel be a hissing, when they have grown warm, I will make their banquets, and I will make them drunken, that they may exult, and may sleep the sleep of an age, and not awake, (Jeremiah 51:37, 39).

By “the wine” which they drink, and by which they are made drunk, their dogmas are signified; and how wicked these are, may be seen above, (754). Among them also is this wicked one, that the works which they do according to their doctrinals make merits, by transcribing into them, and thus into themselves, the Lord’s merit and justice; when yet all of charity and all of faith, or all good and truth, are from the Lord; and what is from the Lord remains the Lord’s with the recipients. For what is from the Lord is Divine, which can never become man’s own. The Divine can be with a man, but not in his proprium, for man’s proprium is nothing but evil; wherefore he who attributes to himself what is Divine as his own, not only defiles it, but also profanes it. The Divine from the Lord is exquisitely separated from man’s proprium and is elevated above it, and is never immersed in it. But because they have transferred to themselves all the Divine of the Lord and thus have appropriated it to themselves, it flows like bituminous water, when it rains, from a spring which is bitumen. It is similar with that dogma, that justification is real sanctification; and that their saints are holy in themselves, when yet the Lord alone is holy, (Revelation 15:4). More may be seen concerning merit in the work concerning The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 150-158, published at London in the year 1758.

759. And the merchants of the earth have become rich from the abundance of her luxuries, signifies the greater and the less in rank in that hierarchy, who through dominion over holy things strive for Divine majesty and super-regal glory, and continually aim to establish them firmly by the multiplication of monasteries and of possessions under them, and by the treasures which without end they gather together and accumulate from the world, and thus procure for themselves corporeal and natural delights and pleasures from the celestial and spiritual dominion attributed to themselves. No others can be meant by “the merchants of Babylon” than the greater and the lesser in rank in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, because in verse 23 of this chapter it is said that they are “the great ones of the earth;” and by “the abundance of her luxuries by which they have become rich,” nothing else can be meant than the dogmas, by which, as means, they procure for themselves dominion over the souls of men, and thus also over their possessions and wealth. That they gather these together without end, and distend their treasures with them, is known. Then also that they make traffic of the holy things of the church, as that by offerings and gifts made to the monasteries and their saints and images, and by various masses, indulgences, and dispensations, they sell salvation, that is, heaven.

[2] Who cannot see that if the papal dominion had not been broken at the time of the Reformation, they would have scraped together the possessions and wealth of all the kingdoms in the whole of Europe? and then that they would have become the sole lords, and all the rest slaves? Have they not extraordinary opulence from former ages, when they had authority over emperors and kings, whom, if they were not obedient, they could excommunicate and dethrone? And have they not still annual incomes which are immense, and great treasuries full of gold, silver, and precious stones? A like barbarous dominion is seated still in the minds [animus] of very many of them; and it is restrained solely through the fear of its loss, if it is extended beyond bounds. But of what use are such great revenues, treasures, and possessions, except that they may delight and take pride in them, and confirm their domination to eternity? From this it is evident, what is here signified by “the merchants of the earth,” who have become rich from the abundance of the luxuries of Babylon. They are called “merchants” also in Isaiah:

The inhabitants of Babel have become as stubble, the fire hath burned them up; they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame; such are thy merchants from thy youth, (Isaiah 47:14-15).

[3] By trafficking and trading is signified in the Word to procure for themselves spiritual riches, which are the knowledges of truth and good, and in the opposite sense the knowledges of falsity and evil; and to gain the world by the latter, and to gain heaven by the former. Wherefore the Lord compared:

The kingdom of the heavens to a merchantman seeking beautiful pearls, (Matthew 13:45-46);

And the men of the church to servants, to whom the talents were given, with which they should trade and make gain, (Matthew 25:14-20);

And to whom ten pounds were given, with which they should in like manner trade and make gain, (Luke 19:12-26).

And because the church as to the knowledges of truth and good is signified by “Tyre,” therefore it treats of her traffic and gain in the whole of chapter 27 of Ezekiel; and it is said of her:

In thy wisdom and in thy intelligence thou hast made for thyself gold and silver in thy treasures, and by the multitude of wisdom in thy traffic hast thou multiplied for thyself wealth, (Ezekiel 28:4-5).

And elsewhere:

Tyre is devastated, whose merchants were princes, and her traders the honorable of the earth, (Isaiah 23:1-8).

And the church perverted with the Jews in the land of Canaan is called:

The land of trading, (Ezekiel 16:3, 29; 21:30; 29:14; 17:4; 28:18).

760. Verse 4. And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye may become not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues, signifies exhortation from the Lord to all, as well those who are in that religious persuasion as those who are not in it, to guard themselves from conjunction with it by acknowledgment and affection, lest as to their souls they should be conjoined with its abominations, and should perish. By “another voice from heaven saying,” is signified exhortation from the Lord to all, as well those who are in that religious persuasion as those who are not in it; because it follows, “Come out of her, my people,” that is, all who approach the Lord. This exhortation is from the Lord, because the voice was “from heaven.” By “that ye become not partakers of her sins,” is signified that they should beware lest as to their souls they should be conjoined with its abominations; and as conjunction is effected by acknowledgment and affection, this also is signified. Their sins are abominations, because they are so called in the preceding chapter, (Revelation 17:4). By “that ye receive not of her plagues,” is signified lest they perish; for by “plagues” evils and falsities are signified, and at the same time destruction by them. These are signified by “the plagues” above, (657, 673, 676, and elsewhere). Similar things are said of Babel in the Word in these passages:

Go ye out of the midst of Babel, O my people, deliver everyone his soul from the wrath of the anger of Jehovah, lest your heart become soft, and ye fear for the report, (Jeremiah 51:45-46).

Flee from the midst of Babel, and deliver everyone his soul, lest ye be cut off for her iniquity, (Jeremiah 51:6).

Forsake Babel, and let us go everyone into his own land, for her judgment hath reached to the heavens, and hath lifted itself up even to the clouds, (Jeremiah 51:9).

Go ye out of Babel, flee from the Chaldeans with the voice of singing; declare this and make it to be heard; utter it even to the extremity of the earth; say ye, Jehovah redeems, (Isaiah 48:20-21; Jeremiah 50:8).

761. Verse 5. For her sins have reached even unto heaven, and God hath remembered her injustices, signifies that their evils and falsities infest the heavens, and that the Lord will protect these from violence thence. By “her sins have reached to the heavens” is signified that their evils and falsities infest the angels of heaven. By “God hath remembered her injustices,” is signified that the Lord will protect the heavens from violence thence. This is signified by these words, because all things in the heavens are goods and truths, and all things in the hells are evils and falsities; and thence the heavens and the hells are altogether separated, and in an inverted position like the antipodes; wherefore evils and falsities cannot reach to the heavens. But yet, when evils and falsities are multiplied beyond the degrees of opposition, and thus beyond a just measure, the heavens are infested; and unless the Lord then protects the heavens, which is effected by a more powerful influx from Himself, violence is offered to the heavens; and when this has come to its height, He then executes the Last Judgment, and thus they are liberated. Hence it is, that it follows in this chapter:

Exult over her, O heaven, because God hath judged your judgment upon her, (Revelation 18:20).

And in the following chapter, (Revelation 19:1-9); and in Jeremiah:

Then shall the heavens and the earth and all that is in them sing over Babel, when the wasters shall come upon her, (Jeremiah 51:48).

762. Verse 6. Render unto her even as she hath rendered unto you, double unto her double according to her works, in the cup which she hath mingled, mingle to her double, signifies the just retribution and punishment of them after death, that then the evils and falsities by which they have seduced and destroyed others will return upon them according to their quantity and quality, which is called the law of retaliation. “Render unto her even as she hath rendered unto you,” signifies the just retribution and punishment of them after death. “Double unto her double according to her works,” signifies that the evils by which they have seduced and destroyed others will return upon them according to their quantity and quality. “In the cup which she hath mingled, mingle to her double,” signifies that the falsities will return in like manner; for by “a cup” or wine falsities are signified, (316, 635, 649, 672). Nearly the same things are said of Babel in the prophets:

Recompense unto Babel according to her work, according to all that she hath done, do unto her, for she hath acted insolently against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel, (Jeremiah 50:29).

This is the vengeance of Jehovah; take ye vengeance on Babel; as she hath done, do unto her, (Jeremiah 50:15).

The daughter of Babel is devastated; happy is he that rendereth to thee thy retribution which thou hast rendered unto us, (Psalms 137:8).

[2] It is according to the sense of the letter, that those whom they have seduced and destroyed will bring retribution on them; but it is according to the spiritual sense, that they will not do this to them, but these do it to themselves; because every evil brings its own punishment with itself. This is similar to what is said frequently in the Word, that God will bring retribution and vengeance for injustices and injuries done to Himself, and from anger and wrath will destroy them; when yet the evils themselves which they have committed against God do this; thus they do it to themselves; for this is the law of retaliation, which draws its very origin from this Divine law:

All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; for this is the Law and the Prophets, (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31).

This law in heaven is the law of mutual love or charity, from which it becomes the opposite in hell, which is, that to everyone it is done as he had done to another; not that they who are in heaven do this, but that they do it to themselves; for the retribution of retaliation is from opposition to that law of life in heaven, as if inscribed on their evils.

[3] By “double” is signified much according to quantity and quality in this passage also:

Let my persecutors be ashamed, bring upon them the day of evil, and break them with a double breaking, (Jeremiah 17:18).

Also much according to the quantity and quality of their turning away from evils, in these:

Comfort ye My people, because her warfare⁷² is fulfilled, and her iniquity is expiated; for she hath received from the hand of Jehovah double, (Isaiah 40:1-2).

Return to the stronghold, ye prisoners of hope; this day I announce, I will recompense unto thee double, (Zechariah 9:12).

For your shame ye shall have double, and in their land they shall possess the double, everlasting joy shall be unto them, (Isaiah 61:7).

763. Verse 7. As much as she hath glorified herself, and lived luxuriously, so much torment and mourning give her signifies that in the degree of their elation of heart from dominion, and according to their exultation of mind and body from riches, they have after death internal grief from being cast down and derided, and from want and misery. By “as much as she hath glorified herself” is signified in the degree according to their elation of heart from dominion; for they glorify themselves from this. By “as much as she hath lived luxuriously,” is signified in the degree of their exultation of mind and body on account of riches, and the delights and pleasures therefrom, as above, (759). By “giving her torment,” is signified internal grief at being cast down from dominion, and then derision; their torment after death is from no other source; and by “giving her mourning” is signified internal grief from want and misery; their mourning after death is from these.

[2] The delight of the love of having dominion from the love of self over all that belongs to the Lord, which are all the things of heaven and the church, is turned after death into such torment; and the pleasantness of the love of filling the mind and body with delights derived from opulence, with those who are in the aforesaid love of having dominion, is turned into such mourning. For the delights and pleasantnesses proceeding from the loves make the life of everyone; wherefore when these are turned into the opposites, there arise torment and mourning. These are the retributions and punishments which are meant in the Word by the torments in hell; and thence hatred against the Lord and against all things of heaven and the church, is meant by “the fire” there. Similar things are said of Babel in the prophets, as:

I will render unto Babel all the evil which they have done in Zion before your eyes, (Jeremiah 51:24).

The waster shall come upon Babel, for the God of retributions, Jehovah, recompensing will recompense, (Jeremiah 51:55-56).

Thy magnificence is brought down into hell; the worm is spread under thee (torment which is internal grief); thou hast said in thy heart, I will ascend the heavens, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God, I will become like the Most High; nevertheless thou shalt be brought down to hell; they that see thee shall say, Is this the man that shook the earth? that made the kingdoms tremble? etc. (Isaiah 14:11, 13-16).

This is said of Lucifer, who there is Babel, as is manifest from Isaiah 14:4, 22.

764. For she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am not a widow, and shall not see mourning, signifies that they have these things, because from elation of heart on account of dominion and exultation of mind on account of riches, they are in the trust and confidence, that they will have dominion perpetually, and will protect themselves; and that they can never be deprived of these things. “To say in their heart” signifies to be in assurance from elation of heart over dominion, also to be in confidence from exultation of mind over riches. “I sit a queen” signifies that they will have dominion, here perpetually, because “I shall not see mourning” follows. “I am not a widow,” signifies that they will protect themselves. By “a widow” is signified one who is without protection, because without a man. It is said, “a queen” and “a widow,” and not “king” and “man,” because Babylon as a church is meant. “And I shall not see mourning” signifies that they can never be deprived of those two things. That they have mourning therefrom after death, may be seen just above, (763).

[2] Very similar things are said of Babel in Isaiah:

Thou shalt no more call thyself the mistress of kingdoms; thou hast said in thy heart, I shall be mistress forever, saying in thy heart, I am, and there is none else like me; I shall not sit a widow, nor shall I know bereavement; but these two things shall come unto thee in one day, bereavement and widowhood. They shall come upon thee for the multitude of thy sorceries, and the greatness of thy many enchantments. Thou hast trusted in wickedness; thou hast said, None seeth me; thy wisdom hath seduced thee, when thou hast said in thine heart, I am, and there is none else like me; therefore devastation shall come upon thee suddenly, (Isaiah 47:5, 7, 8-11).

By “a widow” in the Word is meant one who is without protection, for by “a widow” in the spiritual sense is signified one who is in good and not in truth. For by “a man” is signified truth, and by “his wife,” good; hence by “a widow,” good without truth is signified, and good without truth is without protection; for truth protects good. This is signified by widow when mentioned in the Word (as Isaiah 9:14-15, 17; 10:1-2; Jeremiah 22:3; 49:10-11; Lamentations 5:2-3; Ezekiel 22:6-7; Malachi 3:5; Psalms 68:5; 146:7-9; Exodus 22:21-24; Deuteronomy 10:18; 27:19; Matthew 23:14; Luke 4:24; 20:47).

765. Verse 8. For this in one day shall her plagues come, death and mourning and famine, signifies that on this account at the time of the Last Judgment the punishments of the evils which they have done will return upon them, which are death, which is infernal life and inward grief from being cast down from dominion; mourning, which is internal grief from want and misery in place of opulence; and famine, which is the deprivation of the understanding of all truth. By “for this” is meant because she said in her heart, “I sit a queen, and am not a widow, and shall not see mourning,” concerning which just above, (764). By “in one day” the time of the Last Judgment is signified, which is also called the Day of Judgment. By “plagues” are signified the punishments of the evils which they did in the world, which will then return upon them. By “death” is signified infernal life and inward grief from being cast down from dominion, which is called torment above, (763); concerning which death something will be said presently. By “mourning” is signified internal grief from want and misery in place of opulence, as also above, (764). By “famine” the deprivation of the understanding of all truth is signified. Into these three plagues or punishments those of that religious persuasion come, who have had dominion from the love of self, and with no love of uses except for the sake of self. These are also atheists in heart, since they attribute all things to their own prudence and to nature. The rest from that nation, who are such, but do not think interiorly in themselves, are idolaters. It may be seen above, (323), that the deprivation of the understanding of all truth is meant by the plague or punishment which is called “famine.” Every man indeed, as long as he lives in the world, has rationality, that is, the faculty of understanding truth. This faculty remains with every man after death. Still they who have imbued falsities of religion in the world from the love of self and the pride of their own intelligence, after death are not willing to understand truth; and not to be willing is as it were not to be able. This inability from unwillingness is with all such, and is increased from this, that from the delight of the lust of falsity for the sake of dominion they continually imbue new confirming falsities, and thus become as to the understanding mere falsities, and remain so to eternity. Similar things are meant by these words concerning Babel in Jeremiah:

Your mother is greatly ashamed, she that bare you is suffused with shame; behold, the end shall be a wilderness, dryness, and a desert; from the anger of Jehovah it shall not be inhabited, but shall be a total devastation; everyone that passeth by Babylon shall be astonished, and shall hiss over all her plagues, (Jeremiah 50:12-13).

766. And she shall be burnt up in fire, for strong is the Lord God who judgeth her signifies that they will be hatreds against the Lord and against His heaven and church, because they then see that the Lord alone has dominion and reigns over all things in the heavens and on earth, and not at all any man from himself. By “fire” with which she will be burnt up is signified hatred against the Lord and against His heaven and church, of which see below. By “for strong is the Lord that judgeth her,” is signified that they see then, that is, in the spiritual world into which they come after death, that the Lord alone has dominion and reigns over all things in the heavens and on earth, and not at all any man from himself. This is signified by “strong is the Lord God that judgeth her,” because the Lord does not judge anyone to hell, but they themselves; for when they feel the angelic sphere concerning the Lord flowing down out of heaven, they flee away and cast themselves into hell, as may be evident from the things that were shown above, (233, 325, 339-340, 387, 502).

[2] That by “fire” is signified love in both senses, celestial love which is love to the Lord, and infernal love which is the love of self, may be seen above, (468, 494). That infernal fire is hatred, is because the love of self hates; for all who are in that love burn with anger according to the degree of it, and are inflamed with hatred and revenge against those who oppose; and they who are of Babylon, against those that deny that they are to be worshiped and adored as sanctities. When, therefore, they hear that the Lord alone is worshiped and adored in heaven, and that to worship any man in place of the Lord is profane, adoration of the Lord becomes in them hatred against Him, and the adulteration of the Word to the end that they may be worshiped becomes profane. This, therefore, is what is signified by “Babylon shall be burned up with fire.” It may be seen above, (748), that “being burned up with fire” is the punishment of the profanation of what is holy. The like is meant by these words in Jeremiah:

I am against thee, O Babel, the destroying mountain, that destroyest the whole earth; I will roll thee down from the rocks, and will give thee for a mountain of burning. The walls of Babel are utterly overturned, and her high gates are burned up with fire, (Jeremiah 51:25, 58).

767. Verse 9 (Revelation 18:9). And the kings of the earth shall weep for her and wail over her, who have committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with her, when they see the smoke of her burning, signifies the more interior griefs of those who have been in higher dominion and its delights by means of the falsified and adulterated truths of the Word, which they made the holy things of the church, when they see them turned into profane things. In this and the following verse the mourning “of the kings of the earth” is treated of, by whom the highest in the order are meant, who are called magnates and primates; from verses 11-16, the mourning of “the merchants of the earth” is treated of, by whom are meant the lower ones in the order, who are called monks; and from verses 17-19, the mourning of “the shipmasters and sailors” is treated of, by whom those are meant that contribute, who are called the laity. Here “the kings of the earth” are now treated of, by whom the highest in the order are signified. That by “kings” are not meant kings, but those who are in truths from good, and in the opposite sense, in falsities from evil, may be seen above, (483, 704, 720, 737, 740). Here, therefore, by “the kings of the earth” who committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with the harlot, are signified those who are in dominion and its delights through the truths of the Word falsified and adulterated, especially through that truth falsified and adulterated by them, which the Lord said to Peter; respecting which something follows. That “to commit whoredom” signifies to falsify and adulterate the truths of the Word, may be seen, (134, 632, 635); and that to live luxuriously signifies to enjoy the delights of dominion and at the same time of opulence, (759). By their “weeping and wailing,” their interior griefs are signified. It is said “to weep and wail over” because to weep over is from grief at being cast down from dominion, and to wail over is from grief at the deprivation of opulence. And because the griefs of these are more interior than those of the “merchants of the earth,” it is therefore said of “the kings of the earth,” by whom are meant the higher ones in the order, that “they weep and wail over,” and of “the merchants of the earth,” by whom the lower ones of the order are meant, it is said that “they wept and mourned.” By “seeing the smoke of her burning” is signified when they see the falsities of their religious persuasion, which are the falsified and adulterated truths of the Word, turned into profane things. By “smoke” those falsities are signified, (422, 452); and by “burning” is signified what is profane, (766). From these things, and from those which are explained above, (766), it is manifest that by “the kings of the earth, who have committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with her, shall weep and wail over her when they see the smoke of her burning,” are signified the more interior griefs of those who were in higher dominion and its delights through the truths of the Word falsified and adulterated, when they see them turned into what is profane.

768. Something shall here be said concerning that truth which the Lord said to Peter respecting the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and respecting the authority to bind and loose, (Matthew 16:15-20). They say that that authority was given to Peter, and that it has been transferred to them as his successors; and that the Lord thus left to Peter, and after him to them, all His authority; and that he should act as His vicar on earth. But still it is plainly manifest from the Lord’s words themselves, that he did not give the least of authority to Peter; for the Lord says, “Upon this rock I will build My church.” By a “rock” the Lord is signified as to His Divine truth; and the Divine truth which is the rock, is there what Peter confessed, before the Lord said those words; which is this:

Jesus said to the disciples, But who say ye that I am? Simon Peter answering said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, (Matthew 16:15-16).

This is the truth upon which the Lord builds His church, and Peter then represented that truth. From which it is manifest, that the confession of the Lord, that He is the Son of the living God, who has power over heaven and earth, (Matthew 28:18), is that upon which the Lord builds His church; and thus upon Himself, and not upon Peter. It is known in the church that the Lord is meant by a rock.

[2] I once spoke with the Babylonian nation, in the spiritual world, concerning the keys given to Peter, whether they believe that authority over heaven and hell was transferred by the Lord to him. Which, as it was the head of their religion, they vehemently insisted upon; saying that there was no doubt of it, because it is manifestly said. But to the inquiry, whether they knew that in everything in the Word there is a spiritual sense, which is the sense of the Word in heaven, they said at first that they did not know it; but afterwards they said they would inquire. And when they inquired, they were instructed that there is a spiritual sense in each thing of the Word, which differs from the sense of the letter as spiritual from natural; and they were further instructed that no person named in the Word is named in heaven, but that instead something spiritual is there understood. They were informed at length, that for “Peter” in the Word the truth of the church from good is meant, and the same by the rock, which is mentioned together with Peter; and that it may thereby be known, that not any authority was given to Peter, but to truth from good; for all authority in the heavens belongs to truth from good, or is of good by truth. And as all good and all truth are from the Lord, and nothing from man, that all authority belongs to the Lord. On hearing this, being indignant, they said that they wished to know whether there is that spiritual sense in those words. Whereupon the Word which is in heaven was given to them, in which Word there is not the natural sense, but the spiritual; because it is for the angels, who are spiritual. And when they read it, they saw manifestly that Peter was not mentioned there, but instead of him “Truth from good which is from the Lord.” On seeing this, they rejected it from anger, and would almost have torn it in pieces with their teeth, unless at that moment it had been taken away from them. They were thence convinced, although they were not willing to be convinced, that to the Lord alone that authority belongs, and not in the least to any man, because it is a Divine authority.

769. Verse 10. And standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Woe, woe, that great city Babylon, that mighty city, for in one hour is thy judgment come, signifies their fear of punishments, and then grievous lamentation, that this religious persuasion, so fortified, could be so suddenly and completely overturned, and that they could perish. “To stand afar off for the fear of torment” signifies a state as yet remote from the state of those who are in condemnation, because they are in fear of torment, as will be explained in what follows. “Woe, woe,” signifies grievous lamentation. That “woe” signifies lamentation over calamity, unhappiness, and condemnation, may be seen above, (416); hence “woe, woe” signifies grievous lamentation. By “the great city Babylon” that religious persuasion is signified; here as above, (751), Babylon as a woman or harlot, because “her torment” is spoken of. By “mighty city” is signified the religious persuasion so fortified. By “in one hour is thy judgment come” is signified that it could be so suddenly overturned, and that they could perish. “In one hour” signifies so suddenly; and by “judgment” is signified its overthrow and the destruction of those who committed whoredom and lived luxuriously with the harlot, who are here treated of. That they perished by the Last Judgment may be seen in the small work on The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed, published at London, 1758. These things are said respecting that destruction.

[2] The reason that “they stood afar off for fear of her torment” signifies a state as yet remote from the state of those who are in condemnation, because in fear of the torment, is because by “afar off” is not meant remoteness of space, but remoteness of state, when one is in fear of punishments; for as long as a man is in a state of fear, he sees, weighs, and laments. Remoteness of state, which is remoteness in the spiritual sense, is also signified by “afar off” elsewhere in the Word, as in these passages:

Hear, ye that are afar off, what I will do; and ye that are near, know my might, (Isaiah 33:13).

Am I God that is near, and not a God afar off? (Jeremiah 23:23).

He found grace in the wilderness, Israel said, Jehovah hath appeared unto me from afar, (Jeremiah 31:2-3.

Bring My sons from afar, (Isaiah 43:6).

Hear, ye people, from afar, (Isaiah 49:1-2).

Peoples and nations that come from a land afar off, (Isaiah 5:26). (Jeremiah 4:16); (Jeremiah 6:15) Zech 6:15); Besides elsewhere (as the three latter numbers above); where by “nations and peoples from afar” are meant those more remote from the truths and goods of the church. In common speech also relatives are said to be near, and those more remote in relationship are said to be distant.

770. That religious persuasion is called “a mighty city,” because it had fortified itself strongly; for it had fortified itself not only by the multitude of the nations and peoples who acknowledge it, but by many other things also; as by a great number of monasteries, and by the armies of monks there (this is said, because they call the ministry their military service); by possessions of wealth without any measure or satiety; also by the tribunal of the inquisition; besides by threats and terrors, especially of purgatory, into which everyone is said to come; by the extinction of the light of the Gospel, and thence blindness in spiritual things, which is effected by prohibitions and inhibitions of the reading of the Word; by masses spoken in a language unknown to the common people; by various external sanctities; by impressing the worship of the dead and of images upon the common people, who are kept in ignorance concerning God; and by various splendid things in externals; that by these things they may be in a corporeal faith concerning the sanctity of all the things in that religious persuasion.

[2] Hence it is that it is altogether unknown what lies hidden within that religious persuasion, when yet it is altogether as described above in these words:

The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold and precious stone and pearl, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and uncleanness of her whoredom, (Revelation 17:4).

But howsoever much Babylon had so fortified herself, and in like manner in the spiritual world, see below, (772), still she was altogether destroyed at the day of the Last Judgment. Of her devastation it is thus prophesied in Jeremiah:

If Babel should ascend to heaven, and if she should fortify the height of her strength, from Me shall the wasters come, (Jeremiah 51:53).

The mighty men of Babel sit in their fortifications; her power is given to oblivion; they have set her fortifications on fire, her bars are broken; the city is taken from its extremity. The wall also of Babel is fallen, (Jeremiah 51:30-31, 44).

Suddenly hath Babel fallen and is broken down; howl over her, take balm for her grief, peradventure she may be healed, (Jeremiah 51:8).

771. Verse 11. And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her, because no one buyeth their merchandise anymore, signifies the lower ones in the order, who minister, and make gain by holy things; here their grief that after the destruction of Babylon their religious things are not acknowledged as holy, but as the goods and truths of the Word and thence of the church adulterated and profaned; and thus that they can no longer make profit by them as before. By “the merchants” are meant the lesser in the order of their ecclesiastical hierarchy, because by “the kings of the earth,” spoken of before, are meant the higher ones in that order, see above, (767); thus by “the merchants of the earth” are meant those that minister, and make gain by holy things. By “their weeping and mourning” are signified their griefs, as also above, (767). By “their merchandise” are signified the holy or religious things by which they make gain or profit. By “not buying them anymore” is signified not to wish to have them, because they are not holy, but are the goods and truths of the Word and thence of the church adulterated and profaned. That “to buy” is to procure for oneself, (606). Concerning this it is written in Jeremiah:

O Babel, that dwellest upon many waters, great in treasures, thy end is come, the measure of thy gain, (Jeremiah 51:13).

772. Verse 12. The merchandise of gold and silver and precious stone and pearls, signifies that they no longer have these, because they have no spiritual goods and truths, to which such things correspond. By “their merchandise” nothing else is signified than the things there named; for it is known that they have gold, silver, and precious stone and pearls in abundance, and that they have gained them by their religious things, which they made holy and Divine. Those who were of Babylon had such things before the Last Judgment; for it was then conceded to them to form to themselves as it were heavens, and to procure such things to themselves from heaven by various arts, yea, to fill cellars with them as in the world. But after the Last Judgment, when their fictitious heavens were destroyed, then all those things were reduced to dust and ashes, and carried away by an east wind, and strewn as a profane dust over their hells. But of these things read the things described from things seen, in the little work on The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed, published at London, 1758.

[2] After that overthrow and their casting down into hell, they are in such a miserable state, that they do not know what gold, silver, a precious stone, and a pearl are. The reason is, that “gold,” “silver,” and “a precious stone” correspond to spiritual goods and truths, and “pearls” to the knowledges of them, and as they have not any truths and goods, nor the knowledges of them, but in their stead evils and falsities and the knowledges of these, they cannot have those precious things, but such as correspond to their state, which are vile materials and of ugly color; except some sea shells on which they set their hearts, as they did before on the precious things named above.

[3] It is to be known, that there are in the spiritual world all things which are in the natural world, with the difference only that all the things in the spiritual world are correspondences; for they correspond to their interiors. They have splendid and magnificent things who are in wisdom from Divine truths and goods from the Lord through the Word; and they who are in insanity from falsities and evils have the opposite. There is such correspondence, from creation, when what is spiritual in the mind is brought down into the sensual of the body; on which account everyone there knows the quality of another, as soon as he comes into his own chamber.

[4] From these things it may be evident, that by “the merchandise of gold and silver and precious stone and pearls” is signified that they have these no longer; because they have not spiritual goods and truths, nor the knowledges of good and truth, to which such things correspond. That “gold” from correspondence signifies good, and “silver” truth, may be seen above, (211, 726). That “a precious stone” signifies spiritual truth, (231, 540, 726). That “pearls” signify the knowledges of truth and good, (727).

773. And fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet, signifies that they no longer have these things, because they have not the celestial goods and truths to which such things correspond. By the above named, which were “gold,” “silver,” “precious stone” and “pearls,” are signified in general spiritual goods and truths, as was said above, (772); but by these, which are “fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet,” are signified in general celestial goods and truths; for with those who are in heaven and in the church, there are spiritual goods and truths, and there are celestial goods and truths. Spiritual goods and truths are of wisdom, and celestial goods and truths are of love; and because they have not these goods and truths, but the evils and falsities opposite to them, these are therefore mentioned, for they follow in order. Now as the case with these is the same as with the former, there is no need of further explanation than that in the preceding article. What “fine linen” in particular signifies, will be told in the following chapter, in explaining these words, “the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints,” (Revelation 19:8; no. 814-815). That “purple” signifies celestial good, and “scarlet” celestial truth may be seen above, (725). By “silk” is signified mediating celestial good and truth; good from its softness, and truth from its brightness. It is mentioned only in Ezekiel 16:10, 13.

774. And all thyine wood, and every vessel of ivory, signifies that they no longer have these, because they have not the natural goods and truths, to which such things correspond. These things are similar to those which were explained above, (772, 773); with the difference only that by those named first spiritual goods and truths are meant, which are treated of above, (772); and that by those mentioned in the second place celestial goods and truths are meant, as explained just above, (773); and that by these now mentioned, which are “thyine wood and vessels of ivory,” natural goods and truths are meant.

[2] For there are three degrees of wisdom and love, and thence three degrees of truth and good. The first degree is called celestial, the second spiritual, and the third natural. These three degrees are in every man from birth, and also in general they are in heaven and in the church; which is the cause of there being three heavens, the highest, the middle, and the lowest, altogether distinct from each other according to those degrees; in like manner the Lord’s church on earth. But what its quality is with those who are in the celestial degree, and what in those who are in the spiritual degree, and what in those who are in the natural degree, does not belong to this place to explain, but see concerning them in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, chapter 3, where degrees are treated of; here only that with those who are of Babylon there are not spiritual goods and truths, nor celestial goods and truths, and not even natural goods and truths. That spiritual things are mentioned in the first place, is because many among them can be spiritual, provided they hold the Word holy in heart, as they say with their mouth; but they cannot become celestial, because they do not approach the Lord, but approach living and dead men, and worship them. This is the reason why the celestial things are named in the second place.

[3] By “thyine wood” is signified natural good, because “wood” in the Word signifies good, and “stone” truth; and “thyine wood” takes its name from two, and “two” also signifies good. That it is natural good, is because wood is not a costly material, like gold, silver, precious stone, pearl, fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet, stone likewise. It is the same with ivory, by which natural truth is signified. “Ivory” signifies natural truth, because it is white, and can be polished, and because it protrudes from the mouth of an elephant, and likewise makes his strength. That “ivory” may be the natural truth of that good which is signified by “thyine wood,” it is said “a vessel of ivory;” for by “a vessel” that which contains is signified; here truth the containant of good.

[4] That “wood” signifies good may be in some degree evident from these passages:

That the bitter waters in Marah were made sweet by wood cast in, (Exodus 15:25.

That the tables of stone, on which the Law was written, were laid up in an ark made of shittim wood, (Exodus 25:10-16).

That the temple at Jerusalem was covered and sheathed within with wood, (1 Kings 6:10, 15).

That the altar in the wilderness was made of wood, (Exodus 27:1, 6).

Besides from these:

The stone crieth out from the wall, and the beam of wood answereth, (Habakkuk 2:11).

They shall seize thy wealth, and make a prey of thy merchandise, and thy stones and thy woods shall they put into the midst of the sea, (Ezekiel 26:12).

It was said to the prophet, that he should take one piece of wood, and write upon it the name of Judah and of the sons of Israel; and also the name of Joseph and Ephraim; and should make them into one piece, (Ezekiel 37:16, 19).

We drink our waters for silver, and our wood cometh for a price, (Lamentations 5:4).

If anyone goeth into a forest with a companion, and his axe falleth from the wood upon his companion, that he die, he shall flee into a city of refuge, (Deuteronomy 19:5).

This was because “wood” signifies good, and thus that he had not put his companion to death from evil, or with evil intention, but from an error, because he was in good; besides other places.

[5] But by “wood” in the opposite sense is signified what is evil and cursed; as that they made graven images of wood, and adored them, (Deuteronomy 4:23-28; Isaiah 37:19; 40:20; Jeremiah 10:3, 8; Ezekiel 20:32); also that hanging upon wood was a curse, (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). That “ivory” signifies natural truth may be evident from the passages where ivory is mentioned; as Ezekiel 27:6, 15; Amos 3:15; 6:4; Psalms 45:8.

775. And every vessel of precious wood, and of brass and iron and marble, signifies that they no longer have these, because they have not the scientific goods and truths in matters of the church, to which such things correspond. These are similar to the things explained above, (772-774); with the difference, that by these the scientifics which are the ultimates of man’s natural mind are meant, which, as they differ in quality from the essence that is in them, are called vessels of precious wood, of brass, of iron and of marble. For by “vessels” are signified scientifics here in matters of the church; because scientifics are the containants of good and truth, as vessels are the containants of oil and wine. Scientifics are also in great variety, and their receptacle is the memory. That they are of great variety is because man’s interiors are in them; they are also introduced into the memory either from intellectual thought, or from hearing, or from reading, and then according to the various perception from the rational. All these are within scientifics; which appears when they are reproduced, which happens when the man speaks or thinks.

[2] But what is signified by “vessels of precious wood, of brass, of iron, and of marble,” shall be briefly told. By “a vessel of precious wood” is signified a scientific from rational good and truth; by “a vessel of brass” a scientific from natural good is signified; by “a vessel of iron,” a scientific from natural truth is signified; and by “a vessel of marble” is signified a scientific from the appearance of good and truth. That “wood” signifies good may be seen just above, (774). That good and at the same time rational truth are here signified by “precious wood,” is because “wood” signifies good, and “precious” is predicated of truth; for one kind of good is signified by the wood of the olive tree, another by that of the cedar, the fig, the fir, the poplar, and the oak. That “a vessel of brass and of iron” signifies what is scientific from natural good and truth, is because all the metals, as gold, silver, brass, iron, tin, lead, in the Word, signify goods and truths. They signify because they correspond; and because they correspond, they are also in heaven; for all things there are correspondences.

[3] But what each of the metals signifies from correspondence, this is not the place to confirm from the Word; only to show by a few passages that “brass” signifies natural good, and hence “iron” natural truth; as may be seen from these:

That the feet of the Son of man appeared like unto brass, as if glowing in a furnace, (Revelation 1:15).

That there appeared to Daniel a man whose feet were as the brightness of polished brass, (Daniel 10:5-6).

That the feet of the cherubim also appeared glittering as the brightness of polished brass, (Ezekiel 1:7).

That the feet signify the natural, may be seen, (49[1-8], 468, 470, 510[1-2]).

That an angel was seen like the appearance of brass, (Ezekiel 40:3).

That the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar was as to its head gold, as to the breast and arms silver, as to the belly and side brass, as to the legs iron, (Daniel 2:32-33).

By which statue the successive states of the church were represented, which were called by the ancients the ages of gold, silver, brass, and iron. Since “brass” signified the natural, and the Israelitish people were merely natural, therefore the Lord’s natural was represented by:

The Brazen Serpent, which they that were bitten by the serpents should look upon, and be healed, (Numbers 21:6, 8-9; John 3:14-15).

That “brass” signifies natural good may also be seen in Isaiah 60:17; Jeremiah 15:20-21; Ezekiel 27:13; Deuteronomy 8:7, 9; 33:24-25).

776. He who does not know what is signified by “gold,” “silver,” “precious stone,” “pearl,” “fine linen,” “purple,” “silk,” “scarlet,” “thyine wood,” “an ivory vessel,” “precious wood,” “brass,” “iron,” “marble,” and “a vessel,” may wonder that such things are enumerated, and may think that they are only words multiplied for the exaltation of the subject. But it may be evident from the explanations, that not a single word is unmeaning, and that by them it is fully described, that they who have confirmed themselves in the dogmas of that religious persuasion have not a single truth; and if not a single truth, they have not a single good which is a good of the church.

[2] I have spoken with those who have confirmed themselves in that religious persuasion, also with some who were delegates in the Councils of Nice, of the Lateran, and of Trent, who in the beginning believed that what they had decreed were pure and holy truths, but after instruction and enlightenment then given from heaven, confessed that they did not see one truth; but because they had then confirmed themselves in them more than others, after the enlightenment, which they themselves extinguished, they returned to their former faith. They especially believed that what they had sanctioned concerning Baptism and Justification were truths. But still, when they were in enlightenment, they saw, and from enlightened sight confessed, that no one has original sin from Adam, but from his own parents successively; and that this is not taken away by the imputation and application of the Lord’s merit in baptism; then that the imputation and application of the Lord’s merit is a human fiction, because impossible; and that faith is never infused into any suckling, because faith is of one who thinks.

[3] Still they saw that baptism is holy and a sacrament, because it is a sign and a memorial that man can be regenerated by the Lord through truths from the Word, a sign for heaven, and a memorial for man. Also that by it a man is introduced into the church, as the sons of Israel by the crossing of the Jordan were introduced into the land of Canaan, and as the inhabitants of Jerusalem were prepared for the reception of the Lord by the baptism of John, for without that sign in heaven before the angels, the Jews could not have subsisted and lived at the coming of Jehovah, that is, the Lord, in the flesh. Similar to these were the things which they sanctioned concerning justification. That the imputation of the Lord’s merit neither is, nor is given, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, (18). And that hereditary evil, which is called original sin, is not from Adam, but from parents successively, see in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (277). What “Adam” means in the Word, see 241 there.

777. Verse 13. And cinnamon and incense and ointment and frankincense, signifies that they no longer have worship from spiritual goods and truths, because they have nothing within their worship which corresponds to the things here named. In the foregoing verse it treats of all the things that are of the doctrine of the church, but in this verse it treats of all the things which are of the worship of the church. The things which are of doctrine are premised, and those that are of worship follow, because the quality of the worship is from the goods and truths of doctrine; for worship is nothing but an external act, in which there should be the internals, which are of doctrine. Without these the worship is without its essence, life and soul. Now because all the things which are of doctrine have relation to the goods which are of love and charity, and to the truths which are of wisdom and faith, and these goods and truths, according to the degrees of their order, are celestial, spiritual, and natural, so also are all the things of worship. And because in the preceding verse the spiritual things of doctrine are mentioned first, so likewise here the spiritual things of worship, which are “cinnamon, incense, ointment and frankincense;” and the celestial things of worship are named in the second place, which are “wine, oil, fine flour and wheat;” and the natural things of worship are named in the third place, which are “beasts of burden and sheep.” That all these goods and truths of worship should be from the Word, is signified by their being “of horses, of chariots, of the bodies and of the souls of men.” This is the series of the things in the spiritual sense in this verse. But by all those things which are enumerated in this verse, the like is meant as by those that are enumerated in the preceding verse; that is, that these goods and truths are not with them, because they have not with themselves such things as correspond to them. This is evident from what precedes, where are these words, that “the city of Babylon should be burnt up with fire, and no one should buy her merchandise anymore” (verses 8-11); and from those which follow, where are these words, that “all things fat and splendid had departed from her, and were not found anymore” (verse 14); and that they were devastated (verses 16, 19).

[2] But something shall now be said of the things that have been mentioned, which are cinnamon, incense, ointment, and frankincense. These are mentioned, because they are such things as incense was made of. That the worship of the Lord from spiritual goods and truths is signified by “incense,” may be seen above, (277, 392); and that incense was pleasing, because it was from fragrant things which correspond, (394). All the fragrant things by which it was prepared are meant by the cinnamon, incense, and ointment and their essential by the frankincense. This is manifest from the enumeration of the spices of which it was compounded, in Moses:

Jehovah said unto Moses, Take to thee spices - stacte, onycha, and galbanum - and pure frankincense; and thou shalt make of them incense, an ointment, the work of a perfumer, salted, pure, holy, (Exodus 30:34-37).

Of these the incense was made, by which, as was said, worship from spiritual goods and truths was signified. Cinnamon is mentioned here in place of all the spices there. But what each of those spices signifies in the spiritual sense, may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, upon Exodus, where they are severally explained.

778. And wine and oil and fine flour and wheat, signifies that they no longer have worship from celestial truths and goods, because they have not within in the worship the things which correspond to the things above mentioned. These things are similar to those which have been said just above and before, with the difference only that celestial goods and truths are here signified. What goods and truths are called celestial, and what spiritual, may be seen above, (773); and that as they have not these, neither are they in their worship. For, as was said above, the goods and truths of doctrine are in worship as the soul is in the body; wherefore worship without them is inanimate worship. Such is worship which is holy in externals, in which there is not any holy internal. That “wine” signifies truth from the good of love, may be seen above, (316). That “oil” signifies the good of love will be seen in the following paragraph. By “fine flour” is signified celestial truth, and by “wheat” is signified celestial good.

[2] That the truths and goods of worship are signified by “wine,” “oil,” “fine flour” and “wheat,” is because the drink-offerings and meal-offerings consisted of them, which were offered upon the altar together with the sacrifices; and by the sacrifices and by the offerings offered upon the altar worship is signified, for the chief part of worship consisted in them. That the drink-offerings, which were wine, were offered upon the altar together with the sacrifices, may be seen, (Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 23:12-13, 18-19; Numbers 15:2-15; 28:11-15, 18-31; 29:1-7; and also in Isaiah 57:6; 65:11; Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-19; Ezekiel 20:28; Joel 1:9; Psalms 16:4; Deuteronomy 32:38). That oil was also offered upon the altar together with the sacrifices, (Exodus 29:40; Numbers 15:2-15; 28). That the meal-offerings, which were of fine flour of wheat, were offered upon the altar together with the sacrifices, (Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 2:1-13; 5:11-13; 6:14-21; 7:9-13; 23:12-13, 17; Numbers 6:14-21; 15:2-15; 18:8-20; 28:1-15; 29:1-7; and besides in Jeremiah 33:18; Ezekiel 16:13-19; Joel 1:9; Malachi 1:10-11; Psalm 141:2). The bread of faces or the showbread upon the table in the tabernacle was also made of fine flour of wheat, (Leviticus 23:17; 24:5-9). It may be seen from this, that these four things, wine, oil, fine flour and wheat, were holy and celestial things of worship.

779. Since “oil” is here mentioned among the holy things of worship, and signifies celestial good, something shall be said here of “the oil of anointing,” which was in use among the ancients, and was afterwards commanded to the sons of Israel. That in ancient times they anointed stones set up as statues, is manifest from Genesis 28:18-19, 22. That they also anointed warlike arms, shields, and bucklers, (2 Samuel 1:21; Isaiah 21:5). That it was commanded that they should prepare oil of holiness, with which they should anoint all the holy things of the church; that with it they anointed the altar and all its vessels, also the tabernacle and all things of it, (Exodus 30:22-33; 40:9-11; Leviticus 8:10-12; Numbers 7:1). That they anointed with it those who should perform the function of the priesthood and their garments, (Exodus 29:7, 29; 30:30; 40:13-15; Leviticus 8:12; Psalms 133:1-3). That with it they anointed the prophets, (1 Kings 19:15-16). That they anointed the kings with it, and therefore the kings were called “the anointed of Jehovah” (1 Samuel 10:1; 15:1; 16:3, 6, 12-13; 24:6, 10; 26:9, 11, 16, 23; 2 Samuel 1:16; 2:4, 7; 5:17; 19:21; 1 Kings 1:34-35; 19:15-16; 2 Kings 9:3; 11:12; 23:30; Lamentations 4:20; Habakkuk 3:13; Psalms 2:2, 6; 20:6; 28:8; 45:7; 84:9; 89:20, 38, 51; 132:17).

[2] Anointing with the oil of holiness was commanded because “oil” signified the good of love, and represented the Lord, who as to His Human is the very and the only Anointed of Jehovah, anointed not with oil, but with the Divine good itself of the Divine love; wherefore also He was called “the Messiah” in the Old Testament and “the Christ” in the New, (John 1:41; 4:25); and “messiah” and “Christ” signify anointed. Hence it is that the priests, the kings, and all the things of the church were anointed, and when anointed were called holy; not that they were holy in themselves, but because they thereby represented the Lord as to the Divine Human. Hence it was sacrilege to harm a king, because he was “the anointed of Jehovah” (1 Samuel 24:6, 10; 26:9; 2 Samuel 1:16; 19:21).

[3] Moreover, it was a received custom to anoint themselves and others to testify gladness and benevolence of mind; but with common oil or some other noble oil, but not with the oil of holiness, (Matthew 6:17; Mark 6:13; Luke 7:46; Isaiah 61:3; Amos 6:6; Micah 6:15; Psalms 92:10; 104:15; Daniel 10:3; Deuteronomy 28:40). That it was not permitted to anoint themselves or others with the oil of holiness, (Exodus 30:32-33).

780. And beasts of burden, and sheep, signifies that they no longer have worship from the external or natural goods and truths of the church, because they have not anything within their worship which corresponds to the above mentioned things. This is similar to the things explained above, (777, 778); with the difference that there are signified spiritual goods and truths, and celestial goods and truths, but here natural goods and truths; for the distinction between which, see above, (773). By “beasts of burden and sheep” are signified the sacrifices which were made with oxen, bullocks, he-goats, sheep, kids, rams, she-goats, lambs. Oxen and bullocks are meant by “beasts of burden,” and kids, rams, she-goats, and lambs, by “sheep,” and sacrifices were the externals of worship, which are also called the natural things of worship.

781. And of horses and carriages and the bodies and souls of men, signifies all those things according to the understanding of the Word and doctrine thence, and according to the goods and truths of the sense of its letter, which they have not, because they falsify and adulterate the Word, by applying the things which are therein to dominion over heaven and the world, contrary to its genuine sense. These things are named in the possessive case, because they qualify those which precede. That the understanding of the Word is signified by “horses,” may be seen, (298). That by “chariots” doctrine from the Word is signified, (437); hence the like by “carriages.” That the goods and truths of the sense of the letter of the Word are signified by “the bodies and souls of men,” is because similar things are signified by them as by the body and blood in the Holy Supper. By “the body” in the Holy Supper is signified the Lord’s Divine good, and by “the blood” the Lord’s Divine truth; and because they signify these, they also signify the Divine good and the Divine truth of the Word, because the Lord is the Word. But here it is said “the soul” instead of “blood.” The reason is, that truth is likewise signified by the soul, see above, (681); and because the blood is called “the soul” in the Word, (Genesis 9:4-5; Leviticus 17:12-14; Deuteronomy 12:23-25). The like is signified by the “soul of man” (Ezekiel 27:13); also by the “seed of man” (Daniel 2:43).

[2] Similar things are signified by “horses” and “carriages” in Isaiah:

Then shall they bring all your brethren upon horses and upon chariots and upon carriages, and upon mules and upon coursers, unto the mountain of My holiness, Jerusalem, (Isaiah 66:20).

This is said of the Lord’s New Church, which is Jerusalem, concerning those therein who are in the understanding of the Word and in doctrine thence, which are “horses,” “chariots,” and “carriages.” Now because they who are of the Roman Catholic religious persuasion falsify and adulterate the Word, by the application to dominion over heaven and the world, it is signified that they have no goods and truths from the Word, and therefore neither in their doctrine. Concerning this Jeremiah says:

The king of Babel hath devoured me, he hath disturbed me, he hath made me an empty vessel, he hath swallowed me up as a whale, he hath filled his belly with my delicacies, (Jeremiah 51:34).

A sword is against the horses of Babel, and against his chariots, and against his treasures, that they may be pillaged; drought is upon her waters, that they may be dried up; because it is a land of graven images, and they glory in their terrible things, (Jeremiah 50:37-38).

782. Verse 14. And the fruits of the desire of thy soul have departed from thee, and all fat and splendid things have departed from thee, and thou shalt not find them anymore, signifies that all the beatitudes and felicities of heaven, even the external such as are desired by them, will altogether flee away, and will no longer appear, because they have no celestial and spiritual affections of good and truth. By “the fruits of the desire of the soul” nothing else is signified but the beatitudes and felicities of heaven, because these are the fruits of all the things of doctrine and worship, which are treated of, and because they are the desires of men when they die, and also their desires when they first come into the spiritual world. By things “fat and splendid” are signified celestial and spiritual affections of good and truth; by “fat things” the affections of good, as will be seen presently; and by “splendid things” the affections of truth, which are called “splendid,” because they exist from the light of heaven and its splendor in minds; whence are the intelligence of good and truth and wisdom. By “departing and not finding them anymore” is signified that they will flee away and will not appear anymore, because they are not in any celestial and spiritual good and truth. This is said even of the external things, such as are desired by them; because no other beatitudes and felicities and affections are desired by them, but corporeal and worldly; and hence they cannot know what and of what quality those are which are called celestial and spiritual.

[2] But these things will be illustrated by a manifestation of their lot after death. All of that religious persuasion who have been in the love of dominion from the love of self, and thence in the love of the world, when they come into the spiritual world, which takes place immediately after death, aspire after nothing but dominion and the pleasures of the mind from it, and the pleasures of the body from opulence; for the ruling love, with its affections or lusts and desires, remains with everyone after death. But because the love of dominating from the love of self over the holy things of the church and of heaven, all of which are Divine things of the Lord, is diabolical, therefore, after a certain time, they are separated from their companions, and cast down into the hells. But still, because they have from their religious persuasion been in external Divine worship, they are first instructed as to what and of what quality heaven is, and what and of what quality the felicity of eternal life is, that they are mere beatitudes flowing in from the Lord with everyone in heaven according to the quality of the heavenly affection of good and truth with them. But because they have not approached the Lord, and hence are not conjoined with Him, and likewise have not been in any such affection of good and truth, they are averse to them, and turn themselves away, and then desire the pleasures of the love of self and the world, which are merely natural and corporeal. But because it is inherent in those pleasures to do evil, especially to those who worship the Lord, and thus to the angels of heaven, they are therefore deprived of these pleasures also, and are then rejected among companions who are in contempt and misery in infernal workhouses. But these things are done to them according to the degree of their love of dominion over the Divine things of the Lord, according to which degree is their rejection of the Lord.

[3] It may now be evident from these things, that by “the fruits of the desire of thy soul have departed, and all fat and splendid things have departed from thee, and thou shalt not find them anymore,” is signified that all the beatitudes and felicities of heaven, even the external, such as are desired by them, will altogether flee away, and not appear anymore, because there are no affections of good and truth with them. That “fat things” signify celestial goods and their affections and the enjoyments of their affections, may be evident from the following passages:

Attend unto Me, eat ye that which is good, that your soul may be delighted with fatness, (Isaiah 55:2).

I will fill the soul of the priests with fatness, and My people shall be satisfied with good, (Jeremiah 31:14).

My soul shall be satisfied with fatness and fat, and my mouth shall praise Thee with lips of singing, (Psalms 63:5).

They shall be filled with the fatness of Thy house, and Thou shalt make them drink of the river of Thy delights, (Psalms 36:8).

And in this mountain will Jehovah make to all peoples a feast of fat things, of fat things of marrow, (Isaiah 25:6).

They shall still have produce in old age, they shall be fat and green to show that Jehovah is upright, (Psalms 92:14-15).

In the feast which Jehovah will make, they shall eat fatness to satiety, and shall drink blood to drunkenness, (Ezekiel 39:19).

Jehovah will make fat thy burnt-offering, (Psalms 20:3).

