THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED
DISCLOSING THE ARCANA FORETOLD
THERE, WHICH HAVE PREVIOUSLY
LAIN HIDDEN
By
Emanuel Swedenborg
[First published 1766]
[Translator’s Table of Contents]
Preface
The Doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and Religion in Summary
The Doctrines of the Protestant Reformed Church and Religion in Summary
Revelation: Chapter 1 (nos. 1-67)
Revelation: Chapter 2 (nos. 68-153)
Revelation: Chapter 3 (nos. 154-224)
Revelation: Chapter 4 (nos. 225-255)
Revelation: Chapter 5 (nos. 256-294)
Revelation: Chapter 6 (nos. 295-341)
Revelation: Chapter 7 (nos. 342-386)
Revelation: Chapter 8 (nos. 387-417)
Revelation: Chapter 9 (nos. 419-463)
Revelation: Chapter 10 (nos. 464-484)
Revelation: Chapter 11 (nos. 485-531)
Revelation: Chapter 12 (nos. 532-566)
PREFACE
Many people have toiled at an explanation of the book of Revelation, but since the spiritual meaning of the Word has been previously unknown, they have been unable to see the arcana that lie hidden in it. For only the spiritual meaning discloses these. Expositors have therefore produced various conjectures, and most have applied the contents there to the circumstances of empires, mixing in as well some observations regarding matters affecting the church.
In its spiritual meaning, however, the book of Revelation, like the rest of the Word, does not deal at all with worldly affairs, but with heavenly ones – dealing thus not with empires and kingdoms, but with heaven and the church.
It should be known that following the Last Judgment – which was completed in the spiritual world in 1757 (as described in a special small work published in London in 1758) – a new heaven was formed of Christians, but only of those who could accept that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, according to His words in Matthew 28:18,* and who at the same time repented of their evil deeds in the world. From this heaven has descended and will continue to descend a new church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem.
* “And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.'”
That this new church will acknowledge the Lord alone is apparent from these words in Revelation:
…one of the seven angels…came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And he…showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God…. (Revelation 21:9, 10)
And elsewhere:
Let us be glad and rejoice…, because (the time of) the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready…. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb! (Revelation 19:7, 9)
The fact that there will be a new heaven, and that a new church on earth will descend from it, is apparent 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?. And He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, because these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:1, 2, 5)
The new heaven is a new heaven of Christians. The new Jerusalem is a new church on earth, which will exist in union with that new heaven. The Lamb is the Lord in respect to his Divine Humanity.
To this I will add some remarks to illuminate the matter. The Christian heaven exists below the ancient heavens. Into it have been admitted people who, from the time when the Lord was in the world, worshiped one God in the form of three persons, without at the same time having an idea of three gods, and this for the reason that a trinity of persons was accepted throughout the Christian world. On the other hand, those who entertained no other idea of the Lord’s Humanity than of its being like the humanity of any other person could not accept the faith of the New Jerusalem, namely, that the Lord is the only God, in whom is the trinity. These people were separated therefore, and sent off in various directions. It was granted me to see the separations after the Last Judgment, and the banishments.
The fact is that heaven in its entirety is founded on a right idea of God, and so, too, the entire church on earth, and all religion in general. For that idea leads to conjunction, and through conjunction to light, wisdom, and eternal happiness.
Everyone can see that the book of Revelation cannot possibly be explained except by the Lord alone, for every single word in it contains arcana – arcana which never would be known without a singular enlightenment and thus revelation. Consequently it has pleased the Lord to open for me the sight of my spirit and teach me. Do not suppose therefore that I have acquired anything there on my own, or from any angel, but from the Lord alone.
The Lord also said through the angel to John, “Do not seal the words of the prophecy of this book” (Revelation 22:10), which means that they are to be presented to view.
THE DOCTRINES OF
THE ROMAN CATHOLIC
CHURCH AND RELIGION
IN SUMMARY
Since chapters 17, 18 and 19 in the book of Revelation deal also with Babylon, which is the Roman Catholic religion, we need at the outset to set forth its teachings, and these in the following order: namely, regarding Baptism, the Eucharist or Holy Supper, Masses, Penance, Justification, Purgatory, the Seven Sacraments, Saints, and Authority.
1. Regarding Baptism, Roman Catholics teach that:
After the offense of his transgression, Adam was completely changed for the worse in both body and soul.
This sin was transmitted throughout the whole human race.
This original sin is taken away solely through the merit of Christ; the merit of Christ is applied by the sacrament of baptism; and the guilt of original sin is thus totally removed by baptism.
Lust still remains in the baptized as a stimulus to sin, but not as sin.
The baptized thus put on Christ, become new creatures, and gain full and complete forgiveness of sins.
Baptism is called the laver of regeneration and faith.
When the baptized grow up, they are to be questioned regarding the promises made by their sponsors, which is the Sacrament of Confirmation.
Owing to lapses following baptism, the sacrament of penance is necessary.
2. Regarding the Eucharist or Holy Supper:
Immediately after consecration of the elements, the actual body and actual blood of Jesus Christ are, by virtue of the words,* really and substantially contained in them under the appearance of bread and wine – His body under the appearance of bread, and His blood under the appearance of wine – together with His soul and Divinity. And yet the same body is present there under the appearance of wine, and the same blood under the appearance of bread, and the soul under the appearance of both, by virtue of the natural connection and concomitant existence by which the parts of Christ the Lord are coupled together, including as well His Divinity, owing to its wonderful hypostatic union with the body and soul. Thus the same content is contained under the one appearance as under both. In a word, Christ exists wholly and completely under the appearance of the bread and under every part of that appearance, and wholly also under the appearance of the wine and its constituent parts. The two appearances are therefore separated, with the bread given to the laity, and the wine to the clergy.
* I.e., “This is My body,” and “this is My blood,” taken from Matthew 6:26-28, Mark 14:22-24, Luke 22:19, 20.
Water is to be mixed with the wine in the chalice.
The laity must receive Communion from the clergy, while the clergy administer Communion to themselves.
After the consecration of the elements, the actual body and actual blood of Christ exist in the consecrated pieces of the host;* and the host is therefore to be venerated when it is displayed and conveyed about.
* I.e., the bread.
This marvelous and singular conversion of the entire substance of the bread into Christ’s body, and of the entire substance of the wine into His blood, is called transubstantiation.
Under certain conditions an administration of Communion with both elements may be granted by the Pope.
The bread is called supersubstantial and the bread of angels, which they eat without any veilings. It is also called spiritual food, and the antidote by which they are set free from sins.
3. Regarding Masses:
Roman Catholics call it the sacrifice of the mass, since the sacrifice by which Christ offered Himself to God the Father is represented in it under the appearance of the bread and wine. It is a truly propitiatory sacrifice, therefore, and a pure one, having nothing but what is holy in it.
If the people do not receive Communion in the sacrament, but only the celebrator of it, the people in that case receive it spiritually, because the celebrators of it celebrate it not for themselves only, but for all the faithful who belong to the body of Christ.
Masses ought not to be celebrated in the vernacular tongue, because they contain the great learning of the congregation of the faithful, but the celebrators may make some explanation on the Lord’s days.
The practice has been established to pronounce some of the mystical words in a low voice, and others in a louder voice; and, for the majesty of so great a sacrifice being offered to God, to use lights, fumigations with incense, vestments, and other like things.
The sacrifice is to be offered for the sins, punishments, satisfactions, and anything else required of the living, and for the dead.
Masses in commemoration of saints are expressions of thanksgiving for their interceding when implored.
4. Regarding Penance:
In addition to baptism there is the sacrament of penance, by which the benefit of the death and merit of Christ is applied to people who have lapsed after baptism. Therefore it is called a kind of elaboration of baptism.
The steps of penance are contrition, confession, and satisfaction.
Contrition is a gift of God, and an impulse of the Holy Spirit not yet indwelling, but only moving in a person; thus it is a disposition.
Confession ought to be made of all mortal sins, even the most hidden, and of one’s intentions.
Sins retained are not forgiven; but those which, after examination, do not recur, are included in the confession.
Confession ought to be made at least once a year.
Sins are to be absolved by ordained holders of the keys,* and sins are forgiven when these say, “I absolve you.” Absolution is like the act of a judge when he pronounces sentence.
* I.e., ordained clergy.
The more grievous sins must be absolved by bishops, and still more grievous ones by the Pope.
Satisfaction is made by having expiatory penalties imposed by a cleric at his discretion, commensurate with the offense.
When eternal punishment is set aside, so too is the temporal penalty.
The authority to grant indulgences was left to the Church by Christ, and employment of them is especially saving.
5. Regarding Justification:
Passage from the state in which a person is born a child of Adam, into a state of grace through the Savior as a second Adam, is impossible without the washing of regeneration and faith, or baptism.
A second commencement of justification results from a prevenient grace, which is a calling with which a person cooperates by changing himself.
A disposition is formed by faith, to which a person is freely moved, when he believes what has been revealed to be true. After that, by hope, when he believes that God is gracious for the sake of Christ. And by charity, as he begins to love the neighbor and hate sin.
The justification which follows means not only a forgiveness of sins, but a sanctification and renewal of the inner self. People are then not regarded as righteous, but are in fact righteous, admitting righteousness into themselves; and because they receive the merit of Christ’s passion, their justification is thus introduced through faith, hope and charity.
Faith is the beginning of human salvation, the foundation and root of justification, and this is what it means to be justified by faith.
Moreover, because none of the things that precede justification, whether faith or works, merits the grace of justification, to be justified is to be justified by grace, for it is a prevenient grace.
Yet a person is nevertheless justified by works, and not by faith only.
The righteous may fall into light and venial sins and still be righteous.
Therefore the righteous ought also to continually labor by prayers, offerings, alms and fasts not to fall, because they have been reborn into the hope of glory, and not into glory.
If the righteous fall from the grace of justification, they may be justified again by the sacrament of penance.
By every mortal sin grace is lost, but not faith, whereas by infidelity, which is a turning away from religion, faith also is lost.
The works of one who has been justified are meritorious; and by the works which they do by the grace of God and the merit of Christ, the justified merit eternal life.
Free will was not lost or extinguished by the sin of Adam. A person cooperates by acceding to the calling of God. Otherwise he would be an inanimate body.
Roman Catholics assert predestination, saying that no one knows whether he is among the number of the predestinated, or among those whom God has chosen for Himself, except by a special revelation.
6. Regarding Purgatory:
Justification does not remove all the guilt of a temporal penalty paid. All therefore enter into purgatory to be set free of the guilt, before the entrance to heaven lies open.
The souls of the faithful detained there are helped by intercessory prayers, and especially by the sacrifice of the mass; and this must be diligently taught and preached.
(The torments there are variously described, but they are inventions, mere fictions.)
7. Regarding the Seven Sacraments:
There are seven sacraments: baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, penance, extreme unction, orders, and matrimony. There are no more, nor fewer.
One is of more worth than another.
They contain grace, and grace is conferred by them ex opere operato [simply by the performance of them].
The same number of sacraments existed in the ancient law [of the Old Testament].
(We have dealt already with baptism, confirmation, the Eucharist, and penance.)
Regarding the Sacrament of Extreme Unction:
It is based on James 5:14, 15.*
* “Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.”
It is administered to the ill near the end of life, which is why it is called the sacrament of the departing.
If the recipients recover, it may be administered again.
It is administered with oil blessed by a bishop, and uses these words: “God grant you indulgence for whatever offense you have committed by fault of the eyes, nostrils or touch.”
Regarding the Sacrament of Orders:
The service of the priesthood has in it seven orders, which differ in rank and together are called the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a hierarchy ordered like the battle lines of an army camp.
Inaugurations into the service are effected by anointings, and by transfers of the Holy Spirit into those inaugurated.
Ordinations of bishops and priests do not require any secular authority, or the consent, calling, or authority of a magistrate. Men who ascend to the service merely by the appointment of such secular authorities, at their calling, are not ministers, but thieves and robbers, who do not “enter by the door.”*
* A reference to John 10:1.
Regarding the Sacrament of Matrimony:
Dispensation in regard to degrees [of consanguinity and affinity] and divorce belong to the Church.
Clergy may not contract matrimony.
It is possible for all to have the gift of chastity, and if anyone says he is not capable of it, even though he has vowed it, he is an anathema, because God does not deny it to those who rightly ask it, nor does He allow anyone to be tempted beyond what he can bear.
The state of virginity and celibacy is to be preferred to the state of marriage. And so on.
8. Regarding Saints:
The saints reigning together with Christ offer their prayers to God for mankind.
Christ is to be adored and saints invoked. The invoking of saints is not idolatrous, neither is it contrary to the honor due the one Mediator between God and man. It is called dulia.*
* A lesser veneration paid by Roman Catholics to saints and angels, in contrast to latria, the worship due only to God and Christ.
Images of Christ, of Mary, mother of God, and of saints are to be venerated and honored – not that they should be believed to have any Divinity or power in them, but that the honor shown them may be assigned to the original people whom they represent. Moreover, through the images which Roman Catholics kiss, and before which they kneel and bare their heads, they adore Christ and venerate the saints.
The miracles performed by saints are miracles of God.
9. Regarding Authority:
The Roman Pope is the successor of the Apostle Peter, and is the Vicar of Christ, the Head of the Church, and Universal Bishop. He is above councils.
He has the keys to open and close heaven, thus the power to forgive and retain sins. As the key-bearer of eternal life, he has right, therefore, to earthly and heavenly rule.
From him flows the same power to bishops and priests as well, because it was given also to the rest of the apostles, and they are therefore called ministers of the keys.
It belongs to the Church to judge of the true meaning and interpretation of the Holy Scripture, and those who contradict this are to be punished with penalties established by law.
It is not fitting for laity to read the Holy Scripture, since no one but the Church knows its meaning. Therefore its ministers boast of their knowing it.
10. These tenets come from councils and bulls, especially from the Council of Trent* and the papal bull confirming [its decrees],** in which they condemn by anathema all who think, believe and act contrary to what it has decreed, which in general are what we have cited above.
* An ecumenical council convened in 1545 at Trento in northern Italy to answer the Protestant Reformation by formally defining the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church and introducing certain moral and administrative reforms. The Council met off and on over a number of years, finally concluding its deliberations at the end of 1563.
** “Benedictus Deus,” issued by Pope Pius IV on January 26, 1764.
THE DOCTRINES OF
THE PROTESTANT REFORMED
CHURCH AND RELIGION
IN SUMMARY
Since in its spiritual sense the book of Revelation deals at length with the Protestant Reformed, therefore before embarking on the expositions we need to set forth its teachings also, and these in the following order: namely, regarding God, Christ the Lord, Justification by Faith and Good Works, the Law and the Gospel, Repentance and Confession, Original Sin, baptism, Holy Supper, Free Will, and the Church.
1. Regarding God:
Regarding God, the Protestant Reformed believe in accord with the Athanasian Creed,* which we do not take up here because it is in everyone’s hand.**
* A profession of faith beginning with the words “Quicunque vult” and once widely used in western Christianity. Attributed in earlier centuries to Athanasius, Archbishop of Alexandria in the 4th century, it became known also as the Athanasian Creed; but modern scholarship no longer ascribes it to him but to some other, unknown, western writer(s), perhaps originating in Gaul toward the end of the 5th century.
** As the Athanasian Creed is not, however, in everyone’s hand today, we include our translation of it here:
“Whoever wishes to be saved must above all hold to the Catholic faith. And unless one has kept it intact and inviolate, he will surely perish to eternity.
“This now is the Catholic faith: that we revere one God in trinity, and the trinity in unity, neither confounding their persons nor dividing their essence. For the person of the Father is one person, that of the Son another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit possess one Divinity, an equal glory, a coeternal majesty. As the nature of the Father is, such is the nature of the Son, and such also the nature of the Holy Spirit. The Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, and the Holy Spirit is uncreated. The Father is immeasurable, the Son is immeasurable, and the Holy Spirit is immeasurable. The Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, and the Holy Spirit is eternal. And yet there are not three eternal Gods, but one eternal God. Even as there are not three uncreated Gods, nor three immeasurable Gods, but one uncreated God, and one immeasurable God. Similarly, the Father is omnipotent, the Son is omnipotent, and the Holy Spirit is omnipotent. And yet there are not three omnipotent Gods, but one omnipotent God. Thus the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. And yet there are not three Gods, but one God. Thus the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord. And yet there are not three Lords, but one Lord. For as Christian verity compels us to confess each person individually as God and Lord, so Catholic religion forbids us to say three Gods or Lords. The Father was not made by anyone, nor created or begotten. The Son exists from the Father, being neither made, nor created, but begotten. The Holy Spirit exists from the Father and Son, being neither made, nor created, nor begotten, but emanating. There is therefore one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Spirit, not three Holy Spirits. Moreover in this trinity nothing is prior or subsequent, nothing greater or lesser; but the three persons are altogether coeternal and coequal with each other. Thus, in every respect, we must, as stated already before, revere a unity in trinity, and a trinity in unity. Whoever wishes to be saved, therefore, let him think in this way about the trinity.
“For eternal salvation, however, it is necessary that one also faithfully believe in the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ. A right faith, therefore, is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man – being God, having been begotten from the essence of the Father before the world was, and being man, having been born from the essence of the mother in the world – being perfect God, perfect man, consisting of a rational soul and human flesh, equal to the Father as regards Divinity, less than the Father as regards humanity. But although He is God and man, nevertheless there are not two Christs but one, yet one not by a conversion of His Divinity into flesh, but by an assumption of His humanity into God; being completely one, but not by a confounding of any essence, but by the unity of His person. For as a rational soul and flesh are one person, so God and man are one Christ, who suffered for our salvation. He descended to hell. On the third day He rose from the dead. He ascended to heaven. He sits on the right hand of the Father. He will come from there to judge the living and the dead. At His coming all people will have to rise with their bodies and give an accounting of their individual deeds. And those who have done good deeds will enter into eternal life, while those who have done evil deeds will enter into eternal fire.
“This is the Catholic faith, and unless one believes it faithfully and firmly, he cannot be saved.”
People also know that they believe in God the Father as the Creator and Preserver, in God the Son as the Savior and Redeemer, and in the Holy Spirit as the Enlightener and Sanctifier.
2. Regarding Christ the Lord:
Regarding the person of Christ the Protestant Reformed do not all teach the same thing.
Lutherans teach that:
The virgin Mary conceived and bore not only a real person, but also the real Son of God, on which account she is rightly called, and truly is, the Mother of God.
Christ has in Him two natures, Divine and human – Divine from eternity, and human in time. These two natures are united as to person, so completely united that there are not two Christs, one the Son of God, the other the Son of Man, but so that the one and the same person is the Son of God and the Son of Man – not that the two natures were commingled into one essence, nor that one was changed into the other, but that each nature retains its own essential properties, and what these are is also described.
The union of these natures is a hypostatic union, and it is a most perfect partnership, like that of soul and body. It is therefore rightly said that in Christ God is Man and Man is God.
He suffered for us not as a mere man only, but as a man whose human nature had such a close and indescribable union and partnership with the Son of God as to form one person with it.
Truly the Son of God suffered for us, but only in respect to the properties of His human nature.
The Son of Man, meaning Christ as to His human nature, was in fact raised to the right hand of God when He was taken up into God, which happened as soon as He was conceived of the Holy Spirit in His mother’s womb.
Christ always had that majesty by reason of the union in His person, but in His state of exinanition He exercised it only to the extent that it seemed good to Him. After the resurrection, however, He fully and completely put off the form of a servant and set His human nature or essence into complete appropriation of the Divine majesty; and in this way He entered into glory.
In a word, Christ is true God and man in one indivisible person, and remains so to eternity. And as true, omnipotent, and eternal God, He also, in respect to His humanity abiding at the right hand of God, governs all things in heaven and on earth, and moreover fills all things, is present with us, and dwells and operates in us.
There is no difference in adoration [of the Divine and human natures], because through the nature that is seen, the Divinity is adored that is not seen.
The Divine essence communicates and imparts its own excellent properties to the human nature, and it performs its Divine operations through the body as through its instrument. Thus all the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily, as Paul said.
* Colossians 2:9
The Incarnation took place in order that He might reconcile the Father to us, and become a sacrificial victim for the sins of the whole world, both original sin and sins actually committed. He was incarnated from the essence of the Holy Spirit, but the human nature came from the Virgin Mary, which He, as the Word, took on and united to Himself.
He sanctifies those who believe in Him, by sending the Holy Spirit into their hearts to govern, comfort, and animate them, and to defend them against the devil and the power of sin.
Christ descended to those below and destroyed hell for all believers.* How this was accomplished, however, He does not wish to be closely investigated. Rather knowledge of this occurrence is reserved for another age, when not only this mystery, but many others too will be revealed.
* See 1 Peter 3:18-20.
These tenets come from Luther,* the Augsburg Confession,** the Council of Nicea,*** and the Schmalkaldic Articles.**** See The Formula of Concord.*****
* I.e., Martin Luther, 1483-1546, German leader of the Protestant Reformation, founder of Lutheranism, and author of numerous theological treatises.
** A detailed confession of faith drawn up by Philipp Melanchthon primarily and approved by Martin Luther, which was presented to the Emperor Charles V at Augsburg in Bavaria on June 25, 1530, a confession which became the principal creed of the Lutheran Church.
*** A council convened by the Roman emperor Constantine in 325 A.D. at Nicea (now Iznik) in Bithynia, primarily to settle a theological controversy between eastern and western theologians over Arianism, which the council condemned in a statement known as the Nicene Creed. A second creed of unknown origin appearing somewhat later and bearing a close resemblance to the earlier creed is also known as the Nicene Creed, and is the one more often meant.
**** A doctrinal statement produced by Martin Luther and presented on February 23, 1537, to an assembly of Lutheran princes and theologians at Schmalkalden in Thuringia, Germany. The articles were subsequently published, and in 1580 included in the Book of Concord, a compilation of doctrinal formulations and creeds published in German at Dresden.
***** The last of the classical Lutheran statements of faith, composed in 1577 by a number of theologians in response to schisms in the Lutheran Church and subsequently published in 1580 along with other formulas and creeds in The Book of Concord.
Some of the Protestant Reformed, as discussed also in The Formula of Concord, believe that:
Christ, in keeping with His human nature, received by His exaltation created gifts and finite power only, so that He is a man like any other, retaining the properties of the flesh. In respect to His human nature He is therefore not omnipresent or omniscient. Although absent, He rules as a king does matters at a distance from Him.
As God from eternity He abides with the Father, while as a man born in time He abides with angels in heaven. The saying that in Christ God is Man and Man is God is a figure of speech. Along with other like statements.
This disagreement, however, is settled by the Athanasian Creed, which everyone in the Christian world accepts, where we find these words:
The true faith…is that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man – being God, having been begotten from the essence of the Father before the world was, and being man, having been born from the essence of the mother in the world – being perfect God and perfect man… But although He is God and man, nevertheless there are not two Christs but one, …one not by a conversion of His Divine essence into flesh, but by an assumption of His humanity into God; being completely one, but not by a confounding of any essence, but by the unity of His person. For as a rational soul and flesh are one person, so God and man are one Christ.
3. Regarding Justification by Faith, and Good Works:
The justifying and saving faith of the clergy is this: God the Father turned away from the human race because of its iniquities, and so in accord with justice condemned it to eternal death. Therefore He also sent His Son into the world to atone and redeem, and to make satisfaction and effect a reconciliation, and this the Son did by taking upon Himself the condemnation of the Law and suffering Himself to be crucified. In so doing, and by obedience, He fulfilled all the requirements of God’s justice, even so that He became righteousness; and God the Father imputes and applies His merit to believers, and sends to them the Holy Spirit, which produces charity, good works, and repentance as a good tree produces good fruit, and so justifies, renews, regenerates, and sanctifies. This faith is also the one and only means of salvation, and by it alone are sins forgiven a person.
They draw a distinction between the act and state of justification. By the act of justification they mean the beginning of justification, which takes place the moment a person through that faith alone embraces with confidence the merit of Christ. By the state of justification they mean the progress of that faith, which results from an inner operation of the Holy Spirit, an operation that does not manifest itself beyond certain signs, concerning which they have various teachings. They speak also of manifest good works, which are done by a person and of his volition, and which follow that faith, but they do not include them as part of justification because a person’s native character and thus his merit-seeking is in them.
This is today’s faith in summary, but the arguments in its defense and the teachings concerning it are many and manifold, some of which we must also cite, as the following: People cannot be justified before God by their own powers, merits or works, but they are justified gratis for the sake of Christ, through faith, by believing that they are received into grace and that their sins are forgiven for the sake of Him who by His death made satisfaction for us, and that God the Father imputes this to believers as righteousness in His sight.
This faith includes not only the historical knowledge that Christ suffered and died for us, but also an assent of the heart, confidence and trust that sins are forgiven gratis for Christ’s sake, and that they are justified. And these three elements then coincide: the unearned promise, the merit of Christ as the price, and propitiation.
Faith is the righteousness by which we are regarded as righteous before God because of the promise.
To be justified, then, is to be absolved of sins, and one may also be said to be in some measure animated and regenerated.
Faith is imputed to us as righteousness, not because it is so good a work, but because it embraces Christ’s merit.
Christ’s merit is His obedience, suffering, death, and resurrection.
It is necessary that there be something by which God can be approached, and it is nothing else than faith, which is the means of reception.
In the act of justification faith enters through the Word and the hearing, and it is not an act of the person, but is the operation of the Holy Spirit. Moreover, a person then does not cooperate any more than a pillar of salt, or a log or stone, doing nothing of himself and knowing nothing of its occurrence; but he cooperates after the act, though not with any will of his own in spiritual matters (otherwise than is the case in natural, civil and moral matters). Nevertheless, in spiritual matters people can then progress to the point that they will good and are delighted by it; but in fact this is owing not to their own will, but to the Holy Spirit, and thus they cooperate not by virtue of their own powers, but by virtue of new powers and gifts which the Holy Spirit initiated upon their conversion. In a true conversion, moreover, a transformation, renewal and movement take place in a person’s intellect and heart.
Charity, good works, and repentance do not enter into the act of justification, but they are requisite in a state of justification, primarily because commanded by God; and through them people merit material rewards in this life, but not forgiveness of sins or the glory of eternal life, because faith alone justifies and saves without the works of the Law.
Faith justifies a person as regards the act, but renews him as regards the state.
Being commanded by God, the honorable works imposed by the Ten Commandments must of necessity be done during renewal, because God wills that the lusts of the flesh be restrained by civil discipline. It is for this reason that He has given us doctrine, laws, officials, and penalties.
It is consequently false to say, therefore, that we merit forgiveness of sins and salvation by our works, or that works contribute anything to preserving faith. And it is consequently also false to say that a person may be regarded as righteous because of the righteousness of his reason, or that his reason can by its own powers love God above all things and obey His law.
In short, faith and salvation are preserved and maintained in people not by good works, but only by the Spirit of God and faith. Good works, however, are nevertheless testimonies to the presence of the Holy Spirit and to its indwelling in them.
Condemned as detrimental is the statement that good works are harmful to salvation, because good works are to be understood as the inner workings of the Holy Spirit, which are good, and not the outer works issuing from a person’s own will, which, being merit-seeking, are not good but evil.
The Protestant Reformed say, furthermore, that at the Last Judgment Christ will pass sentence on good and evil works as effects belonging to or not belonging to a person’s faith.
This faith reigns today throughout the Protestant Reformed Christian world among the clergy, but not among the laity, save for a very few. For laymen take faith to mean nothing more than to believe in God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and think that anyone who lives rightly and believes rightly is saved. Regarding the Lord, moreover, they believe that He is their Savior. For they do not know the mysteries of justification taught by their preachers, and even though the preachers preach them, still among their lay listeners these mysteries go in one ear and out the other. Indeed, the teachers themselves regard themselves as learned on account of their knowledge, and in their colleges and universities they toil mightily to comprehend those mysteries. That is why we said above that this faith is the faith of the clergy.
But even so, the preachers teach this same faith in kingdoms inhabited by the Protestant Reformed in different ways.
In Germany, Sweden, and Denmark they teach that the Holy Spirit operates through that faith and so justifies and sanctifies people, and that afterward it progressively renews and regenerates, but does so apart from works of the Law. Moreover they say that people who possess that faith as the result of trust and confidence are in a state of grace with God the Father. They say, too, that although the evils that they commit do indeed appear, still they are then continually forgiven.
In England they teach that this faith produces charity without the person’s knowing, and that a person’s feeling the Holy Spirit operating inwardly in him is also the good of charity. But if he does not feel it, and yet does good in order to be saved, it can be called good, but good that nevertheless derives from the person the character of having merit-seeking in it.
This faith, moreover, can produce the good of charity in the last hour of a person’s life, although they do not know how.
In Holland they teach that through this faith God the Father justifies and purifies a person inwardly for the sake of the Son by means of the Holy Spirit, but only as far as his native will, from which it turns away without touching it – or as some say, touching it only lightly – and that thus the evils of the person’s will do not appear before God.
Few of the laity, however, know anything of these mysteries of the clergy, nor do the clergy wish to proclaim them as they are, because they know that the laity have no taste for them.
4. Regarding the Law and the Gospel:
The Law was given by God to make known what sin is and thus to restrain it by threats and fear, and afterward by the promise and annunciation of grace. The chief function of the Law, therefore, is to reveal the reality of original sin and all its fruits, and to make known the horrendous extent to which human nature has fallen and become thoroughly depraved. In this way it terrifies, humiliates, and prostrates a person, to the point that he despairs of himself and anxiously wishes for help. This effect of the Law is called contrition, which is neither active nor imaginary, but passive and a torment of conscience.
The Gospel, on the other hand, is the whole doctrine regarding Christ and faith, and so the forgiveness of sins, thus a most welcome messenger, neither accusing nor terrifying, but comforting.
The Law reveals the wrath of God at all impiety and condemns mankind, so as to cause a person to pay attention to Christ and the Gospel. Both must be preached, because they are connected.
The Gospel teaches that Christ took upon Himself all the curse of the Law and atoned for all sins, and that we attain forgiveness through faith.
The Holy Spirit is not given or received, nor the human heart renewed, through preaching of the Law, but through preaching of the Gospel. The Holy Spirit then employs the ministry of the Law to teach, and in the Ten Commandments show, what the will and good pleasure of God are. Thus the Holy Spirit mortifies and animates.
A distinction must be drawn between works of the Law and works of the Holy Spirit. Consequently the faithful are, for that very reason, not under the Law but under grace.
The righteousness of the Law does not justify, which is to say, it does not reconcile or regenerate, nor does it by itself make people acceptable to God; but when the Holy Spirit has been given, fulfillment of the Law follows.
The works of the second table of the Ten Commandments do not justify, because they enable us to live in harmony with our fellow man, and not properly with God, and yet in a state of justification we must live in harmony with God.
Because Christ, though without sin, underwent the punishment of sin and became a sacrificial victim on our behalf, He bore the just burden of the Law so that it would not condemn believers, as He is the propitiatory substitute for them, on which account they are regarded as righteous.
5. Regarding Repentance and Confession:
Repentance consists of two components, one being contrition or a smiting of the conscience with terror due to sins, the other being faith conceived from the Gospel which comforts the conscience with the forgiveness of sins and liberates from terrors.
Someone who confesses his whole self to be sin encompasses all sins, excludes none, and forgets none. Being thus purged of his sins, the person is purified, rectified, and sanctified, since the Holy Spirit does not permit sin to have dominion, but curbs and restrains it.
Any enumeration of sins ought to be free, according as one chooses or does not choose. But the option of a private confession and absolution should be emphasized, so that if anyone wishes, he can confess his sins and receive absolution from a confessor, and have his sins then forgiven. The words that the minister is to say then in reply are, “May God be gracious to you and strengthen your faith; be it done to you according as you believe; and by the Lord’s command I forgive you your sins.” Others, however, say, “I proclaim to you the forgiveness of your sins.”
Still, sins are nevertheless not forgiven through repentance, as they are not through works, but are forgiven through faith.
The repentance of the clergy is consequently only a confession before God that they are sinners, and a prayer that they may remain steadfast in their faith.
Atonements and the satisfaction of penalties are not necessary, because Christ is the atonement and satisfaction.
6. Regarding Original Sin the Protestant Reformed teach that:
After the fall of Adam, people begotten according to laws of nature are all born with sin, that is, without fear of God and with lusts, and this condemns and still inflicts eternal death now on those who are not reborn by baptism and by the Holy Spirit.
Sin is the loss of original righteousness and with it a disordered disposition of the constituents of the soul and a corrupt state of being.
There is a difference between the underlying nature into which mankind was created, which exists still after the Fall and remains a creation of God, and original sin. Thus there is a difference between a corrupt nature and a corruption that has been attached to people’s nature by which the nature is corrupted. No one but God alone can separate the corruption of the nature from the underlying nature. This He will wholly do in the blessed resurrection, because the underlying nature that a person carries around in the world will then rise again without original sin and enjoy eternal happiness. The difference is like that between a work of God and a work of the devil. This is not the way this sin invaded people’s nature, as though Satan created some evil in essence and commingled it with their nature, but the original righteousness created along with mankind was lost.
Original sin is something additional; and by reason of it a person is as though spiritually dead before God.
This evil is covered and pardoned only through Christ.
The seed itself from which a person is formed has been contaminated by this sin.
It is owing to this as well that a person receives corrupt inclinations from his parents and an inner uncleanness of heart.
7. Regarding baptism:
Baptism involves not water simply, but water employed by Divine command and sealed by the Word of God, and thus sanctified.
The power, work, fruit and goal of baptism is to save people and incorporate them into the Christian Communion.
Baptism confers victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sins, the grace of God, Christ with all His works, the Holy Spirit with all its gifts, and eternal blessedness, for each and every one who believes.
Whether faith also is granted by baptism in the case of little children is too deep a question for serious inquiry.
Immersion in the water symbolizes a dying of the old self and the rising of a new one. It may be called, therefore, the washing of regeneration, and in truth a washing in the Word, and in the death and burial of Christ.
A Christian’s life is a daily baptism, once it is thus begun.
It is not the water that accomplishes this, but the Word of God which is present in and accompanies the water, and the faith in the Word of God added to the water. It follows, therefore, that baptism in the name of God may indeed be performed by men; yet it is not, but is performed by God Himself.
Baptism does not take away original sin by extinguishing base lust, but it takes away the guilt.
Others, however, of the Protestant Reformed believe that:
Baptism is an outward washing of water, which symbolizes an inner cleansing from sins.
It does not confer regeneration, faith, the grace of God, or salvation, but only symbolizes and seals them. Neither are these conferred in or with baptism, but afterward with a growing maturity. Moreover, only the elect attain the grace of Christ and the gift of faith.
Because salvation does not depend on baptism, furthermore, it is therefore permissible for someone else to administer it in the absence of a regular minister.
8. Regarding Holy Supper:
The Protestant Reformed called Lutherans teach that:
In Holy Supper or the Sacrament of the Altar, the body and blood of Christ are really and substantially present, and are actually distributed and received together with the bread and wine. Therefore the actual body and actual blood of Christ are also present in, with, and under the form of the bread and wine, and are given to Christians to eat and drink. Moreover, they are not simply bread and wine, therefore, but are encompassed by and joined to the Word of God, and this causes Christ’s body and blood to be present. For it becomes a sacrament when the Word is added to the element.
Nevertheless, there is no transubstantiation such as exists for Roman Catholics.
Holy Supper is food for the soul, nourishing and strengthening the new self.
It was instituted so that faith might recover or receive its vitality, and that a forgiveness of sins might be granted, together with a new life, which Christ merited for us.
Thus the body and blood of Christ, by reason of their sacramental union with the bread and wine, are assimilated not only spiritually through faith, but also with the mouth, in a supernatural way.
The value of this Supper consists solely in obedience, and in the merit of Christ which is applied by a genuine faith.
In short, the sacraments of the Lord’s Supper and baptism are testimony to God’s will and grace toward men; and the sacrament of the Supper is a promise of the forgiveness of sins through faith. It moves hearts to believe; and the Holy Spirit works through the Word and the sacraments.
Consecration by the minister does not produce these effects, but they are to be attributed to the omnipotent power of the Lord alone.
Both worthy and unworthy people receive the actual body and actual blood of Christ as He hung upon the cross, but the worthy do so to their salvation, the unworthy to their condemnation. The worthy are those who have faith. No one is to be compelled to partake of the Supper, but everyone may come to it when a spiritual hunger prompts him.
Others, however, of the Protestant Reformed teach that:
In Holy Supper the body and blood of Christ are assimilated only spiritually, and the bread and wine employed are merely signs, stamps, symbols, tokens, representations, and counterparts. Christ is present not bodily, but only by the power and operation emanating from His Divine essence. There is, however, a conjunction in heaven, according to the communication of specific phrases.
The value of this Supper depends not only on faith, but also on one’s preparation.
Only the worthy receive its efficacy, and the unworthy merely the bread and wine.
Even though they have these disagreements, still all the Protestant Reformed agree on this, that people who wish to partake of that Holy Supper worthily must altogether repent – Lutherans saying that if people do not repent of their evil works, and yet approach, they are damned to eternity. And the English say that otherwise the Devil will enter into them as he did into Judas. This follows from their prayers recited prior to Communion.*
* The English text of their customary prayer is quoted in The Doctrine of Life, no. 5, as follows: “The way and means to be received as worthy partakers of that Holy Table is First, to examine your lives and Conversations by the rule of God’s commandments, and wherein soever ye shall perceive yourselves to have offended either by will, word or deed, there to bewail your own sinfulness, and to confess yourselves to Almighty God, with full purpose of amendment of life; and if ye shall perceive your offences to be such, as are not only against God, but also against your neighbors, then ye shall reconcile yourselves unto them, being ready to make restitution and satisfaction according to the utmost of your power, for all injuries and wrongs done by you to any other, and being likewise ready to forgive others that have offended you, as ye would have forgiveness of your offences of God’s hand, for otherwise the receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but increase your damnation. Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, or hinderer or slanderer of His word, or adulterer, or be in malice or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to the Holy Table; lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you with all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.”
9. Regarding Free Will:
The Protestant Reformed distinguish between the state before the Fall, the state since the Fall, the state following a person’s reception of faith and renewal, and his state after his resurrection.
Since the Fall a person is utterly incapable by his own powers of embarking at all on spiritual and Divine matters, of thinking about them, of understanding them, of believing them, of willing them, of putting them into practice or of cooperating with them. Neither is he able to adapt or accommodate himself for grace. Rather his natural bent is solely for such things as are contrary to God and displease God. Consequently in spiritual matters a person is like a log, and yet he still has a capacity – not active but passive – by which he can be turned to good by the grace of God. Nevertheless, since the Fall a person has the free will remaining to him of being able to hear the Word of God or not, and so of having a spark of faith kindled in his heart, which includes a forgiveness of sins for Christ’s sake and brings consolation.
At the same time the human will has the freedom to practice civil justice and to choose among matters subject to reason.
10. Regarding the Church:
The church is the congregation and communion of saints, and is spread throughout the entire world among people who have the same Christ and same Holy Spirit, and the same sacraments, whether they possess the same traditions or different ones.
It is above all, moreover, a society of faith. And this Church alone is the body of Christ, in which good people are the Church in fact and in name, but the evil in name only.
Evil people and hypocrites (being classed together) are members of the Church as regards its external manifestations, provided they have not been excommunicated; but they are not members of the body of Christ.
Church rites, called ceremonies, are not essential and do not constitute worship of God, not even a part of the worship of God. Therefore it falls within the freedom of the Church to institute, alter, or abrogate such things as differences in vestments, times, days, things ingested, and others. And accordingly no church ought to condemn another because of them.
11. These are the doctrines of the Protestant Reformed Church and religion in summary. However, doctrines taught by Schwenkfeldians,* Pelagians,** Manichaeans,*** Donatists,**** Anabaptists,***** Arminians,****** Zwinglians,******* Antitrinitarians,******** Socinians,********* Arians,———- and currently Quakers———-* and Herrnhuters———-** – these we have passed over, as their adherents have been denounced and rejected as heretics.
* Followers of Kaspar von Schwenkfeld, 1490-1561, a German religious reformer who promoted a strict church discipline. Once an admirer of Luther, Schwenkfeld later withdrew from the Lutheran Church owing to doctrinal disputes, and after his death his followers, also known as Schwenkfelders, were persecuted and in the 18th century fled to America and other parts of Europe. The sect still exists in Pennsylvania.
** Holders of the view – initially advanced by the British theologian Pelagius in the late 4th and early 5th centuries and later revived in the Reformation – that people have the freedom to choose between good and evil and can by their own efforts embark on the path of salvation and make themselves righteous.
*** Followers of the teachings of Mani in the 3rd and 4th centuries, whose ideas survived into medieval times, including belief in a dualistic universe of good and evil in constant conflict, and in extreme asceticism as the path of righteousness.
**** A schismatic group originating in 4th century North Africa which maintained that the sacraments were invalid if administered by priests who, during the Roman persecution, had weakened or given out any information. Named after Donatus, an early leader, the Donatist Church became a separate church lasting into the 8th century, which taught that the Church consisted of the elect who were holy and in whom the Holy Spirit was present.
***** “Rebaptizers,” members of a separatist movement in the early Reformation arising in the 16th century who opposed infant baptism, insisting that one had to be an adult before baptism could be effective, and thus rebaptizing the first generation of their membership. They also disdained the civil state, often refusing to take up arms, and saw the Church as a spiritual body consisting of holy people only. Two of their groups survive today as Hutterites and Mennonites, including among the latter the Amish.
****** Disciples of Jacobus Arminius, 1560-1609, a Dutch theologian who denied the strict predestination taught by John Calvin and his followers, and taught instead human free will and a predestination qualified by God’s foresight of a person’s faith. Methodism and the more liberal Unitarianism, as well as some other sects, were influenced by Arminian ideas.
******* Followers of Huldreich (or Ulrich) Zwingli, 1484-1531, Swiss theologian and early Church Reformer, who broke with Martin Luther over the nature of the Eucharist. Whereas Luther maintained the actual presence of the body and blood of Christ in the bread and wine, Zwingli taught that the elements were essentially symbolic.
******** An umbrella term for various groups throughout the history of the Christian Church, including Arians and Socinians, which denied the orthodox doctrine of a trinity of persons in the Godhead. Antitrinitarianism survives most notably today in the Unitarian Universalist Association’s denial of the Divinity of Christ and acknowledgment only of the Divine called the Father.
********* Disciples of Laelius Socinus (born Lelio Francesco Maria Sozini), 1525-1562, and his nephew Faustus Socinus (Fausto Paolo Sozzini), 1539-1604, who rejected a number of traditional Christian doctrines, such as the Trinity, the Divinity of Christ, and original sin, and who held that Christ was miraculously begotten and that salvation is granted to those who adopt Christ’s virtues as a model for their lives.
———- Adherents of Arianism, a theological view based on the teachings of Arius (c. 250-336), who taught that Christ the Son was a created being, not consubstantial with God the Father, and thus not fully Divine.
———-* Members of the Religious Society of Friends, founded by George Fox, 1624-1691, in mid-17th-century England, now in the United States sometimes called the Friends Church, which taught and still teaches that the Holy Spirit by an “inner light” may operate in and through anyone. It therefore did away with formal creeds, an ordained ministry and external rituals, and is most known for its opposition to violence of any kind. Elsewhere the writer gives an unflattering account of Quakers in the spiritual world.
———-** Moravian Brethren, called Herrnhuters after the name of a village in Saxony built and settled in 1722 by Hussite emigrants from Moravia. Moravians hold the Bible as the only rule in matters of faith and morals, and although retaining from their Roman Catholic roots in Bohemia among followers of John Huss a modified episcopal form of government, they appear to represent in their worship a simple form of other-worldly Christianity. Elsewhere the writer gives a condemnatory account of Moravians in the spiritual world.
1. THE APOCALYPSE
OR
BOOK OF REVELATION
CHAPTER 1
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John, 2 who bore witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, to whatever he saw. 3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it, for the time is near.
4 John, to the seven churches which are in Asia:
Grace to 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, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth, who loves us and washes us from our sins in His blood, 6 and makes us kings and priests to His God and Father. To Him be glory and might forever and ever. Amen. 7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail because of Him. Even so, Amen. 8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.
9 I, John, who am also your brother and your companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patient awaiting of Jesus Christ, was on 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 loud voice, as of a trumpet, 11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. What you see, write in a book and send it to the churches which are in Asia – Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.” 12 Then 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 the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle. 14 His head and hair were white, like wool as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like fine brass, as though fired in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; 16 having in His right hand seven stars, and issuing from His mouth a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance as the sun shines in its power. 17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last, 18 and am He who lives, and was put to death, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of hell and death. 19 Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this. 20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
The meaning is that this revelation comes from the Lord alone, and is received by people who will be in His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, and who will acknowledge the Lord as God of heaven and earth.
The Lord also is described in relation to the Word.
The Contents of the Individual Verses
1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ,
Predictions from the Lord regarding Himself and His church, what the church will be like at its end, and what it will be like thereafter,
which God gave Him to show His servants
for people who have faith arising from charity.
things which must shortly take place.
They must surely come to pass to keep the church from perishing.
And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
The things that have been revealed by the Lord through heaven to people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith,
2 who bore witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ,
who from the heart and so in a state of light receive Divine truth from the Word and acknowledge the Lord’s humanity to be Divine.
to whatever he saw.
Their enlightenment in all matters contained in this revelation.
3 Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it,
Their communion with angels in heaven who live according to the doctrine of the New Jerusalem,
for the time is near.
the state of the church being such that it can no longer continue to maintain its conjunction with the Lord.
4 John, to the seven churches
To all who are in the Christian world where the Word exists and where through it the Lord is known, and who turn to the church,
which are in Asia:
to those who from the Word possess the light of truth.
Grace to you and peace
A Divine salutation
from Him who is and who was and who is to come,
from the Lord who is eternal and infinite, and who is Jehovah,
and from the seven spirits who are before His throne,
from the whole of heaven, where the Lord is in His Divine truth,
5 and from Jesus Christ,
His Divine humanity,
the faithful witness,
which is Divine truth itself,
the firstborn from the dead,
and which is Divine good itself,
and the ruler of the kings of the earth,
from whom originates all truth from good in the church,
who loves us and washes us from our sins in His blood,
who out of love and mercy reforms and regenerates people by His Divine truths drawn from the Word,
6 and makes us kings and priests
who grants those who are born from Him, that is, who are reborn or regenerated, to possess wisdom from Divine truths, and love from Divine goods,
to His God and Father.
thus images of His Divine wisdom and of His Divine love,
To Him be glory and might forever and ever.
to whom alone belong Divine majesty and Divine omnipotence to eternity.
Amen.
A Divine confirmation springing from truth, thus from Himself.
7 Behold, He is coming with the clouds (of heaven),
The Lord will reveal Himself in the literal sense of the Word and lay open its spiritual meaning at the end of the church.
and every eye will see Him,
All those will acknowledge Him who possess, from an affection for it, an understanding of Divine truth.
even they who pierced Him,
Even those will see Him who are caught up in falsities in the church.
and all the tribes of the earth will wail….
This will be when there are no longer any goods and truths in the church.
Even so, Amen.
A Divine confirmation that it will be so.
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,”
Who is the one and only reality from firsts to lasts, from whom springs all else, thus who is the one and only love, the one and only wisdom, and the one and only life in itself, and so the one and only Creator, Savior and Enlightener from Himself, and therefore the all in all of the church and heaven.
says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come,
Who is eternal and infinite, and Jehovah.
the Almighty.
Who exists, lives, and has power of Himself, and who directs all things from the first of them through the last.
9 I, John, who am also your brother and companion
Those people who possess the goodness of charity and consequent truths of faith,
in the tribulation and kingdom and patient awaiting of Jesus Christ,
which in the church have been infested by evils and falsities, but which will be removed by the Lord when He comes.
was on the island called Patmos
A state and place in which he could be enlightened,
for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ.
so as to receive Divine truth from the Word with the heart and so in a state of light, and to acknowledge the Lord’s humanity to be Divine.
10 I became in the spirit on the Lord’s day,
A spiritual state then owing to Divine influx.
and I heard behind me a loud voice, as of a trumpet,
A manifest perception of Divine truth revealed from heaven.
11 saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.
Who is the one and only reality from firsts to lasts, from whom springs all else (as so on as stated above).
What you see, write in a book
That these things may be revealed for posterity,
and send it to the churches which are in Asia –
for those in the Christian world who have the light of truth from the Word
Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamum and Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.”
in every case according to each one’s state of reception.
12 Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me,
A turning around of the state of those people who possess goodness of life, in respect to their perception of the truth in the Word, when they turn to the Lord.
and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands,
A new church, which will have an enlightenment from the Lord from the Word.
13 and in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man,
The Lord in relation to the Word, from whom that church originates.
clothed with a long robe
The emanating Divinity which is Divine truth.
and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle.
The emanating and at the same time conjoining Divinity which is Divine good.
14 His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow,
The Divine love accompanying Divine wisdom in first things and last.
and His eyes like a flame of fire.
The Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.