As fatness signifies celestial good, it was therefore a statute that:

All the fat of the sacrifices should be burned upon the altar, (Exodus 29:13, 22; Leviticus 1:8; 3:3-16; 4:8-35; 7:3-4, 30-31; 17:6; Numbers 18:17-18).

By “fatness” in the opposite sense they are signified who are nauseated at good, and because it is very abundant, despise and reject it, (Deuteronomy 32:15; Jeremiah 5:28; 50:11; Psalms 17:10; 20:3; 78:31; 119:70).

783. Verse 15. The merchants of these things, who became rich by her, shall stand afar off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning, signifies the state before damnation, and then their fear and lamentation, who have made gain by various dispensations and promises of heavenly joys. By “the merchants of these things,” namely, of the fruits of the soul’s desire, and of fat and splendid things, treated of in the verse next preceding, those are signified who by various dispensations, and promises of heavenly joys, became rich, that is, who made gain. By these “merchants” all are meant, as well the higher and the lower in their ecclesiastical order, who made gain by such things. That the higher are included, is manifest from Verse 23 of this chapter, where it is said, “For thy merchants were the great ones of the earth;” that the lower ones also are included, from Verse 11; see above, (771). By “standing afar off for fear of her torment, weeping and mourning,” is signified while they are still in a state remote from damnation, and still at that time in fear of punishments, and in lamentation as above, (769), where similar things are said.

784. As regards the dispensations by which they make gain, they are various. There are dispensations in regard to contracting matrimony within the degrees prohibited by the laws; relating to divorces; relating to evils, even enormous ones, and then liberation from temporal punishments; then also by indulgences; dispensations relating to administrations without any power or authority of the secular rulers; among which also are confirmations of dukedoms and principalities; likewise by promises of heavenly joys made to those who enrich monasteries, and augment their treasuries, calling their gifts good works, in themselves holy, as also merits; to which they are led by the belief impressed concerning the power and help of their saints, and in the miracles performed by them. Especially do they plot against the rich when they are sick, and likewise infuse at that time a terror of hell, and so extort from them; promising the sacrifice of the mass for their souls according to the value of their legacy, and a gradual delivery thereby from the place of torment, which they call purgatory, and thus admission into heaven.

[2] As regards purgatory, I can aver that it is purely a Babylonish fiction for the sake of gains, and that it neither does nor can exist. Every man after death first comes into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and is there prepared either for heaven or for hell, everyone according to his life in the world; and in that world no one has torment; but the evil first come into torment, when after preparation they come into hell. There are innumerable societies in that world, and joys in them similar to those on earth, for the reason that they who are there are conjoined with men on the earth, who are also in the midst between heaven and hell. Their externals are there successively put off, and thus their internals are opened; and this until the ruling love, which is indeed the life’s love, and the inmost, and the one that governs their externals, is revealed; and when this is revealed, the man’s real quality appears; and according to the quality of that love, he is sent forth from the world of spirits to his place, if good into heaven, and if evil, into hell. That it is so has been given to me to know of a certainty, because it has been granted to me by the Lord to be together with those who are in that world, and to see all things, and thus to relate it from experience itself; and this now for twenty years. Therefore I can assert that purgatory is a fiction, which may be called diabolical; because it is for the sake of gains, and for the sake of power over souls, even of the deceased, after death.

785. Verse 16. And saying, Woe, woe, that great city, arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold, precious stone and pearls, because in one hour so great riches are devastated, signifies grievous lamentation that their magnificence and gains are so suddenly and totally destroyed. By “woe, woe,” grievous lamentation is signified, as above, (769). By “that great city,” is signified the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, as it is said to be “arrayed in fine linen and purple, and inwrought with gold;” which cannot be said of a city, but of a religious persuasion. By “arrayed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold, precious stone, and pearls” are signified similar things as above, (725-727), where are the same words, in general, magnificent things in external form. “Because in one hour so great riches are devastated” signifies that their gains are so suddenly and totally destroyed. By “one hour” is signified suddenly and totally, as above, (769); because by time and all the things of time states are signified, (476). It is manifest from this, that the things which were adduced above are signified by these words. Very similar things are said of the devastation of Babel in Jeremiah:

The land of Babel is full of guilt against the Holy one of Israel; the thoughts of Jehovah stand against her, to make her a desolation; they shall not take of thee a stone for a corner nor a stone for foundations, for thou shalt be a waste for an age. Babel shall become heaps, a habitation for dragons, an astonishment and a hissing. Babel is reduced to desolation, the sea goeth up over her, she is covered with the multitude of the waves, her cities are reduced to desolation, a land of drought and of solitude, (Jeremiah 51:5, 26, 29, 37, 41-43).

786. Verse 17. And every pilot, and everyone employed upon ships, and sailors, and as many as work at sea, signifies those who are called the laity, as well they who are appointed in greater dignity as those that are in less, down to the common people, who are attached to that religious persuasion, and love and kiss it, or acknowledge and venerate it in heart. From the ninth to the sixteenth verse the clergy are treated of, who have been in dominion from that religious persuasion, and have exercised the Lord’s Divine authority, and by it have made gain of the world. Those are now treated of, who are not in any order of the ministry, but still love and kiss that religious persuasion, and acknowledge and venerate it in heart, who are called the laity. By “every pilot” are meant the highest of them, who are emperors, kings, dukes, and princes. By “everyone employed upon ships” those are meant who are in various functions in a higher or a lower degree. By “sailors” are meant the lowest, who are called the common people. By “as many as work at sea,” are meant all in general who are attached to that religious persuasion, and love and kiss it, or acknowledge and venerate it in heart.

[2] That all these are here meant, is manifest from the series of things in the spiritual sense; and from the signification of “being upon ships,” and of “being employed upon ships,” and of “sailors;” and from the signification of “them that work at sea.” By the “pilots of ships,” and “those employed upon them,” and “sailors,” no others can be meant but those who contribute the things which are above called merchandise, which are those things which they collect into their treasuries, as also possessions, and who receive benedictions and beatification in return, as merits, and other similar things which they desire for their souls. And when these are meant, it is manifest that by “every pilot” the highest of them are meant; by “everyone employed upon ships,” all in offices subordinate to them; and by “sailors,” the lowest. That by “ships” spiritual merchandise is meant, which are the knowledges of truth and good, may be seen above, (406[1-4]); here natural merchandise; and they take back spiritual, as they think. The reason that by “as many as work at sea” are meant all, whoever they be, who love and kiss that religious persuasion, or acknowledge and venerate it in heart, is because that religious persuasion is signified by “the sea;” for by “the sea” the external of the church is signified, see above, (238, 290, 403-405, 470, 565, 659, 661); and this religious persuasion is merely external. Similar things are signified by this in Isaiah:

Thus said Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, for your sake have I sent to Babel, and will cast down all her bars, whose cry is in the ships; thus said Jehovah, I who have given a way in the sea and a highway in the mighty waters, (43:14, 16).

“A cry in the ships” is spoken of, as here also, that “they stood afar off, and cried from the ships.” And likewise in Ezekiel:

At the voice of the cry of thy captains shall the suburbs tremble, and all that hold the oar shall come down out of thy⁷³ ships, all the sailors and captains of the sea, and shall cry bitterly over thee, (27:28-30).

But this is concerning the devastation of Tyre, by which the church as to the knowledges of truth and good is signified.

[3] But it is to be known, that no others are here meant but those who love and kiss that religious persuasion, and in heart acknowledge and venerate it. But they who are of the same religious persuasion, and acknowledge it indeed because they were born and brought up in it, and do not know anything of their devices and snares for arrogating to themselves Divine worship, and for possessing all the property of all in the world, and still do goods from a sincere heart, and likewise turn their eyes to the Lord, these come among the happy after death; for, being instructed there they receive truths, and reject the adoration of the pope, and the invocation of the saints, and acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and are taken up into heaven, and become angels. On which account also there are many heavenly societies of them in the spiritual world, over which are set the honorable, who have lived in the same manner. It has been given to see that some also were set over those societies, who were emperors, kings, dukes, and princes; who indeed acknowledged the pontiff as the highest official of the church, but not as the vicar of the Lord; and who acknowledged likewise some things from the papal bulls, but yet held the Word holy, and acted justly in their administration. Concerning these some things may be seen in the Continuation concerning the Last Judgment and concerning the Spiritual World, (58, 60), related from experience.

787. Verse 18. Stood afar off, and cried when they saw the smoke of her burning, saying, What is like unto this city, signifies their mourning in a remote state over the condemnation of that religious persuasion, which they believed to be supereminent above every religion in the world. By “their standing afar off” is signified while they are yet in a state remote from damnation, and still in fear of punishments, (769, 783). By their “crying,” their mourning is signified. By “the smoke of burning” is signified condemnation on account of the adulteration and profanation of the Word, (766, 767). By their saying, “What is like unto this city,” is signified that they believed that that religious persuasion was supereminent above every religion in the world. By “that great city” that religious persuasion is signified, as often above. That they believe that religious persuasion to be supereminent above every religion, and that it is the mother, the queen, and the mistress, is known, also that it is continually instilled by the canons and monks, that they should believe so; and it is also known to those who give attention, that they do this from the fire of having dominion and gain. Yet still, on account of the authority of their domination, they cannot recede from all its externals; but still they can recede from its internals, since all liberty has been left and is left to man’s will and understanding, and thence to his affection and thought.

788. Verse 19. And they cast dust upon their heads, and cried weeping and mourning, saying, Woe, woe, that great city, signifies their interior and exterior grief and mourning, which is lamentation, that so eminent a religious persuasion should be altogether destroyed and condemned. By “casting dust upon the heads” interior grief and mourning are signified on account of the destruction and condemnation spoken of in what follows. By “crying out, weeping and mourning,” is signified exterior grief and mourning; by “weeping” is signified mourning of soul, and by “mourning” grief of heart. By “Woe, woe, that city,” is signified grievous lamentation over her destruction and condemnation. That “woe” signifies lamentation over calamity, infelicity, and condemnation, and hence “woe, woe,” a grievous lamentation, may be seen, (416, 769, 785); and that “city” signifies that religious persuasion, (785 and elsewhere). That interior pain and mourning on account of the destruction and condemnation is signified by “casting dust upon the head,” may be evident from the following passages:

They shall cry bitterly, and shall cast dust upon their heads, and shall roll themselves in ashes, (Ezekiel 27:30).

The daughters of Zion sit upon the earth, they have cast dust upon their heads, (Lamentations 2:10).

The friends of Job rent their mantles, and sprinkled dust upon their heads, (Job 2:12).

Come down and sit in the dust, O daughter of Babel, sit on the earth, there is no throne for thee, (Isaiah 47:1 besides other places).

The reason of their casting dust upon their heads, when they grieved inmostly, was because “dust” signifies what is condemned, as is manifest from Genesis 3:14; Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 10:10-12; and “dust upon the head” represented the acknowledgment that of themselves they were condemned, and thus repentance (as in Matthew 11:21; Luke 10:13). That “dust” signifies what is condemned, is because the earth over the hells in the spiritual world consists of mere dust without grass and herbage.

789. In which all that had ships in the sea were made rich from her costliness, for in one hour they were devastated, signifies on this account, that by the holy things of that religious persuasion, all, as many as were willing to buy, were absolved, and for worldly and temporal riches received spiritual and eternal riches, and that now not any. By “being made rich from her costliness” is signified to appease God by the holy things of that religious persuasion, or to believe that for temporal and temporary merchandise or riches they would receive spiritual and eternal merchandise or riches; that is, that for gold, silver, precious stone, pearls, purple, and the other things which are enumerated (verses 12-13), they would receive blessings and felicities after death. These things are meant by the costliness, with which they say that they were made rich by that city. That they also speak thus is known. By “they were devastated in one hour” is signified that on account of the destruction of that religious persuasion, no one can hereafter buy their holy things. From these things it is manifest, that by these words are signified the things which were quoted above. That the holy things of the church are signified by things costly, is manifest from these passages:

Blessed of Jehovah is the land of Joseph, for the precious things of heaven, for the precious things of the products of the sun, and for the precious things of the produce of the months, and for the precious things of the hills of eternity, and for the precious things of the earth, (Deuteronomy 33:13-16).

Is Ephraim My precious son? a child of delights? (Jeremiah 31:20)

By “Ephraim” the understanding of the Word is meant.

The sons of Zion were esteemed more precious than pure gold, (Lamentations 4:2).

“The sons of Zion” are the truths of the church. Besides elsewhere, as Isaiah 13:12; 43:4; Psalms 36:7; 45:9; 49:8; 72:14. Hence now it is that it is said that from that city all that had ships in the sea were made rich by her costliness.

790. Verse 20. Exult over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets; for God hath judged your judgment upon her, signifies that the angels of heaven and the men of the church, who are in goods and truths from the Word, should rejoice in heart that those who are in the evils and falsities of that religious persuasion are removed and rejected. “Exult over her, O heaven,” signifies that the angels of heaven should now rejoice in heart, for exultation is joy of the heart. “And ye holy apostles and prophets” signifies, and together with them the men of the church who are in the goods and truths from the Word. By “the apostles” those are signified who are in the goods and thence in the truths of the church from the Word, and abstractly the goods and thence the truths of the church from the Word, (79); and by “prophets” are signified truths from good from the Word (8, 133), who are called holy, because “the apostles and prophets,” as was said, signify abstractly the goods and truths of the Word, which in themselves are holy, because the Lord’s, (586, 666). “For God hath judged your judgment upon her,” signifies because they who are in the evils and falsities of that religious persuasion are removed and rejected. That no others are rejected, may be seen above, (786). The joy of the angels of heaven over the removal and rejection of those who are in the evils and falsities of that religious persuasion, is treated of in the following chapter from verses 1-9; here only that they should rejoice. But the angelic joy is not from their condemnation, but from the New Heaven and the New Church, and the salvation of the faithful; which things cannot be given before they are removed, which is done and has been done by the Last Judgment; on which subject something will be seen in the explanation of verses 7-9 of the following chapter.

From this it may be evident that “Exult over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath judged your judgment upon her,” signifies that the angels of heaven and the men of the church, who are in goods and truths from the Word, should rejoice in heart, that they who are the evils and falsities of that religious persuasion are removed and rejected. Who cannot see that the apostles and prophets spoken of in the Word are not here meant? They were few, and not more excellent than others; but by them are meant all in the Lord’s church who are in goods and truths from the Word; as also by the twelve tribes of Israel, spoken of above, (349). By “the apostle Peter” the truth or faith of the church is meant; by “the apostle James,” the charity of the church; and by “the apostle John,” the works of charity of the men of the church.

791. Verse 21. And one strong angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city, Babylon, be thrown down, and shall not be found anymore signifies that by a strong influx of the Lord out of heaven that religious persuasion with all its adulterated truths of the Word will be cast headlong into hell, and will not at all appear to the angels anymore. By “one strong angel took up,” a powerful influx of the Lord out of heaven is signified; for by “an angel” is signified the Lord, and His operation, which is effected through heaven, (258, 415, 465, 649); here, because he is called a “strong angel,” and “he took up a stone like a great millstone,” powerful operation is signified, which is a powerful influx. By “a stone like a great millstone” the adulterated and profaned truths of the Word are signified; for by “a stone” truth is signified, and by “mill” is signified the searching for, investigation, and confirmation of truth from the Word (see 794); but here the adulteration and profanation of the truth of the Word, as it is said of Babylon. By “casting into the sea” is signified into hell. By “thus with violence shall that great city, Babylon, be thrown down,” is signified that thus that religious persuasion was to be cast into hell. By “it was not found anymore” is signified that it will no longer appear to the angels.

[2] This is signified because all from that religious persuasion who are in its evils and falsities come indeed after death into the world of spirits; for that world is like a forum in which all are at first gathered together; and it is like the stomach into which all foods are first collected. The stomach also corresponds to that world. But at this day, because it is after the Last Judgment, which was accomplished in the year 1757, it is not allowed them, as before, to tarry in that world, and to form to themselves as it were heavens; but as soon as they arrive there, they are sent to societies which are in conjunction with the hells, into which also they are cast from time to time; and thus care is taken by the Lord, that they shall no longer appear to the angels. It is this, therefore, which is signified by that city, that is, that religious persuasion “being found no more.”

[3] Since the truth of the Word adulterated is signified by “the millstone,” and by “the sea,” hell, the Lord therefore says:

He that shall offend one of the little ones that believe in Me, it were better for him that an ass millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were immersed into the depth of the sea, (Matthew 18:6).

It is called “a millstone” in Mark 9:42; Luke 17:2. Of Babel nearly the same is said in Jeremiah:

When thou hast made an end of reading this book, thou shalt bind a stone upon it, and shalt cast it into the midst of the Euphrates, and shalt say, Thus shall Babel be submerged, and shall not rise again, (Jeremiah 51:63-64).

By “the midst of the Euphrates” is meant the same as by “the sea,” because the river Euphrates bounded and separated Assyria, where Babel was, from the land of Canaan.

792. Verse 22. And the voice of harpers and musicians, and pipers and trumpeters, shall not be heard in thee anymore signifies that there will not be with them any affection of spiritual truth and good, nor any affection of celestial truth and good. By “voice” is meant sound, and every sound corresponds to any affection which is of love, since it arises therefrom. From this it is that the sounds of the harp, of music, and of the pipe, from correspondence, signify affections. But the affections are of two kinds, spiritual and celestial; spiritual affections are affections of wisdom, and celestial affections are affections of love. They differ from each other as the heavens, which are distinguished into two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual, as has several times been said above. There are therefore musical instruments whose sounds have relation to spiritual affections, and there are those which have relation to celestial affections. The voice or sound of “harpers and musicians” has relation to spiritual affections, and the voice or sound of “pipers and trumpeters” to celestial affections. For the instruments whose sounds are discrete, as stringed instruments, pertain to the class of spiritual affections; and the instruments whose sounds are continuous, as wind instruments, pertain to the class of celestial affections. Hence it is, that the voice or sound of “harpers and musicians” signifies the affection of spiritual good and truth, and the voice or sound of “pipers and trumpeters” signifies affection of celestial good and truth. That the sound of the harp from correspondence signifies confession from the affection of spiritual truth, may be seen, (276, 661).

[2] It is here meant that they who are in the evils and falsities of the Roman Catholic religious persuasion have no affections of spiritual truth and good, nor any affections of celestial truth and good, because it is said that “the voice of harpers and of musicians and of pipers and trumpeters shall not be heard in thee anymore.” The reason that they do not have them is because they cannot be given with them, for they have not any truth from the Word; and because they have no truth, neither have they any good. The latter is given to those only who desire truths; but no others desire truths from spiritual affection, but they who go to the Lord; these, according to this their desire, are instructed by the angels after death, and receive truths. The external affections in which they are while they are hearing masses, and in other devotions, which are without truths from the Lord through the Word, are merely natural, sensual, and corporeal; and as they are such, and are without internals from the Lord, it is not to be wondered at that in this thick darkness and blindness they are carried away to the worship of living and dead men, and to sacrifices to demons, who are called plutos, to make expiation for their souls.

793. And no artificer of any art shall be found in thee anymore signifies that they who are in that religious persuasion from doctrine and from a life according to it, have no understanding of spiritual truth, and hence no thought of spiritual truth, so far as it is from themselves. By “an artificer” in the spiritual sense of the Word is signified one that is intelligent, and thinks from the understanding; in the good sense, one that from the understanding thinks truths, which are heavenly; and in the evil sense, one that from the understanding thinks falsities, which are infernal; and as the latter and the former are of many kinds, and each kind of many species, and each species again of many kinds and species, which, however, are called particulars and singulars, it is therefore said, “no artificer of any art.” By artificers also, from their handicrafts and arts, such things are signified from correspondence as are of wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. It is said, from correspondence, because all human work corresponds, and likewise every operation provided it be of any use, to such things as are of angelic intelligence. But the works of artificers in gold, silver, and precious stones correspond to one kind of matters or subjects of angelic intelligence; those of artificers in brass, iron, wood and stone to other kinds; and to others, those of artificers in other desirable uses, as cloths, linens, garments and clothings of various kinds. All these correspond, as has been said, because they are works. From these things it may appear, that by “an artificer of any art” shall not be found in Babylon, is not meant that there shall not be any artificers there, but that there will not be any understanding of spiritual truth, and thence no thought of spiritual truth; but this is only with those who are in that religious persuasion from its doctrine, and from a life according to it, and also as far as it is from themselves.

[2] That “an artificer” signifies those who are in the understanding of truth, and thence in the thought of truth, may appear from these passages:

Bezaleel and Aholiab the artificers shall make the tabernacle, for they are filled with wisdom, intelligence, and science, (Exodus 31:3; 36:1-2).

And everyone wise in heart among them doing the work, they made the habitation, the work of the artificer, (Exodus 36:8).

Thou shalt make the habitation of fine twined linen, and blue and purple, and scarlet double-dyed, and cherubim, with the work of the artificer shalt thou make them, (Exodus 26:1).

Thou shalt make the veil in like manner with the work of the artificer, (Exodus 26:31; 35:35).

In like manner the ephod with the work of the artificer; as also the breastplate, (Exodus 28:6; 39:8).

Artificer is there expressed by a word which also signifies a designer:

Thou shalt engrave two stones, which thou shalt put upon the shoulders of the ephod, with the work of an artificer in gems, (Exodus 28:11).

[3] In the opposite sense, by “the work of an artificer” is signified that work which is done from one’s own intelligence, from which nothing else can be produced but falsity. This is meant by “the work of the artificer” in these passages:

They shall make a molten image of their silver in their own intelligence, the whole the work of artificers, (Hosea 13:2).

The artificer casteth the graven image, and the founder spreadeth it over with gold, and maketh silver chains; he seeketh a wise artificer, (Isaiah 40:19-20).

He cutteth wood out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman; silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the artificer; blue and purple are their garments, the whole the work of the wise, (Jeremiah 10:3, 9; also Deuteronomy 27:15).

That “idols” signify falsities of worship and religion from one’s own intelligence, may be seen above, (459, 460).

794. And the voice of a millstone shall not be heard anymore in thee, signifies that they who are in that religious persuasion from doctrine, and from a life according to it, make no inquiry after, examination of, and confirmation of spiritual truth, because falsity received and confirmed, and thus implanted, stands in the way. By “the voice of the mill,” nothing else is signified but the inquiry after, examination, and confirmation of spiritual truth, especially from the Word. The reason why this is signified by the voice of the mill or by grinding is because wheat and barley which are ground signify celestial and spiritual good, and therefore meal and fine flour signify truth from that good; for all truth is from good, and all truth which is not from spiritual good, is not spiritual. It is said “the voice of the mill,” because things spiritual throughout the Word are denoted by things instrumental, which are the ultimates of nature; as for example, spiritual truths and goods are denoted by cups, vials, bottles, platters, and many other vessels, as may be seen above, (672). By “wheat” is signified the good of the church from the Word, (315[1-2]); and by “fine flour of wheat” is signified the truth from that good, (778).

[2] That “a mill” signifies inquiry after, examination, and confirmation of spiritual truth, see the following passage:

Jesus said, In the consummation of the age, two shall be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left; two shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left, (Matthew 24:40-41).

By “the consummation of the age” is meant the end of the church, when the Last Judgment is executed; by “the field” the church is signified, because the harvest is there; by “them that grind at the mill” are signified those in the church who search after truths; by “those that are taken” they who find and receive them are signified; and by “them that are left,” those who do not search after nor receive them, because they are in falsities:

I will take from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride, the voice of the mills, and the light of a lamp, (Jeremiah 25:10).

By “the voice of the mills” in this passage the like is signified as here in Revelation:

[3] Thou shalt not take the mill nor the millstone to pledge, for he taketh the soul to pledge, (Deuteronomy 24:6).

The mill is here called the soul, because by “the soul” is signified the truth of wisdom and faith, (681). In the opposite sense, the investigation and confirmation of falsity is signified by a mill, as is evident in these passages:

They led away the young men to grind at the mill, and the boys fell down under the wood, (Lamentations 5:13).

Sit in the dust, O daughter of Babel; take the mill and grind meal; uncover thy locks, uncover thy thighs, pass over the streams, let thy nakedness be uncovered, and let thy shame be seen, (Isaiah 47:1-3).

“Take the mill and grind meal” signifies to search after and investigate falsities, for the sake of confirming them.

795. But this shall be illustrated by an example. Who cannot see that they who are in Babylon, have searched after and investigated how they could confirm this enormous falsity, that the bread and wine in the Eucharist should be divided, that the bread should be given to the laity and the wine to the clergy. This may be seen from merely reading the confirmation decreed in the Council of Trent, and established by a bull, which reads thus:

That immediately after consecration the true body and the true blood of Jesus Christ, together with His soul and Divinity, are truly, really, and substantially contained in the bread and wine, His body under the appearance of bread, and His blood under the appearance of wine, from the force of the words; but the body itself under the appearance of wine, and the blood under the appearance of bread, and the soul under both by the force of the natural connection and concomitance, whereby the parts of the Lord Christ are united to each other, and His Divinity by reason of that admirable hypostatic union with the body and soul; and that just as much is contained under each kind as under both; and that the whole and entire Christ exists under the appearance of bread, and under every part of that appearance, and the whole also under the appearance of wine, and the parts thereof. Also that water is to be mixed with the wine.

These are their very words, and that these words are contrary to the force of the Lord’s words they themselves confess. Who that is of sound judgment does not here see truths themselves inverted, and changed into falsities by reasonings which the upright in heart cannot but abominate? But to what end is all this? Is it not solely for the sake of masses, which they call propitiatory sacrifices, most holy, pure, and in them nothing but what is holy, through which they infuse sanctity into the bodily senses of men, and at the same time night into all things of faith and spiritual life, and this to the end that in the midst of thick darkness, they may have dominion and gain? And also to cherish the idea concerning the ministers that they are full of the Lord, and that the Lord is in them. And that lest they should be fatigued the wine is for them, and to prevent inebriation, that water must be in the wine?

796. Verse 23. And the light of a lamp shall not shine in thee anymore signifies that they who are in that religious persuasion from doctrine and from a life according to it, have no enlightenment from the Lord, and thence no perception of spiritual truth. By “the light of a lamp” is signified enlightenment from the Lord and thence the perception of spiritual truth; for by “light” is meant the light of heaven, in which the angels are, and men also as to the understanding; which light in its essence is the Divine wisdom; for it proceeds from the Lord as the sun of the spiritual world, which in its substance is the Divine love of the Divine wisdom; from which no other light can proceed than that which is of the Divine wisdom, nor any other heat than that which is of the Divine love. That it is so, is demonstrated in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (83-172). Since that light is from the Lord, and the Lord is omnipresent by it and in it, therefore all enlightenment is effected by it, and thence the perception of spiritual truth, which those have who love Divine truths spiritually, that is, who love truths because they are truths, thus because they are Divine. That this is to love the Lord, is manifest; for the Lord is omnipresent in that light, because the Divine love and the Divine wisdom are not in place, but are where they are received, and according to the reception.

[2] That they who are in the Roman Catholic religious persuasion have not any enlightenment, and perception of spiritual truth thence, may be evident from this, that they do not love any spiritual light; for the origin of spiritual light is from the Lord, as was said; and no others can accept that light, nor receive it, but they who are conjoined with the Lord; and conjunction with the Lord is effected solely by the acknowledgment and worship of Him, and at the same time by a life according to His commandments from the Word. The acknowledgment and worship of the Lord, and the reading of the Word, cause the presence of the Lord; but these two together with a life according to His commandments effect conjunction with Him. In Babylon it is the contrary; there the Lord is acknowledged, but without dominion; and the Word is acknowledged, but without the reading of it. Instead of the Lord the pope is there worshiped, and instead of the Word the papal bulls are acknowledged, according to which they live, and not according to the commandments of the Word. And those bulls have for their end the dominion of the pope and his ministers over heaven and the world, and the commandments of the Word have for their end the Lord’s dominion over heaven and the world; and these are diametrically opposite to each other, like hell and heaven. These things are said, that it may be known, that they have altogether no light of a lamp, that is, enlightenment, and thence the perception of spiritual truth, who are in the Babylonish religious persuasion from doctrine and from a life according to it.

[3] That the Lord is the Light, from which is all the enlightenment and perception of spiritual truth, is manifest from these passages:

He was the true Light, which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the world, (John 1:4-12).

This is concerning the Lord:

This is the judgment, that the Light is come into the world; he that doeth the truth cometh to the Light, (John 3:19, 21).

Jesus said, Yet a little while is the Light with you; walk while ye have the Light, lest darkness seize upon you; while ye have the Light, believe in the Light, that ye may be sons of the Light, (John 12:35-36).

Jesus said, I am come a Light into the world, that everyone who believeth in Me, may not abide in darkness, (John 12:46).

Jesus said, I am the Light of the world, (John 9:5).

Simeon said, Mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, a Light for the revelation of the nations, (Luke 2:30-32).

The people sitting in darkness have seen a great Light; and to them that sit in the region and shadow of death, Light has arisen, (Matthew 4:16; Isaiah 9:2).

I have given thee for a Light of the nations, that thou mayest be My salvation even unto the extremity of the earth, (Isaiah 49:6).

The city New Jerusalem hath no need of the sun and moon to shine in it, for the glory of God enlighteneth it, and the lamp of it is the Lamb, (Revelation 21:23; 22:5).

It is manifest from these passages, that the Lord is the Light, from which are all enlightenment and thence perception of truth; and because the Lord is the Light, the devil is thick darkness; and the devil is the love of ruling over all the holy Divine things of the Lord, and thus over Himself; and as far as dominion is given to it, so far it darkens, extinguishes, sets on fire, and burns up, the holy Divine things of the Lord.

797. And the voice of bridegroom and of bride shall not be heard in thee anymore, signifies that they who are in that religious persuasion from doctrine and from life according to it, have no conjunction of good and truth, which makes the church. By “voice” is here signified joy, because it is that of a bridegroom and bride. By “a bridegroom,” in the highest sense, is meant the Lord as to the Divine good; and by “a bride” the church is meant as to the Divine truth from the Lord. For the church is a church from the reception of the Lord’s Divine good in the Divine truths which are from Him. That the Lord is called the and likewise the Husband; and that the church is called the Bride and also the Wife, is manifest from the Word. It is from this that the heavenly marriage, which is the conjunction of good and truth, is therefrom, will be seen in the small work on Conjugial Love [Marriage]. Now because this heavenly marriage is effected by the reception of the Divine good from the Lord in the Divine truths from the Word by the men of the church, it is manifest that there is no conjunction of good and truth with those who are in that religious persuasion from doctrine and life thence, because they have no conjunction with the Lord; but they have conjunction with men living and dead. And this conjunction, with those who are in the love of dominating from the love of self over the holy Divine things of the Lord, and over the Lord, is like conjunction with the devil, who, as was said in the preceding article, is that love; and to approach the devil that through him one may come to God, is detestable.

[2] That the Lord is called the Bridegroom, and the church the Bride, is manifest from these passages:

He that hath the Bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom, who stands and hears Him, rejoiceth with joy because of the Bridegroom’s voice, (John 3:29).

John the Baptist says this of the Lord.

Jesus said, As long as the Bridegroom is with them, the sons of the marriage cannot fast; the days will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, then shall they fast, (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35).

I saw the holy city New Jerusalem prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband, (Revelation 21:2).

The angel said, Come, and I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, (Revelation 21:9-10).

The time of the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready. Happy are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, (Revelation 19:7, 9).

By the Bridegroom, whom the ten virgins went out to meet, (Matthew 25:1-2 seq.),

the Lord is also meant.

[3] It is manifest from this what is signified by the voice and the joy of the bridegroom and the bride in the following passages:

As the joy of the bridegroom over the bride, thy God shall rejoice over thee, (Isaiah 62:5).

My soul shalt exult over God, as a bridegroom putteth on a miter, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels, (Isaiah 61:10).

There shall still be heard in this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, saying, Let us confess unto Jehovah of hosts, (Jeremiah 33:10-11).

Let the bridegroom go forth out of his chamber, and the bride out of her bride-chamber, (Joel 2:16).

I will cause to cease from the streets of Jerusalem the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, (Jeremiah 7:34; 16:9).

I will deprive them of the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, and the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the voice of the mills, and the light of a lamp, and the whole land shall be for a desolation by the king of Babel, (Jeremiah 25:10-11).

[4] From what has now been said the series of the things in these two verses may now be seen, which is, that they who are in that religious persuasion have not any affection of spiritual truth and good, (792); that they have not any understanding of spiritual truth, and hence not any thought of it, (793); for thought is from affection and according to it; that neither have they any searching after, investigation of, and confirmation of spiritual truth, (794); that neither do they have any enlightenment from the Lord, and hence no perception of spiritual truth, (796); and finally, that they do not have any conjunction of good and truth, which makes the church, (797). These things also thus follow each other in order.

798. Since it is said that they have not any conjunction of good and truth, because with them there is not the marriage of the Lord and the church, something shall here be said of the authority of opening and shutting heaven, which acts as one with the authority of remitting and retaining sins, which they claim for themselves as the successors of Peter and the apostles. The Lord said to Peter:

Upon this same rock will I build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail over it; I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens, (Matthew 16:18-19).

The Divine truth which is meant by “the rock” upon which the Lord will build His church is what Peter then confessed; which was:

Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, (Matthew 16:16).

By “the keys of the kingdom of the heavens,” which are that whatsoever that rock, which is the Lord, “shall bind on earth shall be bound in the heavens, and whatsoever it shall loose on earth shall be loosed in the heavens,” is meant that the Lord has power over heaven and earth, as He also says, (Matthew 28:18); thus the power of saving the men who from faith of heart are in that confession of Peter.

[2] The Lord’s Divine operation to save men is from firsts by ultimates; and this is what is meant by “whatsoever he shall bind or loose on earth shall be bound or loosed in heaven.” The ultimates by which the Lord operates are on earth, and indeed with men. On account of this, that the Lord Himself might be in the ultimates as He is in the firsts, He came into the world, and put on the Human. That all the Lord’s Divine operation is from firsts by ultimates, thus from Himself in the firsts and from Himself in the ultimates, may be seen in Divine Love and Wisdom, (217-219, 221); and that it is thence that the Lord is called “The First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the almighty,” may be seen above, (29-31, 38, 57).

[3] Who cannot see, if he will, that the salvation of man is the continuous operation of the Lord with man from the first of his infancy even to the last of his life, and that this is a work purely Divine, and can never be given to any man? It is so Divine that it is at once the work of omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence; and that man’s reformation and regeneration, thus his salvation, are all of the Lord’s Divine Providence, may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, from beginning to end.

[4] The very coming of the Lord into the world was solely on account of man’s salvation. For the sake of this He assumed the Human, removed the hells, and glorified Himself, and put on omnipotence even in the ultimates, which is meant by “sitting at the right hand of God.” What, therefore, is more abominable, than to found a religious persuasion, by which it is sanctioned that the Divine authority and power belong to man and no longer to the Lord; and that heaven will be opened and shut, if only a priest says, “I absolve,” or “I excommunicate;” and that sin, even if enormous, is remitted, provided he says, “I remit”? There are many devils in the world, who, in order to escape temporal punishments, seek and obtain absolution from a diabolical crime by arts and gifts. Who can be so insane as to believe that the authority is given of admitting devils into heaven?

[5] It was said above, (790, at the end), that “Peter” represented the truth of faith of the church, “James” the good of charity of the church, and “John” the good works of the men of the church; and that the twelve apostles together represented the church as to all things of it. It is clearly manifest that they represented them, from the Lord’s words to them in Matthew:

When the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel, (Matthew 19:28; Luke 22:30).

By these words nothing else can be signified than that the Lord will judge all according to the goods and truths of the church. If this was not meant by these words, but the apostles themselves, all in the great city Babylon, who say they are the successors of the apostles, might claim to themselves that they will sit upon thrones as many in number as themselves, from the pontiff even to a monk, and that they will judge all in the whole world.

799. For thy great men were the merchants⁷⁴ of the earth signifies that the higher ones in the ecclesiastical hierarchy are such, because by various arbitrary rights, left to them in the statutes of the order, they traffic and make profit. By “the great men” are meant the higher ones in their ecclesiastical hierarchy, who are called cardinals, bishops, and primates; who are called “merchants” because they make gain by the holy things of the church, as by merchandise, (771, 783); here, who by various and even arbitrary rights, left to them in the statutes of the order, traffic and make profit. Why this is said is manifest from what precedes, for this is a consequence of them. In what precedes, it is said that “there shall not be heard anymore in Babylon the voice of harpers, of musicians, of pipers and of trumpeters;” that “there shall not be there an artificer of any art;” “the voice of the mill shall not be heard there;” “the light of a lamp shall not be there;” neither “the voice of bridegroom and of bride;” by which is signified that in Babylon there is not any affection of spiritual truth, nor any understanding of it and thought thence; nor any search after and investigation of it, nor enlightenment and perception of it, and thence there is no conjunction of good and truth, which makes the church; see above, (792-794, 796, 797). The reason that they have not these, is because the higher ones in the order also traffic and make gain, and thus set an example to the lower ones. This therefore is why it is said, “For thy great men were the merchants of the earth.”

[2] But someone perhaps may say, “What are those arbitrary rights, which can be called tradings?” They are not their annual revenues and stipends, but they are dispensations from the authority of the keys; which are, that they remit sins, even enormous ones, and thereby release from temporal punishment; that by intercessions with the pope, they get power for contracting matrimonies within the prohibited degrees, and for separating them within degrees not prohibited; and do it themselves without intercession by toleration; by granting the privileges which are within their jurisdiction; by ordinations of ministers, and confirmations; by general and particular gratuities from the monasteries; by the appropriation of revenues from other sources which belong by right to others; and by many other means. These, and not their annual revenues, if they were content with them, cause that they have no affection of thought, investigation, and perception of spiritual truth, and no conjunction of truth and good, because they are the gains of the unjust mammon; and the unjust perpetually lust for natural wealth, and are averse to spiritual riches which are Divine truths from the Word.

[3] From this it may now be evident, that by “because thy great men⁷⁵ were the merchants of the earth,” is signified that the higher ones in their ecclesiastical hierarchy are such, because by various and even arbitrary rights, left to them in the statutes of the order, they traffic and make profit. Something further shall be said here concerning dispensation by the authority of the keys, over crimes, even enormous ones, by which they not only liberate the guilty from eternal punishments, but even from temporal punishments; and if they do not liberate them, they still protect by asylums. Who does not see that this does not belong to ecclesiastical jurisdiction, but to civil jurisdiction; and that it is to extend their dominion over everything secular, and to destroy the public security; also that by this authority still reserved to them, they are in the power of bringing back their former despotic domination over all tribunals established by kings, and thus over the judges, even the highest; which also they would do, if they did not fear withdrawal? This is meant in Daniel by:

The fourth beast coming up out of the sea will think to change times and right, (Daniel 7:25).

800. Because by thy sorcery all the nations have been seduced, signifies their wicked arts and devices, by which they have led away the minds of all from the holy worship of the Lord to the profane worship of living and dead men and idols. By “the sorcery by which all the nations have been seduced,” are signified the wicked arts and devices by which they have been deluded and persuaded, so that they might be worshiped and adored instead of the Lord, and thus like the Lord; and because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, as He Himself teaches, (Matthew 28:18), thus like gods. It may be seen above, (798[1-5]); that they transferred the Lord’s Divine authority to themselves. And because this is signified by those words, they also signify that by wicked arts and devices they have led away the minds of all from the holy worship of the Lord to the profane worship of men living and dead, and of idols. That nevertheless these things will come to an end, and are already at an end in the spiritual world, has been said and shown before. This is thus described in Isaiah:

Persist in thy enchantments, O Babel, and in the multitude of thy sorceries, in which thou hast labored from thy youth; if so be they could profit, if so be thou mayest become terrible; thou art wearied in the multitude of thy counsels; let now the observers of the heavens, the stargazers,⁷⁶ the diviners by the months, stand up, and save thee. Behold, they are become as stubble, the fire hath burned them up; they shall not deliver their soul from the hand of the flame. Such have thy merchants become from thy youth; everyone hath wandered to his own quarter, there is none to save thee, (Isaiah 47:12-15).

801. Verse 24. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all that have been slain upon the earth, signifies that from the religious persuasion, which is meant by “the city Babylon,” is the adulteration and profanation of every truth of the Word and thence of the church, and that falsity has emanated therefrom into the whole Christian world. By “blood” is signified the falsification, adulteration and profanation of the Word, (327, 379[1-7], 684). By “prophets” are signified all those who are in Divine truths from the Word, and abstractly truths of doctrine from the Word, (8, 133). That by “saints” are signified those who are of the Lord’s church and abstractly the holy truths of the church, (173, 586, 666). That by “the slain” are signified those who are spiritually slain, and they are called spiritually slain who perish by falsities, (325, and in ma ny other places). And because by “earth” is signified the church, by “all that are slain on the earth” are signified all in the Christian church who have perished by falsities; because the falsity with them emanated from that religious persuasion. It is also said of Babel in Jeremiah, that:

There are the slain of all the earth, (Jeremiah 51:49, 52).

And in Isaiah, that:

Lucifer (which there is Babel) hath destroyed her land, and hath slain her people, (Isaiah 14:20).

That many falsities have emanated from the Babylonish religious persuasion into the churches of the Reformed, may be seen above, (751); where this passage was explained, that:

The woman whom thou sawest is the great city which hath a kingdom over the kings of the earth, (Revelation 17:18).

802. It is said that from the religious persuasion which is meant by “the city Babylon” is the adulteration and profanation of every truth of the Word and thence of every holy thing of the church; and it has been said many times in what precedes, that that religious persuasion has not only adulterated the goods and truths of the Word, but has also profaned them; and that “Babel” therefore in the Word signifies the profanation of what is holy. It shall now be said how that profanation has been and is effected. It was said above, that the love of having dominion from the love of self over the holy things of the church and over heaven, and thus over all the Divine things of the Lord, is the devil. Now because that dominion as an end resides in the minds of those who founded that religious persuasion, they could not do otherwise than profane the holy things of the Word and the church. Suppose that that love, which is the devil, should reside in the mind of anyone interiorly, as every ruling love does; then place some Divine truth exteriorly before its eyes; will it not tear it to pieces, cast it to the earth, and trample it down, and in place of it summon a falsity that agrees with itself?

[2] The love of possessing all the things of the world is satan, and the devil and satan act as one, as if joined in a covenant, with such as from the one love are in the other. It may be concluded from this, whence it is that profanation is signified in the Word by “Babylon.” For example: place before that love which is the devil this Divine truth, that God alone is to be worshiped and adored, and not any man; and thus that the vicarship is an invention and a fiction, which is to be rejected. In like manner this truth, that to invoke dead men, to fall down to their images, to kiss them and their bones, is simply and foully idolatrous, which is also to be rejected. Would not that love which is the devil reject these two truths in the vehemence of its anger, fulminate against them, and tear them in pieces?

[3] But if anyone should say to that love which is the devil, that to open and shut heaven, or to loose and to bind, and thus to remit sins, which is the same as to reform and regenerate, and so to redeem and save man, is purely Divine, and that a man cannot ascribe to himself anything Divine without profanation; and that Peter did not ascribe it to himself, and therefore did not exercise any such authority; moreover, that the succession is a thing invented by that love; as also the transferring of the Holy Spirit from man to man; on hearing these things, would not that love which is the devil, belabor the speaker with anathemas, and in the fire of its fury command him to be delivered to the inquisitor, and to be cast among the damned? If anyone were to say further, How can the Lord’s Divine authority be transferred to you? How can the Lord’s Divinity be separated from His soul and body? Is it not according to your faith that it cannot? How can God the Father introduce His Divine power into the Son, except into His Divinity, which is the receptacle? How can this be transcribed into a man that it may be his? Besides other similar things. On hearing these, would not that love which is the devil be silent, kindle into wrath within, gnash the teeth, and cry out, “Lead him forth, crucify him, crucify him; go, go all of you, see the great heretic, and delight yourselves with him”?

Chapter 19 (803-839)

803. Revelation 19

1. After these things I heard as it were a voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God;

2. For true and just are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her whoredom, and He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.

3. And a second time they said, Alleluia; and her smoke shall go up unto the ages of the ages.

4. And the twenty-four elders and the four animals fell down, and adored God who sitteth upon the throne, saying, Amen. Alleluia.

5. And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both the small and the great.

6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as it were the voice of many waters, and as it were the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God the Almighty reigneth.

7. Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.

8. And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen clean and bright; for the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints.

9. And He said unto me, Write, Happy are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He said, These are the true words of God.

10. And I fell down before his feet to adore him; and he said unto me, See thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; adore God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

11. And I saw heaven opened; and behold a white horse; and He that sitteth upon him is called faithful and true; and in justice He doth judge and make war.

12. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, and upon His head were many diadems; having a name written, which no one knew but Himself:

13. And He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called, The Word of God.

14. And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean.

15. And out of His mouth went forth a sharp sword, that with it He should smite the nations; and He shall tend them with a rod of iron: and He treadeth the wine-press of the wine of the fury and anger of God Almighty.

16. And He hath upon His garment and upon His thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.

17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

18. That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders of thousands, and the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses, and of them to sit upon them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, both small and great.

19. And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war with Him that sat upon the horse, and with His army.

20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, that did signs before him, with which he seduced them that received the mark of the beast, and that adored his image; these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21. And the rest were slain by the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, that proceeded out of His mouth; and all the birds were satiated with their flesh.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

The glorification of the Lord by the angels of heaven, because the Roman Catholic religious persuasion is removed in the spiritual world, whereby they have come into the light and into their happiness (verses 1-5). Annunciation concerning the Lord’s coming, and concerning the New Church from Him (verses 6-10). The opening of the Word as to the spiritual sense for that church (verses 11-16). The calling of all to it (verses 17-18). Resistance by those who are in faith separated from charity (verse 19). Their removal and damnation (verses 20-21).

The contents of each verse, (Revelation 19:1)

Verse 1. “After these things I heard as it were a voice as of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Alleluia,” signifies thanksgiving, confession and celebration of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens, on account of the removal of the Babylonians, (803). “Salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God,” signifies that now there is salvation from the Lord, because now there is reception of Divine truth and Divine good from His Divine power, (804).

Verse 2. “For true and just are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her whoredom,” signifies because in justice the profane Babylonish religious persuasion is condemned, which has destroyed the Lord’s church by filthy adulterations of the Word, (805). “And He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand,” signifies retribution for the injuries and violence offered to the souls of the worshipers of the Lord, (806).

Verse 3. “And a second time they said, Alleluia; and her smoke goeth up unto the ages of the ages,” signifies thanksgiving and celebration of the Lord from joy that that profane religious persuasion is condemned to eternity, (807).

Verse 4. “And the twenty-four elders and the four animals fell down, and adored God who sitteth upon the throne, saying, Amen. Alleluia,” signifies adoration of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and as the Judge of the universe, by the angels of the higher heavens, and confirmation of the thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens, (808).

Verse 5. “And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him,” signifies influx from the Lord into heaven, and thus unanimity of the angels, that all who are in the truths of faith and in the goods of love should worship the Lord as the only God of heaven, (809). “Both small and great,” signifies those who worship the Lord from the truths of faith and the goods of love in a less or a greater degree, (810).

Verse 6. “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as it were the voice of many waters, and as it were the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God the Almighty reigneth,” signifies the joy of the angels of the lowest heaven, of the angels of the middle heaven, and of the angels of the highest heaven, that the Lord alone reigns in the church which is now to come, (811).

Verse 7. “Let us rejoice and exult and let us give the glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come,” signifies joy of soul and heart, and thence the glorification of the Lord, that henceforth there may be the full marriage of Him with the church, (812[1-3]); and His wife hath made herself ready,” signifies that they who will be of this church, which is the New Jerusalem, are collected together, inaugurated and instructed, (813).

Verse 8. “And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen clean and bright,” signifies that they are instructed by the Lord in genuine and pure truths through the Word, (814). “For the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints,” signifies that through truths from the Word those who are of the Lord’s church have the goods of life, (815).

Verse 9. “And he said unto me, Write, Happy are they that have been called to the marriage supper of the Lamb,” signifies an angel sent from heaven to John, and speaking with him concerning the Lord’s New Church, and saying that it was given to know on earth, that those have eternal life who receive the things which are of that church, (816). “And he said, These are the true words of God,” signifies that this is to be believed because it is from the Lord, (817).

Verse 10. “And I fell down before his feet to adore him; and he said, See thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; adore God,” signifies that the angels of heaven are not to be adored and invoked, because there is nothing Divine in them; but that they are associated with men, as brethren with brethren, with those who worship the Lord, and thus that in consociation with them the Lord alone is to be adored, (818). “For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy,” signifies that the acknowledgment that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time a life according to His precepts, in the universal sense the all of the Word and of doctrine therefrom, (819).

Verse 11. “And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse,” signifies the spiritual sense of the Word revealed by the Lord, and the interior understanding of the Word disclosed thereby, which is the coming of the Lord, (820). “And He that sitteth upon him is called faithful and true; and in justice He doth judge and make war,” signifies the Lord as to the Word, that it is the Divine good itself and the Divine truth itself, from both of which He executes judgment, (821).

Verse 12. “And His eyes were as a flame of fire,” signifies the Divine wisdom of the Lord’s Divine love, (822). “And upon His head were many diadems,” signifies the Divine truths of the Word from Him, (823). “Having a name written which no one knew but Himself,” signifies that what the quality of the Word is in its spiritual and celestial senses no one sees but the Lord, and he to whom He reveals it, (824).

Verse 13. “And He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called The Word of God,” signifies the Divine truth in its ultimate sense, or the Word in the letter, to which violence has been offered, (825).

Verse 14. “And the armies which are in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean,” signifies the angels in the New Christian heaven, who were conjoined to the Lord in the interior understanding of the Word, and thus who are in pure and genuine truths, (826).

Verse 15. “And out of His mouth went forth a sharp sword,” signifies the dispersion of falsities by the Lord by doctrine therefrom, (827). “That with it He should smite the nations; and He shall tend them with a rod of iron,” signifies that He will convince all who are in dead faith, by the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, and by rational things, (828). “And He treadeth the winepress of the fury and anger of God Almighty,” signifies that the Lord endured alone all the evils of the church, and all the violence offered to the Word, and thus to Himself, (829). Ver. 16. “And He hath upon His garment and upon His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords,” signifies that the Lord teaches in the Word what He is, that He is the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom and the Divine good of the Divine love, thus that He is the God of the universe, (830).

Verse 17. “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God,” signifies the Lord from the Divine love, and thence from Divine zeal, calling and assembling all who are in the spiritual affection of truth and think of heaven, to the New Church, and to conjunction with Himself, and thus to eternal life, (831).

Verse 18. “That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders of thousands, and the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit upon them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, and small and great,” signifies the appropriation of goods from the Lord through the truths of the Word and of doctrine thence, in every sense, degree, and kind, (832).

Verse 19. “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war with Him that sat upon the horse, and with His army,” signifies that all the interiorly evil, who have professed faith alone, with the leaders and their followers, will fight against the Lord’s Divine truths in His Word, and will infest those who will be of the Lord’s New Church, (833).

Verse 20. “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that did signs before him, with which he seduced them that received the mark of the beast, and adored His image,” signifies all those who professed faith alone, and were interiorly evil, both the laity and the common people, as also the clergy and the learned, who by reasonings and attestations that faith alone is the only means of salvation, have led others to receive that faith, and to live according to it, (834). “These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone,” signifies that all those, as they were, were cast into hell, where are loves of falsity and at the same time lusts of evil, (835).

Verse 21. “And the rest were slain by the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, that proceeded out of His mouth,” signifies that all from the various heresies among the Reformed, who have not lived according to the Lord’s commandments in the Word, which they knew, being judged from the Word, perish, (836). “And all the birds were satiated with their flesh,” signifies that from their lusts of evil, which are their proprium, the infernal genii are as it were nourished.

THE EXPLANATION

Verse 1. After these things I heard as it were a voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, Alleluia, signifies thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens, on account of the removal of the Babylonians. By “a great multitude in heaven,” are signified the angels of the lower heavens; by “their voice saying, Alleluia,” is signified thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord by them; by “Alleluia,” in the Hebrew language, is signified, Praise ye God, therefore it was an expression of thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord from joy of heart, as appears from these passages:

Bless Jehovah, O my soul. Alleluia, (Psalms 104:35).

Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting; and let all the people say, Amen. Alleluia, (Psalms 106:48).

We will bless Jah from now even to eternity. Alleluia, (Psalms 115:18).

Let every soul praise Jah. Alleluia, (Psalms 150:6; besides other places, as Psalms 105:45; 106:1; 111:1; 112:1; 113:1, 9; 116:19; 117:2; 135:3; 148:1, 14; 149:1, 9; 150:1).

That it is on account of the rejection of the Babylonians, is evident from the preceding chapter, which treats of the Babylonians, for which reason it is said, “After these things,” and also from what follows (verses 2, 32 in this chapter. That the angels of the lower heavens are meant by “a great multitude in heaven,” is plain from verse 4 (Revelation 19:4) of this chapter, where it is said that “the twenty-four elders and the four animals adored Him that sat upon the throne, saying Amen. Alleluia,” by whom the angels of the higher heavens are meant.

804. Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God, signifies that now there is salvation from the Lord, because now there is a reception of Divine truth and Divine good from His Divine power. By salvation to the Lord our God, is signified the acknowledgment and confession that there is salvation from the Lord; by “glory and honor to the Lord our God,” is signified acknowledgment and confession, that there is Divine truth and Divine good from the Lord, thus the reception thereof, (249, 629[1-2], 693). By “power unto the Lord our God,” is signified the acknowledgment and confession, that the Lord has power. To say that salvation, glory, honor, and power belong unto the Lord, is according to the sense of the letter; as also in other places, that to the Lord belongeth blessing, but this, when considered in the spiritual sense, means that these things, being in the Lord, are also from the Lord, here, that now they are communicated by Him to angels and men in consequence of the Babylonians being removed and rejected, who intercepted, weakened, and prevented the influx of those things from the Lord; in like manner as black clouds in the world, when they come between the sun and men; for as the light of the sun of this world is intercepted, weakened, and obstructed by the interposition of black clouds, so is the light of the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, by the black falsities interposed by the Babylonians. The thing is altogether similar, only that one is natural, and the other spiritual. Falsities also in the spiritual world appear like clouds, dark and black according to their quality. This is likewise the cause, that not until after the Last Judgment was the spiritual sense of the Word revealed, and that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth. For by the Last Judgment the Babylonians were removed, and also the Reformed who confessed faith alone; whose falsities were like dusky clouds interposed between the Lord and men on earth; and were likewise like cold, that takes away spiritual heat, which is the love of good, and truth.

805. Verse 2. For true and just are His judgments; for He hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her whoredom, signifies because in justice the profane Babylonish religious persuasion is condemned, which has destroyed the Lord’s church by foul adulterations of the Word. By “true and just are Thy judgments,” the Divine truths and goods of the Word are signified, according to which judgment is executed by the Lord, (668, 689); which together are called “justice:” for by justice, in speaking of the Lord, nothing else is signified; as below (verse 11 also Isaiah 63:1; Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16). By “for he hath judged the great harlot” is signified because the profane Babylonish religious persuasion is condemned, which was treated of in the foregoing chapter. It is called “the great harlot,” from the adulteration and profanation of the Word. By “who corrupted the earth with her whoredom” is signified, which has destroyed the Lord’s church by foul adulterations of the Word. By “her whoredom” the adulteration of the Word is signified, (134), and by “earth” the church, (285, 721).

806. And He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand, signifies retribution on account of the injuries and violence offered to the souls of the worshipers of the Lord. That by “He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand,” is signified retribution on account of the injuries and violence offered to the souls of the worshipers of the Lord, because by “He avenged” is signified retribution. By “shedding blood” is signified to offer violence to the Lord’s Divinity and to the Word, (327, 684); here to the worshipers of the Lord, who are meant by “His servants.” They offered injuries and violence to the souls of these by transferring to themselves the Divine worship of the Lord, and by prohibiting the reading of the Word. It is said of the Lord, that He avenged or revenged the blood of His servants, as if He did this from vengeance or revenge; but still it is not from vengeance or revenge, as it is not from anger and wrath, which however are attributed to the Lord in many places in the Word, see above, (525, 635, 658, 673). Anger and vengeance are said of the Lord, when the evil separated from the good are cast into hell, which is done at the day of the Last Judgment; on which account that day is called “a day of anger,” and likewise “anger;” also “a day of vengeance;” not that the Lord is angry and avenges, but that they are angry with the Lord, and breathe vengeance against Him. It is as when a malefactor, after sentence is passed, is angry at the law, and breathes vengeance against the judge; for the law is not angry, nor is the judge revengeful.

[2] “Vengeance” is meant in this sense in the following passages:

The day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed is come, (Isaiah 63:4).

Here it treats of the Lord and the last judgment:

The day of Jehovah’s vengeance, the year of retributions for the controversy of Zion, (Isaiah 34:8).

Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the retribution of God will He come, and He will save you, (Isaiah 35:4).

These are the days of vengeance, that all things that are written may be fulfilled, (Luke 21:22).

Here it treats of the consummation of the age, when the Last Judgment comes:

The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon Me, to proclaim the day of the good pleasure of Jehovah, and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all that mourn, (Isaiah 61:1-2).

Shall not My soul take vengeance for this, (Jeremiah 5:9, 29)?

I will take vengeance on Babel, nor will I make a man to intercede, (Isaiah 47:3).

The thought is against Babel to destroy it, because this is the vengeance of Jehovah, the vengeance of His temple, (Jeremiah 51:11, 36).

Sing, ye nations, His people; for He hath avenged the blood of His servants, and He will render vengeance to His enemies, and will expiate His land, His people, (Deuteronomy 32:43).

807. Verse 3. And a second time they said, Alleluia, and her smoke went up for ages of ages, signifies thanksgiving and celebration of the Lord from joy, that that profane religious persuasion is condemned to eternity. “That they said a second time” is from their varying affection of joy, that they were liberated from infestation from those who were in that religious persuasion, also from fear lest they should rise again and infest again. That thanksgiving and celebration of the Lord is signified by “Alleluia” may be seen above, (803). By “her smoke” is signified that religious persuasion as to its direful falsities, since falsities from evil appear like the smokes from fire, (422); the fire here is the love of self, (468, 494, 766). That by “the smoke of a burning,” when treating of Babylon, profanation is signified, (766, 767). By “its going up for ages of ages” is signified her damnation to eternity.

808. Verse 4. And the twenty-four elders and the four animals fell down and adored God who sitteth upon the throne, saying, Amen. Alleluia signifies adoration of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth and as the Judge of the universe by the angels of the higher heavens, and the confirmation of the thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of Him made by the angels of the lower heavens. By “falling down and adoring” is signified humiliation, and from the humiliation adoration, as above, (370). By “the twenty-four elders and the four animals” the higher heavens are signified, (369). By “Him that sitteth upon the throne” is meant the Lord as the God of heaven, and as the Judge of the universe; since by “the throne” is signified heaven and the kingdom there, (14, 221, 222), and likewise judgment; here judgment, because it is concerning the judgment upon Babel, which precedes. That “He that sitteth upon the throne” is the Lord, may be seen below. By “Amen. Alleluia,” is signified the confirmation of the thanksgiving, confession, and celebration made by the angels of the lower heavens. By “Amen” is signified confirmation and consent from the truth, (23, 28, 61, 371, 375); and by “Alleluia” is signified thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord, (803). That it is those which were made by the angels of the lower heavens, is because they first spoke, and celebrated the Lord as the God of heaven, the Judge, and the Avenger; and said “Alleluia;” as is manifest from verses 1, 2, and from the explanation above, (803, 804). The confirmation of these things by the angels of the higher heavens is signified by “Amen. Alleluia.”

[2] That “He that sitteth upon the throne” is the Lord, is manifest from Revelation (chapter 1:4; 2:8; 3:21; 4:2-6, 9; 5:13; 6:16; 7:9-11; 22:1, 3); in which places it is said, “God” and “Lamb” “upon the throne.” By “God” there the Divine Itself of the Lord is meant, which is called the Father; and by “the Lamb” the Divine Human, which is called the Son, (269, 291), thus the Lord alone. This is also manifest from chapter 7 where it is said:

The Lamb Who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, (Revelation 7:17),

And in Matthew:

When the Son of man shall sit upon the throne of His glory, He shall judge, (Matthew 19:28).

When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory, (Matthew 25:31).

809. Verse 5. (Revelation 19:5) And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, signifies influx from the Lord into heaven, and thus the unanimity of the angels, that all who are in the truths of faith and in the goods of love should worship the Lord as the only God of heaven. By “the voice which came out of the throne” is signified influx from the Lord into heaven. That it is from the Lord is because “He that sitteth upon the throne” was the Lord, as was shown just above, (808). Therefore by “the voice” that came out therefrom is meant influx; for the Lord, because He is above the heavens, and appears before the angels as a sun, does not speak from it to the angels, but flows in; and that which flows in, is received in heaven, and is uttered. Wherefore that voice, although from the throne, yet was heard by John out of heaven, and thus from the angels there; and whatever the angels speak out of heaven is from the Lord. By “Praise our God” is signified that they should worship the Lord as the only God of heaven. That “to praise God” is to worship Him will be seen below. By “all His servants” are signified all who are in the truths of faith, (3, 3[1-3], 380); by “all that fear Him” are signified they who are in the goods of love, (527, 628).

[2] That “to praise God” signifies to worship Him, and hence that the praise of Him is the worship of Him, is evident from many passages in the Word, a few only of which are adduced:

Suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of them that praise God, (Luke 2:13, 20).

The whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God with a great voice, (Luke 19:37).

They were in the temple praising and blessing God, (Luke 24:53).

Cause to be heard, praise ye, and say, O Jehovah, save Thy people, (Jeremiah 31:7).

Praise ye Jehovah in the heavens; praise Him in the heights; praise ye Him, His angels; praise ye Him, His hosts; praise ye Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars of light; praise Him, ye heavens of heavens; praise ye the name of Jehovah; praise Jehovah from the earth; He hath exalted praise from all peoples, (Psalms 148:1-5, 7, 13-14).

Out of the mouths of infants and sucklings Thou hast perfected praise, (Matthew 21:16).

All the people gave praise unto God, (Luke 18:43; besides other places, as Isaiah 42:8; 60:18; Joel 2:26; Psalms 113:1, 3; 117:1).

These things which are said in this verse do not have reference to those which precede concerning Babylon, but to the things that follow concerning the New Church to be established by the Lord; which is here treated of in what follows.

810. Both small and great, signifies those who worship the Lord from the truths of faith and the goods of love in a lesser and in a greater degree. By “the small and the great” in the natural sense they are meant who are in a lesser and in a greater degree of dignity, but in the spiritual sense those who are in a lesser and in a greater degree of worship of the Lord, and thus who worship the Lord less and more holily and fully from the truths of faith and the goods of love. This is signified because it follows after “Praise God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him;” by which such things are signified, (527, 604, 809).

811. Verse 6. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as it were the voice of many waters, and as it were the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God the Almighty reigneth, signifies the joy of the angels of the lowest heaven, of the angels of the middle heaven, and of the angels of the highest heaven, that the Lord alone reigns in the church which is now to come. By “the voice” is signified the joy of worship, confession, and celebration of the Lord; because it follows that they said, “Alleluia,” and then “Let us rejoice and exult, and give glory to Him.” By “the voice of a great multitude” the joy of the angels of the lowest heaven is signified, as above, (803). By “the voice of many waters” is signified the joy of the angels of the middle heaven, as above, (614). The joy of these was thus heard because “many waters” signify truths in abundance, (50, 614, 685); and the angels of the middle heaven are in truths, because in intelligence. By “the voice of mighty thunders” the joy of the angels of the highest heaven is signified. That their voice or discourse is heard as thunder, may be seen above, (615). By “saying Alleluia” is signified the joy of worship, confession, and celebration of the Lord, as above, (803). By “for the Lord God the Almighty reigneth,” is signified because the Lord alone reigns; for the Lord is called the Almighty, (Revelation 1:8; 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:15; 21:22 where the explanations may be seen). That these things are said of the New Church to be established by the Lord, is evident from the three verses following, in which it is said, “For the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His Wife hath made herself ready.” Also, “Happy are they that are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb.” On account of this is the joy of all the heavens, which is described in this and the following verse.

812. Verse 7. Let us rejoice and exult, and give the glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, signifies joy of soul and heart, and thence the glorification of the Lord, that henceforth there may be a full marriage of Him with the church. By “rejoice and exult” is signified joy of soul and heart. Joy of soul is joy of the understanding, or from the truth of faith; and joy of heart is joy of the will, or from the goods of love. The two are mentioned on account of the marriage of truth and good in each thing of the Word, spoken of above, (373, 689). By “giving glory to Him” is signified to acknowledge and confess that all truth is from the Lord, (629[1-2]); so to acknowledge that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, (693); here therefore is signified to glorify, because this involves both. By “for the marriage of the Lamb is come,” is signified because henceforth there is the full marriage of the Lord and the church. That this may be signified, it is therefore said “the Lamb;” and by “the Lamb” is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, (269, 291).

[2] It may be evident almost without explanation, that when the Lord’s Human is acknowledged to be Divine, there is effected a full marriage of the Lord and the church; for it is known in the Reformed Christian world, that the church is a church from the marriage of the Lord with her; for the Lord is called the Lord of the vineyard, and the church is the vineyard; and the Lord is also called the Bridegroom and Husband, and the church is called the Bride and Wife. That the Lord is called the Bridegroom, and the church the Bride, may be seen, (797). That there is then the full marriage of the Lord and the church, when His Human is acknowledged to be Divine, is manifest; for then God the Father and He are acknowledged to be one, as the soul and the body. When this is acknowledged, the Father is not approached for the sake of the Son; but then the Lord Himself is approached, and God the Father through Him; because the Father is in Him, as the soul is in the body, as was said. Before the Lord’s Human is acknowledged to be Divine, there is indeed a marriage of the Lord with the church; but only with those who approach the Lord, and think of His Divine, and not at all whether His Human is Divine or not. The simple in faith and in heart do this; but rarely the learned and erudite. Moreover also there cannot be given three husbands to one wife, nor three souls to one body; and therefore, unless one God is acknowledged, in whom is the Trinity, and that that God is the Lord, there is no marriage.

[3] That from this time that marriage may take place, because it could not fully take place until after the Babylonians were separated in the spiritual world by the Last Judgment; as also the Philistines, who are they that profess faith alone; and because their separation is treated of in what goes before, it is said “from henceforth.” That there is a marriage of the church with the Lord may be evident from these passages:

Jesus said, The children of the marriage cannot mourn, as long as the Bridegroom is with them, (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19).

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man a king, who made a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants, and invited to the marriage, (Matthew 22:1-14).

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto ten virgins, who went forth to meet the bridegroom; of whom five, being ready, went in with the bridegroom to the marriage, (Matthew 25:1-12).

That here the Lord meant Himself is manifest from verse 13 following, where He said:

Watch, for ye know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man will come, (Matthew 25:13).

And in another place:

Let your loins be girded and your candles shining, and ye like to them that wait for their Lord, when He is about to return from the marriage, (Luke 12:35-36).

813. And His Wife hath made herself ready, signifies that they who will be of this church, which is the New Jerusalem, are collected together, inaugurated, and instructed. By “the Wife” the Lord’s New Church is signified, which is the New Jerusalem; which is clearly manifest from chap. 21, following, where are these words:

I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband, (Revelation 21:2).

An angel came unto me, saying, Come, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife; and he showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, (Revelation 21:9-10).

By “His Wife hath made herself ready” is signified that they who will be of that New Church of the Lord are collected together, inaugurated, and instructed; and because these things are signified by “she hath made herself ready,” it therefore follows that the Wife “was arrayed in fine linen clean and bright;” by which is signified inauguration by instruction; and therefore there also follows the account of “the white horse,” by which is signified the understanding of the Word from the Lord for them.

814. Verse 8. And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen clean and bright, signifies that they who will be of the Lord’s New Church are instructed by the Lord in genuine and pure truths through the Word. By “it was given to her” is meant to Wife, by whom is signified the Lord’s New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, as just above, (812[1-3] “being clothed” is signified to be instructed in truths, because truths are signified by “garments” (166); and by “white garments” genuine truths, (212). By “fine linen clean and bright” is signified shining from good and pure truths; and because pure truth is not given from any other source than from the Lord through the Word, therefore this also is signified. It is called “clean and bright,” because “clean” signifies that which is free from evil, thus that which shines from good; and “bright” signifies what is free from falsity, thus what is pure from truth. By “fine linen” or “linen cloth” genuine truth is signified in the following places also:

O Jerusalem, I have clothed thee with needlework, I have girded thee with fine linen, and I have covered thee with silk; thus wast thou adorned with gold and silver, and thy raiment was fine linen and silk, (Ezekiel 16:10, 13).

Fine linen in needlework from Egypt was thy spreading forth, (Ezekiel 27:7).

This is concerning Tyre, by which the church as to the knowledges of truth and good is signified.

The armies in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean (Revelation 14).

Joseph was clothed in garments of fine linen by Pharaoh, (Genesis 41:42).

This signifies the same. Truth from the Word with them, though not in them, is signified by:

The fine linen of Babylon, (Revelation 18:12, 16).

And upon the rich man, (Luke 16:19).

Fine linen is also called cotton [xylinum], wherefore genuine truth is also signified by the latter in these passages in Moses:

Thou shalt make a checkerwork a tunic of cotton for Aaron; and thou shalt make a miter of cotton, (Exodus 28:39).

They made tunics of cotton for Aaron and for his sons, (Exodus 39:27).

Thou shalt make the habitation of cotton interwoven, and hyacinth, and purple, and scarlet double-dyed, (Exodus 26:1; 36:8).

Thou shalt make hangings for the court of cotton interwoven, (Exodus 27:9, 18; 38:9).

Also the veil of the court with cotton interwoven, (Exodus 38:18).

815. For the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints, signifies that through truths from the Word those who are of the Lord’s church have the goods of life. By “fine linen” are signified genuine truths, which are truths from the Lord through the Word, as just above, (814). By “just deeds” are signified the goods of life with those who are in truths, (668). By “the saints” are signified those who are of the Lord’s church, (173, 586). That “just deeds” are the goods of life with those who are in truths, is because no one can be called just, unless he lives according to truths; for in the natural sense everyone is called just who lives well according to the civil and moral laws; but in the spiritual sense he is called “just” who lives well according to the Divine laws, and the Divine laws are truths from the Word. He who believes himself to be just, consequently in the good of life, without the truths according to which he should live, is much deceived; for a man cannot be reformed and regenerated, consequently become good, except by truths, and by life according to them. Hence it is manifest, that by “the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints,” is signified that those who are of the Lord’s church have the goods of life through truths from the Word. This is plainly manifest from the angels of heaven; the more they are in truths and in life according to them they appear clothed in the brighter garments; the reason is, that they are in brighter light.

816. Verse 9. And He said unto me, Write, Happy are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb, signifies an angel sent from heaven to John, and speaking with him concerning the Lord’s New Church, and saying that it was given to know on earth, that those have eternal life who receive the things which are of that church. That it was an angel sent from heaven to John that spoke these things to him, may be evident from the following verse, that John fell down at his feet to adore him; and that the angel answered, that he was his fellow-servant; therefore that not he, but God, was to be adored. That the former things which John heard were from heaven itself, and by many angels speaking together from the Lord, is plainly manifest from the preceding verses 5-7; where it is said that “a voice came out of the throne,” and that thus was heard “as it were a voice of a great multitude, and as of many waters, and as of mighty thunders,” and of them that said, “Let us rejoice and exult.” These were in the plural; but now it is in the singular, and thus by a single angel sent to him.

[2] But I will relate how it is, when angels speak with man. They never speak with him from heaven; but the voice which is heard thence is from the Lord through heaven. But when it is given to the angels to speak with a man, they send one from their society, who is near the man; and they speak with the man through him. He who is sent is the subject of many, and it was such a subject who now spoke with John. This was done, that it might be announced on earth, that the whole heaven acknowledges the Lord alone as the God of heaven, and that He alone is to be adored; also that the New Church is to be established by the Lord on the earth, as it has been established in the heavens; for a church is first established in the heavens by the Lord, and then through the heavens on the earth. This is the arcanum in these words.

[3] Now to the explanation. “Write” signifies that he should commit this to posterity for remembrance, (39, 63, 639); here, that he should make these things known; this is meant by “write.”“Happy are they that are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb,” signifies that those have eternal life who receive those things which are of the New Church. They are called “happy,” who have eternal life, (639). By “the marriage of the Lamb” the New Church is signified, which is in conjunction with the Lord, as above, (812[1-3] “the called” are meant all who receive, (744[1-2]); all are called, indeed; but they who do not receive, reject the call.

[4] It is called “the marriage supper of the Lamb,” because this is done in the last state of the church, which is called evening; and in the evening suppers take place; but the first state of the New Church is called morning. In the evening man is called to the church; and when the called are present, the morning comes. That the last state of the church is called evening and night, and its first state the dawn and morning, may be seen above, (151[1-3]). And because it was the last state of the Jewish church, and thus evening, when the Lord went from Jerusalem to suffer, the Lord therefore then supped with the disciples, and instituted the Eucharist; whence it is called the holy supper; by which also is effected the conjunction of the Lord with the man of the church, or a marriage, if the man, after repentance, goes directly to Him; but if otherwise, presence is effected, and not conjunction. From this it may be evident what is signified by “supper” and “to sup” elsewhere in the Word.

817. And he said, These are the true words of God, signifies that this is to be believed, because from the Lord; namely, that “they are happy who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb,” that is, that they on earth who receive the things which are of the Lord’s New Church, have eternal life.

818. Verse 10. And I fell down before his feet to adore him; and he said to me, See thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; adore God, signifies that the angels of heaven are not to be adored and invoked, because there is nothing Divine in them; but that they are associated with men as brethren with brethren, with those who worship the Lord, and thus that, in consociation with them, the Lord alone is to be adored. “I fell down before His feet to adore Him, and He said unto me, See thou do it not, adore God,” signifies that no angel of heaven is to be adored and invoked, but the Lord alone. “I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren,” signifies that the Divine does not belong to an angel, but that He is associated with man as brother with brother. By “having the testimony of Jesus” is signified that he is in like manner in conjunction with the Lord, through the acknowledgment of the Divine in His Human, and through a life according to His commandments. That this is signified by “having the testimony of Jesus” will be seen in the following paragraph. That the angels of heaven are not superior to men, but that they are their equals, and that they are therefore equally the Lord’s servants, as men are, is because all the angels have been men, born in the world, and not any of them were created immediately; as may be evident from the things which are written and shown in the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London, 1758. They indeed excel men in wisdom; but this is for the reason that they are in a spiritual state, and thence in the light of heaven, and not in a natural state, and so in the light of the world, as men are upon earth. But as far as any angel excels in wisdom, so far he acknowledges that he is not above men, but like them; on which account there is not any conjunction of men with the angels, but there is consociation with them. Conjunction is given with the Lord alone. But how conjunction with the Lord, and consociation with the angels, by the Word, are effected, see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (62-69).

819. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, signifies that the acknowledgment that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time a life according to His commandments, is in the universal sense the all of the Word and of doctrine therefrom. By “the testimony of Jesus” is signified the Lord’s attestation in heaven, that man is His, and thus that he is in heaven one among the angels there; and because that attestation cannot be given to any others but to those who are in conjunction with the Lord, who acknowledge Him as the God of heaven and earth, as he teaches in Matthew 28:18, and at the same time live according to His commandments, especially according to the commandments of the Decalogue, these two things are therefore signified by “the testimony of Jesus,” see above, (6, 490). By that testimony is “the spirit of prophecy,” is signified that it is the all of the Word and of doctrine therefrom; for the Word in the universal sense treats only of the Lord, and of life according to His commandments. Hence it is, that the Lord is the Word; for He is the Word, because the Word is from Him, and treats of Him alone, and teaches solely how He is to be acknowledged and worshiped; and these are the commandments of the Word, which are called Divine truths, according to which one must live, that he may be able to come into conjunction with the Lord. That the Word treats of the Lord alone, and that it is thence that the Lord is called the Word, may be seen in Doctrine of the Lord, (1-7, 8-11, 19-28, 37-44); and in Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture, (80-90, 98-100). This is also what the Lord says, that:

The Spirit of Truth, which is the Holy Spirit, will testify concerning the Lord; and that he will not speak from himself, but that he will receive of the things which are of the Lord’s, and announce them, (John 15:26; 16:13, 15).

820. Verse 11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, signifies the spiritual sense of the Word revealed by the Lord, and the interior understanding of the Word disclosed thereby; which is the coming of the Lord. By “heaven was seen open” is signified a revelation from the Lord, and the manifestation, concerning which below. By “a horse” is signified the understanding of the Word, and by “a white horse” the interior understanding of the Word, (298); and as this is signified by “a white horse,” and as the spiritual sense is the interior understanding of the Word, therefore that sense is signified here by “the white horse.” The reason that this is the coming of the Lord, is because it manifestly appears by that sense that the Lord is the Word, and that the Word treats of Him alone, and that He is the God of heaven and earth, and that from Him alone the New Church exists. The Lord said that:

They should see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with glory and power, (Matthew 17:5; 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:61-62; Luke 9:34-35; 21:27; Revelation 1:7;Acts of the Apostles 1:9, 11).

And the Lord said this also where He spoke with the disciples concerning the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church, when the judgment takes place. Everyone who does not think beyond the sense of the letter, believes that when the Last Judgment shall come, the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven with the angels and sounds of trumpets. But that this is not meant, but that He will appear in the Word, may be evident from the explanation above, (24, 642). And the Lord appears manifestly in the spiritual sense of the Word. It appears not only that He is the Word, that is, the Divine truth itself, and that He is the inmost of the Word, and thence the all of it; but also that He Himself is the one God, in whom is the Trinity, and thus the only God of heaven and earth; and moreover that He came into the world, that He might glorify His Human, that is, make it Divine. The Human which He glorified, that is, made Divine, was the natural human, which He could not glorify or make Divine but by taking on the human in a virgin in the natural world; to which He then united His Divine, which He had from eternity. That unition was effected by temptations admitted into the human that He had taken, the last of which was the passion of the cross, and at the same time by the fulfilling of all things of the Word; not only by the fulfilling of all things of the Word in its natural sense, but also by the fulfilling of all things of the Word in its spiritual sense and in its celestial sense; in which, as was said above, He alone is treated of. But on these things, see what are manifested in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord, and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture. Now, because the Lord is the Word, and the Word became flesh, (John 1:1-2, 14), and the Word became flesh that He might fulfill it, it is manifest that the Lord’s coming in the Word is meant by His appearing “in the clouds of heaven.” That “the clouds of heaven” signify the Word in the sense of the letter, may be seen above, (24, 642). It is manifest that the Lord’s appearing in the Word is meant, because the interior understanding of the Word is signified by “the white horse,” and it is said that the name of Him that sat upon the horse is “The Word of God,” and that His name is “King of kings and Lord of lords” (verses 13, 16). It is now manifest from this, that by “I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse,” is signified the spiritual sense of the Word revealed by the Lord, and thereby the interior understanding of it disclosed; which also is the coming of the Lord. That the spiritual sense of the Word is at this day revealed, concerning which no one in the Christian world has before known anything, may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, where the two books of Moses, Genesis and Exodus are explained according to that sense; also in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (5-26); in a little work Concerning the White Horse from beginning to end, and in the things collected there from the Arcana Coelestia concerning the Sacred Scripture; and besides in these explanations upon Revelation, where not a single verse can be understood without the spiritual sense.

821. And He that sitteth upon him is called faithful and true, and in justice He doth judge and make war, signifies the Lord as to the Word, that it is the Divine good itself and the Divine truth itself, from both of which He executes judgment, and separates the good from the evil. By “He that sitteth upon him,” that is, upon the white horse, the Lord is meant as to the Word. That it is the Lord as to the Word, is manifest from verse 13, seq. , where it is said that “He was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God.” By “faithful and true” are signified the Divine good and the Divine truth; by “faithful,” the Divine good, because this is faithful. That “faithful,” when speaking of men, means one who is in the inmost or third heaven, and thus who is in celestial good, may be seen above, (744[1-2]); that by “true,” when speaking of the Lord, the Divine truth is signified, is manifest. That by “justice” both are signified, as well good as truth, and, where it is speaking of the Lord, the Divine good and Divine truth, may be seen above, (805). Hence it follows, that by “judging from justice” is signified to execute judgment from the Divine good and the Divine truth. That all judgment is executed by the Lord through the Word, and thus that the Word itself judges everyone, may be seen above, (233). That “to make war from justice” signifies to separate the good from the evil, is because the Lord does not make war against anyone, but separates the good from the evil; and when the good are separated from the evil, the evil then cast themselves into hell.

822. Verse 12. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, signifies the Divine wisdom of the Lord’s Divine love, may be seen above, (48), where are similar things; and they are said of the Son of man, by whom the Lord as to the Word is meant, (44[1-2]).

823. And upon His head were many diadems signifies the Divine truths of the Word from Him. “Upon the head” signifies from the Lord; for by the head wisdom from love is signified; and man is ruled from the head by wisdom from love. “Diadems upon the head” were seen because the Divine truths of the Word, which are signified by “diadems,” are from Him. That “diadems” signify the Divine truths of the Word, may be seen, (231, 540). That “the head” when speaking of the Lord, signifies the Divine wisdom of the Divine love, (47); what more is signified by the head, (538, 565). In the spiritual world the Divine truths of the Word correspond to diadems, and they appear there from correspondence, and in heaven upon the head of those who hold the Word as holy. Hence it is that “diadems” signify the Divine truths of the Word in the sense of its letter. The reason is, because the sense of the letter is translucent from its spiritual and celestial sense, as a diadem is from light.

824. Having a name written which no one knew but Himself, signifies that no one sees of what quality the Word is in its spiritual and celestial senses but the Lord, and he to whom He reveals it. By “a name” is signified the quality of anyone, (165, and elsewhere); here the quality of the Word, or what the Word is within, that is, in its spiritual and celestial senses. It is said, “a name written,” because the Word is both with men on earth and with the angels in the heavens; see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (70-75). By “no one knew but Himself,” is signified that no one sees but the Lord Himself, and he to whom He reveals it, that is, what the quality of the Word is in the spiritual sense. That no one sees the spiritual sense of the Word but the Lord alone, and hence that no one sees that sense except from the Lord, and no one from the Lord unless he is in Divine truths from Him, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (26).

825. Verse 13. And He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God, signifies the Divine truth in its ultimate sense, or the Word in the letter, to which violence has been offered. By a garment is signified truth clothing good, (166, 212, 328); and when concerning the Word, it signifies the Word in the sense of the letter; for this is like a garment, in which its spiritual and celestial senses are clothed. By “the blood” is signified violence offered to the Lord’s Divine and to the Word, (327, 684). The reason that this is signified is that the Lord’s Divine truth in the Word is signified by blood, (379[1-7], 653); wherefore by “shedding blood” is signified to offer violence to the Lord’s Divine and to the Word. By “the Word of God” is signified here the Word in the sense of the letter; for violence has been offered to this, but not to the Word in the spiritual sense, because this sense has not been known; and if it had been known, violence would have been offered to it also. Wherefore that sense was not revealed until after the Last Judgment was accomplished, and the New Church was to be instituted by the Lord. Nor is it revealed to anyone at this day, except to him who is in Divine truths from the Lord; see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (26).

[2] That violence has been offered to the Lord’s Divine and to the Word, is plainly manifest from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, and from the religious persuasion of the Reformed concerning faith alone. The Roman Catholic religious persuasion gives forth that the Lord’s Human is not Divine, wherefore they have transferred all things of the Lord to themselves; also that the Word is to be interpreted only by them; yet the interpretation by them is everywhere contrary to the Divine truth of the Word, as was shown in the explanation of the preceding chapter 18. It is manifest from this, that violence is offered to the Word by that religious persuasion. In like manner by the religious persuasion of the Reformed concerning faith alone. Neither does this make the Lord’s Human Divine, and it founds theology upon a single saying of Paul falsely understood; and it therefore makes nothing of all the things which the Lord taught concerning love and charity and concerning good works; which are yet so prominent that everyone, if he only has eyes, can see. The like was done with the Word by the Jews.

[3] Their religious persuasion was, that the Word was written for no others but themselves, and thus that no others are meant therein; and that the Messiah who was to come would exalt them above all in the whole world; by which and many other things they falsified and adulterated all things of the Word. This is meant by these words in Isaiah:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, having sprinkled garments from Bozrah? wherefore art Thou red as to Thy garment, and Thy garments as of him that treadeth in the wine-press? whence victory is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have polluted all My vesture, (Isaiah 63:1-3).

By “garments” here also the Divine truths of the Word are signified: by “Edom” is signified red, here red from blood. Hence it is manifest that by “clothed with a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God,” is signified the Divine truth in the ultimate sense, or the Word in the letter, to which violence has been offered.

826. Verse 14. And the armies in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean, signifies the angels in the New Christian heaven, who were conjoined with the Lord in the interior understanding of the Word, and thus in pure and genuine truths. By “the armies in heaven” are meant the angels who are in Divine truths and goods, (447). By “heaven” is here meant the New Christian Heaven, spoken of above, (612, 613, 626, 659, 661). The reason that this heaven is meant, is because this is the New Heaven which is treated of in Revelation. By “following the Lord” is signified to be conjoined to Him, (621). By “the white horses” upon which they appeared, is signified the interior understanding of the Word, as above, (820). By “the fine linen white and clean,” is signified pure and genuine truth from the Lord through the Word, (814). It is also said of the New Church, that it should be clothed in “fine linen clean and bright” (verse 8 of this chapter); and so here of the New Christian Heaven, through which, from the Lord, that church will exist.

827. Verse 15. And out of His mouth went forth a sharp sword. That it signifies the dispersion of falsities, by doctrine from the Lord is manifest from the things explained above, (52), where similar things are said of the Lord, who is there called the Son of man; and by the Son of man is meant the Lord as to the Word, (44[1-2]); here in like manner by “Him that sitteth upon the white horse”: for the dispersion of falsities is effected by the Lord through the Word.

828. That with it He should smite the nations; and He shall tend them with a rod of iron, signifies that He will convince all who are in dead faith, by the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, and by rational things. It is evident that these things are signified, from similar things above, (544). It may there be seen, that by “the rod of iron” with which the nations should be smitten, are signified truths from the sense of the letter of the Word confirmed by rational things from the natural man; and likewise in 148, 485. That faith alone without works is dead, is clearly manifest in James 2:17, 20; who also says:

Be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only; how ye deceive yourselves, (James 1:22).

Paul says in like manner:

Not the hearers of the law will be justified by God, but the doers of the law will be justified, (Romans 2:13).

829. And He treadeth the wine-press of the wine of the fury and anger of God Almighty, signifies that the Lord endured alone all the evils of the church, and all the violence offered to the Word, thus to Himself. By “the wine of the fury and anger of God” are signified the goods and truths of the church, which are from the Word, profaned and adulterated, thus the evils and falsities of the church, (316, 632, 635, 758). By “treading the wine-press” of that wine is signified to endure them, to fight against them, and to condemn them, and thus to liberate the angels in the heavens and the men on earth from infestation by them. For the Lord came into the world to subjugate the hells, which had then increased so that they began to infest the angels; and He subjugated them by combats against them, and thus by temptations; for spiritual temptations are nothing else than combats against the hells. And because every man is in consort with spirits as to his affections and thence thoughts, an evil man with spirits from hell and a good man with angels from heaven, therefore when the Lord subjugated the hells, He not only liberated the angels of heaven from infestation, but also the men of the earth.

[2] This therefore is what is signified by these words in Isaiah:

He hath borne our diseases, and He hath carried our pains; also He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; and by His wound healing is given to us; Jehovah hath laid upon Him the iniquity of us all; He sustained exaction; He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of My people was He stricken; and He hath laid guilt upon His soul, (Isaiah 53:4-10).

These things are concerning the Lord, and concerning His temptations by the hells, and at length by the Jews, by whom He was crucified. The Lord’s combats are also described in Isaiah 63:1-10; where are these words also:

Thy garments are as of him that treadeth in the wine-press; I have trodden the wine-press alone, (Isaiah 63:2-3).

By this is signified that He alone endured the evils and falsities of the church, and all the violence offered to the Word, thus to Himself. It is said, the violence offered to the Word, and thus to Himself, because the Lord is the Word; and violence is offered to the Word and to the Lord Himself by the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, also by the religious persuasion with the Reformed concerning faith alone. The Lord endured the evils and falsities of both, when He executed the Last Judgment, by which He again subjugated the hells; and unless they had been subjugated again, no flesh could have been saved; as He says in Matthew 24:21-22.

830. Verse 16. And He hath upon His garment and upon his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords, signifies that the Lord teaches in the Word what He is, that He is the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom and the Divine good of the Divine love, thus that He is the God of the universe. By the Lord’s “garment” the Word as to the Divine truth is signified, as above, (825). By the Lord’s “thigh” is signified the Word as to Divine good. The “thighs” and “loins” signify conjugial love; and as that love is the fundamental of all loves, therefore “the thighs” and “the loins” signify the good of love. That this is from correspondence may be seen above, (213[1-4]). Therefore when “the thigh” is spoken of in relation to the Lord, it signifies Himself as to the good of love; here also the Word as to the same. By “the name written” the Lord’s quality is signified as above, (824). By “King of kings” is meant the Lord as to the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom, and by “Lord of lords” is meant the Lord as to the Divine good of the Divine love. The like is signified by the Lord’s kingdom and dominion, where both are mentioned, see above, (664).

[2] As it is said, “King of kings and Lord of lords,” and by them the Lord as to the Divine truth and the Divine good is meant, it is therefore said also, “a name written upon His garment and upon His thigh;” and by “the name written upon His garment” is signified the Word as to the Divine truth, and by “the name written upon His thigh,” the Word as to the Divine good. Both are in the Word. The Divine truth of the Word is in its spiritual sense, which is for the angels of the middle or second heaven, who are in intelligence from Divine truths; and the Divine good of the Word in its celestial sense, which is for the angels of the highest or third heaven, who are in wisdom from Divine goods. But the latter sense is deeply hidden, perceptible to those only who are in love to the Lord from the Lord. That it is the Lord, is openly said above in Revelation:

They shall fight with the Lamb; the Lamb shall overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings, (Revelation 17:14).

[3] That “the thigh” signifies the good of love, and when speaking of the Lord, the Divine good of the Divine love, is evident from these passages in the Word:

Justice shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His thighs, (Isaiah 11:5).

Over the head of the cherubim was the appearance of a Man upon a throne; from the appearance of His loins and upward, and from the appearance of His loins downward, was the appearance of fire and brightness round about, (Ezekiel 1:26-28).

By the “Man upon the throne” is meant the Lord; by “the appearance of fire from the loins upward and downward” His Divine love is signified; and by “the brightness round about” is signified the Divine wisdom therefrom.

The Man seen by Daniel, whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz, (Daniel 10:5)

was an angel in whom was the Lord; by “the gold of Uphaz” the good of love is signified. The like is signified by “the thigh” (Isaiah 5:27; Psalms 45:3 and elsewhere). Concerning the correspondence of the thighs or loins with conjugial love, which is the fundamental of all loves, see the Arcana Coelestia, (5050-5062).

831. Verse 17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and He cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God, signifies the Lord from the Divine love and thence from Divine zeal calling and calling together all who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and who think of heaven, to the New Church, and to conjunction with Himself, and thus to eternal life. By “the angel standing in the sun” is meant the Lord in the Divine love; by “the angel” the Lord is meant, and by “the sun” His Divine love. By “crying with a great voice” is signified from Divine zeal; for a voice or influx from the Lord from the Divine love is from Divine zeal; for zeal is of love. By “the birds that fly in the midst of heaven” are signified all who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and thence think of heaven. By “coming and being gathered together to the supper of the great God,” is signified a calling and a calling together to the New Church and to conjunction with the Lord; and because eternal life is from conjunction with the Lord, therefore that is also signified. By crying “come” the calling is signified, and by “gather yourselves together” is signified the calling together.

[2] That the Lord is meant in the Word by “an angel,” may be seen above, (5, 170, 258, 344, 465, 649, 657, 718); the more so here, as He was seen to stand in the sun; and no angel appears in the sun, for the Lord is the sun of the spiritual world; wherefore the Lord alone is there. That by “the sun,” when speaking of the Lord, the Divine love is signified, may be seen, (53, 414). That by “crying with a great voice,” when said of the Lord in the Divine love, is signified to speak or flow in from Divine zeal, is manifest; because the Divine zeal is of the Divine love, here for the salvation of men. That such things as are of the understanding and thence of the thought are signified by “birds,” see above, (757); here they who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and think concerning heaven, since it is said, “the birds that fly in the midst of heaven:” and by “flying in the midst of heaven” is signified to observe, attend, and think, (245, 415). That the New Church, and thus conjunction with the Lord, are signified by “the supper of the great God,” see, (816); where their supper is called “the marriage supper of the Lamb.”

832. Verse 18. That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders of thousands, and the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit upon them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, and small and great, signifies the appropriation of goods from the Lord through the truths of the Word and of doctrine thence, in every sense, degree, and kind. Just above, (831), conjunction with the Lord by the Word is treated of; here it is concerning appropriation of goods from Him through the truths of the Word. By “eating” is signified appropriation, (89); by “the flesh” which they should eat are signified the goods of the Word and thence of the church; and by “kings, commanders of thousands, the mighty, horses, them that sit upon them, free and bond, small and great,” are signified truths in every sense, degree, and kind. By “kings” are signified those who are in the truths of the church from the Word, and abstractly the truths of the church from the Word, (20, 483). By “commanders of thousands” are signified those who are in the knowledges of good and truth, and abstractly those knowledges, (337). By “the mighty” are signified they who are in erudition from doctrine from the Word, and abstractly erudition thence, (337). By “horses” the understanding of the Word is signified; and by “them that sit upon horses” are signified they who are in wisdom from the understanding of the Word, and abstractly wisdom thence, (298, 820). By “the free and bond” are signified they who know from themselves and they who know from others, (337, 604). By “small and great” those are signified who are in a lesser and in a greater degree, (527, 810). It is manifest from these things, that by “they may eat their flesh” is signified the appropriation of goods from the Lord through the truths of the Word and of doctrine thence in every sense, degree, and kind.

[2] It is to be known that no man has any spiritual good from the Lord, except through truths from the Word; for the truths of the Word are in the light of heaven, and its goods are in the heat of that light; wherefore, unless the understanding is in the light of heaven through the Word, the will cannot come into the heat of heaven. Love and charity cannot be formed except through truths from the Word; a man cannot be reformed except through truths therefrom. The church itself with man is formed by them; but not by those truths in the understanding alone, but by a life according to them; the truths thus enter into the will, and become goods. Thus the face of truth is turned into the face of good; for that which is of the will and thus of the love is called good, and everything which is of the will or love is also of man’s life. From this it may be seen that the appropriation of good through truths in every sense, degree, and kind from the Lord through the Word is here meant by “eating the flesh” of those that are named. Who cannot see that flesh is not here meant by “flesh”? Who can be so insane as to believe that the Lord calls and calls together all to a great supper, that He may give them to eat of the flesh of kings, commanders of thousands, the mighty, horses, them that sit on them, the free and bond, the small and great? Who cannot see that there is a spiritual sense in those things, and that without that sense no one knows what they signify? Who persists in denying that the Word is spiritual in its bosom? Would it not be more than material, if those things should be understood according to the sense of the letter, and not according to the spiritual sense?

[3] Similar to these things are the following from Ezekiel:

Thus said the Lord Jehovah, Say to the bird of every wing, and to every beast of the field, gather yourselves together and come; gather yourselves together from round about unto my great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh and drink blood; ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, ye shall eat fat to satiety, and drink blood even to drunkenness, of my sacrifice which I sacrifice for you; ye shall be satiated at My table with horse and chariot and every man of war; thus will I give My glory among the nations, (Ezekiel 39:17-21).

Here in like manner by “flesh” is signified the good of the church from the Lord through the Word, and the truth of the church by “blood.” Who does not see that blood would not be given to drink even to drunkenness, and that they would not be satiated at the table of the Lord Jehovah with horse, chariot, the mighty, and with every man of war? Since therefore by “flesh” is signified the good of the church, and by “blood” the truth of the church, it is plainly manifest that by the “flesh and blood” of the Lord in the Holy Supper the Divine good and the Divine truth from the Lord are signified, the same as by “the bread and wine” spoken of, (John 6:51-58). “Flesh” also signifies good in many other passages in the Word, as in these:

I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh, (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26).

My flesh desireth thee in a land of drought, (Psalms 63:1).

My heart and My flesh shout aloud for the living God, (Psalms 84:2).

My flesh shall dwell confidently, (Psalms 16:9).

When thou seest the naked and thou shalt cover him, and thou shalt not hide thyself from thy flesh, (Isaiah 58:7).

833. Verse 19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war with him that sat upon the horse, and with his army, signifies that all the interiorly evil, who have professed faith alone, with the leaders and their followers, will fight against the Lord’s Divine truths in His Word, and will infest those who will be of the Lord’s New Church. That by “the beast” are signified those who are in the religious persuasion of faith alone, may be seen above, (567, 576, 577, 594, 598, 601). That it is only they who are interiorly evil, and have professed that religious persuasion, will be seen below. By “the kings of the earth” are signified those who are in the falsities of that religious persuasion more than the rest, thus the leaders; for by “the kings of the earth” are signified those who are in the truths of the church from the Word, and in the opposite sense those who are in falsities, (20, 483, 704, 720, 737, 740); here those who are in falsities. By “their armies” all those among them are signified who in like manner are in falsities, (447). By “making war” is signified to contend against, since by “war” in the Word spiritual war is signified, which is that of falsity against truth, and of truth against falsity, (500, 586, 707). By “Him that sat upon the horse” is meant the Lord as to the Word, (820, 821); and because they cannot fight against the Lord Himself, but against His Divine truths which are in the Word, and thus they fight also against the Lord, because the Lord is the Word, this therefore is meant by “making war with Him that sat upon the horse.” That by “an army” those are signified who are in Divine truths, thus abstractly Divine truths, consequently those who are of the Lord’s New Heaven and New Church, because Divine truths are with them, may be seen above, (826).

834. Verse 20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, that did signs before him, with which he seduced them that receive the mark of the beast and that adore his image, signifies all those who professed faith alone, and were interiorly evil, as well the laity and common people as the clergy and the learned, who by reasonings and attestations that faith alone is the only means of salvation, have induced others to receive that faith, and to live according to it. By “the beast” here is meant “the beast out of the sea,” spoken of, (Revelation 13:1-10); and by “the false prophet” is meant “the beast out of the earth,” spoken of in the same chapter (verses 11-18). That by “the beast out of the sea” are meant the laity and the common people who are in the religious persuasion concerning faith alone, and that by “the beast out of the earth” are meant the clergy and the learned who are in that religious persuasion, may be seen from the explanations of that chapter. That “the false prophet” here is “the beast out of the earth,” which is treated of in that chapter (verses 11-1811 is plainly manifest; because it is here said of “the false prophet,” that it is “he that did signs before the other beast, with which he seduced them that receive the mark of the beast, and that adore his image:” for similar things are said of the beast out of the earth (chap. 13); namely, that:

He did great signs before the beast out of the sea, and seduced them that dwell upon the earth, that they should adore his image, and receive his mark upon the right hand and upon the forehead, (Revelation 13:12-17):

from which it is manifest, that the clergy and the learned are here signified by “the false prophet,” who have confirmed themselves in the religious persuasion concerning faith alone, and have seduced the laity and the common people. They are called the false prophet, because by “a prophet” those are signified who teach and preach falsities by perverting the truths of the Word, (8, 701). That by “the signs” of that beast are signified reasonings and attestations that faith alone is the only means of salvation, may be seen above, (598, 599, 704). By “receiving the mark of the beast and adoring his image” is signified to acknowledge and receive that faith, (634, 637, 679).

835. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, signifies that all those, as they were, were cast into the hell where are the loves of falsity, and at the same time the lusts of evil. By “alive” is signified as they were. By “these two,” namely, “the beast and the false prophet,” are signified all those who professed faith alone, and were interiorly evil, both the laity and the clergy; as just above, (834). By “the lake of fire burning with brimstone” is signified the hell where they are who are in the loves of that falsity, and at the same time in the lusts of evil. By “a lake” is signified falsities in abundance, treated of in what follows. By “fire” is signified love, here their love of falsity. That “fire” signifies love both in the good and the evil sense, may be seen, (468, 494, 599); here the love of falsity, because it is said “a lake of fire.” By “brimstone” is signified the lust of evil and thence of falsity, (452). The like is said of “the dragon” and of these two in the following chapter, in these words:

The devil (that is, the dragon), who seduced them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and they shall be tormented day and night for ages of ages, (Revelation 20:10).

[2] It is to be known that the hell where such are, appears at a distance like a fiery lake with a green flame as of brimstone. But they who are in it do not see this; they are shut up there in their workhouses, where they wrangle among themselves vehemently; and sometimes there appear knives in their hands, with which they threaten, if they do not yield. It is their love of falsity, together with the lusts of evil, that makes the appearance of such a lake. That appearance is from correspondence.

[3] That by “a lake” is signified where there is truth in abundance, and thence in the opposite sense where there is falsity in abundance, may be evident from the Word; where there is truth in abundance, from these passages:

From the wilderness shall waters break forth and rivers in the plain of the wilderness, and the dry place shall become a lake, (Isaiah 35:6-7).

I will make the wilderness a lake of waters, and the dry land springs of waters, (Isaiah 41:18; Psalms 107:33, 35).

I will make the rivers islands, and I will dry up the lakes, (Isaiah 42:15).

The God of Jacob who turneth the rock into a lake of waters, and the flint into a fountain of waters, (Psalms 114:7-8.

All that make hire from the lakes of the soul, (Isaiah 19:10).

In the opposite sense from these:

I will cut off from Babel the name and the residue, and I will make her an inheritance of the bittern, and lakes of waters, (Isaiah 14:22-23).

Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, (Revelation 20:14).

Whoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire, (Revelation 20:15).

Their part in the lake of fire burning with brimstone, which is the second death, (Revelation 21:8).

836. Verse 21. And the rest were slain by the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, that proceeded out of His mouth, signifies that all from the various heresies among the Reformed, who have not lived according to the Lord’s commandments in the Word which they knew, being judged from the Word, perish. By “the rest” are meant all from the various heresies among the Reformed, who have not lived according to the Lord’s commandments in the Word which they knew, which are the commandments of the Decalogue, who thus do not shun evils as sins; for they who do not thus shun them are in evils of every kind; for the evils remain fixed in them from birth, and thence from infancy even to the end of life; and they increase daily, if they are not removed by actual repentance. Of these it is said that “they were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse.” By “being slain” is signified here, as often before, to be slain spiritually, which is to perish as to the soul. By “the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, that proceeded out of His mouth,” the truths of the Word fighting against the falsities of evil are signified. For by “sword,” “long sword,” and “saber” is signified truth fighting against falsity and falsity fighting against truth, (52). But the “sword” [gladius] is upon the thigh, hence it is combat from love; “saber” [machoera] is in the hand, hence it is combat with power; and the “long sword” [romphoea] is of the mouth, hence it is combat from doctrine; for which reason “the long sword proceeding out of the mouth of the Lord,” is combat from the Word against falsities, (108, 117, 827); for the Word proceeded out of the mouth of the Lord. The reason that the combat with the Reformed, and not with the Babylonians, is here treated of, is because the Reformed read the Word, and acknowledge the truths therein as Divine truths. It is otherwise with the Babylonians; these indeed acknowledge the Word, but still they do not read it; and everyone regards the decrees of the pope as in the first place, and far above it; wherefore with them there cannot be combat from the Word. They also put themselves above it, and not under it. But still these are judged from the Word, and from the decrees of the pope so far as these agree with the Word.

837. And all the birds were satiated with their flesh, signifies that from their lusts of evil, which are their proprium, the infernal genii are as it were nourished. By “the birds” are signified the falsities which are from hell; and because the infernal genii are in those falsities, who are together with men in the falsities which are of their love, therefore they are here signified by “the birds.” A man also who is in those falsities, becomes one of such genii after death. That by useless and injurious “birds,” especially the unclean and rapacious, which feed on carrion, are signified falsities which are of love, may be seen above, (757). By “flesh” are here signified the evils of the lusts which are of man’s proprium, (748). By “being satiated with them” is signified to be as it were nourished by them, and to draw them in with delight; for the infernal genii, who are in similar lusts of evil, eagerly draw in and fill their nostrils, and thence their life, from the lusts exhaled from the thoughts and respiration of such; wherefore they also live and dwell together.

838. Let everyone therefore beware of that heresy, that man is justified by faith without the works of the law; for he who is in it, and does not fully recede from it before the end of life draws near, is consociated after death with infernal genii; for they are the goats of whom the Lord says:

Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, (Matthew 25:41-42).

For the Lord does not say of “the goats” that they had done evils, but that they had not done goods. The reason that they did not do goods is because they say in themselves, “I cannot do good of myself; the law does not condemn me; the blood of Christ cleanses me, and liberates me; the passion of the cross has taken away the guilt of sin; the merit of Christ is imputed to me by faith; I am reconciled to the Father, I am in grace, I am regarded as a son; and He considers our sins as infirmities, which He immediately remits for His Son’s sake; thus He justifies through faith alone; and unless this was the only means of salvation, no mortal could be saved. For what other end should the Son of God suffer the cross, and fulfill the law, but that He might take away the condemnation of our transgressions?” These and many similar things they say within themselves, and thus do not do goods which are goods; for from their faith alone, which is nothing but a faith of knowledge, in itself a historical faith, thus only science, there do not proceed any goods; for it is a dead faith, into which no life or soul comes, unless the man approaches the Lord immediately, and shuns evils as sins of himself; then the goods which he does as of himself are from the Lord, and thus goods in themselves; concerning which it thus speaks in Isaiah:

Woe the sinful nation, laden with iniquity, a seed of the evil, sons that are corrupt; when ye spread forth your hands, I hide mine eyes from you; yea, though ye multiply prayers, I do not hear; wash you, make you clean, put away the wickedness of your works from before Mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do good; then though your sins have been as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they have been red as purple, they shall be as wool, (Isaiah 1:4, 15-18).