15 His feet were like fine brass, as though fired in a furnace,
Natural Divine good.
and His voice as the sound of many waters;
Natural Divine truth.
16 having in His right hand seven stars,
All concepts of goodness and truth in the Word from the Lord.
and issuing from His mouth a sharp two-edged sword,
A dispersion of falsities by the Lord by means of the Word and doctrine drawn from it.
and His countenance as the sun shining in its power.
The Divine love and wisdom which are the Lord and which emanate from Him.
17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead.
A failure of his own life owing to such a presence of the Lord.
But He laid His right hand on me,
Life then infused from the Lord.
saying to me, “Do not be afraid.
A revival, and from the deepest humility then, adoration.
“I am the First and the Last,
He is eternal and infinite, thus the only God,
18 and am He who lives,
who alone is life, and the only source of life.
and was put to death,
Disregarded in the church, and His Divine humanity not acknowledged,
and behold, I am alive forevermore.
He is eternal life.
“Amen.
A Divine confirmation that it is the truth.
“And I have the keys of hell and death.
He alone is able to save.
19 “Write the things which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which will take place after this.
So that everything now being revealed may be saved for posterity.
20 “The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands:
The secrets contained in the visions having to do with a new heaven and a new church.
“The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches,
A new church in the heavens, which is the New Heaven.
and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches.”
A new church on earth, which is the New Jerusalem descending from the Lord out of the New Heaven.
THE EXPOSITION
People have hitherto not known what the spiritual meaning is. We have shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 5-26, that it exists in every constituent of the Word, and that in many places the Word cannot be understood apart from it. This meaning is not apparent in the literal sense, for it is present in it as the soul is in the body.
People do know that there is a spiritual reality and a natural one, and that the spiritual one flows into the natural one and presents itself to be seen and felt in forms that fall within the scope of people’s vision and touch. Moreover, they know that apart from these forms the spiritual component is perceived only as affection and thought, or as love and wisdom, which are properties of the mind. They acknowledge that affection and thought, or love, which has the capacity to be affected, and wisdom, which has the capacity to think, are spiritual. They know that these two faculties of the soul present themselves in forms in the body that are called sensory and motor organs, and furthermore, that these forms operate in harmony with those faculties, so much so that when the mind thinks something, the mouth in an instant expresses it, and when the mind wills something, the body in an instant does it. It is apparent, therefore, that there is a perfect union of spiritual and natural components in the human being.
[2] The case is the same with each and every constituent of the world. Each has in it something spiritual as the inmost of its cause, and something natural as its effect, and these two function as one. Moreover, the spiritual component is not apparent in the natural one, because, as we said, it is present in the natural one as the soul is in the body and as the inmost of a cause is in the effect.
It is the same with the Word. Because it is Divine, no one can deny that it is spiritual at its core. But because the spiritual component is not apparent in the literal sense, which is natural, therefore the spiritual meaning has been hitherto unknown. Nor could it have been known previously, before the Lord revealed genuine truths, as the spiritual meaning consists in those truths.
It is on this account that the book of Revelation has heretofore not been understood. But lest there be any doubt that it contains such truths, its contents must be explained phrase by phrase and demonstrated by similar passages elsewhere in the Word. The explanation and demonstration now follow.
“The Revelation of Jesus Christ” symbolizes all predictions, which, being from the Lord, are called “the Revelation of Jesus Christ.” Their being about the Lord and His church will be apparent from the exposition.
The book of Revelation does not have as its subject the successive states of the church, still less the successive states of kingdoms, as some people have previously believed. Rather, from beginning to end it has as its subject the last state of the church in heaven and on earth, and the Last Judgment, and after that the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.
It is apparent that this New Church is the final object of this work. Consequently the things that precede have to do with what the state of the church will be immediately before it. But the order in which these are described may be seen from the contents of the individual chapters, and more clearly from the exposition of each verse.
To show means, symbolically, to make evident, and servants here symbolize people who have faith arising from charity. The following things are made evident to them because they understand and accept.
Servants mean, in the spiritual sense, people who are governed by truths; and because truths spring from goodness, servants mean people who are governed by truths arising from goodness, thus also people governed by wisdom arising from love, because wisdom has to do with truth, and love with goodness. They also are people who have faith arising from charity, because faith, too, has to do with truth, and charity with goodness. And because the spiritual sense in reality is abstracted from person, therefore servants in that sense symbolize truths.
Now because truths, by teaching goodness, serve it, therefore in general, and properly speaking, by a servant in the Word is meant something serving, or someone or something that serves. In this sense not only were prophets called servants of God, but so, too, was the Lord in respect to His humanity.
That prophets were called servants of God is evident from the following passages:
Jehovah has sent to you all His servants the prophets…. (Jeremiah 25:4)
…He has revealed His secret to His servants the prophets. (Amos 3:7)
…He has set before us by the hand of His servants the prophets. (Daniel 9:10)
Moses, too, is called a servant of Jehovah (Malachi 4:4). That is because a prophet, in the spiritual sense, means doctrinal truth, as discussed below.
[2] Moreover, because the Lord was the very embodiment of Divine truth, which also is the Word, and for that reason was called the prophet, and because He served in the world and serves all people to eternity by teaching, therefore He, too, is here and there called the servant of Jehovah, as in the following passages:
Of the labor of His soul He shall see; He shall be satisfied. By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many…. (Isaiah 53:11)
Behold, My Servant shall deal prudently; He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. (Isaiah 52:13)
Behold! My Servant on whom I rest, My Elect. My soul has good pleasure! I have put My Spirit upon Him…. (Isaiah 42:1, 19)
These things are said of the Lord. David is spoken of similarly, where by him is meant the Lord, as in the following:
I, Jehovah, will be their God, and My servant David a prince among them…. (Ezekiel 34:24)
David My servant shall be king over them, so that they all have one shepherd…. (Ezekiel 37:24)
I will protect this city to save it, for My sake and for My servant David’s sake. (Isaiah 37:35)
So, too, Psalm 78:70-72, 89:3, 4, 20. (That by David in these places is meant the Lord, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 43, 44.)
The Lord Himself speaks similarly of Himself:
…whoever desires to become great among you must be your attendant, and whoever desires to be first among you must be your servant, even as the Son of Man did not come to be ministered to, but to minister…. (Matthew 20:25-28. Cf. Mark 10:42-45, Luke 22:27. So, too, Luke 12:37)
The Lord says this, because by a servant and attendant are meant one who serves and ministers by teaching, and abstractly from person, Divine truth, which He embodied.
[3] Since a servant therefore means someone who teaches Divine truth, it is apparent that servants in this place in the book of Revelation mean people who possess truths arising from goodness, or faith arising from charity, because they are able to teach from the Lord, that is to say, because the Lord is able to teach and minister through them.
It is in this sense that they are called servants in Matthew:
(At the end of the age,) who…is the faithful and prudent servant, whom his lord set over his household, to give them food in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his lord, when he comes, will find so doing. (Matthew 24:45, 46)
And in Luke:
Blessed are those servants whom the lord, when he comes, will find watching. Truly I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will (himself) come and attend to them. (Luke 12:37)
In heaven, all people in the Lord’s spiritual kingdom are called His servants, while those in His celestial kingdom are called His ministers. That is because people in His spiritual kingdom are governed by wisdom derived from Divine truth, and those in the celestial kingdom by love derived from Divine good. And good ministers, while truth serves.
In an opposite sense, however, by servants are meant people who serve the devil. These are in a real state of servitude, whereas people who serve the Lord are in a state of freedom – as the Lord also teaches in John 8:31-36.*
* Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” They answered Him, “We are Abraham’s descendants, and have never been in bondage to anyone. How can you say, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, whoever commits sin is a slave of sin. And a slave does not abide in the house forever, but a son abides forever. Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed. (John 8:31-36)
“Which must shortly take place” does not mean that the things predicted in the book of Revelation are going to happen immediately or quickly, but that they will happen surely, and that unless they come to pass, the church will perish.
In the Divine view, and so in the spiritual sense, time does not exist, but instead of time, state. And because “shortly” has to do with time, it symbolically means certainty and that something will happen before its time. For the book of Revelation was written in the first century, and seventeen centuries have now gone by, from which it is apparent that “shortly” means, symbolically, what corresponds to it, which is certainty.
[2] Something quite similar is involved in these words of the Lord:
Unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect’s sake those days will be shortened. (Matthew 24:22)
This, too, means that unless the church should be ended before its time, it would perish entirely. That chapter has as its subject the end of the age and the Lord’s advent, and by the end of the age is meant the last state of the old church, and by the Lord’s advent, the first state of a new church.
[3] We said that in the Divine view there is no time, but the presence of everything that has happened and will happen. Accordingly we are told in the Psalms,
…a thousand years in Your sight are like yesterday… (Psalm 90:4)
And in the same book:
I will declare the decree: Jehovah has said to Me, “You are My Son, today I have begotten You.” (Psalm 2:7)
“Today” is the presence of the Lord’s advent.
For this reason, too, a whole period in the Word is called a day, its first state being called dawn and morning, and its last state evening and night.
“He sent and signified it by His angel” means, in the spiritual sense, things that have been revealed by the Lord from heaven or through heaven. For in the Word an angel frequently means the angelic heaven, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself. That is because no angel ever speaks with a person in dissociation from heaven, for each has such a conjunction with all the rest there that everyone speaks in accord with the communion, even though the angel is not conscious of it.
In the Lord’s sight, in fact, heaven is as a single person, whose soul is the Lord Himself. Therefore the Lord speaks with a person through heaven, as a person does from his soul through his body in speaking with another. And this the person does in conjunction with each and every part of his mind, at whose center are the things that he is saying. But this secret cannot be explained in a few words. We have explained it in part in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.
In the highest sense the Lord is meant by an angel because heaven is not heaven in consequence of the angels’ own qualities, but owing to the Lord’s Divinity from which they have their love and wisdom, indeed their life. It is on this account that in the Word the Lord is Himself called an angel.
It is apparent from this that the angel did not of himself speak with John, but that the Lord did so by means of heaven through the angel.
[2] As for saying that this statement means that these things have been revealed to people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith, that is because it is they who are meant by John. For by the Lord’s twelve disciples or apostles are meant all in the church who possess truths arising from goodness, and in an abstract sense, all constituents of the church. By Peter are meant all who are governed by faith, and abstractly, faith itself. By James are meant those who are impelled by charity, and abstractly, charity itself. And by John are meant those who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith, and abstractly, the resulting goodness of life itself. That these are what are meant by John, James and Peter in the Gospels may be seen in the short work The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (London, 1758), no. 122.
[3] Now because goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith is what forms the church, therefore it was through the apostle John that secrets were revealed concerning the state of the church, the secrets that are contained in his visions.
The fact that the names of persons and places in the Word all symbolize things having to do with heaven and the church is something we showed many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), also published in London.
It can be seen from this that the phrase, “He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,” means, in the spiritual sense, the things that have been revealed by the Lord through heaven to people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith. For charity produces goodness through faith, and not charity by itself or faith by itself.
John is said to have borne witness to the Word of God, but because John means all people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith, as said just above in no. 5, therefore all these are meant in the spiritual sense. The angels, who are concerned with the spiritual sense of the Word, never know the name of any person mentioned in the Word, but only what the person represents and so symbolizes, which in the case of John is goodness of life or goodness in act, and consequently all people as a whole who possess that goodness. These bear witness, which is to say, they see, acknowledge, and accept from the heart in a state of light, and confess the truths of the Word, especially this truth there, that the Lord’s humanity is Divine, as can be seen from the copious passages cited from the Word in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.
Jesus Christ and the Lamb in the book of Revelation mean the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and God means the Lord in respect to the Divine itself from which springs all else.
[2] As regards the spiritual signification of bearing witness, this is said of truth, because in the world it is truth to which one is to bear witness, and which, when borne witness to, is acknowledged. But in heaven truth bears witness to itself, because it is the very light of heaven. For when angels hear the truth, they at once recognize it and acknowledge it. And because the Lord is the embodiment of truth, as He Himself teaches in John 14:6,* He is, in heaven, self-witnessing. This makes apparent what is meant by the testimony of Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord says,
You have sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive 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 that was with God and was God, and became flesh,) was the true Light which gives light to every man…. (John 1:1, 2, 7-9, 14, 34)
Elsewhere:
Jesus…said…, “…I bear witness of Myself, (and) My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going…. (John 8:14)
When the Counselor comes…, the Spirit of truth…, it will testify of Me. (John 15:26)
The Counselor, the spirit of truth, means the truth itself emanating from the Lord. Therefore it is said concerning it that it will not speak of itself but from the Lord (John 16:13-15).**
* Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
** [Jesus said,] “However, when it, the Spirit of truth, has come, it will guide you into all truth; for it will not speak on its own authority, but whatever it hears it will speak; and it will tell you things to come. It will glorify Me, for it will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that it will take of Mine and declare it to you.”
“Whatever he saw” means, in the spiritual sense, not what John saw – they were simply visions – but what those people meant by John see, people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith, as we said above. These see in John’s visions secrets concerning the state of the church, not so much when they read them themselves, but when they see them revealed.
“To see,” moreover. This means, symbolically, to understand. Consequently we even say in common speech that one sees a matter, or that one sees it to be the truth. For a person has a sight belonging to his spirit as well as a sight belonging to his body. But with his spirit a person sees spiritual matters as they appear in the light of heaven, whereas with his body he sees natural objects as they appear in the light of the world. Spiritual matters are also realities, while natural objects are their forms. The sight of a person’s spirit is what we call the intellect.
It is apparent from this what is meant in the spiritual sense by “whatever he saw,” and likewise in places after this where it is said that he saw.
“Blessed is he” here means someone who in respect to his spirit is in heaven, thus someone who, while living in the world, is in communion with angels in heaven, inasmuch as he is in heaven in respect to his spirit.
“The words of this prophecy” mean nothing else than the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, for in an abstract sense a prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, thus here the doctrine of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. The same is meant by prophecy. To read, hear and keep those things which are written in it means, symbolically, to wish to know it, to pay attention to the things written in it, and to do the things that are found in it – in sum, to live according to it. It is apparent that people are not blessed if they simply read, hear and keep or preserve in memory the things seen by John (see below, no. 944).
[2] A prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, and the same is meant by a prophecy, because the Word was written by prophets, and in heaven a person is regarded in relation to something pertaining to his occupation or function. So, too, every person, spirit and angel mentioned in the Word. Because it was a prophet’s function to write and teach the Word, therefore when a prophet is mentioned, the Word in relation to doctrine is meant, or doctrine drawn from the Word.
It is for this reason that the Lord, being the embodiment of the Word, was called a prophet (Deuteronomy 18:15-20,* Matthew 13:57,** 21:11,*** Luke 13:33****).
To show that a prophet means the doctrine of the church drawn from the Word, we will cite several passages from which this may be concluded. In Matthew:
(At the end of the age) many false prophets will rise up and lead many astray…. …false christs and false prophets will rise…and lead astray, if possible, …the elect. (Matthew 24:11, 24)
The end of the age is the final period of the church, which is the one that exists now, when there are not false prophets but doctrinal falsities.
[3] In the same gospel:
Whoever receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And whoever receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. (Matthew 10:41)
To receive a prophet in the name of a prophet is to accept doctrinal truth because it is true; to receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man is to accept goodness because of its goodness; and to receive a reward is to be saved in accordance with that acceptance. Obviously no one receives a reward or is saved because he received a prophet or righteous man in the name of such.
Without a concept of what a prophet and righteous man mean, no one could understand these words, or those that follow:
Whoever gives one of these little ones just a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple…, shall by no means lose his reward. (Matthew 10:42)
A disciple means charity and at the same time faith from the Lord.
[4] In Joel:
…I will pour out My spirit on all flesh, so that your sons and your daughters prophesy… (Joel 2:28)
This is said of the church about to be established by the Lord, in which they did not prophesy but received doctrine, which is “to prophesy.”
In Matthew:
(Jesus said,) “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name…?’ But then I will confess to them, ‘I have not known you; depart from Me, you workers of iniquity!'” (Matthew 7:22, 23)
Who does not see that they are not going to say they have prophesied, but that they have known the doctrine of the church and taught it?
In Revelation:
…the time has come to judge the dead and give the reward to…the prophets…. (Revelation 11:18)
In another place:
Rejoice…, O heaven, …you holy apostles and prophets, for God has given judgment for you…. (Revelation 18:20)
It is plain that a reward is not to be given solely to prophets when the Last Judgment is about to take place, or that only apostles and prophets are going to rejoice, but that all will be rewarded and rejoice who have accepted doctrinal truths and lived according to them. These, therefore, are meant by apostles and prophets.
[5] In Exodus:
Jehovah said to Moses: “…I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.” (Exodus 7:1)
“A god” means Divine truth in its reception from the Lord, and in this sense angels, too, are called gods; and a prophet means one who teaches and gives voice to that truth. It is because of this that Aaron is there termed a prophet.
A prophet has the same symbolic meaning elsewhere, 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 hypocrisy has gone out into all the land. (Jeremiah 23:15, 16)
…the prophets will become wind, and the Word will not be in them. (Jeremiah 5:13)
The priest and the prophet err through intoxicating drink, they are swallowed up by wine…, they stumble in judgment. (Isaiah 28:7)
The sun is going down on the prophets, and the day is becoming dark upon them. (Micah 3:6)
From the prophet even to the priest, everyone works a falsehood. (Jeremiah 8:10)
[6] In these passages prophets and priests mean, in the spiritual sense, not prophets and priests but the entire church – prophets the church in respect to doctrinal truth, and priests the church in respect to goodness of life, both of which had been lost. These statements are so understood by angels in heaven when people read them in the world according to their literal sense.
To be shown that prophets represented the state of the church in respect to doctrine, and that the Lord represented it in respect to the Word itself, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 15-17.
* The LORD your God will raise up for you a Prophet like me
from your midst, from your brethren. Him you shall hear, according to all you desired of the LORD your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again the voice of the LORD my God, nor let me see this great fire anymore, lest I die.” And the LORD said to me: “What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him. But the prophet who presumes to speak a word in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or who speaks in the name of other gods, that prophet shall die.”
** So they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”
*** So the multitudes said, “This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee.”
**** Nevertheless I must journey today, tomorrow, and the day following; for it cannot be that a prophet should perish outside of Jerusalem.
There are two essential elements which make possible a conjunction with the Lord and so salvation: an acknowledgment of one God, and repentance of life. But at the present day instead of an acknowledgment of one God we have an acknowledgment of three, and instead of repentance of life, a repentance solely of the lips that one is a sinner; and these two do not lead to any conjunction. Consequently, unless a new church arises which acknowledges the two essential elements and lives them, no one can be saved. Because of this danger, the Lord has shortened the time, in accordance with His words in Matthew:
…then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until now, nor shall be. Indeed, unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. (Matthew 24:21, 22)
This does not mean near at hand or a nearness in time, as may be seen in no. 947 below.
The seven churches mean, not seven churches, but all who are constituents of the church in the Christian world. For numbers in the Word symbolize properties, and seven symbolizes all things or all people, and so also fullness and completeness, and it occurs in the Word where the subject is something holy, and in an opposite sense, something profane. Consequently this number involves holiness, and in an opposite sense, profanation.
Numbers symbolize properties, or rather they serve as a class of adjectives to substantives, assigning some attribute to their subjects, because a number in itself is a natural quantity. For natural things are measured by numbers, but spiritual things by properties and their states. Therefore someone who does not know the symbolism of numbers in the Word, and particularly in the book of Revelation, cannot know the many secrets that it contains.
Now, because seven symbolizes all things or all people, it is apparent that the seven churches mean all people in the Christian world where the Word exists and where through it the Lord is known. If these live according to the Lord’s commandments in the Word, they form the real church.
[2] It is because of this that the Sabbath was instituted on the seventh day, and that the seventh year was called a sabbatical year, and the forty-ninth year the year of Jubilee, which symbolized everything holy in the church.
It is because of this, too, that a week in Daniel and elsewhere symbolizes an entire period from beginning to end and is predicated of the church.
Similar things are symbolized by seven hereafter, as for example, by the seven golden lampstands, in the midst of which was the Son of Man (Revelation 1:13); by the seven stars in His right hand (1:16, 20); by the seven spirits of God (1:4, 4:5); by the seven lamps of fire (4:5); by the seven angels to whom were given seven trumpets (8:2); by the seven angels having the seven last plagues (15:5, 6); by the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues (16:1, 21:9); by the seven seals with which the book was sealed (5:1).
Likewise in the following places: That their hands should be filled for seven days (Exodus 29:35). That they should be sanctified for seven days (Exodus 29:37). That when they were inaugurated they should go in seven days, clothed in holy garments (Exodus 29:30). That for seven days they should not go out of the Tabernacle while being initiated into the priesthood (Leviticus 8:33, 35). That atonement should be made for the altar seven times on its horns (Leviticus 16:18, 19). That the altar was sanctified with oil seven times (Leviticus 8:11). That blood should be sprinkled seven times toward the veil (Leviticus 4:16, 17), and also seven times toward the east (Leviticus 16:12-15). That the water of separation should be sprinkled seven times toward the Tabernacle (Number 19:4). That Passover should be celebrated for seven days and unleavened bread eaten for seven days (Exodus 12:1ff., Deuteronomy 16:4-7).
So, too, that the Jews should be punished sevenfold for their sins (Leviticus 26:18, 21, 24, 28), on which account David says, “Requite our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom” (Psalm 79:12). “Sevenfold” means fully.
[3] Also in these places:
The words of Jehovah are pure words, silver…in a furnace…purified seven times. (Psalm 12:6)
The hungry have ceased, until the barren has borne seven, while she who has many children has become feeble. (1 Samuel 2:5)
“The barren” is the church of the gentiles, who did not have the Word. “She who has many children” is the church of the Jews, who did have the Word. Similarly,
She will languish who has borne seven; she will breath out her soul. (Jeremiah 15:9)
Those who dwell in the cities of Israel will…set on fire and burn the weapons…; and they will make fires with them for seven years…. …they will bury Gog, and…for seven months…will be cleansing the land. (Ezekiel 39:9, 11, 12)
(The unclean spirit) will take seven other spirits more wicked than himself…. (Matthew 12:45)
Profanation is described there, and the seven spirits with which he would return symbolize all falsities of evil, thus a complete extinguishing of goodness and truth.
The seven heads of the dragon, and the seven jewels* on its heads (Revelation 12:3), symbolize the profanation of all goodness and truth.
This makes apparent that “seven” involves holiness or profanation, and symbolizes completeness and fullness.
* The word translated as “jewels” here means diadems or crowns in the original Greek and Latin, but the writer’s definitions of the term elsewhere make plain that he regularly and consistently interpreted it to mean jewels or gems.
Since, as we said before, all the names of persons and places in the Word mean things having to do with heaven and the church, so too does Asia, and likewise the names of the seven churches there, as will be apparent from considerations that follow.
Asia means those who possess the light of truth from the Word because the Most Ancient Church existed there, followed by the Ancient Church, and later the Israelite Church, and because the Ancient Word existed among them, and later the Israelite Word. For all light of truth comes from the Word.
To be shown that there were ancient churches in the Asiatic world, and that they had a Word which was afterward lost, and that there finally existed there the Word that we have today, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 101-103.
That, now, is the reason that Asia here symbolizes all those who from the Word possess the light of truth.
[2] Regarding the aforementioned Ancient Word which existed in Asia before the Israelite Word, this new information deserves to be reported, that it is still preserved there among peoples who live in Great Tartary.* I have spoken with spirits and angels in the spiritual world who came from there, who said that they possessed a Word, that they had possessed it from ancient times, that they conduct their worship in accordance with it, and that it consists of nothing but things that correspond. They said that it also contains the book of Jasher, which is mentioned in Joshua (Joshua 10:12, 13)** and in the Second Book of Samuel (2 Samuel 1:17, 18),*** and that they have among them as well The Wars of Jehovah and Prophecies, books which Moses mentions in Numbers (Numbers 21:14, 15, 27-30).**** Moreover, when I read in their presence the words that Moses took from those books, they looked to see whether they existed there, and they found them.
It was apparent to me from this that the Ancient Word still exists among them.
In the course of my conversation with them they said they worship Jehovah – some of them worshiping Him as an invisible God, some as a visible one.
Furthermore, they related that they do not allow foreigners to enter their midst, with the exception of the Chinese, with whom they cultivate a peaceful relationship, because the Chinese emperor came from them. They said, too, that their country is so populous that they do not believe any region in the whole world to be more populous – which is also believable on account of the wall extending so many miles which the Chinese once built to protect themselves from being invaded by them.
Inquire concerning the Ancient Word in China, and perhaps you will find it there among the Tartars.*****
* A vast region controlled by Mongols in the 13th and 14th centuries, extending from eastern Europe over much of Asia. After the Turkish groups known as Tatars were conquered and assimilated by the Mongols in the early 13th century, the Mongol invaders of Russia and Hungary became known to Europeans as Tatars or Tartars, and their territory was depicted in maps as Great Tartary.
** “Then Joshua spoke to Jehovah in the day when Jehovah delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel: ‘Sun, stand still over Gibeon; and Moon, in the Valley of Aijalon.’ So the sun stood still, and the moon stopped, till the people had revenge upon their enemies. Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?”
*** “Then David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son, and he told them to teach the children of Judah the Song of the Bow; indeed it is written in the Book of Jasher.”
**** “Therefore it is said in the Book of the Wars of the Jehovah: ‘Waheb in Suphah, the brooks of the Arnon, and the slope of the brooks that reaches to the dwelling of Ar, and lies on the border of Moab.'” “…Therefore the Prophecies say: ‘Come to Heshbon, let it be built; let the city of Sihon be repaired. For fire went out from Heshbon, a flame from the city of Sihon; it consumed Ar of Moab, the lords of the heights of the Arnon. Woe to you, Moab! You have perished, O people of Chemosh! He has given his sons as fugitives, and his daughters into captivity, to Sihon king of the Amorites. But we have shot at them; Heshbon has perished as far as Dibon. Then we laid waste as far as Nophah, which reaches to Medeba.'”
***** I.e., among the descendants of the Mongols.
What grace and peace mean specifically will be told in explanations to follow. “Peace to you” was the Lord’s greeting to His disciples, thus a Divine salutation, as may be seen in Luke 24:36, 37* and John 20:19-21,** and by the Lord’s command it was the greeting of the disciples to all those into whose houses they might enter (Matthew 10:11-15).***
* “Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ But they were terrified and frightened, and supposed they had seen a spirit.
** “Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, ‘Peace to you.’ When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord.
*** “Now whatever city or town you enter, inquire who in it is worthy, and stay there till you go out. And when you go into a household, greet it. If the household is worthy, let your peace come upon it. But if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. And whoever will not receive you nor hear your words, when you depart from that house or city, shake off the dust from your feet. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!
That it is the Lord is clearly apparent from verses that follow in this chapter, where it is said that John heard a voice from the Son of Man saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” and afterward, “I am the First and the Last” as well as in the next chapter, 2:8, and later in 21:6, 22:12, 13). Also in Isaiah:
Thus says the Lord, 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; also 48:12)
Moreover, He who is the First and the Last is He who is, who was, and who is to come.
[2] This also is the meaning of “Jehovah.” For the name “Jehovah” means “He is” and “He who is,” or He who is being itself.* It also means “He was” and “He is to come,” since the past and the future in Him are present. Consequently He is eternal independently of time, and infinite independently of place.
The church also confesses this in conformity with the doctrine of the trinity called the Athanasian Creed, where these words are found:
The Father is eternal and infinite, the Son is eternal and infinite, and the Holy Spirit is eternal and infinite. And yet there are not three eternal and infinite Gods, but one.
* See Exodus 3:13-15.
That one is the Lord, as we demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.
The seven spirits mean all who are governed by Divine truth, and in an abstract sense, Divine truth itself. The number seven in the Word means all things or all people, as may be seen in no. 10 above, and the throne means the whole of heaven, as will be seen shortly. Therefore “before His throne” means where His Divine truth is; for heaven is not heaven in consequence of the angels’ own qualities, but owing to the Lord’s Divinity, as we have shown many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence and Divine Love and Wisdom.
That the Lord’s throne symbolizes heaven is apparent from the following passages:
Thus said Jehovah: “The heavens are My throne….” (Isaiah 66:1)
Jehovah has established His throne in the heavens…. (Psalm 103:19)
He who swears by heaven, swears by the throne of God…. (Matthew 23:22)
Above the firmament that was over the head (of the cherubim), in appearance like a sapphire stone, was the likeness of a throne, and on (it)…the appearance of a man…. (Ezekiel 1:26, cf. 10:1)
The expanse over the head of the cherubim means heaven. Further, in the book of Revelation:
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit…on My throne…. (Revelation 3:21)
To be on His throne means to be in heaven. Specifically it means to be where His Divine truth reigns. Consequently, where judgment is the subject, it is also said that the Lord will sit upon His throne, for judgment is effected by means of truths.
It may be seen in no. 6 above that Jesus Christ and the Lamb in the Word mean the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity.
It may be seen in no. 6 above that witnessing is said of truth, and that truth bears witness to itself, as does the Lord, who is Divine truth itself and the Word.
No one as yet knows what it is to be firstborn from the dead. Moreover, the ancients debated what it symbolized. They knew that the firstborn symbolized the first or primary constituent from which sprung everything having to do with the church. Many also believed that it was truth in doctrine and faith, but a few thought it was truth in act and deed, which constitutes goodness of life. We will see that the latter is the first and primary constituent of the church, and therefore that, properly speaking, it is what is meant by the firstborn.
First, however, we must say something about the opinion of those who believed that truth in doctrine and faith is the first and primary constituent of the church, thus the firstborn. They believed this because truth is learned first, and because the church is a church in consequence of its truth, though not before the truth is lived. Prior to that it exists only in the thought and memory of the intellect, and not in any action of the will; and truth that is not truth in act or deed has no life in it. It is merely like a tree abounding in branches and leaves without any fruit, or like knowledge without any useful application. Or it is like a foundation upon which a house is being built for people to live in. These things are first in time, but they are not first in end, and those which are first in end are primary. For first in end is the living in the house, while the first in time is the foundation. The first in end, too, is useful application, while the first in time is knowledge. Likewise, when a tree is planted, the first in end is its fruit, while first in time are its branches and leaves.
[2] The same is the case with the intellect, which is formed first in a person, but to the end that the person may put into practice what he sees with the intellect. Otherwise the intellect is like a preacher who teaches rightly but lives an evil life.
Every truth, furthermore, is sown in the inner self and takes root in the outer one. Consequently, unless the truth that is sown takes root in the outer self, which it does by being put into practice, it becomes like a tree placed not in the ground but on top of it, which in the radiating heat of the sun immediately wilts.
This root is something a person takes with him after death if he has put truths into practice, but not the person who has known and acknowledged them in faith only.
Now, because many of the ancients made what is first in time first in end or primary, therefore they said that something firstborn symbolized truth in the church in doctrine and faith, unaware that it is the firstborn apparently, but not actually.
[3] Those, however, who made truth in doctrine and faith primary, were all condemned, because not a bit of practice or deed, or of life, was found in that truth. Cain, who was the firstborn of Adam and Eve, was condemned for that reason. That he symbolizes truth in doctrine and faith may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence, no. 242.
For the same reason too, Reuben, who was the firstborn of Jacob, was condemned by his father (Genesis 49:3, 4), and the birthright was taken from him (1 Chronicles 5:1). In the spiritual sense Reuben means truth in doctrine and faith, as we will see hereafter.
The firstborn of Egypt were all struck down, having been condemned, and in the spiritual sense they mean nothing else than truth in doctrine and faith apart from goodness of life – truth which in itself is lifeless.
The goats mentioned in Daniel and Matthew* mean no others than people who possess a faith apart from life, as discussed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith, nos. 61-68.
Around the time of the Last Judgment, people who possessed a faith apart from life were rejected and condemned, as may be seen in A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment, no. 16ff.
[4] It can be seen from these few considerations that the firstborn of the church is not truth in doctrine and faith, but truth in practice or deed, which constitutes goodness of life. For the church does not exist in a person until truth becomes a matter of life, and when truth becomes a matter of life, it is then goodness. That is because the thought of the intellect and memory do not flow into the will and through the will into practice. Rather the will flows into the thought and memory of the intellect and acts. Moreover, whatever issues from the will through the intellect does so from affection, which is a matter of love, through thought, which is a matter of the intellect. And it is all called good and enters into the life. Therefore the Lord says that he who does the truth does it in God (John 3:21).
[5] Since John represented goodness of life, and Peter the truth of faith (see no. 5 above), therefore John is said to have reclined at the Lord’s breast and followed Jesus, and not Peter (John 21:18-23). The Lord also said of John that John would remain till He came (John 21:22, 23), thus to the present day, which is the day of the Lord’s coming. Consequently the Lord is now teaching goodness of life for people who will be constituents of His New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.
In sum, the firstborn is that which truth first produces from good, thus what the intellect produces from the will, because truth has to do with the intellect, and good with the will. This first element is primary, because it is like a seed from which everything else springs.
[6] As for the Lord, He is the “firstborn from the dead” because in respect to His humanity He is truth itself united to Divine good, from whom all people live, who in themselves are dead.
The like is meant in Psalms,
I will make him my firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. (Psalm 89:27)
This is said of the Lord’s humanity.
So it is that Israel is called the firstborn (Exodus 4:22, 23). “Israel” means truth in practice, “Jacob” truth in doctrine; and because no church is formed in consequence of the latter alone, therefore Jacob was named Israel. (In the highest sense, however, Israel means the Lord.)
[7] Because of this representation of the firstborn, all the firstborn of people and animals were consecrated to Jehovah (Exodus 13:2, 12, 22:28, 29).
Because of this representation of the firstborn, in the Israelite church the Levites were taken in place of all the firstborn, and it is said that they therefore belonged to Jehovah (Numbers 3:12, 13, 40-46, 18:15-18). For Levi symbolizes truth in practice, which constitutes goodness of life, and therefore his descendants were given the priesthood, on which subject more later.
For the same reason, too, the firstborn was given a double portion of the inheritance, and he is called the beginning of strength (Deuteronomy 21:15-17).
[8] The firstborn symbolizes the primary constituent of the church because natural births in the Word symbolize spiritual births, and what first produces them in a person is then meant by his firstborn. For the church does not exist in him until the doctrinal truth conceived in the inner self is given birth in the outer self.
* Daniel 8:5, 8, 21, Matthew 25:32, 33.
This follows from the preceding, because “a faithful witness” symbolizes the Lord in respect to Divine truth, and “the firstborn” the Lord in respect to Divine good. Thus “the ruler of the kings of the earth” means, symbolically, that from Him originates all truth from good in the church. This is symbolically meant by “the ruler of the kings of the earth” because in the spiritual sense of the Word, kings mean people who possess truths from good, and abstractly, truths from good themselves, and the earth means the church.
That these are the symbolic meanings of kings and earth may be seen in nos. 20 and 285 below.
It is apparent that to wash us from our sins is to purify us from evils, thus to reform and regenerate, for regeneration is a spiritual washing. However, “His blood” does not mean the suffering of the cross, as many believe, but the Divine truth emanating from Him, as can be seen from many passages in the Word, which it would be too tedious to present in their entirety here. We will present them in nos. 379 and 684 below. In the meantime, see what we have said and shown regarding the symbolic meaning of the Lord’s blood and flesh in the Holy Supper, in The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, (London, 1758), nos. 210-222, and in the same place regarding spiritual washing, which is regeneration, nos. 202-209.
People know that in the Word the Lord is called a king and also a priest. He is called a king owing to His Divine wisdom, and a priest owing to His Divine love. People who are governed by wisdom from the Lord are consequently called children of the king, and also kings, while people who are governed by love from Him are called ministers and priests. For the wisdom and the love in them do not originate from them, and so are not theirs but the Lord’s. It is these people who are therefore meant in the Word by kings and priests. Not that they are kings and priests, but that they have the Lord in them, and He causes them to be termed such.
Such people are called also children born of Him, children of the kingdom, children of the Father, and heirs – children born of Him in John 1:12, 13, which is to say, born anew or regenerated (John 3:1ff.), children of the kingdom in Matthew 8:12, 13:38, children of their Father in heaven in Matthew 5:45, and heirs in Psalm 127:3, 1 Samuel 2:8, Matthew 25:34. And being heirs, children of the kingdom, and children born of the Lord as their Father, they are therefore called kings and priests. Moreover, in Revelation 3:21 it is also said that they will sit with the Lord on His throne.
[2] The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms – the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord’s kingship, and because all who are in it are governed by wisdom founded on truths, therefore it is they who are meant by the kings that the Lord will make those people who are governed by wisdom from Him. The celestial kingdom, on the other hand, is what is called the Lord’s priesthood, and because all who are in it are governed by love arising from goodness, therefore it is they who are meant by the priests that the Lord will make those people who are governed by love from Him. The Lord’s church on earth is likewise divided into two kingdoms. Regarding these two kingdoms, see nos. 24, 226 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758.
[3] Someone who does not know the spiritual meaning of kings and priests may be deluded in regard to many things said in the prophets and in the book of Revelation about them. For example, in regard to these statements in the prophets:
The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you…. You shall suck the milk of gentiles, even the breasts of kings you shall suck, that you may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer…. (Isaiah 60:10, 16)
Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your wet nurses. (Isaiah 49:23)
Also elsewhere, as in Genesis 49:20; Psalm 2:10; Isaiah 14:9, 24:21, 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26, 4:9, 49:3; Lamentations 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26, 27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8. Kings there do not mean kings, but people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, Divine truths themselves, from which comes wisdom.
“The king of the south” and “the king of the north” who waged war with each other in Daniel 11 do not mean kings either, but the king of the south means people who are governed by truths, and the king of the north people who are caught up in falsities.
[4] Likewise in the book of Revelation, which many times mentions kings, as in the following passages:
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)
(With) the great harlot who sits on many waters…the kings of the earth committed whoredom…. (Revelation 17:1, 2)
…of the wine of the wrath of (Babylon’s) whoredom all the nations have drunk, 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 who sat on the (white) horse…. (Revelation 19:19)
And the nations that 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)
Elsewhere also, as in Revelation 16:14, 17:9-14, 18:9, 10. The kings there means people who are governed by truths, and in an opposite sense, people caught up in falsities, and abstractly, truths or falsities themselves. The whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth means the falsification of the truth of the church. Obviously Babylon, or the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with kings, but rather falsified truths of the Word.
[5] It is apparent from this that the Lord’s going to make people who are wise from Him kings does not mean that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. The reality of this is also something that enlightened reason sees.
Likewise in the following:
You have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)
That by king the Lord meant truth is apparent from His words to Pilate:
Pilate…said to Him, “Are You a king then?”
Jesus answered, “As you have said, because I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.”
Pilate said to Him, “What is truth?” (John 18:27, 38)
To bear witness to the truth is to be Himself the embodiment of truth. And because He called Himself a king by virtue of it, Pilate said, “What is truth?” – which is to say, “Is truth a king?
As for priests, we will see in later explanations that they symbolize people who are governed by the goodness of love, and abstractly, goods of love themselves.
In the spiritual sense “God and Father” does not refer to two persons, but God means the Divine in respect to wisdom, and Father the Divine in respect to love. For the Lord has in Him two attributes: Divine wisdom and Divine love, or Divine truth and 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), therefore “God and Father” does not mean two persons, but the Lord alone. The Divine, moreover, is one and indivisible. Consequently the statement that Jesus Christ has made us kings and priests to His God and Father means, symbolically, that they appear before Him as images of His Divine wisdom and of His Divine love. The image of God consists in these two qualities in people and angels.
It may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord that the Divine, which in itself is one, is designated by various names in the Word.
That the Lord is also Himself the Father follows from the following declarations. In Isaiah:
…unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given…, (whose) name will be called Wonderful…, God, Mighty One,* Father of eternity, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
In the same prophet:
You, Jehovah, are our Father, our Redeemer from everlasting is Your name. (Isaiah 63:16)
And in John:
“If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.”
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father….”
Jesus said to him, “…He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how then can you say, ‘Show us the Father’… …Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me….” (John 14:7-9, 11)
See no. 962 below.
* The writer follows the rendering of Sebastian Schmidt here, though the word in the original Hebrew text is an adjective modifying “God,” as it is interpreted in standard English translations.
When glory is mentioned in the Word in relation to the Lord, it means His Divine majesty and is predicated of His Divine wisdom, and might means His Divine omnipotence and is predicated of His Divine love. “Forever and ever” means to eternity.
That these are the meanings of glory, might and forever when said of Jehovah or the Lord can be confirmed by many passages in the Word.
“Amen” signifies truth, and because the Lord was the very embodiment of truth, therefore He so often said, “Assuredly, I say to you,”* as in Matthew 5:18, 26, 6:16, 10:23, 42, 17:20, 18:13, 18, 25:12, cf. 28:20; John 3:11, 5:19, 24, 25, 6:26, 32, 47, 53, 8:34, 51, 58, 10:7, 12:24, 13:16, 20, 21, cf. 21:18, 25; and in the following passage in the book of Revelation, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness” (Revelation 3:14), which is to say, the Lord.
That the Lord is the very embodiment of truth, He Himself teaches in John 14:6, 17:19.
* Literally, “Amen, I say to you.”
Someone who knows nothing of the internal or spiritual meaning of the Word cannot know what the Lord meant by His coming in the clouds of heaven. For He said to the high priest who was adjuring Him to say whether He was the Christ, the Son of God,
As you have said…. I am. And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming with the clouds of heaven. (Matthew 26:63, 64, Mark 14:61, 62)
Moreover, in speaking to His disciples about the end of the age, the Lord said,
And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear…, and they will see (Him) coming in the clouds of heaven with power and…glory. (Matthew 24:30, Mark 13:26)
The clouds of heaven in which He will come mean nothing else than the Word in its literal sense, and the glory in which they will see Him, the Word in its spiritual meaning.
The reality of this can hardly be believed by people who do not think of the Word beyond the sense of its letter. To them a cloud is a cloud, and so they believe that the Lord will appear in the clouds of the sky when the Last Judgment is at hand. But this idea collapses when the meaning of a cloud is known, that it is Divine truth in its outmost expressions, thus the Word in its literal meaning.
[2] One sees clouds in the spiritual world just as in the natural world. However, clouds in the spiritual world appear beneath the heavens, in the region of people who are caught up in the literal meaning of the Word – clouds that are darker or brighter according to their understanding of the Word and at the same time acceptance of it. That is because the light of heaven there is Divine truth, and degrees of darkness falsities. Bright clouds, therefore, are Divine truth veiled in truthful appearances, like the Word in its letter with people who possess truths, while dark clouds are Divine truth wrapped in misconceptions affirmed on the basis of appearances, like the Word in its letter with people caught up in falsities. I have seen these clouds often, and their origin and nature have been apparent.
Now because, after the glorification of His humanity, the Lord became the embodiment of Divine truth or the Word even in its outmost expressions, He said to the high priest that thereafter they would see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven.*
[3] Moreover, He said to His disciples that at the end of the age the sign of the Son of Man would appear, and that they would see Him coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory,** which symbolically means that at the end of the church, when the Last Judgment takes place, He will appear in the Word and reveal its spiritual meaning, an event that has occurred at the present day, because now is the time of the church’s end and of the accomplishment of the Last Judgment, as may be seen from short works recently published.***
This, then, is what is meant here in the book of Revelation by the declaration, “Behold, He is coming with clouds,” and in the following one,
I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud One sitting like the Son of Man…. (Revelation 14:14)
As also in Daniel,
I was watching in the night visions, and behold…, the Son of Man coming with…clouds…! (Daniel 7:13)
To be shown that the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 19-28.
[4] Clouds elsewhere in the Word, too, mean Divine truth in its outmost expressions, and so also the Word in its letter, as may be seen from passages there where clouds are mentioned, as in the following:
There is no one like the God of Jeshurun, who rides in heaven…, and in magnificence on the clouds. (Deuteronomy 33:26)
Sing to God, praise His name; extol Him who rides on the clouds…. (Psalm 68:4)
…Jehovah rides on a light cloud…. (Isaiah 19:1)
To ride on clouds means, symbolically, to possess the Word’s wisdom, for a horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word. Who does not see that God does not ride upon clouds?
Similarly:
(God) rode upon cherubs…, (and) made…His canopy…the clouds of the heavens. (Psalm 18:10, 11)
Cherubs, too, symbolize the Word, as may be seen in nos. 239, 672, below. A canopy symbolizes an abode.
[5] (Jehovah) lays the beams of His dining chambers in the waters; He makes a cloud His chariot…. (Psalm 104:3)
Waters symbolize truths, dining chambers doctrinal tenets, and a chariot doctrine, all of which are called clouds, because they are derived from the literal meaning of the Word.
Similarly:
He binds up the waters in His clouds, and the cloud is not broken under them…; (and) He spreads His cloud over (His throne). (Job 26:8, 9)
…God…causes the light of His cloud to shine. (Job 37:15)
Ascribe strength to God, …strength upon the clouds. (Psalm 68:34)
The light of a cloud symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word, and strength symbolizes the Divine power in it.
[6] (Lucifer,) you have said in your heart…: “I will ascend above the heights of a cloud, I will be like the Most High.” (Isaiah 14:13, 14)
Forsake (Babylon)…, for…she has lifted herself up to the clouds. (Jeremiah 51:9)
Lucifer and Babylon symbolize people who profane the goods and truths of the Word. Consequently those are things meant there by clouds.
(Jehovah) spreads a cloud for a covering…. (Psalm 105:39)
Jehovah has created above every dwelling place of Mount Zion…a cloud by day…. For over all the glory there will be a covering. (Isaiah 4:5)
A cloud here, too, means the Word in its literal sense, which, because it encloses and covers the spiritual meaning, is called a covering over the glory. To be shown that the literal sense of the Word is a covering, to prevent its spiritual meaning from being injured, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, no. 33, and that it is a protection, no. 97.
[7] Divine truth in its outmost expressions, which is the same as the Word in its literal sense, was also represented by the cloud in which Jehovah descended upon Mount Sinai and proclaimed the Law (Exodus 19:9, 34:5). Also by the cloud which covered Peter, James and John when Jesus was transfigured, concerning which we are told:
While (Peter) was still speaking, behold, a…cloud overshadowed them; and lo, a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son…. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:5; cf. Mark 9:7, Luke 9:34, 35)
In this transfiguration the Lord caused Himself to be seen as the Word, which is why a cloud overshadowed them and a voice was heard from the cloud, saying that this was the Son of God. The voice from the cloud means from the Word.
We will see elsewhere that in an opposite sense, a cloud means the Word falsified in respect to its literal meaning.
* Matthew 26:63, 64, Mark 14:61, 62.
** Matthew 24:30, Mark 13:26.
*** A reference probably to The Last Judgment (London, 1758) and A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World (Amsterdam, 1763).
In the spiritual sense an eye means not an eye but the intellect. Consequently the declaration that every eye will see. This symbolically means that all those will acknowledge Him who possess, from an affection for it, an understanding of Divine truth, since it is they alone who understand and acknowledge. Others, indeed, see and also understand, but they do not acknowledge.
Those who acknowledge are symbolically meant because it is next said that they also who pierced Him will see, meaning people who are caught up in falsities.
To be shown that an eye symbolizes the intellect, see no. 48 below.
To “pierce Jesus Christ” means nothing else than to destroy His Divine truth in the Word. This also is meant by the report that one of the soldiers pierced His side, and blood and water came out (John 19:34). Blood and water are spiritual and natural Divine truth, thus the Word in its spiritual and natural senses; and to pierce the Lord’s side is to destroy both by falsities, as the Jews did also. For everything connected with the Lord’s suffering represented the state of the Jewish Church in relation to the Word – on which subject, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 15-17.
To pierce Him means, symbolically, to destroy the Word by falsities because it is said of Jesus Christ, who is shortly called the Son of Man, and “the Son of Man” means the Lord in relation to the Word. Therefore to pierce the Son of Man is to do it to the Word.
We will see that the tribes of the earth symbolize the goods and truths of the church, in the explanation of chapter seven where we deal with the twelve tribes of Israel. Wailing symbolizes mourning that they are dead.
The declaration here has the same meaning as the Lord’s words in Matthew:
…after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven…. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear…, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn…. (Matthew 24:29, 30)
This He said regarding the end of the age, which is the final period of the church. The darkening of the sun means, symbolically, that there will no longer be any love and charity. The moon’s not giving its light means, symbolically, that there will no longer be any intelligence and faith. The stars’ falling from heaven means, symbolically, that there will no longer be any concepts of goods and truths. That all the tribes of the earth will mourn means, symbolically, that there will no longer be any goods and truths. Tribulation symbolizes the state of the church then.
These and still more are the ideas contained in these words, which describe the Lord. It is clearly apparent that they are said of the Lord, and indeed of His humanity, for we are told next that John heard a voice saying, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last,” that he turned to see the voice that spoke with him, and that he saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands (Revelation 1:10-13) – who shortly also said, “I am the First and the Last, and am He who lives, and was put to death” (Revelation 1:17, 18, cf. 2:8).