And in Jeremiah:

Stand in the gate of the house of Jehovah, and proclaim there this word: Trust ye not in the words of a lie, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are these (the church of God, the church of God, the church of God is where our faith is); will ye, stealing, killing, committing adultery, and swearing by a lie, then come and stand before Me in this house, upon which My name is called, and say, We are delivered, while ye do these abominations? Is this house become a den of robbers? Behold, even I have seen, saith Jehovah, (Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11).

839. I looked forth into the world of spirits, and saw an army upon red and black horses. They that sat upon them appeared like apes, with their faces and breasts turned towards the loins and tails of the horses, and with the backs of their heads and their backs towards the necks and heads of the horses; and the reins hung around the necks of the riders. And they cried out, “Let us fight against them that ride upon the white horses.” And they pulled the reins with both hands, and thus pulled back the horses from the fight; and this continually. Then two angels descended from heaven, and drew near to me, and said, “What do you see?” And I related that I saw this ludicrous company of horsemen, and asked what it was, and who they were.

[2] And the angels answered, “They are from the place which is called Armageddon, (Revelation 16:16), where they have been gathered together to the number of some thousands, to fight against those who are of the Lord’s New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem. They spoke in that place concerning the church and religion; and yet there was not anything of the church with them, because there was not any spiritual truth; nor anything of religion, because there was not any spiritual good. They spoke there on both subjects with the mouth and with the lips, but for the reason that by means of them they might have dominion. They learned in their youth to confirm faith alone, the Trinity of God, and the duality of Christ; and when they were promoted to more eminent offices in the church, they retained those things for some time; but as they then began to think no more about God and heaven, but about themselves and the world, and thus not about eternal happiness and felicity, but about temporal eminence and opulence, they rejected the doctrinals acquired in their youth from the interiors of the rational mind, which communicate with heaven, and hence are in the light of heaven, into the exteriors of the rational mind, which communicate with the world, and hence are only in the light of the world; and at length they thrust them down into the sensual natural; whence the doctrinals of the church have become with them things of the mouth only, and are no longer of the thought from reason, and still less of the affection from love; and because they have made themselves such, they do not admit any genuine truth which is of the church, nor any genuine good which is of religion. The interiors of their minds have become comparatively like bottles filled with iron filings mixed with powdered sulphur, into which if water be poured, there first arises a heat, and afterwards a flame, by which the bottles are burst. In like manner, when they hear anything about living water, which is the genuine truth of the Word, and this enters through the ears, they are violently heated and inflamed, and reject it as a thing that would burst their heads.

[3] “These are they who appeared to you like apes riding, with the body turned round, upon red and black horses, with the reins around their necks; since they who do not love the truth and the good of the church from the Word, will not look at the forward parts of any horse, but at his hinder parts; for ‘a horse’ signifies the understanding of the Word; ‘a red horse’ the understanding of the Word destroyed as to good, and ‘a black horse’ the understanding of the Word destroyed as to truth. The reason why they cried out to fight against those riding upon the white horses is that ‘a white horse’ signifies the understanding of the Word as to truth and good. They were seen to pull back the horses by their necks, because they feared the combat, lest the truth of the Word should come to many, and so into the light. This is the interpretation.”

[4] The angels said further, “We are from the society in heaven which is called Michael, and were commanded by the Lord to descend into the place called Armageddon, whence the company of horsemen was seen by you to burst forth. By ‘Armageddon,’ with us in heaven, is signified the state and purpose of fighting from falsified truths, arising from the love of command and supereminence; and because we perceive with you the desire of knowing about the combat there, we will tell about it. After our descent from heaven, we approached the place called Armageddon, and saw there some thousands gathered together. Nevertheless we did not enter into that assembly; but there were two houses on the southern side of that place, where there were boys with their masters. We went in thither, and they received us kindly. We were delighted with their company. Their faces were all handsome, from the life in their eyes, and from the zeal in their discourse. The life in their eyes was from the perception of truth, and the zeal in their discourse from the affection of truth; on which account also caps had been given them from heaven, the borders of which were ornamented with bands of golden threads interwoven with pearls; and garments were also given, variegated with white and blue colors. We asked them whether they looked into the neighboring place, which is called Armageddon. They said that they did so through a window under the roof of the house, and that they saw there a congregation, but under various figures, now as tall men, and now not as men, but as statues and carved idols, and an assembly around them bending the knees. They also appeared to us under various forms; now as men, now as leopards, now as goats; the latter with horns bent downwards, with which they dug up the ground. We interpreted those metamorphoses, whom they represented and what they signified.

[5] “But to the point: They that were gathered together, when they heard that we had entered into those houses, said among themselves, ‘What are they doing with those boys? Let us send some from our assembly to cast them out. ‘ And they sent, and when they came, they said to us, ‘Why have you entered into those houses? Whence are you? We command you by authority to depart. ‘ “But we answered, ‘You cannot command that by authority. You are, indeed, in your own eyes, like Anakim, and they who are here like dwarfs. But still you have no power and right here, unless perchance by cunning from your three places of diversion here, which, however, will not avail. Wherefore take back word to your companions, that we were sent hither from heaven, to ascertain whether there is any religion with you, or not; and if not, that you should be cast out of this place. Wherefore propose to them this, in which is the very essential of the church, and thence of religion, how they understand these words in the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done as in heaven so also upon the earth. “‘ On hearing this, they said at first, ‘What is this?’ and then that they would propose it. And they went away, and told these things to their companions, who answered, ‘What is this proposition and its nature?’ Yet they understood the arcanum, that they wished to know, whether those things confirm the way to God the Father according to our faith; wherefore they said, ‘The words are clear, that one must pray to God the Father; and because Christ is our Savior, that we must pray to God the Father for the Son’s sake. ‘ And they soon concluded in indignation, that they would go to us, and declare it orally; saying also, that they would pull our ears. They also went out of that place, and entered a grove near the two houses in which these boys were with their masters; where was a level place elevated like a gymnasium. And they took hold of each other’s hands, and entered into the gymnasium, where we were, and were waiting for them.

“There were there sods cut from the ground like hillocks; upon them then they reclined; for they said among themselves, ‘Let us not stand before them, but sit. ‘ And then one of them, who could make himself appear like an angel of light, on whom it had been enjoined by the rest to speak with us, said, ‘You have proposed to us to open our mind concerning the first words in the Lord’s Prayer, how we understand them. I say to you, therefore, that we understand them thus; that we must pray to God the Father; and because Christ is our Savior, and we are saved by His merit, that we must pray to God the Father from faith in His merit. ‘

[6] “But we then said to them, ‘We are from the society of heaven which is called Michael, and we were sent to visit and inquire, whether you that are gathered together in this place have any religion or not; and we cannot know this otherwise than by questioning concerning God; for the idea of God enters into the whole of religion, and by it conjunction is effected, and by conjunction salvation. We in heaven read that prayer daily, like men on earth; and we do not then think of God the Father, because He is invisible; but we think of Him in His Divine Human, because in this He is visible; and in this He is called by you Christ, but by us the Lord; and thus to us the Lord is the Father in heaven. The Lord also taught that He and the Father are one; that the Father is in Him and He in the Father; and that he who seeth Him seeth the Father; also that no one cometh to the Father but by Him; and likewise that it is the will of the Father, that they should believe in the Son; and that he that believeth not in the Son, cannot see life; yea, that the anger of God abideth upon him. From which it is manifest, that the Father is approached through Him and in Him. And because it is so, He also taught that all authority is given unto Him in heaven and in earth. It is said in that prayer, “hallowed be Thy name, and Thy kingdom come;” and we have demonstrated from the Word that His Divine Human is the Father’s name; and that the Father’s kingdom is then come, when the Lord is immediately approached; and not at all when God the Father is approached immediately; wherefore also the Lord said to the disciples, that they should preach the kingdom of God; and this is the kingdom of God. ‘

[7] “Moreover we instructed them from the Word, that the Lord came into the world, that He might glorify His Human, for the end that the angels of heaven and the men of the church might be united to God the Father through Him and in Him; for He taught that they who believe in Him are in Him, and He in them; which is as the church teaches, that they are in the body of Christ. Finally we informed them, that at this day a New Church is being established by the Lord, which is meant by ‘the New Jerusalem’ in Revelation; in which will be the worship of the Lord alone, as it is in heaven; and that thus everything which is contained in the Lord’s Prayer from beginning to end will be fulfilled. All the things which we have said above we confirmed from the Word in the Evangelists, and from the Word in the Prophets, in such abundance that they were tired of hearing.

[8] “First. We confirmed that ‘our Father in the heavens’ is the Lord Jesus Christ, from these passages:

Unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Father of eternity, Prince of peace, (Isaiah 9:6).

Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, the Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name, (Isaiah 63:16).

Jesus said, He that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me, (John 12:45).

If ye have known Me, ye have known the Father also; and henceforth ye have known Him, and have seen Him, (John 14:7).

Philip said, Lord, show us the Father; Jesus said unto him, He that seeth Me, seeth the Father; how sayest thou then, show us the Father? (John 14:8-9)

Jesus said, the Father and I are one, (John 10:30).

All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine, (John 16:15; 17:10).

The Father is in Me, and I in the Father, (John 10:38; 14:10-11, 20).

That no one hath seen the Father, except the only Son who is in the bosom of the Father, (John 1:18; 5:37; 6:46).

Wherefore He also says that:

No one cometh to the Father, but by Him, (John 14:6).

And that to come to the Father is by Him, from Him, and in Him, (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4-6; 17:19, 23).

But concerning the unity of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, more may be seen in the relation, (962).

[9] “Second. That ‘hallowed be Thy name,’ is to approach the Lord and worship Him, we confirmed by these passages:

Who shall not glorify Thy name, for Thou alone art holy, (Revelation 15:4).

This is concerning the Lord:

Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy Name; and there came forth a voice from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it, (John 12:28).

The name of the Father which was glorified is the Divine Human.

Jesus said, I am come in My Father’s name, (John 5:43).

Jesus said, He that receiveth this boy in My name, receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me, receiveth Him that sent Me, (Luke 9:48).

These things were written, that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in His name, (John 20:31).

As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, to them that believe in His name, (John 1:12).

Whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son, (John 14:13-14).

He that believeth not is judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the Only-begotten Son of God, (John 3:15-16, 18).

Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them, (Matthew 18:19-20).

Jesus said to the disciples that they should preach in His name, (Luke 24:47).

Besides other places, where ‘the name of the Lord’ is mentioned, by which is meant Himself as to His Human (as Matthew 7:22; 10:22; 18:5; 19:29; 24:9-10; Mark 11:10; 13:13; 16:17; Luke 10:17; 19:38; 21:12, 17; John 2:23); from which it is manifest that the Father is hallowed in the Son, and by angels and men through the Son; and that this is meant by ‘hallowed be Thy name’; as is further evident in John 17:19, 21-23, 26.

[10] “Third. That ‘Thy kingdom come’ means that the Lord reigns, we confirmed by these passages:

The Law and the Prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is evangelized, (Luke 16:16).

John preaching the gospel of the kingdom, said, The time is fulfilled, the kingdom of God has approached, (Mark 1:14-15; Matthew 3:2).

Jesus Himself preached the gospel of the kingdom, and that the kingdom of God has approached, (Matthew 4:17, 23; 9:35).

Jesus commanded the disciples to preach and evangelize the kingdom of God, (Mark 16:15; Luke 8:1; 9:60).

In like manner to the seventy whom He sent forth, (Luke 10:9, 11; besides other places, as Matthew 11:5; 16:27-28; Mark 8:35; 9:1, 47; 10:29-30; 11:10; Luke 1:19; 2:10-11; 4:43; 7:22; 17:20-21; 21:30-31; 22:18). ‘The kingdom of God which was evangelized,’ was the kingdom of the Lord, and thus the kingdom of the Father. That it is so is manifest from these passages:

The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son, (John 3:35).

The Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh, (John 17:2).

All things are delivered unto Me by the Father, (Matthew 11:27).

All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth, (Matthew 28:18).

Further also from these:

Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called, (Isaiah 54:5).

I saw, and behold, one like the Son of man, to whom was given dominion, and glory, and the kingdom; and all peoples and nations shall worship Him; His dominion is the dominion of an age which shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which shall not perish, (Daniel 7:13-14).

When the seventh angel sounded, there were voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become our Lord’s and His Christ’s, and He shall reign for ages of ages, (Revelation 11:15; 12:10).

Which kingdom of the Lord is treated of in Revelation from beginning to end; into which all will come who will be of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.

[11] “Fourth. ‘Thy will be done as in heaven so also upon the earth,’ we confirmed by these passages:

Jesus said, This is the will of the Father, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life, (John 6:40).

God so loved the world, that He gave His Only begotten Son, that everyone who believeth in Him may not perish, but have eternal life, (John 3:15-16).

He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the anger of God abideth upon him, (John 3:36 besides other places).

To believe in Him is to go to Him, and to have confidence that He saves, because He is the Savior of the world. Besides, it is known in the church, that the Lord Jesus Christ reigns in heaven. He says also that His kingdom is there. When, therefore, the Lord reigns in like manner in the church, ‘then the Father’s will is done as in heaven so also upon the earth. ‘

[12] “To these things we finally added the following: It is said in the whole Christian world, that they who are of the church make the body of Christ, and are in His body. How then can the man of the church approach God the Father, except through Him in whose body he is? If otherwise, he must go entirely out of the body, and approach.

“On hearing these and still more things from the Word, the Armageddons wished now and then to interrupt our discourse, and to adduce such things as the Lord spoke with the Father in His state of exinanition. But their tongues then adhered to their palates, as it was not permitted them to contradict the Word. But the bridles of their tongues being at length loosened, they cried out, ‘You have spoken against the doctrine of our church, which is that God the Father is to be approached immediately, and that we must believe in Him. You have thus made yourselves guilty of a violation of our faith: therefore go out from here; and if not, you shall be cast out. ‘ And their minds being inflamed from threats, they endeavored to do it. But, by power then given us, we smote them with blindness; owing to which, not seeing us, they rushed forth into the plain, which was a wilderness; and those who appeared to you like apes upon horses, were the same as were seen by the boys out of the window like statues and idols, before whom the rest knelt.”

Chapter 20 (840-875)

840. Revelation 20

1. And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand.

2. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan, and bound him a thousand years;

3. And cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should not seduce the nations any more, until the thousand years were finished; and after this he must be loosed a little time.

4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, and the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God, and who had not adored the beast, nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their forehead, and upon their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5. And the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6. Happy and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; upon these the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

7. And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8. And shall go forth to seduce the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9. And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city; and fire came down from God out of heaven and consumed them.

10. And the Devil that seduced them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are; and shall be tormented day and night for ages of ages.

11. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and no place was found for them.

12. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God; and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged everyone according to their works.

14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

The Spiritual Sense

The Contents of the Whole Chapter

Concerning the removal of those who are meant by “the dragon,”‘ (verses 1-3), and then concerning the ascent of those from the lower earth, who worshiped the Lord and shunned evils as sins (verses 4-6). The judgment upon those in whose worship there was nothing of religion (verses 7-9). The damnation of the dragon (verse 10). The universal judgment upon the rest (verses 11-15).

The Contents of Each Verse

Verse 1. “And I saw an angel coming down from heaven having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand,” signifies the Lord’s Divine operation into lower things, from His Divine power of shutting and opening, and of binding and loosing, (840).

Verse 2. (Revelation 20:2) “And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil and Satan,” signifies that they were withheld who are meant by the dragon, who, because they think sensually and not spiritually of matters of faith, are called “the old serpent,” and because they are in evils as to life, are called the Devil, and because they are in falsities as to doctrine, are called Satan, (841). “And bound him a thousand years,” signifies that they who are here meant by the dragon, were withdrawn and torn away from the rest in the world of spirits, that for a short time there might be no communication with them, (842).

Verse 3. “And cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should not seduce the nations any more,” signifies that the Lord entirely removed those who were in faith alone, and took away all communication between them and the rest, lest they should inspire into those who were to be taken up into heaven anything of their heresy, (843). “Until the thousand years were finished; and after this he must be loosed a little time,” signifies, this only a little while, or for a short time, until they are taken up by the Lord into heaven who were in truths from good; after which they who are meant by “the dragon,” were to be loosed for a short time, and a communication opened between them and the rest, (844).

Verse 4. “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them,” signifies that the truths of the Word, according to which all are judged, were opened, and that then they were taken up from the lower earth, who had been concealed by the Lord, that they might not be seduced by the dragon and his beasts, (845). “And the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God,” signifies that they were rejected by those who were in falsities from their own intelligence, because they worshiped the Lord, and lived according to the truths of His Word, (846, 847). “And who had not adored the beast, nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their forehead, and upon their hand,” signifies who did not acknowledge and receive the doctrine of faith alone, (848). “And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years,” signifies who have been already for some time in conjunction with the Lord and in His kingdom, (849).

Verse 5. “And the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years were finished,” signifies that besides these, now spoken of, none were taken up into heaven, till after the dragon was loosed, and that they were then proved and explored as to their quality, (850). “This is the first resurrection,” signifies that salvation and life eternal primarily consist in worshiping the Lord and living according to His commandments in the Word, because by them conjunction is effected with the Lord and consociation with the angels of heaven, (851).

Verse 6. (Revelation 20:6) “Happy and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection,” signifies that they who come into heaven have the felicity of life eternal, and enlightenment, by conjunction with the Lord, (852). “Upon these the second death hath no power,” signifies that they have not damnation, (853): “But they shall be priests of God and of Christ,” signifies, because they are kept by the Lord in the good of love and thence in the truths of wisdom, (854). “And shall reign with Him a thousand years,” signifies that they were already in heaven, when the rest who had not revived, that is, as yet received heavenly life, were in the world of spirits, (855).

Verse 7. “And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,” signifies that after they who had before been concealed and guarded in the lower earth, were taken up by the Lord into heaven, and the New Heaven increased by them, all those who had confirmed themselves in falsities of faith, were to be let loose, (856). Ver. 8. “And shall go forth to seduce the nations, which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to war,” signifies that they who are here meant by the dragon, would draw to their party all those who were from the earths in the whole world of spirits, and lived there only in external natural worship and in no internal spiritual worship, and would stir them up against those who worshiped the Lord, and lived according to His commandments in the Word, (858, 859). “The number of whom is as the sand of the sea,” signifies the multitude of such, (860).

Verse 9. “And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city,” signifies that being stirred up by the dragonists, they spurned every truth of the church, and endeavored to destroy all things of the New Church, and even its doctrine concerning the Lord and concerning life, (861, 862). “And fire came down from God out of heaven and consumed them,” signifies that they were destroyed by the lusts of infernal love, (863).

Verse 10. “And the Devil that seduced them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ages of ages,” signifies that they who were in evils as to life, and in falsities as to doctrine, were cast into hell, (864).

Verse 11. “And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away,”⁷⁷ signifies the universal judgment executed by the Lord upon all the former heavens that were occupied by such as were in civil and moral good, but in no spiritual good, thus who simulated Christians in externals, but in internals were devils, which heavens, with their earth, were totally dissipated, so that nothing of them appeared any more, (865).

Verse 12. “And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, signifies all who had died from the earth, and were now among those who were in the world of spirits, of whatever condition and quality, gathered together by the Lord for judgment, (866). “And the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life,” signifies that the interiors of the minds of them all were laid open, and by the influx of light and heat from heaven, their quality was seen and perceived as to the affections which are of the love or the will, and thence as to the thoughts which are of faith or the understanding, as well the evil as the good, (867). “And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works,” signifies that all were judged according to their internal life in externals, (868).

Verse 13. “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it,” signifies the external and natural men of the church called to judgment, (869). “And death and hell gave up the dead which were in them,” signifies the men of the church who were wicked in heart, who in themselves were devils and satans, called to judgment, (870). “And they were judged everyone according to their works,” signifies here as before, (871).

Verse 14. “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire,” signifies that the wicked in heart, who in themselves were devils and satans, and yet in externals like men of the church, were cast into hell among those who were in the love of evil and thence in the love of falsity agreeing with evil, (872). “This is the second death,” signifies that with these there is damnation itself, (873).

Verse 15. “And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire,” signifies that they who had not lived according to the Lord’s commandments in the Word, and had not believed in the Lord, were condemned, (874).

THE EXPLANATION.

Verse 1. And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss, and a great chain in his hand, signifies the Lord’s operation into lower things, from His Divine power of shutting and opening, and of binding and loosing. By “an angel coming down from heaven,” is meant the Lord (see 5, 170, 344, 465, 657, 718); also the Lord’s operation, (415, 631, 633, 649); here into lower things, because it is said “coming down;” by having “the key of the abyss” is signified the Divine power of opening and shutting hell (see 62, 174); and “by having a great chain in his hand,” is signified the endeavor and thence the act of binding and loosing. Hence it follows that there was not any key nor a chain in the Lord’s hand; but it was so seen by John that it might be a representative of the Lord’s Divine power; the opening and shutting of hell is also treated of two or three times in this chapter.

841. Verse 2. And he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, signifies that they were withheld who were meant by “the dragon,” who, because they think sensually and not spiritually on things of faith, are called “the old serpent,” and because they are in evils as to life, are called “the Devil,” and because they are in falsities as to doctrine, are called “Satan.” Who they are who are meant by “the dragon,” maybe seen above, (537). The reason why both here and there he is called “the old serpent, the Devil, and Satan,” is because “a serpent” signifies those who think sensually and not spiritually, (455[1-4], 550); “the Devil” signifies those who are in evils as to life; and “Satan” those who are in falsities as to doctrine, (97, 550). For all those who do not approach the Lord immediately, think sensually of things relating to the church, and cannot think spiritually, for the Lord is the light itself, (796, 799). Wherefore they who do not immediately approach the Lord, cannot think from spiritual light, which is the light of heaven, but from natural light separated from spiritual light, which is to think sensually; hence it is that they are called “the old serpent.” They who do not immediately approach the Lord, nor shun evils as sins, remain in sins, thence it is that the dragon is called “the Devil;” and since the same are in falsities as to doctrine, therefore the dragon is called “Satan.”

842. And bound him a thousand years, signifies that they who are here meant by “the dragon,” were withdrawn and torn away from the rest in the world of spirits, that for some time there might be no communication with them. That by “binding” is here signified to withdraw and tear them away from the rest in the world of spirits, in order to prevent communication with them, will be seen in the next article. The reason why by “a thousand years” are not meant a thousand years, but for a while or for some time, is because “a thousand” without other numbers added to it in the spiritual world, has that signification; he who believes that “a thousand years” signify a thousand years, does not know that all numbers in the Word signify things, and thus may be misled, especially in the Apocalypse, with respect to the sense of the things, where numbers are read, as where the numbers 5, 7, 10, 12, 144, 666, 1200, 1600, 12,000, 144,000, and many others occur; in which latter numbers “a thousand” only signifies a certain adjunct, and when a thousand is used to designate times, it signifies somewhat more; but when it is used by itself, as here, it signifies for a while or for some time; that this is so has been told me from heaven, where in the Word which is there, no number is read, but instead of a number the thing, and instead of a “thousand” for a while; they are surprised there, that, when the men of the church have seen in the Apocalypse so many numbers, which cannot but signify things, they should still adhere to the conjectures of the chiliasts and millennialists, by which their minds are impressed with vain things concerning the last state of the church.

843. Verse 3. And cast him into the abyss, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should not seduce the nations any more, signifies that the Lord entirely removed those who were in faith alone, and took away all communication between them and the rest, lest they should inspire into those who were to be taken up into heaven, anything of their heresy. By “the dragon” are here meant those who are in falsities of faith, as above, (842). It is said of the dragon that “he was taken,” “bound,” “cast into the abyss,” “shut up,” and “a seal set upon him,” whereby is signified that he was entirely removed, and that all communication was taken away between him and the rest; by “his being taken,” is signified that they who are meant by him were collected and retained; by “his being bound” is signified that they were withdrawn and torn away from the rest; by “his being cast into the abyss” is signified that they were let down towards hell; by “his being shut up” is signified that they were entirely removed; by “a seal being set upon him” is signified that communication with the rest was entirely taken away.

[2] The reason why the dragon was entirely removed for a time, was that they might be taken up from the lower earth, who had been concealed by the Lord, and who are treated of (vers. 4-6), lest when they were taken up, they should be seduced by the dragonists; therefore it is also said, “that he should not seduce the nations any more,” by which is signified that he might not inspire into them anything of his heresy. The reason why this was done in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, is because there the evil have communication with the good, and the good are prepared in that world for heaven, and the evil for hell, and there the good are proved by having some consociation with the evil, and they are explored and tried as to their quality and constancy. By “the nations” which he should not seduce, are meant the good; that by “nations” are meant they who are good as to life, and, in the opposite sense, the evil, may be seen above, (483). From these things it may appear, that by “he cast them into the abyss, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him” is signified that the Lord entirely removed those who were in the falsities of faith, and took away all communication between them and the rest, lest they should inspire anything of their heresy into those who were to be elevated into heaven.

844. Until a thousand years were finished, and after that he must be loosed a little time, signifies that this is for a while or for some time, until they are taken up by the Lord into heaven who were in truths from good; after which they who are meant by “the dragon” were to be loosed for a short time, and a communication opened between them and the rest. The reason why “until a thousand years were finished” signifies for awhile or for some time, is because by “a thousand years” are not signified a thousand years, but a little while or some time, as above, (842). “He must be loosed a little, “signifies that after that they who are here meant by “the dragon,” as above, are to be released from their confinement, and that then a communication is to be opened between them and the rest; that this is what is signified, is evident from what has been said above, thus from the series of things, and from their connection with what follows, in the spiritual sense. What now follows (from vers. 4-6) treats of those who were taken up by the Lord into heaven, on whose account the dragon was removed and shut up.

845. Verse 4. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them, signifies that the truths of the Word, according to which all are judged, were opened, and that then they were taken up from the lower earth, who had been concealed by the Lord, lest they should be seduced by the dragon and his beasts. The reason why this is the signification of these words, is because by “the thrones” upon which they sat, are not signified thrones, but judgment according to the truths of the Word; that by “the thrones” seen in heaven is represented judgment, may be seen above, (229). That nothing else is signified by “the thrones,” upon which the twenty-four elders sat, and upon which the twelve apostles are to sit, and that all are judged according to the truths of the Word, may also be seen above, (233); from which it is plain, that by “judgment was given unto them,” is signified that judgment was given to the truths of the Word.

[2] The reason why they are meant who were taken up by the Lord from the lower earth into heaven, and who in the meanwhile had been concealed there lest they should be seduced by the dragon and his beasts, is because this is said of “the souls which had been beheaded,” and of “the dead,” afterwards mentioned, not that they were dead to themselves, but to others. The place where they were concealed is called the lower earth, which is next above hell, under the world or spirits, and there by communication with heaven and by conjunction with the Lord, they are in safety. There are many such places, and there they live cheerfully with one another, and worship the Lord, nor do they know anything about hell. They who are there are at times elevated by the Lord into heaven after the Last Judgment, and when they are elevated those who are meant by the dragon are removed. It has been frequently granted me to see them taken up and consociated with the angels in heaven. This is what is meant in the Word by “the graves were opened,” and “the dead were raised up.”

846. And the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, signifies that they were rejected by those who are in falsities from their own intelligence, because they worshiped the Lord, and lived according to the truths of His Word. By “the souls of them that were beheaded (smitten with the axe), for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God” are meant men after death, who are then called spirits, or men clothed with a spiritual body, who were concealed by the Lord in the lower earth, until the evil were removed by the Last Judgment. They are said “to be beheaded,” because they were rejected by those who were in falsities from their own intelligence, all of whom are in evils and thence in falsities, or in falsities and by them in evils, and yet in externals are in Divine worship. That this kind of falsity is signified by an axe, will be seen in the next article. By “the testimony of Jesus and the Word of God,” is signified the acknowledgment of the Lord’s Divine in His Human, like as by these passages above:

John testified of the Word of God and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 1:2).

Michael and his angels overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony, (Revelation 12:11).

The dragon went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments, of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, (Revelation 12:17).

I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus Christ; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, (Revelation 19:10).

That by these passages is signified the acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord in His Human, and a life according to the truths of His Word, and in particular according to the commandments of the Decalogue, may be seen in the explanations given above. These souls are the same as are spoken of above in these words:

I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the Word of God and for the testimony which they held; and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Lord, who art holy and true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell upon the earth? And white robes were given unto everyone of them, and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little time, until their fellow-servants and their brethren, who should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled, (Revelation 6:9-11);

which may be seen explained, (325-329).

847. In many parts in the Word it is said that some “were slain,” “thrust through,” and “dead,” and yet it is not meant that they were slain, thrust through, and dead, but that they were rejected by those who were in evils and falsities (see 59, 325, 589). The like is signified by “the dead” in the following verse, where it is said, that “the rest of the dead lived not again, until the thousand years were finished,” from which it is plain, that by those who are said “to have been beheaded,” are signified that they were rejected by those who were in falsities from their own intelligence. That by “an axe” is signified falsity from their own intelligence, appears from the following passages:

The statutes of the nations are vanity, if one cutteth wood out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe, (Jeremiah 10:3).

The voice of Egypt shall go like a serpent; they shall come with axes like hewers of wood, (Jeremiah 46:22).

He is known as one lifting up axes in the thicket of trees. And now they break down the carved work thereof with axe and hammers; they have profaned the habitation of Thy name to the earth, (Psalms 74:5-7).

When thou shalt besiege a city, thou shalt not destroy the tree thereof by forcing an axe against it, (Deuteronomy 20:19).

By “an axe” in these passages is signified falsity from their own intelligence; the reason is because “iron” signifies truth in ultimates, which is called sensual truth, which when separated from rational and spiritual truth, is turned into falsity; the reason why it means falsity from their own intelligence, is because the sensual is in the proprium (see 424). On account of this signification of “iron” and of “an axe,” it was commanded that:

If an altar was built of stone, it should be built of whole stones, and that iron should not be moved upon the stones, lest it be profaned, (Exodus 20:25; Deuteronomy 27:5).

Therefore of the temple of Jerusalem it is said:

The house itself was built of whole stone; neither hammers nor axe, nor any instrument of iron, were heard in the house while it was building, (1 Kings 6:7);

and, on the contrary, when graven images are treated of, by which is signified falsity from their own intelligence, these things are said:

That he maketh it with iron, with tongs, or with the axe and hammers, (Isaiah 44:12).

That falsity from their own intelligence is signified by “a graven image” and “an idol,” may be seen above, (459).

848. And who had not adored the beast, nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their forehead, and upon their hand, signifies who did not acknowledge and receive the doctrine of faith alone, as is evident from the explanation above, (634), where are similar words.

849. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, signifies who have been already for some time in conjunction with the Lord and in His kingdom. “Who lived with Christ,” signifies who were in conjunction with the Lord, because these live. “Who reigned with Christ,” signifies who were in His kingdom, of which presently; that by “a thousand years” is signified some time, may be seen above, (842). This is said of those who doing their life in the world worshiped the Lord, and lived according to His commandments in the Word, and after death were guarded lest they should be seduced by the dragonists, thus who had been already for some time conjoined with the Lord and consociated as to their interiors with the angels of heaven. That “to reign with the Lord” does not mean to reign with Him, but to be in His kingdom by conjunction with Him may be seen above, (284). For the Lord alone reigns, and everyone in heaven, who is in any function, performs his office in his society, as in the world, but under the auspices of the Lord; they act indeed as of themselves, but because they regard uses in the first place, they act from the Lord, from whom is all use.

850. Verse 5. And the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished, signifies that besides these now spoken of, none were taken up into heaven, till after the dragon was loosed, when their quality was proved and explored. By “the rest of the dead” are signified they who are also rejected by those who are in faith alone, because they worshiped the Lord, and lived according to His commandments, but whose quality was not yet proved and explored. That here by “the dead” these are signified, may be seen above, (847). For all after their departure out of the world, come first into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and are there proved and explored, and thus prepared, the evil for hell, and the good for heaven. It is said of these that they lived not again, that is, they were not yet so conjoined with the Lord, and consociated with the angels of heaven, as the former. That afterwards also many were saved, appears from verses 12, 15 of this chapter, where it is said that “the book of life also was opened, and if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.”

851. This is the first resurrection, signifies that salvation and life eternal is primarily to worship the Lord, and live according to His commandments in the Word, because thereby conjunction is effected with the Lord and consociation with the angels in heaven. The reason why all these things are signified by “This is the first resurrection,” is because it follows as a conclusion from what goes before, and therefore involves them; the preceding things which these words involve, are contained in verse 4, and partly also in verse 5. In verse 4 are these things: “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God, and who had not adored the beast nor his image, nor had received his mark upon their forehead and upon their hand; and they lived and reigned with Christ.” That by “the souls of them that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God,” are signified such as were rejected by those who are in falsities from their own intelligence because they worshiped the Lord, and lived according to His commandments in the Word, may be seen above, (846, 847). That by “they adored not the beast nor his image, neither received his mark upon their forehead and upon their hand,” is signified that they rejected the heresy of faith alone, may be seen above, (848); and that by “they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years,” is signified that they have conjunction with the Lord and consociation with the angels of heaven, may be seen above, (849). These things therefore are what are involved in these words, “This is the first resurrection.” By “resurrection” is signified salvation and life eternal, and by “the first” is not meant the first resurrection, but the very and primary of resurrection, thus salvation and life eternal; for there is only one resurrection to life, a second is not given; therefore a second resurrection is nowhere mentioned; for they who are once conjoined with the Lord, are conjoined with Him for ever; and this in heaven, for the Lord says:

I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, shall live; whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall not die to eternity, (John 11:25-26).

That this is what is meant by “the first resurrection” appears also from the following verse.

852. Verse 6. Happy and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, signifies that they who come into heaven, have the felicity of life eternal, and enlightenment by conjunction with the Lord. He is called “happy” who has the felicity of life eternal, (639); and he is called “holy” who has enlightenment in Divine truths by conjunction with the Lord, for the Lord alone is holy; and the Divine proceeding from Him, from which there is enlightenment, is what is called the Holy Spirit, (173, 586, 666). By “the first resurrection” is signified elevation into heaven by the Lord, and thus salvation, as above, (851). Hence it is evident, that by “Happy and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection” is signified that they who come into heaven have the felicity of life eternal, and enlightenment by conjunction with the Lord.

853. Upon these the second death hath no power, signifies that they are not condemned. By “the second death” nothing else is signified but spiritual death, which is damnation; for the first death is natural death, which is the death of the body; but the second death is spiritual death, which is the death of the soul, and that this is damnation is known. And since the second death is damnation, and the first death is the decease, and this latter death is not spiritual, therefore the first death is nowhere mentioned in the Apocalypse, but the second death spoken of again in this chapter, verse 14; also in the following, (21:8), and likewise before, (2:11). He who does not observe this, may readily believe that there are two spiritual deaths, because it is said “the second death,” when nevertheless there is only one spiritual death, which is here meant by “the second death;” and in like manner that there are two resurrections, because it is said “the first resurrection,” when yet there is only one resurrection, wherefore neither is there any second resurrection mentioned, see above, (851). Hence it is evident that by “On these the second death hath no power,” is signified that they are not condemned.

854. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ, signifies because they are kept by the Lord in the good of love and thence in the truths of wisdom. By “priests” in the Word are meant they who are in the good of love, and by “kings” they who are in the truths of wisdom; wherefore it is said above:

Jesus Christ hath made us kings and priests, (Revelation 1:6);

and likewise:

The Lamb hath made us kings and priests, that we may reign over the earth, (Revelation 5:10).

And it may be clearly seen that the Lord will not make men kings and priests, but that He will make them angels who are in the truths of wisdom, and in the good of love from Him. That by “kings” are meant they who are in the truths of wisdom from the Lord, and that the Lord is called “king” from the Divine truth, may be seen above, (20, 483, 664, 830). The reason why by “priests” are meant those who are in the good of love from the Lord, is because the Lord is the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, or what is the same, the Divine good and the Divine truth; and the Lord from the Divine love or the Divine good, is called “priest,” and from the Divine wisdom or the Divine truth, is called “king.” Hence it is, that there are two kingdoms, into which the heavens are distinguished, the celestial and the spiritual; and the celestial kingdom is called the Lord’s priestly kingdom, for the angels there are recipients of the Divine love or the Divine good from the Lord, and the spiritual kingdom is called the Lord’s royal kingdom, for the angels there are the recipients of the Divine wisdom or the Divine truth from the Lord; but more may be seen concerning these two kingdoms above, (647, 725).

[2] It is said that they are recipients of the Divine good and the Divine truth from the Lord; but it is to be known that they are perpetually receiving them, for the Divine good and the Divine truth cannot be appropriated by any angel or man, so as to be his own, but only that they may appear to be his, because they are Divine; wherefore no angel or man can produce from himself anything good or true, which in itself is good and true; from which it is evident that they are kept in good and truth by the Lord, and this continually; for which reason, if anyone comes into heaven, and thinks that good and truth are appropriated to him as his own, he is immediately let down from heaven and instructed. From these things it may now appear, that by “they shall be priests of God and of Christ,” is signified because they were kept by the Lord in the good of love, and thereby in the truths of wisdom.

[3] That by priests in the Word are meant such as are in the good of love from the Lord, may appear from many passages therein, but as they are adduced in the Arcana Coelestia published at London, I will only quote therefrom the following: “That priests represented the Lord as to the Divine good, (2015, 6148). That the priesthood was a representative of the Lord as to the work of salvation, because this was from the Divine good of His Divine love, (9809) That the priesthood of Aaron, of his sons, and of the Levites, was a representative of the Lord’s work of salvation in successive order, (10017). That therefore by “priests” and by “the priesthood” is signified the good of love from the Lord, (9806, 9809). That by the two names, “Jesus” and “Christ,” is signified as well the priesthood as the royalty of the Lord, (3004-3005, 3009). That priests administer ecclesiastical affairs, and kings civil affairs, (10793). That priests are to teach truths, and by these lead to good, and thus to the Lord, (10794). That they are not to claim power to themselves over the souls of men, (10795). That priests ought to have dignity on account of holy things, but that they ought not to attribute the dignity to themselves, but to the Lord, from whom alone are holy things, because the priesthood is not in the person, but is adjoined to the person, (10796-10797). That priests who do not acknowledge the Lord have in the Word a contrary signification, (3670).

855. And shall reign with Him a thousand years, signifies that they were already in heaven, when the rest, who did not yet live again, that is, receive heavenly life, were in the world of spirits. “To reign with Christ” does not signify to reign with Him, but to be in His kingdom, or in heaven, see above, (284, 289). By “a thousand years” is not meant a thousand years, but it signifies some time, as above, (842); that “a thousand years” signifies nothing else but that space of time which intervened between the shutting up of the dragon in the abyss and his release, is evident because it is said that he was cast into the abyss, shut up, and a seal set upon him for a thousand years, and then that he was loosed (verses 3, 7). This same space of time is also here signified; therefore, “they shall reign with Christ a thousand years,” signifies that they were already in heaven, while the rest of the dead who did not yet live again were in the world of spirits (of whom verse 5). But these things cannot be comprehended by those who do not know that by numbers, in Revelation, are not meant numbers, but things. I can assert that the angels do not understand any number naturally, as men do, but spiritually; yea, that they do not know what a thousand years are, except that it is some interval of time, small or great, which cannot be otherwise expressed than by some time.

856. Verse 7. And when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, signifies that after they who had before been concealed and guarded in the lower earth, were taken up by the Lord into heaven, and the New Christian Heaven increased by them, all who had confirmed themselves in the falsities of faith were let loose. “When the thousand years are finished,” signifies after they were taken up by the Lord into heaven who had hitherto been concealed and guarded in the lower earth. The reason why “when the thousand years are finished” has this signification, is because the salvation of those who worshiped the Lord, and who lived according to His commandments, is alone treated of in verses 4-6, which precede, and this interval of time is meant by “a thousand years.” It is not said, indeed, that they were taken up from the lower earth, but yet it is evident from chapter 6:9-11, where they were seen “under the altar,” and “under the altar” means in the lower earth; wherefore also they are here called “priests of God and of Christ” (verse 6, see above 854). Neither is it here said that the New Christian Heaven was increased by them, though this appears evidently from chapter 14, which treats of the New Christian Heaven, as may be seen from the explanations there given (especially in 612, 613, 626, 631, 647, 659, 661). The reason why by “Satan was loosed out of his prison,” is signified that they who had confirmed themselves in faith alone, as to doctrine, were to be let loose, is because “the dragon” is here called “Satan” and not at the same time “Devil,” as above (verse 2); and by “the dragon” as “the Devil” are meant those who were in evils of life, and by “the dragon” as “Satan” are meant those who were in the falsities of faith (see above 841); but the quality of the one and of the other will be seen in the next article.

857.⁷⁸

858. Verse 8. And shall go forth to seduce the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to war, signifies that they who are here meant by the dragon, would draw to their party all those who were from the earths, in the whole world of spirits, and lived there in external natural worship alone, and in no internal spiritual worship, and would arouse them against those who worshiped the Lord, and lived according to His commandments in the Word. By “going out to seduce the nations which are in the four corners of the earth,” is signified that they who are meant by “the dragon,” of whom above, (856, 857), would draw to their party all who were in the whole world of spirits; by “seducing” is here signified to draw to their party; by “nations” are signified both the good and the evil, (483); by “the four corners of the earth” is signified the whole spiritual world, (342, here those who were in the whole world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and where all after their departure from the earth first assemble (concerning which 784, 791); for those who were in hell could not come into the sight of the dragon, nor they who were in the heavens. By “Gog and Magog” are signified they who are in external natural worship separate from internal spiritual worship, as will be shown in the next article; by “gathering them together to war” is signified to arouse those who are meant by “the nations” against those who worship the Lord and live according to His commandments in the Word, because all who do not worship the Lord and do not live according to His commandments, are evil, and the evil act together with the dragon or the dragonists; that by “war” is meant spiritual war, which is that of falsity against truth and of truth against falsity, may be seen above, (500, 586).

859. That by “Gog and Magog” are signified they who are in external worship and not in any internal worship, may appear in Ezekiel 38, where it treats of Gog from beginning to end; and from chapter 39 there (verses 1-16); but that these are signified by “Gog and Magog” does not clearly appear there, except from the spiritual sense; which because it has been disclosed to me, shall be opened; first what those signify which are contained in those two chapters. In the thirty-eighth chapter of Ezekiel are these things: “It treats of those who are in the sense of the letter of the Word alone, and thence in external worship without internal, which Is “Gog” (verses 1-2); that each and all things of that worship will perish (verses 3-7); that that worship will take possession of the church, vastate it, and thus it will be in externals without internals (verses 8-16); that the state of the church will thereby be changed (verses 17-19); that thence the truths and goods of religion will perish, and falsities succeed (verses 20-23). “

[2] In the thirty-ninth chapter of the same prophet are these things: “Of those who are in the sense of the letter of the Word alone and in external worship, that they will come into the church, which is “Gog,” but that they will perish (verses 1-6); that this will come to pass when the Lord comes and establishes the church (verses 7-8); that this church will then disperse all their evils and falsities (verses 9-10); that it will altogether destroy them (verses 11-16); that the New Church to be established by the Lord will be informed in truths and goods of every kind, and be imbued with goods of every kind (verses 17-21); and that the former church will be destroyed on account of evils and falsities (verses 23-24); that then the church will be collected by the Lord from all nations (verses 25-29). “

[3] But something shall be said of those who are in external worship without internal spiritual worship. These are they who frequent temples on sabbaths and festivals, and then sing psalms and pray, hearken to preachings, and then attend to the eloquence, and little or nothing to the substance, and are somewhat moved by prayers uttered with affection, as that they are sinners, but never reflect upon themselves and their life; who also go to the Sacrament of the Supper yearly; pour out prayers morning and evening, and also pray at dinners and suppers and sometimes discourse about God, heaven, and eternal life, and then also they know how to repeat some passages from the Word, and simulate Christians, although they are not; for after they have done these things, they make nothing of adulteries, and obscenities, revenges and hatreds, clandestine thefts and depredations, lies and blasphemies, and lusts and intentions of evils of every kind. They who are such do not believe in any God, much less in the Lord; if they are asked what the good and truth of religion is, they know nothing, and think it of no importance to know; in a word, they live to themselves and the world, thus to their inclinations and bodies, and not to God and the neighbor, thus not to the spirit and soul; from which it is plain that their worship is external without internal worship; these also readily receive the heresy of faith alone, especially when they hear that man cannot do good of himself, and that they are not under the yoke of the law; this is the reason why it is said “the dragon will go forth to seduce the nations, Gog and Magog.” By “Gog and Magog” also, in the Hebrew language, is signified a roof and a floor, thus what is external.

860. The number of whom, is as the sand of the sea, signifies the multitude of such. The multitude of them is compared to “the sand of the sea,” because by “the sea” is signified the external of the church, (402, 403, 404, 470), and by “sand” that which is of no use in the sea but to make the bottom. Because the number of them is so great, therefore it is called:

The valley of their burial, the multitude of Gog, and the name of the city where they are, multitude, (Ezekiel 39:15-16).

861. Verse 9. And they went up upon the breadth of the earth, and encompassed the camp of the saints, and the beloved city, signifies that being aroused by the dragonists, they spurned every truth of the church, and endeavored to destroy all things of the New Church, and its very doctrine concerning the Lord and concerning life. “To go up upon the breadth of the earth,” signifies to spurn every truth of the church, for by “going up” is signified to climb over and pass by, thus to spurn; and by “the breadth of the earth” is signified the truth of the church, as will be seen presently: “to encompass the camp of the saints,” signifies to besiege and to wish to destroy all things of the New Church, as will be shown in the next article; and by “the beloved city” is signified the doctrine of the New Church; that by “a city” is signified the doctrine of the church, may be seen above, (194[1-4], 501, 502, 712), which is called “beloved,” because it treats of the Lord and of life, for it is the doctrine of the New Jerusalem which is here meant. That this is the signification of these words, no one can perceive except by the spiritual sense of the Word, for it could never enter into anyone’s thought, that by “the breadth of the earth” is signified the truth of the church, and that by “the camp of the saints” are signified all things of the New Church, both its truths and goods, and that by “the city” is signified its doctrine. Wherefore, lest the mind should remain in doubt, it is necessary to demonstrate what “the breadth” and what “the camp of the saints” signify in the spiritual sense, from which it may afterwards be seen that such is the sense of these words.

[2] The reason why the “breadth of the earth” signifies the truth of the church, is because in the spiritual world there are four quarters, east, west, south, and north, and the east and west constitute its length, and the south and north its breadth; and because they dwell in the east and west who are in the good of love, and thence by “east” and “west” is signified good, therefore the same is meant by “length;” and because they dwell in the south and north who are in the truths of wisdom, and thence by “south” and “north” is signified truth, therefore the same is meant by “breadth;” but on this more may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London in 1758 (141-153). That by “breadth” is signified truth, may appear from these passages in the Word:

O Jehovah, Thou hast not shut me up into the hand of the enemy: thou hast made my feet to stand in a broad place, (Psalms 31:8).

I called upon Jah in straitness, He answered me in a broad place, (Psalms 118:5)

Jehovah led me forth also into a broad place, He delivered me, (Psalms 18:19).

I raise up the Chaldeans, a nation bitter and swift, that walketh in the breadths of the earth, (Habakkuk 1:6).

Ashur shall pass through Judah, he shall overflow and go over, and the stretching out of his wings is the fullness of the breadth, (Isaiah 8:8).

Jehovah shall feed them as a sheep in a broad place, (Hosea 4:16 Besides other passages, as Psalms 4:1; 66:12; Deuteronomy 33:20.

[3] Nor is anything else meant by:

The breadth of the city New Jerusalem, (Revelation 21:16).

For when by “the New Jerusalem” is meant the New Church, by “the breadth and length of it” breadth and length cannot be signified, but its truth and good; for these are the things of the church, as also in Zechariah:

I said to the angel, Whither goest thou? He said, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof and what is the length thereof, (Zechariah 2:2).

The same by:

The breadth and length of the new temple, and of the new earth (Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47).

Also by “the length and breadth of the altar of burnt-offering, of the tabernacle, of the table upon which was bread, of the altar of incense, and of the ark therein;” and also by “the length and breadth” of the temple at Jerusalem, and of many other things, which are described by measures.

862. It was said that by “they encompassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city,” is signified that they would endeavor to destroy all things of the New Church, both its truths and its goods, and the doctrine itself concerning the Lord and concerning life, as is said in the preceding article. The reason why these are signified, is, because by “the camp of the saints” are signified all the truths and goods of the church which is the New Jerusalem. That “a camp” in the spiritual sense signifies all things of the church which have relation to its truths and goods may appear from the following passages:

The sun and moon were blackened, and the stars withdrew their shining; Jehovah uttered His voice before His army; for His camp is very great, for numberless are they that do His Word, (Joel 2:10-11).

I will encamp about my house because of the army, (Zechariah 9:8).

God hath scattered the bones of him that encampeth against thee, because God hath rejected them, (Psalms 53:5).

The angel of Jehovah encampeth about them that fear Him, and delivereth them, (Psalms 34:7).

The angels of God met Jacob, and Jacob said, This is God’s camp, therefore he called the name of that place Mahanaim (the two camps) (Genesis 32:2).

Besides other places, as Isaiah 29:3; Ezekiel 1:24; Psalms 27:3. That by “an army” in the Word are signified the truths and goods of the church, also its falsities and evils, may be seen, (447, 826, 833); the same is also signified by “camps.”

[2] Since by the sons of Israel, and their twelve tribes, is signified the church as to all its truths and goods, (349-350), they were therefore called “the army of Jehovah” (Exodus 7:4; 12:41, 51); and when they halted and were assembled, they were called “the camp” (as in Leviticus 4:12; 8:17; 13:46; 14:8; 16:26, 28; 24:14, 23; Numbers 1:1-2; 4:5, seq. ; 5:3-4; 9:17-23; 10:3-8; 11:31-32; 12:14-15; 21:10-25; 33:3-49; Deuteronomy 23:9-14; Amos 4:10). From these things it is plain, that by “they encompassed the camp of the saints and the beloved city,” is signified that they would endeavor to destroy all the truths and goods of the New Church which is the New Jerusalem, and also its doctrine concerning the Lord and concerning life. The like is signified by this passage in Luke:

When ye shall see Jerusalem encompassed by armies, then know that the devastation is near; at length Jerusalem shall be trodden down by the nations until the times of the nations shall be fulfilled, (Luke 21:20, 24).

This is concerning the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church; by “Jerusalem” is here also signified the church. That “Gog and Magog,” that is, they who are in external worship separated from internal worship, will then invade the church, and endeavor to destroy it, is also said in Ezekiel 38:8-9, 11-12, 15-16; 39:2; and that then there will be a New Church from the Lord, (39:17-29, to the end).

863. And fire came down from God out of heaven, and consumed them, signifies that they perished by the lusts of infernal love. By “fire coming down out of heaven which consumed them,” are signified the lusts of evils, or of infernal love (as above, 494, 748), because they who are in external worship separated from internal worship, are in all kinds of evils and lusts, because with them evils are not removed by any actual repentance, (859). It is said that “fire came down from God out of heaven;” this was done in ancient times, when all things of the church were represented before their eyes, consequently when churches were representative; but at this day, when representatives have ceased, the like is said, and the signification is the same as formerly when the thing was represented. That fire came down out of heaven upon those who profaned things holy, may be seen above, (494, 748). The same is said of “Gog and Magog” in Ezekiel:

I will cause it to rain upon Gog, and upon his wings, and upon many people that are with him, fire and brimstone, (Ezekiel 38:22).

I will send fire upon Magog, (Ezekiel 39:6).

864. Verse 10. And the Devil that seduced them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ages of ages, signifies that they who were in evils as to life and in falsities as to doctrine, were cast into hell, where they will be interiorly infested by the love of their falsity, and by the lusts of their evil continually forever. By “the Devil that seduced them” is meant the dragon, as is evident from what goes before, and by “the dragon” are meant in general those who are in evils as to life, and in falsities as to doctrine, (841). He is called “the Devil that seduced them,” that it might be known that it was the dragon, because he seduced (as appears from verses 2, 3, 7, 8, of this chapter). By “the lake of fire” into which he was cast, is signified hell, where are the loves of falsities and the lusts of evil, (835). By “the beast and the false prophet” are signified they who are in faith alone, both as to life and doctrine, both the unlearned and the learned; by “the beast” the unlearned, and by “the false prophet” the learned, (834). By “being tormented day and night” is signified to be interiorly infested continually, and by “for ages and ages” is signified to eternity. And because it is said that “they were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone,” by which is signified where the loves of falsity and the lusts of evil are, (835), these are what they will be infested by interiorly; for everyone in hell is tormented by his own love and its lusts, for these make the life of everyone there, and it is the life which is tormented; wherefore there are degrees of torment there according to the degrees of the love of evil and thence of falsity.

865. Verse 11. And I saw a great white throne, and Him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them, signifies the universal judgment executed by the Lord upon all the former heavens in which were those who were in civil and moral good, but in no spiritual good, thus who simulated Christians in externals, but in internals were devils; which heavens, with their earth, were totally dissipated, so that nothing of them appeared any more. Before these things are explained in their order according to the letter, something must be premised concerning the universal judgment here treated of. From the time when the Lord was in the world, when He executed the Last Judgment in Person, it was permitted that they who were in civil and moral good, although in no spiritual good, whence in externals they appeared like Christians, but in internals were devils, should continue longer than the rest in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell; and at length they were allowed to make there for themselves fixed habitations, and also by the abuse of correspondences, and by phantasies, to form to themselves as it were heavens, which also they did form in great abundance. But when these were multiplied to such a degree as to intercept the spiritual light and spiritual heat in their descent from the higher heavens to men on earth, then the Lord executed the Last Judgment, and dissipated those imaginary heavens; which was effected in such a manner, that the externals, by which they simulated Christians, were taken away, and the internals, in which they were devils, were opened; and then they were seen such as they were in themselves, and they who were seen to be devils, were cast into hell, everyone according to the evils of his life; this was done in the year 1757. But more concerning this universal judgment may be seen in the little work on The Last Judgment, published at London in the year 1758, and in The Continuation of the same, published at Amsterdam in the year 1763.

[2] Now to the explanation: By “the great white throne, and Him who sat upon it,” is signified the universal judgment executed by the Lord; by “the throne” is signified heaven, and likewise judgment, (229); by “Him who sat upon the throne” is meant the Lord, (808 at the end). The reason why the throne appeared “white,” is because judgment was executed from Divine truths, for “white” is predicated of truths, (167[1-2], 379[1-7]) the reason why the throne appeared “great,” is because judgment was likewise executed from Divine good, for “great” is predicated of good, (656, 663). “From whose face the earth and the heaven fled away,” signifies that those heavens, which they had made for themselves, as described above, together with their earths, were dissipated; for there are earths in the spiritual world as well as in the natural world, as may be seen, (260, 331); but the earths, like all other things there, are from a spiritual origin. And “there was not found a place for them,” signifies that those heavens with their earths were so totally dissipated, that nothing of them appeared any more. Hence it is evident, that by “I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was not found a place for them,” is signified the universal judgment executed by the Lord upon all the former⁷⁹ heavens that were inhabited by such as were in civil and moral good, but in no spiritual good, thus who simulated Christians in externals, but in internals were devils; which heavens, together with their earth, were totally dissipated, so that nothing of them appeared any more.

866. Verse 12. And I saw the dead small and great standing before God, signifies all who had died from the earth, and were now among those who were in the world of spirits, of whatever condition and quality, gathered together by the Lord for judgment. By “the dead” are signified all who had departed from the earth, or who were dead as to the body, concerning whom more will be said below; by “small and great” are signified of every condition and quality (as at 604); by “standing before God,” that is, before Him who sat upon the throne, is signified to be present and gathered together to judgment. By “the dead” in the Word the same thing is signified as by deaths, and “deaths” signify various things; for “death” not only signifies the extinction of natural life or decease, but also the extinction of spiritual life, which is damnation; by “death” is also signified the extinction of the loves of the body or the lusts of the flesh, after which there is a renewal of life; in like manner by “death” is signified resurrection, because man rises again immediately after death; by “death” is also signified neglect, non-acknowledgment, and rejection by the world, but in the most general sense by “death” the same is signified as by “the Devil,” wherefore also the Devil is called “death,” and by “the Devil” is meant hell where they are who are called devils, hence also by “death” the evil of the will is meant which causes man to be a devil. “Death” is used in this last sense in the next verse, where it is said that “death and hell gave up their dead,” and that “they were cast into the lake of fire.” From these things it may appear who are meant by “the dead” in the variety of senses; here are signified all those who had departed out of the world, or who had died from the earth, and were then in the world of spirits.

[2] It is said in the world of spirits, because all come into that world immediately after their decease, and are there prepared, the good for heaven, and the evil for hell; and some stay there only a month or a year, and others from ten to thirty years; and they to whom it was granted to make as it were heavens to themselves, several centuries; but at this day not longer than twenty years. There is there a vast multitude, and societies there as in the heavens and in the hells, concerning this world see above, (784, 791). Upon those who were in that world, the Last Judgment was executed, and not upon those who were in heaven, nor upon those who were in hell; for they who were in heaven were saved before, and they who were in hell were condemned before. From these considerations it may be seen, how much they are deceived who believe that the Last Judgment is to take place upon earth, and that then men are to rise again as to their bodies, for all who have lived from the first creation of the world are together in the spiritual world; and all are clothed with a spiritual body, which before the eyes of those who are spiritual appear as men in a similar form, just as they who are in the natural world appear before the eyes of those who are natural.

867. And the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life, signifies that the interiors of the minds of them all were laid open, and by the influx of light and heat from heaven their quality was seen and perceived, as to the affections which are of the love or will, and thence as to the thoughts which are of faith or of the understanding, as well the evil as the good. By “books” are not meant books, but the interiors of the minds of those who are judged, by “the books,” the interiors of the minds of those who are evil, and are judged to death, and by “the book of life” such as are good, and are judged to life. They are called “books,” because in the interiors of the mind of everyone are inscribed all the things that he thought, intended, spoke, and did in the world from the will or the love, and thence from the understanding or faith; all these things are inscribed on the life of everyone, with so much exactness that not one of them is wanting. The quality of all these things appears to the life, when spiritual light, which is wisdom from the Lord, and spiritual heat, which is love from the Lord, flow in through heaven. Spiritual light discloses the thoughts which are of the understanding and faith, and spiritual heat discloses the affections which are of the will and love; and spiritual light together with spiritual heat disclose the intentions and endeavors. That this is the case, I do not say that the rational man can see from the light of his own understanding; but he can if he will, provided he be willing to understand that there is given spiritual light which enlightens the understanding, and spiritual heat which enkindles the will.

868. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works, signifies that all were judged according to their internal life in externals. By “the dead” are signified all who died from the earth, and were then in the world of spirits, as above, (866). “Out of those things which were written in the books,” signifies out of the interiors of everyone’s mind then laid open, as above, (867); “according to their works,” signifies, according to the internal life of everyone in externals. That this is signified by “works” in the Word, may be seen above, (72, 76, 94, 141, 641); to which I will further add, that there are works of the mind and works of the body, both of them at once internal and external. The works of the mind are intentions and endeavors, and the works of the body are words and actions; each of these proceed from the internal life of man, which is of his will or love. Whatsoever does not close in works, either internal which relate to the mind, or external which relate to the body, are not in the life of man, for they inflow from the world of spirits but are not received, therefore they are like images that strike the eyes, or as odors that affect the nostrils, from which a man turns away his face. But more may be seen on this subject in the places cited above, where also some passages are adduced from the Word to prove that man is judged according to his works; to which may be added the following from Paul:

In the day of anger and revelation of the just judgment of God; who will render to everyone according to his deeds, (Romans 2:5-6).

For we must all be manifested before the judgment-seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in the body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or evil, (2 Corinthians 5:10).

869. Verse 13. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, signifies the external and natural men of the church called together to judgment. By “the sea” is signified the external of the church, which is natural, therefore by those whom “the sea gave up” are signified the external and natural men of the church. That “the sea” signifies the external of the church, which is natural, may be seen above, (238-239, 402-405, 470, 565, 567, 659, 661). By “the dead” are meant they who had died out of the earth, as above, (866, 868). The reason why by “the dead whom the sea gave up” are meant the external men of the church, is because no others were judged but those who were in some worship, for all who have spurned the holy things of the church, and have denied God, the Word, and the life after death, were judged immediately after death, and conjoined with those who were in hell, whither they were afterwards cast down. But they who had been external and natural men, and professed with the mouths that there is a God, that there are a heaven and a hell, and in a certain way had acknowledged the Word, these are they who were called together to judgment. Out of these who were from “the sea,” many were saved, for we do not read that all these “were cast into the lake of fire,” as “death and hell” were, but that “if anyone of them was not found written in the book of life, he was cast therein” (Verse 15). Such of these as were saved, are also meant by “the rest of the dead which lived not again until the thousand years were finished” (Verse 5). From what has been said it may now appear, that by “the sea gave up the dead that were in it,” are signified the external and natural men of the church called together to judgment.

870. And death and hell gave up the dead which were in them, signifies the men of the church who were wicked at heart, and who in themselves were devils and satans, called together to judgment. By “death and hell” no others are meant than they who interiorly in themselves were devils and satans, by “death” they who were inwardly in themselves devils, and by “hell” they who inwardly in themselves were satans, consequently all the wicked at heart, who nevertheless in externals appeared like men of the church; for no others were called together to this universal judgment; for they who in externals are like men of the church, whether they be of the laity or clergy, and in internals are devils and satans, are judged, because in them externals are to be separated from internals, and such likewise can be judged, because they have known and professed the things which are of the church. That by “death” are meant the wicked at heart who in themselves were devils, and by “hell” they who in themselves were satans, may appear from its being said, that “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire” (verse 14); for neither death nor hell can be cast into hell, but they can who as to their interiors are death and hell, that is, who are in themselves devils and satans. Who are meant by the Devil and Satan, may be seen above, (97, 841, 857); and that they are death who in themselves are devils, above, (866). In other places also mention is made of “death and hell,” as in the following:

The Son of man said, I have the keys of death and hell, (Revelation 1:18).

The name of him who sat on the pale horse was Death, and hell followed him, (Revelation 6:8).

In like manner Hosea 13:14; Psalms 18:4-5; 49:14-15; 116:3.

871. And they were judged everyone according to their works, signifies that they were all judged according to their internal life in externals, as appears from the explanation above, (868), where are similar words. To which I will add this, that everyone is judged according to the quality of his soul; and the soul of man is his life, for it is the love of his will, and the love of everyone’s will is entirely according to his reception of the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord; and this reception is taught by the doctrine of the church which is from the Word.

872. Verse 14. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, signifies that the wicked at heart, who in themselves were devils and satans, and yet in externals like men of the church, were cast into hell among those who were in the love of evil, and thence in the love of falsity agreeing with evil. By “death and hell” are signified the wicked at heart, who interiorly in themselves were devils and satans, and yet in externals like men of the church, as above, (870). By “the lake of fire” is signified hell, where they are who are in the love of evil, and thus in the love of the falsity agreeing with evil, thus who love evil, and confirm it by reasonings from the natural man, and still more they who confirm it by the sense of the letter of the Word. These cannot interiorly in themselves do otherwise than deny God, for such denial lies concealed in evil of life confirmed by falsities. “A lake” signifies where falsity abounds, and “fire” signifies the love of evil, as above, (835, 864). Its being said that “death and hell were cast into the lake of fire,” is according to angelic speech, in which the person is not named, but that which is in the person, and makes him; here that in the person which makes his death and hell; that this is the case, may be seen from this that hell cannot be cast into hell.

873. This is the second death, signifies that with these there is damnation itself. That by “the second death” is signified spiritual death, which is damnation, may be seen above, (853). This is said, because they who are wicked at heart, and in themselves devils and satans, and yet appear like men of the church are condemned beyond all others.

874. Verse 15. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire, signifies that they who did not live according to the Lord’s commandments in the Word, and did not believe in the Lord, were condemned. That by “the book of life” is signified the Word, and by “being judged out of that book,” is signified to be judged according to the truths of the Word, may be seen above, (256, 259, 295, 303, 309, 317, 324, 330); and no other is found written in the book of life but he who has lived according to the Lord’s commandments in the Word, and has believed in the Lord; this therefore is meant. That he who does not live according to the Lord’s commandments in the Word, is condemned, the Lord teaches in John:

And if anyone hear My words and believe not, I judge him not: he hath one that judgeth him, the Word that I have spoken, that shall judge him in the last day, (John 12:47-48).

And that he who does not believe in the Lord, is condemned, also in John:

He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life, and he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth on him, (John 3:36).

875. To the above I will add these Relations. Awaking one morning from sleep, I saw two angels descending out of heaven, one from the southern quarter of heaven and the other from the eastern quarter of heaven, both in chariots to which white horses were harnessed. The chariot in which the angel from the southern quarter of heaven was conveyed, shone like silver, and the chariot in which the angel from the eastern quarter of heaven was conveyed, shone like gold; and the reins which they held in their hands were refulgent as from the flamy light of the dawn. Thus these two angels were seen by me at a distance; but when they came nearer, they did not appear in a chariot, but in their angelic form which is human. He who came from the eastern quarter of heaven, was clad in a bright purple garment, and he who came from the southern quarter of heaven in a garment of hyacinthine blue. When they were below under the heavens, they ran to meet each other, as if they strove which should be first, and mutually embraced and kissed each other. I heard that these two angels, when they lived on earth, had been conjoined in interior friendship; but now one was in the eastern heaven and the other in the southern heaven. In the eastern heaven are they who are in love from the Lord; but in the southern heaven are they who are in wisdom from the Lord.

[2] When they had spoken some time about the magnificence of their heavens, this came up in their discourse, whether heaven in its essence is love, or whether it is wisdom. They immediately agreed that one is of the other, but discussed which was the original. The angel who was from the heaven of wisdom asked the other, what love is; to which he replied, “That love, originating from the Lord as a sun, is the vital heat of angels and men, thus their life: that the derivations of love are called affections; and that by these are produced perceptions and thus thoughts, whence it follows that wisdom in its origin is love; consequently that thought in its origin is the affection of that love; and it is evident from the derivations viewed in their order, that thought is nothing else but the form of affection; and that this is not known, because the thoughts are in the light, but the affections in heat, and that therefore one reflects upon the thoughts, but not on the affections, in the same manner as takes place with sound and with speech. That thought is nothing else but the form of affection, may also be illustrated by speech, which is nothing else but the form of sound; it is also similar, because sound corresponds to affection, and speech to thought, wherefore affection sounds, and thought speaks. This may also be made clear by this, that if you take away sound from speech, nothing of speech remains, and, in like manner, if you take away affection from thought, nothing of thought remains. Hence then it is plain, that love is the all of wisdom, consequently the essence of the heavens is love, and their existence is wisdom, or what is the same thing, the heavens are from the Divine love, and they exist from the Divine love by the Divine wisdom, wherefore, as was said above, the one is of the other.”

[3] There was with me at that time a novitiate spirit, who on hearing this, asked, whether it is the same with charity and faith, since charity is of affection, and faith is of thought. The angel replied, “It is altogether the same; for faith is nothing else but the form of charity, just as speech is the form of sound; ¹ faith is also formed by charity as speech is formed by sound; the mode of its formation we also know in heaven, but there is no leisure to explain it here.”“By faith, however,” he added, “I mean spiritual faith, the spirit and life of which is derived solely from charity, for charity is spiritual, and by charity, faith; wherefore faith without charity is a merely natural faith, which is dead, which also conjoins itself with merely natural affection, which is nothing else but lust.” The angels spake of these things spiritually, and spiritual speech embraces thousands of things which natural speech cannot express, and what is wonderful, which cannot even fall within the ideas of natural thought. Remember this, I pray, and when you come out of natural light into spiritual light, which is done after death, inquire what faith is and what charity is, and you will clearly see that faith is charity in form, and therefore that charity is the all of faith, consequently that it is the soul, life, and essence of faith, just as the affection is of thought, and as the sound is of speech; and if you desire it, you will see the formation of faith from charity like the formation of speech from sound, because they correspond. After discoursing together for some time on these and such like subjects, the angels departed, and as they retired each to his own heaven, their heads appeared encompassed with stars: and when they were some distance from me, they again seemed to be borne in chariots as before.

[4] After these two angels were gone out of my sight, I saw a certain garden on my right hand, in which were olive trees, vines, fig trees, laurels, and palm trees, planted in order, according to correspondence. I looked into the garden, and saw angels and spirits walking and conversing together among the trees; and then a certain angelic spirit observed me. They are called angelic spirits, who in the world of spirits are prepared for heaven, and afterwards become angels. That spirit came out of the garden towards me, and said, “Will you come with me into our paradise, and you shall hear and see wonderful things.” And I went with him, and then he said to me, “Those whom you see (for there were many) are all in the affection of truth, and thence in the light of wisdom. Here also is a building which we call the TEMPLE OF WISDOM; but no one sees it who believes himself very wise, much less he who believes himself wise enough, and still less he who believes himself wise from himself; the reason is, because such persons are not in the reception of the light of heaven from the affection of genuine wisdom. Genuine wisdom consists in a man’s seeing from the light of heaven, that the things which he knows, understands, and is wise in, are so little respectively to what he does not know, understand, and is wise in, as a drop to the ocean, consequently scarcely anything. Everyone who is in this paradisal garden, and acknowledges in himself from perception and sight that his own wisdom is so little comparatively, sees that temple of wisdom, for interior light enables him to see it, but not exterior light without it.”

[5] And because I had often thought this, both from science, and then from perception, and lastly from seeing it from interior light, and had acknowledged that man had so little wisdom, behold, it was given me to see that temple. As to form it was wonderful. It was elevated above the ground, quadrangular, with walls of crystal, its roof of translucent jasper elegantly arched; the foundation consisted of precious stones of various kinds. The steps leading up to it were of polished alabaster. At the sides of the steps appeared figures of lions with their whelps. And I then asked whether it was allowed to enter; and it was said that it was allowed; therefore I ascended, and when I entered, I saw, as it were, cherubs flying beneath the roof, and presently vanishing out of sight; the floor upon which we walked was of cedar, and the whole temple, from the pellucidity of its roof and walls, seemed in the form of light.

[6] The angelic spirit entered with me, to whom I related what I heard from the two angels concerning love and wisdom, as also concerning charity and faith. And he then said, “Did they not speak of a third also?” I said, “What third?” He replied, “It is Use: love and wisdom without use are not anything: they are only ideal entities; nor do they become real before they are in use: for love, wisdom, and use, are three things which cannot be separated. If they are separated, neither is anything. Love is not anything without wisdom, but in wisdom it is formed for something. This something for which it is formed, is use. Therefore, when love through wisdom is in use, it is then something; yea, it then first exists. They are altogether as the end, the cause, and the effect. The end is not anything, unless through the cause it is in the effect. If one of the three is loosed, the whole is loosed, and becomes as nothing. It is similar with charity, faith, and works.

[7] Charity without faith is not anything; nor faith without charity; nor charity and faith without works; but in works they become something, of a quality according to the use of the works. It is similar with affection, thought, and operation; and it is similar with will, understanding, and action. That it is so may be seen clearly in this temple, because the light in which we are here is light that enlightens the interiors of the mind. That there is not given a complete and perfect thing unless it is a trine, geometry also teaches; for a line is not anything, unless it becomes an area; and an area is not anything, unless it becomes a solid; therefore the one must be produced into the other, that they may exist; and they co-exist in the third. As it is in this, so it is in each and every created thing; they are terminated in their third. Hence now it is, that three in the Word, spiritually understood, signifies complete and altogether. Since it is so, I could not but wonder, that some profess faith alone, some charity alone, some works alone; when yet the first without the second, and the first and second without the third, are not anything.”

[8] But I then asked, “Cannot a man have charity and faith, and still not works? Cannot a man be in affection and thought about anything, and yet not in the performance of it?” The angelic spirit said to me, “He cannot, except only ideally, but not really. He must still be in the endeavor or the will to operate; and the will or the endeavor is in itself the act, because it is in the continual effort to act; which becomes an outward act when determination is present. On which account the endeavor and will, as an interior act, is accepted by every wise man, because it is by God, altogether as an exterior act, provided it does not fail when opportunity is given.”

[9] After this I descended by the steps from the temple of wisdom, and walked in the garden, and saw some sitting under a certain laurel eating figs. I turned aside to them, and asked them for some figs; which they gave me: and, behold, the figs became grapes in my hand. When I wondered at this, the angelic spirit, who was still with me, said to me, “The figs have become grapes in your hand, because figs, from correspondence, signify the goods of charity and thence of faith in the natural or external man, but grapes the goods of charity and faith in the spiritual or internal man; and because you love spiritual things, therefore it so happened to you: for in our world all things come to pass and exist, and also are changed, according to correspondences.” And then there came over me the desire of knowing how man can do good from God, and yet as of himself; therefore I asked them that were eating the figs how they comprehended it. They said that they “could not comprehend it otherwise than that God operates it within in man and through man, when he does not know it; since if man were conscious of it, and thus should do it as of himself, which is also to do it of himself, he would not do good, but evil. For all that proceeds from man, as from himself, proceeds from his proprium; and the proprium of man is evil from birth. How then can good from God and evil from man be conjoined, and so proceed conjointly into act? The proprium of man also, in the things of salvation, continually breathes forth merit; and as far as it does this, it takes away from the Lord His merit; which is the highest injustice and impiety. In a word, if the good which God operates in a man by the Holy Spirit should flow in into man’s willing and thence his doing, that good would be altogether defiled and also profaned; which, however, God never permits. A man can indeed think that the good which he does is from God, and call it God’s good through himself, and as if from himself; but still we do not comprehend this.”

[10] But I then opened my mind, and said, “You do not comprehend, because you think from the appearance, and the thought from confirmed appearance is a fallacy. You are in the appearance and the fallacy from it, because you believe that all the things which a man wills and thinks, and thence does and speaks, are in him, and consequently from him; when yet nothing of them is in him except the state of receiving what flows in. Man is not life in himself, but is an organ receiving life. The Lord alone is life in Himself, as He also says in John:

As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, (John 5:26(; 11:25; 14:6, 19)).

Besides other places (as John 11:25; 14:6, 19).

[11] There are two things which make life, love and wisdom; or what is the same, the good of love and the truth of wisdom. These flow in from God, and are received by man, and are felt in the man as in him; and because they are felt by him as in him, they also proceed as from him. It is given by the Lord, that they should be thus felt by the man, in order that what flows in may affect him, and so be received and remain. But because all evil also flows in, not from God, but from hell, and this is received with enjoyment, because man was born such an organ, therefore no more of good is received from God, than there is of evil removed by the man as of himself; which is done by repentance, and at the same time by faith in the Lord.

[12] That love and wisdom, charity and faith, or speaking more generally, the good of love and charity and the truth of wisdom and faith, flow in; and that the things which flow in appear in the man as in himself, and thence as from him, may be manifestly seen from the sight, the hearing, the smell, the taste, and the touch. All the things which are felt in the organs of those senses flow in from without, and are felt in them: in like manner in the organs of the internal senses, with the difference only that into the latter spiritual things flow in, which do not appear; but into the former natural things, which do appear. In a word, man is an organ recipient of life from God; consequently he is a recipient of good so far as he desists from evil. The Lord gives to every man to be able to desist from evil, because He gives him to will and understand as of himself: and whatever the man does from the will, as his own according to the understanding, as his own, or, what is the same, whatever he does from freedom which is of the will according to reason which is of the understanding, this remains. By this the Lord brings man into a state of conjunction with Himself, and in this reforms, regenerates, and saves him.

[13] The life which flows in is the life proceeding from the Lord, which is also called the Spirit of God, and in the Word the Holy Spirit; of which it is also said, that it enlightens and vivifies; yea, that it operates in man: but this life is varied and modified according to the organization induced upon the man by his love and attitude to it. You may also know that all the good of love and charity and all the truth of wisdom and faith flow in, and are not in the man, from the fact that he who thinks such a thing is in man from creation, cannot think otherwise, than that God infused Himself into a man, and thus that men would in part be Gods; and yet they who think this from faith become devils, and stink like carcasses.

[14] Besides, what is human action but the action of the mind? for that which the mind wills and thinks, it acts through its organ the body: and therefore when the mind is led by the Lord, the action is also led; and the mind and the action from it are led by the Lord, when it believes in Him. Unless it were so, say, if you can, why the Lord has commanded in the Word, in a thousand and a thousand places, that a man must love his neighbor, must work out the good of charity, and bear fruit like a tree, and do His precepts, and all this that he may be saved; also why He has said that man will be judged according to his deeds or works, he who has done goods to heaven and life, and he who has done evils to hell and death. How could the Lord speak such things, if all that proceeds from man were meritorious, and thence evil? You may know, therefore, that if the mind is charity, the action is also charity; but if the mind is faith alone, which is also faith separated from spiritual charity, the action is also that faith; and this faith is meritorious, because its charity is natural, and not spiritual. It is otherwise with the faith of charity, because charity does not wish to merit, and thence neither does its faith.”

[15] On hearing this, they that sat under the laurel said, “We comprehend that you have spoken justly; but still we do not comprehend.” To which I replied, “That I have spoken justly, you comprehend from the common perception which man has from the influx of light from heaven when he hears any truth; but you do not comprehend from your own perception, which man has from the influx of light from the world. These two perceptions, namely, the internal and the external, or the spiritual and the natural, make one with the wise. You also can make them one, if you look to the Lord and remove evils.” Because they understood these things also, I took some shoots from the laurel under which we sat, and held them out, and said, “Do you believe that this is from me, or from the Lord?” And they said, that they believed it to be through me as from me; and, behold, the shoots blossomed in their hands. But when I departed, I saw a cedar table, upon which was a book, under a green olive-tree, the trunk of which was entwined with a vine. I looked, and behold, it was a book written by me, called The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom, and also concerning The Divine Providence; and I said that it was fully shown in that book, that man is an organ recipient of life, and not life.

[16] After this I went home exhilarated from that garden, and the angelic spirit with me; who said to me on the way, “If you wish to see clearly what faith and charity are, and thus what faith separate from charity is, and faith conjoined to charity, I will also show it to the eye.” I answered, “Show it.” And he said, “Think of light and heat instead of faith and charity, and you will see clearly; for faith in its essence is truth, which is of wisdom, and charity in its essence is affection, which is of love; and the truth of wisdom in heaven is light, and the affection of love in heaven is heat; the light and heat in which the angels are is nothing else. From this you can see clearly, what faith separate from charity is, and what faith conjoined to charity. Faith separated from charity is like the light in winter, and faith conjoined to charity is like the light in the spring. Wintry light, which is light separated from heat, because it is conjoined to cold, strips the trees entirely of their leaves, hardens the earth and kills the grass, and likewise congeals the waters: but the light of spring, which is light conjoined to heat, quickens the trees, first into leaves, then into blossoms, and at length into fruits; it opens and softens the earth, that it may produce grass, herbs, flowers, and shrubs, and likewise dissolves the ice, that the waters may flow from the springs.

[17] It is altogether similar with faith and charity. Faith separate from charity deadens all things; and faith conjoined to charity vivifies all things. This vivifying and that deadening can be seen to the life in our spiritual world; because here faith is light, and charity is heat. For where there is faith conjoined to charity, there are paradisal gardens, flower beds, and grass plots in their pleasantness, according to the conjunction; but where there is faith separate from charity, there is not even grass there; and where it is green, it is from briers, thorns, and nettles. This the heat and light proceeding from the Lord as the sun effect in the angels and spirits, and thence outside of them.” There were then not far from us some of the clergy, whom the angelic spirit called justifiers and sanctifiers of men by faith alone, and likewise arcanists. We said these same things to them, and demonstrated them so that they saw that it was so; and when we asked, “Is it not so?” They turned themselves away, and said, “We did not hear.” But we cried out to them, saying, “Hear now, therefore.” They then put both hands over their ears, and shouted, “We will not hear.”

Chapter 21 (876-926)

876. Revelation 21

1. And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth, for the former heaven and the former earth were passed away; and the sea was no more.

2. And I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband.

3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and He Himself shall be with them their God.

4. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither mourning nor crying, neither shall there be labor [trouble] anymore, for the former things have passed away.

5. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write; for these words are true and faithful.

6. And He said unto me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give unto him that thirsteth of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7. He that overcometh shall possess as an inheritance all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.

8. But the fearful, and the unfaithful, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake burning with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.

9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels having the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife.

10. And he carried me away in the spirit upon a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

11. Having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, shining like crystal.

12. Having a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and over the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.

13. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.

14. And the wall of the city having twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15. And he that was speaking with me had a golden reed, to measure the city and the gates thereof and the wall thereof.

16. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as large as the breadth; and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand stadia; the length and the breadth and the height of it were equal.

17. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred forty-four cubits, the measure of a man which is of an angel.

18. And the structure of the wall thereof was jasper, and the city was pure gold like pure glass.

19. And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

20. The fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprasus, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was of one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass.

22. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty is the temple of it and the Lamb.

23. And the city hath no need of the sun and of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.

24. And the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it.

25. And the gates of it shall not be shut by day; for there shall be no night there; and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

26. And there shall not enter into it any unclean thing and that doeth abomination and a lie, but they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

In this chapter it treats of the state of heaven and the church after the Last Judgment; that after this, through the New Heaven, the New Church will exist on the earth, which will worship the Lord alone (verses 1-8). Its conjunction with the Lord (verses 9-10). The description of it as to intelligence from the Word (ver, (Revelation 21:11)Spiritual Diary 11); as to doctrine thence (verses 12-21); and as to all its quality (verses 22-26).

The contents of each verse, (Revelation 21:1)

Verse 1. “And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth” signifies that a New Heaven was formed from Christians by the Lord, which at this day is called the Christian Heaven, where they are who had worshiped the Lord, and had lived according to His commandments in the Word, who thence have charity and faith; in which are also all the infants of Christians, (876). “For the former heaven and the former earth were passed away” signifies the heavens which were formed not by the Lord, but by those who came out of the Christian world into the spiritual world, who were all dispersed at the day of the Last Judgment, (877). “And the sea was no more” signifies that the external of the heavens collected from Christians since the first establishment of the church was in like manner dispersed, after they who were written in the Lord’s book of life were taken thence and saved, (878).

Verse 2. (Revelation 21:2) “And I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven” signifies the New Church to be established by the Lord at the end of the former church, which will be consociated with the New Heaven in Divine truths as to doctrine and as to life, (879-880). “Prepared as a bride adorned⁸⁰ for her husband” signifies that church conjoined with the Lord through the Word, (881).

Verse 3. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men” signifies the Lord from love speaking and declaring the glad tidings, that He Himself will now be present with men in His Divine Human, (882). “And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and He Himself shall be with them their God” signifies the conjunction of the Lord, which is of such a nature, that they are in Him, and He in them, (883).

Verse 4. “And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither mourning nor crying, neither shall there be labor anymore, for the former things have passed away” signifies that the Lord will take from them all grief of mind, fear of damnation, of evils and falsities from hell, and of temptations from them, and they shall not remember them because the dragon, which had caused them, is cast out, (844-845).

Verse 5. “And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful” signifies the Lord confirming all concerning the New Heaven and the New Church after the Last Judgment has been executed, (886).

Verse 6. “And He said unto me, It is done” signifies that it is the Divine truth, (887). “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End” signifies that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that all things in the heavens and on earth were made by Him, and are ruled by His Divine Providence, and are done according to it, (888). “I will give unto him that thirsteth of the fountain of the water of life freely” signifies that to those who desire truths from any spiritual use, the Lord will give from Himself through the Word all things that conduce to that use, (889).

Verse 7. “He that overcometh shall possess as an inheritance all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son” signifies that they who overcome evils in themselves, that is, the devil, and do not succumb when they are tempted by the Babylonians and the dragonists, will come into heaven, and there live in the Lord and the Lord in them, (890).

Verse 8. “But the fearful, and the unfaithful, and the abominable” signifies those who are in no faith, and in no charity, and thence in all kinds of evils, (891). “And murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and liars” signifies all those who make no account of the commandments of the Decalogue, and do not shun any evils there named as sins, and therefore live in them, (892). “Shall have their part in the lake burning with fire and brimstone” signifies they have hell where are the loves of falsity and the lusts of evil, (893). “Which is the second death” signifies damnation, (894).

Verse 9. “And there came unto me one of the seven angels having the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife” signifies influx and manifestation from the Lord out of the inmost of heaven, concerning the New Church, which will be conjoined to the Lord through the Word, (895).

Verse 10. “And he carried me away in the spirit upon a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God” signifies that John was taken up into the third heaven, and his sight there opened, before whom was made manifest the Lord’s New Church as to doctrine, in the form of a city, (896).

Verse 11. “Having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, shining like crystal” signifies that in that church the Word will be understood, because translucent from its spiritual sense, (897).

Verse 12. “Having a wall great and high” signifies the Word in the sense of the letter from which is the doctrine of the New Church, (898). “Having twelve gates” signifies all the knowledges of truth and good therein by which man is introduced into the church, (899). “And over the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” signifies the Divine truths and goods of heaven, which are also the Divine truths and goods of the church in those knowledges, and guards lest anyone enter unless he is in them from the Lord, (900).

Verse 13. “On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates” signifies that the knowledges of truth and good, in which is spiritual life from heaven from the Lord, and by which introduction into the New Church is effected, are for those who are more or less in the love or the affection of good, and for those who are more or less in wisdom or the affection of truth, (901).

Verse 14. “And the wall of the city having twelve foundations” signifies that the Word in the sense of the letter contains all things of the doctrine of the New Church, (902). “And in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” signifies all things of doctrine from the Word concerning the Lord, and concerning life according to His commandments, (903).

Verse 15. “And he that spoke with me had a golden reed, to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof” signifies that there is given by the Lord, to those who are in the good of love, the faculty of understanding and knowing what the quality of the Lord’s New Church is as to doctrine and its introductory truths, and as to the Word from which they are, (904).

Verse 16. “And the city lieth foursquare” signifies justice in it, (905). “The length thereof is as large as the breadth” signifies that good and truth in that church make one, like essence and form, (906). “And he measured the city with the reed twelve thousand stadia, the length and the breadth and the height of it were equal” signifies the quality of that church from doctrine shown, that all things of it were from the good of love, (907, 908).

Verse 17. “And he measured the wall thereof a hundred forty-four cubits” signifies that it was shown what the quality of the Word is in that church, that from it are all its truths and goods, (909). “The measure of a man, that is, of an angel” signifies the quality of that church that it makes one with heaven, (910).

Verse 18. “And the structure of the wall thereof was jasper” signifies that all the Divine truth in the sense of the letter of the Word, with the men of that church, is translucent from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense, (911). “And the city was pure gold, like unto pure glass” signifies that thence the all of that church is the good of love flowing in together with light out of heaven from the Lord, (912).

Verse 19. “And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone” signifies that all things of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem taken from the sense of the letter of the Word, with those who are in it, will appear in the light according to reception, (914). “The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald (verse 20), the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprasus, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst” signifies all things of that doctrine in their order from the sense of the letter of the Word, with those who immediately approach the Lord, and live according to the commandments of the Decalogue by shunning evils as sins, for these and no others are in the doctrine of love to God and love toward the neighbor, which two are the fundamentals of religion, (915).

Verse 21. “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, everyone of the gates was of one pearl” signifies that the acknowledgment and knowledge of the Lord conjoins into one all the knowledges of truth and good, which are from the Word, and introduces into the church, (916[1-2]); and the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass” signifies that every truth of that church and of its doctrine is in form the good of love flowing in together with light out of heaven from the Lord, (917).

Verse 22. “And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty is the temple of it and the Lamb” signifies that in this church there will not be any external separated from the internal, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church, is alone approached, worshiped, and adored, (918).

Verse 23. “And the city hath no need of the sun and the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb” signifies that the men of that church will not be in self-love and in their own intelligence, and thence in natural light alone, but in spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word from the Lord alone, (919).

Verse 24. “And the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it” signifies that all who are in the good of life, and believe in the Lord, will there live according to Divine truths, and will see them inwardly in themselves, as the eye sees objects, (920). “And the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it” signifies that all who are in the truths of wisdom from spiritual good, will there confess the Lord, and ascribe to Him every truth and every good that is with them, (921).

Verse 25. “And the gates of it shall not be shut by day; for there shall be no night there” signifies that they will be continually received into the New Jerusalem, who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord, because there is not any falsity of faith there, (922). “And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it” signifies that they who enter will bring with them the confession, acknowledgment, and faith, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that every truth of the church and every good of religion is from Him, (923).

Verse 26. “And there shall not enter into it any unclean thing and that doeth abomination and a lie” signifies that no one is received into the Lord’s New Church who adulterates the goods and falsifies the truths of the Word, and who does evils from confirmation and thus also falsities, (924[1-2]); but they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life” signifies that no others will be received into the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, but they who believe in the Lord, and live according to His commandments in the Word, (925).

THE EXPLANATION, (Revelation 21:1)

Verse 1. And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth, signifies that a New Heaven was formed from Christians by the Lord, which at this day is called the Christian Heaven, where they are who had worshiped the Lord and had lived according to His commandments in the Word, in whom therefore there is charity and faith; in which heaven also are all the infants of Christians. By “a New Heaven and a New Earth” is not meant the natural heaven visible to the eyes, nor the natural earth inhabited by men, but the spiritual heaven is meant, and the earth belonging to that heaven, where the angels are. That this heaven and the earth of this heaven is meant, everyone may see and acknowledge, if he can in some measure be withdrawn from a purely natural and material idea, when he reads the Word. That the angelic heaven is meant is evident, because it is said in the next verse, that “he saw the holy city Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband,” by which is not meant any Jerusalem coming down, but the church, and the church on earth comes down from the Lord out of the angelic heaven, because the angels of heaven and the men on earth in all things of the church make one, (626). From these things it may be seen, how naturally and materially they have thought and do think, who, from these words and those which follow in the same verse, have fabricated for themselves the dogma about the destruction of the world, and of the new creation of all things.

[2] This New Heaven is occasionally treated of above in Revelation (especially in chapters 14, 15). It is called the Christian Heaven, because it is distinct from the ancient heavens, which existed from the men of the church before the Lord’s coming. These ancient heavens are above the Christian Heaven; for the heavens are like expanses, one above another; it is the same with each particular heaven; for each heaven by itself is distinguished into three heavens, an inmost or third, a middle or second, and a lowest or first, and so it is with this New Heaven; I have seen them and have spoken with them. In this New Christian Heaven are all those who, from the first establishment of the Christian Church, worshiped the Lord, and lived according to His commandments in the Word, and who, therefore, were in charity, and at the same time in faith from the Lord through the Word, thus who were not in a dead but in a living faith. Various things respecting this heaven may be seen above, (612, 613, 626, 631, 659, 661, 845, 846, 856). In that heaven likewise are all the infants of Christians, because they are educated by the angels in those two essentials of the church, which are the acknowledgment of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and a life according to the commandments of the Decalogue.

877. For the former heaven and the former earth were passed away, signifies the heavens which were formed, not by the Lord, but by those who came out of the Christian world into the spiritual world, who were all dispersed at the day of the Last Judgment. That these heavens and no others are meant by “the former heaven and the former earth which passed away” may be seen above, (865), where these words are explained:

I saw a great white throne, and One sitting upon it, from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away, (Revelation 20:11),

where it is shown that by those words is signified the universal judgment executed by the Lord upon all the former heavens, in which were such as were in civil and moral good, but in no spiritual good, thus who in externals simulated Christians, but in internals were devils; which heavens with their earth were entirely dispersed. For other particulars relating to this subject see Last Judgment, published at London, 1758, and Continuation of the Last Judgment, published in Amsterdam; to which it is unnecessary here to add anything further.

878. And the sea was no more, signifies that the external of the heaven collected from among Christians, since the first establishment of the church, was in like manner dispersed, after they who were written in the Lord’s book of life were taken thence and saved. By “the sea” is signified the external of heaven and of the church, in which are the simple, who have thought naturally and but little spiritually of things relating to the church; the heaven in which these are is called external (see 238, 239, 403, 404, 420, 466, 470, 659, 661); by “the sea” here is meant the external of heaven collected from among Christians from the first establishment of the church. But the internal heaven of Christians was not fully formed by the Lord, till a little before the Last Judgment, and also after it, as may appear from chapters 14; 15, where it is treated of, and from chapter 20:4-5; see the explanations of which. The reason why this was not done before was because the dragon and his two beasts had dominion in the world of spirits and burned with the lust of seducing everyone they could, wherefore it was hazardous to collect them sooner into a heaven.

[2] The separation of the good from the dragonists, and the condemnation of the latter, and finally the casting of them into hell, are treated of in many places, and lastly in chapters 19:20; 20:10; and after this it is said, that “the sea gave up the dead which were in it” (verse 13), by which are meant the external and natural men of the church called to judgment (see above, 869), and then the separating and saving of those who were written in the Lord’s book of life, concerning which see the same article; this is “the sea” which is here meant. It is also said in another place, where the New Heaven of Christians is treated of, that it extended itself to “the sea of glass mingled with fire” (Revelation 15:2); by which “sea” is also signified the external of the heaven of Christians the explanation, 659, 661). From these things it may appear that by “the sea was no more” is signified that the external of heaven collected from among Christians from the first establishment of the church, after they were taken thence and saved who were written in the Lord’s book of life, was in like manner dispersed. Concerning the external of heaven collected from among Christians from the first establishment of the church, it has been granted me to know many particulars which it would be tedious to adduce in this place; save only that the former heavens, which passed away at the day of the Last Judgment, were permitted for the sake of those who were in that external heaven or sea, because they were conjoined by externals but not by internals, on which subject something may be seen above, (398). The reason why the heaven, where the men of the external church are, is called “the sea” is because their habitation in the spiritual world appears at a distance as if it were in the sea; for the celestial angels, who are angels of the highest heaven, dwell as it were in an ethereal atmosphere; the spiritual angels, who are angels of the middle heaven, dwell as it were in an aerial atmosphere; and the spiritual natural angels, who are angels of the lowest heaven, dwell as it were in a watery atmosphere, which, as was said, appears at a distance like the sea. Hence it is that the external of heaven is meant by “the sea” in many other places also in the Word.

879. Verse 2. And I John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, signifies the New Church to be established by the Lord at the end of the former church, which will be consociated with the New Heaven in Divine truths as to doctrine and as to life. The reason why John here names himself, saying, “I John” is because by him as an apostle is signified the good of love to the Lord, and thence the good of life, therefore he was loved more than the other apostles, and at supper lay on the Lord’s breast, (John 13:23; 21:20); and in like manner this church which is now treated of. That by “Jerusalem” is signified the church will be seen in the next article; which is called “a city” and described as a city from doctrine and from a life according to it, for “a city” in the spiritual sense signifies doctrine, (194[1-4], 712). It is called “holy” from the Lord, who alone is holy, and from the Divine truths which are in it derived from the Word from the Lord, which are called holy, (173, 586, 666, 852); and it is called “new” because he who sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new” (verse 5); and it is said, “to come down from God out of heaven,” because it descends from the Lord through the New Christian Heaven, treated of in verse 1 of this chapter, (876), for the church on earth is formed through heaven by the Lord, that they may act as one and be consociated.

880. The reason why by “Jerusalem” in the Word is meant the church is because there, in the land of Canaan, and in no other place, was the temple and the altar, and sacrifices were offered, thus Divine worship itself, wherefore also three feasts were celebrated there yearly, and every male throughout the whole land was commanded to come to them. Hence it is that “Jerusalem” signifies the church as to worship, and therefore also the church as to doctrine, for worship is prescribed in doctrine, and performed according to it; likewise because the Lord was in Jerusalem, and taught in His temple, and afterwards glorified His Human there. That by “Jerusalem” is meant the church as to doctrine and thence worship, appears from many passages in the Word; as from the following in Isaiah:

For Zion’s sake will I not be silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the justice thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp burneth. Then the Gentiles shall see thy justice, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name; thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of thy God; for Jehovah is well pleased in thee, and thy land shall be married. Behold, thy salvation cometh; Behold, His reward is with Him. And they shall call them, The people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah; and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not deserted, (Isaiah 62:1-4, 11-12).

[2] The whole of this chapter treats of the Lord’s advent, and of the New Church to be established by Him. This New Church is meant by “Jerusalem” which shall be called by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah shall utter, and which shall be a crown of glory in the hands of Jehovah, and a royal tiara in the hand of God, in which Jehovah shall be well pleased, and which shall be called a city sought out and not deserted. These words cannot apply to that Jerusalem which, when the Lord came into the world, was inhabited by the Jews, for it was directly opposite in every respect, and was rather to be called Sodom, as it is also called (in the Revelation 11:8; Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 16:46, 48).

[3] So in another part of Isaiah:

For, behold, I create a New Heaven and a New Earth; the former shall not be remembered; be glad and exult to eternity in that which I create; behold I create Jerusalem an exultation, and her people a joy. And I will exult over Jerusalem, and rejoice over My people. Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together; they shall not do evil in all the mountain of My holiness, (Isaiah 65:17-19, 25).

This chapter also treats of the Lord’s advent, and of the church to be established by Him, which was not established with those who were in Jerusalem, but with those who were out of it; wherefore this church is meant by “Jerusalem” which shall be unto the Lord “an exultation” and whose people shall be unto Him “a joy;” also where “the wolf and the lamb shall feed together” and where “they shall not do evil.” It is likewise said in this place, as in Revelation, that the Lord “will create a New Heaven and a New Earth” and also that “He will create Jerusalem” which things have a like signification.

[4] So in another part of Isaiah:

Awake, awake, put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the city of holiness; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, and sit down, O Jerusalem. My people shall know My name in that day, for I am He that doth speak; behold it is I, Jehovah hath comforted His people; He hath redeemed Jerusalem, (Isaiah 52:1-2, 6, 9).

This chapter also treats of the Lord’s advent, and of the church to be established by Him, therefore by “Jerusalem” into which “the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no more come” and which “the Lord will redeem” is meant the church, and by “Jerusalem the city of holiness;” the church as to doctrine from the Lord and concerning the Lord.

[5] In Zephaniah:

Shout, O daughter of Zion, be glad with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem; the king of Israel is in the midst of thee; fear not evil anymore; He will rejoice over thee with joy, He will rest in thy love, He will exult over thee with shouting; I will give you for a name and a praise to all the people of the earth, (Zephaniah 3:14-15, 17, 20).

Here in like manner the Lord and the church from Him are treated of, over which “the king of Israel” who is the Lord, “will rejoice with joy, will exult with shouting” and in whose love “He will rest” and who will give them “for a name and a praise to all the people of the earth.”

[6] In Isaiah:

Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer and thy Former, saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, (Isaiah 44:24, 26).

And in Daniel:

Know and perceive that from the going forth of the Word even to restore and to build Jerusalem, even unto Messiah the prince shall be seven weeks, (Daniel 9:25).

That the church is here also meant by “Jerusalem” is manifest, since this was restored and built by the Lord, but not Jerusalem the seat of the Jews.

[7] By “Jerusalem” is also meant the church from the Lord in the following passage in Zechariah:

Thus saith Jehovah, I will return to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; whence Jerusalem shall be called, the city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, the mountain of holiness, (Zechariah 8:3, 20-23).

In Joel:

Then shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, that dwelleth in Zion, the mountain of holiness; and Jerusalem shall be holiness; and it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop must, and the hills shall flow with milk, and Jerusalem shall sit to generation and generation, (Joel 3:17-18, 20).

In Isaiah:

In that day the offshoot of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious; and it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy; everyone written for life in Jerusalem, (Isaiah 4:2-3).

In Micah:

In the last days shall the mountain of the house of Jehovah be established on the head of the mountains; for out of Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem; to thee shall the former kingdom come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem, (Micah 4:1-2, 8).

In Jeremiah:

In that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all nations shall be gathered together at Jerusalem to the name of Jehovah; neither shall they walk anymore after the confirmation of their evil heart, (Jeremiah 3:17).

In Isaiah:

Look upon Zion, the city of our set feasts; thine eyes shall see Jerusalem a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be dissipated; the stakes thereof shall not be removed forever, neither shall any of the cords thereof be torn away, (Isaiah 33:20 Besides other places also, as Isaiah 24:23; 37:32; 66:10-14; Zechariah 12:3, 6, 8-10; 14:8, 11-12, 21; Malachi 3:2, 4; Psalms 122:1-7; 137:5-7.

[8] That the church is meant by “Jerusalem” in these places, which was to be established by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews in the land of Canaan, may also be evident from the places in the Word where it is said of the latter, that it is altogether destroyed, and that it is to be destroyed; as in Jeremiah 5:1; 6:6-7; 7:17-18 seq. ; 8:6-8; 9:10-11, 13 seq. ; 13:9-10, 14; 14:16; Lamentations 1:8-9, 17; Ezekiel 4:1; 5:9; 12:18-19; 15:6-8; 16:1-63; 23:1-49; Matthew 23:37-38; Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-22; 23:28-30.

881. Prepared as a Bride adorned⁸¹ for her Husband, signifies that church conjoined with the Lord through the Word. It is said that John “saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven;” here that he saw that city “prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband” from which it is also evident that by “Jerusalem” is meant the church, and that he saw it first as a city, and afterwards as a virgin bride; as a city representatively, and as a virgin bride spiritually, thus in a twofold idea, one within or above the other; just as the angels do, who, when they see or hear or read in the Word of “a city” in the idea of the lower thought perceive a city, but in the idea of the higher thought perceive the church as to doctrine; and the latter, if they desire it and pray to the Lord, they see as a virgin in beauty and clothing according to the quality of the church. Thus also it has been granted me to see the church.

[2] By “prepared” is signified clothed for her betrothal, and the church is no otherwise attired for her betrothal, and afterwards for conjunction or marriage, than by the Word; for this is the only means of conjunction or marriage, because the Word is from the Lord and concerning the Lord, and thus the Lord; for which reason it is also called “a covenant,” and “a covenant” signifies spiritual conjunction; the Word also was given for this end. That by “Husband” is meant the Lord is plain from verses 9, 10 of this chapter, where Jerusalem is called “the Bride the Lamb’s wife.” That the Lord is called “the Bridegroom” and “Husband,” the church “the Bride” and “Wife,” and that this marriage is like the marriage of good and truth, and is effected through the Word, may be seen above, (797). From these things it may appear, that by “Jerusalem prepared as a Bride for her Husband” is signified that church conjoined with the Lord through the Word.

882. Verse 3. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men signifies the Lord from love speaking and declaring the glad tidings, that he himself will now be present with men in His Divine Human. This is the celestial sense of these words. The celestial angels, who are the angels of the third heaven, understand them no otherwise, for by “hearing a great voice from heaven saying” they understand the Lord from love speaking and declaring glad tidings, because no one else speaks from heaven but the Lord; for heaven is not heaven from anything proper to the angels, but from the Divine of the Lord, of which they are recipients; by “a great voice” is meant speech from love, for “great” is predicated of love, (656, 663). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men” means that now the Lord is present in His Divine Human. By “the tabernacle of God” is meant the celestial church, and, in the universal sense, the Lord’s celestial kingdom, and, in the highest sense, His Divine Human, see above, (585). The reason why the tabernacle, in the highest sense, means the Lord’s Divine Human is because this is signified by “the temple,” as may appear from John 2:19, 21; Malachi 3:1; Revelation 21:22; and elsewhere; the same is meant by “the tabernacle” with this difference, that by “the temple” is meant the Lord’s Divine Human as to the Divine truth or the Divine wisdom, and by “the tabernacle” is meant the Lord’s Divine Human as to the Divine good or the Divine love. Hence it follows, that by “behold the tabernacle of God is with men” is meant that the Lord will now be present with men in His Divine Human.

883. And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and He Himself shall be with them their God, signifies the conjunction of the Lord, which is such that they are in Him, and He in them. “He will dwell with them” signifies the conjunction of the Lord with them, as will be seen presently; “they shall be His people, and He Himself shall be with them their God” signifies that they are the Lord’s, and the Lord theirs; and because by “dwelling with them” is signified conjunction, it signifies that they will be in the Lord and the Lord in them, otherwise no conjunction is effected; that this is the nature of conjunction appears clearly from the Lord’s words in John:

Abide in Me, and I in you. I am the vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing, (John 15:4-5 In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you, (John 14:20).

He that eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood, dwelleth in Me, and I in him, (John 6:56).

[2] That the assumption of the Human, and the uniting it with the Divine which was in Him by birth, and is called the Father, had for its end conjunction with men, appears also in John:

For I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth; that they may be one; as We are one, I in them and Thou in Me, (John 17:19, 21-22, 26).

From which it is plain, that there is a conjunction with the Lord’s Divine Human, and that it is reciprocal, and that thus and not otherwise there is a conjunction with the Divine which is called the Father.

[3] The Lord also teaches that conjunction is effected by the truths of the Word, and a life according to them, (John 14:20-24; 15:7). This therefore is what is meant by “He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and He Himself will be with them their God.” In like manner in other places where the same words occur, as Jeremiah 7:23; 11:4; Ezekiel 14:11; Jeremiah 24:7; 30:22; Ezekiel 11:20; 36:28; 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8; Exodus 29:45.