As for all the particulars listed above, however, it is impossible to confirm these briefly, since to confirm them to people’s comprehension would take many pages. Still, we have confirmed them in part in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, recently published in Amsterdam, q.v.
The Lord calls Himself the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, because Alpha and Omega have reference to His Divine love, while Beginning and End have reference to His Divine wisdom. For present in every particular of the Word is a marriage of love and wisdom or of goodness and truth, on which subject see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 80-90.
[2] The Lord is called the Alpha and the Omega because alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, and they consequently symbolize all things in their entirety. That is because in the spiritual world every alphabetic letter has some symbolic meaning, and a vowel, since it serves to provide tone, symbolizes something having to do with affection or love. From this origin springs spiritual and angelic speech, and also writing. But this is an arcanum previously unknown. For there is a universal language, which all angels and spirits possess, and it has nothing in common with any language of people in the world. Everyone comes into use of this language after death, as it is implanted in everyone from creation. Everyone can therefore understand everyone else throughout the whole spiritual world. I have been granted often to hear that language, and also to speak it, and I have compared it with languages in the world and found that it does not accord, even in the least particular, with any natural language on earth. It differs from them from its first characteristic, which is that every letter in each word has some symbolic meaning, both in speaking and in writing.
That, then, is why the Lord is called the Alpha and the Omega, which symbolically means that He is the all in all things of heaven and the church. And because they are both vowels, they have reference to love, as said above.
Regarding this language and the writing of it flowing from the spiritual thought of angels, see also some observations in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Divine Wisdom, no. 295.
Since all things originate from the Lord, created from their first elements that emanate from Him, and since nothing exists that does not spring from that origin, as we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, it follows that He is the Almighty or omnipotent.
Postulate a single entity from which all others spring. Are they not all connected with that single entity, on which they depend one after another, like the links of a chain on the one at the head? Or like the blood vessels throughout the body on the heart? Or like every single constituent of the whole of creation on the sun – thus on the Lord, who is the sun of the spiritual world, from whom springs all the essence, life and power which exist among those who are under that sun? In short, from Him we have our being, live, and move (Acts 17:28). That is Divine omnipotence.
That the Lord directs all things from the first of them through the last is an arcanum not previously revealed, but which has been explained in many places in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord and Regarding the Sacred Scripture, and also in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence, no. 124, and Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, no. 221.
People know that the Divine, being infinite, does not fall within the scope of anyone’s mental conceptions, nor those of any angel, because those conceptions are finite, and a finite person is incapable of perceiving infinity. Nevertheless, in order that it may be perceived in some way, it has pleased the Lord to describe His infinity with 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. Consequently these words include everything that an angel or person could ever conceive of, spiritually and naturally, regarding the Divine, concepts which in general are those universally that we have cited above.
The Apostle John represented those people who possess the goodness of charity, as we said in no. 5 above, and people who possess the goodness of charity also possess truths of faith, since charity is the soul and life of faith.
It is because of this that John calls himself the brother and companion of the people in the church to whom he was writing, for he was writing to the seven churches. In the spiritual sense of the Word a brother means someone who possesses the goodness of charity, and a companion someone who for that reason possesses truths of faith. For people are all as though blood relatives through charity, and relatives by marriage through faith. That is because charity unites, but not so much faith unless it springs from charity. When faith springs from charity, then the charity unites and the faith affiliates. Moreover, because the two go together, therefore the Lord commanded all to be brothers; for He said,
…One is your Teacher, the Christ, while you are all brethren. (Matthew 23:8)
[2] The Lord also calls those brothers who possess the goodness of charity or goodness of life. He said,
My mother and My brothers are these who hear the Word of God and do it. (Luke 8:21; cf. Matthew 12:49, Mark 3:33-35)
Mother means the church, and brothers those who possess charity. Moreover, because the goodness of charity is “a brother,” therefore the Lord names those who possess it His brothers (see also Matthew 25:40); and so likewise the disciples (Matthew 28:10, John 20:17). But we do not read that the disciples called the Lord brother, because “a brother” is the goodness that emanates from the Lord. It is comparatively like the case of a king, prince, or eminent person, who calls his relatives by blood and marriage brothers, even though they do not call him so in return. For the Lord says,
…One is your Teacher, the Christ, while you are all brethren. (Matthew 23:8)
And so, too:
You call me Teacher and Lord, and you say rightly, for so I am. (John 13:13)
The children of Israel called brothers all those who were descended from their ancestor Jacob, and in a wider sense those also who were descended from Esau. But people not descended from those ancestors they called companions.
However, because in its spiritual sense the Word deals only with people who are in the Lord’s church, therefore in that sense brothers mean those who possess the goodness of charity emanating from the Lord, and companions those who possess truths of faith, as in the following passages:
Thus every one of you shall say to his companion, and every one to his brother, “What has Jehovah answered?” (Jeremiah 23:35)
You have not (proclaimed) liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his companion. (Jeremiah 34:17)
Let him not press his companion or his brother…. (Deuteronomy 15:1, 2)
For the sake of my brethren and companions, I will…say…. (Psalm 122:8)
Everyone helps his companion, and says to his brother, “Be strong!” (Isaiah 41:6)
And in an opposite sense:
Everyone beware of his companion, and do not trust in any brother; …every brother…supplants, and every companion slanders. (Jeremiah 9:3)
I will embroil Egypt with Egypt; each will fight against his brother, and…against his companion…. (Isaiah 19:2)
And elsewhere.
I have adduced these particulars to make known why John calls himself a brother and companion – that in the Word a brother means one who possesses charity or goodness, and a companion one who possesses faith or truth.
Still, because charity is the foundation from which faith springs, therefore the Lord does not call anyone a companion, but a brother or neighbor. Everyone also is the neighbor in accordance with the quality of his goodness (Luke 10:36, 37*).
* “So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And [the lawyer] said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
The state of the church is meant by tribulation, when there are no longer any goods of charity and truths of faith, but evils and falsities instead. The church is meant by kingdom. And the patient awaiting of Jesus Christ means the Lord’s advent. Consequently these words, “in the tribulation and kingdom and patient awaiting of Jesus Christ,” when condensed into a single meaning, symbolically mean, when the goods and truths of the church have been infested by evils and falsities, but ones which the Lord will remove when He comes.
That tribulation means the state of the church when it has been infested by evils and falsities is apparent from the following statements:
(At the end of the age) they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you…. …there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world…, nor shall be…. …after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven…. (Matthew 24:9, 21, 29, cf. Mark 13:19, 24)
We will see in subsequent explanations that a kingdom symbolizes the church.
The revelation to John occurred on Patmos because it was an island in Greece, not far from the land of Canaan, and between Asia and Europe; and islands symbolize nations relatively removed from the worship of God, but which will yet accede to it, because they can be enlightened. Greece has a similar meaning. But the church itself is meant by the land of Canaan. Asia symbolizes those of the church who from the Word have the light of truth, and Europe those to whom the Word will come. The island of Patmos accordingly symbolizes a state and place in which John could be enlightened.
That islands in the Word symbolize nations relatively removed from the worship of God, but which will yet accede to it, is apparent from the following passages:
In the Urim honor Jehovah, in the islands of the sea the name of…the God of Israel. (Isaiah 24:14)
He will not extinguish nor break in pieces till He has set judgment in the earth, and the islands hope in His law…. Sing to Jehovah a new song…, let the islands and the inhabitants of them…give glory to Jehovah, and declare His praise in the islands. (Isaiah 42:4, 10, 12)
Listen, O islands, to Me, and…you peoples from afar! (Isaiah 49:1)
The islands will hope in Me, and on My arm they will trust. (Isaiah 51:5)
…In Me the islands will trust, and the ships of Tarshish…. (Isaiah 60:9)
Hear the words of Jehovah, O nations, and declare them in the islands afar off. (Jeremiah 31:10)
…that they may worship Jehovah, each one in his place, all the islands of the nations. (Zephaniah 2:11)
And elsewhere.
That Greece has also a similar meaning is not so apparent 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 the land of Canaan means the Lord’s church, which is therefore called “the Holy Land” and “the heavenly Canaan,” is apparent from many places in the Word.
That Asia means those in the church who from the Word have the light of truth, may be seen in no. 11 above. And that Europe means those to whom the Word will come, follows.
This we explained in no. 6 above.
* Greece is mentioned in Zephaniah 9:13 too, but it was not so translated in the 1696 Latin Bible of Sebastian Schmidt, which the writer regularly used.
** The references here, as elsewhere, are to Greeks, rather than Greece.
“I became in the spirit” means, symbolically, a spiritual state, the state in which John was while he was experiencing the visions, and which we will take up in the following exposition. “On the Lord’s day” symbolizes influx from the Lord then, for that day brings the Lord’s presence, as it is a holy day.
Concerning the prophets we read that they were in the spirit or in vision, and 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, a state in which they saw phenomena such as are found in heaven. But when the Word came to them, they were then in the body and heard Jehovah speaking.
These two states of the prophets must be properly distinguished. In the state of vision the eyes of their spirit were open and the eyes of their body closed; and they heard then what angels said, and what Jehovah said through angels, and also saw representations produced for them in heaven. Moreover, they sometimes seemed to themselves to be taken then from place to place, their body remaining where it was.
[2] This was the state in which John was when he wrote the book of Revelation, and the state sometimes experienced by Ezekiel, Zechariah, and Daniel. They also said that they were then in vision or in the spirit. For Ezekiel says,
The Spirit lifted me up…and brought me back into Chaldea, to those in captivity, in a vision (of God), in the spirit of God. (Thus) went up from me the vision that I had seen. (Ezekiel 11:1, 24)
He also says that the Spirit lifted him up, and he heard behind him an earthquake, and more (Ezek. 3:12, 24). So, too, that the Spirit lifted him up between earth and heaven, that it brought him in visions of God to Jerusalem, and that he saw abominations (Ezekiel 8:3f.). He was likewise in a vision of God or in the spirit when he saw the four living creatures, which were cherubim (Ezek. 1, 10), as also when he saw a new earth and a new temple, and an angel measuring them (Ezek. 40-48). That he was then in the visions of God, he himself says (Ezek. 40:2), and that the spirit lifted him up (Ezek. 43:5).
[3] The same was the case with Zechariah, who had an angel with him at the time, when he saw a man riding a horse among the myrtle trees (Zechariah 1:8ff.); when he saw the four horns, and then a man with a measuring line in his hand (Zech. 1:18, 2:1ff.); when he saw Joshua the high priest (Zech. 3:1ff.); when he saw the lampstand and two olive trees (Zech. 4:1ff.); when he saw the flying scroll and the ephah (Zech. 5:1, 6); when he saw the four chariots coming from between two mountains, and the horses (Zech. 6:1ff.).
Daniel was in a like state when he saw the four beasts coming up from the sea (Daniel 7:1ff.), and when he saw the combat between the ram and the male goat (Dan. 8:1ff.). He himself says that he saw these things in visions (Dan. 7:1, 2, 7, 13, 8:2, 10:1, 7, 8), and that the angel Gabriel appeared to him in a vision (Dan. 9:21).
[4] The same was the case with John, as when he saw the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands (Revelation 1); when he saw the throne in heaven, and one sitting upon it, and around the throne the four living creatures (Rev. 4); when he saw the book sealed with seven seals (Rev. 5); when he saw the four horses going out from the open book (Rev. 6); when he saw the four angels standing at the four corners of the earth (Rev. 7); when he saw the locusts coming out of the pit of the abyss (Rev. 9); when he saw the angel who had in his hand a little book, which the angel gave him to eat (Rev. 10); when he heard the seven angels sounding their trumpets (Rev. 8, 9, 11); when he saw the dragon and the woman whom the dragon pursued, and its battle with Michael (Rev. 12), and afterward the two beasts rising up, one from the sea, the other from the earth (Rev. 13); when he saw the seven angels having the seven last plagues (Rev. 15, 16); when he saw the harlot sitting on the scarlet beast (Rev. 17, 18), and afterward the white horse and the one sitting on it (Rev. 19), and finally, the new heaven and the new earth, and then the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven (Rev. 21, 22). John himself says that he saw these things in the spirit and in vision (1:10, 4:2, 9:17, 21:10). This, too, is meant by the statement, “I saw,” everywhere it occurs in this book.
[5] It is clearly apparent from this that to be in the spirit is to be in a state of vision, which is brought about by an opening of the sight of a person’s spirit; and when this is opened, phenomena found in the spiritual world are as clearly visible as those in the natural world are to the sight of the body.
The reality of this is something I can attest to from many years’ experience.
The disciples were in this state when they saw the Lord after His resurrection, which is why are told that their eyes were opened (Luke 24:30, 31).
Abraham was in a like state when he saw the three angels and spoke with them.*
So, too, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua and others, when they saw angels of Jehovah. Likewise when Elisha’s lad saw the mountain full of fiery chariots and horses all around Elisha, for Elisha prayed and said,
“Jehovah, open, I pray, his eyes that he may see.” And Jehovah opened the eyes of the lad, and he saw. (2 Kings 6:17)
As regards the Word, however, it was not revealed in a state of the spirit or of vision, but the Lord dictated it to the prophets in an audible voice. Consequently we are nowhere told that the prophets spoke it from the Holy Spirit, but from Jehovah. See The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, no. 53.
* Genesis 18.
A loud voice, when heard from heaven, symbolizes Divine truth, as we will show next. It sounded like the voice of a trumpet for the reason that when Divine truth descends from heaven, it is sometimes heard as such by angels of the lowest heaven, and they then manifestly perceive it. That is why “a voice, as of a trumpet” symbolizes a manifest perception. More on the symbolism of a trumpet will be seen in nos. 397 and 519 below.
That a loud voice, when heard from heaven, symbolizes Divine truth, is apparent from the following passages:
The voice of Jehovah is over the waters…. The voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is accompanied with honor. The voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars…. The voice of Jehovah falls like a flame of fire. The voice of Jehovah shakes the wilderness…. The voice of Jehovah makes the deer give birth…. (Psalm 29:3-9)
You kingdoms of the earth…, sing praises to the Lord…. Behold, He will send out His voice, a mighty voice. (Psalm 68:32, 33)
Jehovah has given voice before His army…; for numerous is he who obeys His word. (Joel 2:2)
Jehovah…will utter His voice from Jerusalem. (Joel 3:16)
Moreover, because a voice symbolizes Divine truth from the Lord, therefore the Lord said that “the sheep hear His voice,” that “they know His voice” (John 10:3, 4). Also,
Other sheep I have…; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice…. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. (John 10:16, 27)
And elsewhere:
The hour is coming…when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of Man,* and those who hear will live. (John 5:25)
The voice here is the Lord’s Divine truth emanating from His Word.
* Sic. The Greek text has “the Son of God.”
That these words contain all these ideas, and infinitely more, may be seen in nos. 13 and 29 above. We said there that in the spiritual world the characters or letters of the alphabet all have symbolic meanings, and that the Lord therefore describes His Divinity and infinity by alpha and omega, which symbolically mean that He is the all in all things of heaven and the church.
Since every letter has a symbolic meaning in the spiritual world and so in the language of angels, therefore David composed the 119th Psalm in a progression ordered according to the letters of the alphabet, beginning with aleph and ending with tau, as can be seen from the beginnings of the verses there. Something similar is seen in the 111th Psalm, but not so obviously.
On this account, too, Abram was called Abraham, and Sarai was called Sarah, which came to pass because in heaven Abraham and Sarah were not taken to mean those people, but something Divine, as is also the meaning, for H involves infinity, because it is simply an aspirate sound.
More on this subject may be seen in no. 29 above.
That these are meant by the churches in Asia may be see in nos. 10 and 11 above.
That these seven names symbolize, in the spiritual sense, all states of reception for the Lord and His church is something we will see below. For when John received this command, he was in a spiritual state, and in that state nothing is mentioned by name that does not symbolize some thing or state. Consequently the messages written by John were not sent to any church in those places, but were addressed to their angels, meaning people who receive.
That all names of places and persons throughout the Word have spiritual meanings is something we showed many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London. For example, the names of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, called also Israel, and the names of his twelve sons. The names also of various places in the land of Canaan, and of places round about that land, such as Egypt, Syria, Assyria, and more.
The same is the case with these seven names. However, for one who wishes to stay with the literal meaning, let him stay with it, because that meaning conjoins. Only let him know that by these names angels perceive matters and states having to do with the church.
John says that he heard the voice behind him (verse 10), and now that he turned to see the voice, and secondly, that having turned he saw seven lampstands. From this it is apparent that he heard the voice in back of him, and that he turned to see where it was coming from.
Clearly in this lies an arcanum. The secret to it is that before a person turns to the Lord and acknowledges Him as God of heaven and earth, he cannot see the Divine truth in the Word. That is because God is one both in person and in essence, in whom is the Trinity, that God being the Lord. People who accept a trinity of persons, therefore, look primarily to the Father, and some to the Holy Spirit, but rarely to the Lord; and if they do look to the Lord, they think of His humanity in the same way that they do an ordinary person. When a person does this, he can by no means be enlightened in the Word, for the Lord embodies the Word, since it comes from Him and has Him as its subject. Therefore people who do not turn to the Lord alone regard Him and His Word as being behind them and not before them, or as being in back of them and not in front of them.
This is the secret that lies concealed in these words, that John heard the voice behind him, that he turned to see the voice, and that having turned he saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of them the Son of Man. For the voice that he heard came from the Son of Man, who is the Lord.
[2] That the Lord alone is God of heaven and earth, He now teaches in a clear statement, for He says,
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come….” (Revelation 1:8)
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last.” (Revelation 1:11)
And later,
“I am the First and the Last.” (Revelation 1:17, cf. 2:8)
To be shown that a voice, when coming from the Lord, means Divine truth, see no. 37 above; and that John means those people of the church who possess goodness of life, see nos. 5 and 6 above.
It can now be seen from this that these words, “Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me,” symbolize a turning around of the state of those people who possess goodness of life, in respect to their perception of the truth in the Word, when they turn to the Lord.
We are told in the last verse of this chapter that the seven lampstands are the seven churches, and it may be seen in no. 10 above that the seven churches mean all in the Christian world who turn to the church – and this in every case according to each one’s state of reception (no. 41).
The seven lampstands mean a new church because the Lord is in it and in the midst of it. For we are told that in the midst of the seven lampstands John saw one like the Son of Man, and the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word.
The lampstands appeared golden, because gold symbolizes goodness, and every church is a church by virtue of the goodness that is formed through truths. That gold symbolizes goodness will be seen in subsequent explanations.
[2] These lampstands were not next to one another or placed so as to touch each other, but stood at some intervals forming a kind of circle, as it apparent from this statement in the following chapter,
These things says He who…walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. (Revelation 2:1)
We are not told anything about the lamps on the lampstands, but later it is said that the Holy Jerusalem, which is to say, the New Church, “has no need of the sun or of the moon,” because “its lamp is the Lamb, and the nations that are saved shall walk in its light” (Revelation 21:23, 24). And furthermore,
They need no lamp…, for the Lord God gives them light. (Revelation 22:5)
For those people who will be constituents of the Lord’s New Church are the only “lampstands” that will shine with light from the Lord.
[3] The golden lampstand in the Tabernacle represented nothing else than the church in relation to its enlightenment by the Lord. Regarding this lampstand, see Exodus 25:31-40, 37:17-24, 26:35, Leviticus 24:3, 4, Numbers 8:2-4. That it represented the Lord’s church as to Divine spiritual love, which is love for the neighbor, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), nos. 9548, 9555, 9558, 9561, 9570, 9783. See also no. 493 below.
The lampstand in Zechariah 4 also symbolizes a new church to be established by the Lord, since it symbolizes a new house of God or temple, as is apparent from what follows there; and a house of God or temple symbolizes the church, and in the highest sense, the Lord’s Divine humanity, as He Himself teaches in John 2:19-21,* and elsewhere.
But we will say what in turn is symbolically meant in Zechariah 4, when the lampstand appeared to him:
The particulars contained in verses 1 to 7 symbolize the Lord’s enlightenment of a new church from the goodness of love by means of truth. The olive trees there symbolize the church in regard to the goodness of love.
The particulars from verse 8 to 10 there mean, symbolically, that the enlightenment comes from the Lord. Zerubbabel there, who is to build the house, thus the church, represents the Lord.
The particulars from verse 11 to 14 mean, symbolically, that that the church will also have in it truths from a heavenly origin.
This explanation of that chapter was given to me by the Lord through heaven.
* Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body.
People know from the Word that the Lord called Himself the Son of God and also the Son of Man. By “the Son of God” He meant Himself in respect to His Divine humanity, and by “the Son of Man” He meant Himself in relation to the Word. This we fully demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 19-28, and since we confirmed it thoroughly from the Word there, we refrain from confirming it further here.
Now because the Lord presented Himself to John as the Word, therefore in His appearance to him He is called the Son of Man.
The Lord presented Himself as the Word because the subject is the New Church, which is a church founded on the Word, according to its understanding of it. To be shown that the church is founded on the Word, and that its character is such as its understanding of the Word, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 76-79.
Since the church is a church from the Lord by means of the Word, therefore the Son of Man appeared in the midst of lampstands. “In the midst” means, symbolically, in the inmost, from which those things that are round about or exterior to it draw their essence, in this case their light or intelligence.
That the inmost is everything in the things that are round about or exterior to it is something we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom. It is like a light or flame at the center, in consequence of which all the peripheries shine with light and are warm.
[2] “In the midst” has the same symbolic meaning in the following passages in the Word:
Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst! (Isaiah 12:6)
God is my King…, working salvation in the midst of the earth. (Psalm 74:12)
…God…(working) lovingkindness in the midst of (the) temple.
God stands in the congregation of God; in the midst of the gods He will judge. (Psalm 82:1)
Gods are what those people who possess Divine truths from the Lord are called, and in an abstract sense, the truths themselves.
Behold, I am sending an angel before you…. Beware of his presence…; for My name is in the midst of him. (Exodus 23:20, 21)
The name of Jehovah means everything Divine. In the midst means in the inmost and so in every part.
In the midst or within symbolizes the inmost and so every part in many other places in the Word, even where the subject is evils, as in Isaiah 24:13, Jeremiah 23:9, Psalm 5:9, Jeremiah 9:5, 6, and Psalms 36:1, 55:4, 62:4.
We have cited these places to make known that “in the midst of the lampstands” means, symbolically, in the inmost of the church, from which the church and everything connected with it originates; for the church and everything connected with it comes from the Lord through the Word.
To be shown that the lampstands symbolize a new church, see no. 43 just above.
A long robe symbolizes the emanating Divinity which is Divine truth because garments in the Word symbolize truths. Thus a long robe, being an outer garment, symbolizes, when said of the Lord, Divine truth emanating.
Garments in the Word symbolize truths because people in heaven are clothed in accordance with the truths emanating from their goodness, on which subject see the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 177-182.
In subsequent explanations we will see that garments in the Word mean nothing else in its spiritual sense, accordingly that nothing else is meant by the Lord’s garments when He was transfigured, which appeared as white as the light (Matthew 17:1-4, Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36). So, too, neither is anything else meant by the Lord’s garments which the soldiers divided (John 19:23, 24).
In Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, it may be seen that the like was represented and so symbolized by Aaron’s garments (nos. 9814, 10,067); in particular, by the ephod (nos. 9477, 9824, 10,005), the robe (nos. 9825, 10,005), the tunic (nos. 9826, 9942), and the turban (no. 9827). For Aaron represented the Lord’s priestly function.
Regarding the symbolism of garments in the Word, see nos. 166 and 328 below.
The golden girdle has this symbolism because the Lord’s breast, and specifically the nipples there, symbolize His Divine love. Therefore the golden girdle which encircled them symbolizes the emanating and at the same time conjoining Divinity, which is the Divine goodness of Divine love. Gold, too, symbolizes goodness (see no. 913 below).
A girdle or sash in the Word symbolizes a common bond which holds everything in order and connection. For example, in Isaiah:
There shall come forth a rod from the stem of Jesse…, and righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and truth the girdle of His loins. (Isaiah 11:1, 5)
The rod coming forth from the stem of Jesse is the Lord.
It may be seen in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, nos. 9837 and 9944, that the girdle of Aaron’s ephod and the belt of his tunic symbolized conjunction.
Since a girdle symbolizes a bond conjoining the goods and truths of the church, therefore when the church with the children of Israel was destroyed, Jeremiah the prophet was commanded to buy himself a sash and put it on his loins, and then hide it in a hole in a rock by the Euphrates. And when, at the end of many days, he recovered it, behold, it was ruined and profitable for nothing. (Jeremiah 13:1-12) This represented that the goodness of the church had then come to nothing, with its truths therefore gone.
A sash has the same symbolic meaning in Isaiah 3:24, in the phrase, “instead of a sash, a rent.” And so also elsewhere.
That nipples or paps symbolize Divine love is apparent from passages in the Word where they are mentioned, and from their correspondence with love.
A person’s head symbolizes everything connected with his life, and everything connected with a person’s life has some relation to love and wisdom. A head consequently symbolizes both wisdom and love. However, because there is no love without its wisdom, nor wisdom without its love, therefore it is the love accompanying wisdom that is meant by a head; and when describing the Lord, it is the Divine love accompanying Divine wisdom. But on the symbolism of the head in the Word, more will be seen in nos. 538 and 568 below.
Since a head means both love and wisdom in their first forms, it follows accordingly that hair means love and wisdom in their final forms. And because the hair mentioned here describes the Son of Man, who is the Lord in relation to the Word, His hair symbolizes the Divine good connected with love, and the Divine truth connected with wisdom, in the outmost expressions of the Word – the outmost expressions of the Word being those contained in its literal sense.
[2] The idea that the hair of the Son of Man or the Lord symbolizes the Word in this sense may seem absurd, but still it is the truth. This can be seen from passages in the Word that we cited in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 35 and 49. We showed there as well that Nazirites in the Israelite Church represented the Lord in relation to the Word in its outmost expressions, which is its literal sense, as a nazir in Hebrew is a hair or head of hair.* That is why the power of Samson, who was a Nazirite from the womb, lay in his hair. The Divine truth similarly has power in the literal sense of the Word, as may be seen in the aforementioned Doctrine Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 37-49.
For the same reason, too, the high priest and his sons were strictly forbidden to shave their heads.
For that reason as well, forty-two of the boys who called Elisha a baldhead were torn apart by two she-bears. Like Elijah, Elisha represented the Lord in relation to the Word. A baldhead symbolizes the Word without its outmost expression, which, as said, is its literal sense, and she-bears symbolize this sense of the Word divorced from its inner meaning. Those who so divorce it, moreover, appear in the spiritual world as bears, though only at a distance. It is apparent from this why what happened to the boys happened as it did.
It was, therefore, also the highest disgrace and a mark of extreme mourning to inflict baldness.
[3] Accordingly, when the Israelite nation had completely perverted the literal sense of the Word, this lamentation over them was composed:
Her Nazirites were whiter than snow, brighter white than milk…. Darker than blackness is their form. They go unrecognized in the streets. (Lamentations 4:7, 8)
Furthermore:
Every head was made bald, and every shoulder shaved bare. (Ezekiel 29:18)
Shame will be on every face, and baldness on all their heads. (Ezekiel 7:18)
So similarly Isaiah 15:2, Jeremiah 48:37, Amos 8:10.
Because the children of Israel by falsities completely dissipated the literal sense of the Word, therefore the prophet Ezekiel was commanded to represent this by shaving his head with a razor and burning a third part with fire, striking a third part with a sword, and scattering a third part to the wind, and by gathering a small amount in his skirts, to cast it, too, afterward into the fire (Ezekiel 5:1-4).
[4] Therefore it is also said in Micah:
Make yourself bald and cut off your hair, because of your precious children; enlarge your baldness like an eagle, for they have departed from you. (Micah 1:16)
The precious children are the church’s genuine truths from the Word.
Moreover, because Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, represented Babylon’s falsification of the Word and destruction of every truth there, it accordingly came to pass that his hair grew like eagles’ feathers (Daniel 4:33).
Since the hair symbolized that holy component of the Word, therefore it is said of Nazirites that they were not to shave the hair of their head, because it was the consecration of God upon their head (Numbers 6:1-21). And therefore it was decreed that the high priest and his sons were not to shave their heads, lest they die and the whole house of Israel be angered (Leviticus 10:6).
[5] Now, because hair symbolizes Divine truth in its outmost expressions, which in the church is the Word in its literal sense, therefore something similar is said also of the Ancient of Days in Daniel:
I watched till the thrones were thrown down, and the Ancient of Days was seated. His garment was as white as snow, and the hair of His head like pure wool. (Daniel 7:9)
That the Ancient of Days is the Lord is clearly apparent in Micah:
You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from antiquity, from days of old. (Micah 5:2)
And in Isaiah, where He is called Everlasting Father (Isaiah 9:6).
[6] From these passages and many others – too many to cite – it can be seen that the head and hair of the Son of Man, which were like wool, as white as snow, mean the Divine expression of love and wisdom in first things and last. And because the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word, it follows that the Word, too, is meant in its first elements and last. Why else should it be that the Lord here in the book of Revelation and the Ancient of Days in Daniel are described even in respect to their hair?
That hair symbolizes the literal sense of the Word is clearly apparent from people in the spiritual world. Those who have scorned the literal sense of the Word appear bald there, and conversely, those who have loved the literal sense of the Word appear possessed of handsome hair.
The head and hair are described as being like wool and like snow because wool symbolizes goodness in outmost expressions, and snow symbolizes truth in outward expressions – as is the case also in Isaiah 1:18** – inasmuch as wool comes from sheep, which symbolize the goodness of charity, and snow comes from water, which symbolizes truths of faith.
* The Hebrew [Hebrew] (nazir) fundamentally means “one consecrated” or “one set apart;” but as a condition of the Nazirite vow was to let the hair grow, by extension a cognate word [Hebrew] (nezer) came to mean also the hair of a Nazirite’s consecration, and by analogy, a woman’s long hair.
** “Come now, and let us reason together,” says Jehovah. “Though your sins be like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Eyes in the Word mean the intellect, and the sight of the eyes, therefore, intelligence. Consequently, when said in reference to the Lord, they mean Divine wisdom. A flame of fire, moreover, symbolizes spiritual love, which is charity, and consequently, when said in reference to the Lord, it means Divine love. So now, the statement that His eyes were like a flame of fire symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.
That the eye symbolizes the intellect is because they correspond. For as the eye sees as a result of natural light, so the intellect sees as a result of spiritual light. Consequently seeing is predicated of both.
That the eye in the Word symbolizes the intellect is apparent from the following passages:
Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. (Isaiah 43:8)
In that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness…the eyes of the blind shall see. (Isaiah 29:18)
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf…. (Isaiah 35:5)
…I will give You…as a light to the Gentiles, to open the eyes of the blind…. (Isaiah 42:6, 7)
The last is said of the Lord, who, when He comes, will open the intellect in people who are ignorant of the truth.
[2] That this is what is meant by opening the eyes is further apparent from the following passages:
Make the heart of this people fat…, and smear over their eyes, lest they see with their eyes…. (Isaiah 6:10, John 12:40)
For Jehovah has poured out on you the spirit of deep sleep, and has closed your eyes; the prophets and your leaders, the seers, He has covered. (Isaiah 29:10, cf. 30:10)
…who shuts his eyes so as not to see evil. (Isaiah 33:15)
Hear this…, O foolish people…, who have eyes and see not…. (Jeremiah 5:21)
(The punishment of) the shepherd, who deserts the flock: a sword shall be…against his right eye…, and his right eye shall be totally darkened. (Zechariah 11:17)
…the plague with which Jehovah will strike all the peoples who fought against Jerusalem: …their eyes shall waste away in their sockets…. (Zechariah 14:12)
…I will strike every horse with stupor, and…every horse of the peoples with blindness. (Zechariah 12:4)
A horse in the spiritual sense is an understanding of the Word (no. 298).
…hear me, Jehovah my God; enlighten my eyes, lest (perchance) I sleep the sleep of death. (Psalm 13:3)
Everyone sees that eyes in these places symbolize the intellect.
[3] It is apparent from this what the Lord meant by the eye in the following places:
The lamp of the body is the eye. If…your eye is whole, your entire body will be full of light. If…your eye is bad, your entire body will be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness! (Matthew 6:22, 23, cf. Luke 11:34)
If your right eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is better for you…to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. (Matthew 5:29, 18:9)
The eye in these places does not mean an eye, but an understanding of truth.
Since the eye symbolizes an understanding of truth, it was therefore one of the statutes among the children of Israel that a blind man of the posterity of Aaron or one blurry-eyed not approach to offer a sacrifice, nor enter within the veil (Leviticus 21:18, 20, 23), and that nothing blind be offered as a sacrifice (Leviticus 22:22, Malachi 1:8).
[4] It is apparent from this what an eye means when said in reference to a person. It follows then that when said in reference to the Lord, it means His Divine wisdom, and also His omniscience and providence, as in the following passages:
Open Your eyes, Jehovah, and see. (Isaiah 37:17)
I will set My eye on them for good, and…I will build them…. (Jeremiah 24:6)
Behold, the eye of Jehovah is on those who fear Him…. (Psalm 33:18)
Jehovah is in His holy temple…; His eyes behold, (and) His eyelids test the children of man. (Psalm 11:4)
Inasmuch as cherubim symbolize the Lord’s protection and providence to keep the spiritual meaning of the Word from being harmed, therefore it is said of the four living creatures – which were cherubim – that they were full of eyes in front and in back, and that their wings were likewise full of eyes (Revelation 4:6, 8). And it is also said that the wheels on which the cherubim rode were full of eyes all around (Ezekiel 10:12).
[5] “A flame of fire” means the Lord’s Divine love, as will be seen in subsequent expositions where flame and fire are mentioned. And because it is said that His eyes were like a flame of fire, it symbolizes the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love.
The concept that the Lord has in Him Divine love as a property of Divine wisdom, and Divine wisdom as a property of Divine love, thus a reciprocal union of the two, is an arcanum disclosed in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 34-39, and elsewhere.
The Lord’s feet symbolize His natural Divinity. Fire or being fired symbolizes goodness. And fine brass symbolizes the natural goodness of truth. Consequently the feet of the Son of Man like fine brass, as though fired in a furnace, symbolize natural Divine good.
His feet have this symbolic meaning because of their correspondence.
Present in the Lord, and so emanating from the Lord, are a celestial Divinity, a spiritual Divinity, and a natural Divinity. His celestial Divinity is meant by the head of the Son of Man; His spiritual Divinity by His eyes and by His breast girded with a golden girdle; and His natural Divinity by His feet.
[2] Because these three elements are present in the Lord, therefore the same three are also present in the angelic heaven. The third or highest heaven exists on the celestial Divine level, the second or middle heaven on the spiritual Divine level, and the first or lowest heaven on the natural Divine level. The like is the case with the church on earth. For the whole of heaven is, in the Lord’s sight, like a single person, in which those who are governed by the Lord’s celestial Divinity form the head, and those who are governed by His spiritual Divinity form the trunk, while those who are governed by His natural Divinity form the feet.
For this reason, too, every person, having been created in the image of God, has in him the same three degrees, and as they are opened he becomes an angel either of the third heaven, or of the second, or of the last.
It is owing to this also that the Word contains three levels of meaning – a celestial one, a spiritual one, and a natural one.
The reality of this may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, particularly in Part Three, in which we discussed these three degrees.
To be shown that feet, the soles of the feet, and heels correspond to natural attributes in people, and that in the Word, therefore, they symbolize natural attributes, see in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, nos. 2162 and 4938-4952.
[3] Natural Divine good is also symbolically meant by feet in the following passages. In Daniel:
I lifted my eyes and looked; behold, a…man clothed in linen garments, whose loins were girded with the gold of Uphaz! And his body was like beryl, and…his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and his feet like the sheen of burnished bronze. (Daniel 10:5, 6)
In the book of Revelation:
I saw…an angel coming down from heaven, …his feet like pillars of fire. (Revelation 10:1)
And in Ezekiel:
(The feet of the cherubim) sparkled like the sheen of burnished bronze. (Ezekiel 1:7)
Angels and cherubim so appeared for the reason that the Lord’s Divinity was represented in them.
[4] Since the Lord’s church exists below the heavens, thus under the Lord’s feet, it is therefore called His footstool in the following places:
The glory of Lebanon shall come to you…, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; …I will make the place of My feet honorable. And…they shall bow themselves at the soles of your feet. (Isaiah 60:13, 14)
Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. (Isaiah 66:1)
(God) does not remember His footstool in the day of His anger. (Lamentations 2:1)
…worship (Jehovah) in the direction of His footstool. (Psalm 99:5)
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah (Bethlehem)…. We will go into His dwelling places, we will bow ourselves at His footstool. (Psalm 132:6, 7)
That is why worshipers fell at the Lord’s feet (Matthew 28:9, Mark 5:22, Luke 8:41, John 11:32), and why they kissed His feet and wiped them with their hair (Luke 7:37, 38, 44-46, John 11:2, 12:3).
[5] Because feet symbolize the natural self, therefore the Lord said to Peter, when He washed Peter’s feet,
He who is washed needs only to have his feet washed, and he is completely clean. (John 13:10)
To wash the feet is to purify the natural self. When it has been purified, the whole self also is purified, as we showed many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), and in The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem.* The natural self, which is also the outer self, is purified when it refrains from the evils which the spiritual or inner self sees to be evils and ones to be shunned.
[6] Now because the feet mean the natural component of a person, and this perverts everything if it is not washed or purified, therefore the Lord says,
If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than to have two feet and be cast into hell, into the unquenchable fire…. (Mark 9:45)
The foot here does not mean the foot, but the natural self.
The like is meant by treading down the good pasture with the feet and troubling waters with the feet (Ezekiel 32:2, 34:18, 19, Daniel 7:7, 19, and elsewhere).
[7] Since the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word, it is apparent that His feet mean the Word in its natural sense as well, which we dealt with at length in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, and also that the Lord came into the world to fulfill everything in the Word and to become thereby an embodiment of the Word, even in its outmost expressions (The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 98-100). But this is a secret for people who will be in the New Jerusalem.
[8] The Lord’s natural Divinity was also symbolized by the bronze serpent that Moses was commanded to set up in the wilderness, so that all who had been bitten by serpents were healed by looking at it (Numbers 21:6, 8, 9). That this symbolized the Lord’s natural Divinity, and that those people 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 whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14, 15)
The serpent was made of bronze because bronze, like fine brass, symbolizes the natural self in respect to good, as may be seen in no. 775 below.
* Perhaps The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith (Amsterdam, 1763). But perhaps The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (London, 1758).
A voice, when coming from the Lord, symbolizes Divine truth, as may be seen in no. 37 above. Waters symbolize truths, and specifically natural truths, which are concepts from the Word, as follows from many passages in the Word, of which we cite only the following:
…the earth is full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly…: bread will be given him, (and) his water will be constant. (Isaiah 33:15, 16)
The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue fails for thirst…. I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will turn the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into springs of water…, that they may see, know, consider and understand…. (Isaiah 41:17, 18, 20)
I will pour out water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit…. (Isaiah 44:3)
…your light shall rise in the darkness…, that you may be like a watered garden, and like an issue of water, whose waters do not deceive. (Isaiah 58:10, 11)
…My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns…that hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
Their great ones have sent their young ones for water. They went to the cisterns and found no water. Their vessels came back empty. (Jeremiah 14:3)
…they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:13)
They shall come with weeping, and with prayers I will lead them. I will lead them to a fountain of waters, in the way of rectitude…. (Jeremiah 31:9)
…I will break the staff of bread…and they shall drink water by measure and with astonishment…, so that…they waste away because of their iniquities. (Ezekiel 4:16, 17; cf. 12:18, 19, Isaiah 51:14)
Behold, the days will come…when I will send hunger on the land, not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. They shall wander from sea to sea, and…shall run to and fro, to hear the word of Jehovah, but shall not find it. In that day the…young women and the young men shall faint for thirst. (Amos 8:11-13)
In that day…living waters shall flow from Jerusalem…. (Zechariah 14:8)
Jehovah is my shepherd…, He leads me to still waters. (Psalm 23:1, 2)
They did not thirst…; He caused waters to flow from the rock for them, and He split the rock, so that waters gushed out. (Isaiah 48:21)
O God…, in the morning will I seek You; My soul thirsts…; …(I am) weary, without water. (Psalm 63:1)
(Jehovah) sends out His word…; He causes (the) wind to blow, so that the waters flow. (Psalm 147:18)
Praise (Jehovah), you heavens of heavens, and you waters from above the heavens! (Psalm 148:4)
(Jesus sitting by Jacob’s well said to the woman,) “Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will not thirst to eternity. And the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:7-15)
(Jesus said,) “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37, 38)
To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)
He showed (him) a…river of the water of life…, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)
Waters in these passages mean truths, and it is apparent from this that the sound of many waters means the Lord’s Divine truth in the Word, as also in the following places:
Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was illumined by His glory. (Ezekiel 43:2)
I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters…. (Revelation 14:2)
The voice of Jehovah is on the waters…; Jehovah is on many waters. (Psalm 29:3)
When it is known that waters in the Word mean truths in the natural self, it can be seen what washings in the Israelite Church symbolized, and also what baptism symbolizes, and moreover what is symbolically meant by these words of the Lord in John,
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
“Of water” means, symbolically, “by truths,” and “of the Spirit” means, symbolically, “by a life in accordance with them.”
In an opposite sense, waters symbolize falsities, as we will see in subsequent explanations.
When angels are below the heavens, a great number of what look like little stars appear around them, and likewise around spirits who, when they lived in the world, acquired concepts of goodness and truth for themselves from the Word, or truths of life and doctrine. These little stars appear fixed, however, in the case of those who possess genuine truths from the Word, but wandering in the case of those who possess falsified truths.
(Regarding these little stars, and the stars appearing in the sky there, I could relate marvelous things, but that is not the subject of this work.)
It is apparent from this that stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth from the Word.
The Son of Man’s having them in His right hand means, symbolically, that they come from the Lord alone through the Word. Seven symbolically means all, as may be seen in no. 10 above.
[2] That stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth from the Word may be seen also from the following passages:
(I will) turn the earth into a wasteland…. …the stars of heaven and their constellations will not give their light. (Isaiah 13:9, 10)
The earth that will be turned into a wasteland is the church, in which, having been laid waste, concepts of goodness and truth in the Word are not seen.
When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens…. All the bright lights of the heavens I will make dark over you, and bring darkness upon your land. (Ezekiel 32:7, 8)
Darkness upon the land is the darkness of falsities in the church.
The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. (Joel 2:10, 3:15)
…after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven…. (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24)
The stars of heaven fell to the earth, as a fig tree drops its late figs…. (Revelation 6:13)
…a star (fell) from heaven to the earth. (Revelation 9:1)
Stars falling from heaven do not mean stars, but concepts of goodness and truth perishing.
[3] This is still more apparent from the statement that a dragon swept down a third of the stars from heaven, in Revelation 12:4, and the statement that a he-goat cast down some of the stars and trampled them, in Daniel 8:8-11. That is why the next verse in Daniel goes on to say that it cast truth to the ground (Daniel 8:12).
Stars also symbolize concepts of goodness and truth in the following passages:
(Jehovah) counts…the stars; He gives all of them names. (Psalm 147:4)
Praise (Jehovah), all you stars of light! (Psalm 148:3)
The stars from their courses fought…. (Judges 5:20)
From this it is apparent what is meant by the following statement in Daniel:
The intelligent shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, …those turning many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:3)
The intelligent are people concerned with truths, and those turning many to righteousness are those concerned with goodness.
Swords are often mentioned in the Word, and they symbolize nothing else than truth combating falsities and destroying them. In an opposite sense they also symbolize falsity combating truths. For wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, which are those of truth against falsity, and of falsity against truth. Therefore the weapons of war symbolize the means by which the combat is carried on in these wars.
It is apparent that the sword here means a dispersion of falsities by the Lord, because it was seen to issue from His mouth, and to issue from the Lord’s mouth is to do so from the Word, for the Lord spoke it with His mouth. Furthermore, because the Word is understood by means of doctrine drawn from it, this too is symbolically meant.
It is called a sharp two-edged sword because it pierces the heart and soul.
[2] To show that the sword here means a dispersion of falsities by the Lord by means of the Word, we will cite some passages which mention a sword, from which the reality of this can be seen. Namely:
A sword against…Babylon, …her princes and her wise men! A sword against the liars, that they may become fools! A sword against her mighty men, that they may be dismayed! A sword against her horses and her chariots…! A sword against her treasures, that they may be plundered! A drought upon her waters, that they may be dried up! (Jeremiah 50:35-38)
The subject here is Babylon, and by it are meant people who falsify and adulterate the Word. Consequently the liars who are to become fools, the horses and chariots with a sword upon them, and the treasures that will be plundered symbolize their doctrinal falsities. The waters that will have a drought upon them that they may be dried up symbolize truths, as may be seen just above in no. 50.
[3] …prophesy and say…, “A sword…is sharpened and also polished! Sharpened to make a great slaughter…. Let the sword be doubled the third time, the sword of the slain, a sword for a great slaughter, piercing the innermost recesses, that…stumbling blocks may be multiplied.” (Ezekiel 21:9-15, 19, 20)
A sword here means also the laying waste of truth in the church.
Jehovah will contend…with His sword against all flesh, and the slain by Jehovah shall be multiplied. (Isaiah 66:16)
Here and elsewhere in the Word, the slain by Jehovah are what people are called who perish as a result of falsities.
On all the desolate heights in the wilderness the plunderers have come, …the sword of Jehovah devouring from one end of the land to the other. (Jeremiah 12:12)
At the peril of our lives we bring in our bread, because of the sword in the wilderness. (Lamentations 5:9)
Woe to the worthless shepherd who deserts the flock! A sword shall be against his arm and against his right eye. (Zechariah 11:17)
The sword against the shepherd’s right eye is falsity in his intellect.
…the sons of men are set on fire…, their tongue a sharp sword. (Psalm 57:4)
Behold, they belch with their mouth; a sword is in their lips. (Psalm 59:7)
(The workers of iniquity) sharpen their tongue like a sword…. (Psalm 64:3)
A sword has similar symbolic meanings elsewhere, as in Isaiah 13:15, 21:14, 15, 37:6, 7, 38, 31:7, 8, Jeremiah 2:30, 5:12, 11:22, 14:13-18, Ezekiel 7:15, 32:10-12.
[4] It can be seen from this what the Lord meant by a sword in the following places:
(Jesus said that He did not come) to bring peace on the earth…but a sword. (Matthew 10:34)
(Jesus said,) “…he who does (not) have a purse…and…knapsack…, let him sell his garments and buy (a sword)….” (The disciples) said, “Lord, look, here are two swords.” And He said…, “It is enough.” (Luke 22:36, 38)
…all who take the sword will perish by the sword. (Matthew 26:51, 52)
Regarding the end of the age, Jesus says,
They will fall by the edge of the sword, and be taken captive among all the nations. And (finally) Jerusalem will be trampled…. (Luke 21:24)
The end of the age is the final period of the church. The sword is falsity destroying truth. The nations are evils. The Jerusalem which will be trampled is the church.
[5] It is apparent from this, now, that a sharp sword issuing from the mouth of the Son of Man symbolizes a dispersion of falsities by the Lord by means of the Word.
So, too, in the following places in the book of Revelation:
…to the one who sat on (the fiery red horse)…there was given…a great sword. (Revelation 6:4)
From the mouth (of Him who sat on the white horse) came a sharp sword, that with it He might strike the nations…. …the rest were killed with the sword…of Him who sat on the horse. (Revelation 19:15, 21)
He who sat on the white horse means the Lord in relation to the Word, something that is openly stated there in verses 13 and 16.
The like is meant in the book of Psalms:
Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One…ride upon the word of truth….Your arrows are sharp…. (Psalm 45:3-5)
The subject is the Lord. Moreover, elsewhere:
Let the saints exult…and let a two-edged sword be in their hand. (Psalm 149:5, 6)
And in Isaiah:
(Jehovah) has made My mouth like a sharp sword. (Isaiah 49:2)
The fact that the face of Jehovah or of the Lord means the Divine itself in its essence, which is Divine love and wisdom, thus Himself, will be seen in explanations below where the face of God is mentioned. “The sun shining in its power” has the same symbolic meaning.
In the sight of angels the Lord is seen as the sun in heaven, and it is His Divine love accompanied by Divine wisdom that so appears. This may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 116-125, and in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 83-172. [2] It remains here simply to confirm from the Word that when the subject is the Lord, the sun is His Divine love and at the same time His Divine wisdom. This can be seen from the following passages:
…in (that) day…the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days…. (Isaiah 30:25, 26)
That day is the Lord’s advent, when the old church has been destroyed and a new one is about to be established. The light of the moon is faith arising from charity, and the light of the sun is intelligence and wisdom arising from love emanating then from the Lord.
Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane; for Jehovah will be your everlasting light…. (Isaiah 60:20)
The sun that will not go down is love and wisdom from the Lord.
…the Rock of Israel spoke to me…like the light of the morning when the sun rises…. (2 Samuel 23:3, 4)
The Rock of Israel is the Lord.