[4] The reason why “to dwell with them” signifies conjunction with them is because “to dwell” signifies conjunction from love, as may appear from many passages in the Word; also from the habitations of the angels in heaven. Heaven is distinguished into innumerable societies, one from another according to the differences of the affections which are of love in general and in particular, each society constituting one species of affection, and they dwell there distinctly according to the degrees of relationship and affinities of that species of affection, and they who are in the closest relationship dwell in the same house; hence “cohabitation” when spoken of married partners signifies, in the spiritual sense, conjunction by love. It is known that conjunction with the Lord is one thing, and His presence another; conjunction with the Lord is not given except to those who approach Him immediately, and His presence to the rest.

884. Verse 4. And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither mourning nor crying, neither shall labor be anymore, for the former things have passed away, signifies that the Lord will take from them all grief of mind, fear of damnation on account of evils and falsities from hell, and of temptations from them, and they shall not remember them, because the dragon, which had occasioned them, is cast out. “God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes” signifies that the Lord will take away from them all grief of mind, for shedding tears is from grief of mind; by “death” which shall not be anymore is signified damnation (as 325, 765, 853, 873), here the fear of it; by “mourning” which shall not be anymore is signified the fear of evils from hell, for “mourning” has various significations, having relation in all cases to the subject treated of, here the fear of evils from hell; because the fear of damnation is mentioned just before, and the fear of falsities from hell, and of temptations from them follows; by “crying” is signified the fear of falsities from hell, as will be seen in the next article; by the “labor” which shall be no more, are signified temptations, (640); by “it shall not be anymore because the former things are passed away” is signified that they shall not remember them because the dragon, who had occasioned them, is cast out, for these constitute the former things which had passed away.

[2] But these things shall be illustrated. Every man after death first comes into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and is there prepared, the good for heaven and the evil for hell, concerning which world see above, (784, 791, 843, 850, 866, 869). And because there are consociations there as in the natural world, it could not be otherwise before the Last Judgment, than that they who in externals were civil and moral, but in internals were evil, should be together, and should hold converse with those who likewise in externals were civil and moral, but in internals were good. And since there is inherent in the evil the continual lust of seducing, therefore the good, who were in consort with them, were infested in various ways. But they who were in grief by their infestations, and came into the fear of damnation, and of evils and falsities from hell, and of grievous temptation, were removed by the Lord from consort with them, and sent to a certain earth below that, where also there were societies, and were guarded there, and this until such time as all the evil were separated from the good, which was effected by the Last Judgment; and then they who had been guarded in the lower earth, were taken up by the Lord into heaven.

[3] These infestations were induced for the most part by those who are meant by “the dragon” and his “beasts.” Therefore when the dragon and his two beasts were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, then, because all infestation and thence grief and fear on account of damnation and of hell ceased, it is said to those who had been infested, that “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither mourning, nor crying, nor labor, shall be anymore, for the former things are passed away” by which is signified that the Lord will take from them all grief of mind, fear of damnation, and of evils and falsities from hell, and of grievous temptation from them, nor would they remember them, because the dragon who had induced them was cast out. That the dragon and his two beasts were ejected, and cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, may be seen above, (Revelation 19:20; 20:10); and that the dragon infested, appears from many places; for he fought with Michael, and wished to devour the offspring which the woman brought forth, and persecuted the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, (Revelation 12:4-5, 7; 12:7-9, 13-17; 13:1, also 16:13, 16), and in other places. That many who were interiorly good, were thus guarded by the Lord lest they should be infested by the dragon and his beasts, appears from 6:9-11; and that they were infested, 7:13-17, and that they were afterwards taken up into heaven,20:4-5, and elsewhere. The same are also meant by “the captives” and by “them that are bound in the pit” and delivered by the Lord, (Isaiah 24:22; 61:1; Luke 4:18-19; Zechariah 9:11; Psalms 79:11). This is also signified in the Word, where it is said that the graves were opened; also where the souls are spoken of that expect the last judgment, and then the resurrection.

885. That “crying” in the Word is said of grief and fear of falsities from hell, and thence of devastation by them, appears from the following passages:

The former troubles are forgotten, and they shall be hidden from Mine eyes; then the voice of weeping shall not be heard in her, nor the voice of crying, (Isaiah 65:16, 19);

speaking of Jerusalem in like manner as here in Revelation:

They are blackened in the land, and the cry of Jerusalem is gone up, (Jeremiah 14:2 seq.).

Lamentation over the falsities which devastate the church is treated of:

Jehovah looked for judgment, but behold a scab; for justice, but behold a cry, (Isaiah 5:7).

The voice of the cry of the shepherds, for Jehovah layeth waste their pasture, (Jeremiah 25:36).

The voice of a cry from the fish gate, because their wealth is become a booty, and their houses a desolation, (Zephaniah 1:10, 13).

Besides other places (as Isaiah 14:31; 15:4-6, 8; 24:11; 30:19; Jeremiah 46:12, 14). But it is to be known that “a cry” in the Word is said in reference to every affection that breaks forth from the heart, wherefore it is a voice of lamentation, of imploring, of supplication from grief, of entreaty, of indignation, of confession, yea of exultation.

886. Verse 5 (Revelation 21:5). And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful, signifies the Lord speaking concerning the Last Judgment to those who are about to come into the world of spirits, or who would die, from the time of His being in the world until now, and saying these things, that the former heaven with the former earth, and the former church, with all and everything in them, would perish, and that He would create a New Heaven with a New Earth, and a New Church, which is to be called the New Jerusalem, and that they may know this of a certainty, and bear it in remembrance, because the Lord himself has testified and said it. The contents of this verse and of those which follow, as far as the eighth inclusive, were said to those who would come out of the Christian world into the world of spirits, which happens immediately after death, to the end that they might not suffer themselves to be seduced by the Babylonians and dragonists; for, as was said above, all after death are gathered together in the world of spirits, and cherish social interaction with one another there as in the natural world, where they are together with the Babylonians and dragonists, who continually burn with the lust of seducing, and who were also allowed, by imaginary and delusive arts, to form to themselves heavens, as it were, by which also they could seduce; to prevent this, these things were said by the Lord, that they might know of a certainty that those heavens with their earths would perish, and that the Lord would create a New Heaven and a New Earth, when they would be saved who did not suffer themselves to be seduced. But it is to be known, that this was said to those who lived from the Lord’s time even to the Last Judgment, which was executed in the year 1757, because these could have been seduced; but after this event, this was no longer possible, because the Babylonians and dragonists were separated and cast out.

[2] We will now proceed to the explanation. By “Him who sat on the throne,” is meant the Lord, (808, at the end). The reason why the Lord here spoke “upon a throne” is because He said, “Behold, I make all things new,” by which is signified that he was about to execute the Last Judgment, and then to create a New Heaven and a New Earth, and a New Church, with all and everything in them; that “a throne” means judgment in a representative form, may be seen, (229, 845, 865); and that the former heaven and former church perished on the day of the Last Judgment, (865, 877). “He said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful” signifies that they might know this for certain, and remember it, because the Lord Himself testified and said it; the Lord’s making use of the word “said” a second time signifies that they might know it for certain; by “write” is signified for remembrance or that they might remember, (639); and by “these words are true and faithful” is signified that they ought to be believed, because the Lord Himself testified and said it.

887. Verse 6. And He said unto me, It is done, signifies that it is the Divine truth. The reason why by “He said unto me” is signified that it is the Divine truth is because the Lord said a third time, “He said unto me;” also because He said “it is done” in the present tense; and what the Lord says a third time is what ought to be believed, because it is the Divine truth, as also what He said in the present tense; for “three signifies what is complete to the end” (505); in like manner when being about to do a thing, He said, “It is done.”

888. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, signifies that they may know that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that all things in the heavens and earths were made by Him, and are governed by His Divine Providence, and are done according to it. That the Lord is “the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End” and that thereby is meant that by Him all things were made, and are governed and done, and more may be seen above, (13, 29-31, 38, 57, 92). That the Lord is the God of heaven and earth is evident from His words in John:

Power is given to Me over all flesh, (17:2).

And in Matthew:

All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth, (28:18);

And that all things were made by Him, that were made, (1:3, 14).

That all things which were made or created by Him, are governed by His Divine Providence is evident.

889. I will give unto him that thirsteth of the fountain of the water of life freely, signifies that to those who desire truths from any spiritual use, the Lord will give from Himself through the Word all things that are conducive to that use. By “him that thirsteth” is signified he who desires truth from any spiritual use will be seen presently; by “the fountain of the water of life” is signified the Lord and the Word, (384); by “giving freely” is signified from the Lord, and not from man’s own intelligence. The reason why by “thirsting” is signified to desire for the sake of some spiritual use is because there is given a thirst or desire for the knowledges of truth from the Word, from natural use, and also from spiritual use, from natural use with those who have learning for their end, and by learning, fame, honor, and gain, thus self and the world; but from spiritual use with those whose end is to serve the neighbor from love to him, to consult the good of their souls, and that of their own, thus on account of the Lord, the neighbor, and salvation; truth is given to these so far as it conduces to that use, “from the fountain of the water of life,” that is, from the Lord through the Word; to the rest truth is not given from thence; they read the Word, and every doctrinal truth therein they either do not see, or if they do see it they turn it into falsity, not so much in speech when it is uttered from the Word, but in the idea of their thought concerning it. That “to hunger” signifies to desire good, and “to thirst” to desire truth, may be seen, (323, 381).

890. Verse 7. He that overcometh shall possess as an inheritance all things, and I will be his God, and he shall be My son, signifies that they who overcome evils in themselves, that is, the devil, and do not succumb when they are tempted by the Babylonians and dragonists, will come into heaven, and there live in the Lord and the Lord in them. By “overcoming” is here meant to overcome evils in themselves, thus the devil, and not to succumb when they are tempted by the Babylonians and dragonists. The reason why to overcome evils in oneself is also to overcome the devil, is because by the “devil” is meant all evil; by “to possess as an inheritance all things,” is signified to come into heaven, and then to enjoy the possession of the goods which are there from the Lord, consequently to enter into the goods which are from the Lord and of the Lord, as a son and heir, whence heaven is called an inheritance, (Matthew 19:29; 25:34). “I will be his God and he shall be My son,” signifies that in heaven they will be in the Lord and the Lord in them, as above, (882, 883), where the like words occur, only that it is there said, that “they shall be His people, and He will be their God.” The reason why they who immediately approach the Lord, are called His sons, is because they are born anew from Him, that is, regenerated, wherefore He called His disciples “sons” (John 12:36; 13:33; 21:5).

891. Verse 8. But the fearful, and the unfaithful, and the abominable, signifies those who are in no faith, and in no charity, and thence in evils of every kind. By “the fearful” are signified they who are in no faith, as will be seen presently; by “the unfaithful” are signified they who are in no charity towards the neighbor, for these are insincere and fraudulent, consequently unfaithful; by “the abominable” are signified they who are in all kinds of evils, for “abominations” in the Word signify in general the evils which are named in the six last commandments of the Decalogue, as may be seen in Jeremiah:

Trust ye not upon the words of a lie, saying, The temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah, the temple of Jehovah are these; will ye steal, kill, and commit adultery, and swear by a lie, and come and stand before Me in this house, when ye do these abominations? (Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11);

and so in all other places. That by “the fearful” are signified they who are in no faith, is evident from the following passages:

Jesus said to the disciples, Why are ye fearful, O men of little faith? (Matthew 8:26; Mark 4:39-40; Luke 8:25)

Jesus said unto the ruler of the synagogue, Fear not; believe only, then thy daughter shall be saved, (Luke 8:49-50; Mark 5:36).

Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom, (Luke 12:32).

The same is meant by “fear not” (Matthew 17:6-7; 28:3-5, 10; Luke 1:12-13, 30; 2:9-10; 5:8-10, and elsewhere). From all these things it may appear, that by “the fearful, and the unfaithful, and the abominable,” are signified they who are in no faith, and in no charity, and thence are in all kinds of evils.

892. And murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, signifies all those who make no account of the commandments of the Decalogue, and do not shun any evils therein mentioned as sins, and therefore live in them. What is signified by these four commandments of the Decalogue, “Thou shalt not kill,” “thou shalt not commit adultery,” “thou shalt not steal,” and “thou shalt not testify falsely,” in their threefold sense, natural, spiritual, and celestial, may be seen in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, (62-91); therefore it is unnecessary to explain them here; but instead of the seventh commandment, which is, “Thou shalt not steal,” are here mentioned “sorcerers and idolaters;” and by “sorcerers” are signified they who inquire after truths, which they falsify in order to confirm falsities and evils, as they do who take up this truth, that no one can do good from himself, and by it confirm faith alone, for this is a species of spiritual theft. What “sorcery” further signifies may be seen above, (462). By “idolaters” are signified they who establish worship, or are in worship, not from the Word, thus not from the Lord, but from their own intelligence, (459); as also they have done who, from a single saying of Paul, falsely understood, and not from any word of the Lord, have fabricated the universal doctrine of the church, which likewise is a species of spiritual theft; by “liars” are signified they who are in falsities from evil, (924[1-2]).

893. Shall have their part in the lake burning with fire and brimstone, signifies their portion in hell, where are the loves of falsity and the lusts of evil, as appears from the explanation above, (835, 872), where like words occur.

894. Which is the second death, signifies damnation, as also appears from what is explained above, (853, 873).

895. Verse 9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels, having the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife, signifies influx and manifestation from the Lord from the inmost of heaven, concerning the New Church, which will be conjoined with the Lord through the Word. By “one of the seven angels having the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me” is meant the Lord inflowing from the inmost of heaven and speaking through the inmost heaven, here manifesting the things which follow; that by this angel is meant the Lord, appears from the explanation of chapter 15, where it is written:

And after that I saw, and behold the temple of the tabernacle in heaven was opened; and the seven angels came out having the seven plagues, (Revelation 15:5-6);

by which is signified that the inmost of heaven was seen, where the Lord is in His holiness, and in the Law which is the Decalogue, see above, (669-670); also from the explanation of chapter 17, where it is said:

And there came one of the seven angels having the seven vials, and he spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the judgment of the great harlot, (Revelation 17:1).

That by these words is signified influx and revelation from the Lord from the inmost of heaven concerning the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, may be seen above, (718, 719); hence it is evident that by “there came to me one of the seven angels who had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying,” is meant the Lord inflowing from the inmost of heaven, and that by “Come, I will show thee,” is signified manifestation, and that by “the Bride the Lamb’s Wife” is signified the New Church, which will be conjoined with the Lord through the Word (as in 881). That church is called “the Bride,” when it is being established, and “Wife” when it is established; here “the Bride, the Wife,” because it is certain to be established.

896. Verse 10. And he carried me away in the spirit upon a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, signifies that John was carried away into the third heaven, and his sight there opened, before whom was made manifest the Lord’s New Church as to doctrine in the form of a city. “He carried me away in the spirit upon a great and high mountain,” signifies that John was carried away into the third heaven, where they are who are in love to the Lord, and in the genuine doctrine of truth from Him; great also is predicated of the good of love, and high of truths. The reason why being taken up “into a mountain” signifies to be taken up into the third heaven, is, because it is said “in the spirit,” and he who is in the spirit as to his mind and its sight, is in the spiritual world, and there the angels of the third heaven dwell upon mountains, the angels of the second heaven upon hills, and the angels of the lowest heaven in valleys between the hills and mountains. Therefore when anyone in the spirit is taken up into a mountain, it signifies that he is taken up into the third heaven; this elevation is effected in a moment, because it is done by a change in the state of the mind; by “he showed me,” is signified his sight then opened, and manifestation. By “the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God is signified the Lord’s New Church as above, (878, 880); where also it is explained, for this reason it is called “holy,” and is said “to descend out of heaven from God;” its being seen in the form of a city, is because “a city” signifies doctrine, (194[1-4], 712), and the church is a church from doctrine, and from a life according to it. It was also seen as a city, that it might be described as to all its quality, and this is described by its wall, gates, foundations, and various measures. The church is described in a similar manner in Ezekiel, where it is also said that the prophet:

In the visions of God was brought upon a very high mountain, and he saw a city on the south, which the angel also measured as to its wall and gates, and as to its breadth and height, (Ezekiel 40:2).

The like is meant by this passage in Zechariah:

I said to the angel, Whither goest thou? he said, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof, (Zechariah 2:2).

897. Verse 11. Having the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, shining like crystal, signifies that in that church the Word will be understood, because translucent from its spiritual sense. By “the glory of God” is signified the Word in its Divine light, as will be seen presently; by “its light” is signified the Divine truth therein, for this is meant by light in the Word, (796, 799); like a stone most precious, like a jasper stone, “shining like crystal,” signifies the same shining and translucent from its spiritual sense, of which also in what follows. By these words is described the understanding of the Word with those who are in the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and in a life according to it. With these the Word shines as it were when it is read; it shines from the Lord by means of the spiritual sense, because the Lord is the Word, and the spiritual sense is in the light of heaven which proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and the light which proceeds from the Lord as a sun, is in its essence the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom. That in every particular of the Word there is a spiritual sense, in which the angels are, and from which their wisdom is derived, and that the Word is translucent from the light of that sense to those who are in genuine truths from the Lord, is shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture.

[2] That by “the glory of God” is meant the Word in its Divine light, may appear from the following passages:

The Word was made flesh, and we saw His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, (John 1:14).

That by “glory” is meant the glory of the Word or the Divine truth in Him, is evident, because it is said “the Word was made flesh;” the same is meant by “glory” in what follows, where it is said:

The glory of God did lighten it, and its lamp is the Lamb, (John 1:23).

The same is meant by:

The glory in which they will see the Son of man when He shall come in the clouds of heaven, (Matthew 24:30; Mark 13:26).

See above, (22, 642, 820); nor is anything else meant by:

The throne of glory upon which the Lord will sit when He shall come to the Last Judgment, (Matthew 25:31);

because He will judge everyone according to the truths of the Word; wherefore it is also said that “He will come in His glory.” When the Lord was transfigured, it is also said that:

Moses and Elias appeared in glory, (Luke 9:30-31).

By “Moses and Elias” is there signified the Word; the Lord also then caused Himself to be seen by the disciples as the Word in its glory. That “glory” signifies the Divine truth, may be seen from many passages of the Word above, (629[1-2]).

[3] The reason why the Word is compared to “a stone most precious, like a jasper stone, shining like crystal,” is because “a precious stone” signifies the Divine truth of the Word, (231, 540, 726, 823), and “a jasper stone” signifies the Divine truth of the Word in the sense of the letter, translucent from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense; this is the signification of “a jasper stone” (in Exodus 28:20; Ezekiel 28:13), and afterwards in this chapter, where it is said that “the structure of the wall” of the Holy Jerusalem was “jasper” (verse 18); and since the Word in the sense of the letter is translucent from its spiritual sense, it is said, “a jasper shining like crystal,” all enlightenment, which they have who are in Divine truths from the Lord, is thence.

898. Verse 12. Having a wall great and high, signifies the Word in the sense of the letter from which is the doctrine of the New Church. When the Lord’s New Church as to doctrine is meant by “the holy city Jerusalem,” nothing else is meant by its “wall” but the Word in the sense of the letter, from which the doctrine is; for that sense protects the spiritual sense, which lies hidden within, as the wall does a city and its inhabitants. That the sense of the letter is the basis, the containant, and the support of its spiritual sense, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (27-36) And that this sense is the guard, lest the interior Divine truths, which are those of the spiritual sense, should be injured, (97 Also that the doctrine of the church is to be drawn from the sense of the letter of the Word, and to be confirmed by it, (50-61). It is called “a wall great and high,” because the Word is meant as to the Divine good and the Divine truth; for “great” is predicated of good, and “high” of truth, as above, (896).

[2] By “a wall” is signified that which protects; and, in speaking of the church, the Word in the sense of the letter is signified in the following passages:

I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem; they shall not be silent day and night, that make mention of Jehovah, (Isaiah 62:6).

They shall call thee the city of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel; and thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise, (Isaiah 60:14, 18).

Jehovah will be a wall of fire round about, and a glory in the midst of her, (Zechariah 2:5).

The sons of Arvad were upon thy walls, and the Gammadians hung their shields upon thy walls round about; they have made thy beauty perfect, (Ezekiel 27:11).

This is concerning Tyre, by which is signified the church as to knowledges of truth from the Word.

Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see if there is any that seeketh truth; go up on her walls, and cast down, (Jeremiah 5:1, 10).

Jehovah hath thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, He made the rampart and the wall to mourn, they languish together, the law and the prophets are no more, (Lamentations 2:8-9).

They shall run to and fro in the city, they shall run on the wall, they shall go up into the houses, they shall enter in through the windows, (Joel 2:9).

These are concerning the falsifications of truth:

Day and night the wicked go about in the city, upon its walls, destructions are in the midst of them, (Psalms 55:10 Besides other places, as Isaiah 22:5; 56:5; Jeremiah 1:15; Ezekiel 27:11; Lamentations 2:7. That the Word in the sense of the letter is signified by “a wall,” is clearly manifest from what follows in this chapter, where the wall, its gates, foundations, and measures are much treated of. The reason is, because the doctrine of the New Church, which is signified by “the city,” is solely from the sense of the letter of the Word.

899. Having twelve gates, signifies all the knowledges of truth and good there, by which a man is introduced into the church. By “the gates” are signified the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, because by them a man is introduced into the church; for “the wall,” in which the gates were, signifies the Word; as explained just above, (898); and it is said in what follows, that “the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each one of the gates was one pearl” (verse 21); and by “pearls” the knowledges of truth and good are signified, (727). That a man is introduced into the church by them, as through the gates into a city, is manifest. That “twelve” signifies all, may be seen above, (348). Knowledges of truth and good are also signified by “gates” in these passages:

I will lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy suns of ruby, and thy gates in stones of carbuncle, (Isaiah 54:11-12).

Jehovah loveth the gates of Zion more than all the habitations of Jacob, glorious things are to be declared in thee, O city of God, (Psalms 87:2-3).

Enter through His gates with confession, confess unto Him, bless His name, (Psalms 100:4).

Our feet shall stand within thy gates, O Jerusalem; Jerusalem is built as a city that coheres together, (Psalms 122:2-3).

Praise Jehovah, O Jerusalem, for He makes firm the bars of thy gates, He blesseth thy sons in the midst of thee, (Psalms 147:12-13).

That I may enumerate all thy praises in the gates of the daughter of Zion, (Psalms 9:14).

Open ye the gates, that the just nation that keepeth faithfulness may enter in, (Isaiah 26:2).

Lift up the voice, that they may come into the gates of the princes, (Isaiah 13:2).

Happy are they that do His commandments, and enter in through the gates into the city, (Revelation 22:14).

Lift up your heads, O ye gates, that the King of glory may come in, (Psalms 24:7, 9).

The ways of Zion do mourn, all her gates are devastated, her priests groan, (Lamentations 1:4).

Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish, (Jeremiah 14:2).

Jehovah hath thought to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion, her gates have subsided into the earth, (Lamentations 2:8-9.

Who make a man to sin in a word, and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the gate, (Isaiah 29:21).

He chose new gods, then he began to assault the gates, (Judges 5:8).

Besides other places (as Isaiah 3:25-26; 14:31; 22:7; 24:12; 28:6; 62:10; Jeremiah 1:15; 15:7; 31:38, 40; Micah 2:13; Nahum 3:13; Judges 5:11). Since “gates” signify introductory truths, which are knowledges from the Word, therefore the elders of a city sat in the gates, and judged; as is manifest from Deuteronomy 21:18-21; 22:15; Lamentations 5:14; Amos 5:12, 15; Zechariah 8:16.

900. And over the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are those of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, signifies the Divine truths and goods of heaven, which are also the Divine truths and goods of the church, in those knowledges, and also guards to prevent anyone from entering except he be in them from the Lord. By “twelve angels” are signified here all the, truths and goods of heaven, because by “angels,” in the highest sense, is signified the Lord, in a general sense the heaven of angels, and in a particular sense the truths and goods of heaven from the Lord (see 5, 170, 258, 344, 415, 465, 647, 648, 657, 718); here the truths and goods of heaven, because it follows, “and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel,” by which are signified all the truths and goods of the church, (349). By “over the gates” is signified in those knowledges, because “over” in the Word signifies within; the reason is because that which is highest in successive order becomes the inmost in simultaneous order; therefore the third heaven is called both the highest and the inmost heaven; hence it is, that “over the gates” signifies in the knowledges of truth; by “names written thereon,” is signified every quality of them, thus also in them, for all quality is from internals in externals. The reason why by the same words are signified guards lest anyone enter into the church, unless he be in those knowledges from the Lord, is evident, because the angels were seen standing over the gates, and also the names of the tribes of Israel were written over them. It is said that the truths and goods of heaven and the church are in the knowledges which are from the Word, by which introduction into the church is effected, because the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, when there is in them the spiritual from heaven from the Lord, are not called knowledges, but truths; but if there is not in them the spiritual from heaven from the Lord, they are nothing but scientifics.

901. Verse 13. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates, signifies that the knowledges of truth and good in which there is spiritual life from heaven from the Lord, and by which introduction into the New Church is effected, are for those who are more or less in the love or in the affection of good, and for those who are more or less in wisdom or in the affection of truth. By “gates” are now signified the knowledges of truth and good, in which there is spiritual life from heaven from the Lord, because over the gates there were twelve angels, and the names written of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, by which that life in those knowledges is signified, as is evident from what was explained above, (900); that “gates” signify the knowledges of truth and good, by which introduction into the New Church is effected, may be seen above, (899). The reason why there were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west, is because by “the east” is signified love and the affection of good in a higher degree, thus more; and by “the west” is signified love and the affection of good in a lower degree, thus less; by “the south” is signified wisdom and the affection of truth in a higher degree, thus more; and by “the north” is signified wisdom and the affection of truth in a lower degree, thus less. The reason of this signification of “east,” “west,” “north,” and “south,” is because the Lord is the sun of the spiritual world, and from His face are the east and west, and at the sides are the south and north, on the right side the south, and on the left side the north, wherefore they who are in love to the Lord, and thence more in affection, dwell in the east; they who are less so, in the west; and they who are more in wisdom from the affection of truth, dwell in the south; and they who are less so in the north. That the habitations of the angels of heaven are arranged in this order may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, published at London, 1758 (141-153). The reason why there were three gates toward each quarter is because “three” signify all, (400, 505).

902. Verse 14. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, signifies that the Word, in the sense of the letter contains all things of the doctrine of the New Church. By “the wall of the city” is signified the Word in the sense of the letter, (898); and by “twelve foundations” are signified all things of the doctrine of the church; by “foundations” are signified doctrinals, and by “twelve” all. The church also is founded upon doctrine, for doctrine teaches how we are to believe, and how we are to live, and doctrine is to be drawn from no other source than the Word; that it is from the sense of the letter of the Word, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (50-61). Since all things of doctrine are signified by “the twelve foundations of the wall of the city New Jerusalem,” and as the church is a church from doctrine, therefore its foundations are particularly treated of below (verses 19-20). In the Word “foundations of the earth” are sometimes named, and by them are not meant the foundations of the earth, but the foundations of the church, for “the earth” signifies the church, (285), and the foundations of the church are no other than what are from the Word, and are called doctrinals; for it is the Word itself which founds the church.

[2] Doctrinals from the Word are also signified by “foundations” in the following passages:

Do ye not understand the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)

I will put my words into thy mouth, to plant the heavens and to found the earth, (Isaiah 51:16).

They do not acknowledge, they do not understand, they walk in darkness, all the foundations of the earth totter, (Psalms 82:5).

The Word of Jehovah stretcheth forth the heavens and foundeth the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in the midst of him, (Zechariah 12:1).

Jehovah hath kindled a fire in Zion, which hath devoured the foundations thereof, (Lamentations 4:11).

The wicked shoot in darkness at the upright in heart, because the foundations are undermined, (Psalms 11:2-3).

Hear ye, O mountains, the controversy of Jehovah, the strength, the foundations of the earth, for Jehovah hath a controversy with His people, (Micah 6:2).

The cataracts from on high were opened, and the foundations of the earth were shaken, the earth is broken in pieces, the earth is rent, the earth is moved, (Isaiah 24:18-20 Besides other places (as Isaiah 14:32; 48:13; 51:13; Psalms 24:2; 102:25; 104:5-6; 2 Samuel 22:8, 16). He who does not think that “the earth” signifies the church, can think no otherwise here than merely naturally, yea materially, when he reads of “the foundations of the earth;” the same as it would be, if he did not think that the city Jerusalem here signifies the church, while he reads of its wall, gates, foundations, streets, measures, and other particulars, which are described in this chapter as relating to a city; when yet they relate to the church, and thus are not to be understood materially, but spiritually.

903. And in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, signifies all things of doctrine from the Word concerning the Lord and concerning a life according to His commandments. The reason why in the foundations were written “the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” is because by “the twelve apostles” is signified the Lord’s church as to all things of it, (79, 233, 790), here as to all things of its doctrine, because their names were written over “the twelve foundations” by which are signified all things of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, (902); by “twelve names” are signified all its quality, and all its quality has relation to two things in doctrine, and thence in that church, concerning the Lord and concerning life according to His commandments, therefore these are signified. The reason why all things of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem have relation to these two things is because they are its universals, on which all the particulars depend, and they are the essentials from which all its formal things proceed; they are therefore as the soul and life of all things of its doctrine. They are indeed two, but one cannot be separated from the other, for to separate them would be like separating the Lord from man, and man from the Lord, in which case there is no church. These two things are conjoined like the two tables of the Law, one of which contains what relates to the Lord and the other what relates to man, wherefore they are called a covenant, and a covenant signifies conjunction. Think what would become of those tables of the Law, if the first only was to remain, and the second to be torn away, or if the second was to remain, and the first to be torn away. Would it not be as if God did not see man, or as if man did not see God, and as if the one receded from the other? These things are said, that it may be known that all things of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem relate to love to the Lord and to love toward the neighbor. Love to the Lord is to have faith in the Lord and to do His commandments, and to do His commandments is love toward the neighbor, because to do His commandments is to do uses to the neighbor. That they love the Lord who do His commandments, the Lord Himself teaches in John 14:21-24; and that love to God and love toward the neighbor are the two commandments upon which hang all the Law and the Prophets, (Matthew 22:35-38); by “the Law and the Prophets” is meant the Word in its whole complex.

904. Verse 15. And he that spoke with me had a golden reed to measure the city and the gates thereof and the wall thereof, signifies that there is given by the Lord to those who are in the good of love the faculty of understanding and knowing what the quality of Lord’s New Church is, as to doctrine and its introductory truths, and as to the Word from which they are. And “he that spake with me,” signifies the Lord speaking out of heaven, because he was one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, mentioned above (verse 9), by whom is meant the Lord speaking out of heaven, (895); by “a reed” is signified power or faculty from the good of love, by “a reed” power or faculty, (485), and by “gold” the good of love, (211, 726); by “measuring” is signified to know the quality of a thing, consequently to understand and know, (486). By “the city,” which was the holy Jerusalem, is signified the church as to doctrine, (879-880); by “gates” are signified the knowledges of truth and good from the sense of the letter of the Word, which from the spiritual life in them are truths and goods, (899); and by “a wall” is signified the Word, in the sense of the letter, from which they are, (898). Hence it is evident that by “he that spoke with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof,” is signified that there is given by the Lord to those who are in the good of love, the faculty of understanding and knowing what is the quality of the Lord’s New Church, as to doctrine and its introductory truths, and as to the Word from which they are.

[2] That these things are signified cannot be seen at all in the sense of the letter, for in this it only appears that an angel who was speaking with John had a golden reed to measure the city, its gates, and wall; but, nevertheless, that another sense, which is spiritual, is contained in these words, is plain from this, that by “the city Jerusalem” is not meant any city, but the church, wherefore all things which are said of Jerusalem as a city signify such things as relate to the church, and all things relating to the church are in themselves spiritual. Such a spiritual sense is also contained in what is said above, where these words occur:

And there was given unto me a reed, like unto a staff, and the angel stood, saying, Arise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that adore therein, (Revelation 11:1).

There is also a like spiritual sense in all the things which the angel “measured with a reed” (in Ezekiel, chapter 40-48). And likewise in these words in Zechariah:

I lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold, a man, with a measuring line in his hand. And I said, Whither goest thou? who said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof, (Zechariah 2:1-2).

Yea such a spiritual sense is in all things of the tabernacle, and in all things of the temple in Jerusalem, the measures of which we read, and also in the measures themselves; and yet nothing of them can be seen in the sense of the letter.

905. Verse 16. And the city lieth foursquare, signifies justice in it. The reason why the city was seen “foursquare” is because “a quadrangle” or “a square” signifies what is just, for “a triangle” signifies what is right, all these in the ultimate degree, or the natural. “A quadrangle” or “a square” signifies what is just because it has four sides, and the four sides look towards the four quarters, and to look equally towards the four quarters, is to respect all things from justice; for which reason three gates opened into the city from each quarter, and it is said in Isaiah:

Open ye the gates, that a just nation which keepeth faithfulness may enter in, (Isaiah 26:2).

“The city lieth foursquare” that the length and breadth thereof might be equal, and by “length” is signified the good of that church, and by “breadth” its truth, and when good and truth are equal, then there is what is just. It is owing to this signification of “a square,” that in common discourse a man is said to be “square,” who is a man that does not from injustice incline either to this or that party. Because “foursquare” signifies what is just, therefore, the altar of burnt-offering, by which was signified worship from good and thence from celestial truth, was “foursquare” (Exodus 27:1); also the altar of incense, by which was signified worship from good and thence from spiritual truth, was likewise “foursquare” (Exodus 30:1-2). And also, the breastplate of judgment, in which was the Urim and Thummim, was “foursquare” doubled, (Exodus 28:15-16; 39:9); besides other passages.

906. The length thereof is as large as the breadth, signifies that good and truth in that church make one, like essence and form. By “the length” of the city Jerusalem is signified the good of the church, and by its “breadth” is signified the truth of the church; that by “breadth” is signified truth, is shown from the Word, above, (861). The signification of “length,” as being good, here the good of the church, is from the same cause that “breadth” signifies truth; the cause is this: the extension of heaven from east to west is meant by “length,” and the extension of heaven from south to north is meant by “breadth,” and the angels who dwell in the east and west of heaven are in the good of love, and the angels who dwell in the south and north of heaven are in the truths of wisdom; see above, (901).

[2] It is the same with the church on earth, for every man who is in the goods and truths of the church from the Word, is consociated with the angels of heaven, and as to the interiors of his mind, dwells together with them; they who are in the good of love in the east and west of heaven, and they who are in the truths of wisdom in the south and north of heaven. Man does not know this indeed, but yet everyone after death comes into his place. Hence then it is that by “length” when speaking of the church, is signified its good, and by “breadth” its truth; that long and broad cannot be predicated of the church, but that they can of a city, by which the church is signified, is evident. The reason why it signifies that good and truth in that church make one like essence and form, is because it is said, that “its length is as large as the breadth,” and by “length” is signified the good of the church, and by “breadth” its truth, as was said; the reason why they make one like essence and form, is because truth is the form of good, and good is the essence of truth, and essence and form make one.

907. And he measured the city with a reed, twelve thousand stadia. The length, and the breadth, and the height of it were equal signifies the quality of that church from doctrine shown, that all things of it were from the good of love. “To measure with a reed,” signifies to know the quality of a thing, (904); and because the angel measured it before John, it signifies to show him in order that he might know it; by “city,” here Jerusalem, is signified the Lord’s New Church as to doctrine, (879, 880); by “twelve thousand stadia” are signified all the goods and truths of that church; that “twelve thousand” signify the same as twelve, and that “twelve” signify all goods and truths, and that it is spoken of the church, may be seen above, (348). By “stadia” are signified the same as by measures, and by “measures” are signified quality, (313, 486). The reason why it is said that “the length, breadth, and height of it are equal” is that all things of that church were from the good of love, for by “length” is signified the good of love, and by “breadth” the truth from that good, (906); and by “height” is signified good and truth together in every degree, for height is from the highest to the lowest, and the highest descends to the lowest by degrees, which are called degrees of altitude, in which the heavens are, from the highest or third heaven to the lowest or first; concerning these degrees see the treatise on The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, chapter 3, [ 173-277]

The reason why “the length, and breadth, and height of it are equal,” signifies that all things are from the good of love, is because “length,” which signifies the good of love, precedes, and “the breadth” is equal to it; thus as is “the length,” so also is “the height;” otherwise to what purpose could it be said that the height of the city was twelve thousand stadia, thus it would rise immensely above the clouds, yea, above the atmosphere of air, the height of which does not exceed thirty stadia? It would even reach up an immense way into the ether towards the zenith. That by these three being equal, is signified that all things of that church are from the good of love, appears also from what follows, for it is said that “the city was pure gold like unto pure glass” (verse 18); and also that “the street of the city was pure gold like pellucid glass” (verse 21), and by “gold” is signified the good of love. That all things of heaven and the church are from the good of love, and the good of love is from the Lord, will be seen in the next article.

908. That all things of heaven and of the church are from the good of love, and the good of love is from the Lord, cannot be seen, and therefore it cannot be known, unless it be demonstrated. The reason why it is not known in consequence of its not being seen, is, because good does not enter into the thought of man like truth, for truth is seen in the thought, because as it is from the light of heaven, but good is only felt, because it is from the heat of heaven, and it rarely happens that anyone, while reflecting upon what he thinks, attends to what he feels, but only to what he sees. This is the reason why the learned have attributed all things to thought and not to the affection; and why the church has attributed all things to faith, and not to love, when, nevertheless, the truth, which at this day in the church is said to be of faith, or is called faith, is only the form of good which is of love, see above, (875). Now because man does not see good in his thought, for good, as was said, is only felt, and is felt under various species of delight, and because man does not attend to the things which he feels in thought, but to those which he sees there, therefore he calls all that good which he feels delightful, and he feels evil as delightful, because this is ingenerate from birth, and proceeds from the love of self and the world. This is the reason why it is not known that the good of love is the all of heaven and of the church, and that this in man is only from the Lord, and that it does not flow from the Lord into any but such as shun evils with their delights as sins.

[2] That is what is meant by the Lord’s words, that the Law and the Prophets hang upon these two commandments:

Thou shalt love God above all things, and the neighbor as thyself, (Matthew 22:35-40).

And I can assert, that there does not exist a grain of truth, which in itself is truth in man, except so far as it is from the good of love from the Lord; and therefore neither is there a grain of faith, which in itself is faith, that is, a living, saving, and spiritual faith, except so far as it is from charity which is from the Lord. Since the good of love is the all of heaven and the church, therefore the whole heaven and the whole church are arranged by the Lord according to the affections of love, and not according to anything of thought separated from them; for thought is affection in form; as speech is sound in form.

909. Verse 17. And he measured the wall thereof a hundred forty-four cubits, signifies that it was shown what the quality of the Word is in that church, and that from it they have all their truths and goods. By “he measured,” is signified that its quality was shown, as above, (907); by “the wall” is signified the Word in its literal sense, (898); by “a hundred and forty-four” are signified all the truths and goods of the church from the Word, (348); by “cubits” is signified quality, the same as by “measure;” for by “one hundred and forty-four” is signified the same as by “twelve,” because from twelve multiplied by twelve arises the number one hundred and forty-four, and multiplying it does not take away its signification.

910. The measure of a man, which is of an angel, signifies the quality of that church that it makes one with heaven. By “measure” is signified the quality of a thing, (313, 486); by “man” here is signified the church from men, and by “angel” is signified heaven from angels; therefore by “the measure of a man, that is, of an angel,” is signified the quality of the church that it makes one with heaven. By “man” in the Word is signified intelligence and wisdom from the Word, (243), and intelligence and wisdom from the Word in man, are the church with him; hence by “man” in the concrete or in general, that is, when a society or assembly is called a man, in the spiritual sense is meant the church. Hence it is, that the prophets were called “sons of man,” and that the Lord Himself called Himself “the Son of man,” and “the Son of man” is the truth of the church from the Word, and when said of the Lord is the Word itself from which the church exists. By “an angel” three things are signified, in the highest sense the Lord, in a general sense heaven or a heavenly society, and in a particular sense the Divine truth; that these three things are signified by “an angel” may be seen, (5, 65, 170, 258, 342, 344, 415, 465, 644, 647, 648, 657, 718); here it signifies heaven, with which the Lord’s New Church will make one. That the church which is from the Word, and thus from the Lord, is in consociation with heaven, and in conjunction with the Lord, may be seen above, (818); but it is otherwise with a church which is not from the Word of the Lord.

911. Verse 18. And the structure of the wall thereof was of jasper, signifies that every Divine truth in the sense of the letter of the Word with the men of that church is translucent from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense. By “a wall” is signified the Word in the sense of the letter, (898); by its “structure” is signified the all of it, because the all of it is in the structure. By “jasper” the same is signified as by “precious stone” in general, and by “precious stone,” in reference to the Word, is signified Divine truth in the sense of the letter of the Word translucent from the Divine truth in the spiritual sense, (231, 540, 726, 823); that the same is signified by “jasper,” may be seen above, (897). The reason why it is translucent, is, because the Divine truth, in the sense of the letter is in natural light, and the Divine truth, in the spiritual sense is in spiritual light, wherefore when spiritual light flows into natural light with a man who is reading the Word, he is enlightened, and sees truths there, for the objects of spiritual light are truths. The Word also in the sense of the letter is of such a nature that the more a man is enlightened by the influx of the light of heaven, so much the more does he see truths in their connection and thence in their form; and the more he so sees them, so much the more interiorly is his rational mind opened, for the rational is the very receptacle of the light of heaven.

912. And the city was pure gold like unto pure glass, signifies that thence everything of that church is the good of love flowing in together with light out of heaven from the Lord. By “the city,” or Jerusalem, is meant the Lord’s New Church as to everything of it interiorly regarded, or within the wall. By “gold” is signified the good of love from the Lord, as will be seen presently; and “like unto pure glass” signifies pellucid from the Divine wisdom, and since the latter appears in heaven as light, and flows in from the Lord as a sun, by “like unto pure glass” is signified flowing in together with light from heaven and the Lord. It is shown above, (908), that all things of heaven and the church are from the good of love, and that the good of love is from the Lord; here it is now said, that the city was seen as “pure gold,” by which is signified that the all of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, is the good of love from the Lord; but since the good of love is not given solitary or abstracted from the truths of wisdom, but that it may be the good of love, it must be formed, and it is formed by the truths of wisdom, therefore it is here said “pure gold like unto pure glass;” for the good of love without the truths of wisdom has not any quality, because it has not any form, and its form is according to its truths flowing in in their order and connection together with the good of love from the Lord, thus it is in man according to reception. It is said in man, but it is to be understood not as being of the man, but as of the Lord in him. From these things, then, it is plain, that by “the city was pure gold like unto pure glass,” is signified that thence the all of that church is the good of love flowing in with light from heaven from the Lord.

913. The reason why “gold” signifies the good of love is because metals, as well as each and every thing which appears in the natural world, corresponds; gold to the good of love, silver to the truths of wisdom, copper or brass to the good of charity, and iron to the truths of faith. Thence it is that these metals exist also in the spiritual world, by reason that all things that appear there are correspondences, for they correspond to the affections and thence to the thoughts of the angels, which in themselves are spiritual. That “gold” from correspondence signifies the good of love, may appear from the following passages:

I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, (Revelation 3:18).

How is the gold become dim, and the best refined gold changed; the stones of holiness are poured out at the head of all the streets; the sons of Zion were esteemed equal to pure gold, (Lamentations 4:1-2).

He shall save the souls of the poor, and shall give them of the gold of Sheba, (Psalms 72:13, 15).

For brass I will bring gold, and for iron silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron; and I will make thine officers peace, and thine exacters justice, (Isaiah 60:17).

Behold, thou art wise, no secret lies hid from thee; in thy wisdom and in thy intelligence thou hast gotten thee gold and silver in thy treasuries; thou hast been in Eden, every precious stone was thy covering, and gold, (Ezekiel 28:3-4, 13).

The multitude of camels shall cover thee, all they from Sheba shall come, they shall bring gold and frankincense, and shall announce the praises of Jehovah, (Isaiah 60:6, 9; Matthew 2:11).

I will fill this house with glory. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine; the glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, (Haggai 2:8-9).

Kings’ daughters were among thy precious ones; upon thy right hand did stand the queen in the best gold of Ophir, her clothing was of woven gold, (Psalms 45:9, 13; Ezekiel 16:13).

Thou hast taken the vessels of thy ornament of My gold and of My silver, which I had given thee, and madest to thyself images of a male, (Ezekiel 16:17).

Ye have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried into your temples My desirable goods, (Joel 3:5).

[2] Because “gold” signifies the good of love, therefore when:

Belshazzaar with his magnates drank wine out of the vessels of gold brought from the temple of Jerusalem, and at the same time praised the gods of gold, silver, brass, and iron, there was a writing on the wall, and that night he was slain, (Daniel 5:2.

Besides many other places. Since “gold” signifies the good of love, therefore:

The ark in which was the Law, was overlaid with gold within and without, (Exodus 25:11).

And therefore the mercy-seat and the cherubim over the ark were of pure gold, (Exodus 25:17-18).

The altar of incense was of pure gold, (Exodus 30:3).

So also the lampstand with the lamps, (Exodus 25:31, 38).

And the table upon which was the showbread was overlaid with gold, (Exodus 25:23-24).

[3] Because “gold” signifies the good of love, “silver” the truth of wisdom, “brass” the good of natural love which love, is called charity, and “iron” the truth of faith, therefore the ancients called the successive periods, from the most ancient down to the last, the golden, silver, brazen, and iron ages. Similar things are signified by the statue seen by Nebuchadnezzar in a dream:

Whose head was good gold, the breast and arms silver, the belly and thighs brass, the legs iron, and the feet part of iron and part of clay, (Daniel 2:32-33).

By these things the successive states of the church in this world are signified, from the most ancient times even to this day. The state of the church of this day is described thus:

Thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of man, but they shall not cohere the one with the other, as iron is not mixed with clay, (Daniel 2:43).

By “iron” is signified the truth of faith, as was said; but when there is no truth of faith, but faith without truth, then “the iron is mixed with miry clay,” which do not cohere. By “the seed of man,” with which they would mingle themselves, the truth of the Word is signified. This is the state of the church at this day. What it is to be hereafter is described there in a few words, (Daniel 2:45, but more fully, Daniel 7:13-18, 27).

914. Verse 19. And the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone, signifies that all things of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem taken from the sense of the letter of the Word, with those who are therein, will appear in light according to reception. By “the twelve foundations” are signified all things of doctrine, (902). By “the wall” is signified the Word in the sense of the letter, (898). By “the holy city Jerusalem” is signified the Lord’s New Church, (879, 880). By “precious stone” is signified the Word in the sense of the letter, pellucid from its spiritual sense, (231, 540, 726, 911). And because this is according to reception, therefore it signifies that all things of doctrine from the Word with them, will appear in light according to reception. All who do not think sanely, cannot believe that all things of the New Church can appear in light, but let them know that they can, for every man has exterior and interior thought. Interior thought is in the light of heaven, and is called perception, and exterior thought is in the light of the world; and the understanding of every man is such that it can be elevated even into the light of heaven, and also is elevated, if from any delight he wishes to see truth. That this is so, has been given me to know by much experience, concerning which, wonderful things may be seen in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence; and still more in the Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom. For the delight of love and wisdom elevates the thought, enabling one to see as in the light that a thing is so, although he had never heard it before. This light, which enlightens the mind, flows in from no other source than out of heaven from the Lord; and as they who will be of the New Jerusalem, will directly approach the Lord, that light will flow in, by the way of order, which is through the love of the will into the perception of the understanding.

[2] But they who have confirmed themselves in that dogma, that the understanding in theological things is to see nothing, but that what the church teaches must be believed blindly, cannot see any truth in the light, for they have obstructed the way of the light into themselves. This dogma the Reformed Church has retained from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, which declares that no one but the church itself, by which they mean the pope and papal consistory, ought to interpret the Word, and that he who does not in faith embrace all the doctrine delivered by the church, is to be considered as a heretic, and is accursed. That this is the case, is evident from a clause of the Council of Trent, in which all the dogmas of that religion are established, and where these words are at the end: “Then the president, Moronus, said, ‘Go in peace. ‘ There followed acclamations, and among others this declaration of the cardinal of Lorraine and the fathers: ‘We also believe, we are all of this very opinion, we all consenting and embracing, subscribe to it; this is the faith of the blessed Peter and of the apostles, this is the faith of the fathers, this is the faith of the orthodox. So be it, Amen, Amen, Anathema to all heretics, Anathema, Anathema. ‘“ The decrees of that Council are quoted in a summary at the beginning of this work, in which, indeed, there is scarcely a single truth.

[3] These particulars are quoted to show that the Reformed have retained from that religious persuasion a blind faith, that is, a faith separated from the understanding; and they who do retain it henceforth cannot be enlightened in Divine truths from the Lord. So long as the understanding is held captive under obedience to faith, or so long as the understanding is removed from seeing the truths of the church, theology is only a thing of the memory, and a thing of the memory only is dissipated, like everything disunited from the judgment, and perishes from its obscurity. Hence it is, that they are:

Blind leaders of the blind. And when the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch, (Matthew 15:14).

And they are blind, because they do not enter in through the door, but some other way; for Jesus said:

I am the door: by Me if anyone enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture, (John 10:9).

“To find pasture” is to be taught, enlightened, and nourished in Divine truths; for all who do not enter in through the door, that is, through the Lord, are called “thieves and robbers;” but they who enter in through the door, that is, through the Lord, are called “shepherds of the sheep” in the same chapter, (John 10:1-2). Do thou, therefore, my friend, go to the Lord, and shun evils as sins, and reject faith alone, and then your understanding will be opened, and you will see wonderful things, and be affected by them.

915. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald (verse 20), the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprasus, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst, signifies all things of that doctrine in their order, from the sense of the letter of the Word, with those who immediately approach the Lord, and live according to the commandments of the Decalogue by shunning evils as sins; for these and no others are in the doctrine of love to God, and of love towards the neighbor, which two loves are the fundamentals of religion. That by “the twelve foundations of the wall” are signified all things of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem from the sense of the letter of the Word, may be seen above, (902, 914). That by “precious stones” in general are signified all the truths of doctrine from the Word translucent through the spiritual sense (above 231, 540, 726, 911, 914); here by each stone is signified some truth in particular thus translucent. That the Word in the sense of the letter as to its doctrinal corresponds to precious stones of every kind, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture, (43-45).

[2] There are two colors in general, which shine forth in precious stones, the color red and the color bright white; the other colors, as green, yellow, blue, and many others, are composed of them, by means of black; and by the color red is signified the good of love, and by the color bright white is signified the truth of wisdom. The reason why red signifies the good of love is because it derives its origin from the fire of the sun, and the fire of the sun of the spiritual world is in its essence the Divine love of the Lord, this the good of love; and the reason why the color bright white signifies the truth of wisdom, is because it derives its origin from the light which proceeds from the fire of that sun, and that proceeding light is in its essence the Divine wisdom, thus the truth of wisdom.

[3] And black derives its origin from their shade, which is ignorance. But to explain what particular of good or of truth is signified by each stone, would be too prolix; but yet that it may be known what particular good and truth each stone in this order signifies, see what is explained above (Revelation 7:5-8; no. 349-361), where the twelve tribes of Israel are treated of; for the like is here signified by each stone, as by each tribe there named, because by the twelve tribes there described are signified in like manner all the goods and truths of the church and of its doctrine in their order; therefore it is also said in this chapter (verse 14), that in these twelve foundations were written the “names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb,” and by “the twelve apostles” are signified all things of doctrine concerning the Lord, and concerning a life according to His commandments, (903).

The same is also signified by these twelve stones, as by the twelve precious stones in the breastplate of Aaron, which was called Urim and Thummim (see Exodus 28:15-21 the explanation of which is given in The Arcana Coelestia 9856-9882, with this difference, that upon the latter were the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, but upon the former the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb).

[4] That the foundations are of precious stones is also said in Isaiah:

Oh, thou afflicted, behold, I will lay thy stones with stibium, and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and thy gates of stones of carbuncles; all thy sons shall be taught of Jehovah, (54:11-12(, 13)

By “the afflicted” is meant the church to be established by the Lord with the Gentiles. In the same:

Thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; judgment also I will make a rule, and justice a plummet, (23:16-17).

[5] Since all the truth of doctrine from the Word must be founded upon the acknowledgment of the Lord, therefore the Lord is called:

The stone of Israel, (Genesis 49:24).

Also the cornerstone which the builders rejected, (Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10-11; Luke 20:17-18).

That the cornerstone is the foundation stone, appears from Jeremiah 51:26. The Lord also in the Word in many places is called a “Rock,” wherefore by the “Rock” He meant Himself, when He said:

Upon this rock I will build My church, (Matthew 16:18-19);

And also when He said:

Whosoever heareth My words and doeth them, is compared to a prudent man who buildeth a house and layeth the foundation upon a rock, (Luke 6:47-48; Matthew 7:24-25(, 26).

By “a rock” is signified the Lord as to the Divine truth of the Word. That all things of the church and of its doctrine relate to these two: that the Lord is to be approached immediately and that man must live a life according to the commandments of the Decalogue by shunning evils as sins; and that thus all things of doctrine relate to love to God, and to love towards the neighbor, will be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning Charity, where these things will be set forth in their order.

916. Verse 21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was of one pearl, signifies that the acknowledgment and knowledge of the Lord, conjoins into one all the knowledges of truth and good, which are from the Word, and introduce into the church. By “the twelve gates” are signified the knowledges of truth and good in a summary, by which man is introduced into the church, (899, 900). By “twelve pearls” is also signified the knowledges of truth and good in a summary, (727), hence it was that “the gates” were “pearls;” the reason why “each of the gates was of one pearl” is because all the knowledges of truth and good, which are signified by “gates” and by “pearls,” have relation to one knowledge; which is their containant, which one knowledge is the knowledge of the Lord. It is called one knowledge, although there are many which constitute that one knowledge; for the knowledge of the Lord is the universal of all things of doctrine and thence of all things of the church; from it all worship derives its life and soul, for the Lord is the all in all of heaven and the church, and thence in all things of worship.

[2] The reason why the acknowledgment and knowledge of the Lord conjoins into one all the knowledges of truth and good from the Word, is because there is a connection of all spiritual truths, and if you will believe it, their connection is like the connection of all the members, viscera, and organs of the body; wherefore as the soul contains all these in their order and connection, so that they are felt no otherwise than as one, so, in like manner, the Lord holds together all spiritual truths with man. That the Lord is the very gate, by which men are to enter into the church and thence into heaven, He Himself teaches in John:

I am the door; by Me if anyone enter in, he shall be saved, (John 10:9).

And that the acknowledgment and knowledge of Him is the pearl itself, is meant by these words of the Lord in Matthew:

The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who when he had found one precious pearl, went and sold all that he had, and bought it, (Matthew 13:45-46).

“One precious pearl” is the acknowledgment and knowledge of the Lord.

917. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were pellucid glass, signifies that every truth of that church and of its doctrine is in form the good of love flowing in together with light out of heaven from the Lord. This is similar to what was said above (verse 18), of the city itself, that it was pure gold like unto pure glass; and that this signifies that the all of that church is the good of love flowing in together with light of heaven from the Lord, may be seen, (912, 913), with this difference, that here it is said that the street of the city is such, and by “the street of, the city” is signified the truth of the doctrine of the church, (501). That all the truth of the doctrine of the church from the Word is in form the good of love, may be seen above, (906, 908).

918. Verse 22. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty is the temple of it, and the Lamb, signifies that in this church there will not be any external separated from the internal, because the Lord Himself in His Divine Human, from whom is the all of the church is alone approached, worshiped, and adored. By “I saw no temple therein” is not meant that in the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be temples, but in it there will not be an external separated from the internal; the reason is because by “a temple” is signified the church as to worship, and, in the highest sense, the Lord Himself as to the Divine Human, who is to be worshiped; see above, (191, 529, 585); and since the all of the church is from the Lord, therefore it is said, “for the Lord God Almighty is the temple of it, and the Lamb” by which is signified the Lord in His Divine Human; by “the Lord God Almighty” is meant the Lord from eternity who is Jehovah Himself, and by “the Lamb” is signified His Divine Human, as has been frequently stated above.

919. Verse 23. And the city hath no need of the sun, and the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and its lamp is the Lamb, signifies that the men of that church will not be in self-love and in their own intelligence, and thence in natural light alone, but in spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word from the Lord alone. By “the sun” is here signified natural love separated from spiritual love, which is self-love; and by “the moon” is signified intelligence, also natural faith, separated from intelligence and spiritual faith, which is their own intelligence and faith from self; this love, and this intelligence and faith, are here signified by “the sun and moon,” the shining of which will not be needed by those who will be in the Lord’s New Church. By “the glory of God” which lightens it is signified the Divine truth of the Word, (629[1-2]); and because that enlightenment is from the Lord, it is said “and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.” Similar to this is the signification of the following passage in Isaiah:

Thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise. The sun shall be no more thy light by day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee; but Jehovah shall be unto thee for a light of eternity, and thy God thy adornment; thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for Jehovah shall be to thee for a light of eternity; thy people also shall be all just, (Isaiah 60:18-21).

By “the sun and moon” which shall no more shine is meant self-love and their own intelligence; and by “the sun and moon” which shall no more set, are meant love from the Lord to the Lord, and intelligence and faith from Him; and by “Jehovah shall be for a light of eternity” is signified the same as here, “that the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof.” That “the sun” signifies love to the Lord, and in the opposite sense self-love, may be seen above, (53, 414); and that “the moon” signifies intelligence from the Lord and faith from Him, (332, 413-414), therefore “the moon” in the opposite sense signifies their own intelligence and faith from themselves. Since by “the sun” in the opposite sense is signified self-love, and by “the moon” one’s own intelligence and faith from himself, therefore it was an abomination to adore the sun, moon, and stars, as may appear (in Jeremiah 8:1-2; in Ezekiel 8:15-16 in Zephaniah 1:5); and that such were stoned, (Deuteronomy 17:2-3, 5).

920. Verse 24. And the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it, signifies that all who are in the good of life, and believe in the Lord, will there live according to Divine truths, and will see them inwardly in themselves, as the eye sees objects. By “the nations” are signified they who are in the good of life, and also they who are in evil of life, (483); here they who are in the good of life and believe in the Lord, because it is said, “the nations which are saved;” “to walk in the light,” signifies to live according to Divine truths, and to see them inwardly in themselves, as the eye sees objects, for the objects of spiritual sight, which is of the interior understanding, are spiritual truths, which are seen by those who are in that understanding, in like manner as natural objects are seen before the eyes; by “light” is here signified the perception of Divine truth from interior enlightenment from the Lord with them, (796), and by “to walk” is signified to live, (167[1-2]). Hence it is evident, that by “to walk in the light of the New Jerusalem,” is signified to perceive and see Divine truths from interior enlightenment, and to live according to them.

[2] But this must be illustrated, because it is not known who are here meant by “the nations,” and who by “the kings,” mentioned afterwards in this verse; by “the nations” are signified they who are in the good of love from the Lord, which good is called celestial good, and by “kings” are signified they who are in the truths of wisdom from spiritual good from the Lord, as will be seen in the next article. All they who are in celestial good from the Lord, have Divine truths inscribed on their life, wherefore “they walk,” that is, live justly according to them and likewise see them inwardly in themselves, as the eye sees objects, on which subject see what is related above, (120-123). All the heavens are distinguished into two kingdoms, the celestial and the spiritual; the good of the celestial kingdom is called celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, and the good of the spiritual kingdom is called spiritual good, and is the good of wisdom, which in its essence is truth; concerning these two kingdoms see above, (647, 725, 854).

[3] It is the same with the church; and there the men are celestial, who live justly according to the commandments because they are Divine laws, as in like manner a civil man lives according to the commandments of justice because they are civil laws; but the difference between them is, that the former, by a life according to the commandments or laws, is a citizen of heaven as far as in himself he makes the civil laws, which are laws of justice, Divine laws also. They who are here signified by “nations,” on whom, as before said, Divine truths are inscribed, are they who are meant in Jeremiah:

I will put My Law in the midst of them, and write it upon their heart; neither shall they teach anymore everyone his companion, and everyone his brother, saying, Know ye Jehovah; for they shall all know Me from the least of them unto the greatest, (Jeremiah 31:33-34).

921. And the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it, signifies that all who are in the truths of wisdom from spiritual good, will there confess the Lord, and ascribe to Him every truth and every good that is with them. By “the kings of the earth” are signified they who are in truths from good from the Lord, (20, 854); here, therefore, they who are in the truths of wisdom from the good of spiritual love, because “the nations” are mentioned before, by which are signified they who are in the good of celestial love, of whom in the foregoing article; by “bringing glory and honor into it,” or into the New Jerusalem, is signified to confess the Lord, and ascribe to Him all the truth and good which are with them; that this is what is signified by bringing and giving “glory and honor” may be seen, (249, 629[1-2], 693), for “glory” is predicated of the Divine truth, and “honor” of the Divine good of the Lord, (249). By “nations and kings” the same is signified as by “nations and peoples” mentioned above, (483), by “nations” they who are in the good of love, and by “peoples” they who are in the truths of wisdom, and also in the opposite sense. Therefore in many parts of the Word “nations and kings” are mentioned, as well as “nations and peoples,” as in the following passages:

All kings shall bow down to Him, and all nations shall serve Him, (Psalms 72:11).

Thou shalt suck the milk of the nations, and thou shalt suck the breast of kings, (Isaiah 60:16).

For many nations and great kings shall make them serve, (Jeremiah 25:14).

The Lord at thy right hand shall smite kings in the day of His anger, He shall judge among the nations, (Psalms 110:5-6), besides other places.

922. Verse 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut by day; for there shall be no night there, signifies that they will be continually received into the New Jerusalem who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord, because there is not any falsity of faith there. By “its gates shall not be shut by day” is signified that they are continually admitted who desire to enter in. By “day” is signified continually, because there is always light there (as above, verses 11, 23), and “no night” as is said afterwards. The reason why they are continually received who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord is because the light of the New Jerusalem is truth from the good of love, and the good of love is from the Lord, as has been frequently shown above; and into that light no others can enter but they who are in truths from good from the Lord. If aliens enter, they are not received, because they do not agree, and they either depart of their own accord, because they cannot bear that light, or they are sent out. By “there is no night there” is signified that there is no falsity of faith; for by “night” is signified the opposite to light, and by “light” is signified truth from the good of love from the Lord, as was said; hence by “night” is signified that which is not from the good of love from the Lord, and this is the falsity of faith; the falsity of faith is also meant by “night” in John:

Jesus said, I must work the works of Him that sent Me while it is day; the night cometh when no one can work, (John 9:4).

And in Luke:

In that night there shall be two in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other left, (Luke 17:34).

It there treats of the last time of the church, when there will be nothing but falsity of faith; by “bed” is signified doctrine, (137).

923. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it, signifies that they who enter will bring with them the confession, acknowledgment, and faith, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that every truth of the church and every good of religion is from Him. That by “bringing glory and honor into it” is signified to confess the Lord, and to ascribe to Him all the good that is with them, may be seen above, (921); here the same is signified, with the difference, that they who are there meant by “the kings of the earth” are to bring it with them, but here that they who are meant by “the nations;” for it is said, “they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it” and by “nations” are signified they who are in the good of life, and believe in the Lord, (920), and also the reception of those who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord is treated of, see above, (922). Hence it follows that by “they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it” is signified that they who enter in will bring with them the confession, acknowledgment, and faith that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that all the truth of the church, and all the good of religion is with him. Nearly the same is signified by these things in Isaiah:

I will extend peace over Jerusalem, the glory of the nations like a torrent, (Isaiah 66:12).

It is said the truth of the church and the good of religion, because the church is one thing and religion is another. The church is called a church from doctrine, and religion is called religion from a life according to doctrine. All doctrine is called truth, and also its good is truth because it only teaches it; but the all of life according to the things which doctrine teaches, is called good, likewise to do the truths of doctrine is good. This is the distinction between the church and religion. But yet where there is doctrine and not life, there it cannot be said that there is either the church or religion, because doctrine regards life as one with itself, just like truth and good, faith and charity, wisdom and love, understanding and will; wherefore where there is doctrine and not life, there is no church.

924. Verse 26. And there shall not enter into it any unclean thing and that doeth abomination, and a lie, signifies that no one will be received into the Lord’s New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, who adulterates the goods and falsifies the truths of the Word, and who does evils from confirmation and thus also falsifies. “Not to enter in,” signifies not to be received, as above; by “unclean” is signified spiritual whoredom, which is adulteration of the good and falsification of the truth of the Word, (702, 728); for this is uncleanness and impurity itself, because the Word is cleanness and purity itself, and this is defiled by evils and falsities when it is perverted; that adultery and whoredom correspond to the adulteration of the good and the falsification of the truth of the Word, may be seen, (134, 632). By “doing abomination and a lie,” is signified to do evils, and thus also falsities; by “abominations” are signified evils of all kinds, especially those which are named in the Decalogue, (891); and by “a lie” are signified falsities of all kinds, here falsities of evil, which in themselves are evils, therefore falsities confirming evil, which are the same with evils confirmed.

[2] The reason why “a lie” signifies the falsity of doctrine, is, because a spiritual lie is nothing else; hence by “doing a lie” is signified to live according to falsities of doctrine. That “a lie” in the Word signifies falsity of doctrine, may be evident from the following passages:

We have made a covenant with death, and with hell have we made a vision; we have made a lie our trust, and in falsity have we hid ourselves, (Isaiah 28:15).

They mock every man at his companion, and do not speak the truth, and have taught their tongue to speak a lie, (Jeremiah 9:5)

They are a rebellious people, lying sons, they will not hear the law of Jehovah, (Isaiah 30:9).

Behold, I am against them that prophesy lying dreams; they tell them that they may seduce My people by their lies, (Jeremiah 23:32).

The diviners see a lie, and speak dreams of vanity, (Zechariah 10:2).

They have seen vanity and the divination of a lie; because ye speak vanity and see a lie, therefore behold I am against you, that My hand may be against the prophets that speak a lie, (Ezekiel 13:6-9; 21:29).

Woe to the city of bloods, it is all full of lies and robberies, (Nahum 3:1).

In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible obduracy, committing adultery and walking in a lie, (Jeremiah 23:14).

From the prophet even to the priest, everyone doeth a lie, (Jeremiah 8:10)

In Israel they have committed a lie, (Hosea 7:1)

Ye are of your father the devil; he was a murderer from the beginning, because the truth is not in him; when he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own; for he speaketh a lie, and is the father of it, (John 8:44).

Here also falsity is meant by a lie.

925. But they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life, signifies that no others are received into the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, but those who believe in the Lord, and live according to His commandments in the Word. That this is signified by “being written in the book of life,” may be seen above, (874); to which there is no need to add anything further here.

926. To this I will add this Relation. When I was explaining the twentieth chapter, and was meditating about “the dragon,” “the beast,” and “the false prophet,” a certain one appeared to me, and asked, “What are you meditating upon?” I said that it was upon the false prophet. He then said to me, “I will lead you to the place where they are who are meant by the false prophet.” He said that they were the same as are meant (Revelation 13) by “the beast out of the earth, which had two horns like a lamb, and spoke as a dragon.” I followed him, and behold, I saw a multitude, in the midst of which were leaders, who taught that nothing else saves man but faith; and that works are good, but not for salvation; and that still they are to be taught from the Word, that the laity, especially the simple, may be held the more strictly in the bonds of obedience to the magistrates, and as from religion, and thus interiorly, may be compelled to exercise moral charity.

[2] And then one of them, seeing me, said, “Do you wish to see our shrine, in which there is an image representative of our faith?” I drew near, and saw; and behold, it was magnificent, and in the midst of it an image of a woman, clothed in a scarlet garment, and holding a golden coin in the right hand; and in the left a chain of pearls. But both the shrine and the image were induced by fantasies; for infernal spirits can by fantasies represent magnificent things, by closing up the interiors of the mind, and opening only its exteriors. But when I noticed that they were such sorceries, I prayed to the Lord, and suddenly the interiors of my mind were opened; and I then saw in place of the magnificent shrine a house full of chinks, from the roof to the bottom, in which nothing cohered; and instead of a woman I saw hanging in that house an image, the head of which was like a dragon’s, the body like a leopard’s, and the feet like a bear’s, thus like the description of the beast out of the sea (Revelation 13); and instead of the ground was a swamp, in which was a multitude of frogs; and it was said to me that under that swamp was a great hewn stone, beneath which lay the Word well concealed.

[3] On seeing these things, I said to the sorcerer, “Is this your shrine?” and he said that it was. But suddenly his interior sight was then opened, and he saw the same things that I did; on seeing which he cried out with a great cry, “What is this? and whence is this?” And I said that it is from the light of heaven, which discloses the quality of every form, and here the quality of your faith separated from spiritual charity. And immediately there came an east wind, and carried away everything that was there, and also dried up the swamp, and thus laid bare the stone, under which lay the Word. And after this there breathed as it were a vernal heat from heaven; and behold, there then appeared in the same place a tabernacle, simple in its external form. And the angels who were with me said, “Behold, the tabernacle of Abraham, such as it was when the three angels came to him, and announced that Isaac was to be born. This appears before the eyes as simple, but it becomes more and more magnificent according to the influx of light from heaven.” And it was given them to open the heaven in which were the spiritual angels, who are in wisdom; and then, from the light flowing in thence, that tabernacle appeared like a temple similar to that at Jerusalem. When I looked into it, I saw the foundation stone, under which the Word had been deposited, set around with precious stones; from which as it were lightning flashed upon the walls, upon which were the forms of cherubim, and beautifully variegated them with colors.

[4] These things I wondered at. The angels said, “You shall see something still more wonderful.” And it was given them to open the third heaven, in which were the celestial angels, who are in love; and then, from the light flowing in thence, the whole of that temple vanished; and in place of it was seen the Lord alone, standing upon the foundation stone, which was the Word, in appearance similar to that in which He was seen by John, (Revelation 1:13 But because a holiness then filled the interiors of the minds of the angels, by which there was an impulse to fall down upon their faces, suddenly the way of the light from the third heaven was closed by the Lord, and the way was opened for the light from the second heaven; in consequence of which the former appearance of the temple returned, and likewise of the tabernacle, but in the temple. By this was illustrated the meaning of these words in this chapter:

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, (Revelation 21:3; no. 882);

and by these:

I saw no temple in the New Jerusalem; for the Lord God Almighty is the temple of it, and the Lamb, (Revelation 21:22; no. 918).

Chapter 22 (932-962)

932.⁸² Revelation 22

1. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, bright as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb.

2. In the midst of the street of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3. And no accursed thing shall be there; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall minister unto Him.

4. And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.

5. And there shall be no night there; and they have no need of a lamp and the light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign for ages of ages.

6. And He said unto me, These words are faithful and true. And the Lord God of the holy prophets hath sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done.

7. And I come quickly; happy is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book.

8. And I John saw these things and heard; and when I heard and saw, I fell down to adore before the feet of the angel who showed me these things.

9. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the words of this book; adore God.

10. And he saith unto me, Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand.

11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is just, let him be just still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12. And behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to everyone according as his work shall be.

13. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the End, the First and the Last.

14. Happy are they that do His commandments, that their power may be in the tree of life, and they may enter in through the gates into the city.

15. But without are dogs and sorcerers, and whoremongers and murderers and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and doeth a lie.

16. I Jesus have sent My angel to testify unto you these things in the churches; I am the Root, and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star.

17. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that thirsteth come; and let him that willeth take the water of life freely.

18. For I testify unto everyone that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book.

19. And if anyone shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and the things which are written in this book.

20. He who testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Yea come, Lord Jesus.

21. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

The contents of the whole chapter

That church is still described as to intelligence from Divine truths from the Lord (verses 1-5). That Revelation was manifested by the Lord, and that it is to be revealed in its own time (verses 6-10). Concerning the coming of the Lord, and His conjunction with those who believe in Him, and live according to His commandments (verses 11-17). That the things which are revealed are by all means to be kept (verses 18-19). The Betrothal (verses 17, 20-21).

The contents of each verse, (Revelation 22:1)

Verse 1. “And he showed me a pure river of water of life, bright as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb,” signifies Revelation now opened and explained as to its spiritual sense, where Divine truths in abundance are revealed by the Lord, for those who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, (932).

Verse 2. “In the midst of the street of it, and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits,” signifies that in the inmosts of the truths of doctrine and thence of life in the New Church is the Lord in His Divine love, from Whom all the goods, which man there does apparently as of himself, flow forth, (933, 934). “Yielding its fruit every month,” signifies that the Lord produces goods with man according to every state of truth with him, (935). “And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations,” signifies rational truths therefrom, by which they who are in evils and thence in falsities are led to think soundly and to live becomingly, (936).

Verse 3. “And no accursed thing shall be there; and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall minister unto Him,” signifies that in the church which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be any who are separated from the Lord, because the Lord Himself will reign there, and they who are in truths from Him through the Word, and do His commandments, will be with Him, because conjoined with Him, (937).

Verse 4. “And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads,” signifies that they will turn themselves to the Lord, and the Lord will turn Himself to them, because they are conjoined by love, (938, 939).

Verse 5. “And there shall be no night there, and they have no need of a lamp and the light of the sun, for the Lord giveth them light,” signifies that there will not be any falsity of faith in the New Jerusalem, and that men there will not be in knowledges concerning God there from natural light which is their own intelligence, and from glory arising from pride, but will be in spiritual light from the Word from the Lord alone, (940). “And they shall reign for ages of ages,” signifies that they will be in the Lord’s kingdom and in conjunction with Him to eternity, (941).

Verse 6. “And He said unto me, These words are faithful and true,” signifies that they may know this for certain, because the Lord Himself has testified and said it, (942). “And the Lord God of the holy prophets hath sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done,” signifies that the Lord, from Whom is the Word of both Covenants, has revealed through heaven to those who are in truths from Him, the things which are certainly to be, (943).

Verse 7. “Behold, I come quickly; happy is he that keepeth the words of this prophecy,” signifies that the Lord will certainly come, and will give eternal life to those who keep and do the truths or precepts of doctrine of this book now opened by the Lord, (944).

Verse 8. “And I John saw these things and heard; and when I heard and saw, I fell down to adore before the feet of the angel who showed me these things,” signifies that John thought that the angel who was sent to him by the Lord, that he might be kept in a state of the spirit, was God Who revealed those things; when yet it was not so, for the angel only showed what the Lord manifested, (945).

Verse 9. “And he said unto me, See thou do it not, for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the words of this book, adore God,” signifies that the angels of heaven are not to be adored and invoked, because nothing Divine belongs to them; but that they are associated with men as brethren with brethren, with those who are in the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and do its commandments; and that the Lord alone is to be adored in consociation with them, (946).

Verse 10. “And he said unto me, Seal not the words of this prophecy, for the time is at hand,” signifies that Revelation must not be closed up, but is to be opened; and that this is necessary in the end of the church, that any may be saved, (947).

Verse 11. “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is just, let him be just still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still,” signifies the state of all in particular after death, and before his judgment, and in general before the Last Judgment, that goods will be taken away from those who are in evils, and truths from those who are in falsities; and on the other hand, that evils will be taken away from those who are in goods, and falsities from those who are in truths, (948).

Verse 12. “And behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to everyone according as his work shall be,” signifies that the Lord will certainly come, and that He is heaven and the happiness of eternal life to everyone according to his faith in Him, and his life according to His commandments, (949).

Verse 13. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last,” signifies because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and by Him all things in the heavens and on earth were made, and are ruled by His Divine providence, and are done according to it, (950).

Verse 14. “Happy are they that do His commandments, that their power may be in the tree of life, and they may enter through the gates into the city,” signifies that they have eternal happiness who live according to the Lord’s commandments, for the end that they may be in the Lord and the Lord in them by love, and in His New Church by knowledges concerning Him, (951).

Verse 15. “But without are dogs, and sorcerers and whoremongers, and murderers and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and doeth a lie,” signifies that no one is received into the New Jerusalem, who makes the precepts of the Decalogue of no account, and does not shun any evils there named as sins, and therefore lives in them, (952).

Verse 16. “I Jesus have sent My angel to testify unto you these things in the churches,” signifies a testification by the Lord before the whole Christian world, that it is true that the Lord alone manifested the things which are described in this book, as also those which are now opened, (953). “I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star,” signifies that He is the Lord Himself who was born in the world, and was then the Light, and who will come with new light, which will arise before His New Church, which is the holy Jerusalem, (954).

Verse 17. “And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come,” signifies that heaven and the church desire the coming of the Lord, (955). “And let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that thirsteth come; and let him that willeth take the water of life freely,” signifies that he who knows anything of the Lord’s coming, and of the New Heaven and the New Church, and thus of the Lord’s kingdom, should pray that it may come; and that he who desires truths should pray that the Lord may come with light; and that he who loves truths will then receive them from the Lord without labor of his own, (956[1-3]) verse 18. “For I testify unto everyone that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book,” signifies that they who read and know the truths of the doctrine of this book now opened by the Lord, and still acknowledge any other God than the Lord, and any other faith than in Him, by adding anything by which they may destroy these two, cannot do otherwise than perish from the falsities and evils which are signified by the plagues described in this book, (957).

Verse 19. “And if anyone shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and the things which are written in this book,” signifies that they who read and know the truths of the doctrine of this book now opened by the Lord, and still acknowledge any other God than the Lord, and any other faith than in Him, by taking away anything by which they may destroy these two, cannot be wise in and appropriate to themselves anything from the Word, nor be received into the New Jerusalem, nor have their lot with those who are in the Lord’s kingdom, (958, 959).

Verse 20. “He who testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly; yea, come, Lord Jesus,” signifies the Lord, who revealed Revelation, and has now opened it, testifying this Gospel, that in His Divine Human, which He assumed in the world and glorified, He comes as the Bridegroom and Husband; and that the church desires Him as a Bride and Wife, (960).

THE EXPLANATION.

Verse 1. And he showed me a pure river of water of life bright as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb, signifies Revelation now opened and explained as to its spiritual sense, where Divine truths in abundance are revealed by the Lord for those who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. By “the pure river of water of life bright as crystal” is signified the Divine truth of the Word in abundance translucent from its spiritual sense, which is in the light of heaven. That the Divine truth in abundance is signified by “a river” (409) because truths are signified by “the waters” of which a river consists, (50, 685, 719); and by “the waters of life” those truths from the Lord through the Word, as follows. And by “bright as crystal” are signified these truths translucent from the spiritual sense, which is in the light of heaven, (897). That the river was seen “to go forth out of the throne of God and the Lamb,” signifies that it is out of heaven from the Lord; for by “the throne” the Lord is signified as to judgment and as to government and as to heaven; as to judgment, (229, 845, 865); as to government, (694, 808 at the end); and as to heaven, (14, 221, 222); here therefore out of heaven from the Lord. By “God and the Lamb” here as often above, the Lord is signified as to the Divine Itself from which all things are, and as to the Divine Human.

[2] That by “the river of water of life,” in particular, are meant Divine truths in abundance, here now revealed by the Lord in Revelation, is manifest from verses 6-7, 9-10, 14, 16-19 of this chapter, where the book of this prophecy is treated of, and it is said the things which are there written are to be kept, which could not be kept before the things which are contained therein were revealed by means of the spiritual sense, because they were not before understood; and Revelation is also the Word, like the prophetic Word of the Old Testament; and the evils and falsities of the church which are to be shunned and held in aversion, and the goods and truths of the church which are to be done, are now disclosed in the Revelation, especially those concerning the Lord and concerning eternal, life from Him; which are indeed taught in the prophets, but not so manifestly as in the Evangelists and in the Apocalypse; and the Divine truths concerning the Lord, that He is the God of heaven and earth, which then proceed from Him, and are received by those who will be in the New Jerusalem, which are treated of in Revelation, are those which are meant in particular by “the pure river of water of life bright as crystal, going forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb,” as may also be evident from these passages:

Jesus said, He that believeth in Me, as the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow streams of living water, (John 7:38).

Jesus said, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst to eternity, but the water that I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water springing up into life eternal, (John 4:14).

I will give unto him that is athirst of the water of life freely, (Revelation 21:6; 22:17).

And the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters, (Revelation 7:17).

In that day shall living waters go out from Jerusalem; Jehovah shall be one King over all the earth; in that day shall Jehovah be one, and His name one, (Zechariah 14:8-9).

By “living waters,” or “waters of life,” Divine truths from the Lord are there signified.

933. Verse 2. (Revelation 22:2) In the midst of the street of it and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits, signifies that in the inmosts of the truths of doctrine and thence of life in the church is the Lord in His Divine love, from Whom all the goods which man does apparently as of himself, flow forth. By “in the midst” is signified in the inmost, and thence in all things around, (44[1-2], 383). By “street” is signified the truth of doctrine of the church, (501, 917). By “the river” is signified Divine truth in abundance, (409, 932). “On this side and on that” signifies on the right and on the left; and truth on the right is what is in clearness, and on the left what is in obscurity; for the south in heaven, by which truth in clearness is signified, is to the right; and the north, by which is signified truth in obscurity, is to the left, (901). By “the tree of life” is signified the Lord as to the Divine love, (89). By “fruits” are signified the goods of love and charity, which are called good works; which are treated of in the following article. By “twelve” are signified all, and it is said of the goods and truths of the church, (348). From these things collected into one sense, it follows that by “in the midst of the street and of the river, on this side and on that, was the tree of life bearing twelve fruits,” is signified that in the inmosts of the truths of doctrine and of life in the New Church is the Lord in His Divine love, from Whom all the goods which a man does apparently as of himself flow forth.

[2] This takes place with those who go to the Lord immediately, and shun evils because they are sins; thus who will be in the Lord’s New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. For they who do not go immediately to the Lord cannot be conjoined to Him, and thus neither to the Father, and hence cannot be in the love which is from the Divine; for the looking to Him conjoins, not a mere intellectual looking, but an intellectual looking from the affection of the will; and affection of the will is not given, unless man keeps His commandments; wherefore the Lord says:

He that doeth My commandments, he it is that loveth me; and I will come unto him, and make an abode with him, (John 14:21-24).

[3] It is said, in the inmosts of the truths of doctrine and thence of life in the New Church, because in spiritual things all things are and all things proceed from the inmost, as from fire and light in the center to the circumferences; or as from the sun, which is also in the center, heat and light flow into the universe; it takes place thus in the least things as in the greatest. Because the inmost of all truth is signified, it is therefore said, “in the midst of the street and of the river,” and not on both sides of the river, although this is meant. That from the Lord, when He is in the inmost, all the goods of love and charity are and proceed, is manifest from the words of the Lord Himself in John:

Jesus said, As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine, so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the Vine, ye are the branches; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye cannot do anything, (John 15:4-6).

934. That “fruits” signify the goods which man does from love or charity, is known indeed without confirmation from the Word; for the reader understands nothing else by “fruits” in the Word. The reason why the goods of love or charity are meant by “fruits” is because man is compared to a tree, and is also called a tree, (89, 400). That “fruits” signify the goods of love or charity, which are called in common speech good works, may be evident from these passages:

The axe is laid unto the root of the tree; every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit, shall be hewn down, and cast into the fire, (Matthew 3:10; 7:16-20).

Either make the tree good and the fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and the fruit corrupt; the tree is known from the fruit, (Matthew 12:33; Luke 6:43-44).

Every branch that beareth not fruit shall be taken away, but everyone that beareth fruit shall be pruned, that it may bring forth more fruit; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit, (John 15:2-8).

Make fruits worthy of repentance, (Matthew 3:8).

That which was sowed in the good ground is he that heareth the Word, and attendeth, and beareth fruit, (Matthew 13:23).

Jesus said to the disciples, I have chosen you, that ye should bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, (John 15:16).

A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came seeking fruit on it, and found none; he saith to the vinedresser, Cut it down, why maketh it the earth unfruitful? (Luke 13:6-9)

A man, a householder, let out his vineyard to husbandmen, to receive the fruits of it; but they killed the servants sent to them, and at length his son; he therefore will let out the vineyard to others, who will render him the fruits in their seasons. So the kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits of it, (Matthew 21:33-35, 38-39, 41, 43), besides many other places.

935. Yielding its fruit every month, signifies that the Lord produces good with man according to every state of truth with him. By “a month” is signified the state of man’s life as to truth, as will be shown presently. By “yielding fruit” is signified to produce goods; that “fruits” are the goods of love and charity was shown just above, (934); and because the Lord produces them with man essentially, though the man does them as of himself, and thus apparently, as was said above, (934), it is evident that it is signified that the Lord produces them from the inmost, when He is there. But it shall be told how it is to be understood, that the Lord produces the goods of charity with a man according to the state of truth with Him. He who believes that a man does good that is acceptable to the Lord, which is called spiritual good, unless there are truths from the Word in Him, is much deceived. Goods without truths are not goods, and truths without goods are not truths with man, although in themselves they may be truths; for good without truth is like the voluntary of man without the understanding, which voluntary is not human, but is like a beast’s, or like that of a carved image which an artificer causes to operate. But the voluntary together with the intellectual becomes human according to the state of the understanding by which it exists. For the state of life of every man is such that his will cannot do anything except through the understanding, nor can the understanding think anything except from the will. It is similar with good and truth, since good is of the will, and truth is of the understanding.

[2] It is manifest from this, that the good which the Lord produces with man is according to the state of the truth with him from which is his understanding. That this is signified by “the tree of life yielding its fruit every month,” is because the state of truth with man is signified by month. That states of life are signified by all times, which are hours, days, weeks, months, years, ages, may be seen, (476, 562). That states of life as to truths, are signified by “months,” is because the times determined by the moon are meant by “months,” and truth of the understanding and of faith is signified by “the moon” (332, 413, 414, 919). Similar things are meant by months in these passages:

Blessed of Jehovah is the land of Joseph for the precious things of the produce of the sun, and for the precious things of the produce of the months, (Deuteronomy 33:13-14).

It shall come to pass that from month to month, and from sabbath to sabbath, all flesh shall come to bow themselves down before Jehovah, (Isaiah 66:23).

On account of the signification of “month,” which is that of the moon:

They made sacrifices at the beginning of every month or of the new moon, (Numbers 29:1-6; Isaiah 1:14).

And then also they sounded with the trumpets, (Numbers 10:10; Psalms 81:3).

And it was commanded that they should observe the month Abib, in which they celebrated the Passover, (Exodus 12:2; Deuteronomy 16:1).

States of truth are signified by “months,” and in the opposite sense states of falsity with man, in Revelation above, (also chapters 9:5, 10, 15; 11:2; 13:5). The same is signified by month, (Ezekiel 47:12).

936. And the leaves of the tree were for the medicine of the nations, signifies rational truths therefrom, by which they who are in evils and thence in falsities are led to think soundly, and to live becomingly. By “the leaves of the tree” are signified rational truths, of which below. By “the nations” are signified those who are in goods and thence in truths, and in the opposite sense those who are in evils and thence in falsities, (483); here they who are in evils and thence in falsities, because it is said, “for their medicine,” and they who are in evils and thence in falsities cannot be healed by the Word, because they do not read it; but if they have sound judgment, they can be healed by rational truths. Things similar to those in this verse are signified by these words in Ezekiel:

Behold, waters went forth from under the threshold from which was a river, upon whose bank on this side and on that were very many trees for food, whose leaf falleth not, nor is consumed; it is renewed every month, whence its fruit is for food, and its leaf for medicine, (Ezekiel 47:1, 7, 12).

There also the New Church is treated of. That rational truths are signified by “leaves,” is because by “a tree” is signified man, (83, 400); and then by all the parts of a tree are signified corresponding things in man; as by the branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, and seeds. By “the branches” man’s sensual and natural truths are signified; by “the leaves” his rational truths; by “the flowers” the first spiritual truths in the rational; by “the fruits” the goods of love and charity; and by “the seeds” are signified the last and the first things of man.

[2] That rational truths are signified by “the leaves,” is clearly manifest from the things seen in the spiritual world; for trees appear there also, with leaves and fruits; there are gardens and paradises from them. With those who are in the goods of love and at the same time in the truths of wisdom there appear fruit-bearing trees, luxuriant with beautiful leaves, but with those who are in the truths of some wisdom, and speak from reason, and are not in the goods of love, there appear trees full of leaves, but without fruits; but with those with whom there are neither goods nor the truths of wisdom, there do not appear trees, unless stripped of their leaves, as in the time of winter in the world. A man not rational is nothing else but such a tree.

[3] Rational truths are those which proximately receive spiritual truths, for the rational of man is the first receptacle of spiritual truths; for the perception of truth in some form is in man’s rational, which the man himself does not see in thought, as he does the things which are beneath the rational in the lower thought, which conjoins itself with the external sight. Rational truths are also signified by “leaves” (Genesis 3:7; 8:11; Isaiah 34:4; Jeremiah 8:13; 17:8; Ezekiel 47:12; Daniel 4:12, 14; Psalms 1:3; Leviticus 26:36; Matthew 21:19; 24:32; Mark 13:28). But their signification is according to the species of the trees. The leaves of the olive and the vine signify rational truths from celestial and spiritual light; the leaves of the fig rational truths from natural light; and the leaves of the fir, the poplar, the oak, the pine, rational truths from sensual light. The leaves of these strike terror in the spiritual world, when they are shaken by a strong wind; these are meant in Leviticus 26:36; Job 13:25. But it is not so with the leaves of the former.

937. Verse 3. And no accursed thing shall be there, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall minister unto Him, signifies that in the church which is the New Jerusalem, there will not be any who are separated from the Lord, because the Lord Himself will reign there; and they who are in truths from Him through the Word, and do His commandments, will be with Him, because conjoined with Him. By “no accursed thing shall be there,” is signified that not any evil or falsity from evil, which separates from the Lord, will be in the New Jerusalem; and as evil and falsity are not given, except in a recipient, which is man, it is signified that not any who are separated from the Lord will be there. By “accursed thing” in the Word is meant all that evil and falsity which separates man and turns him away from the Lord; for then the man becomes a devil and a satan. By “the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it,” is signified that the Lord Himself will reign in that Church; for by “a throne” is here signified a kingdom; and the Lord’s kingdom is where He alone is worshiped. By “His servants shall minister unto Him,” is signified that they who are in truths from the Lord through the Word will be with Him, and will do His commandments because conjoined with Him. That by “the Lord’s servants” are signified they who are in truths from him, may be seen above, (3[1-3], 380); and by “ministers” those who are in good from Him, (128); hence by “the servants who will minister unto Him,” are signified those who are in truths from good from the Lord through the Word, and do His commandments.

[2] Because the church at this day does not know that conjunction with the Lord makes heaven, and that conjunction is effected by the acknowledgement that He is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time by a life according to His commandments, therefore something shall be said respecting these things. He who knows nothing about them may say, What is conjunction? How can acknowledgment and life make conjunction? What need is there of these? Cannot everyone be saved from mercy alone? What need is there of any other means of salvation than faith alone? Is not God merciful and omnipotent? But let him know that in the spiritual world knowledge and acknowledgment produce all presence, and that affection which is of love effects all conjunction. For spaces there are nothing else but appearances according to similarity of minds, that is, of affections and thence of thoughts. Wherefore when anyone knows another either by reputation, or from interaction with him, or from conversation, or from relationship, while he thinks of him from the idea of that knowledge, he becomes present with him, although he might be to appearance a thousand stadia off. And if one also loves another whom he knows, he dwells with him in one society; and if he loves him inmostly, in one house. This is the state of all in the whole spiritual world; and this state of all derives its origin from this, that the Lord is present with everyone according to faith, and is conjoined according to love. Faith, and thence the Lord’s presence are given through the knowledges of truths from the Word; especially concerning the Lord Himself there; but love and thence conjunction are given through a life according to His commandments, for the Lord says:

He that hath My commandments, and doeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and I will love him; and will make an abode with him, (John 14:21-24).

[3] But how this is done shall also be told. The Lord loves everyone, and wills to be conjoined to him, but He cannot be conjoined as long as the man is in the delight of evil, as in the delight of hating and revenging, in the delight of committing adultery and whoredom, in the delight of robbing or stealing under any form, in the delight of blaspheming and lying, and in the lusts of the love of self and the world; for everyone who is in these is in companionship with the devils who are in hell. The Lord indeed loves them even there; but He cannot be conjoined with them, unless the delights of those evils are removed; and these cannot be removed by the Lord, unless the man examines himself that he may know his evils, acknowledges and confesses them before the Lord, and wills to desist from them, and thus perform repentance. This the man must do as of himself, because he does not feel that he does anything from the Lord; and this is given to man, because conjunction, that it may be conjunction, must be reciprocal, of man with the Lord, and of the Lord with man. As far therefore as evils with their delights are thus removed, so far the Lord’s love enters, which, as was said, is universal towards all; and man is then led away from hell, and is led into heaven. This a man must do in the world; for such as man is in the world as to his spirit, such he remains to eternity, with the difference only, that his state becomes more perfect, if he has lived well; because he is not then clothed with a material body, but the spiritual lives in a spiritual body.

938. Verse 4. (Revelation 22:4) And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads, signifies that they will turn themselves to the Lord, and the Lord will turn Himself to them, because they are conjoined through love. By “seeing the face of God and of the Lamb,” or the Lord, is not meant to see His face, because no one can see His face, as He is in His Divine love and in His Divine wisdom, and live; for He is the sun of heaven and of the whole spiritual world. For to see His face, such as He is in Himself, would be as if one should enter into the sun, by the fire of which he would be consumed in a moment. But the Lord sometimes presents Himself to be seen out of His sun; but He then veils Himself and presents Himself to their sight, which is done through an angel; as He also did in the world before Abraham, Hagar, Lot, Gideon, Joshua, and others; wherefore those angels were called angels, and also Jehovah; for the presence of Jehovah was in them from afar.

[2] But by “they shall see His face” is not here meant to thus see His face, but to see the truths which are in the Word from Him, and through them to know and acknowledge Him. For the Divine truths of the Word make the light which proceeds from the Lord as a sun, in which the angels are; and as they make the light, they are like mirrors in which the Lord’s face is seen. That by “seeing the Lord’s face” is signified to turn oneself to Him, will be told below. By “the Lord’s name in their foreheads,” is signified that the Lord loves them, and turns them to Himself. By “the Lord’s name” the Lord Himself is signified, because all His quality by which He is known and according to which He is worshiped is signified, (81[1-4], 584); and by “the forehead” is signified love, (347, 605); and by “written in the forehead” is signified the love of the Lord in them, (729); from this it may be evident what is properly signified by those words.

[3] But that it signifies that they turn themselves to the Lord, and that the Lord turns Himself to them, is because the Lord looks at all who are conjoined to Him by love, in the forehead, and thus turns them to Himself. Therefore the angels in heaven turn their faces in no other direction than to the Lord as the sun; and, what is wonderful, this is done in every turning of their body. Hence it is in common speech, that “they have God continually before their eyes.” A similar thing takes place with the spirit of a man who is living in the world, and is conjoined to the Lord through love. But concerning this turning of the face to the Lord, more things worthy of mention may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom, (129-144); and in the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London, 1758 (17, 123, 143-144, 151, 153, 255, 272).

939. That by “seeing the face of the Lord” is not meant to see His face, but to know and acknowledge Him as He is as to His Divine attributes, which are many; and that they who are conjoined with Him by love know Him, and thus see His face, may be evident from the following passages:

What to Me is the multitude of sacrifices, when ye come to see the face of Jehovah, (Isaiah 1:11-12).

My heart said, Seek ye My face; Thy face, O Jehovah, do I seek, (Psalms 27:8).

Let us shout to the Rock of our salvation, let us come before His face in confession, (Psalms 95:1-2).

My soul thirsteth for the living God, when shall I come to see the face of God? I will yet confess Him, His face is salvation, (Psalms 42:2, 5).

My face shall not be seen by the empty, (Exodus 23:15).

To come to supplicate the face of Jehovah, (Zechariah 8:21-22; Malachi 1:9).

Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant, (Psalms 31:16).

Who will show us any good? Lift up upon us the light of Thy face, O Jehovah, (Psalms 4:6).

They shall walk in the light of Thy face, O Jehovah, (Psalms 89:15).

Cause Thy face to shine upon us, that we may be saved, (Psalms 80:3, 7, 19).

God be merciful to us, and bless us, and cause His face to shine upon us, (Psalms 67:1).

Jehovah bless thee, and keep thee, Jehovah make His face to shine upon thee and be gracious unto thee, Jehovah lift up His face upon thee, and give thee peace, (Numbers 6:24-26).

Thou shalt hide them in the secret of Thy face, (Psalms 31:21).

Thou hast set our hidden things in the light of Thy face, (Psalms 90:8).

Jehovah spoke to Moses, My face shall go; Moses said, If Thy face go not, make us not go down from hence, (Exodus 33:14-15).

The bread upon the table in the tabernacle was called the bread of faces, (Exodus 25:30; Numbers 4:7).

[2] It is also frequently said, that “Jehovah hid and turned away His face;” as in these passages:

On account of their wickedness I hid My face from them, (Jeremiah 33:5; Ezekiel 7:22).

Your sins have hid God’s face from you, (Isaiah 59:2).

The face of Jehovah shall no more regard them, (Lamentations 4:16).

Jehovah will hide His face from them, as they have made their works evil, (Micah 3:4).

Thou didst hide Thy face, (Psalms 30:7; 44:24; 104:29).

I will forsake them, and hide My face from them; I will surely hide My face for all the evil which they have done, (Deuteronomy 31:17-18).

Besides other places (as Isaiah 8:17; Ezekiel 39:23, 28-29; Psalms 13:1; 22:24; 27:8-9; 69:17; 88:14; 102:2; 143:7; Deuteronomy 32:20).

[3] In the opposite sense by the face of Jehovah is signified anger and aversion, for the reason that the evil man turns himself away from the Lord; and when he turns himself away, it appears to him as if the Lord turned Himself away and was angry; as is evident from these passages:

I have set My face against this city for evil, (Jeremiah 21:10; 44:11).

I will set My face against that man and will devastate him, (Ezekiel 14:7-8).

I will set My face against them, and fire shall devour them, when I shall set My face against them, (Ezekiel 15:7).

Whosoever eateth any blood, I will set My face against that soul, (Leviticus 17:10).

They shall perish at the rebuke of Thy face, (Psalms 80:16).

The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, (Psalms 34:16).

I send mine angel before thee; beware of his face, for he will not bear your transgression, (Exodus 23:20-21).

Let Thy enemies be scattered, and let them that hate thee flee from before Thy face, (Numbers 10:35).

I saw Him that sat upon the throne, from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away, (Revelation 20:11).

That no one can see the Lord, as He is in Himself, as was said above, is manifest from this:

Jehovah said to Moses, Thou canst not see My face, for no man shall see Me, and live, (Exodus 33:18-23).

Yet that He has been seen, and they have lived, because it was through an angel, is manifest (from Genesis 32:30; Judges 13:22-23; and elsewhere).

940. Verse 5. And there shall be no night there, and they have no need of a lamp and the light of the sun, for the Lord⁸³ giveth them light, signifies that there will not be any falsity of faith in the New Jerusalem, and that men there will not be in knowledges concerning God from natural light which is from their own intelligence, and from glory arising from pride, but will be in spiritual light from the Word from the Lord alone. By “there shall be no night there,” the like is signified as above (chapter 21), where are these words:

The gates of it shall not be shut by day, for there shall be no night there, (Revelation 21:25).

By which is signified that those are continually received into the New Jerusalem, who are in truths from the good of love from the Lord, because there is no falsity of faith there, (922). By “they have no need of a lamp and of the light of the sun, because the Lord God giveth them light” the same is signified as above (chapter 21), where are these things:

The city had no need of the sun and of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb, (Revelation 21:23);

by which is signified that the men of that church will not be in the love of self and in their own intelligence, and thence in natural light alone, but in spiritual light from the Divine truth of the Word from the Lord alone, (919). But instead of “the moon” it is here said “a lamp;” and instead of “the sun” there, “the light of the sun” is here spoken of; and by “the moon,” as by “a lamp,” natural light from one’s own intelligence is signified; and by “the light of the sun” is signified natural light from the glory arising from pride.

[2] But it shall be explained in few words what natural light from the glory arising from pride is. There is given natural light from glory arising from pride, and also not from pride. Those have light from the glory arising from pride, who are in the love of self, and thence in evils of every kind; and if they do not do them from fear of the loss of reputation, and if they likewise condemn them because they are against morality and against the public good, they still do not repute them as sins. These are in natural light from the glory arising from pride, for the love of self in the will becomes pride in the understanding; and this pride from that love can elevate the understanding even into the light of heaven. This is given to man, that he may be a man, and that he may be capable of being reformed. I have seen and heard many who were in the highest degree devils, who understood as the angels themselves do, the arcana of angelic wisdom, when they heard and read them; but instantly when they returned to their love, and thence to their pride, they not only understood nothing about them, but also saw the opposites, from the light of the confirmation of falsity, in them. But natural light from glory that is not from pride is with those who are in the delight of uses from genuine love towards the neighbor. The natural light of these is also rational light, within which there is spiritual light from the Lord; the glory with them is from the brightness of the inflowing light from heaven where all things are splendid and harmonious, for all uses in heaven are resplendent. From these uses the pleasantness in the ideas of the thought with such is perceived as glory. It enters through the will and its goods, into the understanding and its truths, and in the latter becomes manifest.

941. And they shall reign for ages of ages, signifies that they will be in the Lord’s kingdom, and in conjunction with Him to eternity, as appears from 284, 849, 856, where the like expressions are explained.

942. Verse 6. And he said unto me, These words are faithful and true, signifies that this they may know for certain, because the Lord Himself testified and said it, as appears also from the explanation in 886, where the same words occur.

943. And the Lord God of the holy prophets hath sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must be done quickly, signifies that the Lord, from whom is the Word of both covenants, has revealed through heaven unto those who are in truths from Him, the things which will certainly come to pass. “The Lord God of the holy prophets,” signifies the Lord, from whom is the Word of both covenants, for by “the prophets” are signified they who teach truths from the Word, and, in the abstract sense, the doctrine of the truth of the church, (8, 173); and in a wide sense, the Word itself; and because the Word is signified by “the holy prophets,” therefore by them is signified the Word of both covenants. “He hath sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must be done quickly,” signifies that the Lord has revealed to those who are in truths from Him, the things which will certainly come to pass; by “an angel” is here signified heaven, as above, (5, 65, 644, 647, 648, 910); by “servants” are signified they who are in truths from the Lord, (3[1-3], 380, 937); by “quickly” is signified certainly, (4); therefore, by “the things which must be done quickly” is signified which will certainly come to pass.

[2] The reason why by “an angel” is here signified heaven, is, because the Lord spoke with John through heaven, and through heaven He also spoke with the prophets, and through heaven He speaks with everyone with whom He speaks. The reason is that the angelic heaven in general is as one man, whose soul and life is the Lord; wherefore all that the Lord speaks He speaks through heaven, just as the soul and mind of man speak through his body. That the whole angelic heaven in one complex relates to one man, and that this is from the Lord, may be seen above, (5), and in the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London, 1758 (59-86), and in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence, (64-69, 162-164, 201-204), and in Divine Love and Wisdom, (11, 19, 133, 288).

[3] But I will explain this mystery; the Lord speaks through heaven, but still the angels there do not speak, nor do they indeed know what the Lord speaks, unless some of them are with the man through whom the Lord speaks openly from heaven, as with John and some of the prophets; for there is an influx of the Lord through heaven, just as there is an influx of the soul through the body. The body indeed speaks and acts, and also feels something from influx, but still the body does nothing from itself as from itself, but is acted upon. That such is the speech, yea, all the influx of the Lord through heaven with men, has been given me to know from much experience. The angels of heaven, and also the spirits under the heavens, know nothing concerning man, as man knows nothing concerning them; because the state of spirits and angels is spiritual, and the state of men is natural, which two states are consociated solely by correspondences, and consociation by correspondences does indeed cause them to be together in affections, but not in thoughts; wherefore one does not know anything of the other, that is, man does not know anything of the spirits with whom he is consociated as to affections, nor do spirits know anything of man, for that which is not in the thought, but only in the affection, is not known, because it does not appear nor is it seen. The Lord alone knows the thoughts of men.

944. Verse 7 (Revelation 22:7). Behold, I come quickly; happy is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book⁸⁴ signifies that the Lord will certainly come, and give eternal life to those who keep and do the truths or precepts of doctrine of this book now opened by the Lord. “Behold, I come quickly,” signifies that the Lord will certainly come; by “quickly” is signified certainly, (4, 943); and by “coming” is signified that He will come, not in Person but in the Word, in which He will appear to all who will be of His New Church; that this is His coming in the clouds of heaven, may be seen above, (24, 642, 820). “Happy is he that keepeth the words of this book,” signifies that He will give life eternal to those who keep and do the truths or precepts of doctrine of this book now opened by the Lord; by “happy” is signified he who receives life eternal, (639, 852); to “keep” signifies to observe and do the truths or precepts; “words” are truths and precepts; by “the prophecy of this book” is signified the doctrine of this book now opened by the Lord; prophecy is doctrine, (8, 133, 943).