…his throne (shall be) as the sun…. (Psalm 89:36, 37)
This is said in reference to David, but David there means the Lord.
They shall fear You as long as the sun endures…. In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more…. Before the sun He will have the name of Son, and all nations shall be blessed in Him…. (Psalm 72:5, 7, 17)
These statements, too, are made in reference to the Lord.
[3] Because the Lord appears in heaven to angels as the sun, therefore when He was transfigured,
His face shone like the sun, and His garments became…as the light. (Matthew 17:1, 2)
Moreover, in Revelation 10:1 it is said of the mighty angel coming down from heaven that he was “clothed with a cloud,” and “his face was like the sun,” and of the woman in Revelation 12:1 that she appeared “clothed with the sun.” The sun there is love and wisdom emanating from the Lord. The woman there is the church called the New Jerusalem.
[4] Since the sun means the Lord with respect to love and wisdom, it is apparent what the sun symbolizes in the following places:
Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming, cruel…. The sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. I will visit upon the world its wickedness, and upon the impious their iniquity. (Isaiah 13:9-11)
…Jehovah will visit [punishment] in the high place upon the host of the high place, and on the earth upon the kings of the earth…. Then the moon will blush and the sun be ashamed. (Isaiah 24:21, 23)
When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine…and I will…bring darkness upon your land. (Ezekiel 32:7, 8)
…the day of Jehovah is coming…, a day of darkness…. The sun and moon (will not cause their light to shine), and the stars have diminished their brightness. (Joel 2:1, 2, 10)
The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great…day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)
…the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon have grown dark…. (Joel 3:14, 15)
The fourth angel sounded: and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars…, and a third of the day did not shine…. (Revelation 8:12)
…the sun became as black as sackcloth of goat’s hair, and the moon became as blood…. (Revelation 6:12)
…the sun was…darkened because of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:2)
The sun in these places does not mean the world’s sun, but the sun of the angelic heaven, which is the Lord’s Divine love and wisdom. These are said to be obscured, darkened, covered, or become black when falsities and evils are present in a person.
[5] It is apparent, therefore, that something similar is meant by the Lord’s words when speaking of the end of the age, which is the final period of the church:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven…. (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24, 25)
So, too, in the following places:
The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. (Micah 3:6)
…in that day…I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. (Amos 8:9)
She…who has borne seven…will breath her last; her sun will go down while it is yet day. (Jeremiah 15:9)
The subject here is the Jewish Church, which will breathe its last or perish. The sun’s going down means that there will no longer be any love or charity.
[6] It is said in Joshua that the sun stood still in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Aijalon (Joshua 10:12, 13). This seems to be an historical statement, but in fact it is prophetic, for it comes from the book of Jasher, which was a prophetic book; for in verse 13 it says, “Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?” The same book is called a prophetic one by David in 2 Samuel 1:17, 18. A similar statement is found in Habakkuk:
The mountains…were shaken…. The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. (Habakkuk 3:10, 11)
[In Isaiah:]
Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane. (Isaiah 60:20)
For to cause the sun and moon to stand still would be to destroy the universe.
[7] Since the sun means the Lord with respect to Divine love and wisdom, therefore in their holy worship ancient peoples turned their faces to the rising sun, and their temples also, a practice that continues to this day.
That the sun in these passages does not mean the world’s sun is clear from the fact that it was profane and an abomination for people to worship the world’s sun and moon (see Numbers 25:1-4, Deuteronomy 4:19, 17:3, 5, Jeremiah 8:1, 2, 43:10, 13, 44:17-19, 25, Ezekiel 8:16, 17). For the world’s sun means self-love and a conceit in one’s own intelligence, and self-love is diametrically opposed to Divine love, while a conceit in one’s own intelligence is opposed to Divine wisdom. To worship the world’s sun is also to accept nature as the creator of all things and one’s own prudence as the effecter of all things, which entails a denial of God and a denial of Divine providence.
A person’s own life cannot endure the presence of the Lord such as the Lord is in Himself, indeed such as He is in the inmost constituents of His Word. For His Divine love is altogether like the sun, which no one can endure as it is in itself, because it would consume him.
This is the meaning of the declaration that no one can see God and live (Exodus 33:20, Judges 13:22).
This being the case, the Lord therefore appears to angels in heaven as the sun, at a distance from them, like the world’s sun from people. That is because the Lord in that sun is present as He is in Himself.
But still the Lord moderates and tempers His Divinity so as to make it possible for a person to endure His presence. This He does by veilings. It was what He did when He revealed Himself to many people in the Word. Indeed, it is by veilings that He is present in everyone who worships Him. As He says in John,
He who…keeps (My commandments)…, in him (I) will make (My) abode. (John 14:21, 23)
And He says that He must be in them and they in Him (John 15:4, 5).
It is apparent from this why, when John saw the Lord in such glory, he fell at His feet as though dead. And why, too, when three of the disciples saw the Lord in His glory, they were “heavy with sleep,” and a cloud covered them (Luke 9:32, 34).
The Lord laid His right hand on him because a communication is effected through the touch of the hands. That is because the life of the mind and so of the body projects itself into the arms and through them into the hands. It is on this account that the Lord touched with His hand the people He brought back 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 that He likewise touched His disciples after they saw Jesus transfigured and fell on their faces (Matthew 17:6, 7).
The fundamental reason for this is that the Lord’s presence in a person is an adjunction, thus a conjunction by contiguity, and this contiguity becomes closer and fuller in the measure that the person loves the Lord, which is to say, as he keeps His commandments.
From these few observations it can be seen that the Lord’s laying His right hand on John means, symbolically, that He infused His life into him.
That it means a revival or bringing back to life follows from what we said just before this in no. 55; and it is apparent that it includes an adoration from the deepest humility, since John fell at the Lord’s feet. Moreover, because upon his revival a holy fear seized him, the Lord said, “Do not be afraid.”
A holy fear is sometimes combined with a reverent trembling of the interior constituents that belong to the mind, and sometimes with a standing on end of the hair, and it comes over a person when life from the Lord enters in place of one’s own life. One’s own life is to look to the Lord from oneself, while life from the Lord is to look to the Lord from the Lord, and yet doing so as though of oneself. When a person is seized by this life, he sees that he is nothing, and that only the Lord is anything.
Daniel was seized by this holy fear when he saw a man clothed in linen garments, whose loins were girded with the gold of Uphaz, his body like beryl, his face like lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, and his arms and his feet like the sheen of burnished bronze. On seeing him Daniel, too, became as though dead, and a hand touched him, and a voice said, “Do not fear, Daniel” (Daniel 10:5-12).
Something similar happened with Peter, James and John when they saw the Lord transfigured and He appeared with a face like the sun and garments like light, on which account they also fell on their faces and feared for themselves greatly, and Jesus then came and touched them, saying, “Do not be afraid for yourselves” (Matthew 17:2, 6, 7).
The Lord also said to women who saw Him at the sepulchre, “Do not be afraid” (Matthew 28:10) And an angel, whose countenance looked like lightning and his clothing like snow, said to the same women as well, “Do not be afraid for yourselves” (Matthew 28:3-5)
An angel also said to Zacharias, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:12, 13). An angel likewise said to Mary, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 1:30). And to the shepherds as well, when the glory of the Lord shone around them, an angel said, “Do not be afraid” (Luke 2:9, 10).
The same holy fear seized Simon Peter because of the catch of fish, so that he said, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” But Jesus said to him, “Do not be afraid.” (Luke 5:8-10)
And so on elsewhere.
We cite these instances to show why the Lord said to John, “Do not be afraid” – that it means a revival, and from the deepest humility then, adoration.
In the Word of the Old Testament, Jehovah calls Himself living and one who lives, because He alone has life; for He is love itself and wisdom itself, and these constitute life.
That there is only one life, namely God, and that angels and people are recipients of life from Him, is something we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.
Jehovah calls Himself living and one who lives in Isaiah 38:18, 19, Jeremiah 5:2, 12:16, 16:14, 15, 23:7, 8, 46:18, Ezekiel 5:11.
The Lord is life also in respect to His Divine humanity, because the Father and He are one. Therefore He says,
…as the Father has life in Himself, so He has given 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 alone is life, it follows that He is the only source of life. Therefore He says, Because I live, you will live also. (John 14:19)
His being put to death does not mean that He was crucified and so died, but that He was disregarded in the Church and His Divine humanity not acknowledged, for thus He became dead to people.
People do indeed acknowledge the Lord’s Divinity from eternity, but this is in actuality Jehovah. They do not, however, acknowledge His humanity to be Divine, even though the Divinity and the humanity in Him are like soul and body, and so are not two entities but one, in fact one person, in agreement with the doctrine accepted throughout the Christian world which has its name from Athanasius.
When people divorce the Lord’s Divinity from His humanity, therefore, saying that His humanity is not Divine but like the humanity of any other person, He becomes then dead to them.
Regarding this divorce, however, and thus the death of the Lord, more may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord; and also in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence, nos. 262, 263.
Since the declaration, “I am He who lives,” symbolically means that the Lord alone is life and the only source of life (see no. 58 above), it follows that saying, “Behold, I am alive forevermore,” symbolically means that He alone is life to eternity, and thus that He is the only source of eternal life. For He has eternal life in Him, and He is therefore its source. Forevermore means to eternity.
That the Lord is the only source of eternal life is clear from the following passages:
(Jesus said,) “…whoever believes in (Me) shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, while he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36, cf. 6:40)
Assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. (John 6:47, 48)
I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, shall live. …whoever…believes in Me shall never die. (John 11:25, 26)
And elsewhere.
This, now, is why the Lord is also called He who lives forever and ever in the following verses in the book of Revelation: 4:9, 10, 5:14, and 10:6. And also in Daniel 4:34.
That amen means the truth, which the Lord embodies, see no. 23 above.
Keys symbolize the power to open and close – here the power to open hell so that a person can be brought out, and to close it to keep him from going back in once he has been brought out. For people are born into evils of every kind, thus in a state of hell, for evils constitute hell. They are brought out of it by the Lord, who has the power to open it.
To have the keys of hell and death does not mean the power to cast into hell, but the power to save, and this because it immediately follows the declaration, “Behold, I am alive forevermore,” which symbolically means that the Lord alone is eternal life (no. 60). Moreover, the Lord never casts anyone into hell, but it is the person himself who casts himself.
Keys symbolize the power to open also in Revelation 3:7, 9:1, 20:1; in Isaiah 22:21, 22; in Matthew 16:19; and in Luke 11:52.
The Lord’s power extends not only over heaven but also over hell, for hell is kept in its order and connection by forces directed against and opposed to heaven. Consequently He who rules the one must necessarily rule the other. Otherwise no one could be saved. To be saved is to be brought out of hell.
This is clear without explanation.
The seven stars symbolize the church in the heavens, and the seven lampstands symbolize the church on earth, as we will see in the explanations that follow next.
The church exists in heaven as well as on earth, for the Word exists in heaven as on the earth, and people there draw doctrines from it, and preach sermons from it (on which subject see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 70-75, and nos. 104-113). This church is the new heaven that we said something about in the Preface.
The church in the heavens or New Heaven is meant by the seven stars, because we are told that the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and an angel symbolizes a heavenly society.
The sky in the spiritual world appears filled with stars as in the natural world, and this appearance is owing to the angelic societies in heaven. Every society there shines like a star in the eyes of inhabitants who dwell below. Because of this they know there where the angelic societies are situated.
To be shown that seven symbolically does not mean seven, but all who are constituents of the church there, according to each one’s state of reception, see nos. 10, 14, and 41 above. Thus the angels of the seven churches mean the whole church in the heavens, thus the New Heaven in its entirety.
That the lampstands mean the church may be seen in no. 43 above. And because seven symbolically means all (no. 10), the seven lampstands do not mean seven churches but the church in its entirety, which in itself is one, though varied in accordance with people’s reception. These variations may be compared to the various jewels in a royal crown; and they may also be compared to the various members and organs in an intact body, which nevertheless form a single unit. The perfection of every form arises from various components suitably arranged in their proper order. That is why the seven churches describe the entire New Church in its varieties in what now follows.
———-
[2] We say, in universal form, because it is a universal tenet of faith, and a universal tenet of faith must enter into each and every component of that faith.
It is a universal tenet of faith that God is one in person and essence, in whom is the Trinity, and that the Lord is that God.
It is a universal tenet of faith that no mortal could have been saved unless the Lord came into the world.
It is universal tenet of faith that the Lord came into the world to dislodge hell from mankind, and that He dislodged it by combats against it and victories over it. Thus He conquered it and forced it back into order, in obedience to Him.
It is a universal tenet of faith also that the Lord came into the world to glorify the humanity that He assumed in the world, or in other words, to unite it to the Divine from which He came. Thus He keeps hell, having been conquered by Him, in order and in obedience to Him to eternity.
Since neither of these objectives could have been achieved except through temptations or trials even to the last of them, and the last of them was the suffering of the cross, therefore He underwent even that.
These are the universal tenets of faith as regards the Lord.
[3] The universal tenet of Christian faith on the part of mankind is to believe in the Lord, for believing in Him brings about conjunction with Him, through which comes salvation. To believe in Him is to have confidence that He saves, and because no one is capable of this confidence but one who lives rightly, therefore living rightly, too, is meant by believing in Him.
[4] We have considered these two articles of Christian faith in particular elsewhere: first, as regards the Lord, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord; and secondly, as regards mankind, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Charity, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith, and in The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem. And we now consider both in our explanations dealing with the book of Revelation.
68. CHAPTER 2
1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, ‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands: 2 I know your works, your labor, and your patience, and that you cannot bear those who are evil. And you have explored those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars; 3 and you have endured and have patience, and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary. 4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first charity. 5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen and repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent. 6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. 7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.’
8 “And to the angel of the church of the people of Smyrna write, ‘These things says the First and the Last, who was dead, and is alive: 9 I know your works, and tribulation, and poverty, and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. 10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. 11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.’
12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write, ‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword: 13 I know your works, and where you dwell, where Satan’s throne is. And you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith, even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells. 14 But I have a few things against you, because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality. 15 Thus you have also those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate. 16 Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth. 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it.’
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write, ‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass: 19 I know your works, and charity and ministry, and faith, and your patience, and your works, and the last more than the first. 20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you, that you allow the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality and eat things sacrificed to idols. 21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent. 22 Behold, I am casting her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation, unless she repents of her deeds. 23 I will kill her sons with death, and all the churches shall know that I am He who searches the reins and hearts. And I will give to each one of you according to his works. 24 Yet to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine, and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say, I will put on you no other burden. 25 Still, hold fast what you have till I come. 26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. 27 He shall rule them with a rod of iron; they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels, as I also have received from My Father; 28 and I will give him the morning star. 29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
To the churches in the Christian world: to people there who regard primarily doctrinal truths and not goods of life, those meant by the church of Ephesus, nos. 73-90.
To those there who are engaged in good endeavors as regards life, and caught up in falsities as regards doctrine, those meant by the church of the people of Smyrna, nos. 91-106.
To those there who place everything of the church in good works and not anything in truths, those meant by the church in Pergamum, nos. 107-123.
And to those there who possess a faith springing from charity, as well as to those who possess a faith divorced from charity, those meant by the church in Thyatira, nos. 124-152.
These are all called to the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.
The Contents of the Individual Verses
1 “To the angel of the church of Ephesus write,
To people and concerning people who regard doctrinal truths primarily, and not goods of life:
‘These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand,
The Lord, the source of all truths by means of the Word,
who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands:
the source of all enlightenment for people who are part of His church.
2 I know your works,
The Lord sees all a person’s inner and outer qualities simultaneously,
your labor, and your patience,
their effort and perseverance,
and that you cannot bear those who are evil.
that they cannot endure to have evils called goods, or the converse.
And you have explored those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars;
They have examined what in the church are called goods and truths, which nevertheless are evils and falsities.
3 and you have endured and have patience,
Their perseverance with them.
and have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary.
Their effort and work in acquiring for themselves the constituents of religion and its accompanying doctrine.
4 Nevertheless I have this against you, that you have left your first charity.
But this is against them, that they do not hold goods of life in first place.
5 Remember therefore from where you have fallen
A calling to mind of their going astray,
and repent and do the first works,
in order to turn the state of their life around.
or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent.
Otherwise it is certain that enlightenment will not be granted for them to continue to see truths.
6 But this you have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
Owing to their truths they know this and therefore do not wish works to be merit-seeking.
7 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Anyone who understands these things, let him obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be members of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem.
To him who overcomes
To him who fights against evils and falsities and is reformed,
I will give to eat from the tree of life,
an assimilation of the goodness of love and charity from the Lord,
which is in the midst of the Paradise of God.’
inwardly in the truths of wisdom and faith.
8 “And to the angel of the church of the people of Smyrna write,
To people and concerning people who as to life are engaged in good endeavors, but as to doctrine are caught up in falsities:
‘These things says the First and the Last,
The Lord, that He alone is God,
who was dead, and is alive:
that He has been disregarded in the church and His humanity not acknowledged to be Divine, even though in respect to it, too, He alone is life and the only source of eternal life.
9 I know your works,
The Lord sees all those people’s inner and outer qualities simultaneously,
and tribulation, and poverty,
that they are caught up in falsities and so are not engaged in good practices,
and the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not,
their false speaking in saying that they have among them goods of love, when in fact they do not,
but are a synagogue of Satan.
because as to doctrine they are caught up in falsities.
10 Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer.
Do not despair when you are infested by evils and attacked by falsities.
Behold, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison,
Their goodness of life will be infested by evils emanating from hell,
that you may be tested,
through falsities assailing them.
and you will have tribulation ten days.
This will continue the whole time.
Be faithful until death,
Their reception of truths until their falsities are removed.
and I will give you the crown of life.
They will then have eternal life, their reward for overcoming.
11 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The same here as before [verse 7].
He who overcomes
He who fights against evils and falsities and is reformed
shall not be hurt by the second death.’
will not later succumb to evils and falsities from hell.
12 “And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write,
To people and concerning people who place everything having to do with the church in good works, and not anything in doctrinal truths:
‘These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword:
The Lord in relation to doctrinal truths from the Word, by which evils and falsities are dispelled.
13 I know your works,
The same here as before [verses 2, 9].
and where you dwell, [where Satan’s throne is].
Their life in darkness,
And you hold fast My name, and did not deny My faith,
even though they have religion and worship in accordance with it,
even in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
at a time when all truth has been extinguished by falsities in the church.
14 But I have a few things against you,
Against them are the following:
because you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols, and to commit sexual immorality.
that they have among them people who perform hypocritical works, by which the worship of God in the church is defiled and adulterated;
15 Thus you have also those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate.
that they have among them also people who make works deserving of merit.
16 Repent,
They should guard themselves against such works.
or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth.
If they do not, the Lord will contend with them from the Word.
17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
The same here as before [verses 7, 11].
To him who overcomes
The same here as before [verses 7, 11].
I will give to eat of the hidden manna.
An assimilation of the good of celestial love then, and thus a conjunction of the Lord with those who perform works.
And I will give him a white stone,
Truths supportive of and united to good.
and on the stone a new name written,
Thus they will have a quality of good that they did not have before,
which no one knows except him who receives it.’
which is not apparent to anyone, because it is engraved on their life.
18 “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write,
To people and concerning people who are governed by a faith arising from charity, and so are engaged in good works; and also to people and concerning people who are governed by a faith divorced from charity, and so are engaged in evil works.
‘These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire,
The Lord in respect to the Divine wisdom of His Divine love.
and His feet like fine brass:
Natural Divine good.
19 I know your works,
The same here as before [verses 2, 9, 13].
and charity and ministry,
The spiritual affection called charity, and the practice of it.
and your faith and patience,
Truth and their effort to acquire it and teach it.
and your works, and the last more than the first.
The growth of these from an affection for spiritual truth.
20 Nevertheless I have a few things against you,
These are the things that follow:
that you allow the woman Jezebel,
that they have among them people in the church who divorce faith from charity,
who calls herself a prophetess,
and who make faith the only doctrine of the church,
to teach and seduce My servants to commit sexual immorality
in consequence of which faith the truths of the church are falsified.
and eat things sacrificed to idols.
The defilement of worship and profanations.
21 And I gave her time to repent of her sexual immorality, and she did not repent.
Those who confirm themselves in that doctrine do not turn back from it, even if they see things contrary to it in the Word.
22 Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation,
Therefore they must be left to their doctrine with its falsifications and be sorely infested by falsities,
unless she repents of her deeds.
if they refuse to turn back from divorcing faith from charity.
23 I will kill her sons with death,
Truths from the Word will all be turned into falsities,
that all the churches may know that I am He who searches the reins and hearts.
so that the church may know that the Lord sees the quality of truth and the quality of good in everyone,
And I will give to each one of you according to his works.
and gives to everyone according to the charity and its accompanying faith present in his works.
24 Yet to you I say, and to the rest in Thyatira, as many as do not have this doctrine,
To those in whose case the doctrine of faith is divorced from charity, and to those in whose case the doctrine of faith is combined with charity,
and who have not known the depths of Satan, as they say,
who do not understand the interior constituents of their tenets, which are nothing but falsities:
I will put on you no other burden.
Only let them guard themselves against those people,
25 Still, hold fast what you have till I come.
so that they may retain the few things that they know from the Word about charity and its resulting faith, and live according to them, until the Lord’s advent.
26 And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end,
Those who are in fact governed by charity and its resulting faith, and continue to be governed by them to the end of their life,
to him I will give power over the nations.
will overcome the evils in themselves that come from hell
27 He shall rule them with a rod of iron;
by truths drawn from the literal sense of the Word and at the same time by rational considerations from a natural sight,
they shall be dashed to pieces like the potter’s vessels,
as being of little or no account.
as I also have received from My Father;
And this owing to the Lord, who, when He was in the world, acquired for Himself all power over the hells, by virtue of His Divinity that He had in Him.
28 and I will give him the morning star.
Intelligence and wisdom then.
29 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”
The same here as before [verses 7, 11, 17].
69. THE EXPOSITION
This and the following chapter have as their subject seven churches which describe all those people in the Christian Church who have religion, and out of whom a new church can be formed, which is the New Jerusalem; and it is formed of those who go to the Lord alone and at the same time repent of their evil works. The rest, who do not go to the Lord alone, owing to their entrenched denial that His humanity is Divine, are indeed in the church, but they do not have anything of the church in them.
That it is He alone who speaks to the churches is apparent from these passages:
To the angel of the church of Ephesus write, “These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.” (Revelation 2:1)
To the angel of the church of the people of Smyrna write, “These things says the First and the Last….” (Revelation 2:8)
To the angel of the church in Pergamum write, “These things says He who has the sharp two-edged sword.” (Revelation 2:12)
To the angel of the church in Thyatira write, “These things says the Son of God, who has eyes like a flame of fire, and His feet like fine brass.” (Revelation 2:18)
To the angel of the church in Sardis write, “These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.” (Revelation 3:1)
To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, “These things says He who is holy, He who is true, He who has the key of David….” (Revelation 3:7)
To the angel of the church in Laodicea write, “These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God.” (Revelation 3:14)
These characterizations are taken from the first chapter, which has as its subject the Lord alone, and they are all means of describing Him there.
To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God. (Revelation 2:7)
To the church of the people of Smyrna:
…I will give you the crown of life…. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. (Revelation 2:10, 11)
To the church in Pergamum:
To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it. (Revelation 2:17)
To the church in Thyatira:
…to him I will give power over the nations…and I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:26, 28)
To the church in Philadelphia:
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God…. And I will write on him the name of My God…, the name of…the New Jerusalem…, and My new name. (Revelation 3:12)
To the church in Laodicea:
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne…. (Revelation 3:21)
From these passages it is apparent, too, that the Lord alone is acknowledged in the New Church. That is why that church is called the Lamb’s wife (Revelation 19:7, 9, 21:9, 10).
I know your works…. I have…against you, that you have left your first charity…. …repent and do the first works, or else I will…remove your lampstand from its place, if you do not repent. (Revelation 2:2, 4, 5)
To the church in Pergamum:
I know your works…. Repent…. (Revelation 2:13, 16)
To the church in Thyatira:
…I will deliver her…into…tribulation, unless she repents of her deeds…. I will give to each one of you according to his works. (Revelation 2:19, 22, 23)
To the church in Sardis:
…I have not found your works perfect before God…. …repent. (Revelation 3:1-3)
To the church in Laodicea:
I know your works…. Be zealous…and repent. (Revelation 3:15, 19)
The exposition itself now follows.
In no. 66 above we showed that the seven churches do not mean seven churches, but the church in its entirety, which in itself is one, but varied in accordance with people’s reception. We said as well that these variations may be compared to the various members and organs in an intact body, which nevertheless form a single unit; indeed that they may be compared to the various jewels in a royal crown; and that that is why the seven churches describe the entire New Church in its varieties in what now follows.
That the church of Ephesus means people in the church who regard doctrinal truths primarily, and not goods of life, is apparent from the particulars written to it, understood in their spiritual sense.
The letter was written to the angel of that church, because the angel means the angelic society corresponding to a church consisting of such people, as indicated in no. 65 above.
It may be seen in no. 51 above that “He who holds the seven stars in His right hand” is the Lord, and that the seven stars in His right hand are all concepts of goodness and truth in the Word, which exist therefore from the Lord in angels in heaven and in people in the church. Concepts of goodness and truth from the Word are truths.
It may be seen in nos. 43 and 66 above that the seven lampstands with the Son of Man in the midst of them mean, symbolically, a church that will have an enlightenment from the Lord.
He is said here to walk, because to walk means, symbolically, to live (no. 167); and in the midst means, symbolically, in the inmost and so in every part (nos. 44, 383).
Works are often mentioned in the book of Revelation, but few know what works mean. This much is known, that ten people may do works which outwardly appear alike, but which are nevertheless not alike within them all, because the works emanate from different ends and different causes, and it is the end and cause that make works to be either good or evil. For every work is a work of the mind. Consequently whatever the character of the mind, such is the character of the work. If the mind is an embodiment of charity, the work becomes an expression of charity. But if the mind is not an embodiment of charity, the work does not become an expression of charity. Yet the two may appear alike outwardly.
Works are visible in their outward form to people, but in their inward form to angels, and to the Lord they appear as they are from their inmost elements to their outmost ones.
Works in their outward form have an appearance not unlike that of unpeeled fruit, while works in their inward form have an appearance like that of the fruit inside the peel, where one finds countless edible parts, and at the center seeds containing once again countless constituents, which are far too small to be seen by the eyes, indeed which surpass the scope of the human intellect.
Such is the nature of all works, whose inward character the Lord alone sees, and which angels also perceive from the Lord when a person is doing them.
But more on this subject may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 209-220, and nos. 277-281; and also here below, nos. 141, 641, 868.
It can be seen from this that the declaration, “I know your works,” means, symbolically, that the Lord sees all a person’s inner and outer qualities simultaneously.
That this declaration has this symbolic meaning is apparent from the one that directly follows, which means, symbolically, that they have examined what in the church are called goods and truths, when in fact they are evils and falsities.
Knowing whether goods are good or evil is a matter of doctrine, and a part of its truths, whereas doing goods or evils is a matter of life. The present declaration is made, therefore, of people who regard doctrinal truths primarily, and not goods of life (no. 73).
In the spiritual sense those who are evil do not mean evil people, but evils themselves, because that sense is abstracted from person.
That this is the symbolic meaning can be seen only by recourse to the spiritual sense, and only if one knows from that sense what apostles and liars mean. Apostles do not mean apostles, but all who teach the church’s goods and truths, and in an abstract sense, its doctrinal goods and truths themselves.
That apostles do not mean apostles is clearly apparent from this declaration to them:
…when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you…will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28; cf. Luke 22:30)
Who does not see that the apostles would not judge anyone, and cannot judge anyone, much less the twelve tribes of Israel, but that the Lord alone would do so in accordance with the goods and truths of the church’s doctrine that it has from the Word?
The same is clearly apparent also from the following:
The wall of the city (of the New Jerusalem) had twelve foundations, and on them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:14)
The same is clearly apparent from this since the New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church (nos. 880, 881), and its foundations all the goods and truths of its doctrine (nos. 902ff.)
[2] The same is apparent as well from this:
Rejoice…, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets…. (Revelation 18:20)
What is the rejoicing of apostles and prophets, unless apostles and prophets mean all those people who possess doctrinal goods and truths in the church?
The Lord’s disciples mean people who are instructed by the Lord in doctrinal goods and truths, while apostles mean those who, after having been instructed, teach them. For we are told,
(Jesus) sent (His twelve disciples) to preach the kingdom of God…, and when the apostles had returned, they told Him whatever they had done. (Luke 9:1, 2, 10; cf. Mark 6:7, 30)
Liars mean people who are caught up in falsities, and abstractly the falsities themselves, as can be seen from many passages in the Word where liars and lies are mentioned – so many that if we were to cite them they would fill pages. In the spiritual sense lies are nothing else than falsities.
It can be seen from this now that the statement, “You have explored those who say they are apostles and are not, and have found them liars,” means, symbolically, that they have examined what in the church are called goods and truths, which nevertheless are evils and falsities.
The name of Jehovah or the Lord in the Word does not mean His name, but everything by which He is worshiped. And because He is worshiped in accordance with doctrine in the church, His name means everything pertaining to doctrine, and in the broadest sense, everything pertaining to religion.
These are the meanings of the name of Jehovah, and the reason is that in heaven the only names found are ones that reflect a person’s character, and God’s character includes everything by which He is worshiped.
One who is not aware of this symbolic meaning of a name in the Word can understand it only as a name; and in this alone there is nothing pertaining to worship and religion.
[2] Someone who keeps in mind, therefore, this symbolic meaning of “the name of Jehovah” when it is mentioned in the Word, will of himself understand its symbolic meaning in the following passages:
In that day you will say: “Confess to Jehovah, call upon His name.” (Isaiah 12:4)
…O Jehovah, we have waited for You; the desire of our soul is for Your name…. …by You we make mention of Your name. (Isaiah 26:8, 13)
From the rising of the sun My name shall be called on. (Isaiah 41:25)
…from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered to My name…; for My name shall be great among the nations…. …you profane (My name) when you say, “The table of Jehovah is defiled….” But you sneer at (My name)…, when you bring the stolen, the lame, and the sick. (Malachi 1:11-13)
…all peoples walk in the name of their god, but we will walk in the name of Jehovah our God…. (Micah 4:5)
Everyone who is called by My name, for My glory I have created him, I have formed him…. (Isaiah 43:7)
You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain; …Jehovah will not hold him innocent who takes His name in vain. (Deuteronomy 5:11)
They were to worship Jehovah in one place, where He should put His name (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11, 13, 14, 18, 16:2, 6, 11, 15, 16). And so on in many other places. Who does not see that the name in them does not mean simply a name?
[3] It is the same with the name of the Lord in the New Testament, as in the following places:
(Jesus said,) “You will be hated by all because of My name. (Matthew 10:22; cf. 24:9, 10)
…where two or three are gathered together in My name, I am there in the midst of them. (Matthew 18:20)
Everyone who has left houses, brothers, sisters…for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and…eternal life. (Matthew 19:29)
As many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)
…many believed in His name…. (John 2:23)
He who does not believe is judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17, 18)
…believing (they will) have life in His name. (John 20:31)
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! (Matthew 21:9, 23:39; Luke 13:35, cf. 19:38)
[4] In respect to His humanity the Lord is the name of the Father, as witness the following:
Father, glorify Your name. (John 12:28)
Hallowed be Your name (and) Your kingdom come. (Matthew 6:9, 10)
See also Exodus 23:20, 21,* Jeremiah 23:6,** Micah 5:3.***
“Name” in the case of other people refers to a quality of worship, as in the following:
(A shepherd) calls his own sheep by (their) name…. (John 10:3)
You have a few names in Sardis…. (Revelation 3:4)
I will write on 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)
And the like elsewhere.
It can be seen from this now that the statement, “You have labored for My name’s sake and have not become weary,” symbolizes their effort and work in acquiring for themselves and also teaching the constituents of religion and its accompanying doctrine.
* Behold, I send an Angel before you to keep you in the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared. Beware of Him and obey His voice; do not provoke Him, for He will not pardon your transgressions; for My name is in Him.
** In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell safely; now this is His name by which He will be called: JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
*** And He shall stand and feed His flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah His God; and they shall abide, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth.
This statement is addressed to the church of Ephesus, because it means people in the church who regard doctrinal truths primarily or in first place, and not goods of life (no. 73), even though goods of life ought to be regarded in first place or primarily. For to the extent that a person is engaged in good endeavors in his life, to the same extent he is in possession of doctrinal truths really, but not the reverse. The reason is that goods of life open the inner recesses of the mind, and when these have been opened, truths appear in their own light, causing them to be not only understood, but also loved. Not so when doctrinal teachings are regarded primarily or in first place. Truths may indeed be known then, but they cannot be seen interiorly or loved with a spiritual affection. However, more light may be shed on this in no. 17 above.
In its beginning, every church regards goods of life in first place, and secondly doctrinal truths. But as a church declines, it begins to regard doctrinal truths in first place, and secondly goods of life. And in the end it at last regards faith only, and it not only divorces goods of charity from faith then, but even gives up practice of them.
It can be seen from this now that the statement, “You have left your first charity,” means, symbolically, that they do not hold goods of life in first place, as they did, however, before, and as people do at the beginning of every church.
Everyone regards doctrinal truths in first place, but as long as he does this, he is like unripe fruit. After he has absorbed those truths, however, someone who is being regenerated regards goods of life in first place, and in proportion as he does so, he is like ripening fruit, and as that fruit ripens, the seed in it becomes fertile.
I have seen these two states in people after they became spirits, and in the first state they appeared to be facing toward valleys situated above hell, while in the second state they appeared to be facing toward the paradisal gardens that are found in heaven.
This turning around of their state of life is what is meant here. It is achieved by repentance, and after that by goodness of life, and this is what is meant by the statement, “Repent and do the first works.”
“Quickly” or “shortly” means, symbolically, surely or of a certainty (nos. 4, 947), and a lampstand means the church in respect to its enlightenment (nos. 43, 66). Removing it from its place, therefore, symbolically means to take away enlightenment so that people do not see truths in their own light, and at last do not see them at all.
This follows from what we said in no. 82 above, namely that if doctrinal truths are regarded primarily or in first place, they may indeed be known, but they cannot be seen interiorly or loved with a spiritual affection, and therefore they gradually perish. For to see truths by their own light is to see them with a person’s inner mind, which we call the spiritual mind, a mind that is opened by charity, and when it has been opened, light flows in from the Lord with an affection for understanding truths from heaven. This is what produces enlightenment.
A person who has this enlightenment recognizes truths as soon as he reads or hears them, but not one whose spiritual mind has not been opened, namely one who is not engaged in goods of charity, however much he may possess doctrinal truths.
That the deeds of the Nicolaitans are merit-seeking works is something I have been granted to know by revelation.
We are told that the people of this church hate those works, because the church knows this owing to the truths of its doctrine, and therefore does not will them, which is why the verse says, “But this you have.”
Nevertheless, people who put truths of faith in first place, and goods of charity second, all do works that are merit-seeking. But not people who put goods of charity in first place. The reason is that genuine charity does not wish to be rewarded, as it loves to do good. For it is prompted by goodness, and acts out of goodness, and from goodness looks to the Lord, knowing from its truths that all good comes from the Lord. It is therefore averse to seeking reward.
Now because people who regard truths of faith in first place cannot help but do works that are merit-seeking, and yet know from their truths that such works are to be hated, therefore the present statement comes after their being told that if they do not have charity in first place, they do works that they ought to be averse to.
We say that it is contrary to the Lord’s merit and righteousness, because those who place merit in their works claim righteousness for themselves. For they say that righteousness is on their side because they have earned it, even though it is the height of unrighteousness, as the Lord alone has merited it and He alone does the good in them.
That the Lord alone is righteous is taught in Jeremiah:
Behold, the days are coming…when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch…. And this is His name by which He will be called: JEHOVAH OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS. (Jeremiah 23:5, 6, cf. 33:15, 16)
To hear means, symbolically, both to perceive and to obey, because a person pays attention in order to perceive and obey. That both are symbolically meant by hearing is apparent from common speech, in which people speak of hearing someone or something, and of listening to someone or something, the first signifying to perceive, the latter to obey.
To hear has both symbolic meanings owing to correspondence, for the province of the ears in heaven is occupied by people who possess perception and at the same time are obedient.
Since hearing has both symbolic meanings, therefore the Lord says so many times, “He who has 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 command is also addressed to all the churches here, as is apparent from verses 11, 17, and 29 in this chapter, and from verses 6, 13, and 22 in the following chapter.
The spirit that speaks to the churches, moreover, symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word, and the churches symbolize the entire church throughout the Christian world. To be shown that the Divine truth emanating from the Lord is meant by the spirit of God, which is the same as the Holy Spirit, see The Doctrine of the New Church Regarding the Lord, no. 51. And because the entire church is meant, we are told not what the spirit says to the church (singular), but what the spirit says to the churches (plural).
Now because the letters to the seven churches describe the states of all those people in the Christian church who can accept the doctrine of the New Jerusalem and live according to it, thus who can, through combats against evils and falsities, be reformed, therefore to each it is said, “He who overcomes,” as to the church of Ephesus here:
To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life…. (Revelation 2:7)
To the church of the people of Smyrna:
He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death. (Revelation 2:11)
To the church in Pergamum:
To him who overcomes I will give to eat of the hidden manna. (Revelation 2:17)
To the church in Thyatira:
He who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations. (Revelation 2:26)
To the church in Sardis:
He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments…. (Revelation 3:5)
To the church in Philadelphia:
He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God…. (Revelation 3:12)
And to the church in Laodicea:
To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne…. (Revelation 3:21)
“He who overcomes” in these places means, symbolically, one who fights against evils and falsities and so is reformed.
In the Word, to eat means, symbolically, to assimilate, and the tree of life symbolizes the Lord in respect to the goodness of love. Thus eating of the tree of life symbolizes an assimilation of the goodness of love from the Lord.
To eat means, symbolically, to assimilate because as natural food, when eaten, is assimilated into the life of a person’s body, so spiritual food, when received, is assimilated into the life of his soul.
The tree of life symbolizes the Lord in respect to the goodness of love because that is what the tree of life symbolizes in the Garden of Eden, and because a person has celestial and spiritual life from the goodness of love and charity that he receives from the Lord.
Many passages make mention of a tree, and it means a person of the church, and in the broadest sense the church itself, its fruit meaning goodness of life. The reason is that the Lord is the tree of life, the source of every good in the church and in a person of the church. But more on this subject in its proper place.
We say the goodness of love and charity, because the goodness of love is celestial good, which is an expression of love toward the Lord, and the goodness of charity is spiritual good, which is an expression of love for the neighbor. The nature and character of each good will be told in discussions to follow. Something about them may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 13-19.
In the midst means, symbolically, the inmost (nos. 44, 383), here within or inwardly. The Paradise of God symbolizes truths of wisdom and faith. Consequently the tree of life which is in the midst of the Paradise of God symbolizes the Lord accompanied by the goodness of love and charity inwardly in the truths of wisdom and faith. Good also exists inwardly within truths, for good is the essence of life, and truth is the consequent expression of life, as we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.
That the Paradise of God is the truth of wisdom and faith is apparent from the symbolic meaning of a garden in the Word. A garden there symbolizes wisdom and intelligence, because trees symbolize the people of the church, and their fruits goods of life. That is what the Garden of Eden symbolizes, for it describes the wisdom of Adam.
[2] The garden of God in Ezekiel has the same meaning:
With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself…. You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering…. (Ezekiel 28:4, 13)
The subject is Tyre, which symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and good, thus in respect to its intelligence. Accordingly it is said, “With your wisdom and your understanding you have gained riches for yourself.” The precious stones which served as its covering symbolize truths of intelligence.
[3] In the same book:
Assyria was a cedar in Lebanon…. The cedars in the garden of God did not hide it…. No tree in the garden of God was like it in beauty…. All the trees of Eden envied it…in the garden of God. (Ezekiel 31:3, 8, 9)
This is said of Egypt and Assyria, because Egypt symbolizes knowledge, and Assyria rationality, which leads to intelligence. A cedar has a similar symbolism.
But because Egypt’s rationality led also to a conceit in its own intelligence, therefore it is said of it,
To which of the trees in Eden were you then likened in glory and greatness, when you were brought down with the trees of Eden to the earth below, and you lay in the midst of the uncircumcised…? (Ezekiel 31:18)
The uncircumcised are people who lack the goodness of charity.
[4] In Isaiah:
…Jehovah will comfort Zion…, and make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Jehovah. (Isaiah 51:3)
Zion there is the church. The wilderness and desert are a deficiency of truth and ignorance of it. Eden and the garden of God are wisdom and intelligence.
Wisdom and intelligence are also symbolically meant by a garden in Isaiah 58:11, 61:11, Jeremiah 31:12, Amos 9:14, and Numbers 24:6.
[5] A person of the church is also like a garden in respect to his intelligence when he possesses goodness of love from the Lord, because the spiritual warmth that enlivens him is love, and spiritual light is the resulting intelligence.
People know that these two, warmth and light, cause gardens in the world to bloom. It is the same in heaven. Paradisal gardens are seen in heaven, with trees bearing fruit in accordance with the inhabitants’ wisdom that springs from their goodness of love from the Lord. But around people who possess intelligence without the goodness of love, no gardens are seen, but grass, while around those whose faith is divorced from charity, not even grass is seen, but sand.
That people of this character are meant by the church of the people of Smyrna is apparent from the letter addressed to it, understood in its spiritual meaning.
The Lord calls Himself the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, and the Alpha and the Omega, also He who is and who was and who is to come. See chapter 1, verses 4, 8, 11, 17. And for the symbolic meaning of these, see nos. 13, 29, 30, 31, 38, 57 above, where it is apparent that they mean as well that He alone is God.
That this is the meaning may be seen in nos. 58-60 above, where these words have been explained.
This statement and the one immediately preceding it are made because the primary falsity of the people described by this church is their failure to acknowledge the Lord’s Divine humanity, and therefore they do not go to Him.
This follows from our explanation in no. 76 above – in this case that He sees that they are caught up in falsities, and yet as to life are engaged in good endeavors, which they believe to be goods of life, even though they are not.
Knowing their tribulation means, symbolically, seeing that they are caught up in falsities, and knowing their poverty means, symbolically, seeing that they are not engaged in good practices. For tribulation in the Word is predicated of falsities, as in no. 33 above, while poverty is predicated of the absence of goods. That is what spiritual poverty is. The Word quite often speaks of the poor and needy, and in the spiritual sense a poor person means someone who is lacking in truths, and a needy person someone who is lacking in goods.
Added to the verse are also these words, “But you are rich,” though in parentheses, and this because they are not found in some codices.
Blasphemy here means, symbolically, false speaking. Jews do not mean Jews, but people who possess the goodness of love, and abstractly goods of love themselves. Consequently the blasphemy of those who say they are Jews and are not means, symbolically, their false speaking in saying that they have among them goods of love, when in fact they do not.
Jews mean people who possess the goodness of love because in the highest sense in the Word, Judah means the Lord in respect to the Divine goodness of His Divine love, and Israel means the Lord in respect to the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom. Therefore Jews symbolize people who possess the goodness of love from the Lord, and Israel people who possess Divine truths from the Lord.
That Jews mean people of this character can be seen from many passages in the Word, which will be cited in no. 350 below. See also some remarks in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, no. 51.
Jews abstractly mean goods of love because the spiritual sense is abstracted from person, as may be seen in no. 78, 79 above.
When reading the Word in the Prophets, someone may be much deluded if he does not know that in the Word Jews mean people who belong to the Lord’s celestial church, who are people prompted by love toward Him. But see no. 350 below.
They are termed a synagogue because they call themselves Jews, and since Jews taught in synagogues, a synagogue symbolizes doctrine. Moreover, because Satan means a hell composed of people caught up in falsities, therefore they are termed a synagogue of Satan.
Hell is called the Devil and Satan, and a hell called the Devil means people there who are caught up in evils – properly speaking, people caught up in a love of self. And Satan means people there who are caught up in falsities – properly speaking, people caught up in a conceit in their own intelligence.
These hells are called the Devil and Satan because all who are in them are called devils and satanic spirits.
It can be seen from this now that their being a synagogue of Satan means, symbolically, that as to doctrine they are caught up in falsities.
[2] Still, because the subject here is people who as to life are engaged in good, but as to doctrine are caught up in falsities, and these do not know otherwise than that they are engaged in good and that their falsities are true, we must say something about them.
Every good pertaining to worship is formed in accordance with truths, and every truth is formed from good. Therefore goodness without truth is not good, nor is truth without goodness true. In outward form, indeed, they appear as though they were, but still they are not.
We call the union of goodness and truth the heavenly marriage. It is this that forms the church in a person and that forms heaven in him. Consequently if falsities are substituted for truths in a person, he then does the good of falsity, which is not good, being either pharasaic or merit-seeking, or something natural inborn.
[3] But let examples serve to illustrate:
Someone caught up in the falsity of believing that he does good of himself because he has the ability to do good – his good is not good, because he is at the core of it, and not the Lord.
Someone caught up in the falsity of believing that he can do good that is good without recognizing any evil in himself, thus who acts without repentance – such a person, when doing good, does not do good, because without repentance he is prompted by evil.
Someone caught up in the falsity of believing that good purifies him of evils, unaware of any of the evils that motivate him – the only good that he does is spurious good, which is inwardly contaminated with his evils.
Someone caught up in the falsity of believing in the existence of more than one god, who confirms himself in that belief – the good that he does is a fragmented good, and a fragmented good is not good.
Someone caught up in the falsity of believing that the Divine does not reside in the Lord’s humanity like the soul in its body cannot do good from the Lord, and good that does not come from the Lord is not good, for it is contrary to these words of the Lord:
(If anyone does not abide in Me, and I in him, he cannot bear any fruit,) for without Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch (that is) withered; and (it is thrown) into the fire, and…burned. (John 15:4-6)
The like is found in many other places. For good takes its character from truths, while truths take their essence from good.
[4] Who does not know that the church is not a church without doctrine? And the doctrine must teach a person how to think about God and from God, and how to behave from God and with God. Therefore the doctrine must be composed of truths, according to which the person does what is called good. It follows from this that to act in accordance with falsities is not good.
People suppose that the good that a person does has in it nothing derived from truths or falsities, when in fact the character of the good is due to nothing else; for the two go together like love and wisdom, and also like love and foolishness. A wise person’s love is what does good, while a foolish person’s love does something like it outwardly, but something altogether unlike it inwardly. A wise person’s good is accordingly like pure gold, while a foolish person’s good is like excrement overlaid with gold.
That this is the meaning is apparent from what follows next.
Being thrown into prison by the devil has this symbolic meaning because the devil means a hell that is inhabited by people caught up in evils, and so abstractly the evil that exists there and that emanates from there (no. 97).
To be thrown into prison is to be infested, because people who are infested by evils from hell are as though bound in prison, for they cannot help but meditate evil, even if they will good. This gives rise to an inner combat and distress from which they cannot be set free, almost like people in chains. That is because their good is not good as long as it is bound up with falsities; and to the extent that it is bound up with falsities, evil is present in it. This good is accordingly what is infested.
[2] This infestation, however, occurs not in the natural world, but in the spiritual world, thus after death. I have often been granted to see the infestations of people there. They lament, saying that they have done good, and wish to continue doing good, and yet are unable to now because of the evils surrounding them.
Not all, however, are infested alike. They are infested more or less severely in the measure that they have confirmed themselves in falsities. We are accordingly told that the devil will throw “some of you” into prison. Confirmation of falsity is harmful, as may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 91-97.
[3] “The bound” in the Word have the same symbolic meaning as those thrown into prison here, as in the following passages:
…I will give You as a covenant to the people…, to bring out the bound from the prison, (and) those who sit in darkness from the house of confinement. (Isaiah 42:6, 7, cf. 49:8, 9)
(Jehovah) has sent Me…to proclaim liberty to the captives, and…to those who are bound. (Isaiah 61:1)
By the blood of your covenant I will set free your bound ones from the pit. (Zechariah 9:11)
God…has brought out those who are bound with fetters. (Psalm 68:6)
The groaning of the bound will come before You. (Psalm 79:11)
To hear the groaning of the bound, to let loose those consigned to death. (Psalm 102:20)
Jehovah (who) sets the bound free. (Psalm 146:7)
It is apparent that the bound in these places do not mean people in bonds in the world, but people bound by hell, thus by evils and falsities.
The following words of the Lord have the same symbolic meaning:
I was…in prison and you did not visit Me. (Matthew 25:43)
Since the Lord brings out of prison or liberates from infestation people who as to life were engaged in good, even if as to doctrine they were caught up in falsities, therefore He says, “Do not fear any of those things which you are about to suffer,” and, “Be faithful…, and I will give you the crown of life.”