[2] He who considers may see that to keep the words of the prophecy of this book is not what is meant, but that what is signified, is to keep, that is, to observe and do the truths or precepts of doctrine, which are now opened and explained in this book. For in Revelation, when not explained, there are but few things that can be kept, for they are prophecies heretofore not understood. For example take the following: the things cannot be kept which are recorded in chapter 6 concerning the horses going forth from the book; in chapter 7 concerning the twelve tribes; in chapter 8, 9 concerning the seven angels that sounded their trumpets; in chapter 10 concerning the little book that was eaten up by John; in chapter 11 concerning the two witnesses which were slain and revived; in chapter 12 concerning the woman and the dragon; in chapter 13, 14 concerning the two beasts; in chapter 15, 16 concerning the seven angels that had the seven plagues; in chapter 17, 18 concerning the woman that sat upon the scarlet beast, and concerning Babylon; in chapter 19 concerning the white horse and the great supper; in chapter 20 concerning the last Judgment; and in chapter 21 concerning the New Jerusalem as a city. From these things it is evident that it is not meant that they are happy who keep those words of the prophecy, for they are closed, but that they are happy who keep, that is, observe and do the truths or precepts of doctrine, which are contained in them, and are now opened, which, that they are from the Lord, may be seen in the preface.

945. Verse 8. And I John saw these things and heard them. And when I heard and saw, I fell down to adore before the feet of the angel who showed me these things, signifies that John thought that the angel who was sent to him by the Lord, to keep him in a state of the spirit, was God who revealed these things, when nevertheless it was not so; for the angel only showed what the Lord made manifest. That John thought that the angel who was sent to him, was God Himself, is evident; for it is said, that he fell down to adore him at his feet; but that this was not the case, appears from the next verse, where the angel says that he was his fellow-servant, “adore God;” that the angel was sent to him by the Lord, appears from verse 16, where are these words, “I, Jesus, have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches.” But the arcanum that lies hid in these words is this: an angel was sent by the Lord to John, that he might be kept in a state of the spirit, and in that state he might show him the things which he saw. For what John saw, he did not see with the eyes of his body, but with the eyes of his spirit, as may appear from the passages where he says he was “in the spirit” and “in vision” (Revelation 1:10; 9:17; 17:3; 21:10); thus everywhere when he says “he saw;” and no one can come into that state, and be kept in it, but by angels, who are closely adjoined to man, and who induce their spiritual state on the interiors of his mind, for thus man is elevated into the light of heaven, and in that light he sees the things which are in heaven, and not those which are in the world.

[2] In a similar state at times were Ezekiel, Zechariah, Daniel, and others of the prophets; but not when they spoke the Word; for then they were not in the spirit but in the body, and heard the words which they wrote from Jehovah Himself, that is, from the Lord. These two states of the prophets ought carefully to be distinguished. The prophets themselves carefully distinguished them; for they say everywhere when they wrote the Word from Jehovah, that Jehovah spoke with them and to them, and very often Jehovah said, “the saying of Jehovah;” but when they were in the other state, they say that “they were in the spirit” or “in vision,” as may appear from the following passages. It is said in Ezekiel:

The spirit lifted me up, and brought me in a vision of God, into Chaldea to the captivity; so the vision that I saw went up upon me, (11:1, 24).

He says that:

The spirit lifted him up, and he heard behind him an earthquake, and other things, (3:12, 14).

Also that:

The spirit lifted him up between heaven and earth, and brought him in the visions of God to Jerusalem, and he saw abominations, (8:3).

Wherefore in like manner in a vision of God or in the spirit:

He saw four animals which were cherubs, (1:10).

Also a new temple and a new earth, and an angel measuring them (chapters 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48).

That he was then in “the visions of God,” he says in chapter 40:2; and that the spirit lifted him up (43).

[3] It was the same with Zechariah:

With whom there was an angel, when he saw a man riding among the myrtle trees, (1:8).

When he saw the four horns, and then a man in whose hand was a measuring line, (1:18; 2:1).

When he saw Joshua the high priest, (3:1).

When he saw the lampstand and the two olive trees, (4:1).

When he saw the flying roll and ephah, (5:1, 6).

And when he saw the four chariots going out from between two mountains, and horses, (6:1)

In a similar state was Daniel:

When he saw four beasts going up out of the sea, (7:1 seq.).

And when he saw the battle of the ram and the he-goat, (8:1.

That he saw these things “in visions,” we read in chapters 7:1-2, 7, 13; 8:2; 10:1, 7-8); and that:

The angel Gabriel was seen by him in a vision, and spoke with him, (9:21).

It was the same with John when he saw the things which he has described, as when he saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven lampstands; the tabernacle, the temple, ark, and altar in heaven; the dragon and his combat with Michael, the beasts, the woman sitting on the scarlet beast; the New Heaven and the New Earth, and the holy Jerusalem with its wall, gates, and foundations, and more. These things were revealed by the Lord, but were shown by the angel.

946. Verse 9. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them that keep the words of this book; adore God, signifies that the angels of heaven are not to be adored and invoked, because nothing Divine belongs to them, but that they are associated with men as brethren with brethren, with those who are in the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and do its precepts, and that the Lord alone is to be adored in consociation with them. By what the angel here speaks with John, nearly the same is signified as by what he spoke to him above (Revelation 19), where are these things: “And I fell down before the angel’s feet to adore him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not; I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; adore God” (verse 10). That the like is signified by these words may be seen above, (818), with this difference, that it is now said, “the fellow-servant of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the words of this book;” and by “brethren the prophets” are signified they who are in the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, and by “them which keep the words of this book,” are signified they who observe and do the precepts of that doctrine, which are now manifested by the Lord, see above, (944). 947. Verse 10. And he saith unto me, Seal not the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is at hand signifies that Revelation must not be shut, but opened, and that this is necessary at the end of the church that any may be saved. By “seal not the words of this prophecy” is signified that Revelation must not be shut, but that it is to be opened, of which presently; “for the time is at hand” signifies that this is necessary that any may be saved; by “time” is signified state, (476, 562), here the state of the church, which is such that this is necessary; by “at hand” is signified necessary, because by “at hand” is not meant near or nearness of time, but nearness of state, and nearness of state is necessity; that nearness of time is not meant is evident, because Revelation was written in the beginning of the first century; and the Lord’s coming, when the Last Judgment takes place, and there is the New Church, which things are here meant by “the time is at hand,” and also by “the things which must be shortly done” (verse 6), and by “I come quickly” (verses 7, 20), has now but recently appeared and come to pass after seventeen centuries. The same is also said in chapter 1, that these things “must shortly come to pass,” verse 1, and that “the time is at hand,” verse 3; concerning which see above, (4, 9), where the like things are meant.

[2] That near or nearness of time is not meant, but nearness of state, shall be illustrated. The Word in the purely spiritual sense does not derive anything from the idea of time nor from the idea of space, because times and spaces in heaven do indeed appear like times and spaces in the world, but still they are not there; wherefore the angels cannot measure times and spaces, which there are appearances, otherwise than by states, according to their progressions and changes; from which it may appear that in the purely spiritual sense by “quickly” and “at hand” is not meant quickly and near as to time, but quickly and near as to state; this may indeed appear as if it were not so, the reason is because with men, in every idea of their lower thought, which is merely natural, there is something from time and space; but it is otherwise in the ideas of the higher thought, in which men are when they revolve natural, civil, moral, and spiritual things in interior rational light, for then spiritual light, which is abstracted from time and space, flows in and enlightens. You may experience this and thus be confirmed, if you will, by only attending to your thoughts; when you will also be convinced that thought is higher and lower, inasmuch as simple thought cannot survey itself, except from some higher thought; and if man did not have a higher and a lower thought, he would not be a man but a brute.

[3] The reason why by “seal not the words of this prophecy” is signified that Revelation must not be shut, but opened, is because by “sealing” is signified to shut, and therefore by “not sealing” is signified to open, and by “the time is at hand” is signified that it is necessary; for Revelation is a sealed or closed book, so long as it is not explained; and as is shown above, (944), by “the words of this prophecy” are meant the truths and precepts of doctrine of this book opened by the Lord. That this is necessary at the end of the church that any may be saved, may be seen above, (9). From these things it may appear, that by “seal not the words of this prophecy, for the time is at hand,” is signified that Revelation must not be closed, but that it is to be opened, and that there is a necessity for this at the end of the church, that any may be saved.

948. Verse 11. He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is just, let him be just still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still, signifies the state of all in particular after death, and before his judgment, and in general before the Last Judgment, that from those who are in evils goods will be taken away; and from those who are in falsities, truths will be taken away; and, on the other hand, that from those who are in goods, evils will be taken away, and from those who are in truths, falsities will be taken away. By “unjust” is signified he who is in evils, and by “just” he who is in goods, (668); by “filthy” or unclean is signified he who is in falsities, (702, 708, 924[1-2]); and by “holy” is signified he who is in truths, (173, 586, 666, 852); hence it follows that by “he that is unjust, let him be unjust still” is signified that he who is in evils will be still more in evils, and that by “he that is filthy, let him be filthy still” is signified that he who is in falsities will be still more in falsities; and, on the other hand, that by “he that is just, let him be just still” is signified that he who is in goods will be still more in goods, and by “he that is holy, let him be holy still” is signified that he who is in truths will be still more in truths. But the reason why it signifies that from those who are in evils goods will be taken away, and from those who are in falsities truths will be taken away, and that, on the contrary, from those who are in goods evils will be taken away, and from those who are in truths falsities will be taken away, is because as far as goods are taken away from anyone who is in evils, so much the more is he in evils, and as far as truths are taken away from anyone who is in falsities, so much the more he is in falsities, and, on the other hand, as far as evils are taken away from anyone who is in goods, so much the more is he in goods, and as far as falsities are taken away from anyone who is in truths, so much the more is he in truths; either the one or the other happens to everyone after death, for thus the evil are prepared for hell and the good for heaven; for the evil cannot carry with them goods and truths into hell, neither can the good carry evils and falsities into heaven, for this would be to confuse both heaven and hell together.

[2] But it should be clearly known that they are meant who are interiorly evil and interiorly good; for they who are interiorly evil may be exteriorly good, for they can act and speak like the good, as hypocrites do; and they who are interiorly good may sometimes be exteriorly evil, for they may exteriorly do evils, and speak falsities, but yet they may repent, and desire to be informed of truths; this is the same as what the Lord said:

For whosoever hath, to him shall be given, and he shall abound; but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath, (Matthew 13:12; 25:29; Mark 4:25; Luke 8:18; 19:26).

Thus it happens with all after death before the judgment upon them; it also came to pass in general with those, who either perished or were saved at the day of the Last Judgment, for before this happened, the Last Judgment could not be executed, by reason that so long as the evil retained goods and truths, they were conjoined with the angels of the lowest heaven as to externals, and nevertheless they were to be separated; and this is what was foretold by the Lord, (Matthew 13:24-30, 38-40), which may be seen explained above, (324, 329, 343, 346, 398). From these considerations it may be seen what is signified in the spiritual sense by “he that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is just, let him be just still; and he that is holy, let him be holy still.” The following passage in Daniel has a like signification:

Go, Daniel; for the words are closed up and sealed to the time of the end. Many shall be purified and cleansed; they shall do wickedly; and none of the wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand, (Daniel 12:9-10).

949. Verse 12. And, behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to render to everyone according as his work shall be, signifies that the Lord will certainly come, and that He Himself is heaven and the felicity of eternal life to everyone according to faith in Him, and life according to His commandments. “Behold, I come quickly,” signifies that He will certainly come, that is, to execute judgment, and to found a New Heaven and a New Church. That “quickly” means certainly, may be seen, (4, 943, 944, 947). “My reward is with Me,” signifies that the Lord Himself is heaven and the felicity of eternal life. That “reward” is heaven and eternal felicity, may be seen, (526). That it is the Lord Himself, will be seen below. “Rendering unto everyone according to His work,” signifies according to his conjunction with the Lord by faith in Him and by life according to His commandments. The reason why this is signified, is because by good works are signified charity and faith in internals, and, at the same time, their effects in externals; and because charity and faith are from the Lord, and according to conjunction with Him, it is evident that these are signified; thus also this coheres with what went before. That good works are charity and faith in internals, and at the same time their effects in externals, may be seen above, (641, 868, 871).

[2] That charity and faith are not from man, but from the Lord, is known; and because they are from the Lord they are according to conjunction with Him, and conjunction with Him is effected by faith in him and by a life according to His commandments. By faith in Him is meant confidence that He will save, and they have this confidence who immediately approach Him, and shun evils as sins; with others it is not given. It was said that “My reward is with Me” signifies that He Himself is heaven and the felicity of eternal life, for “reward” is intrinsic beatitude, which is called peace, and thence external joy. These are solely from the Lord, and the things which are from the Lord, not only are from Him, but also are Himself, for the Lord cannot send forth anything from Himself except it be Himself, for he is omnipresent with every man according to conjunction, and conjunction is according to reception, and reception is according to love and wisdom, or if you will, according to charity and faith, and charity and faith are according to life, and life is according to the aversion to evil and falsity, and aversion to evil and falsity is according to the knowledge of what is evil and false, and then according to repentance, and at the same time looking to the Lord.

[3] That “reward” not only is from the Lord but also is the Lord Himself appears from those passages in the Word where it is said that they who are conjoined with Him are in Him and He in them, as may be seen in John 14:20-24; 15:4-5 seq.; 17:19, 21-22, 26 and in other places), see above, (883) and also where it is said that the Holy Spirit is in them; and the Holy Spirit is the Lord, for it is His Divine presence; and also when he prays that God will dwell in them to teach and lead them, the tongue to preach and the body to do that which is good; besides other things of a like nature. For the Lord is love itself and wisdom itself; these two are not in place but are where they are received and according to the quality of the reception. But this arcanum cannot be understood except by those who are in wisdom from the reception of light from heaven from the Lord; for the use of these are the things which are written in the two works Divine Providence and Divine Love and Wisdom, in which it is shown that the Lord Himself is in men according to reception and not from anything Divine separated from Him. The angels are in this idea when they are in the idea of Divine omnipresence, and I do not doubt that that some Christians are in a similar idea also.

950. Verse 13. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, signifies because the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and by Him all things in the heavens and on the earth were made, and are ruled by His Divine Providence, and come to pass according to it. That this and more is signified by these words, may be seen above, (888).

951. Verse 14. Happy are they that do His commandments, that their power may be in the tree of life, and they may enter in through the gates into the city, signifies that they have eternal felicity who live according to the Lord’s commandments, to the end that they may be in the Lord and the Lord in them by love, and in His New Church by knowledges concerning Him. By “happy” are signified they who have the felicity of eternal life, (639, 852, 944). By “doing His commandments,” is signified to live according to the Lord’s precepts; “that their power may be in the tree of life,” signifies to the end that they may be in the Lord and the Lord in them by love, that is, for the Lord’s sake, as will be shown presently; by “entering through the gates into the city” is signified that they may be in the Lord’s New Church through knowledges concerning Him. By “the gates” of the wall of the New Jerusalem are signified the knowledges of good and truth from the Word, (899, 900, 922). And because “each gate was one pearl,” principally by “gates” are signified knowledges concerning the Lord, (916[1-2]); and by “the city,” or Jerusalem, is signified the New Church with its doctrine, (879-880).

[2] That by “their power is in the tree of life,” is signified to the end that they may be in the Lord and the Lord in them, or for the Lord’s sake, is because by “the tree of life” is signified the Lord as to the Divine love, (89, 933); and by “power in that tree” is signified power from the Lord, because they are in the Lord and the Lord in them; the same is signified here as by “reigning with the Lord” (284, 849). That they who are in the Lord and the Lord in them are in all power, insomuch that whatsoever they will, they can do, the Lord Himself says in John:

He that abideth in Me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing; if ye abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you, (John 15:5, 7).

In like manner concerning power, (Matthew 7:7; Mark 11:24; Luke 11:9-10); yea, in Matthew:

Jesus said, If ye have faith, ye shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done. And all things whatsoever ye shall ask believing, ye shall receive, (Matthew 21:21-22).

By these words is described the power of those who are in the Lord; these do not will anything, and so do not ask anything, but from the Lord, and whatsoever they will and ask from the Lord, the same is done, for the Lord says, “Without Me ye can do nothing, abide in Me and I in you;” such power have the angels in heaven, that if they only will a thing, they obtain it; but yet they do not will anything but what is of use, and this they will as if from themselves, but still from the Lord.

952. Verse 15. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and doeth a lie, signifies that no one is received into the New Jerusalem, who makes no account of the commandments of the Decalogue, and does not shun any evils there enumerated as sins, and therefore lives in them. This is, in general, what is signified by all the particulars in the above passage, because the commandments of the Decalogue are what are there meant, as may be seen above from the explanation, (892), where similar words occur, except that here “dogs” are also named, by which are signified they who are in lusts, which are also treated of in the ninth and tenth commandments of the Decalogue.

[2] By “dogs” in general are signified they who are in all kinds of lusts, and indulge them, particularly they who are in pleasures merely corporeal, especially in the pleasure of eating and drinking, in which alone they take delight; for which reason dogs, in the spiritual world, appear from those who have indulged their appetite and palate, and are there called corporeal appetites; such, because they are gross in mind, make no account of the things which are of the church; therefore it is said that they shall stand without, that is, shall not be received into the Lord’s New Church.

[3] “Dogs” have a similar signification in the following passages in the Word:

His watchmen are blind; they are all dumb dogs; gazing, lying down, loving to slumber, dogs hardened in soul, they know not satiety, (Isaiah 56:10-11).

They make a noise like dogs, and go round about the city. They wander for food, and if they be not satisfied, they thus pass the night, (Psalms 59:6, 14-15).

By “dogs” are meant the vilest men, (Job 30:1; 1 Samuel 24:14; 2 Samuel 9:8; 2 Kings 8:13), and also the unclean; therefore it is said in Moses:

Thou shalt not bring the hire of a harlot and the price of a dog, into the house of Jehovah for any vow; because both are an abomination unto Jehovah thy God, (Deuteronomy 23:18).

953. Verse 16. I Jesus have sent My angel to testify unto you these things in the churches, signifies a testification from the Lord before the whole Christian world, that it is true that the Lord alone made manifest the things which are described in this book, as also the things which are now laid open. The reason why the Lord here names Himself “Jesus,” is, that all in the Christian world may know that the Lord Himself, who was in the world, manifested the things which are described in this book, as also the things which are now laid open. By “sending an angel to testify,” is signified testification from the Lord that it is true; an angel, indeed, did testify this, yet not from himself, but from the Lord, which appears clearly (in verse 20), from these words, “He who testifieth these things saith, Surely, I come quickly;” the reason why it means a testification that it is true, is because “to testify” is said of the truth, since truth testifies of itself, and the Lord is the truth, (6, 16, 490). “To testify” not only signifies testification that it is true, that the Lord manifested to John the things which are described in this book, but also that He has now manifested what each and all the things therein signify; this is especially meant by “testifying,” for it is said that “He testifies these things in the churches,” that is, that the things are true which are contained in what was seen and described by John, for “to testify” is said of the truth, as before observed. By “unto you these things in the churches,” is signified before the whole Christian world, for there the churches are, which are here meant.

954. I am the Root and Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star, signifies that it is the Lord Himself who was born in the world, and was then the Light, and who will come with new light, which will arise before His New Church, which is the holy Jerusalem. “I am the Root and Offspring of David,” signifies that He is the very Lord Himself who was born in the world, thus the Lord in His Divine Human; from this He is called “the Root and Offspring of David,” and also “the Branch of David” (Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15), also “the Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and the Branch from his roots” (Isaiah 11:1-2). “The bright and morning Star,” signifies that then there was light, and that He will come with new light, which will arise before His New Church, which is the holy Jerusalem. He is called “the bright Star” from the light with which He came into the world, wherefore He is likewise called “Star,” and also “Light;” “a Star” (Numbers 24:17), and “Light” (John 1:4-12; 3:19, 21; 9:5; 12:35-36, 46; Matthew 4:16; Luke 2:30-32; Isaiah 9:2; 49:6). And He is called “the morning Star” from the light which will rise before the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, from Him; for by “Star” is signified light from Him, which in its essence is wisdom and intelligence, and by “morning” is signified His coming, and then the New Church, as may be seen above, (151[1-3]).

955. Verse 17. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, signifies that heaven and the church desire the Lord’s coming. By “the Spirit” is signified heaven, by “the Bride” the church, and by “saying, Come” is signified to desire the Lord’s coming. That the New Church, which is the holy Jerusalem, is meant by “the Bride,” is evident (from chapter Revelation 21:2, 9-10 (see 881, 895)); and that by “the Spirit” is meant heaven, is, because the angelic spirits are meant, of whom the New Heaven is to be formed, concerning whom above, (Revelation 14:1-7; 19:1-9; 20:4-5). By the church, which is here called “the Bride,” is not meant the church consisting of those who are in falsities of faith, but the church consisting of those who are in truths of faith, for these desire light, consequently the Lord’s coming, as above, (954).

956. And let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that thirsteth come, and let him that willeth take the water of life freely, signifies that he who knows anything of the Lord’s coming, and of the New Heaven and New Church, thus of the Lord’s kingdom, should pray that it may come, and that he who desires truths, should pray that the Lord may come with light, and that he who loves truths, will then receive them from the Lord without his own work. By “let him that heareth say, Come,” is signified he who hears and thence knows anything of the Lord’s coming, and of the New Heaven and the New Church, thus of the Lord’s kingdom, let him pray that it may come; by “him that thirsteth, let him say, Come” is signified he who desires the Lord’s kingdom, and, at the same time, truths, let him pray that the Lord may come with light; by “him that willeth let him take of the water of life freely,” is signified that he who from love is willing to learn truths and appropriate them to himself, will receive them from the Lord without any work of his own; by “willing” is signified to love, because that which a man wills from his heart he loves, and that which he loves the same he wills from the heart; by “the water of life” is signified Divine truths through the Word from the Lord, (932); and by “freely” is signified without his own work. The things in this verse have the same signification as these in the Lord’s Prayer:

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done as in heaven so also upon the earth, (Matthew 6:10; 839).

The Lord’s “kingdom” is the church which makes one with heaven; wherefore it is now said, “let him that heareth, say, Come, and let him that thirsteth come.”

[2] That “to thirst” signifies to desire truths, appears from the following passages:

I will pour water upon him that thirsteth, I will pour My spirit upon thy seed, (Isaiah 44:3).

Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, buy wine and milk without silver, (Isaiah 55:1).

Jesus cried, saying, If anyone thirst, let him come unto Me and drink; whosoever believeth in Me, out of his belly shall flow streams of living water, (John 7:37-38).

My soul thirsteth for the living God, (Psalms 42:2).

O God, thou art my God; my soul thirsteth for Thee, it is weary without water, (Psalms 63:1).

Happy are they who thirst after justice, (Matthew 5:6).

Unto him that thirsteth I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely, (Revelation 21:6).

By which is signified that to those who desire truths for any spiritual use, the Lord will give from Himself through the Word all which conduce to that use.

[3] That by “thirst” and “thirsting” is also signified to perish from lack of truth, is evident from these:

My people are exiled because they have no acknowledgment, the multitude is dried up with thirst, (Isaiah 5:13).

The fool speaketh foolishness, and his heart doeth iniquity, and he maketh the drink of the thirsty to fail, (Isaiah 32:6).

The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue faileth for thirst; I Jehovah will hear them, (Isaiah 41:17).

Plead with your mother, lest I strip her naked, and slay her with thirst, (Hosea 2:2-3).

“Mother” here is the church.

Behold, the days come, in which I will send a famine in the land; not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah; in that day shall the beautiful virgins and the young men faint for thirst, (Amos 8:11, 13).

But by “not thirsting” is signified not to have a lack of truth, in these passages:

Jesus said, Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him, shall not thirst to eternity, (John 4:13-15).

Jesus said, he that believeth on Me shall never thirst, (John 6:35).

Jehovah hath redeemed Jacob; then shall they not thirst; He shall make waters to flow out of the rock for them, (Isaiah 48:20-21).

957. Verse 18. For I testify unto everyone that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if anyone shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book, signifies that they who read and know the truths of doctrine of this book, now opened by the Lord, and yet acknowledge any other God than the Lord, and any other faith than in Him, by adding anything whereby they may destroy these two things, cannot do otherwise than perish from the falsities and evils, which are signified by the plagues described in this book. “To hear the words of the prophecy of this book” signifies to read and know the truths of doctrine of this book, now opened by the Lord, see above, (944); by “adding to them” is signified to add anything whereby they may destroy those truths, as will be seen presently; by “the plagues written in this book,” are signified the falsities and evils which are signified by “the plagues written in this book” (of which chapters 15-16).

That “plagues” signify the falsities and evils which those have who adore the beast of the dragon, and the false prophet, may be seen, (456, 657, 673, 676-677, 683, 690-691, 699, 708, 718); the beast of the dragon, and the false prophet are they who make faith alone without good works saving.

[2] There are two things in this prophetic book, to which all its contents refer; the first is, that no other God is to be acknowledged but the Lord, and the other, that no other faith is to be acknowledged but faith in the Lord; he who knows these, and yet adds anything with intent to destroy them, cannot be otherwise than in falsities and evils, and must perish from them, because from no other God but the Lord, and by no other faith but faith in the Lord, is given the good which is of love, and the truth which is of faith, and thence the felicity of eternal life, as the Lord Himself teaches in many places in the Evangelists, see above, (553).

[3] That this is signified, and not that God will add the plagues described in chapters 15, 16 upon him who adds anything to the words of the prophecy of this book, anyone may see from his own judgment. For an innocent person might do this, and many might likewise do it with a good end, and also from ignorance of what is signified; for Revelation has been hitherto like a closed or mystic book, wherefore anyone may see, that the meaning is, that nothing is to be added or taken away, which destroys the truths of doctrine in this book now opened by the Lord, which truths refer to those two; for which reason also, these words follow in a series after “Jesus sent His angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the Bride say, Come, and let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that thirsteth come; and whosoever will let him take the water of life freely” (verses 16-17). By which is signified, that the Lord will come in His Divine Human, and give eternal life to those who acknowledge Him; wherefore these words follow likewise in a series: “He which testifieth these things, saith, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Even so come, Lord Jesus” (verse 20); from which it is plain that nothing else is meant. “To add” is also a prophetic word signifying to destroy (as in Psalms 120:2, and in other places). From these things the signification of this and the following verse may be seen.

958. Verse 19. And if anyone shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and the things which are written in this book, signifies that they who read and know the truths of doctrine in this book, now opened by the Lord, and yet acknowledge any other God than the Lord, and any other faith than a faith in Him, by taking away anything whereby they may destroy these two things, cannot acquire any wisdom, nor appropriate to themselves anything from the Word, nor be received into the New Jerusalem, nor have their lot with those who are in the Lord’s kingdom. These words signify the same as the foregoing, only that here it is said of those who take away, and there of those who add, consequently of those who either by adding or taking away, destroy those two truths. “To take away their part out of the book of life,” signifies that they cannot acquire any wisdom from the Word, nor appropriate anything out of it to themselves. “The book of life” is the Word, and also the Lord as to the Word, (256, 469, 874, 925). The reason is, because the Lord is the Word, for the Word treats of Him alone, as is fully shown in the Two Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, one concerning, Doctrine of the Lord, and the other concerning Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture; wherefore they who do not immediately approach the Lord cannot see any truth from the Word. “To take away their part out of the holy city,” signifies out of the New Church, which is the holy Jerusalem; for no one is received into it who does not approach the Lord alone. “To take away their part out of the things which are written in this book,” signifies not to have their lot with those who are in the Lord’s kingdom, for all the things which are written in this book regard the New Heaven and the New Church, which make the Lord’s kingdom as the end, and the end is that to which all the things which are written in the book have reference.

959. That it may be known that by these words is not meant he who “takes away from the words of this book” as it is written in the literal sense, but he who takes away from the truths of doctrine which are in its spiritual sense, I will explain whence this is: The Word, which was dictated by the Lord, passed through the heavens of His celestial kingdom, and the heavens of His spiritual kingdom, and thus came to the man through whom it was written; wherefore the Word in its first origin is purely Divine. This Word, as it passed through the heavens of the Lord’s celestial kingdom, was Divine celestial, and as it passed through the heavens of the Lord’s spiritual kingdom, was Divine spiritual, and when it came to man, it became Divine natural. Hence it is that the natural sense of the Word contains in itself the spiritual sense, and this the celestial sense, and both a sense purely Divine, which does not appear to any man nor indeed to any angel. These things are adduced that it may be seen, that by “not adding nor taking away” anything from what is written in Revelation is meant in heaven, that not anything is to be added or taken away from the truths of doctrine concerning the Lord and concerning faith in Him. For it is this sense, and truth concerning life according to His commandments, from which is the sense of the letter, as has been said.

960. Verse 20. He who testifieth these things saith, Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Yea, come, Lord Jesus, signifies the Lord, who revealed Revelation, and has now opened it, testifying this gospel, that He comes in His Divine Human, which He took upon Him in the world and glorified, as the Bridegroom and Husband, and that the church desires Him, as the Bride and Wife. The Lord said above, “I, Jesus, have sent My angel to testify unto you these things in the churches” (verse 16 of this chapter); it may be seen above, (953) that this signifies a testification by the Lord before the whole Christian world, that it is true that the Lord alone manifested the things which are written in this book, and which are now laid open. Thence i, (953) t is plain, that by “He who testifieth these things,” is meant the Lord, who revealed Revelation and has now laid it open, testifying. The reason why it means testifying this gospel, is, because He here declares His coming, His kingdom, and His spiritual marriage with the church; for He says, “Surely, I come quickly. Amen. Yea, come, Lord Jesus;” and by “the gospel,” is signified the Lord’s coming to His kingdom, (478, 553, 626, 664). The reason why He here comes to a spiritual marriage with the church, is, because this New Church is called the Bride and Wife, and the Lord its Lord its Bridegroom and Husband, above, (19:7-9; 20:2, 9-10; 21:17); and here at the end of the book, the Lord speaks and the church speaks, as the Bridegroom and the Bride; the Lord speaks these words, “Surely, I come quickly. Amen;” and the church speaks these, “Yea, come, Lord Jesus,” which are words of betrothing to the spiritual marriage. That the Lord will come in His Divine Human which He assumed and glorified in the world, is plain from this, that He names Himself “Jesus,” and says that He is “the Root and the Offspring of David” (verse 16), and that the church here says, “Come, Lord Jesus,” see above, (953, 954).

961. To this I will add two Relations. The first is this. Once on waking from sleep, I fell into a profound meditation concerning God; and when I looked up, I saw above me in heaven a very bright light in an oval form; and when I fixed my attention on that light, it receded to the sides, and entered into the circumference. And then behold, heaven was opened to me, and I saw some magnificent things, and angels standing in the form of a circle on the southern side of the opening, speaking with one another. And because I was enkindled with the desire of hearing what they were saying, it was therefore given me first to hear the sound, which was full of heavenly love, and afterwards their speech, which was full of wisdom from that love. They were talking with one another of the One God, of Conjunction with Him, and of Salvation thence. They spoke ineffable things, the most of which cannot be expressed by any natural language. But as I had many times been in consociation with angels in heaven itself, and then in similar speech with them, because in a similar state, I could therefore now understand them, and gather some things from their discourse, which can be expressed rationally in the words of natural language.

[2] They said that the Divine Esse is One, the Same, the Itself, and Indivisible; thus also the Divine Essence, because the Divine Esse is the Divine Essence; and thus also God, because the Divine Essence, which is also the Divine Esse, is God. They illustrated this by spiritual ideas, saying that the Divine Esse cannot fall into many, everyone of which has the Divine Esse, and yet be One, the Same, Itself, and Indivisible; for each would think from his Esse from himself and by himself; if he should at the same time also think from the others and by the others unanimously, there would be many unanimous gods, and not one God. For unanimity, as it is the consent of many, and at the same time of each one from himself, and by himself, does not agree with the unity of God, but with a plurality, they did not say of gods, because they could not; for the light of heaven, from which was their thought, and in which their discourse proceeded, resisted.

They also said, that when they want to speak of “Gods,” and each one of them as a Person by Himself, the effort of utterance spontaneously falls into “One,” indeed, into “the Only God.”

[3] To this they added that the Divine Esse is the Divine Esse in Itself, not from Itself; because from Itself supposes an Esse in Itself, from which it is, and thus supposes a God from God, which is not given. That which is from God is not called God, but is called the Divine; for what is a God from God; and thus what is a God from God born from eternity; and what is a God from God proceeding through a God born from eternity, but words in which there is not the least light from heaven? It is otherwise in the Lord Jesus Christ; in Him is the Divine Esse Itself from which all things are, to which the soul in man corresponds, the Divine Human, to which the body in man corresponds, and the Divine proceeding, to which activity in man corresponds. This Trine is a one, because from the Divine from which all things are is the Divine Human, and thence from the Divine from which all things are, through the Divine Human is the Divine proceeding. Therefore also, in every angel and in every man, because they are images, there is a soul, a body, and activity, which make one; since from the soul is the body, and from the soul through the body is the activity.

[4] They said further, that the Divine Esse, which in Itself is God, is the Same; not the Same simply, but Infinite; that is, the same from eternity to eternity; it is the Same everywhere, and the Same with everyone and in everyone; but that all the variety and variableness is in the recipient; the state of the recipient does this.

That the Divine Esse, which is God in Himself, is the Itself they illustrated thus. God is the Itself, because He is Love Itself, Wisdom Itself, Good Itself, Truth Itself, Life Itself; which unless they were the Itself in God, would not be anything in heaven and in the world; because there would not be anything of them having relation to the Itself. Every quality derives its quality from this, that there is an Itself from which it is, and to which it has relation, that it may be such. This Itself, which is the Divine Esse, is not in place, but is with those and in those who are in place, according to reception; since of love and wisdom, and of good and truth, which are the itself in God, yea, are God Himself, place cannot be predicated, or progression from place to place, but without place, whence is omnipresence. Wherefore the Lord says, that “He is in the midst of them;” also “He in them, and they in Him.”

[5] But because He cannot be received by anyone as He is in Himself, He appears as He is in Himself as the sun above the angelic heavens, the proceeding from which as light is Himself as to wisdom, and as heat is Himself as to love. He Himself is not the sun; but the Divine love and Divine wisdom going forth from Himself proximately, round about Himself, appear before the angels as the sun. He Himself in the sun is a Man, He is our Lord Jesus Christ both as to the Divine from which, and as to the Divine Human; since the Itself, which is Love Itself and Wisdom Itself, was His soul from the Father, and thus the Divine Life, which is Life in itself. It is otherwise in every man; in him the soul is not life, but a recipient of life. The Lord also teaches this, saying:

I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, (John 14:6);

As the Father hath life in Himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself, (John 5:26).

Life in Himself is God. They added to this, that he who is in any spiritual light, can perceive that the Divine Esse, which is also the Divine Essence, because it is One, the Same, the Itself, and thence Indivisible, cannot be given in many; and that if it were said to be given, manifest contradictions would follow.

[6] After hearing these things, the angels perceived in my thought the common ideas of the Christian church concerning a Trinity of Persons in Unity and their Unity in Trinity, respecting God, as also concerning the birth of a Son of God from eternity; and they then said, “What are you thinking of? Are you not thinking those things from natural light, with which our spiritual light does not agree? Wherefore, unless you remove the ideas of that thought, we close heaven to you, and go away.” But I then said to them, “Enter, I pray, more deeply into my thought and perhaps you will see agreement.” And they did so, and saw that by three Persons I understand three proceeding Divine attributes, which are creation, salvation, and reformation; and that these attributes are of the one God; and that by the birth of a Son of God from eternity I understood His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time. And I then related that my natural thought concerning a Trinity and Unity of Persons, and concerning the birth of a Son of God from eternity, I received from the doctrine of faith of the church, which has its name from Athanasius; and that that doctrine is just and right, provided that instead of a Trinity of Persons there be there understood a Trinity of Person, which is given only in the Lord Jesus Christ; and instead of the birth of a Son of God there be understood His birth foreseen from eternity and provided in time; because as to the Human, which He took to Himself in time, He is called openly the Son of God.

[7] The angels then said, “Well;” and they requested that I would say from their mouth, that if anyone does not go to the God of heaven and earth Himself, he cannot come into heaven; because heaven is heaven from that only God; and that that God is the Lord Jesus Christ, who is Jehovah the Lord, Creator from eternity, Savior in time, and Reformer to eternity; thus who is at the same time the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. After this the heavenly light before seen above the opening returned, and gradually descended, and filled the interiors of my mind, and enlightened my natural ideas of the Unity and Trinity of God; and then the ideas received about them in the beginning, which were merely natural, I saw separated, as the chaff is separated from the wheat by the motion of a fan, and carried away as by a wind into the north of heaven, and dispersed.

962. The Second Relation. Since it has been given me by the Lord to see the wonderful things which are in the heavens and below the heavens, I must, from command, relate what has been seen. There appeared a magnificent palace, and in its inmost a temple. In the midst of the latter was a table of gold, upon which was the Word, beside which two angels were standing. Around it were seats in three rows; the seats of the first row were covered with silken cloth of a purple color; the seats of the second row, with silken cloth, of a blue color; and the seats of the third row, with white cloth. Under the roof, high above the table, there appeared a widespread canopy, shining with precious stones, from whose splendor shone forth as it were a rainbow, as when heaven clears up after a shower. There then suddenly appeared a number of the clergy, occupying all the seats, clothed in the garments of their priestly office. At one side was a wardrobe, where an angel keeper stood; and within there lay splendid garments in beautiful order.

[2] It was a Council convoked by the Lord; and I heard a voice from heaven, saying, “Deliberate.” But they said, “Upon what?” It was said, “Concerning the Lord and concerning the Holy Spirit.” But when they thought upon these subjects, they were not in enlightenment; wherefore they supplicated, and then light descended from heaven, which first illumined the back part of their heads, and afterwards their temples, and at length their faces; and then they began; and, as it was commanded, first concerning the Lord. The first question proposed and discussed was, “Who assumed the Human in the Virgin Mary?” And an angel standing at the table upon which was the Word, read before them these words in Luke:

The angel said to Mary, Behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and shalt bring forth a Son, and shalt call His name Jesus; He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. And Mary said to the angel, How shall this be, since I know not a man? And the angel answering said, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; whence the Holy One that is born of thee shall be called the Son of God, (Luke 1:31-32, 34-35).

As also what is in Matthew 1:20-25; and what is in verse 25 there he read emphatically. Besides these, he read many things from the Evangelists, where the Lord as to His Human is called “the Son of God,” and where He from His Human calls Jehovah His “Father,” as also from the Prophets, where it is foretold that Jehovah Himself would come into the world; among which also these two, in Isaiah:

It shall be said in that day, Lo, This is our God, whom we have waited for, that He may free us; This is Jehovah, whom we have waited for; let us exult and rejoice in His salvation, (Isaiah 25:9).

The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way for Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God; for the glory of Jehovah shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together; Behold, the lord Jehovah cometh in strength; He shall feed His flock as a shepherd, (Isaiah 40:3, 5, 10-11).

[3] And the angel said, “Since Jehovah Himself came into the world, and assumed the Human, and thereby saved and redeemed men, He is therefore called ‘the Savior’ and ‘the Redeemer’ in the Prophets.” And then he read before them these passages following:

Surely God is in thee, and there is no God besides; verily thou art a hidden God, O God of Israel, the Savior, (Isaiah 45:14-15).

Am not I Jehovah? And there is no God else besides Me; a just God and a Savior, there is none besides Me, (Isaiah 45:21-22).

I am Jehovah, and besides Me there is no Savior, (Isaiah 43:11).

I Jehovah am thy God, and thou shalt acknowledge no God besides Me, and there is no Savior besides Me, (Hosea 13:4).

That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, (Isaiah 49:26; 60:16).

As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, (Isaiah 47:4).

Their Redeemer is strong, Jehovah of Hosts is His name, (Jeremiah 50:34).

O Jehovah, my Rock and my Redeemer, (Psalms 19:14).

Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I Jehovah am thy God, (Isaiah 43:14; 48:17; 49:7; 54:8).

Thou O Jehovah art our Father, our Redeemer, Thy name is from an age, (Isaiah 63:16).

Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, I am Jehovah that maketh all things, and alone by Myself, (Isaiah 44:24).

Thus said Jehovah King of Israel, and His Redeemer Jehovah of Hosts, I am the First and the Last, and besides Me there is no God, (Isaiah 44:6).

Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called, (Isaiah 54:5).

Behold, the days come, that I will raise up unto David a just Branch who shall reign King, and this is His name, Jehovah our Justice, (Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16).

In that day shall Jehovah be king over all the earth; in that day shall Jehovah be one; and His name one, (Zechariah 14:9).

[4] Being confirmed from all these passages, those that sat upon the seats said unanimously that Jehovah Himself assumed the Human to save and redeem men. But there was then heard a voice from the Roman Catholics, who had hid themselves in a corner of the temple, saying, “How can Jehovah the Father become Man? Is He not the Creator of the universe?” And one of them that sat upon the seats of the second row turned himself, and said, “Who then?” And he from the corner answered, “The Son from eternity.” But he received for answer, “Is not the Son from eternity, according to your confession, the Creator of the universe also? And what is a Son or a God born from eternity? And how can the Divine Essence, which is one and indivisible, be separated, and some of it descend and take on the Human, and not the whole?”

[5] The second discussion concerning the Lord was, whether God the Father and He thus are one, as the soul and the body are one? They said that this is a consequence, because the soul is from the Father. And then one of those who sat upon the seats in the third row read from the creed which is called Athanasian these words: “Although our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and Man, still they are not two, but one Christ; yea, He is altogether one, He is one Person; since as the soul and the body make one man, so God and Man are one Christ.” The reader said that this faith is received in the whole Christian world, even by the Roman Catholics. And they then said, “What need is there of more? God the Father and He are one, as the soul and the body are one.” And they said, “As it is so, we see that the Lord’s Human is Divine, because it is the Human of Jehovah; then that the Lord as to the Divine Human is to be approached; and that thus and not otherwise can the Divine which is called the Father be approached.”

[6] This conclusion of theirs the angel confirmed by many more passages from the Word, among which were these in Isaiah:

Unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given, whose name is Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, the Father of eternity, the Prince of peace, (Isaiah 9:6).

Thou art our Father, Abraham hath not known us, and Israel doth not acknowledge us; Thou, O Jehovah; art our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name, (Isaiah 63:16).

And in John:

Jesus said, He that believeth in Me, believeth in Him that sent Me, and he that seeth Me seeth Him who sent Me, (John 12:44-45).

Philip said unto Jesus, Show us the Father; Jesus saith unto him, He that seeth Me seeth the Father; how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, (John 14:8-11).

Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one cometh to the Father but by Me, (John 14:6).

On hearing these, they all said with one voice and heart, that the Lord’s Human is Divine, and that this is to be approached that the Father may be approached; since Jehovah God, who is the Lord from eternity, through it sent Himself into the world, and made Himself visible to the eyes of men, and thus accessible. Likewise He made Himself visible and thus accessible in the Human form to the ancients, but then through an angel.

[7] After this followed the deliberation concerning the Holy Spirit. And first was disclosed the idea of many respecting God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, which was as if God the Father was sitting on high, and the Son at His right hand, and they were sending forth the Holy Spirit from them, to enlighten and teach men. But a voice was then heard from heaven, saying, “We cannot endure that idea of thought. Who does not know that Jehovah God is omnipresent? He who knows and acknowledges this, will also acknowledge that He Himself enlightens and teaches; and that there is not an intermediate God, distinct from Him, and still less from two, as one person from another. Therefore let the former idea, which is vain, be removed; and let this, which is just, be received, and you will see this clearly.”

[8] But a voice was then heard again from the Roman Catholics, who had hid themselves in the corner of the temple, saying, “What then is the Holy Spirit, who is named in the Word in the Evangelists and in Paul, by whom so many of the learned men from the clergy, especially from ours, say that they are led? Who in the Christian world at this day denies the Holy Spirit and its operation?” At this one of those who were sitting upon the second row of seats, turned himself and said, “The Holy Spirit is the Divine proceeding from Jehovah the Lord. You say that the Holy Spirit is a Person by Himself and a God by Himself. But what is a Person going forth and proceeding from a Person, but operation going forth and proceeding? One person cannot go forth and proceed from another through a third, but operation can. Or what is a God going forth and proceeding from a God, but the Divine going forth and proceeding? One God cannot go forth and proceed from another through a third, but the Divine can. Is not the Divine Essence one and indivisible? And as the Divine Essence or the Divine Esse is God, is not God one and indivisible?”

[9] On hearing these things, they who sat upon the seats concluded unanimously that the Holy Spirit is not a Person by itself, nor a God by itself; but that it is the Holy Divine going forth and proceeding from the Only Omnipresent God, who is the Lord. At this the angels that stood by the golden table upon which was the Word, said, “It is well. We do not anywhere read in the Old Testament, that the prophets spoke the Word from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah the Lord; and where ‘the Holy Spirit’ is mentioned in the New Testament, the proceeding Divine is meant, which is the Divine enlightening, teaching, vivifying, reforming, and regenerating.”

[10] After this there followed another discussion concerning the Holy Spirit, which was, From whom does the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit proceed? Is it from the Divine which is called the Father, or from the Divine Human which is called the Son? And when they were discussing this, the light shone on them from heaven, from which they saw that the Holy Divine, which is meant by the Holy Spirit, proceeds from the Divine in the Lord through His glorified Human, which is the Divine Human, comparatively as all activity proceeds from the soul through the body with man. This the angel standing at the table confirmed from the Word by these passages:

He whom the Father hath sent, speaketh the words of God; He hath not given the Spirit by measure unto Him; the Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into His hand, (John 3:34-35).

There shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and intelligence, the Spirit of counsel and might, (Isaiah 11:1-2).

That the Spirit of Jehovah was given upon Him, and that it was in Him, (Isaiah 42:1; 59:19-20; 61:1; Luke 4:18).

When the Holy Spirit shall come, which I will send unto you from the Father, (John 15:26).

He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and announce it unto you; all things that the Father hath are Mine; therefore I said that He shall receive of Mine, and announce it unto you, (John 16:14-15).

If I go away, I will send the Comforter unto you, (John 16:7).

The Comforter is the Holy Spirit, (John 14:26).

The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified, (John 7:39).

After the glorification, Jesus breathed on them, and said to the disciples, Receive ye the Holy Spirit, (John 20:22).

[11] Since the Lord’s Divine operation from his Divine omnipresence is meant by the Holy Spirit, therefore when He spoke to the disciples concerning the Holy Spirit which He would send from God the Father, He also said:

I will not leave you orphans; I go away, and come unto you; and in that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you, (John 14:18, 20, 28).

And just before His departure out of the world, He said:

Lo, I am with you all the days until the consummation of the age, (Matthew 28:20).

Having read these words before them, the angel said, “From these and many other passages in the Word, it is manifest that the Divine which is called the Holy Spirit proceeds from the Divine in the Lord through His Divine Human.” To this they that sat upon the seats said, “This is the Divine truth.”

[12] At length this decision was made, “That from the deliberations in this council we have clearly seen, and thence acknowledge as the holy truth, that in our Lord Jesus Christ there is a Divine Trinity, which is, the Divine from which, that is called the Father; the Divine Human, which is the Son; and the proceeding Divine, which is the Holy Spirit. Thus there is one God in the church.”

After these things were concluded in that magnificent Council, they rose up; and the angel keeper of the wardrobe came and brought to each of those who sat upon the seats splendid garments interwoven here and there with threads of gold, and said, “Receive these wedding garments.” And they were conducted in glory into the New Christian Heaven, with which the Lord’s church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem, will be conjoined.

Revelation 22:21: The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

THE END

Notes

[←1]

In the original Latin “of the kings” is omitted.

[←2]

The clause in brackets is omitted in the Latin, but appears in the explanation below (n. 39).

[←3]

In the original Latin “white” is omitted, but is in the text of the chapter.

[←4]

The Hebrew has “us.” In Apocalypse Explained 409, we also read “you.”

[←5]

The translation reads “Word,” but the Latin clearly is “Lord.”

[←6]

deceived

[←7]

The original Latin has “opus” for “onus,” evidently a misprint; in 144 we read “onus.”

[←8]

The original Latin omits “and thy works.”

[←9]

The original Latin omits, “of their works.”

[←10]

The original Latin omits, “as they speak.”

[←11]

The original Latin has “meum” (“my”) for “novum” (“new”).

[←12]

The original Latin has “The Lord.”

[←13]

The original Latin has “vestri” (“your”).

[←14]

The original Latin omits “and thy works.”

[←15]

The original Latin has “seventy” instead of “forty.”

[←16]

The original Latin has “their” for “your.”

[←17]

The original Latin omits “for they are worthy.”

[←18]

The original Latin omits “for they are worthy,” but it is explained in the text below.

[←19]

The original Latin has “illorum” (“them”), the Hebrew is “you.”

[←20]

205 is omitted in the original Latin without explanation.

[←21]

The original Latin omits “burning.”

[←22]

The original Latin omits “worthy, (Revelation 5:1).”

[←23]

The original Latin omits “and the number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands.”

[←24]

The original Latin omits “worthy.”

[←25]

The Hebrew has “their.”

[←26]

The Hebrew has “Lord.”

[←27]

The original Latin omits “of the earth.”

[←28]

The original Latin omits “Who are holy and true.”

[←29]

The original Hebrew has “God.”

[←30]

The original Latin omits “Who are holy and true.”

[←31]

The original Latin omits “to them.”

[←32]

The original Latin omits “and their brethren.”

[←33]

This was written in the reign of George III. , who was grandson to George II.

[←34]

The original Latin omits “of the sons.”

[←35]

The original Latin omits “of the sons.”

[←36]

The original Latin omits “And they fell down before the throne upon their faces, and adored God.” It is explained in the chapter, (370).

[←37]

The original Latin omits “of the sons.”

[←38]

The original Latin has “omne” for “nonne;” “all” for “is this not.”

[←39]

Coulson, in his English translation, notes that the Latin edition cites passages 22-24, and 25-27, but that Swedenborg is clearly referring to passages 12-14, and 15-17, in Doctrine of the Lord.

[←40]

The original Latin has “clivis” for “viis;” the Hebrew is “ways” (“viis”).

[←41]

The original Latin omits “mountain.”

[←42]

The original Latin has “homo” for “hamo,” “man” for “hook.”

[←43]

The original Latin omits “status” (“state”).

[←44]

The original Latin omits “sea and upon,” but it is inserted in the explanation below.

[←45]

The original Latin omits “and times,” but it is in the explanation below.

[←46]

English Bible “13:1”

[←47]

The Hebrew has “his.”

[←48]

English Bible, “13:1.”

[←49]

The Hebrew has “us.”

[←50]

The Greek has “the faith of Jesus.”

[←51]

The original Latin omits, “four.”

[←52]

The original Latin omits “Write.”

[←53]

The original Latin has “Scripture.”

[←54]

The original Latin has “Nathaniel.”

[←55]

The Hebrew has “Zion.”

[←56]

The Hebrew has “thee to Me.”

[←57]

The Hebrew has “Thy.”

[←58]

The original Latin has “outside” for “inside.”

[←59]

The original Latin has “angels,” the Greek is “saints.”

[←60]

682 is omitted in the original Latin without explanation.

[←61]

The original Latin has “lambebant” for “mandebant.”

[←62]

This verse is omitted in the original Latin, but the spiritual sense of the words is here repeated as it is given at the beginning of the chapter; the reader is referred, however, to 336 of this work, where nearly the same expressions occur together with their explanation. -Tr.

[←63]

This was published in the year 1766, consequently the king here mentioned is George II.

[←64]

The original Latin omits “name.”

[←65]

The original Latin omits “which thou sawest.”

[←66]

The original Latin omits “Come.”

[←67]

The original Latin omits “name.”

[←68]

The original Latin omits “which thou sawest.”

[←69]

The original Latin omits “looking back.”

[←70]

The original Latin has “hour,” the Greek has “day,” so also we read “day” in the chapter above, and in the explanation, 765

[←71]

The clause, “Thy great ones were the merchants of the earth,” in the text of the chapter and in the Greek is reversed, “Thy merchants were the great ones of the earth.”

[←72]

The original Latin has “malitia” for “militia,” “wickedness” for “warfare.”

[←73]

The original Latin has “thy,” the Hebrew has “their.”

[←74]

The clause, “Thy great ones were the merchants of the earth,” in the text of the chapter and in the Greek is reversed, “Thy merchants were the great ones of the earth.”

[←75]

The clause, “Thy great ones were the merchants of the earth,” in the text of the chapter and in the Greek is reversed, “Thy merchants were the great ones of the earth.”

[←76]

The original Latin has “terram,” “earth,” the Hebrew has “stars.”

[←77]

The original Latin omits “and, (Revelation 20:1) no place was found for them.”

[←78]

There is no number 857 in the original Latin. However, it is referred to in 550, 858, 870. It is possible that the printer omitted the paragraph.

[←79]

The original Latin has “new” for “former.”

[←80]

The original Latin omits “adorned.”

[←81]

The original Latin omits “adorned.”

[←82]

926-931 are omitted in the original Latin without explanation.

[←83]

The original omits “God.”

[←84]

The original Latin omits “book.”