This is the symbolic meaning because every spiritual temptation or trial is a combat between the devil and the Lord as to who will possess the person. The devil or hell puts forth its falsities so as to reproach and condemn, while the Lord puts forth truths by which to lead away from falsities and liberate.
This combat is one that appears to a person to take place in him, because it is caused by evil spirits with him, and it is called a temptation or trial. I know from experience that this is what a spiritual temptation is, because in my temptations I have seen the infernal spirits who induced them and have perceived the influx from the Lord that delivered me from them.
Tribulation, which we discussed in nos. 33 and 95 above, here symbolizes infestation, thus temptation or trial; and ten days symbolize the duration of that state to its completion. Therefore the people of this church are told next, “Be faithful until death,” which symbolizes their reception and acknowledgment of truths until their falsities have been set aside and seemingly abolished.
Ten days symbolize the duration of their state to its completion because a day symbolizes a state, and ten completeness. For intervals of time in the Word symbolize states (no. 947), and numbers add their character (no. 10).
[2] Since ten symbolizes completeness, it also symbolizes much or many, and every or all, as can be seen from the following passages:
…the men who have seen My glory…have put Me to the test…ten times…. (Numbers 14:22)
…ten times you have reproached me. (Job 19:3)
(Daniel was found) ten times better than…the astrologers. (Daniel 1:20)
…ten women shall bake your bread in one oven…. (Leviticus 26:26)
…ten men from every language of the nations shall grasp the sleeve of a Jewish man…. (Zechariah 8:23)
Because ten symbolizes much and also all, therefore the precepts that Jehovah wrote upon the tablets of the Decalogue are called the Ten Commandments (Deuteronomy 4:13, 10:4). The Ten Commandments embody all truths, for they encompass them.
Moreover, because ten symbolizes all, therefore the Lord likened the kingdom of heaven to ten virgins (Matthew 25:1). And in a parable He said of a certain nobleman that the nobleman gave his servants ten minas with which to do business (Luke 19:12-27).
Much is also symbolically meant by the ten horns of the beast that came up from the sea in Daniel 7:7; by the ten horns and the ten jewels* upon the horns of the beast rising up from the sea in Revelation 13:1; by the ten horns of the dragon in Revelation 12:3; and by the ten horns of the scarlet beast with the woman sitting upon it in Revelation 17:3, 7, 12. The ten horns symbolize much power.
[3] From the symbolic meaning of ten as being complete, much, and all, it can be seen why it was instituted that a tenth part of all the produce of the earth be given to Jehovah, and by Jehovah in turn to Aaron and the Levites (Numbers 18:24, 28, Deuteronomy 14:22), and why Abram gave to Melchizedek a tithe of all (Genesis 14:18, 20). For this symbolically meant that everything they had therefore was from Jehovah and sanctified by Him (see Malachi 3:10).
It can be seen from this now that having tribulation ten days means, symbolically, that their temptation or trial will continue the whole time, that is, as long as they wish to remain caught up in falsities. For falsities are never taken from a person against his will, but in accord with it.
* The word translated as “jewels” here means diadems or crowns in the original Greek and Latin, but the writer’s definitions of the term elsewhere make plain that he regularly and consistently interpreted it to mean jewels or gems.
“Be faithful until death” means, in the natural sense, that they are not to turn away from their faithfulness until the end of their life, but in the spiritual sense it means that they will receive and acknowledge truths until the truths remove their falsities and seemingly eradicate them. For the spiritual sense is rightly for people in the spiritual world, for whom there is no death. Consequently death here means the end of their temptation or trial.
We say until their falsities are seemingly eradicated, because the falsities and evils in a person are never eradicated but set aside; and when they have been set aside they appear as though eradicated, because with the setting aside of evils and falsities a person is kept focused on goods and truths by the Lord.
Because the subject is temptations or trials until death, they are told that they will be given the crown of life, such as was given to martyrs who were faithful until death. Moreover, because the martyrs hoped for it, they were therefore given crowns after their death, which was a symbolic reward for their overcoming. They appear still with their crowns in heaven, as I have been granted to see.
This is apparent from the explanation in no. 87 above, where the same words occur.
The first death refers to the death of the body, and the second death to the death of the soul, which is damnation (see nos. 853, 873 below). So, because the exhortation, “Be faithful until death,” means, symbolically, that they will acknowledge truths until the truths remove their falsities (no. 102), it follows that saying “they shall not be hurt by the second death” means, symbolically, that they will not later succumb to evils and falsities from hell, since as a consequence of that removal they are exempt from damnation.
That people of this character are meant by the church in Pergamum is apparent from the particulars written to it, understood in their spiritual meaning. To this, however, we must preface something in order that it may be known just who these are in the church, and what their character is.
The Christian church today consists for the most part of two kinds of people. People who are concerned only with works and have no truths constitute one kind. People who focus only on worship and are without works or truths constitute the other. The first kind is the subject here, the second the subject of the letter to the church in Sardis (nos. 154ff.).
People who are concerned only with works and have no truths are like people who act without understanding, and deeds without understanding are lifeless. Such people appear to angels as figures carved out of wood, and those who place merit in their works as those same figures naked, without a covering over their private parts. Such people appear also as sheep without any wool, and those who place merit in their works as those same sheep covered with dung. For all works are done by the will by means of the intellect, and in the intellect they receive life and at the same time clothing. That is why, as we said, such people appear to angels as lifeless figures and naked.
In the preceding chapter where the Son of Man is described, who is the Lord in relation to the Word, we are told that a sharp two-edged sword was seen to issue from His mouth (verse 16). This symbolizes a dispersion of falsities by the Lord by means of the Word and doctrine drawn from it, as may be seen in no. 52 above.
The declaration here is made to people and concerning people who place everything having to do with the church in good works only, and not anything in doctrinal truths; and because they ignore or have little regard for doctrinal truths, even though those truths are indispensable, they are later told, “Repent, or else I will come to you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of My mouth” (verse 16 in this chapter).
It may be seen in no. 97 above that Satan means a hell composed of people caught up in falsities, and to be caught up in falsities is to live in darkness. Darkness and the shadow of death, spiritually speaking, describe nothing other than the states of people in hell who are caught up in the falsities of evil. Consequently these terms are used in the Word to describe falsities, and it can be seen from this that Satan’s throne symbolizes nothing but darkness.
Darkness here, however, does not mean that the people are caught up in nothing but falsities, but that they lack any truths of doctrine. For doctrinal truths that are drawn from the Word bring light. To be without truths, therefore, is to be without light, and so to be in a state of darkness. (That truths appear in the light of heaven may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 126-140, and in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 73, 104-113.)
[2] In many places the Word speaks of people in darkness or the shadow of death, people whose eyes the Lord will open, and these people mean gentiles who have engaged in good works, but did not have any truths, because they did not know the Lord or have the Word. Altogether like these are people in the Christian world who are concerned with works only and are without any doctrinal truths. Consequently they can only be called gentiles. They know the Lord, indeed, but do not turn to Him; and they have the Word, but nevertheless do not look for any truths in it.
Knowing “where you dwell” means, symbolically, knowing their character, since in the spiritual world everyone dwells there in accordance with the character of his affection.
It can be seen from this that “you dwell where Satan’s throne is” symbolizes their life of doing good in a state of darkness.
[3] Satanic spirits, moreover, have power through those in the spiritual world who are concerned with works only, but without them they have no power. For satanic spirits attach such spirits to themselves if only one of the satanic spirits says, “I am your neighbor, and am therefore due the performance of kind offices.” On hearing this, the spirits concerned only with works go over and render assistance, without inquiring who or of what character the satanic spirit is. That is because they are without any truths, and it is by truths alone that one person can be told apart from another. This, too, is symbolically meant by the statement, “You dwell where Satan’s throne is.”
The name of Jehovah or of the Lord means everything by which He is worshiped, thus everything connected with religion, as may be seen in no. 81 above. Therefore it means here that they have religion and worship in accordance with it.
Faith in this instance does not mean faith as faith is defined in the church today, but rather Divine truth, since faith is connected with truth and truth with faith. It is precisely what is meant by faith in heaven, and by the faith of God in the Word. It is because of this that faith and truth in Hebrew are the same word and are called ’emuna.
Now because the faith of God means Divine truth, and the Word is Divine truth itself, it is apparent that “you did not deny My faith” means that they acknowledge the Word to be Divine truth.
A martyr symbolizes a confessor of truth, having the same meaning as a witness (nos. 6 and 16 above), because “martyr” and “witness” in Greek are the same word. The name Antipas comes from the spiritual or angelic language.
Since the martyr Antipas symbolizes a confessor of truth, and abstractly truth itself, it is apparent that “in the days in which Antipas was My faithful martyr, who was killed among you, where Satan dwells,” means symbolically, at a time when all truth has been extinguished by falsities in the church.
That Satan means a hell where falsities exist and from where they emanate, see no. 97 above.
That this means people who perform works which defile and adulterate worship is apparent from the stories in the Word about Balaam and Balak, king of Moab. For Balaam was a hypocrite and sorcerer. He spoke favorably, indeed, from Jehovah regarding the children of Israel, and yet at heart he harbored a wish to destroy them, and also did destroy them by the counsel he gave Balak. It is apparent from this that his works were hypocritical.
We are told that he was a sorcerer (Joshua 13:22, Numbers 22:7, 24:1). That he spoke favorably on behalf of the children of Israel by blessing them (Numbers 23:7-10, 18-24, 24:3-9, 15-19), but that he uttered what he did from Jehovah (Numbers 23:7-10, 18-24, 24:3-9, 15-19. That at heart he harbored a wish to destroy them, and also did destroy them by the counsel he gave Balak (Numbers 31:16). The counsel that he gave is found in Numbers 25:1-3. The latter was the stumbling block that he put before the children of Israel, which is described in this way:
…in Shittim…the people began to commit harlotry with the women of Moab, and they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods. The people ate and bowed down to their gods. Israel (especially) was joined to Baal of Peor…. (Therefore there were killed of Israel) twenty-four thousand. (Numbers 25:1-3, 9)
The children of Israel symbolize the church. Eating of their own sacrifices symbolizes an assimilation of what is holy. Consequently eating of the sacrifices of other gods or of things sacrificed to idols symbolizes a defiling and profanation of what is holy. To commit sexual immorality means, symbolically, to adulterate and corrupt worship. Moab and thus its king and its women also symbolize people who defile and adulterate worship, as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, no. 2468.
It is apparent from this now that the spiritual meaning of these words is as stated.
That the works of the Nicolaitans are merit-seeking works may be seen in no. 86 above.
Among people who place everything having to do with the church and salvation in good works, and not anything in doctrinal truths – those meant by the church in Pergamum – there are some who perform hypocritical works, and some merit-seeking works, but still not all. So we are told that “you have there those who hold the doctrine of Balaam,” and, “you have also those who hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans.” Moreover, all works connected with worship are either good, or merit-seeking, or hypocritical. Therefore the latter two are spoken of here, and afterward good works in the next verse.
To repent has this symbolic meaning, because the subject has just been goods that are merit-seeking and hypocritical, and these must be guarded against by people who place everything having to do with the church and salvation in good works, and not anything in doctrinal truths, even though it is doctrinal truths that must teach how and what one ought to will and think, or love and believe, in order for works to be good.
For the explanation of this, however, see no. 108 above.
This is apparent from the explanation in no. 87 above, where the same words occur.
This is apparent as well from the explanation in no. 88 above.
The hidden manna that people will have who are engaged in good works and at the same time add doctrinal truths to the works, means a private wisdom, such as people have who are in the third heaven. For as these were focused on good works and doctrinal truths simultaneously in the world, they enjoy a wisdom beyond that of other angels, but a private wisdom, for it is engraved on their life and not so much on their memory. Therefore people of this character are such that they do not talk about doctrinal truths but practice them, and they practice them because they know them and also see them when others talk about them.
The goodness of love is imparted to people who add doctrinal truths to their good works, and the Lord conjoins Himself with them and thus grants them wisdom in their good works; and that this is what it is to give to eat of the hidden manna can be seen from these words of the Lord:
…the bread of God is He who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world…. I am the bread of life…. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that anyone who eats of it does not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. (John 6:31-58)
It is apparent from this that the Lord Himself is the hidden manna that will be in their works if they turn to Him alone.
Whether you say the Lord or the good of celestial love and the wisdom of that love, the meaning is the same. But this is an arcanum that falls with difficulty into anyone’s natural comprehension, as long as it is clouded over with worldly notions. However, it does fall within the comprehension when it comes into a state of serenity and sunshine, as can be seen from beginning to end in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.
A white stone has this symbolism because in cases requiring decision, votes used to be tallied by collecting stones, and white stones meant affirming votes. Affirming truths are symbolized here, because whiteness is predicated of truths (nos. 167, 379). Consequently a white stone symbolizes truths supportive of good. It means also truths united to good, because goodness attracts truths and unites them to itself. Indeed, all good loves truth and joins to itself such truth as is in harmony with it, and especially so the goodness of celestial love. This so unites truth to itself that they form an indivisible whole.
For this reason celestial people view truths from the perspective of good. They are the people meant by those who have the law written on their hearts, of whom we read in Jeremiah:
I will put My law in the midst of them and write it on their hearts…. No more shall each teach his companion, or each his brother, saying, “Know Jehovah,” for everyone shall know Me…. (Jeremiah 31:33, 34)
Of such a character are all the inhabitants of the third heaven. They do not talk about truths from some memory of them, but clearly see truths whenever they hear other people talking about them, and especially when they read the Word. That is because they possess a real marriage of goodness and truth.
People become of this character in the world if they have turned to the Lord alone and done good works because they accord with the Word’s truths.
Something regarding these angels may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 25, 26, 270, 271.
A name symbolizes the character of a thing, as may be seen in no. 81 above, and here therefore the character or quality of good. Good has all its character from the truths with which it is united, for good without truths is like bread without wine or food without water, which do not nourish. It is also like a fruit that contains no juice. Such goods appear, too, like trees stripped of their leaves, with wizened apples left hanging on them from autumn.
This, moreover, is the meaning of these words of the Lord:
…everyone will be salted with fire, and every sacrifice will be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves…. (Mark 9:49, 50)
The salt there is a desire for truth.
In the case of the people here described, truths united to good are not matters of memory, but are engraved on their life, as may be seen just above in nos. 121 and 122. And what is engraved on the life only and not on the memory is not apparent to anyone, not even to the people themselves, except in this respect, that they perceive whether something is true, and what is true, whenever they hear or read it. For the interior regions of their minds are opened toward the Lord; and because the Lord is present in them, and He sees everything, therefore He causes them to see as though of themselves. But owing to their wisdom, they nevertheless know that they do not see truths of themselves, but from the Lord.
It can be seen from this, now, what is meant by all these words, that “I will give him to eat of the hidden manna,” and, “I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it.” The symbolic meaning in sum is that they will be angels of the third heaven if they read the Word, draw from it doctrinal truths, and turn to the Lord.
That people of the one character and the other are meant by the church in Thyatira is apparent from the particulars written to it, understood in their spiritual meaning.
That this is the symbolic meaning may be seen explained in no. 48 above.
Charity is a spiritual affection because charity is love for the neighbor, and a love for the neighbor is that affection.
Ministry is the practice of it, because in the Word those are called ministers who put into practice things that are matters of charity.
In the Word, a worshiper of God is called sometimes a servant, sometimes a minister; and a servant of God is the term used for one who is governed by truths, and a minister of God for one who is governed by goods. The reason is that truth serves good, and good ministers to truth. That servant is a term used for someone governed by truths, see no. 3 above. That minister, on the other hand, is a term used for someone governed by good is apparent from the following passages:
You shall be named the priests of Jehovah, …the ministers of our God. (Isaiah 61:6)
…My covenant will also be broken…with the Levites…, My ministers. (Jeremiah 33:21)
They are called ministers because priests represented the Lord in relation to Divine good.
Bless Jehovah, all you His hosts, His ministers who do His will. (Psalm 103:21)
(Jehovah) makes His angels spirits, His ministers a flame of fire. (Psalm 104:4)
Angel spirits are ones who are governed by truths, and angel ministers are ones who are governed by goods. A flame of fire also symbolizes the goodness of love.
(Jesus said,) “whoever desires to become great…, let him be your minister. And whoever desires to be first…, let him be your servant.” (Matthew 20:26, 27, cf. 23:11, 12)
“Minister” there refers to good, and “servant” to truth.
Ministering and ministry have the same symbolic meaning in Isaiah 56:6, John 12:26, Luke 12:37, and elsewhere.
It is apparent from this that charity and ministry symbolize the spiritual affection called charity and the practice of it. For good is connected with charity, and truth with faith.
Faith symbolizes truth, as may be seen in no. 111 above. And it follows then that patience symbolizes the people’s effort and labor to acquire it and teach it.
The last works that are more than the first mean everything connected with the people’s charity and faith, for these are the inner qualities from which works spring (nos. 73, 76, 94). These have their growth when charity is in first place and faith in second place. For charity is a spiritual affection for doing good, and from it springs a spiritual affection for knowing truth, since good loves truth as food does drink. Indeed it wishes to be nourished, and it is nourished by truths. As a consequence, people in a state of genuine charity experience continual growths of truth.
This, then, is what is symbolically meant by “I know your last works to be more than the first.”
That the woman Jezebel means faith divorced from charity is apparent from the depictions that follow next when they are explained in order according to their spiritual meaning and compared then with that faith. For the evil deeds of Jezebel, the wife of Ahab, were as follows:
She went and served Baal, and set up an altar for Baal in Samaria, and made a shrine (1 Kings 16:31-33).
She killed the prophets of Jehovah (1 Kings 18:4, 13).
She wanted to kill Elijah (1 Kings 19:1, 2).
Through a subterfuge, by appointing two false witnesses, she stole the vineyard from Naboth and had him killed (1 Kings 21:6, 7ff.).
Because of these evil deeds, Elijah predicted to her that dogs would eat her (1 Kings 21:23).
She was thrown down from the window where she stood painted up, and some of her blood was spattered on the wall and on the horses which trampled her (2 Kings 9:30, 32-34).
[2] Since all of the historical portions of the Word as well as the prophetic ones symbolically refer to the spiritual components of the church, so also do the foregoing events. That they symbolize a faith divorced from charity follows from their spiritual meaning and then from comparing the two. For to go and serve Baal and set up an altar for him and make a shrine means, symbolically, to serve lusts of every kind, or to say the same thing, the devil, by giving no thought to any evil lust or any sin, as people do who have no doctrine having to do with charity or life, but only one having to do with faith.
Killing the prophets means, symbolically, destroying doctrinal truths drawn from the Word.
Wanting to kill Elijah means, symbolically, wanting to do the same with the Word.
Stealing the vineyard from Naboth and killing him means, symbolically, doing the same with the church. For a vineyard means the church.
The dogs which ate Jezebel symbolize lusts.
Being thrown down from the window, the spattering of the blood on the wall, and the trampling by horses, symbolizes the death of these things, for each of these also has a symbolic meaning, the window symbolizing truth in a state of light, the blood symbolizing falsity, the wall symbolizing truth in outward expressions, and a horse symbolizing an understanding of the Word.
It may be concluded from this that when the two are compared, these depictions accord with a faith divorced from charity, as can be seen as well from subsequent descriptions in the book of Revelation where this faith is the subject.
A prophet in the Word symbolizes the doctrine of the church, as may be seen in no. 8 above, and so likewise does a prophetess.
As people know, the Protestant Reformed Christian Church has accepted faith alone as the only means of salvation, and therefore works of charity have been divorced from faith as being not saving. As a result, the entire doctrine of human salvation, called theology, consists today of that faith, and accordingly is “the woman Jezebel.”
To teach and seduce the Lord’s servants means, symbolically, to teach and seduce people who can be and are willing to be instructed in truths from the Word. That servants of the Lord are what people governed by truths are called may be seen in nos. 3 and 128 above; and to commit sexual immorality means, symbolically, to adulterate and falsify the Word. To commit sexual immorality has this symbolic meaning because every particular of the Word contains a marriage of good and truth, and this marriage is broken when goodness is divorced and estranged from truth.
To be shown that every particular of the Word contains a marriage of good and truth, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 80-90. It is because of this that to commit sexual immorality means, symbolically, to adulterate the goods of the Word and falsify its truths. Moreover, because this is spiritual licentiousness, therefore people who have employed their own reason to falsify the Word become sexually licentious people when they enter the spiritual world after death. And something as yet unrecognized in the world is the fact that people who have affirmed faith alone to the exclusion of any works of charity are prompted by the lust of an adultery of a son with his mother. In the spiritual world I have often perceived them to be impelled by the lust of so unspeakable an adultery. Remember this and inquire into it after death, and you will be convinced. I have not dared to reveal this previously, because it offends the ears.
[2] This adultery is symbolized by the adultery of Reuben with Bilhah, his father’s concubine (Genesis 35:22), inasmuch as Reuben symbolizes that faith. Therefore he was cursed by his father Israel, and the birthright was subsequently taken from him. For in prophesying concerning his sons, his father Israel said of Reuben,
Reuben, you are my firstborn, My might and the beginning of my strength…. Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my pallet. (Genesis 49:3, 4)
And therefore the birthright was taken from him:
…Reuben (was) the firstborn of Israel…, but because he defiled his father’s pallet, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph…. (1 Chronicles 5:1)
We will see in the explanation of Revelation 7:5 that Reuben represented truth arising from good or faith springing from charity, and afterward truth divorced from good or faith divorced from charity.
[3] That references to sexual licentiousness in the Word symbolize adulterations of good and falsifications of truth can be seen from the following passages:
…when Joram saw Jehu, he said, “Is it peace, Jehu?” And he said, “What peace, as long as the harlotries of your mother Jezebel and her witchcraft are many?” (2 Kings 9:22)
The harlotries of Jezebel do not mean any acts of licentiousness, but her deeds, as cited in no. 132 above.
Your sons shall be shepherds in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms…. (Numbers 14:33)
The person who has regard to mediums and soothsayers, to go whoring after them…, I will cut him off…. (Leviticus 20:6)
(Do not) make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, (lest) they go whoring after their gods…. (Exodus 34:15).
(Jerusalem,) you trusted in your own beauty and played the harlot because of your fame, (so that) you poured out your harlotries on everyone passing by…. You also committed harlotry with the Egyptians, your very carnal neighbors, and multiplied your acts of harlotry…. You also played the harlot with the Assyrians, because you were insatiable, (with whom) you played the harlot…. You multiplied your harlotry as far as…Chaldea…. The adulterous woman, who in place of her husband takes strangers. All men give payment to their harlots, but you made your payments to them all, (that they may) come to you from all around for your harlotries…. Therefore, harlot, hear the word of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 16:15, 16, 26, 28, 29, 32, 33, 35ff.)
Jerusalem there is the Israelite and Jewish Church. Its harlotries mean adulterations and falsifications of the Word. And because Egypt symbolizes the knowledge of the natural self, Assyria reasoning on the basis of it, Chaldea the profanation of truth, and Babel the profanation of good, therefore the passage says that it played the harlot with them.
[4] …two women, the daughters of one mother, committed harlotry in Egypt; in their youth they committed harlotry…. (One,) my subject, played the harlot, and she doted on her lovers, the neighboring Assyrians…. She committed her harlotries with them…. (Yet) she has not given up her harlotries in Egypt….
(The other) became more corrupt in her loving than she, and in her harlotries more corrupt than her sister’s harlotries…. She increased her harlotries…. She loved (Chaldeans)…. Then the Babylonians came to her, to the bed of love, and they defiled her with their harlotry. (Ezekiel 23:2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 16, 17ff.)
The two daughters of the same mother are likewise the Israelite and Jewish Church, whose adulterations and falsifications of the Word are described here, as above, by harlotries.
[5] So, too, in the following passages:
…you have played the harlot with many lovers…. You have profaned the land with your harlotries and your wickedness…. Have you seen what backsliding Israel has done? She has gone up on every high mountain and…played the harlot…. Treacherous Judah…went and played the harlot also. So that…by the report of her harlotry she defiled the land; …she committed adultery with stone and wood. (Jeremiah 3:1, 2, 6, 8, 9)
And elsewhere:
Run to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see…if you can find a man…who executes judgment and seeks the truth…. I satiated them, and they committed harlotry and came by troops into the harlots’ house. (Jeremiah 5:1, 7)
I have seen your adulteries…your neighings, the wickedness of your harlotry, your abominations on the hills in the fields. Woe to you, O Jerusalem! You will not be made clean…. (Jeremiah 13:27)
I have seen a horrible obstinacy in the prophets of Jerusalem: they commit adultery and walk in a lie. (Jeremiah 23:14)
…they have committed folly in Israel, have committed adultery…, and have spoken (My) word in My name falsely…. (Jeremiah 29:23)
…they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into disrepute…. They committed harlotry…, because they have forsaken Jehovah. Harlotry…enslaved (their) heart…. …your daughters commit harlotry, and your daughters-in-law commit adultery. (Hosea 4:7, 10, 11, 13)
I know Ephraim…, (that) he has (altogether) committed harlotry, (and) Israel is defiled. (Hosea 5:3)
I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: Ephraim committed harlotry there, (and) Israel is defiled. (Hosea 6:10)
Israel there is the church, and Ephraim is its understanding of the Word, from which and in accordance with which the church is formed. Therefore Ephraim is said to have committed harlotry and Israel to be defiled.
[6] Since the church had falsified the Word, the prophet Hosea was commanded to take himself a harlot as a wife, as follows:
…take yourself a woman of harlotries and children of harlotries, for the land has committed great harlotry behind Jehovah. (Hosea 1:2).
Again:
…love a woman who is loved by a companion and is an adulteress…. (Hosea 3:1)
Since the Jewish Church was such as described, therefore the Lord called the Jewish nation an adulterous generation (Matthew 12:39, 16:4, Mark 8:38); and in Isaiah, the offspring of an adulterer (Isaiah 57:3).
In Nahum:
Woe to the bloody city! Full of lying…. The multitude of the slain…because of the multitude of the harlotries of the harlot…, who sells nations through her harlotries…. (Nahum 3:1, 3, 4)
[7] Since Roman Catholicism adulterates and falsifies the Word more than any others in the Christian world, it is therefore called Babylon, the Great Harlot, and the following things are said of it in the book of Revelation:
Babylon…has made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her harlotry. (Revelation 14:8)
(Babylon has made) all the nations (drink) of the wine of the wrath of her harlotry, and the kings of the earth have committed harlotry with her…. (Revelation 18:3)
(The angel said,) “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot…with whom the kings of the earth committed harlotry. (Revelation 17:1, 2)
…He has judged the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her harlotry. (Revelation 19:2)
It is apparent from this now that to commit adultery and to commit sexual immorality mean, symbolically, to adulterate and falsify the goods and truths of the Word.
To turn back from sexual immorality here means, symbolically, to turn back from falsifying the Word. The fact that those people see things contrary to their doctrine is apparent from a thousand places in the Word where we are told that evils are to be abstained from and good deeds done, that people who do good deeds go to heaven and people who do evil deeds go to hell, and that faith without works is lifeless and diabolic.
But the question is, what part of the Word did they falsify? Or in what way did they commit sexual immorality spiritually with the Word? The answer is that they falsified the entire Word, inasmuch as the entire Word teaches nothing else than love toward the Lord and love for the neighbor. For the Lord says that “on these two commandments hang…the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:40). One also finds faith taught in the Word, yet not their kind of faith, but a faith connected with love.
A bed symbolizes doctrine, as we will see momentarily. Those committing adultery mean, symbolically, falsifications of truth (see nos. 134 and 136 above). And tribulation symbolizes an infestation by falsities (nos. 33, 95, 101), thus a great tribulation a severe infestation.
A bed symbolizes doctrine because of its correspondence; for as the body rests in its bed, so the mind rests in its doctrine. The doctrine symbolized by a bed, however, is the kind that each person acquires for himself, either from the Word or from his own intelligence. For it is in this that his mind finds repose and, so to speak, sleeps.
The beds that people rest in in the spiritual world come from just such an origin. For everyone there has a bed in keeping with the character of his knowledge and intelligence – the wise having magnificent beds, those without wisdom having humble beds, and falsifiers having squalid beds.
[2] This is the symbolic meaning of a bed in Luke:
I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. (Luke 17:34)
The subject is the Last Judgment. The two men in one bed are two who share the same doctrine, but not the same life.
In John:
Jesus said to (the sick man), “Rise, take up your bed and walk.” And…he took up his bed, and walked. (John 5:8-12)
And in Mark:
…(Jesus) said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” (And to the scribes He said,) “Which is easier, to say…, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘…take up your bed and walk’?…” (Then He said,) “Rise, take up your bed (and walk.)” And…he took up the bed and went out (from their presence). (Mark 2:5, 9, 11, 12)
It is apparent that a bed has some symbolic meaning here, because Jesus said, “Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Take up your bed and walk’?” To carry one’s bed and walk means, symbolically, to meditate on doctrine. That is how it is understood in heaven.
[3] A bed symbolizes doctrine also in Amos:
As a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion…, so shall the children of Israel be rescued who dwell in Samaria at the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch. (Amos 3:12)
At the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch means relatively removed from the truths and goods of doctrine.
A bed or a couch has the same symbolic meaning elsewhere, as in Isaiah 28:20, 57:2, 7, 8, Ezekiel 23:41, Amos 6:4, Micah 2:1, Psalm 4:4, 36:4, 41:3, Job 7:13, Leviticus 15:4, 5.
Because Jacob in the prophecies of the Word symbolizes the church in respect to its doctrine, therefore it is said of him that “he bowed himself on the head of the bed” (Genesis 47:31), that when Joseph came, “he sat up on the bed” (Genesis 48:2), and that “he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last” (Genesis 49:33).
Since Jacob symbolizes the church’s doctrine, therefore at times, when thinking of Jacob, I have seen at a height before me a man lying on a bed.
This can be seen without further explanation.
Sons in the Word symbolize truths, and in an opposite sense falsities. To kill sons, therefore, symbolically means to turn truths into falsities, for thus the truths perish. Nothing else is meant by “the slain of Jehovah.”*
To kill her sons with death also means, symbolically, to condemn those people’s falsities.
Sons symbolize truths, and in an opposite sense falsities, because in the spiritual sense of the Word generations mean spiritual generations. The case is the same with blood relations and relations by marriage, and so with terms referring to these, such as father, mother, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, sons-in-law, daughters-in-law, and the rest. No other sons or daughters are born of a spiritual generation than truths and goods (see nos. 542 and 543 below).
* See Isaiah 66:16. Jeremiah 25:33.
The seven churches symbolize the whole church, as before. Searching the reins and hearts means, symbolically, to see everything that a person believes and loves, thus the quality of truth and the quality of good in him.
This is the symbolic meaning of searching the reins and hearts because of their correspondence, for the Word in its literal sense consists only of things that correspond. The correspondence results from the fact that as the reins or kidneys purify the blood of its impurities called urinous, and as the heart purifies the blood of its contaminants called pollutants, so the truth of faith purifies a person of his falsities, and the goodness of love purifies a person of his evils.
[2] For this reason the ancients located love and its affections in the heart, and intelligence and its perceptions in the reins or kidneys, as can be seen from the following passages in the Word:
Behold, You desire truth in the reins,* and in secret You make wisdom known to me. (Psalm 51:6)
…You possess my reins…. My frame was not hidden from You, when I was made in secret…. (Psalm 139:13, 15)
…my heart is provoked, and with my reins I sharpen myself. (But) I am stupid and ignorant. (Psalm 73:21, 22)
I, Jehovah, search the heart (and) test the reins, even to give every man according to his ways…. (Jeremiah 17:10)
You are near in their mouth, but far from their reins. …You, O Jehovah…, will see me, and You will test my heart…. (Jeremiah 12:2, 3)
…Jehovah, a judge of righteousness, testing the reins and the heart…. (Jeremiah 11:20, cf. 20:12)
…establish the righteous, (for) You who test the hearts and reins are a righteous God. (Psalm 7:9)
Test me, O Jehovah, and try me; examine my reins and my heart. (Psalm 26:2)
The reins in these passages symbolize truths of intelligence and faith, and the heart symbolizes the goodness of love and charity.
To be shown that the heart symbolizes love and its affections, see Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 371-393.
* This is the reading of the writer’s Latin Bible (Schmidt, 1996). The Hebrew has simply “inward parts.”
Works are the containing vessels of charity and faith, and charity and faith without works are merely like images in the air, which after they have appeared, then vanish. See no. 76 above.
This is apparent from what we have already said, and so needs no further explanation.
Satan means a hell composed of people caught up in falsities, and abstractly the falsities themselves, as may be seen in no. 97 above. Thus its depths symbolize the interior constituents of a doctrine divorced from charity, which are nothing but falsities.
The depths or interior constituents of that doctrine are those that are expressed in their books, in their lectures in the universities, and so in their sermons, whose character may be seen in the treatments preceding Chapter 1 where we presented their doctrinal tenets, in particular the section titled, “Regarding Justification by Faith, and Good Works.” See our observation there that only the clergy know the mysteries of that doctrine, and not the laity. Consequently it is the latter principally that are meant by people who have not known the depths.
The reason is that those people support their falsities with reasonings issuing from their natural self, and with some statements from the Word which they falsify. For these enable them to lead others astray. They are like snakes in the shrubbery that bite passers-by, or hidden poisons that kill the unaware.
To overcome is to fight against evils and falsities, as may be seen in no. 88 above. And that works are charity and its resulting faith in practice, see nos. 76 and 141. It is apparent that to keep until the end is to be governed by these and to continue to be governed by them to the end of life.
Nations in the Word mean people impelled by good, and in an opposite sense, people impelled by evil, thus abstractly goods or evils themselves, as may be seen in no. 483 below. Here, therefore, to give power over the nations means, symbolically, to make it possible for the people to overcome the evils in themselves that come from hell.
A rod or staff of iron has this symbolic meaning because a rod or staff in the Word symbolizes power, and iron symbolizes natural truth, consequently the natural sense of the Word, and at the same time a person’s natural sight. It is in these two that the power of truth resides.
To be shown that Divine truth exists in its power in the Word’s natural meaning, which is its literal sense, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 37-49, the reason being that the sense of the letter is the foundation, containing vessel, and buttress of its spiritual sense, nos. 27-36. And to be shown that all power resides in final elements, called natural, see Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, nos. 205-221. Consequently it resides in the natural sense of the Word’s letter, and in a person’s natural sight. These, then, are the rod of iron with which he who overcomes will rule the nations, that is to say, with which he will overcome the evils that come from hell.
A rod of iron has similar symbolic meanings in the following passages:
You shall crush (the nations) with a rod of iron; You shall shatter them like a potter’s vessel. (Psalm 2:9)
(The woman) bore a male Child who would rule all nations with a rod of iron. (Revelation 12:5)
Out of the mouth (of Him who sat on the white horse) went a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. (Revelation 19:15)
(Jehovah) shall strike (the wicked) with the rod of His mouth. (Isaiah 11:4)
Their evils are called potter’s vessels because potter’s vessels symbolize things having to do with a person’s own intelligence, all of which are false and in themselves of no account. So likewise in the book of Psalms:
You shall crush (the nations) with a rod of iron; You shall shatter them like a potter’s vessel. (Psalm 2:9)
When the Lord was in the world, He conquered the hells and glorified His humanity through the temptations or trials that He suffered, and finally through the last of them, which was His suffering of the cross. See The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 29-36, and no. 67 above. It may be seen from these that to receive from His Father is to receive from the Divine that was in Him; for He said that the Father was in Him and He in the Father,* and that He and the Father are one,** and He referred to “the Father who is in Me,”*** and more.
* John 10:38, 14:10, 11, 20, 17:21.
** John 10:30, 17:11.
*** John 14:10.
Stars symbolize concepts of goodness and truth, as may be seen in no 51 above; and because concepts of goodness and truth are the means to intelligence and wisdom, therefore these concepts are symbolically meant by the morning star. It is called the morning star, because the people meant here will be given intelligence and wisdom by the Lord when He comes to establish the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem; for He says, “Hold fast what you have till I come” (verse 25), which symbolically means, “so that they may retain the few truths that they know from the Word about charity and its resulting faith, and live according to them, until the New Heaven and New Church are formed, which are the Lord’s advent” (no. 145).
[2] It is called the morning star because the morning symbolizes the Lord’s advent, when the New Church is formed. That this is the meaning of the morning in the Word is apparent from the following passages:
Till the two thousand three hundredth evening and morning, then the sanctuary shall be made right…. The vision of the evening and the morning…is the truth. (Daniel 8:14, 26)
One is calling to me from Seir, “Watchman…, watchman, what of the night?” The watchman said, “The morning comes, and also the night. (Isaiah 21:11, 12)
Evening and night symbolize the final period of the old church, and morning the initial period of a new church.
An end has come…. The morning has come upon you, you who dwell in the land…. Behold, the day…has come! The morning has gone forth. (Ezekiel 7:6, 7, 10)
Jehovah…every morning will bring His judgment to light, and it shall not be lacking. (Zephaniah 3:5)
God is in the midst of her…; God shall help her when He beholds the morning. (Psalm 46:5)
I have waited for Jehovah…. My soul waits for the Lord more than those who watch for the morning, [indeed] than those who watch for the morning…. For…with Him is abundant redemption, and He shall redeem Israel…. (Psalm 130:5-8)
[3] And elsewhere. Morning in these passages means the Lord’s advent, when He came into the world and established a new church, and likewise now. Moreover, because the Lord alone imparts intelligence and wisdom to the people who will be people of His New Church, and as everything that the Lord imparts embody Him because they are His, therefore the Lord says that He is the morning star:
I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. (Revelation 22:16)
He is also called 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. “‘He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'” (2:29) This symbolically means, anyone who understands these things, let him obey what the Divine truth of the Word teaches those who will be members of the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, as in no. 87 above.
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1. When they are physically dead and come to life again in the spirit, which generally happens on the third day after the heart has stopped beating, they appear to themselves to have the same body that they had before in the world, so much so that they do not know otherwise than that they are living in the prior world. Yet they do not have a material body, but rather a spiritual one, and to their senses, which are also spiritual, their body appears as though material, even though it is not.
[2] 2. After several days they see that they are in a world where various societies have been established – a world called the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell. All the societies there, of which there are a countless number, have been marvelously organized in accordance with the inhabitants’ natural affections, good and evil. Societies organized in accordance with good natural affections communicate with heaven, while societies organized in accordance with evil affections communicate with hell.
[3] 3. A newly arrived spirit or new spiritual person is taken about and conveyed into various societies, both good and evil, and he is examined to see whether he is affected by truths, and in what way, or whether he is affected by falsities, and in what way.
[4] 4. If the person is affected by truths, he is led away from evil societies and introduced into good ones, and into various good ones, until he comes to a society corresponding to his natural affection, and there he experiences a goodness in harmony with that natural affection. This continues until he sheds the natural affection and takes on a spiritual one, at which point he is raised into heaven. But this is what happens in the case of people who in the world lived a life of charity and so also a life of faith, which consisted in their believing in the Lord and refraining from evils as sins.
[5] 5. In contrast, people who in both doctrine and life had confirmed themselves in the doctrine of faith alone to the point of believing it alone to be justifying – these, because they are affected not by truths but by falsities, and because they have dismissed goods of charity or good works from being means of salvation, are led away from good societies and introduced into evil ones, and into various evil ones, until they come to a society corresponding to the lusts of their self-love. For anyone who loves falsities cannot help but love evils.
[6] 6. However, because they feigned good affections in outward appearances in the world (even though they inwardly harbored nothing but evil affections or lusts), they are periodically kept at first in states of outward pretense. Moreover, those who in the world had presided over companies of others are set here and there over societies in the world of spirits, in overall charge or in part, according to the scope of the positions they had held before. Yet because they like neither truth nor justice, and cannot be enlightened sufficiently to know what truth and justice are, therefore after several days they are discharged. I have seen spirits like this conveyed from one society to another, and though everywhere given some administrative position, after a short time they are just as often discharged.
[7] 7. After repeated dismissals, some of these people out of weariness do not wish to seek further positions, and some out of a fear of losing their reputation do not dare to. Therefore they go off and sit sadly, and at that point they are led away into an uninhabited region where they find cabins, which they enter. There they are given some work to do, and to the extent that they do it they are given food. But if they do not do it, they go hungry and are not given any. Necessity accordingly compels them.
Foodstuffs in that world are like those in our world, only they come from a spiritual origin and are given by the Lord from heaven to all in accordance with the useful functions they perform. Idle people, as they perform no useful function, are not given any.
[8] 8. After a while these people loathe work, and they then leave the cabins. If they were priests, they wish to become builders, and instantly then piles of hewn stones, bricks, boards and wooden panels appear, with heaps of reeds and rushes, clay, plaster and asphalt. When they see these, they are fired with an urge to build, and they begin to construct a house, taking now a stone, now a piece of wood, now a reed, now wet clay, and placing one upon another in haphazard fashion, though in their eyes an ordered one. Yet what they build by day collapses overnight; and the following day they gather the fallen materials from the rubble and build again, and this repeatedly until they grow weary of building.
This is the case because they used to pile up falsities to confirm the doctrine of salvation through faith alone, and that is how these falsities build the church.
[9] 9. Out of weariness these people next go off and sit solitary and idle, and because, as we said, idle people are not given any food from heaven, they begin to hunger. They also begin to think of nothing else than how to get food and relieve their hunger.
When they are in this state, some people come to them, from whom they beg assistance. But those other people say to them, “Why are you sitting so idle? Come with us to our houses, and we will give you jobs to do and feed you.”
They joyfully then arise and go away with those people to their houses, and each is there given his job, and in exchange for the work food. However, because all who have confirmed themselves in falsities of faith cannot do works of good and useful service, but only works that serve evil, and because they do not do the works faithfully, but only so that people may see them, for the sake of acclaim or material gain, therefore they abandon their jobs and care only to socialize, talk, walk, and sleep. And then, because their employers can no longer induce them to work, they are therefore forced to leave as serving no useful function.
[10] 10. When they have been forced to leave, their eyes are opened and they see a path leading to a certain cavern. When they go to it, the entrance opens and they go in, inquiring whether there is any food there, and when they are told that there is, they ask permission to remain. They are then told that they may, and they are taken in, with the entrance closing behind them.
The master of the cavern then comes and says to them, “You cannot leave anymore. See your fellow inhabitants. They all work, and as they work, they are given food from heaven. I tell you this so that you know.”
Their fellow inhabitants say, moreover, “Our master knows for what work each of us is suited, and every day he assigns it to us. Every day that you finish it you are given food. But if you do not finish it, you are given neither food nor clothing. Also, if anyone does evil to another, he is forced to a corner of the cavern, onto a bed of accursed dust,* where he is miserably tortured, and this until the master sees some sign of repentance in him. He is then taken out and ordered to do his work.”
They are told, too, that after they have done their work, they are all allowed to walk about, converse, and later sleep. They are also taken deeper into the cavern where there are whores, and they are each permitted to choose one of them to be his woman, but are forbidden under threat of penalty to go whoring promiscuously.
[11] The whole of hell consists of such caverns, which are nothing less than eternal workhouses. I have been given to go into some and see, in order that I might make this known, and the people all appeared to be of a low class, nor did any one of them know who he had been in the world or what his occupation had been. But an angel who accompanied me told me that this one had been a household servant in the world, this one a soldier, this one an administrator, this one a priest, this one a person of high rank, this one a person of wealth; and yet none of them knew anything other than that they had been servants, and their fellows likewise. That is because they had been inwardly alike, even though unalike outwardly, and it is people’s inner qualities that affiliate them in the spiritual world.
Such is the lot of people who have set aside a life of charity, and so have not lived it in the world.
[12] As regards the hells in general, they consist solely of such caverns and workhouses, but of one sort where they are inhabited by satanic spirits, and of another where they are inhabited by diabolical spirits. Satanic spirits are ones who have been governed by falsities and their resulting evils, while diabolical spirits are ones who have been governed by evils and their accompanying falsities.
Satanic spirits appear in the light of heaven as cadaverous, and some black, like mummies, while diabolical spirits appear in the light of heaven dark and fiery, and some as black as soot. All, however, in face and body are monstrous. Yet in their own light, which is like that of burning coal, they do not appear as monstrous, but as human. This appearance is granted to them to enable them to associate with one another.
* The dust of certain hells is so named. See Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, no. 341:2.
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, when you are dead. 2 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die, for I have not found your works full before God. 3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard, and pay heed and repent. If, then, you will not watch, I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you. 4 You have a few names even in Sardis who have not defiled their garments; and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy. 5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the book of life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels. 6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, who is true, who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens: 8 I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have little strength, and have kept My word, and have not denied My name. 9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie – behold, I will make them come and worship at your feet, and know that I have loved you. 10 Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to put to the test those who dwell on the earth. 11 Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown. 12 He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from My God. Also My new name. 13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, ‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the workmanship of God: 15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were cold or hot. 16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, it shall come to pass that I vomit you out of My mouth. 17 Because you say, “I am rich and wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and do not know that you are miserable, wretched and poor, blind and naked, 18 I urge you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be enriched, and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and to anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may 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 hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me. 21 To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sit with My Father on His throne. 22He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'”
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
People in the Christian world who are engaged in a lifeless worship, one without charity and faith, are described by the church in Sardis (nos. 154-171).
People who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord are described by the church in Philadelphia (nos. 172-197).
People who base their beliefs sometimes on their own thinking, sometimes on the Word, and so profane holy things, are described by the church in Laodicea (nos. 198-223).
All of these, too, are called to the Lord’s New Church.
The Contents of the Individual Verses
1 “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write,
To people and concerning people who are engaged in a lifeless worship, or in a worship that lacks the goods expressive of charity or the truths connected with faith.
‘These things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars:
The Lord from whom spring all truths and all concepts of goodness and truth.
“I know your works,
The Lord sees people’s inner and outer qualities all simultaneously,
that you have a name that you are alive, when you are dead.
that they seem to themselves and others to be spiritually alive, and are believed by themselves and others to be so, when in fact they are spiritually lifeless.
2 Be watchful,
They should have truths and live in accordance with them,
and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die,
so that the things of which their worship consists may be given life.
for I have not found your works full before God.
The inner qualities of their worship are not conjoined with the Lord.
3 Remember therefore how you have received and heard,
They should reflect that all worship in the beginning is natural, and later becomes spiritual through truths, and so on.
and pay heed and repent.
They should pay attention to these things and give life to their lifeless worship.
If, then, you will not watch,
The same here as before [verse 2].
I will come upon you like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come upon you.
The things of which their worship consists will be taken from them, without their knowing when or how.
4 You have a few names even in Sardis
They also have among them some people who do have life in their worship,
who have not defiled their garments;
who possess truths, and have not soiled their worship by evil practices and the falsities attendant on these.
and they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy.
They will live with the Lord, because they are governed by truths from Him.
5 He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments,
Anyone who is reformed becomes spiritual
and I will not blot out his name from the book of life;
and will be saved.
but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.
Those people are to be accepted who are governed by Divine good and Divine truths from the Lord.
6 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’
The same here as before [chapter 2, verse 7].
7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write,
To people and concerning people who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord.
‘These things says He who is holy, who is true,
The Lord in relation to Divine truth,
who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens:
who alone has the omnipotence to save.
8 “I know your works.
The same here as before [verse 1].
See, I have set before you an open door,
To those who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord, heaven is opened.
and no one can shut it;
Hell does not prevail against them,
for you have little strength,
because they know they have no power of themselves,
and have kept My word,
because they live in accordance with the Lord’s commandments in His Word,
and have not denied My name.
Being moved by worship of the Lord.
9 Behold, I will make those of the synagogue of Satan,
People who are caught up in falsities as regards doctrine,
who say they are Jews and are not, but lie –
who say they have embraced the church, and have not –
behold, I will make them come and worship at your feet,
many of them who are caught up in falsities as regards doctrine will accept the truths of the New Church.
and know that I have loved you.
They will see they are loved and accepted into heaven by the Lord.
10 Because you have kept My command to persevere,
Because they have fought against evils,
I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to put to the test those who dwell on the earth.
they will be protected and preserved on the day of the Last Judgment.
11 Behold, I am coming quickly!
The Lord’s advent.
Hold fast what you have,
In the meantime they should remain steadfast in their truths and goods,
that no one may take your crown.
lest they lose the wisdom from which comes eternal happiness.
12 He who overcomes,
Those who persevere in truths springing from goodness,
I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God,
the truths they possess, springing from goodness derived from the Lord, sustain the church,
and he shall go out no more.
and they will remain in it to eternity.
And I will write on him the name of My God
They will have Divine truth engraved on their hearts.
and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem,
They will have the doctrine of the New Church engraved on their hearts,
which is coming down out of heaven from My God.
doctrine that will come from the Lord’s Divine truth, such as it is in heaven.
Also My new name.
Worship of the Lord alone, with new elements that did not exist in the prior church.
13 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘
The same here as before [chapter 2, verse 7].
14 “And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write,
To people and concerning people in the church who base their beliefs sometimes on their own thinking, sometimes on the Word, and so profane holy things.
‘These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness,
The Lord in relation to the Word, which is Divine truth originating from Him.
the beginning of the workmanship of God:
The Word.
15 I know your works,
The same here as before [verses 1],
that you are neither cold nor hot.
that people such as these sometimes deny that the Word is Divine and holy, and sometimes acknowledge that it is.
Would that you were cold or hot.
It would be better for them either to deny wholeheartedly the holy things of the Word and church, or to acknowledge them wholeheartedly.
16 So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, it shall come to pass that I vomit you out of My mouth.
Their profanation and separation from the Lord,
17 Because you say, “I am rich and wealthy,
because they believe they possess in great abundance concepts of goodness and truth having to do with heaven and the church,
and have need of nothing,”
having no more need to grow in wisdom.
and do not know that you are miserable,
Nothing at all of what they know about these things has any coherence.
wretched and poor,
They have no truths or goods.
blind and naked,
They lack any understanding of truth or will for good.
18 I urge you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be enriched,
An admonition to acquire for themselves the goodness of love from the Lord by means of the Word, in order to become wise,
and white garments, that you may be clothed,
in order to acquire for themselves genuine truths of wisdom,
that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed;
so as not to profane and adulterate the goodness of heavenly love,
and to anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
so as to heal their understanding.
19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
Because they are loved then, it must be that they are introduced into temptations or trials,
Be zealous, therefore, and repent.
in order for this goal to come about from an affection for truth.
20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock.
The Lord is present with everyone in the Word, and He presses there to be received, teaching how He can be.
If anyone hears My voice and opens the door,
Anyone who believes the Word and lives according to it,
I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
the Lord conjoins Himself with them and they with Him.
21 To him who overcomes
Those who live in conjunction with the Lord through a life in accordance with His precepts in the Word,
I will grant to sit with Me on My throne,
will have a conjunction with the Lord in heaven,
as I also overcame and sit with My Father on His throne.
As He and the Father are one and constitute heaven.
22 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. ‘”
The same here as before [chapter 2, verse 7].
THE EXPOSITION
“And to the angel of the church in Sardis write.” (3:1) This symbolically means, to people and concerning people who are engaged in a lifeless worship, or in a worship that lacks the goods expressive of charity or the truths connected with faith.
That the church in Sardis means people engaged in such worship is apparent from the particulars written to it, understood in their spiritual sense.
By lifeless worship we mean simply worship by itself, which consists in people’s going often to church, listening to sermons, partaking of the Holy Supper, reading the Word and books of piety, talking about God, heaven and hell, the life after death, and especially piety, and praying morning and evening, and yet without desiring to know any truths of faith or wishing to do any goods of charity, believing that salvation is theirs simply by virtue of their worship. This they believe even though apart from truths, and without a life in accordance with those truths, worship is merely the external mark of charity and faith, which may harbor within it evils and falsities of every kind if charity and faith are not present in it. Charity and faith are what characterize genuine worship. Otherwise worship is like the skin or rind of a piece of fruit, which conceals within rotten or wormy flesh, so that the fruit is dead.
People know that such is the worship prevalent in the church today.
The seven spirits of God mean the Divine truth emanating from the Lord, as may be seen in no. 14 above. And the seven stars mean all concepts of goodness and truth from the Word (no. 51), by which the church is formed in heaven (no. 65).
These are the particulars said by the Lord now because the subject is lifeless worship and living worship, and worship has life from truths and from a life in accordance with those truths.
To have a name means, symbolically, to see and believe that people are of this or that character – here that they are alive, even though they are lifeless. For spiritual life, which properly speaking is what life is, is not a matter simply of worship, but of what is present in the worship, and present in it must be Divine truths from the Word. Then when a person lives those truths, there is life in his worship. That is because the outward expression takes its quality from what lies within, and the inner constituents of worship are truths having to do with life.
The kind of people described here are meant by these words of the Lord,
(Then) you will begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open for us,” and He will answer and say to you, “I do not know you, where you are from.” (And) you will begin to say, “We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.” But…”I will tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.” (Luke 13:25-27)
[2] I have been given to hear many people in the spiritual world saying that they partook often of the Holy Supper and so ate and drank that which is holy, and every time were absolved of their sins; that every Sabbath day they listened to the teachers; and that at home they prayed devoutly morning and evening, and more. But when the inner components of their worship were revealed, these appeared full of iniquities and infernal, so that they were rejected. Then, when they asked the reason for this, they received the reply that they did not care at all about Divine truths, and yet a life not in accordance with Divine truths is not the kind of life people in heaven lead. Moreover, people not engaged in the life of heaven cannot endure the light of heaven, which is Divine truth emanating from the Lord as the sun there. Still less can they endure the warmth of heaven, which is Divine love.
But even though they were told these things, and also understood them, nevertheless when left to themselves, to return to their brand of worship, they said, “What need do we have of truths? And what are truths?”
However, because they could no longer accept truths, they were left to their appetites which lay within their worship, and these at last rejected every part of their worship of God. For inner qualities adapt outward expressions to suit themselves, and reject whatever does not accord with them. After death, indeed, people’s outward qualities are in every case forced to become like their inner ones.
To be watchful has precisely this symbolic meaning in the Word, for a person who learns truths and lives according to them is like someone who awakens from sleep and becomes alert. By contrast, a person who lacks truths, but who is engaged simply in worship, is like someone who is asleep and dreaming.
Natural life, regarded in itself or apart from spiritual life, is really no more than a state of sleep, whereas natural life that contains spiritual life is a state of alertness. This alertness, moreover, is obtained only through truths – truths which appear in their own light and in their own clarity when a person lives in accordance with them.
This is the symbolic meaning of watching in the following passages:
Watch…, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come. (Matthew 24:42)
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he comes, will find watching…. Be ready, for the Son of Man will come at an hour you do not expect. (Luke 12:37, 40)
Watch…, for you do not know when the lord of the house will come…, lest, when he comes suddenly, he find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to all: Watch! (Mark 13:35-37)
While the bridegroom was delayed, (the virgins)…slumbered and slept…. And the (five foolish) virgins came…, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us!” But (the Lord) answered…, “…I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour at which the Son of Man will come. (Matthew 25:1-13)
Because the Lord’s coming is called the morning (no. 151), and truths are then revealed and light dawns, therefore that time is called “the beginning of the watches” in Lamentations 2:19, and the Lord is called “a watcher” in Daniel 4:13. Moreover we read in Isaiah,
Your dead shall live…. Awake…, you who dwell in dust. (Isaiah 26:19)
To be shown that the state of a person who lacks truths is called slumbering and sleep, see Jeremiah 51:39, 57, Psalms 13:3, 76:6, Matthew 13:25, and other places.
How this is to be interpreted we will explain as follows: In outward form lifeless worship is altogether like living worship, for people governed by truths do the same things. They listen to sermons, partake of the Holy Supper, pray upon their knees morning and evening, and do everything else that is a customary and normal expression of worship. Consequently people engaged in a lifeless worship have need of nothing more than to learn truths and live according to them. In so doing they “strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die.”
Works mean inner and outer qualities, and “I know your works” means that the Lord sees all a person’s inner and outer qualities simultaneously, as may be seen in no. 76 above. They are called full before God when they have been conjoined with the Lord.
It should be known that lifeless worship or simply an outward expression of worship occasions the Lord’s presence, but not conjunction. On the other hand, an outward expression of worship which has in it inner qualities that are living, occasions both presence and conjunction. For conjunction with the Lord is a conjunction with qualities in a person that come from the Lord, which are truths springing from goodness. Unless these truths are present in worship, a person’s works are not full before God, but empty.
In the Word, emptiness is used to describe a person who has in him nothing but falsities and evils, as in Matthew 12:44,* and elsewhere. Fullness, therefore, is used to describe a person who has in him truths and goods.
* When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. Then he says, “I will return to my house from which I came.” And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell there; and the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it also be with this wicked generation. (Matthew 12:43-45)
This is what is these words mean. They also mean that from the Word, from the teaching of the church drawn from the Word, and from sermons, everyone knows that truths must be learned, and that it is through truths that a person has faith and charity and everything else having to do with the church.
[2] The reality of this is something we showed many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), which we published in London. See, for example, the following:
That faith is acquired through truths, nos. 4353, 4977, 7178, 10367.
That love for the neighbor or charity is acquired through truths, nos. 4368, 7623, 7624, 8034.
That love toward the Lord is acquired through truths, nos. 10,143, 10,153, 10,310, 10,578, 10,645.
That intelligence and wisdom are acquired through truths, nos. 3182, 3190, 3387, 10,064.
That regeneration is accomplished through truths, nos. 1555, 1904, 2046, 2189, 9088, 9959, 10,028.
That power against evils and falsities and against hell is gained through truths, nos. 3091, 4015, 10,488.
That purification from evils and falsities is accomplished through truths, nos. 2799, 5954, 7044, 7918, 10,229, 10,237.
That the church is formed by means of truths, nos. 1798, 1799, 3963, 4468, 4672.
That heaven is formed through truths, nos. 6690, 9832, 9931, 10,303.
That the innocence of wisdom is attained through truths, nos. 3183, 3494, 6013.
That conscience is formed through truths, nos. 1077, 2053, 9113.
That order is achieved through truths, nos. 3316, 3417, 3570, 4104, 5339, 5343, 6028, 10,303.
The beauty of angels is due to truths, and so, too, is the beauty of people as regards their inner qualities which are those of their spirit, nos. 553, 3080, 4985, 5199.
That a person is human as a result of truths, nos. 3175, 3387, 8370, 10,298.
Even so, however, all of these effects are occasioned by truths springing from goodness, and not by truths apart from goodness, goodness that comes from the Lord, nos. 2434, 4070, 4736, 5147.
That all goodness comes from the Lord, nos. 1614, 2016, 2904, 4151, 5147, 9981.
[3] But who gives any thought to this? Is it not a matter of indifference today whether someone knows this or that truth, provided he attends services of worship? Moreover, because few explore the Word in order to learn truths and live by them, people do not know anything about their worship as to whether it is lifeless or living, and yet it is according to the character of his worship that a person is himself dead or alive.
Of what value otherwise are the Word and doctrine drawn from it? Of what value otherwise are observance of the Sabbath and sermons, or theological treatises? Indeed, of what value otherwise are the church and religion?
That all worship in the beginning is natural, and later becomes spiritual through truths from the Word and a life according to them, is something people know. For a person is born natural, but is taught to become civic-minded and moral, and later spiritual, for thus he is reborn.
All of this is symbolically meant, then, by the directive, “Remember therefore how you have received and heard.”
It is evident that to pay heed is to pay attention to those things that are meant by the directive, “Remember therefore how you have received and heard.” And it follows then that to repent is to give life to their lifeless worship through truths from the Word and by a life in accordance with them.
This says that the Lord will come like a thief because a person engaged in a lifeless worship has the outward good of worship taken from him. For lifeless worship has some good in it, inasmuch as the worshipers think about God and eternal life. Still, good without its truths is nevertheless not good, unless it is merit-seeking or hypocritical, and evils and falsities take that away, like a thief. This occurs progressively in the world, and totally after death, and moreover without the person’s knowing when or how.
It is said in attribution to the Lord that He will come like a thief, but in the spiritual sense the meaning is that hell will take something away and rob people of it. The case here is the same as when the Word says that God does evil to a person, lays him waste, takes revenge, becomes wrathful, and leads into trial or temptation, when in fact it is hell that does these things; for it is so stated in accordance with the appearance to mankind.
In Matthew 25:26-30 and Luke 19:24-26 it may be seen that a talent or mina with which a person is to do business is taken from him if does not make a profit by it. To do business and make a profit means, symbolically, to acquire for oneself truths and goods.
[2] Since the taking away of goodness and truth from people engaged in a lifeless worship comes about as though by a thief in the dark, therefore in the Word it is sometimes likened to a thief, as in the following places:
Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked…. (Revelation 16:15)
Watch therefore, for you do not know at what hour your Lord will come. Know this, that if the master of the house had known at what hour the thief would come, he would certainly have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. (Matthew 24:42, 43)
If thieves have come to you, if robbers by night – oh, how you will be cut off! – will they not steal till they have enough? (Obadiah v. 5)
They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; they climb into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief. (Joel 2:9)
They have concocted a lie, and a thief comes, and a mob spreads outside. (Hosea 7:1)
Do not lay up…treasures on earth…, but…in heaven…, where thieves do not come and will not steal. (Matthew 6:19, 20)
A person should watch and not know the hour at which the Lord comes in order that he may think and act as though of himself, thus in freedom in accordance with his reason, and not have fear interject anything. For everyone would be fearful if he were to know. Moreover, whatever a person does of himself in freedom remains to eternity, while what he does out of fear does not remain.
A few names means, symbolically, some who are of such a character as now described, for a name symbolizes someone’s character. That is because everyone in the spiritual world is named in accordance with his character (no. 81). The character of the people described now is that they have life in their worship.
Garments in the Word symbolize truths that clothe good, and in an opposite sense, falsities that clothe evil. For a person embodies either his goodness or his evilness. Truths or falsities are therefore his garments.
Angels and spirits all appear dressed in clothing that reflects the truths of their goodness or the falsities of their evilness – on which subject, see the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, nos. 177-182. It is apparent from this that not defiling their garments symbolizes their possessing truths and not soiling their worship by evil practices and the falsities attendant on these.
[2] It is apparent from the following passages that garments in the Word symbolize truths, and in an opposite sense, falsities:
Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem…. (Isaiah 52:1)
(Jerusalem), I clothed you in embroidered cloth, gave you sandals of badger skin, clothed you with fine linen…, and adorned you with ornaments…. You were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen, silk, and embroidered cloth…, (so that) you became exceedingly beautiful…. But you took some of your garments and made for yourself multicolored high places, so as to play the harlot on them…. You took your embroidered garments…and made for yourself male images with which you played the harlot.* (Ezekiel 16:10-18)
The Jewish Church is described here, as having been given truths, because they had the Word, but that they falsified them. To play the harlot means to falsify (no. 134).
[3] The king’s daughter is all glorious within, (and) her clothing is woven with gold. She shall be brought to the King in embroidered garments. (Psalm 45:13, 14)
The king’s daughter is the church in relation to its affection for truth.
O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet elegantly, and put ornamentation of gold on your apparel. (2 Samuel 1:24)
This is said of Saul because as a king he symbolized Divine truth (no. 20).
…I will visit judgment on the princes and the king’s children, and on all clothed with foreign apparel. (Zephaniah 1:8)
(Your enemies) shall also strip you of your garments, and take away your adornments. (Ezekiel 23:26)
Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing (thus) before the Angel, (who said) “Take away the filthy garments from him (and clothe him with other garments). (Zechariah 3:3-5)
…the king came in and saw the guests, and he saw a man…who did not have on a wedding garment. So he said to him, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?” (Matthew 22:11-13)
A wedding garment is Divine truth from the Word.
[4] Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing…. (Matthew 7:15)
No one puts a piece of cloth from a new garment on an old garment; otherwise the new one tears (the old), and the piece from the new one does not match the old. (Luke 5:36, 37)
Because a garment symbolizes truth, therefore the Lord compares the truths of the previous church, which were external and representative of spiritual ones, to a piece of cloth belonging to an old garment, while comparing the truths of the new church, which were internal and spiritual, to a piece of cloth from a new garment.
…on the thrones…twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments. (Revelation 4:4)
(Those who stood) before the throne…in the presence of the Lamb (were) clothed with white robes…, and they washed their robes and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:9, 13, 14)
…white robes were given to each (of those who were under the altar). (Revelation 6:11)
…the armies (of Him who sat on the white horse) followed Him…, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)
[5] Because angels symbolize Divine truths, therefore angels seen in the Lord’s sepulchre appeared in white and shining garments (Matthew 28:3, Luke 24:4).
Because the Lord is Divine good and Divine truth, and truths are meant by garments, therefore when He was transfigured “His face shone like the sun, and His garments became [as white] as the light” (Matthew 17:2), or “blazing white (Luke 9:29), or “shining white, like snow, such that no launderer on earth can whiten them” (Mark 9:3).
Of the Ancient of Days, which also is the Lord, it is said that “His garment was as white as snow” (Daniel 7:9).
Moreover we find the following, too, said of the Lord:
He has anointed…all your garments with myrrh, aloes and cassia. (Psalm 45:7, 8)
…He washed his clothing in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes. (Genesis 49:11)
Who is this who comes from Edom, having sprinkled his garments from Bozrah? This One honorable in His apparel…? …Why are You red in Your apparel? Your garments as though of one who treads in the winepress…? Their victory is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have polluted all My vesture. (Isaiah 63:1-3)
This also is said of the Lord. His garments there are the Word’s truths.
…He who sat on (the white horse)…was clothed with a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. (Revelation 19:11, 13)
[6] From the symbolic meaning of garments it can be seen why the Lord’s disciples put their garments upon the donkey and its colt when the Lord was ready to enter Jerusalem, and why the people spread their garments on the road (Matthew 21:7-9, Mark 11:7, 8, Luke 19:35, 36). It can be seen, too, what is symbolized by the soldiers’ dividing the Lord’s garments into four parts (John 19:23, 24), thus what is symbolically meant by this verse in the Psalms,
They divided My garments…, and over My vesture they cast lots. (Psalm 22:18)
[7] The symbolism of garments makes it apparent moreover why the people rent their garments whenever someone spoke against the Divine truth of the Word (Isaiah 37:1 and elsewhere). Also why they washed their garments in order to purify themselves (Exodus 19:14, Leviticus 11:25, 40, 14:8, 9, Numbers 19:11-22). And why in consequence of transgressions against Divine truths they took 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).
Someone who knows what garments symbolize in general and in particular can know what the vestments of Aaron and his sons symbolized – the ephod, the robe, the lace tunic, the girdle, the breeches, and the turban.
Since light symbolizes Divine truth, and a garment likewise, therefore we find it said in the Psalms that Jehovah covers Himself “with light as a with garment ” (Psalm 104:2).
* The last two clauses are reversed from the order in which they appear in the original Hebrew.
This is the meaning of these words because to walk in the Word symbolically means to live, and to walk with God symbolically means to live from Him, and because to be in white means, symbolically, to be guided by truths. For the color white in the Word is predicated of truths, because it takes its origin from the light of the sun, while red is predicated of goods, because it takes its origin from the sun’s fire, and blackness is predicated of falsities, because it takes its origin from the darkness of hell.
People who are governed by truths from the Lord, being conjoined with Him, are called worthy, for all worth in the spiritual world comes from conjunction with the Lord.
It is apparent from this that “they shall walk with Me in white, for they are worthy,” means, symbolically, that they will live with the Lord, because they are governed by truths from Him.
We say that they will live with the Lord in His spiritual kingdom because the whole of heaven has been distinguished into two kingdoms – the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom – and in the celestial kingdom live people who are governed by the goodness of love from the Lord, while in the spiritual kingdom live those who are governed by the truths of wisdom from the Lord. The latter are also said to walk with the Lord in white. Moreover, they are dressed in white garments.
[2] That to walk means, symbolically, to live, and to walk with God means to live with Him because it is to live from Him, is clear from the following passages:
He walked with Me in peace and rectitude…. (Malachi 2:6)
You have delivered my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living. (Psalm 56:13)
…David…kept My commandments and…walked after Me with all his heart…. (1 Kings 14:8)
Remember…, O Jehovah…, how I have walked before You in truth…. (Isaiah 38:3)
If you…walk contrary to Me…, and…do 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; cf. Deuteronomy 11:22, 19:9, 26:17)
…all people walk…in the name of (their) god, but we will walk in the name of Jehovah…. (Micah 4:5)
A little while longer the light is with you. Walk while you have the light…. …believe in the light…. (John 12:35, 36; cf. 8:12)
…the scribes asked…, “Why do Your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders…?” (Mark 7:5)
Walking is also said of Jehovah, that He walks among people, which is to say that He lives in them and together with them:
I will make My dwelling among you, and…I will walk among you and be your God…. (Leviticus 26:11, 12)
It is apparent from this what is meant by the statement,
These things says He…who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. (Revelation 2:1)
To be shown that someone who overcomes means, symbolically, someone who is reformed, see no. 88 above. And to be shown that being clothed in white garments means, symbolically, to become spiritual through truths, see nos. 166, 167.
All those people become spiritual who possess truths and live according to them.
We have said before what a name means, and we will say below what the book of life means.
It is plain to everyone that not to have one’s name blotted out from the book of life means to be saved.
It follows from the symbolism of a name, explained in nos. 81 and 122 above, that to confess someone’s name is to acknowledge his character or his being of this or that character. My Father means Divine good, and His angels mean Divine truths, both of which originate from the Lord.
In the Gospels the Lord often mentions His Father, and He everywhere means Jehovah, from whom and in whom exists all else, and who was present in Him. Never did He mean any separate Divinity apart from Him. The reality of this is something we showed many times in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, and also in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence, nos. 262, 263.
To be shown that the Father is the Lord Himself, see nos. 21 and 962 in the present work.
The Lord mentions His Father, because a father symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, goodness, and God the Father symbolizes the Divine goodness of the Divine love. Angels never understand the Father to mean anything other than the Lord when the term is encountered in the Word, nor can they understand it to mean anything else, because no one in heaven knows his father, the one from whom they are said to have been born, and whose children and heirs they are called. This is the meaning of the Lord’s words in Matthew 23:9.*
It is apparent from this that to confess someone’s name before the Father means, symbolically, that he is to be accepted among those who are governed by Divine good from Him.
Angels mean people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly Divine truths themselves, because angels are recipients of Divine good in the Divine truths that they have among them from the Lord.
* “Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven.”
That these are meant by the church in Philadelphia is apparent from the particulars written to it, understood in their spiritual sense.
Clearly it means the Lord. He who is holy, who is true, is the Lord in relation to Divine truth, because the Lord is called holy owing to His Divine truth, and called just or righteous owing to His Divine goodness. It is in consequence of this that His emanating Divinity – which is Divine truth – is called the Holy Spirit; and here the Holy Spirit is He who is holy, who is true.
[2] Holiness is often mentioned in the Word, and it is everywhere predicated of truth; and because all truth that is true in itself originates from goodness and from the Lord, it is that truth that is called holy. In contrast, the goodness from which truth originates is called just or righteous. It is owing to this that angels governed by truths of wisdom, called spiritual angels, are termed holy, while angels governed by the goodness of love, called celestial angels, are termed just or righteous. The same is the case with people in the church.
It is because of this also that prophets and apostles are called saints, or holy, for prophets and apostles symbolize the church’s doctrinal truths.
It is because of this, too, that the Word is called holy, for the Word is Divine truth. That is why the Law in the ark in the Tabernacle was called the most holy place and also the sanctuary.
That, too, is why Jerusalem is called holy, for Jerusalem symbolizes a church which possesses Divine truths.
For the same reason the altar, the Tabernacle, and the garments of Aaron and his sons were called holy after they were anointed with oil; for oil symbolizes the goodness of love, and this sanctifies or makes a thing holy, and everything made holy relates to truth.
[3] From the following passages it is apparent that the Lord alone is holy, because He is Divine truth itself:
Who shall not…O Lord…, glorify Your name? For You alone are holy. (Revelation 15:4)
…your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall He be called. (Isaiah 54:5)
Thus said 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 said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel…. (Isaiah 43:14)
…in that day…they will depend on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. (Isaiah 10:20)
And also elsewhere, as 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, Psalm 78:41.
Since the Lord is holiness itself, therefore the angel said to Mary,
…the holy thing that will be born of you shall be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35)
And regarding Himself the Lord said,
(Father,) sanctify them with the truth. Your word is truth…. …for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified with truth. (John 17:17, 19)
[4] It is apparent from this that the truth that comes from the Lord is holiness itself, because He alone is holy – concerning which the Lord says the following:
When…the Spirit of Truth has come, He will guide you into all truth. …He will not speak on His own…. …He will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:13-15)
The Counselor, the Holy Spirit…, He will teach you all things…. (John 14:26)
To be shown that the Holy Spirit is the life in the Lord’s wisdom, thus Divine truth, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, no. 51.
It can be seen from this that He who is holy, who is true, is the Lord in relation to Divine truth.
That holiness is predicated of truth, and justice or righteousness of goodness, is apparent from passages in the Word where the two are mentioned, as in the following:
He who is just, let him be just still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. (Revelation 22:11)
Just and true are Your ways, O King of saints! (Revelation 15:3)
…to serve Him, in holiness and righteousness. (Luke 1:75)
…Herod feared John, knowing that he was a just and holy man…. (Mark 6:20)
…the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (Revelation 19:8)
David means the Lord in respect to Divine truth. The key symbolizes the Lord’s omnipotence over heaven and hell. And to open so that no one shuts, and to shut so that no one opens, means, symbolically, to lead out of hell and introduce into heaven, thus to save, the same as in no. 62 above, where this was explained.
To be shown that David means the Lord in respect to Divine truth, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 43, 44.
The symbolic meaning of the key here is the same as that of the keys of Peter (Matthew 16:15-19),* as may be seen explained in no. 798 below. The same is also meant by this declaration to all the disciples,
Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 18:18)
For the twelve disciples represented all elements of the church as regards its goods and truths, while Peter represented the church in respect to its truth; and it is truths and goods, thus the Lord from whom they come, that save a person.
The key of David given to Eliakim has also the same meaning, concerning which we read,
I will give your government into his hands, that he may be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah, and I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David, so that he may open and no one shut, and close and no one open. (Isaiah 22:21, 22)
The person referred to as he here was the person over the house of the king, and the house of the king symbolizes the church in respect to Divine truth.
* [Jesus] said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew 16:15-19)
An open door clearly symbolizes an entryway. The door is said to be open for people who belong to the church in Philadelphia because people governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord are meant by that church, and to them the Lord opens heaven.
But on this subject we will say something previously not known: The Lord alone is God of heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18),* and consequently people who do not go to Him directly do not see the way to heaven and therefore do not find the door. If by chance they are permitted to approach it, it is closed, and if someone knocks, it is not opened.
In the spiritual world there are actually paths that lead to heaven, and here and there one finds gates. People who are being led by the Lord to heaven go along paths that lead to it, and they enter through the gates. The existence of paths in that world may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 479, 534, 590, and also gates, nos. 429, 430, 583, 584. For everything seen in the heavens is a correspondent form, and so, too, are paths and gates. Paths, indeed, correspond to truths and consequently symbolize them, and gates correspond to an entryway and so symbolize it.
[2] Since the Lord alone leads a person 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)
And in the same gospel the door,
I am the door of the sheep…. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved…. (John 10:7, 9)
Since both ways and doors exist in the spiritual world, and angelic spirits actually travel along those ways or paths and enter through doors when they enter into heaven, therefore doors and gates are often mentioned in the Word, and they symbolize an entryway, as in the following passages:
Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you doors of the world! That the King of glory may come in. (Psalm 24:7, 9)
Open the gates, that the righteous nation which exercises faithfulness may enter in. (Isaiah 26:2)
(The five wise virgins) went in…to the wedding, and the door was shut. (Then the five foolish virgins came and knocked, but it was not opened.) (Matthew 25:10-12)
(Jesus said,) “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many…will seek to enter and will not be able. (Luke 13:24, 25)
And so also elsewhere.
Because a door symbolizes an entryway, and the New Jerusalem symbolizes a church formed of people who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord, therefore the New Jerusalem is described also in respect to its gates, with angels upon them, and they are said to be not shut (Revelation 21:12, 13, 25).
* And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.” (Matthew 28:18)
More relating to this explanation may be seen in no. 174 above.
People who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord know that of themselves they do not have any power against evils and falsities, thus against hell. Moreover, they also know that they cannot from any power of their own do good or introduce themselves into heaven, but that all power is the Lord’s, and thus that they have it from the Lord, and this to the extent that they are governed by truths springing from goodness, a power that nevertheless appears to them as their own.
This, then, is what is meant by the statement, “For you have little strength.”
The name of Jehovah or of the Lord in the Word symbolizes everything by which He is worshiped, thus everything pertaining to the church’s doctrine, and in the broadest sense, everything pertaining to religion, as may be seen in no. 81 above. It is clear from this what is symbolically meant by the statement here, that “you have not denied My name.”
Jews here mean people who belong to the church, because a church had been established with them, and consequently their Jerusalem still means the church as regards doctrine. More specifically, however, Jews mean people who are impelled by the goodness of love (as described in no. 96 above), thus also the church, for the goodness of love is what produces the church.
That they nevertheless have not embraced any church is what is symbolically meant by the words, “And are not, but lie.”
This is said of those people who are of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie, and they mean people caught up in falsities as regards doctrine, yet not in falsities springing from evil, but in falsities as regards doctrine while impelled by good as to life. These, and not people caught up in falsities springing from evil, accept and acknowledge truths when they hear them. That is because goodness loves truth, and truth in accord with goodness rejects falsity. To accept and acknowledge truths is what is symbolically meant by coming and worshiping at the feet – not at their feet, but at the feet of the Lord, from whom they have truths that accord with good. A similar symbolic meaning as the one here occurs, therefore, in this verse in the Psalms:
Worship Jehovah our God, worship at His footstool. (Psalm 99:5)
This follows in context from the preceding explanations.
The command to persevere means, symbolically, a spiritual battle, called temptation or a trial. This is apparent from the words that follow next, “I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come,” for someone who is tried in the world is not tried after death.
A spiritual battle, which is what temptation or a trial is, is called the Lord’s command to persevere or endure, because in temptations or trials the Lord battles for a person, and He does so by means of truths derived from His Word.
That these words mean the protection and preservation of these people on the day of the Last Judgment may be seen from what we wrote and related concerning the Last Judgment in a small work on that very subject,* and later in a continuation concerning it.** These make clear that people who underwent the Last Judgment were conveyed into a state of temptation or trial and examined to discover their character, and those who were inwardly evil were rejected, while those who were inwardly good were saved. The inwardly good were people governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord.
* The Last Judgment, London, 1758.
** A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World, Amsterdam, 1763.
The Lord said here, “Behold, I am coming quickly,” because the declaration just before this means the Last Judgment, and the Last Judgment is also called the coming of the Lord, as in Matthew,
(The disciples said to Jesus,) “…what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?” (Matthew 24:3)
The end of the age is the final period of the church, at which time the Last Judgment takes place.
This statement, “Behold, I am coming quickly,” also means a new church, because after the Last Judgment the Lord establishes a new church. This church now is the New Jerusalem, into which will come people who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord – the people to whom this announcement is addressed.
A person acquires wisdom from no other source than goodness gained through truths from the Lord. A person acquires wisdom through these truths because they are the means by which the Lord conjoins Himself with the person and the person with Himself, and the Lord is wisdom itself. Wisdom consequently perishes in a person when he stops putting truths into practice, that is, when he stops living in accordance with them. He also then ceases to love wisdom, and accordingly ceases to love the Lord.
By wisdom we mean wisdom in spiritual matters. From this as a wellspring flows wisdom in all else, which we call intelligence, and through this knowledge, which results from an affection for knowing truths.
A crown symbolizes wisdom, because wisdom occupies the highest place in a person and so crowns him. Nor is anything else symbolized by the crown of a king, for a king in the Word’s spiritual sense is Divine truth (no. 20), and from Divine truth comes all wisdom.
[2] Wisdom is symbolically meant by a crown also in the following passages:
…I will make the horn of David grow…, and upon Him His crown shall flourish. (Psalm 132:17, 18)
(Jehovah) put…earrings in your ears, and an ornate crown on your head. (Ezekiel 16:12)
This is said of Jerusalem, which symbolizes the church in respect to doctrine, and therefore the ornate crown is wisdom originating from Divine truth or the Word.
In that day Jehovah of Hosts will be for an ornate crown and a beautiful turban to the remnants of His people. (Isaiah 28:5)
This is said of the Lord, because it says “in that day.” The ornate crown for which He will be is wisdom, and the beautiful turban is intelligence. The remnants of the people are people among whom the church will be.
[3] The crown and turban in Isaiah 62:1, 3 have the same symbolic meaning. So, too, does the plate upon the turban of Aaron in Exodus 28:36, 37, which is also called a miter.
Furthermore, in the following:
Say to the king and his lady, “Lower yourselves, sit down, for the ornament of your head has come down, the crown of your beauty.” (Jeremiah 13:18)
The joy of our heart has ceased…. The crown has fallen from our head. (Lamentations 5:15, 16)
He has stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head. (Job 19:9)
You have profaned [by casting it] to the ground the crown (of Your anointed). (Psalm 89:39)
The crown in these places symbolizes wisdom.
A temple symbolizes the church, and the temple of My God symbolizes the Lord’s church in heaven. It is apparent from this that a pillar symbolizes what sustains and stabilizes the church, and that is the Divine truth in the Word.
In the highest sense, a temple symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, particularly in respect to Divine truth. In a representative sense, however, a temple symbolizes the Lord’s church in heaven, and so also the Lord’s church in the world.
That a temple in the highest sense symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and particularly in respect to Divine truth, is apparent from the following passages:
(Jesus said to the Jews,) “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” …He was speaking 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 its temple. (Revelation 2:19, 21)
Behold…, the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire. (Malachi 3:1)
I will bow myself toward Your holy temple…. (Psalm 138:2)
…I will look again toward Your holy temple…. And my prayer went to You, to Your holy temple. (Jonah 2:4, 7)
Jehovah is in His holy temple. (Habakkuk 2:20)
The holy temple of Jehovah or of the Lord is His Divine humanity, for it is to this that people bow, look to, and pray, and not to the temple merely, as the temple is not, in itself, holy. It is called a holy temple, because holiness is predicated of Divine truth (no. 173).
“The temple that sanctifies the gold” in Matthew 23:16, 17 means nothing else than the Lord’s Divine humanity.
[2] That a temple in a representative sense symbolizes the Lord’s church in heaven, is apparent from the following passages:
(The) voice (of Jehovah) from the temple…! (Isaiah 66:6)
…a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven…. (Revelation 16:17)
The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. (Revelation 11:19)
…the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels…. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God…. (Revelation 15:5, 6, 8)
I called upon Jehovah, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple…. (Psalm 18:6)
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and His skirts filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)
[3] That a temple symbolizes the church in the world is apparent from these passages:
Our holy…temple…has become a conflagration…. (Isaiah 64:11)
I will shake all nations…, that I may fill this house with glory…. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former…. (Haggai 2:7, 9)
The new temple in Ezekiel 40-48 describes a church to be established by the Lord. A church is also meant in Revelation 11:1 by the temple that the angel measured. So likewise elsewhere, as in Isaiah 44:28, Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11, Zechariah 8:9.
…the disciples (of Jesus) came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, “…Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left…upon another, that shall not be demolished.” (Matthew 24:1, 2, cf. Mark 13:1-5, Luke 21:5, 6)
The temple here symbolizes the church today; and its demolition means, symbolically, that not one stone would be left upon another. This symbolizes the end of that church, when not any truth would remain. For when the disciples spoke with the Lord about the temple, the Lord foretold the consecutive states of this church, even to its last one, or the end of the age; and the end of the age means the final period of the church, which is the one that exists today. This was represented by the destruction of that temple to its foundations.
[4] A temple has these three symbolic meanings, namely the Lord, the church in heaven, and the church in the world. Because these three are bound up together, they cannot be separated. Consequently one cannot be meant without the other. Therefore anyone who divorces the church in the world from the church in heaven, or the one or the other from the Lord, is without the truth.
The temple here means the church in heaven, because reference to the church in the world follows after this (no. 194).
To engrave something on someone means, symbolically, to engrave it on him so that it is in him as something his own, and the name of My God symbolizes Divine truth.
Here we must say something about My God’s being Divine truth. In countless places the Word of the Old Testament uses the name Jehovah God, and also the two terms separately, saying sometimes Jehovah, sometimes God; and Jehovah means the Lord in respect to Divine good, while God means the Lord in respect to Divine truth. Or to say the same thing, Jehovah means the Lord in respect to Divine love, and God means the Lord in respect to Divine wisdom. Both terms are used because of the heavenly marriage in every part of the Word, which is a marriage of love and wisdom or a marriage of goodness and truth. Concerning this marriage, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 80-90.
[2] The Word of the New Testament does not use the name Jehovah God, but instead Lord God, for like Jehovah, the term Lord symbolizes Divine good or Divine love.
It can be seen from this that the name of My God symbolizes the Lord’s Divine truth.
A name, when used of the Lord, means everything by which He is worshiped, as may be seen no. 81 above, and everything by which He is worshiped has some relation to Divine good and Divine truth.
Because people do not know the meaning of these words of the Lord, “‘Father, glorify Your name,’ and a voice came from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it and will glorify it again,'”* therefore we will say what they mean. When the Lord was in the world, He made His humanity the embodiment of Divine truth, which is also the Word, and when He departed from the world, He fully united the Divine truth to the Divine good that He had in Him from conception. For the Lord glorified His humanity, or made it Divine, in the same way that He makes a person spiritual. That is, He first instills in a person truths from the Word, and afterward unites these to goodness, and by that union makes the person spiritual.
* John 12:28.
The New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church, and when it is called a city, it symbolizes the New Church in respect to its doctrine. Therefore to “write on him the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem,” means, symbolically, that they will have the doctrine of the New Church engraved on their hearts.
To be shown that Jerusalem symbolizes the church, and that as a city it means the church in respect to its doctrine, see nos. 880, 881, below.
A city symbolizes doctrine because a land, and particularly the land of Canaan, symbolizes a church in its entirety; and the inheritances into which the land of Canaan was divided consequently symbolized various components of the church, and the cities in it doctrines. Because of this, when cities are mentioned in the Word, the angels understand them to mean nothing else. I have also had this attested for me through a good deal of experience.
The case with this is the same as with the symbolic meanings of mountains, hills, valleys, springs, and rivers, all of which symbolize such things as have to do with the church.
[2] That cities symbolize doctrines can be seen to some extent from the following passages:
The land shall be…emptied…, the land shall be turned upside down…, the land shall be profaned…. The empty city shall be broken down…. What is left in the city shall be waste, and the gate shall be stricken even to its destruction. (Isaiah 3-5, 10-12)
The lion has come up from his thicket…, to make your land a wasteland. Your cities will be destroyed…. I beheld…Carmel a wilderness, and all its cities desolate…. …the land shall mourn…. The whole city shall flee…, forsaken…. (Jeremiah 4:7, 26-29)
The land there is the church, and the city is its doctrine. The devastation of the church by doctrinal falsities is described in this way.
The despoiler shall come upon every city, so that no city escapes. The valley also shall perish, and the plain shall be destroyed…. (Jeremiah 48:8)
Likewise:
Behold, I have made you this day as a fortified city…against the whole land…. (Jeremiah 1:18)
This was addressed to the prophet because a prophet symbolizes the doctrine of the church (no. 8).
On that day they will sing…in the land of Judah: “We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.” (Isaiah 26:1, 2)
…the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. (Revelation 16:18, 19)
(The prophet saw) on a very high mountain…the structure of a city to the south…. (And an angel measured the wall, the gates, their chambers, and the vestibule of the gate,) and the name of the city…shall be JEHOVAH IS THERE. (Ezekiel 40:1ff., 48:35)
There is a river whose streams have made glad the city of God? (Psalm 46:4, 5)
I will embroil Egypt with Egypt, so that…city (fights) against city, and kingdom against kingdom. (Isaiah 19:2)
Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city…divided against itself will not stand. (Matthew 12:25)
Cities in these passages mean, in the spiritual sense, doctrines, as is the case also in Isaiah 6:11, 14:4, 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, Psalm 48:1, 8, 107:2, 4, 5, 7, Matthew 5:14, 15, and elsewhere.
[3] From the symbolic meaning of a city it can be seen what cities mean in this parable of the Lord:
A…nobleman (going) into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom…, delivered to (his servants) minas (with which to) do business…. …when he returned…, he (called the) servants…. The first came, saying, “…your mina has earned ten minas,” and he said to him, “…good servant…, you shall have authority over ten cities.” And the second came, saying, “…your mina has earned five minas.” And he said…to him, “You also be over five cities.” (Luke 19:12-19)
Cities here likewise symbolize doctrines or doctrinal truths, and to be over them is to be intelligent and wise. Thus to give power over them is to impart intelligence and wisdom. Ten symbolizes much, and five some. It is apparent that to do business and earn a profit means to acquire intelligence for oneself by making use of one’s abilities.
[4] That the holy city Jerusalem symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church is clearly apparent from its description in chapter 21 of the book of Revelation, for it is described in respect to its dimensions, its gates, and its wall and foundations, and inasmuch as Jerusalem symbolizes the church, these can symbolize nothing other than matters having to do with its doctrine. Neither is the church a church on any other basis.
Because the city Jerusalem means the church in respect to doctrine, it is therefore called the City of Truth (Zechariah 8:3, 4), and in many places a holy city, and this because holiness is predicated of truths derived from the Lord (no. 173).
Since “My God” symbolizes Divine truth (no. 193), it follows, when it is said of the Lord and of the doctrine of the New Church, that coming down out of heaven from My God symbolizes doctrine that will come from the Lord’s Divine truth such as it is in heaven.
To be shown that the Lord’s name symbolizes everything by which He is worshiped, see no. 81 above. Thus it means here worship of the Lord alone, with new elements that did not exist in the prior church.
That worship in the New Church will be worship of the Lord alone is apparent from chapter 21, verses 9 and 10, where this church is called the Lamb’s wife.
That this church will have new elements in it is apparent from chapter 21, verse 5, where we are told, “Behold, I make all things new.”
This is therefore the symbolic meaning of “My new name” which will be engraved on them.
But we need first to say something about these people. There are in the church people who both believe and do not believe – who believe, for example, that there is a God, that the Word is holy, that life is eternal, and many other things connected with the church and its doctrine, and yet who at the same time do not believe them. They believe them when they are in their sense-oriented natural self, and yet do not believe them when they are in their reasoning natural self. Thus they believe them when they are focused on things round about them, and so when engaged in association and conversation with others; but do not believe them when they are focused inward, and so when they are not engaged in association with others, and when their conversation then is with themselves. It is these people of whom it is said that they are neither cold nor hot and will be vomited out.
“Amen” is a Divine confirmation springing from the truth itself, which the Lord is, and so which is from Him, as may be seen in no. 23 above. Moreover, a faithful and true witness, when applied to the Lord, is the Divine truth which originates from Him in the Word (nos. 6, 16).
Whether you say that the Lord testifies of Himself, or that the Word does, the meaning is the same, since the Son of Man, who is the one addressing the churches here, is the Lord in relation to the Word (no. 44).
This declaration is made first to this church, because the subject here is people in the church who base their beliefs both on their own thinking and on the Word, and people who base their beliefs on the Word, form them from the Lord.
That the Word is the beginning of the workmanship of God is something not yet known in the church, because it has not understood these words in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was 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 through Him, but the world did not know Him…. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father…. (John 1:1-14)
Someone who understands these words in respect to their inner meaning, and at the same time compares them with what we wrote in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, as well as with some sections in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, can see that the Word which was in the beginning with God, and which was God, means the underlying Divine truth in the Word that previously existed in this world (as reported in no. 11), and that which is present in the Word that we have today. It does not mean the Word viewed in respect to the words and letters of its languages, but viewed in terms of its essence and life which is inmostly present in the meanings of its words and letters. By this life the Word animates the will’s affections of the person who reads it reverently, and by the light of this life it enlightens the thoughts of his intellect. Therefore we are told in John, “In the Word was life, and the life was the light of men.” (John 1:4) The Word does this because the Word comes from the Lord and has the Lord as its subject and so is the Lord.
All thought, speech, or writing takes its essence and life from the one doing the thinking, speaking, or writing. It has the person in it, along with his character. And the Word has in it the Lord alone.
Still, no one senses or perceives the Divine life in the Word but one who, when reading it, is impelled by a spiritual affection for truth, for through the Word he is conjoined with the Lord. He experiences something inmostly affecting his heart and spirit, which flows with enlightenment into in his intellect and testifies.
[2] The following words in the first chapter of Genesis have a similar symbolic meaning to those in John:
In the beginning God created heaven and earth…. And the spirit of God moved over 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 Divine truth, and also light, the Divine truth being the Word; and therefore in John 1:4, 8, 9 the Lord calls Himself the Word, and also the light.
A similar meaning is found in this declaration in the book of Psalms:
By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth. (Psalm 33:6)
In short, without the Divine truth of the Word, which in its essence is the Divine goodness of the Lord’s Divine love and the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom, no mortal could have life. The Word is the means of the Lord’s conjunction with a person, and of the person with the Lord, and through that conjunction comes life. There must be something from the Lord that a person can receive which makes possible that conjunction and so eternal life.
[3] It can be seen from this that “the beginning of the workmanship of God” means the Word, and if you would believe it, the Word such as it is in the sense of its letter, for this sense embraces the inner, holy levels, as we showed many times in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.
Moreover, wonderful to say, the Word has been so written that it communicates with the whole of heaven, and every particular with some society there, as I have been given to know through personal experience, of which more elsewhere.
That the Word in its essence is such as described is still more apparent from these words of the Lord:
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)
To sometimes deny in oneself the holiness of the Word, and sometimes acknowledge it, is to be neither cold nor hot, for such people are both against the Word and for the Word.
The same people are of a like character also with respect to God. They sometimes deny Him and sometimes acknowledge Him. So likewise with respect to everything else connected with the church. They are accordingly at times with the inhabitants of hell, and at times with the inhabitants of heaven. They fly, as it were, up and down between the two, and they turn their face in the direction they are flying.
Those who become of such a character are people who have affirmed in themselves the existence of God, of heaven and hell, and eternal life, and who afterward have turned away from these. In their case, when the earlier affirmation recurs, they acknowledge, but when it does not recur, they deny.
The reason they turn away is that they afterward think only about themselves and the world, continually seeking to be superior to others, and as a result they immerse themselves in their native selves, so that hell swallows them up.
To be vomited out of My mouth means, symbolically, to be separated from the Lord, and to be separated from the Lord is consequently to be in neither heaven nor hell, but in a place apart, bereft of human life, surrounded by nothing but hallucinations. The reason is that they have mixed truths with falsities, and goods with evils, thus holy things with profane ones, to the point that these cannot be separated in them. And because a person cannot be prepared then to be in either heaven or hell, every bit of his rational life is eradicated, with only the lowest capacities of his life remaining, and when these have been separated from his life’s interior capacities, they are nothing but hallucinations.
For more on the state and lot of such people, see Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence, nos. 226-228, 231, which should suffice to give a concept of them.
They are said to be vomited out because after death everyone comes first into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and is there prepared; and this world corresponds to the stomach, in which everything ingested is prepared, either to become blood and flesh or to become excrement and urine. The first have a correspondence with heaven, the latter with hell. But whatever is vomited out of the stomach is matter not separated, but mixed together.
Because of this correspondence we find vomiting out and vomit mentioned in the following passages:
(Drink and make drunk) that your uncircumcised foreskin may be exposed. The cup…of Jehovah will come around to you, so that a disgraceful vomit is upon your glory. (Habakkuk 2:15, 16)
Make (Moab) drunk…, that (he) may applaud in his vomit…. (Jeremiah 48:26)
…all tables are full of vomit thrown up…. To whom will he teach knowledge? (Isaiah 28:8, 9)
So, too, elsewhere, as in Jeremiah 25:27, Leviticus 18:24, 25, 28.
The reason lukewarm water induces vomiting is owing also to the correspondence.
To be rich and wealthy means, symbolically, nothing else here than to have full knowledge and understanding of such things as have to do with the church and heaven, things which are called spiritual and theological, because they are the subject here. Spiritual riches and wealth are nothing else.
People who base their beliefs on their own thinking, and not on the Lord through the Word, also believe that they know and understand everything. That is because their spiritual mind is closed and only their natural mind open, and without spiritual light the natural mind has no other sight.
That riches and wealth in the Word symbolize spiritual riches and wealth, which are concepts of truth and goodness, is apparent from the following passages:
By your wisdom and your intelligence you have gained riches for yourself…, gold and silver in your treasuries; by the increase of your wisdom…you have increased your riches…. (Ezekiel 28:4, 5)
This is said of Tyre, which symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and good. Similarly:
The daughter of Tyre (the daughter of the king) (will bring you) a gift; the rich among the people will seek to placate your face. (Psalm 45:12)
…(Jehovah) will impoverish (Tyre); He will destroy its wealth in the sea…. (Zechariah 9:4)
They will plunder (O Tyre) your riches…. (Ezekiel 26:12)
(Asshur said,) “By the strength of my hand I have done it, and by my wisdom, for I am intelligent…; (therefore) I…will plunder the treasures of the peoples…. My hand will find…the wealth of the peoples….” (Isaiah 10:13, 14)
Asshur symbolizes the rational faculty – here that it perverts the goods and truths of the church, which are the treasures and wealth of the peoples that it will plunder.
I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places…. (Isaiah 45:3)
Blessed is the man who fears Jehovah…. Wealth and riches will be in his house, and his righteousness endures forever. (Psalm 112:1, 3)
(God) has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich He has sent away empty. (Luke 1:53)
…woe to you who are rich, for you have received your joy. Woe to you who are filled, for you shall hunger. (Luke 6:24, 25)
The rich here mean people who possessed concepts of truth and good because they had the Word, namely the Jews. So, too, the “rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen” (Luke 16:19).
The rich and riches have a similar meaning elsewhere, as in Isaiah 30:6; Jeremiah 17:11; Micah 4:13, 6:12; Zechariah 14:14; Matthew 12:35, 13:44; Luke 12:21.
Misery here symbolizes a lack of coherence; thus to be miserable symbolizes someone who thinks incoherently about matters connected with the church. The reason is that the people who are the subject here at times deny the reality of God, heaven, eternal life, the holiness of the Word, and at other times acknowledge them. Consequently what they build with one hand, they destroy with the other. Thus they are like people who build a house and then tear it down. Or they are like people who dress themselves in beautiful garments and then rend them. Their houses are consequently rubble and their garments in pieces.
Such is the nature of everything these people think regarding heaven and the church, although they are not aware of it.
This is the meaning of misery also in the following passages:
Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, when you said in your heart, “I am, and there is no one else besides me.” …Therefore…misery shall fall upon you…. (Isaiah 47:10, 11)
Misery will come upon misery…. The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with insensibility…. (Ezekiel 7:26, 27)
The king who will mourn and the prince who will be clothed with insensibility are people who are impelled by the truths of the church.
…there is no rectitude in their mouth; in their inward part is misery. (Psalm 5:9)
Walls have a similar symbolic meaning in Jeremiah 49:3, Ezekiel 13:10-13, and Hosea 2:6.
Wretched and poor people mean, in the spiritual sense of the Word, people who lack concepts of truth and good, for they are spiritually wretched and poor. They are also meant by the people in the following passages:
I am wretched and poor, O Lord; be mindful of me. (Psalm 40:18, cf. 70:5)
Incline Your ear, O Jehovah, and answer me, for I am wretched and poor. (Psalm 86:1)
The impious bare the sword and bend their bow, to cast down the wretched and poor…. (Psalm 37:14)
(The impious man) persecuted the wretched and poor man, even to slay the downcast in heart. (Psalm 109:16)
(God) will judge the wretched of the people; He will save the children of the poor…. …He will deliver the poor man when he cries, and the wretched man…. (Psalm 72:4, 12, 13)
Jehovah…delivers the wretched man from one who is too strong for him, and the poor man…from those who plunder him. (Psalm 35:10)
(The impious man) devises wicked plans to destroy the wretched with lying words, even when the poor man speaks justly. (Isaiah 37:7)
The wretched shall have their joy in Jehovah, and the poor of mankind shall exult in the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 29:19)
Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 5:3)
See also elsewhere, as Isaiah 10:2; Jeremiah 22:16; Ezekiel 16:49, 18:12, 22:29; Amos 8:4; Psalm 9:18, 69:32, 33, 74:21, 109:22, 140:12; Deuteronomy 15:11, 24:14; Luke 14:13, 21, 23.
The wretched and poor mean chiefly people who lack concepts of truth and goodness and yet desire them, since the rich mean people who possess concepts of truth and goodness (no. 206).
The blind in the Word mean people who lack truths, either because of a deficiency of truths in the church and thus their ignorance of them, or because of their failure to understand them. And the naked mean people who are consequently without goods, for all spiritual good is attained through truths.
It is just these who are meant by the blind in the following passages:
Then in that day the deaf shall hear the words of the book, and out of darkness…the eyes of the blind shall see. (Isaiah 29:18)
Behold, your God will come…. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened…. (Isaiah 35:4-6)
I will…give You…as a light to the gentiles, to open blind eyes…. (Isaiah 42:6, 7)
I will lead the blind by a way they did not know…. I will turn their darkness into light…. (Isaiah 42:16)
Bring out the blind people who have eyes, and the deaf who have ears. (Isaiah 43:8)
His watchmen are (all) blind…and do not know understanding. (Isaiah 56:10, 11)
He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so that they do not see with their eyes or understand with the heart…. (John 12:40)
Jesus said, “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind. (John 9:39-41)
(Blind guides, stupid and foolish.) (Matthew 23:16, 17, 19, 24)
…blind leaders of the blind. (Matthew 15:14, cf. Luke 6:39)
Because of the symbolism of a blind man and blindness, it was forbidden for someone blind to make a sacrifice, or for someone to offer anything blind as a sacrifice (Leviticus 21:18, Deuteronomy 15:21). They were not to put a stumblingblock before the blind (Leviticus 19:14). Cursed would be anyone who caused the blind to go astray (Deuteronomy 27:18).
For the symbolism of the naked and nakedness, see no. 213 below.
That is because to buy means, symbolically, to acquire for oneself. “From Me” symbolically means, from the Lord by means of the Word. Gold symbolizes goodness, and gold refined in the fire, the goodness of celestial love. And to be enriched means, symbolically, to understand and become wise.
Gold symbolizes goodness because metals in their hierarchy symbolize qualities connected with goodness and truth. Gold symbolizes celestial and spiritual goodness; silver, the truth accompanying those good qualities; bronze, natural goodness; and iron, natural truth.
These are the symbolic meanings of the metals of which Nebuchadnezzar’s statue consisted, the head of which was gold, the breast and arms silver, the belly and thighs bronze, the legs iron, and the feet partly iron and partly clay (Daniel 2:32, 33). These metals represented the successive states of the church in respect to the goodness of its love and the truth of its wisdom.
Because the states of the church followed in succession in this way, the ancients therefore gave the ages these same names, calling them the golden age, the silver age, the bronze age, and the iron age. And by the golden age they meant the first period, when the goodness of celestial love reigned. Celestial love is love toward the Lord received from the Lord. From this love they then had their wisdom.
To be shown that gold symbolizes the goodness of love, see no. 913 below.
To be shown that garments symbolize the truths clothing goodness, see no. 166 above, and that white is predicated of truths, no. 167. White garments, therefore, symbolize genuine truths of wisdom, and this because gold refined in fire symbolizes the goodness of celestial love, the truths accompanying this love being genuine truths of wisdom.
No one can know the symbolic meaning of the shame of nakedness unless he knows that the reproductive organs in both sexes, called also the genitalia, correspond to celestial love.
To be shown that the human body and all its constituents have a correspondence with the heavens, see the book Heaven and Hell, published in London in 1758, nos. 87-102. And to be shown that the reproductive organs correspond to celestial love, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), also published in London, nos. 5050-5062.
Now because these organs correspond to celestial love, which is the love found in the third or inmost heaven, and because a person is born of his parents into loves contrary to that love, it is apparent that if he does not acquire for himself the goodness of love and the truth of wisdom from the Lord, which are symbolically meant by gold refined in fire and white garments, he will be seen to be impelled by a contrary love, which in itself is profane.
[2] This latter circumstance is symbolically meant by uncovering nakedness and manifesting the shame of it, in the following places:
Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and his private parts be seen. (Revelation 16:15)
…daughter of Babylon (and of the Chaldeans), sit on the ground…. Uncover your hair…, uncover the thigh, pass through the rivers. Let your nakedness be uncovered; yes, let your shame be seen. (Isaiah 47:1-3)
Woe to the bloody city! …Because of the multitude of (her) harlotries…I will uncover your skirts in front of you, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your disgrace. (Nahum 3:1, 4, 5)
Contend with your mother…lest I strip her naked…. (Hosea 2:2-4)
When I passed by you…I covered your nakedness…. Then I washed you…and…I clothed you…. But you…played the harlot…not remembering your youth, when you were naked and bare…. (Therefore) your nakedness was uncovered…. (Ezekiel 16:6ff.)
Jerusalem has sinned gravely; therefore…all…despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. (Lamentations 1:8)
Jerusalem, of which these things were said, means the church; and to play the harlot means, symbolically, to adulterate and falsify the Word (no. 134).
Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink…, making him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness! …Drink, you too, that your uncircumcised foreskin may be exposed! (Habakkuk 2:15, 16)
[3] Someone who knows what nakedness symbolizes can understand what is symbolically meant by the statement that when Noah was drunk from drinking wine he lay uncovered inside his tent, and Ham saw and laughed at his nakedness, but Shem and Japheth covered his nakedness, turning their faces away so as not to see it (Genesis 9:21-23). He can understand also why it was decreed that Aaron and his sons should not go up by steps to the altar, that their nakedness might not be exposed (Exodus 20:26). And so, too, why it was decreed that they should make for them linen trousers to cover their naked flesh, that they should have these on when they came near the altar, and that otherwise they would bear their iniquity and die (Exodus 28:42, 43).
Nakedness in these places symbolizes the evils into which a person is born, which, because they are contrary to the goodness of celestial love, are in themselves profane and are removed only by truths and by living in accordance with those truths. Linen also symbolizes truth (no. 671).
[4] Nakedness in addition symbolizes innocence, and also ignorance of goodness and truth. Innocence is symbolized by the statement, “they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they had no cause for shame” (Genesis 2:25). Ignorance of goodness and truth is symbolized by the following:
…this…fast that I choose: …to break bread with the hungry…, and…when you see the naked man, to cover him. (Isaiah 58:6, 7)
He gives his bread to the hungry man, and covers the naked one with clothing. (Ezekiel 18:7)
…I was hungry and you gave Me food…; I was naked and you clothed Me. (Matthew 25:35, 36)
Eyes symbolize the intellect, and the sight of the eyes intelligence and wisdom, as may be seen in no. 48. And since eye salve symbolizes medicine for it, it follows that to anoint the eyes with eye salve means, symbolically, to heal the intellect, so that it may see truths and become wise. Otherwise the genuine truths of the Word are profaned and adulterated.
It is apparent that this is what this statement means, for it says, “as many as I love,” which means those people who “buy from the Lord gold refined in the fire” and who “anoint their eyes with eye salve, that they may see.” It says “I rebuke and chasten them,” which means temptation or trial as regards falsities and evils – to rebuke meaning temptation or trial as regards falsities, and to chasten, temptation or trial as regards evils.
The people who are the subject here have to be introduced into temptations or trials, since without these, denials of Divine truths and arguments against them cannot be rooted out.
Temptations or trials are spiritual battles against the falsities and evils in oneself, thus battles against oneself.
The origin of temptations or trials, furthermore, and what good they do, may be seen in the book The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, published in London in 1758, nos. 187-201.
The text here says, “Be zealous,” because it said in verse 15 above, “Would that you were cold or hot,” and the meaning here is for the angel to be hot; for zeal is a spiritual heat, and spiritual heat is an affection of love, here the affection of a love of truth. Moreover, someone who acts from an affection of the love of truth acts also from an aversion to falsity. Consequently this is the symbolic meaning of the command to repent.
In the Word, when zeal or jealousness is applied to the Lord, it symbolizes both love and anger – love in John 2:17, Psalm 69:9, Isaiah 37:32, 63:15, Ezekiel 39:25, Zechariah 1:14, 8:2, anger in Deuteronomy 32:16, 21, Psalm 79:5, 6, Ezekiel 8:3, 5, 16:42, 23:25, Zephaniah 1:18, 3:8.
In the Lord’s case, however, zeal or jealousness is not anger. It only seems as though it were in outward appearances. Inwardly it is love. It seems in outward appearances as though it were anger because the Lord appears to be angry when He admonishes a person, especially when the person is being punished by his evil, which love permits in order that his evil may be removed. The case is entirely like that of a parent. If he loves his children, he allows them to be chastised in order to remove their evils.
It is apparent from this why Jehovah declares Himself to be a jealous God (Deuteronomy 4:24, 5:9, 10, 6:14, 15).
Similar to this is the Lord’s statement in Luke,
You yourselves (must) be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately. (Luke 12:36)
That a door symbolizes admittance and an entryway may be seen in no. 176 above.
To hear His voice is to believe the Word, for the Word’s Divine truth is the voice of Jehovah (nos. 37, 50). And to open the door is to live according to the Word, since one opens the door and receives the Lord not only by hearing His voice, but by living according to it. For the Lord says,
He who has My commandments and keeps them…, I will…manifest Myself to him…, and (I) will come to him and make (My) abode with him. (John 14:21-24)
In The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem we showed that a person ought to open the door as though on his own, by refraining from evils as sins and doing good acts; and that this is the case is apparent from the Lord’s words in the present verse, “If anyone…opens the door,” as well as from His words in Luke 12:36.*
* Quoted in no. 217 above.
To come in and dine with him means, symbolically, to conjoin Himself with him; and because reciprocity is necessary for conjunction to take place, the statement says also, “and he with Me.”
That to come in and dine means, symbolically, to be conjoined is apparent from the Holy Supper instituted by the Lord, which brings about the Lord’s presence in the case of people who hear His voice, that is to say, who believe the Word, but which brings about conjunction in the case of people who live according to the Word. To live according to the Word is to repent and believe in the Lord.
Dining and the Lord’s supper are mentioned because a supper takes place in the evening, and evening symbolizes the final period of the church. Consequently when the Lord departed from the world, at the time of the last period of the church, He dined with His disciples and instituted the sacrament of the Holy Supper.
To be shown that evening symbolizes the final period of the old church, and morning the initial period of a new church, see no. 151 above.
To be shown that the Lord’s throne is heaven, see no. 14 above. Consequently to sit with the Lord on His throne symbolizes a conjunction with Him in heaven.
That the Father and the Lord are one is something we showed fully in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord. And elsewhere we have shown that heaven is not heaven in consequence of the angels’ own qualities, but owing to the Lord’s Divinity that is present in the angels and among them. Therefore the statement, “as I sit with My Father on His throne,” symbolically means, as He and the Father are one and constitute heaven. The throne is heaven (nos. 14, 221).
“As I also overcame” means, symbolically, that through the temptations or trials that His human nature suffered, and through the last of them which was His suffering of the cross, as well as by His fulfilling all things of the Word, the Lord overcame the hells and glorified His humanity, which is to say that He united it to His Divinity that He had within Him from conception, which is called Jehovah, the Father. (Concerning this, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 8-11, 12-14, 29-36, and also no. 67 above.)
[2] The Lord says, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sit with My Father on His throne,” and He says this because the Lord’s union with the Father, that is to say, with His Divinity within Him, had as a goal to make it possible for a person to be conjoined with the Divinity in the Lord called the Father. That is because it is impossible for a person to be conjoined with the Divinity of the Father directly, but is possible indirectly through His Divine humanity, which is Divinely natural. Therefore the Lord says,
No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has exhibited Him. (John 1:18)
And in another place,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)
The Lord’s conjunction with a person takes place through His Divine truth, and this truth is the Lord’s in the person, thus the Lord, and is not at all the person’s, thus is not the person. The person indeed feels it to be his own, and yet it is not his, for it does not become one with him, but is only an adjunct to him. It is otherwise with the Divinity of the Father. This is not an adjunct to the Lord’s humanity but united with it, as the soul is with its body.
Whoever understands this can understand the following declarations by the Lord:
He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4, 5)
On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)
And this:
Sanctify them in Your truth. Your word is truth…. For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth…, that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us…, I in them, and You in Me. (John 17:17, 19, 21, 23)
———-
I saw a gathering of spirits, all upon their knees, praying to God to send them angels they could speak with face to face and to whom they could disclose the thoughts of their heart.
Then when they arose, three angels appeared in white linen standing before them, and the angels said, “The Lord Jesus Christ has heard your prayers, and has therefore sent us to you. Disclose to us the thoughts of your heart.”
[2] The spirits then replied, “Priest have told us that in theological matters it is not the intellect but faith that accomplishes anything, and that in such matters an intellectual faith is of no help to anyone, because it takes it origin from man.
“We are English, and we have heard many things from our sacred ministry which we believed. However, when we spoke with some other people who call themselves Reformed, and with some who call themselves Roman Catholics, and moreover with some Nonconformists, they all seemed to us learned, and yet in many matters not one of them agreed with another. But nevertheless they all said, ‘Believe us.’ And some said, ‘We are God’s ministers and we know.’
“Still we knew that the Divine truths that are called truths of faith and are the church’s truths are no one’s heritage by birth alone, or by heredity, but that they descend out of heaven from God. And because these show the way to heaven, and enter into one’s life together with the good of charity and so lead to eternal life, we became anxious and prayed on our knees to God.”
[3] At that the angels replied, “Read the Word and believe in the Lord, and you will see the truths that must be those of your faith and life. All in the Christian world draw their doctrinal teachings from the Word as from a single font.”
[4] But two of the gathering of spirits said, “We have read it, but have not understood.”
The angels replied, “You have not turned to the Lord, and you have also confirmed yourselves in falsities.”
The angels also said further, “What is faith without light? And what is thinking without understanding? It isn’t human. Ravens too and magpies can learn to speak without understanding. We can assure you that everyone whose soul longs for it can see the truths of the Word in a state of light. There is no animal that does not know the right food for its life when it sees it, and the human being is a rational and spiritual animal. If he hungers for it and seeks it from the Lord, the human being sees for his life not food for his body but food for his soul, which is the truth of faith. Moreover, whatever he does not receive with his intellect, also does not stick in his memory as a concept, but only as words. Consequently when we have looked down from heaven into the world, we have not seen anything, but have only heard sounds, mostly lacking in any harmony.
[5] “But we will list some truths that the learned of the clergy have banished from the intellect, not knowing that there are two paths to the intellect, one from the world and the other from heaven, and not knowing that the Lord raises the intellect from the world when He enlightens it. However, if the intellect is closed by religion, the path to it from heaven is closed, and a person then sees no more in the Word than a blind man sees. We have seen many of this sort fall into pits, from which they have not risen.
“Let examples serve to illustrate. You can understand what charity and faith are, can you not? That charity is to comport oneself well with the neighbor, and that faith is to think rightly about God and the essential constituents of the church? And therefore that anyone who behaves well and thinks rightly, that is, who lives rightly and believes rightly, is saved?”
In response to this the spirits said that they understood.
[6] The angels went on, “You understand, do you not, that to be saved a person must repent of his sins, and that unless a person repents, he remains caught up in the sins into which he was born? Moreover, that to repent means not to will evils because they are sins against God, and once or twice a year to examine oneself, see one’s evils, confess them before the Lord, implore His aid, desist from them, and embark upon a new life? And that to the extent a person does this and believes in the Lord, his sins are forgiven?”
Then some of the gathering of spirits said, “This we understand, and so also what the forgiveness of sins is.”
[7] At that the spirits then asked the angels to tell them something more, and specifically this time about God, the immortality of the soul, regeneration, and baptism.
To this the angels replied, “We shall say nothing but what you can understand. Otherwise what we say will fall like rain on sand, and however much they may be watered from heaven, any seeds there will still dry up and die.”
Regarding God then they said, “People who enter heaven are all allotted a place there and accordingly come into eternal joy in accord with their idea of God, because this idea reigns universally throughout all aspects of worship.
“An idea of God as invisible is not focused on anyone, and so has no focus in anyone. Consequently it passes away and dies.
“An idea of God as a spirit, when one believes a spirit to be like the ether or a puff of wind, is an idea empty of content.
“But an idea of God as a man is a proper idea. For God is Divine love and wisdom, with every property of these, and their containing vessel is man, not ether or a puff of wind.
“The idea of God found in heaven is an idea of the Lord. He is God of heaven and earth, as He Himself taught. Let your idea of God be like ours, and we will be comrades.”
When the angels said this, their faces shone.
[8] Regarding the immortality of the soul the angels said, “A person lives to eternity because through love and faith he can be conjoined with God. This is possible for everyone. You can understand that the immortality of the soul results from this possibility if you think about it a little more deeply.”
[9] Regarding regeneration they said, “Who does not see that everyone has the freedom to think about God or not to think about Him, provided he has been taught that God exists. Thus everyone has just as much freedom in spiritual matters as he does in civil and moral matters. The Lord gives this freedom to all people continually. Consequently it is his fault if he does not think about God. A person is human because of this ability [to think about God], while an animal is an animal because it lacks the ability. Therefore a person can reform and regenerate himself as though of himself, provided he acknowledges at heart that the ability comes from the Lord. Everyone who repents and believes in the Lord is reformed and regenerated. A person must do both as though of himself, but the “as though of himself” comes from the Lord.
“It is true that a person can contribute nothing to this end – nothing at all – but still you were not created sculpted forms, but were created human beings, in order that you might accomplish this from the Lord as though of yourselves. This reciprocation of love and faith is the one thing that the Lord above all wishes a person to do for Him.
“In a word, do it of yourselves, but believe that you do it from the Lord, thus doing it as though of yourselves.”
[10] The spirits, however, then asked the angels whether doing things as though of oneself was not something with which a person was endowed from creation.
One of the angels replied, “It is not something with which a person is endowed, because to do something of oneself is God’s alone, but He grants the ability to a person continually, that is to say, He attaches it to a person continually; and then to the extent that a person does good and believes truth as though of himself, he is an angel of heaven. But to the extent that he does evil and so believes falsity, which he does also as though of himself, he is to that extent an angel of hell. You are surprised to be told that he does this also as though of himself, but yet you see it when you pray to be protected from the devil, that he not lead you astray, lest he enter into you as he entered into Judas, fill you with all iniquity, and destroy both soul and body.*
“Still, everyone makes himself responsible for an action if he believes that he does it of himself, be it good or evil, but does not make himself responsible for it if he believes that he does it as though of himself.”
[11] Regarding baptism the angels said that it was a spiritual washing, which is reformation and regeneration, and that a little child is reformed and regenerated when he becomes an adult and does the things that his sponsors promised for him, of which there are two, namely, repentance and faith in God. For his sponsors promise first that he will renounce the devil and all his works, and second that he will believe in God. All little children in heaven are initiated into these two, though for them the devil is hell and God is the Lord.
“Moreover, baptism is a sign to angels that a person belongs to the church.”
[12] Having heard this, some of the gathering of spirits said, “We understand it.” But a voice from the side was heard crying, “We don’t understand it.” And another voice, “We don’t want to understand it.”
The spirits then inquired into whose voices they were, and they found that they belonged to people who had confirmed themselves in the falsities of their faith, and who wished to be credited as oracles so as to be revered.
The angels said, “Do not be astonished. Such is the character of very many people today. From heaven they look to us like sculpted forms, so skillfully made that they can move their lips and make organism-like sounds, but they do not know whether the breath they use to make sounds comes from hell or from heaven, because they do not know whether anything is false or true. They reason and reason, and defend and defend, but they do not see whether anything is so.
“You should know, however, that human ingenuity can defend whatever it wishes, even to the point that it appears to be the case. Heretics, therefore, can do this. So can the impious. Atheists indeed can make it appear that there is no God, but only nature.”
[13] After this the gathering of English spirits, burning with a desire to become wise, said to the angels, “People say such different things about the Holy Supper. Tell us what the truth is.”
The angels said, “The truth is that anyone who turns to the Lord and repents is, by that most holy act, conjoined with the Lord and introduced into heaven.”
But some of that gathering said, “This is a mystery.”
To which the angels replied, “It is a mystery, but yet of the sort that one can understand.
“The bread and wine do not create the conjunction. There is no holiness in them. But material bread and heavenly bread correspond to each other, and so do material wine and heavenly wine. Heavenly bread is the holiness in love, and heavenly wine is the holiness in faith, both originating from the Lord, and both being the Lord. This occasions a conjunction of the Lord with man and of man with the Lord – a conjunction not with the bread and wine but with the love and faith of a person who has repented – and conjunction with the Lord is also an introduction into heaven.”
Then, after the angels taught them something about correspondence and its effect, some of the gathering said, “Now for the first time we understand.”
And when they said, “We understand,” suddenly something flame-like descending with its light from heaven affiliated the spirits with the angels, and they loved each other.
* A reference to the prayer recited before Anglican celebrations of Holy Communion, the English text of which is quoted in The Doctrine of Life, no. 5, which concludes, “Therefore if any of you be a blasphemer of God, or hinderer or slanderer of His word, or adulterer, or be in malice or envy, or in any other grievous crime, repent you of your sins, or else come not to the Holy Table; lest after the taking of that Holy Sacrament the Devil enter into you, as he entered into Judas, and fill you with all iniquities, and bring you to destruction both of body and soul.”
1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice that I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
2 Immediately I was in the spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sitting on the throne. 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. 5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. 6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. 7 The first living creature was like a lion, the second living creature like a calf, the third living creature had a face like a human being, and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle. 8 The four living creatures, each individually having six wings about it, were full of eyes within. And they did not rest day or night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” 9 And when the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks to Him who sat on the throne, who lives forever and ever, 10 the twenty-four elders fell down before Him who sat on the throne and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, 11 “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
This chapter describes the organization and preparation of everything in heaven for the judgment that would be based on the Word and take place in accordance with it. Also, an acknowledgment that the Lord is the sole judge.
The Contents of the Individual Verses
1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven.
A manifestation of the organization of the heavens for a last judgment by the Lord, to take place in accordance with His Divine truths in the Word.
And the first voice that I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, “Come up here,
A Divine influx, resulting in an elevation of the mind and consequent clear perception.
“and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
Revelations regarding events to come before the Last Judgment, during it, and after it.
2 Immediately I was in the spirit;
John’s conveyance into a spiritual state, in which the things that occur in heaven clearly appear.
and behold, a throne set in heaven,
The Judgment in a representative image.
and One sitting on the throne.
The Lord.
3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance;
An appearance of the Lord’s Divine wisdom and love in outmost expressions.
and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald.
An appearance of them also around the Lord.
4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting,
The organization of everything in heaven for judgment,
clothed in white robes;
a judgment based on the Divine truths of the Word,
and they had crowns of gold on their heads.
which are truths of wisdom springing from love.
5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices.
Enlightenment, perception, and instruction from the Lord.
And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
A resulting new church in heaven and on earth, established by the Lord through the Divine truth emanating from Him.
6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal.
A new heaven formed of Christians.
And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures
The Word of the Lord from the firsts of it in its lasts, and its protections.
full of eyes in front and in back.
The Divine wisdom in it.
7 The first living creature was like a lion,
The Divine truth of the Word in respect to its power.
the second living creature like a calf,
The Divine truth of the Word in respect to its affection.
the third living creature had a face like a human being,
The Divine truth of the Word in respect to its wisdom.
and the fourth living creature was like a flying eagle.
The Divine truth of the Word in respect to its concepts and the understanding they afford.
8 The four living creatures, each individually having six wings about it,
The Word in respect to its powers and protections.
were full of eyes within.
The Divine wisdom in the Word in its natural sense, springing from its spiritual and celestial meanings.
And they did not rest day or night, saying, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,
The Word teaches the Lord continually, that He alone is God, and that therefore He alone is to be worshiped.
“who was and is and is to come!”
The Lord.
9 And when the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks to Him who sat on the throne,
The Word ascribes all truth and good and all worship to the Lord, who is about to judge.
who lives forever and ever,
The Lord alone is life, and from Him alone springs eternal life.
10 the twenty-four elders fell down before Him who sat on the throne and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever,
The humility of all in heaven before the Lord.
and cast their crowns before the throne,
Their acknowledgment that their wisdom comes from Him alone.
saying, 11 “You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honor and power;
Their confession that, being Divine truth and good, the Lord possesses the kingdom by His merit and righteousness;
“for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created.”
that everything in heaven and the church has been created and formed out of the Lord’s Divine love by His Divine wisdom, or out of Divine good by Divine truth, which is also the Word, and that so likewise are people reformed and reborn.
THE EXPOSITION
After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. This symbolizes a manifestation of the organization of the heavens for a last judgment by the Lord, to take place in accordance with His Divine truths in the Word. (4:1)
When said of heaven, an open door symbolizes an entryway, as in no. 176 above. Here it symbolizes also a manifestation, because John says, “I looked, and behold….” And because he saw then the things related in this chapter, which have to do with the organization of the heavens for a last judgment by the Lord, to take place in accordance with His Divine truths in the Word, therefore the statement, “I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven,” symbolizes a manifestation of those things.
When a voice is heard from heaven, it means Divine truth flowing in (see nos. 37, 50 above), thus a Divine influx. And a voice like a trumpet symbolizes a clear perception (see again no. 37 above). “Come up here,” moreover, symbolizes an elevation of the mind, for in the spiritual world, the higher one ascends, the purer the light that he comes into, by which the intellect is progressively opened or the mind elevated. Consequently the statement also follows that John was then in the spirit, meaning that he was conveyed into a spiritual state, in which the things found in heaven clearly appear.
The voice sounded like a trumpet because the subject is the organization of the heavens for a last judgment. Moreover voices like trumpets are heard in heaven when assemblies and organizations are taking place. Consequently in the case of the children of Israel also, with whom everything was representative of heaven and the church, it was a statute that they make trumpets of silver, and that the sons of Aaron sound them to assemble the congregation; to decamp; on days of celebration; at festivals; at the beginnings of months; upon the offering of sacrifices; as a memorial; and to go to war (Numbers 10:1-10).
But we shall speak of trumpets and the sounding of them in our exposition of chapter 8, where the subject is the seven angels who were given seven trumpets.
These are symbolically meant, because the book of Revelation has as its only subject the state of the church at its end, thus the events to come before the Last Judgment, and during it, and after it, as said in no. 2 above.
It may be seen in no. 36 above that to be in the spirit is to be conveyed into a spiritual state by a Divine influx. It may be seen there also what a spiritual state is, the nature of it, and the fact that a person in that state sees the phenomena in the spiritual world as clearly as he sees the phenomena in this world when in the natural state of the body.
It may be seen in no. 14 that a throne symbolizes heaven. That a throne also symbolizes judgment is apparent from the following passages:
When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. (Matthew 25:31ff.)
The subject there is the Last Judgment.
…You [Jehovah] have executed my judgment…; You sat on the throne as a righteous judge…. Jehovah…will prepare His throne for judgment. (Psalm 9:4, 5, 7)
I watched (when)…the Ancient of Days was seated…, His throne (like) a fiery flame…. A thousand thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. He sat in judgment, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9, 10)
Jerusalem is built…; to it the tribes go up…. …thrones are set there for judgment…. (Psalm 122:3-5)
I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was turned over to them. (Revelation 20:4)
The throne that Solomon made, as described in 1 Kings 10:18-20, symbolized both royal authority and judgment, since kings sat upon thrones when they pronounced judgments.
We say that the throne symbolizes the Judgment in a representative image, because the things that John saw were representative visions. He saw them as he described them, but they were images representative of future events, as can be seen from the descriptions that follow, such as his seeing living creatures, a dragon, beasts, a temple, a tabernacle, an ark, and many other things.
Similar images were seen by the prophets, as noted in no. 36 above.
In the Word a stone symbolizes truth in outmost expressions, and a precious stone symbolizes truth made translucent by the presence of good (no. 915).
Two colors are fundamental to all the rest in the spiritual world: the color white and the color red. The color white takes its origin from the light of the sun in heaven, thus from spiritual light, which is bright white; and the color red takes its origin from the fire of the sun there, thus from celestial light, which is flaming.
Because spiritual angels are governed by truths of wisdom from the Lord, they live in that bright white light, and are therefore attired in white; and because celestial angels are governed by goods of love from the Lord, they live in that flaming light, and are therefore attired in red. These two colors are consequently found in precious stones in heaven, where they exist in great abundance.
It is owing to this that in the Word precious stones symbolize qualities connected with either the truth of wisdom or the goodness of love; and because jasper is bright white, it symbolizes qualities connected with the truth of wisdom, while because sardius is red, it symbolizes qualities connected with the goodness of love.
These stones symbolize an appearance of Divine wisdom and Divine love in outmost expressions because all precious stones in heaven draw their origin from the outmost constituents of the Word, and they owe their translucence to the spiritual meaning of the outmost expressions in it. The reality of this may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 44, 45. The outmost expressions of the Word are the truths and goods in its literal sense.
Someone in our world can hardly believe that this is the origin of precious stones in heaven, because he does not know that everything found in the spiritual world is a correspondent form, and that everything found in the natural world takes its spiritual origin from those forms. From conversation with angels I have been given to know that this is the origin of precious stones in heaven, and also to see that it is the origin with my own eyes. It is the Lord alone, however, who causes their formation.
In contrast, dark colors take their origin from hell, of which there are also two. One is the opposite of white, the kind of darkness that exists with people who have falsified the truths of the Word. The other is the opposite of red, the kind of darkness that exists with those who have adulterated the goods of the Word. The first kind of darkness is satanic, the latter diabolical.
Regarding what jasper and sardius symbolize, more may be seen in the exposition of chapter 21, verses 11, 18-20.
Rainbows of many kinds are seen in the spiritual world. They are seen as having several different colors as on earth, and they are seen as having just one color. The rainbow here was of one color, because it is said to have been like an emerald. This phenomenon was seen around the Lord because it is said to have been around the throne. To be around Him means also to be in the angelic heaven.
The Divine atmosphere which surrounds the Lord emanates from both His Divine love and Divine wisdom together, and when that atmosphere is represented in the heavens, it appears in the celestial kingdom red like a ruby, in the spiritual kingdom blue like lapis lazuli, and in the natural kingdom green like an emerald – everywhere with an indescribable splendor and radiance.
Someone unacquainted with the spiritual meaning of the Word and at the same time the genuine truths of the church may believe that when the time of the Last Judgment comes, the Lord will sit upon a throne, and will be surrounded by other judges, also on thrones. But someone who is acquainted with the Word’s spiritual meaning and at the same time the church’s genuine truths knows that the Lord will not then sit upon a throne, nor be surrounded by other judges – indeed, that neither will the Lord judge anyone to hell, but that He will occasion the Word to judge everyone, under His oversight to ensure that everything proceeds in accordance with justice. The Lord in fact says,
…the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son…. …He has given Him authority to execute judgment, because He is the Son of Man. (John 5:22, 27)
[2] But elsewhere He says,
I did not come to judge the world but to save the world…. The Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. (John 12:47, 48)
These two statements are in harmony when one knows that the Son of Man is the Lord in relation to the Word (see no. 44 above). Consequently it is the Word that will judge, under the Lord’s oversight.
To be shown that the twelve tribes of Israel and their elders symbolize all people who are part of the Lord’s church in heaven and on earth, and in an abstract sense all the truths and goods in it, see nos. 251, 349, 369, 808. That the like is meant by apostles, nos. 79, 790, 903.
It is apparent from this what the symbolic meaning is of these words of the Lord:
Jesus said to (His disciples), “…when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28, cf. Luke 22:30)
The number twelve symbolizes all, and it is predicated of the truths and goods of heaven and the church (no. 348). So, too, the number twenty-four. Therefore the twelve apostles and the twenty-four elders symbolize all the constituents of the church, and the twelve disciples, as also the twenty-four thrones, symbolize all judgment. Who cannot understand that the apostles and elders are not going to judge, and are unable to do so?
From this it can now be seen why thrones and elders are mentioned where the subject is judgment, as also in Isaiah:
Jehovah will enter into judgment with the elders of His people…. (Isaiah 3:14)
In the book of Psalms:
Jerusalem is built…(and) to it the tribes go up…. …thrones are set there for judgment…. (Psalm 122:3-5)
And in the book of Revelation:
I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was turned over to them. (Revelation 20:4)
To be shown that white garments symbolize the genuine truths of the Word, see nos. 166, 212 above.
To be shown that a crown symbolizes wisdom, see no. 189 above, and that gold symbolizes the goodness of love, nos. 211, 913. Therefore a crown of gold symbolizes wisdom springing from love.
From that wisdom flow all the constituents of heaven and the church, constituents which are symbolized by the twenty-four elders (no. 233), and therefore crowns of gold were seen on their heads.
It should be known that the spiritual sense is abstracted from persons, as said in nos. 78, 79, 96 above. So also here.
Because of the flash of light that strikes the eyes, lightnings symbolize enlightenment, and because of the crash that strikes the ears, thunderings symbolize perception. And since these two together symbolize enlightenment and perception, voices then symbolize instruction.
These phenomena were seen to proceed from the throne because they emanated from the Son of Man or from the Lord in relation to the Word, and all enlightenment, perception and instruction comes from the Lord by means of the Word.
Lightnings, thunderings and voices have similar symbolic meanings elsewhere in the Word, as in the following places:
You have with Your arm redeemed Your people…; the skies sent out a voice…. The voice of Your thunder was into the world; the lightnings lit up the world…. (Psalm 77:15, 17, 18)
(Jehovah’s) lightnings light the world…. (Psalm 97:4)
In distress you called, and I rescued you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder…. (Psalm 81:7)
I heard…the voice of a great multitude…, as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty has taken the kingdom. (Revelation 19:6)
[2] Because lightnings, thunderings and voices symbolize enlightenment, perception and instruction, therefore when Jehovah descended on Mount Sinai and promulgated the Law, “there were thunderings and lightnings” (Exodus 19:16). Moreover, when a voice issued from heaven to the Lord, it sounded like thunder (John 12:28, 29). And because James and John represented charity and its works, and from these spring every perception of truth and good, the Lord called them “Boanerges, that is, ‘Sons of Thunder'” (Mark 3:17).
It is apparent from this that lightnings, thunderings and voices have similar symbolic meanings in the following places in the book of Revelation:
I heard one of the four living creatures…with a voice like thunder…. (Revelation 6:1)
I heard a voice from heaven…like the voice of loud thunder. (Revelation 14:2)
(When) the angel…threw (the censer) to the earth…, there were thunderings, 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, voices, and thunderings…. (Revelation 11:19)
So likewise elsewhere.
The seven lamps here have the same symbolic meaning as the seven lampstands previously, and also the seven stars. To be shown that the seven lampstands mean a new church on earth, which will have an enlightenment from the Lord, see no. 43 above; and that the seven stars mean a new church in the heavens, no. 65. Moreover, because the church is a church by virtue of the Divinity that emanates from the Lord, which is Divine truth and is called the Holy Spirit, therefore the text says, “which are the seven spirits of God.” To be shown that the seven spirits of God symbolize that Divine emanation, see nos. 14, 155 above.
Atmospheres are seen in the spiritual world, and also bodies of water, as in our world – ethereal atmospheres seemingly where angels of the highest heaven dwell, airy atmospheres seemingly where angels of the intermediate heaven dwell, and watery ones seemingly where angels of the lowest heaven dwell. These watery atmospheres, moreover, are seas that are seen at the borders of heaven, and the inhabitants there are people who possess general truths taken from the literal sense of the Word. To be shown that waters symbolize truths, see no. 50 above.
As the place where waters terminate and are collected, a sea therefore symbolizes Divine truth in its terminal expressions.
Accordingly, since the One sitting on the throne means the Lord (no. 230), and since the seven lamps which are the seven spirits of God before the throne mean a new church which will possess Divine truth from the Lord (no. 237), it is apparent that the sea of glass that was before the throne means the church with people who are at its peripheries.
[2] Seas at the borders of the heavens are something I have been granted to see, and it has been given me to speak with the inhabitants there and so to learn the truth of this matter through personal experience. The inhabitants appeared to me to be living in a sea, but they said that they did not live in a sea but in an atmosphere. It was apparent to me from this that a sea is an appearance of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord in its terminal expressions.
The existence of seas in the spiritual world is clearly apparent from the fact that they were often seen by John, as in the present instance, and in verses 5:13, 7:1-3, 8:8, 9, 10:2, 8, 13:1, 14:7, 15:2, 16:3, 18:17, 19, 21, 20:13.
The sea is called a sea of glass like crystal owing to the translucence of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord.
[3] Since Divine truth in its terminal expressions produces the appearance of a sea in the spiritual world, therefore a sea elsewhere in the Word has a similar symbolic meaning, as in the following passages:
On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, part of them to the eastern sea and part of them to the western sea. (Zechariah 14:8)
Living waters from Jerusalem are the church’s Divine truths from the Lord. The sea is consequently where they terminate.
(Jehovah,) Your way was in the sea, and Your path in many waters. (Psalm 77:19)
Thus said Jehovah, who made a way in the sea, and a path through the many waters…. (Isaiah 43:16)
(Jehovah) has founded (the world) on the seas, and established it on the rivers. (Psalm 24:2)
(Jehovah) set the earth on its foundations, so that it should not be moved to eternity. You covered it with the deep (or sea) as with a garment. (Psalm 104:5, 6)
The earth was “founded on the sea” because the church, which is meant by the earth, is founded on general truths. For these are its footings and foundations.
[4] I will dry up (Babylon’s) sea and make her spring dry…. The sea will come up over Babylon; she will be covered with the multitude of its waves. (Jeremiah 51:36, 42)
To dry up Babylon’s sea and make her spring dry means, symbolically, to extinguish all the church’s truth from the firsts to the lasts of it.
They shall walk after Jehovah…, and His sons shall come with honor from the sea. (Hosea 11:10)
The sons from the sea are people who possess general truths or truths in their terminal expressions.
(Jehovah,) who builds His ascents in the heavens…, who calls the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth…. (Amos 9:6)
By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made…. He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap, putting the depths in storehouses. (Psalm 33:6, 7)
…by My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness. (Isaiah 50:2)
And so likewise in other places.
[5] Since a sea symbolizes Divine truth with people who live on the borders of heaven, therefore Tyre and Sidon, which were on the seacoast, symbolized the church in respect to its learned concepts of goodness and truth. And therefore “the islands of the sea”* likewise symbolize people engaged in a relatively remote Divine worship (no. 34).
For the same reason, too, the word used for the sea in Hebrew is “the west,” that is, the direction in which the sun’s light turns into its evening state, or truth into haziness.
We will see in subsequent discussions that a sea also symbolizes the natural component of a person divorced from his spiritual one, thus also hell.
* Also called “the isles of the sea” and “the coastlands of the sea.” See Isaiah 11:11, 24:15. Cf. Esther 10:1, 1 Maccabees 14:5, 15:1.
I know people will be surprised at my saying that the four living creatures symbolize the Word. This is nevertheless their symbolic meaning, as we will later show.
The four living creatures here are the same as the cherubim in Ezekiel. In chapter 1 there they are called likewise living creatures, but cherubim in chapter 10, and they were, as here, a lion, an ox, a human being, and an eagle.*
In the Hebrew there they are called hayyoth,** a word which indeed means creatures, but one derived from hayyoh,*** meaning life, from which the name of Adam’s wife, Hawwah,**** also was derived (Genesis 3:20). In Ezekiel a creature is also called hayyah, so that these creatures can be called living ones.
It does not matter that the Word is described by creatures, since the Lord Himself is sometimes called in the Word a lion, and often a lamb, and people possessing charity from the Lord are called sheep. Moreover, an understanding of the Word, too, is in subsequent chapters called a horse.
It is apparent that these living creatures or cherubim symbolize the Word from the fact that they were seen in the midst of the throne and around the throne. The Lord was in the midst of the throne, and because the Lord embodies the Word, it could not appear elsewhere. They were also seen around the throne, because they were seen in the angelic heaven, where the Word exists also.
[2] The fact that cherubim symbolize the Word and its protection is something we showed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, no. 97, where we said the following:
…the literal sense of the Word is a protection for the genuine truths which lie within; and the protection consists in the fact that the literal sense can be turned this way or that, (or) explained in accordance with one’s comprehension, and yet without harming or violating the Word’s inner meaning. For it does no harm for the literal sense to be interpreted differently by different people. But harm is done if the Divine truths that lie within are distorted, for this does violence to the Word.
The literal sense protects this from happening, and it does so in the case of people caught up in falsities derived from their religion, who do not defend those falsities; for they do not inflict any violence.
This protection is symbolized by the cherubim and also described by them in the Word. The same protection is symbolized by the cherubim which, after Adam and his wife were cast out of the Garden of Eden, were placed at its entrance, regarding which we read the following:
(When) Jehovah God…drove out the man…, He caused cherubim to dwell at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life. (Genesis 3:23, 24)
The cherubim symbolize a protection. The way to the tree of life symbolizes an entryway to the Lord, which people have through the Word. The flaming sword which turned every way symbolizes Divine truth in outmost expressions, which is like the Word in its literal sense, which can (as we said) be turned in the way stated.
[3] The cherubim of gold positioned on either end of the mercy seat which was on top of the ark (Exodus 25:18-21) have the same meaning. Because this is what the cherubim symbolized, therefore Jehovah spoke with Moses from between them (Exodus 25:22, 30:6, 36, Numbers 7:89)….
This, too, was what the cherubim on the curtains of the Tabernacle and on the veil in it symbolized (Exodus 26:1, 31). For the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle represented the outmost elements of heaven and the church, thus also the outmost expressions of the Word.
This was also what the cherubim inside the temple at Jerusalem symbolized (1 Kings 6:23-28), and what the cherubim carved on the walls and doors of the temple symbolized (1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35). Likewise the cherubim in the new temple (Ezekiel 41:18-20)….
[4] Since cherubim symbolized a protection to prevent a direct approach to the Lord and heaven and to Divine truth such as it is inwardly in the Word, so that people must approach indirectly through its outward expressions, therefore the following is said of the king of Tyre:
You, the seal of the measure, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty, were in Eden, the garden…; every precious stone was your covering…. You were the cherub, the spreader of a covering…. I destroyed you, O covering cherub, in the midst of fiery stones. (Ezekiel 28:12-14, 16)
Tyre symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth and goodness, and therefore its king symbolizes the Word where those concepts are found and from which they are drawn. It is apparent that here he symbolizes the Word in its outmost expression, which is its literal meaning, and the cherub, its protection, for the passage says, “You, the seal of the measure,” “every precious stone was your covering,” “You were the cherub, the spreader of a covering.” The precious stones mentioned here as well symbolize the truths in the Word’s literal sense (no. 231).
[5] Since cherubim symbolize Divine truth in outmost expressions as a protection, therefore we are told in the book of Psalms:
…O Shepherd of Israel…, You who sit upon the cherubim, shine forth! (Psalm 80:1)
Jehovah…, sitting upon the cherubim. (Psalm 99:1)
(Jehovah) bowed the heavens and came down…. And He rode upon cherubim…. (Psalm 18:9, 10)
To ride upon cherubim, to sit on them and be seated on them is to do so upon the outmost meaning of the Word.
The Divine truth in the Word and its character is described by cherubim in the first, ninth and tenth chapters in Ezekiel. But inasmuch as no one can know what the particulars of their description symbolize except one to whom the spiritual meaning has been disclosed, and inasmuch as this meaning has been disclosed to me, we will relate briefly what is symbolized by each of the particulars mentioned regarding the four creatures or cherubim in the first chapter in Ezekiel. They are as follows:
[6] The outward Divine atmosphere of the Word is described in verse 4.
It is represented as human in verse 5; as conjoined with spiritual and celestial qualities in verse 6.
The character of the natural component of the Word is described in verse 7.
The character of the spiritual and celestial components of the Word conjoined with the natural one, in verses 8, 9.
The Divine love of the celestial, spiritual and natural goodness and truth present in it, separately and together, in verses 10, 11.
Their looking to a single end, in verse 12.
The atmosphere of the Word emanating from the Lord’s Divine goodness and truth, which give the Word life, in verses 13, 14.
The doctrine of goodness and truth present in the Word and emanating from the Word, in verses 15 to 21.
The Lord’s Divinity transcending it and present in it, in verses 22 and 23; and emanating from it, in verses 24, 25.
The Lord’s transcending the heavens, in verse 26.
His possessing Divine love and wisdom, in verses 27, 28.
These are the symbolic meanings in summary form.
* See Ezekiel 1:10, 10:14, 22.
** [Hebrew]
*** [Hebrew]
**** [Hebrew]
When eyes are mentioned in application to people, they symbolize the intellect, but when they are mentioned in application to the Lord, they symbolize Divine wisdom (nos. 48, 125). So likewise in application to the Word, as in the present instance, because the Word comes from the Lord, and is about the Lord, and so embodies the Lord.
The same statement is made in reference to the cherubim in Ezekiel, that they were “full of eyes” (Ezekiel 10:12).
“In front and in back,” when said of the Word given by the Lord, symbolizes the Divine wisdom and love present in it.
A lion symbolizes truth in its power, here the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its power, as can be seen from the power of the lion, which surpasses that of every other animal on the earth. It can be seen as well from lions in the spiritual world and the fact that they are images representative of the power of Divine truth. And it can be seen, too, from the Word, in which lions symbolize Divine truth in its power. The nature of the power of Divine truth in the Word may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, no. 49, and in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 228-233.
So it is that Jehovah or the Lord is likened to a lion, and also called a lion, as in the following passages:
A lion has roared! Who does not fear? The Lord Jehovih has spoken! Who does not prophesy? (Amos 3:8)
I will not turn back to destroy Ephraim…. They shall walk after Jehovah. He roars like a lion. (Hosea 11:9, 10)
As a lion roars, and a young lion…, so Jehovah…will come down to fight upon Mount Zion…. (Isaiah 31:4)
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed…. (Revelation 5:5)
Judah is a lion’s whelp…. He bowed down, he lay down…as an old lion. Who rouses him? (Genesis 49:9)
[2] A lion in these passages describes the power of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord. Roaring symbolizes His speaking and acting with power against the hells, which try to carry off a person as a lion does its prey, but from which the Lord rescues him. To bow down means to put Himself into a condition of power. Judah, in the highest sense, symbolizes the Lord (nos. 96, 266).
(The angel) cried with a loud voice, as when a lion roars. (Revelation 10:3)
He bows down, he lies down…as an old lion. Who rouses him? (Numbers 24:9)
Lo, the people rises like an old lion, and like a young lion lifts itself up. (Numbers 23:24)
This last declaration is said of Israel, which symbolizes the church, whose power, which lies in Divine truths, is thus described.
So likewise:
The remnant of Jacob shall be…in the midst of…peoples, like a lion among the beasts of the forest, like a young lion among flocks of sheep…. (Micah 5:7, 8)
And so on in many other places, as in 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; Psalm 17:12, 22:13, 57:4, 58:6, 7, 91:13, 104:21, 22; Deuteronomy 33:20.
Beasts of the earth symbolize various natural affections. They are also embodiments of them. And a calf symbolizes an affection for knowing. This affection is represented by a calf in the spiritual world, and in the Word it is consequently also symbolized by a calf, as in Hosea,
…we repay (to Jehovah) the calves of our lips. (Hosea 14:2)
“Calves of the lips” are confessions from an affection for truth.
In Malachi:
To you who fear My name the sun of righteousness shall arise with healing in its wings…that you may grow fat like fattened calves. (Malachi 4:2)
A comparison is made with fattened calves because they symbolize people who are filled with concepts of truth and goodness owing to an affection for knowing them.
In the book of Psalms:
The voice of Jehovah…makes (the cedars of Lebanon) dance like a calf…. (Psalm 29:5, 6)
The cedars of Lebanon symbolize concepts of truth. That is why the passage says that the voice of Jehovah makes them dance like a calf. The voice of Jehovah is Divine truth, in the process here of affecting.
[2] Since the Egyptians loved knowledge, they therefore made themselves calves as a sign of their affection for it. But after they began to worship the calves as deities, then calves in the Word symbolized affections for knowing falsities, as in Jeremiah 46:20, 21, Psalm 68:30, and elsewhere. The calf that the children of Israel made for themselves in the wilderness (Exodus 23) has accordingly the same symbolic meaning, and so, too, the calves in Samaria (1 Kings 12:28-32, Hosea 8:4, 5, 10:5). Therefore we are told in Hosea:
…they have made for themselves a molten image…of their silver…. Sacrificing a human being, they kiss the calves. (Hosea 13:2)
To make for oneself a molten image of silver means, symbolically, to falsify truth. To sacrifice a human being means, symbolically, to destroy wisdom. And to kiss calves means, symbolically, to accept falsities out of an affection for them.
In Isaiah:
There the calf will feed; there it will lie down and consume its branches. (Isaiah 27:10)
The same is symbolically meant by the calf in Jeremiah 34:18-20.
[3] Since all Divine worship springs from affections for truth and goodness and so for concepts of them, therefore the sacrifices in which the worship of the church primarily consisted among the children of Israel used various animals, such as lambs, she-goats, kids, sheep, he-goats, calves, and oxen; and calves were used because they symbolized an affection for knowing truths and goods, which is the first natural affection. This affection was symbolically meant by the sacrifices of calves in Exodus 29:11, 12, Leviticus 4:3, 13ff., 8:14ff., 9:2, 16:3, 23:18, Numbers 8:8ff., 15:24, 28:19, 20, Judges 6:25-28,* 1 Samuel 1:25, 16:2, 1 Kings 18:23-26, 33.
The second living creature looked like a calf because the Divine truth of the Word, which it symbolizes, affects hearts, and so teaches and instills.
* Prima editio: 29.
A human being in the Word symbolizes wisdom, because the human being was born to receive wisdom from the Lord and become an angel. The wiser someone is, therefore, the more human he is. True human wisdom consists in perceiving the existence of God, the nature of God, and what pertains to God. This is what the Divine truth of the Word teaches.
That a human being symbolizes wisdom is apparent from the following passages:
I will make a man more rare than fine gold, and a human being more rare than the gold of Ophir. (Isaiah 13:12)
A man means intelligence, and a human being wisdom.
…the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned up, and rare will be the human being left. (Isaiah 24:6)
…I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of a human being and the seed of an animal. (Jeremiah 31:27)
You are My flock…; you are humankind, I am your God. (Ezekiel 34:31)
…the ruined cities shall be filled with a flock of humankind. (Ezekiel 36:38)
I looked upon the earth when, lo, it was empty and void, and to the heavens when they had not their light…. I looked when, lo, there was no human being…. (Jeremiah 4:23, 25)
They sacrifice a human being, they kiss the calves. (Hosea 13:2)
He measured the wall (of the Holy Jerusalem): one hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a human being, which is that of an angel. (Revelation 21:17)
So, too, in many other places, where a human being symbolizes someone who is wise, and in an abstract sense, wisdom itself.
Eagles have various symbolic meanings, but flying eagles symbolize concepts which lead to understanding, since when they fly, they recognize and see. They also have sharp eyes so as to see keenly, and eyes symbolize the intellect (nos. 48, 214).
To fly means, symbolically, to perceive and teach, and in the highest sense, which has the Lord as its subject, it means to foresee and provide.
That this is the symbolic meaning of eagles in the Word is apparent from the following passages:
Those who wait on Jehovah shall renew their strength; they shall mount up on wings like eagles. (Isaiah 40:31)
To mount up on wings like eagles means to be raised into concepts of truth and goodness and so into intelligence.
Does the hawk fly by your wisdom…? Does the eagle mount up at your command…(and) spy out its food? Its eyes observe from afar. (Job 39:26, 27, 29)
The eagle here describes a faculty for recognizing, understanding, and foreseeing, and the fact that this does not result from one’s own intelligence.
(Jehovah,) who satisfies your mouth with good, so that you are renewed in your youth like an eagle. (Psalm 103:5)
To satisfy the mouth with good means to give understanding by means of concepts. Thus an analogy is made with an eagle.
A great eagle with large wings and long pinions…came upon Lebanon and took from the cedar a little branch…. Then it took some of the seed of the land and planted it in the field of a growing crop…, and it grew and became a vine…. But there was another great eagle…, to which the vine bent its roots…. (Ezekiel 17:1-8)
The two eagles here describe the Jewish and Israelite churches, each in respect to its concepts of truth and consequent intelligence.
In an opposite sense, however, eagles symbolize false concepts, by which the intellect is corrupted, as in Matthew 24:28, Jeremiah 4:13, Habakkuk 1:8, 9, and elsewhere.
We have already shown above that the four living creatures symbolize the Word. We will see below that wings symbolize powers and also protections.
The number six symbolizes completeness in respect to truth and goodness, as six is formed of three and two multiplied together, and three symbolizes completeness in respect to truth (no. 505), while two symbolizes completeness in respect to goodness (no. 762).
Wings symbolize powers because they are means of rising upward. Moreover, in the case of birds they take the place of the arms in the human being, and arms symbolize powers.
Since wings symbolize powers, and each living creature had six wings, it is apparent from what we said above what power is symbolized by each one’s wings, namely, that the wings of the lion symbolize the power of combating the evils and falsities arising from hell, this being the power of the Word’s Divine truth from the Lord; that the wings of the calf symbolize the power to affect hearts, for the Divine truth of the Word affects people who read it reverently; that the six wings of the human being symbolize the power to perceive the nature of God and what pertains to God, as this is peculiarly the mark of a human being in reading the Word; and that the wings of the eagle symbolize the power to recognize truth and good, and so to acquire for oneself intelligence.
[2] As regards the wings of cherubim, we read in Ezekiel that their wings kissed each other, that they had wings also covering their bodies, and that they had the likeness of hands under their wings (Ezekiel 1:23, 24, 3:13, 10:5, 21). Kissing each other symbolizes conjoint and unanimous action. Covering their bodies symbolizes protection against violation of the interior truths which constitute the spiritual sense of the Word. And having the likeness of hands under their wings symbolizes powers.
Regarding seraphim, too, we are told that they had six wings, and that with two of them they covered their face, and with two their feet, and with two they flew (Isaiah 6:2). Seraphim likewise symbolize the Word, or more accurately doctrine drawn from the Word. The wings with which they covered their faces and feet likewise symbolize protections. And the wings with which they flew symbolize powers, as before.
That flying symbolizes to perceive and teach, and in the highest sense to foresee and provide, is clear as well from the following:
(God) rode upon a cherub, He flew, and He traveled on the wings of the wind. (Psalm 18:10, cf. 2 Samuel 22:11)
I saw (an) angel flying through the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel…. (Revelation 14:6)
[3] That wings symbolize protections is apparent from the following:
(Jehovah) covers you under His wing. (Psalm 91:4)
(To be hidden) under the shadow of (God’s) wings…. (Psalm 17:8)
(To trust) in the shadow of (His) wings. (Psalm 36:7, 57:1, cf. 63:7)
I spread My wing over you and covered your nakedness. (Ezekiel 16:8)
To you (shall be) healing in His wings. (Malachi 4:2)
As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings…, carrying them on its wings, so Jehovah…leads him…. (Deuteronomy 32:11, 12)
(Jesus said,) “O Jerusalem…! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings…. (Matthew 23:37, Luke 13:34)
To be shown that living creatures full of eyes in front and in back symbolize the Divine wisdom in the Word, see no. 240 above. The wings being full of eyes has the same meaning here. Moreover, because the Divine wisdom in the natural sense of the Word derives from its spiritual and celestial meanings that lie within, therefore we are told that the wings were full of eyes within.
For more on the spiritual and celestial meanings which exist within every constituent of the Word, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 5-26.
The living creatures not resting day or night means, symbolically, that the Word teaches continually and without interruption, and that it teaches what the living creatures were saying, namely, “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,” meaning that the Lord alone is God and that He is therefore to be worshiped. The word “holy” repeated three times has this symbolic meaning, because the tripling of it includes all holiness being in Him alone.
In The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord we fully showed that the Divine Trinity exists in the Lord, moreover that the Word has as its subject the Lord alone, and that this is the reason for its holiness.
To be shown that the Lord alone is holy, see no. 173 above.
That it means the Lord is clearly apparent in chapter one, verses 4, 8, 11, 17, where the subject is the Son of Man, who is the Lord in relation to the Word. It openly says there 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. Moreover, in nos. 13, 29, 30, 31, 38, and 57 we explained the symbolic meanings of these attributions. Here now “Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” means the Lord.
The living creatures are the Word, as we have shown. Glory and honor referring to the Lord mean that all truth and good belong to Him and spring from Him. Thanks means all worship. He who sat on the throne is the Lord in relation to judgment, as before. Hence it is apparent that the statement, “when the living creatures gave glory and honor and thanks to Him who sat on the throne,” symbolically means that the Word ascribes all truth and good and all worship to the Lord, who is about to judge.
To give glory and honor to the Lord has no other meaning in the Word than to acknowledge and confess that all truth and good come from Him, thus that He alone is God; for glory belongs to Him owing to His Divine truth, and honor owing to His Divine good.
[2] Glory and honor have these symbolic meanings in the following places:
Jehovah made the heavens. Glory and honor are before Him. (Psalm 96:5, 6)
Jehovah…God, You are very great; You are clothed with glory and honor. (Psalm 104:1)
Great are the works of Jehovah…. Glory and honor are His work…. (Psalm 111:2, 3)
Glory and honor You will place upon him…blessings to eternity. (Psalm 21:5, 6, said in reference to the Lord.)
Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O Mighty One in…glory and…honor. In Your honor mount up, ride upon the word of truth…. (Psalm 45:3, 4)
You have made him a little less than the angels; You have crowned him with glory and honor. (Psalm 8:5)
The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the honor of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of Jehovah, (and) the honor of our God. (Isaiah 35:2)
All of this is said in reference to the Lord, and also elsewhere, as in Psalm 145:4, 5, 12 and Revelation 21:24, 26.
Moreover, where the Word speaks of Divine truth, it uses the term glory (no. 629), and where it speaks of Divine good, it uses the term honor.
The twenty-four elders mean all people who are part of the Lord’s church (see no. 233 above), here all who are part of His church in heaven. As leaders elders represent all. Their humility before the Lord, and adoration springing from humility, are apparent without explanation.
252. And cast their crowns before the throne. This symbolizes their acknowledgment that their wisdom comes from Him alone.
That a crown symbolizes wisdom may be seen in nos. 189 and 235 above. Therefore to cast their crowns before the throne means, symbolically, to acknowledge that their wisdom is not their own, but is attributable to the Lord in them.
Confession is symbolically meant by “saying.” His merit and righteousness are symbolically meant by “You are worthy, O Lord.” That the Lord is Divine truth and Divine good is symbolically meant by glory and honor, as in no. 249 above. And that He possesses the kingdom is symbolically meant by receiving power.
Brought together into a single expression of the meaning therefore, these phrases symbolize their confession that, being Divine truth and good, the Lord possesses the kingdom by His merit and righteousness.
This is the spiritual meaning of this statement, because creating symbolically means to reform and regenerate by Divine truth, and the Lord’s will symbolizes Divine good.
Whether one says Divine good and truth or Divine love and wisdom, the meaning is the same, as all good is connected with love, and all truth with wisdom.
In Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom we showed many times that everything in heaven and the church spring from Divine love and wisdom, in fact that the world was created out of them; and we showed too that love and good are connected with the will, and wisdom and truth with the intellect. Thus it is apparent that the Lord’s will means His Divine good or love.
[2] That to create in the Word means to reform and regenerate is apparent from the following passages:
Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. (Psalm 51:10)
You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good…. You send forth Your Spirit, they are created. (Psalm 104:28, 30)
…a people yet to be created will praise Jah. (Psalm 102:18)
…behold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth…. …rejoice forever in what I am creating; …behold, I shall create Jerusalem an exultation…. (Isaiah 65:17, 18)
…Jehovah, who created the heavens…, who spread forth the earth…, who gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to those who walk on it. (Isaiah 42:5, cf. 45:12, 18)
…thus says Jehovah, your Creator, O Jacob, and your Former, O Israel: …I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name…. Everyone who is called by My name, for My glory I have created him. (Isaiah 43:1, 7)
On the day that you were created they were prepared…. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till perversity was found in you. (Ezekiel 28:13, 15)
The latter is said of the King of Tyre, who symbolizes people who possess intelligence through Divine truth.
…that they may see and know, and consider and understand…, that the hand of Jehovah has done this, and the Holy One of Israel has created it. (Isaiah 41:19, 20)
———-
To prevent someone from entering into the spiritual meaning of the Word and perverting the genuine truth found in that meaning, the Lord has set protections, which in the Word are meant by cherubim, which is what the four living creatures here are.
That protections have been set was represented to me in the following way:
[2] I was given to see large purses, looking like sacks, which had stored away in them a great deal of silver. And since they were open, it seemed as if anyone might take the silver deposited in them, even to make off with it, but next to those purses two angels were sitting as guards. The place where the purses rested looked like a manger in a stable. In the next room I saw modest maidens, together with a chaste wife. Near that room were two little children, and I heard it said that they were not to be played with in a childish way, but wisely. And afterward a harlot appeared, then a horse lying dead.
[3] Having seen these things, I was told that they represented the literal meaning of the Word, which has a spiritual meaning within. The large purses full of silver symbolized concepts of truth and goodness in great abundance. The purses’ being open and yet guarded by angels, meant symbolically that anyone might acquire concepts of truth there, but that one should take care not to falsify the spiritual meaning, which contains only truths.
The manger in the stable where the purses were sitting symbolized spiritual instruction for the intellect. (A manger has this symbolism, like the manger where the newborn Lord lay, because a horse, which eats from it, symbolizes an understanding of the Word.)
[4] The modest maidens I saw in the next room symbolized affections for truth, and the chaste wife the conjunction of truth and good. The little children symbolized the innocence of the wisdom in the Word (they were angels from the third heaven, all of whom appear like little children). The harlot together with the dead horse symbolized the falsification of the Word by many people today, by which all understanding of the truth has perished. (A harlot symbolizes falsification, and a dead horse no understanding of truth.)
[5] I have been given to speak with many people after death who believed they would shine like stars in heaven. They believed this, they said, because they held the Word holy, read it often, took many things from it, and used them to defend the tenets of their faith. As a result they were celebrated as learned in the world, so that they believed they would become Michaels or Raphaels.* A number of them were examined, however, to see what love prompted them to study the Word. And it was discovered that some did so out of self-love, in order to appear great in the world and to be worshiped as leaders of the church, while others did so out of a love of the world, in order to acquire riches.
When they were explored to discover what they knew from the Word, they were found to know no genuine truth, but only what we call falsified truth, which in itself is false; and in the spiritual world this stinks in the nostrils of angels. Moreover the people were told that this was the case with them because their objectives were focused on themselves and the world, or to say the same thing, on their loves of these, and not on the Lord and heaven. And when people have themselves and the world as their focus, then when they read the Word their mind fastens on themselves and the world, and therefore they think continually in accord with their self-interest, which is in darkness regarding everything connected with heaven. In this state a person cannot be withdrawn from his own light and so be raised into the light of heaven. Consequently, neither can he receive anything flowing in from the Lord through heaven.
[6] I have also seen people like this let into heaven. But when they were discovered to be without truths, they were divested of their clothing and were seen with their private parts exposed. And because those who had falsified truths stunk, they were expelled. Still, however, there remained in them the conceit and confidence that they were deserving.
The outcome was different with people who had studied the Word out of an affection for knowing the truth because it is true, and because it served the useful ends of a spiritual life, not only their own life, but their neighbor’s as well. I saw them raised into heaven and so into the light in which Divine truth exists there, and raised at the same time then into angelic wisdom and into its felicity, which is eternal life.
* I.e., archangels.
1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals. 2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?” 3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book, or to look in it. 4 So I wept much, that no one was found worthy to open and read the book, or to look in it. 5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep. Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed to open the book and to loose its seven seals.” 6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as though slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth. 7 Then He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
8 Now when He had taken the book, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a lyre, and a golden bowl full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. 9 And they sang a new song, saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals, because You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood, out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, 10 and have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders; and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands, 12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and…honor and glory and blessing!”
13 And every creature 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, I heard saying, “Blessing and honor and glory and strength be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!” And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
The meaning is that the Lord in His Divine humanity will execute a judgment based on the Word and in accordance with it, because He embodies the Word; and that all in the three heavens acknowledge this.
The Contents of the Individual Verses
1 And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back,
The Lord in respect to His underlying Divinity from eternity, to whom belongs omnipotence and omniscience, and who embodies the Word,
sealed with seven seals.
the Word completely hidden from angel and man.
2 Then I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice,
Divine truth flowing in from the Lord deeply in angels and people.
“Who is worthy to open the book and to loose its seals?”
Who has the power to know the states of life of all in heaven and on earth and to judge each one according to his state?
3 And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able
No one in the higher heavens or in the lower heavens [had the power]
to open the book,
to know the states of life of all and to judge each one according to his state.
or to look in it.
Not the least power.
4 So I wept much, that no one was found worthy to open and read the book, or to look in it.
Grief of heart, that if no one could do this, all would perish.
5 But one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep.
Consolation.
Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed
The Lord, who by His own power conquered the hells and put everything into order when He was in the world, through the Divine goodness united to the Divine truth in His humanity.
to open the book and to loose its seven seals.”
The same here as before [verses 2, 3].
6 And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders,
From the inmost elements of heaven, the Word, and the church, and so in all their constituents.
a Lamb standing as though slain,
The Lord in respect to His humanity not acknowledged in the church as Divine.
having seven horns
His omnipotence.
and seven eyes,
His omniscience and Divine wisdom,
which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.
that from it emanates Divine truth throughout the whole world, wherever religion is found.
7 Then He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.
The Lord in respect to His Divine humanity embodies the Word, and this from His Divinity within Him, and thus He will execute judgment based on His Divine humanity.
8 Now when He had taken the book,
When the Lord prepared to execute judgment, and thereby put back into order everything in heaven and on earth.
the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb,
A humility and worship of the Lord on the part of the higher heavens.
each having a lyre,
A confession of the Lord’s Divine humanity springing from spiritual truths.
and a golden bowl full of incense,
A confession of the Lord’s Divine humanity springing from spiritual goods.
which are the prayers of the saints.
Thoughts that are matters of faith springing from affections that are matters of charity in people who worship the Lord in accord with spiritual goods and truths.
9 And they sang a new song,
An acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord as being the only judge, redeemer and savior, thus God of heaven and earth.
saying, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals,
The same here as before [verses 2, 3].
because You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood,
Deliverance from hell and salvation by conjunction with Him.
out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
The Lord has redeemed those in the church or in any other religion who are impelled by truths in respect to their doctrine and by goods in respect to their life.
10 and have made us kings and priests to our God;
They have from the Lord wisdom from Divine truths and love from Divine goods.
and we shall reign on the earth.”
And they will dwell in His kingdom, He in them and they in Him.
11 Then I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures, and the elders;
A confession and glorification of the Lord by angels of the lower heavens,
and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands,
all possessing truths and goods.
12 saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom, and…honor and glory
A confession from the heart that to the Lord in His Divine humanity belong omnipotence, omniscience, Divine good and Divine truth –
and blessing!”
all these being in Him, and from Him in them.
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, I heard saying,
A confession and glorification of the Lord by angels of the lowest heavens,
“Blessing and honor and glory and strength be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
that present in the Lord from eternity and so in His Divine humanity is everything of heaven and the church – Divine good and truth, and Divine power – and that these are present in them from Him.
14 Then the four living creatures said, “Amen!”
A Divine confirmation from the Word.
And the twenty-four elders fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever.
Humility before the Lord on the part of all in the heavens, and out of humility worship of Him, from whom and in whom is eternal life.
THE EXPOSITION
And I saw in the right hand of Him who sat on the throne a book written inside and on the back. (5:1) This symbolizes the Lord in respect to His underlying Divinity from eternity, to whom belongs omnipotence and omniscience, and who embodies the Word, who also of Himself knows the states of life of all in heaven and on earth, in every particular and in their entirety.
He who sat on the throne means the Lord in respect to His underlying Divinity from which His humanity originates, for the statement follows that the Lamb took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne (verse 7), and the Lamb means the Lord in respect to His humanity. The book written inside and on the back means the Word in every particular and in its entirety – “inside” meaning in every particular, and “on the back,” in its entirety. Inside and on the back also mean the inner meaning of the Word, which is spiritual, and its outer meaning, which is natural. The right hand means the Lord in respect to His omnipotence and omniscience, because the subject is the exploration of all in heaven and on earth on whom the Last Judgment would fall, and their separation.
As the embodiment of the Word, the Lord knows of Himself the states of life of all in heaven and on earth, because He is Divine truth itself, and Divine truth itself, of itself, knows everything. This, however, is a secret which we disclosed in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.
The fact that the Lord was the Word, that is to say, Divine truth, in respect to His Divinity from eternity is apparent from this statement in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1)
And the fact that the Lord came to embody the Word even in respect to His humanity, from this statement also in John:
And the Word became flesh…. (John 1:14)
It can be seen from this what is meant by the testimony that the book was in right hand of Him who sat on the throne, and that the Lamb took the book from it (verse 7).
[2] Since the Lord embodies the Word, and the Word is the Divine truth which forms heaven and the church in general, and each angel in particular so as to have heaven in him, and each person so as to have the church in him, and because the Word is here meant by the book on the basis of which and according to which all are to be judged, therefore we find references here and there to being written in the book, to being judged on the basis of the book, and to being blotted out from the book, where the subject is someone’s state of eternal life, as in the following places:
(The Ancient of Days) sat in judgment, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:10)
…your people shall be delivered, every one who is found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)
My frame was not hidden from You…. …on Your book were written all the days…, and not one of them is missing. (Psalm 139:15, 16)
(Moses said,) “…I pray, blot me out of Your book which You have written.” And Jehovah said…, “He who has sinned against Me, him I will blot out of My book.” (Exodus 32:32, 33)
Let them be blotted out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous. (Psalm 69:28)
I saw (that) books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to the things which were written in the Book, according to their works…, and if anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12-15)
There shall not enter into (the New Jerusalem) anything…but those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. (Revelation 21:27)
All…will worship (the beast), whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb…. (Revelation 13:8, cf. 17:8)
That the Book means the Word may be seen in the book of Psalms:
In the scroll of the book it is written of me. (Psalm 40:7)
And in Ezekiel:
I looked, and lo, there was a hand stretched out to me, and…in it the scroll of a book…written in front and in back…. (Ezekiel 2:9-10)
…the book of the words of Isaiah…. (Luke 3:4)
…the Book of Psalms…. (Luke 20:42)
It is apparent that to be sealed with a seal means, symbolically, to be hidden. Therefore to be sealed with seven seals means, symbolically, to be completely hidden, for seven symbolizes all (no. 10), thus also completely. That the Word was completely hidden from angel and man is soon declared in the following words, “And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able to open the book and read it, or to look in it” (verses 3, 4). Such is the Word to all to whom the Lamb, or Lord, does not open it.
Because the subject here is the exploration of all people before the Last Judgment, it is the states of life of all in general and in particular that are completely hidden.
In the spiritual sense an angel proclaiming means the Lord, because an angel does not proclaim and instruct on his own, but from the Lord, even though he does so as though on his own. The angel is called a strong angel because he acts with power, and something proclaimed with power flows deeply into the thought. A loud voice symbolizes Divine truth from the Lord with power or force.
Investigation is symbolically meant as well, because the angel asks, “Who is worthy to open the book?” which follows next.
“Who is worthy?” symbolically means, “Who can, or who has the power?” To open the book and to loose its seals means here, symbolically, to know the states of life of all in heaven and on earth and also to judge each one according to his state; for when the book is opened, an inquiry takes place into the people’s character, followed by a verdict or judgment, comparatively as a judge judges with the book of the law and in accordance with it.
That opening the book symbolizes an inquiry into the character of each and every person’s state of life is apparent from the following chapter, which describes what John saw when the Lamb opened its seven seals one by one.
In heaven, on the earth, and under the earth mean in the higher and lower heavens, as also below in verse 13, where these words occur:
And every creature 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, I heard saying…. [Revelation 5:13]
Because John heard them all speaking, it is apparent that the speakers were angels and spirits, inasmuch as John was in the spirit, as he himself says in the preceding chapter – chapter 4, verse 2 – and when he was in that state the only earth that appeared to him was that of the spiritual world. For there are lands there as in the natural world, as can be seen from the description of that world in the book Heaven and Hell, and in A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World, nos. 32-38.
The higher heavens in the spiritual world appear on mountains and hills, the lower heavens on lands below, and the lowest heavens as though underground. For the heavens are expanses, one above another, and each expanse is as ground beneath the feet of its inhabitants. The highest expanse is like a mountaintop, with the second expanse below it, but one spreading more broadly all around, with the lowest expanse being still more broadly spread. And because the last exists below the second, its inhabitants are those who are below ground.
The three heavens also so appear to angels in the higher heavens, because to them there are two heavens below them. To John they appeared likewise, therefore, for he was in the presence of those higher angels, having ascended to them, as is apparent from chapter 4, verse 1, where he is told, “Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this.”
Someone who knows nothing of the spiritual world and the lands there cannot possibly know what “under the earth” means, or by the same token what the lower parts of the earth in the Word mean, as in Isaiah,
Sing, O heavens…! Exult, you lower parts of the earth; ring with singing, you mountains…! For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob…. (Isaiah 44:23)
And so elsewhere.
Who does not see that the lands of the spiritual world are meant there? For no one lives underground in the natural world.
Since to open the book means, symbolically, to know the states of life of all, to look in it means, symbolically, to see the character of this or that person’s state of life. Consequently, that no one could open the book or look in it means, symbolically, that they had not the least power to do so. For the Lord alone sees the state of each person’s life from its inmost qualities to its outmost ones, including what the person was like from infancy to old age and what he will be like to eternity, as well as to what place he will be assigned in heaven or in hell. Moreover, the Lord sees this instantaneously, and does so of Himself, because He is Divine truth itself or the Word. Angels and people, on the other hand, cannot do this in the least, because they are finite, and finite people see only a few, outward qualities; and even these they do not see of themselves, but from the Lord.
It is apparent that to weep much means to grieve at heart. The reason John grieved at heart was because all would otherwise perish. Indeed, if everything in heaven and on earth had not been put back into order by the Last Judgment, the case could not have been otherwise. For the book of Revelation has as its subject the last state of the church when it reaches its end, and what this will be like the Lord describes in these words:
…there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. (Matthew 24:21, 22)
This refers to the last period of the church, when a judgment takes place.
[2] That this is the state of the church today can be known simply from the fact that the largest part of the Christian world is occupied by people who have transferred the Lord’s Divine power to themselves, wishing to be worshiped as gods, and who call on people who have died, and scarcely anyone there on the Lord. As for the rest of the church, they make God three, and the Lord two, and place salvation not in amendment of life, but in certain phrases that they utter in a devout tone. Thus they place it not in repentance, but in having confidence that they have been justified and sanctified, provided they folds their hands and look upward and pray the customary ritual phrases.
That a lion symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word in respect to its power may be seen in no. 241 above. And because the Lord is Divine truth itself or the Word, therefore He is called a lion.
That when the Lord was in the world He conquered the hells and put everything in the heavens into order, and also glorified His humanity, may be seen in no. 67 above. Moreover, how He did so may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 12-14.
This makes plain the meaning of the statement that the Lion has prevailed.
In the Word, Judah means a church governed by the goodness of love toward the Lord, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself in respect to the Divine goodness of His Divine love; and David means the Lord in respect to the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom. That the first is the meaning of Judah may be seen in nos. 96 and 350, and that the latter is the meaning of David, in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 43, 44.
It is apparent from this that “Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has prevailed” symbolically means that the Lord overcame the hells and put everything into order through the Divine goodness united to the Divine truth in His humanity.
In the literal sense it cannot be seen that this is the meaning of these words, but only that it is the Lord who was born in the world of the tribe of Judah and of the lineage of David. But still these same words carry within them a spiritual sense, in which people’s names have meanings, as we have said here and there above. Thus Judah does not mean Judah, nor David, David, but Judah means the Lord in respect to Divine good, and David the Lord in respect to Divine truth. It is because of this that the spiritual meaning is thus formed. We are here setting forth that meaning, because the book of Revelation is now being opened in respect to its spiritual meaning.
“In the midst” means, symbolically, in inmost elements and so in all (no. 44). The throne symbolizes heaven (no. 14). The four living creatures or cherubim symbolize the Word (no. 239). And the twenty-four elders symbolize the church in respect to all its constituents (no. 233, 251). It follows from this that the statement, “in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders,” means, symbolically, from the inmost elements in all the constituents of heaven, the Word, and the church.
A lamb in the book of Revelation means the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and a lamb as though slain His humanity not acknowledged in the church as Divine – much as in chapter 1, verse 18, where we are told, “[I] was put to death, and behold, I am alive forevermore,” which means that the Lord was disregarded in the church and His humanity not acknowledged as Divine (no. 59). The reality of this may be seen in no. 294 below.
Therefore, since the Lamb means the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and it is said of the Lamb that it took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne, and afterward that it opened it and loosed its seven seals, and since no mortal could have done this, but God alone, it follows that the Lamb means the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and that being slain means that He was not acknowledged as God in respect to His humanity.
The Word often mentions horns, and a horn everywhere symbolizes power. Consequently, when a horn is mentioned in connection with the Lord, it symbolizes omnipotence. Seven horns are specified, because seven symbolizes all (no. 10), thus all power or omnipotence.
That a horn symbolizes power, and when mentioned in connection with the Lord, omnipotence, can be seen from the following passages:
You who rejoice over nothing, who say, “Have we not taken horns for ourselves by our own strength?” (Amos 6:13)
I said…to the wicked, “Do not lift up the horn. Do not lift up your horn on high….” All the horns of the wicked I will cut off; the horns of the righteous shall be exalted. (Psalm 75:4, 5, 10)
Jehovah…has exalted the horn of your adversaries. (Lamentations 2:17)
The horn of Moab is cut off, and his arm is broken…. (Jeremiah 48:25)
…you have pushed with side and shoulder, and struck all the weak sheep with your horns…. (Ezekiel 34:21)
(Jehovah) has exalted the horn of His people…. (Psalm 148:14)
(Jehovah God of hosts,) the glory of their strength…, He has exalted our horn. (Psalm 89:17)
The brightness (of Jehovah God) will be like the light; He will have horns* coming from His hand, and the hiding of His power there. (Habakkuk 3:4)
…My arm shall strengthen (David)…, and in My name his horn shall be exalted. (Psalm 89:21, 24)
…Jehovah, my strength…, my rock…(my) horn…. (Psalm 18:1, 2, cf. 2 Samuel 22:3)
Arise…, O daughter of Zion; for I will make your horn iron…, that you may break in pieces many peoples. (Micah 4:13)
(The Lord) has destroyed in His wrath the strongholds of the daughter of Judah…, (and) He has cut off…every horn of Israel. (Lamentations 2:2, 3)
Powers are also symbolized by the horns of the dragon in Revelation 12:3; by the horns of the beast rising up out of the sea in Revelation 13:1; by the horns of the scarlet beast upon which the woman sat in Revelation 17:3, 7, 12; by the horns of the ram and the goat in Daniel 8:3-12, 20-22; by the horns of the beast that came up from the sea in Daniel 7:3, 7, 8, 20, 21, 23, 24; by the four horns that scattered Judah and Israel in Zechariah 1:18-21; by the horns of the altars of burnt offering and incense in Exodus 27:2, 30:2, 3, 10. The last symbolized the power of Divine truth in the church. And conversely, that that power would perish, by the horns of the altars in Bethel, in Amos:
…I will visit punishment on the transgressions of Israel, I will visit destruction on the altars of Bethel, so that the horns of the altar are cut off and fall to the ground. (Amos 3:14)
* Probably descriptive of rays of light.
Eyes, in connection with the Lord, symbolize His Divine wisdom, as may be seen in nos. 48 and 125 above, thus also His omniscience. And seven means, symbolically, all, and is predicated of something holy (no. 10). The Lamb’s seven eyes, therefore, symbolize the Lord’s Divine wisdom, which is also His omniscience.
The seven spirits of God are the Divine truth emanating from the Lord, as shown in nos. 14 and 155 above. Their being sent out into all the earth clearly means throughout the world, wherever religion is found. For wherever religion is found, the people are taught that God exists and that the devil exists, that God is goodness itself and the source of good, and that the devil is evil itself and the source of evil, and that because these are opposed to each other, evil, being from the devil, must be shunned, and good, being from God, must be practiced. The people are taught accordingly that to the extent someone does evil, to the same extent he loves the devil and acts contrary to God. Such is the Divine truth that exists throughout the whole world, wherever any religion is found.
Therefore one need know only what evil is. This, too, is something all who have any religion know. For the precepts of all religions are like those of the Ten Commandments – that one must not kill, behave licentiously, steal, or bear false witness. These are in general the Divine truths sent out from the Lord into all the earth, as may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 101-118.
Consequently whoever lives according to these, on the ground that they are Divine truths or the commandments of God and so of religion, is saved. But someone who lives according to them only because they are civil and moral truths, is not saved; for one who rejects God may also live in the same way, but not one who believes in God.
It is clearly apparent here that the Lamb and He who sat on the throne are the same person, and that He who sat on the throne means His Divinity from which all else comes, while the Lamb is His Divine humanity; for we are told in the preceding verse that John saw the Lamb standing in the midst of the throne, and now that He took the book from Him who sat on the throne.
That the Lord was to execute judgment based on His Divine humanity, because He embodies the Word, is clear from the following passages:
Then (they will see) the sign of the Son of Man…and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and…glory. (Matthew 24:30)
…when the Son of Man sits on (His) throne…, (He will judge) the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28)
…the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father…, and then He will reward each according to his works. (Matthew 16:27)
Watch…always that you may be counted worthy…to stand before the Son of Man. (Luke 21:36)
…the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect. (Matthew 24:44)
…the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son…, because He is the Son of Man. (John 5:22, 27)
The Son of Man is the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and this is the Word that was God and became flesh (John 1:1, 14).
To take the book and open it. This symbolically means to explore the states of life of all people and to judge each one according to his state, as we said before. Consequently His having taken the book here means, symbolically, to have the intention to execute a last judgment. And because He executed a last judgment in order to put back into order everything in heaven, and through heaven on earth, this too is symbolically meant.
There follows now a glorification of the Lord on account of the foregoing, for as we said in no. 263 above, if the Lord had not executed a last judgment and thereby put back into order everything in heaven and on earth, all would have perished.
The glorification of the Lord that follows now comes first from the higher heavens, then from the lower heavens, and finally from the lowest heavens – from the higher heavens in verses 8-10, from the lower heavens in verses 11, 12, and from the lowest heavens in verse 13. And lastly there is a confirmation and worship by the higher heavens in verse 14.
The higher heavens, then, are symbolically meant by the four living creatures and twenty-four elders, for cherubim in the midst of the throne – which the four living creatures are – symbolize the Lord in relation to the Word, while the cherubim around the throne, or the four living creatures, symbolize heaven in relation to the Word. For we are told that “in the midst of the throne, and around the throne,” John saw “four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back” (chapter 4, verse 6). That is because the heavens are heavens in consequence of their reception of Divine truth from the Lord through the Word.
The twenty-four elders, too, symbolize angels in the higher heavens, since these elders were the closest ones around the throne (chapter 4, verse 4).
To fall down before the Lamb clearly means humility, and out of humility, worship.
We know that in the Temple in Jerusalem, confessions of Jehovah were made with songs and musical instruments, and these had a correspondence. The instruments were principally horns and timbrels, harps and lyres. Horns and timbrels corresponded to celestial goods and truths, while harps and lyres corresponded to spiritual goods and truths. The correpondences were with their sounds.
The difference between celestial good and truth and spiritual good and truth may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 13-19 and 20-28.
That lyres symbolize confessions of the Lord springing from spiritual truths can be seen from the following passages:
Confess Jehovah with the lyre; make music to Him with a harp of ten strings. (Psalm 33:2)
…on the lyre I will confess You, O God, my God. (Psalm 43:4)
…I will confess you with the instrument of a harp…. I will sing to You with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel. (Psalm 71:22)
Awake (me), harp and lyre…. I will confess You among the nations, O Lord. (Psalm 57:8, 9, 108:2, 3)
Answer Jehovah by confession, make music to our God with the lyre. (Psalm 147:7)
It is good to confess to Jehovah…on the harp, and on the melodious sound of the lyre. (Psalm 92:1-3)
Make a noise to Jehovah, all the earth…. Sing to Jehovah with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of singing. (Psalm 98:4, 5)
And so on in many other places, as in Psalm 49:3, 4, 137:1, 2, Job 30:31, Isaiah 24:7-9, 30:31, 32, Revelation 14:2, 18:22.
Since lyres corresponded to a confession of the Lord, and evil spirits cannot endure it, therefore David used a lyre to drive away the evil spirit from Saul (1 Samuel 16:14-16, 23).
To learn that it was not lyres that John heard, but confessions of the Lord that sounded like lyres, see no. 661 below.
Incense symbolizes worship springing from spiritual goods – although here a confession springing from those goods – because worship in the Jewish and Israelite churches consisted principally in sacrifices and the burning of incense. Consequently they had two altars, one for sacrifices and one for the burning of incense. The first stood outside the Tabernacle and was called the altar of burnt offering, while the second was inside the Tabernacle and was called the golden altar.* The reason for the two was that all worship springs from two kinds of goods – celestial good and spiritual good. Celestial good is the good of love toward the Lord, while spiritual good is the good of love for the neighbor. Worship by means of sacrifices was worship springing from celestial good, whereas worship by means of the burning of incense was worship springing from spiritual good.
It makes no difference whether you say worship or confession, as all worship is a confession.
The symbolic meaning of incense is also the symbolic meaning of the bowls that contained the incense, since a container and its contents, like an instrumental and principal cause, form a single unit.
[2] Worship springing from spiritual good is symbolized by incense in the following passages:
…from the rising of the sun, even to its going down, My name shall be great among the nations, and in every place incense shall be offered to My name…. (Malachi 1:11)
They shall teach Jacob Your judgments…. They shall present the smell of incense to Your nose, and a whole burnt offering on Your altar. (Deuteronomy 33:10)
I will offer to You burnt offerings of fatlings, with the incense…. (Psalm 66:15)
They shall come from (round about) Judah…bringing a burnt offering…, a grain offering and frankincense…. (Jeremiah 17:26)
…from Sheba they shall come; they shall bring gold and frankincense, and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah. (Isaiah 60:6)
Frankincense has the same symbolic meaning as incense, because frankincense was the principal aromatic substance from which incense was made.
So likewise in Matthew:
(Wise men from the east) opened their treasures, (and) they presented (to the newborn Lord) gold, frankincense, and myrrh. (Matthew 2:11)
They presented these three gifts, because gold symbolized celestial good, frankincense spiritual good, and myrrh natural good, and it is from these three goods that all worship springs.
* Exodus 39:38.
Prayers mean matters having to do with faith in people who pour forth prayers, and at the same time matters having do to with charity, since without these, prayers are not prayers but empty sounds.
That saints symbolize people who are impelled by spiritual goods and truths may be seen in no. 173 above.
Burnings of incense are called the prayers of the saints because fragrant aromas correspond to affections for goodness and truth. That is why reference is made so often in the Word to a pleasing aroma or a restful aroma to Jehovah, 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 28:6, 8, 13, 15:3, 29:2, 6, 8, 13, 36, Ezekiel 20:41, Hosea 14:7.
Prayers called incense have the same symbolic meaning in the following verses in the book of Revelation:
(An angel, standing at the altar,) having a golden censer…, was given much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all the saints upon the golden altar…. And the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. (Revelation 8:3, 4)
And in the book of Psalms:
Give ear to my voice…. My prayers are accepted as incense before You…. (Psalm 141:1, 2)
These are the themes contained in the song that they sang, and whatever is contained is also symbolized. To illustrate, an acknowledgment that the Lord is a judge in contained in the words that follow next, “You are worthy to take the book and to open its seals”; that He is a redeemer, in the words, “because You were slain and have redeemed us by Your blood”; that He is a savior, in the words, “and have made us kings and priests to our God, and we shall reign on the earth”; and that He is God of heaven and earth, in the words, they “fell down and worshiped Him who lives forever and ever” (verse 14).
An acknowledgment that the Lord alone is God of heaven and earth and that His humanity is Divine, or else He could not be called Redeemer and Savior, is something that did not exist in the church before. Therefore it is called a “new song.”
[2] A song also symbolizes a glorification, which is a joyful confession of the heart, because a song uplifts, causing the heart’s affection to break out into sound and display itself powerfully in its life.
The Psalms of David, too, are nothing other than songs, for they had musical accompaniment and were sung. Consequently in many places they are called songs, as in Psalm 18:1, 33:1, 3, 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, 132:1, 133:1, 134:1.
[3] That songs served to heighten the life’s love and thus its joy is apparent from the following:
Oh, sing to the Lord a new song! …Make a joyful noise to Jehovah, all the earth; break forth in song, rejoice…. (Psalm 98:1, 4-8)
Sing to Jehovah a new song…. Let Israel rejoice in its Maker…. Let them sing praises to Him…. (Psalm 149:1-3)
Sing to Jehovah a new song…. Let (them) lift up their voice…. (Isaiah 42:10, 11)
Sing, O heavens…! Shout, you lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing, you mountains…. (Isaiah 44:23, 49:13)
Sing aloud to God our strength; make a joyful shout to the God of Jacob. Raise a song…. (Psalm 81:1, 2)
Gladness and joy will be found in (Zion), confession and the sound of singing. (Isaiah 51:3, cf. 52:8, 9)
Sing to the Lord…. Cry out and shout, O daughter of Zion, for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel! (Isaiah 12:5, 6)
My heart is ready…, I will sing and make music. Awake, my glory! …I will confess You, O Lord, among the nations; I will play to You among the peoples. (Psalm 57:7-9)
And so likewise many other places.
We need not have recourse to the spiritual sense to explain the specific symbolic meanings of the particulars here, such as what it means to be slain, to redeem us to God, and the meaning of His blood, for they are arcana which are not apparent in the literal sense. It is enough to say that it is redemption that is thus described. And because redemption is deliverance from hell and salvation by conjunction with the Lord, these are what are symbolically meant.
Here we will simply confirm from the Word that Jehovah Himself came into the world, was born a human being, and became the Redeemer and Savior for all who by a life of charity and its faith are conjoined with His Divine humanity, and that Jehovah is the Lord from eternity, so that the Lord’s Divine humanity, with which one must be conjoined, is the Divine humanity of Jehovah Himself.
[2] We will accordingly cite here passages which confirm that Jehovah and the Lord are one, and that because they are one and not two, the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah Himself, is, by assuming a human form, the Redeemer and Savior. This is apparent from the following:
You, O Jehovah, are our Father; our Redeemer from of old is Your name. (Isaiah 63:16)
Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts: “I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God.” (Isaiah 44:6)
Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you…: “I am Jehovah, who makes all things and…alone…by Myself. (Isaiah 44:24)
Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: “I am Jehovah your God….” (Isaiah 48:17)
…Jehovah, my rock, and my Redeemer. (Psalm 19:14)
Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of Hosts is His name. (Jeremiah 50:34)
…Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He shall be called the God of the whole earth. (Isaiah 54:5)
…that all flesh may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your 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 kindness I will have mercy on you.” Thus said Jehovah your Redeemer. (Isaiah 54:8)
…said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 43:14)
…said Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One…. (Isaiah 49:7)
You have redeemed me, O Jehovah, God of truth. (Psalm 31:5)
Let Israel hope in Jehovah, for…with Him is abundant redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalm 130:7, 8)
Arise (O Lord) for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies’ sake. (Psalm 44:26)
(Jehovah God said,) I will redeem them from the power of hell; I will redeem them from death. (Hosea 13:4, 14)
(O Jehovah,) hear my voice…. He will redeem my soul…. (Psalm 55:17, 18)
See also Psalm 49:15, 69:18, 71:23, 103:1, 4, 107:2, Jeremiah 15:20, 21.
[3] People in the church do not deny that the Lord is the Redeemer in His humanity, because it accords with Scripture, including this statement:
Who…comes from Edom…, traveling in the greatness of His strength? …the year of My redeemed has come…. …He redeemed them…. (Isaiah 63:1, 4, 9)
Say to the daughter of Zion, “Surely your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him, and…they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of Jehovah.” (Isaiah 62:11, 12)
Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people…. (Luke 1:68)
And so, too, elsewhere.
For still more passages confirming that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah Himself, came into the world and assumed human form in order to redeem mankind, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 37-46.
Jehovah is also called a Savior in many places, too many to cite them here.
Tribes mean, symbolically, the church in respect to religion. Tongues symbolize its doctrine, as we will see presently. People mean, symbolically, people impelled by doctrinal truths, and abstractly doctrinal truths themselves (no. 483). And nations mean, symbolically, people who are impelled by goods of life, and abstractly goods of life themselves (no. 483). It is apparent from this that every tribe and tongue and people and nation has the symbolic meaning stated, as it does also in no. 627.
[2] We will now confirm here that tongues in the spiritual sense symbolize the doctrine possessed by a church and by every religion. This is apparent from the following:
My tongue ponders Your righteousness, Your praise all the day long. (Psalm 35:28)
My tongue shall ponder Your righteousness all the day long. (Psalm 71:24)
Then the lame shall leap like a deer, and the tongue of the dumb sing. For waters shall burst forth in the wilderness…. (Isaiah 35:6)
…the tongue of stammerers will be swift to speak…. (Isaiah 32:4)
It seems as though tongue there means speech, but in the spiritual sense it means that which is spoken, which is the doctrinal truth that they will have from the Lord.
So likewise:
I have sworn…that to Me every knee shall bow, every tongue swear an oath. (Isaiah 45:23)
The time will come to gather all nations and tongues, that they may come and see My glory. (Isaiah 66:18)
In those days ten men from all the tongues of the nations shall take hold of the sleeve of a Jewish man, saying, “We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” (Zechariah 8:23)
These passages describe as well the Lord’s conversion of the nations to doctrinal truth.
[3] On the other hand, in the following places tongues in an opposite sense symbolize doctrinal falsities:
A smooth-tongued man shall not continue to exist in the land. (Psalm 140:11)
You hide them…in Your tabernacle from the strife of tongues. (Psalm 31:20)
…I will bring a nation against you…whose language you do not know…. (Jeremiah 5:15)
(To be sent to peoples heavy in tongue.) (Ezekiel 3:5, 6). (To a people barbarous in tongue.) (Isaiah 33:19).
It should be known that the tongue as an organ symbolizes doctrine, while as speech it symbolizes also religion.
[4] Someone who knows that the tongue symbolizes doctrine can understand what is symbolically meant by the plea of the rich man in hell to Abraham to send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue, to keep him from being tormented in the flame (Luke 16:24). The water symbolizes truth, and the tongue doctrine, by whose falsities the rich man was being tormented, and not by any flame. For no one in hell is on fire, but a flame there is how a love of falsity appears, and fire how a love of evil appears.
To reign on the earth means nothing other than to be in the Lord’s kingdom and to be united with Him in it, according to these words of the Lord:
…that all (those who believe in Me) may be one; (and one) as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be one in Us…. The glory which You gave Me I have given to them, that they may be one as We are one, I in them, and You in Me…, that they also…may be with Me where I am…. (John 17:20-24)
So then, since they are thus one with the Lord, and together with the Lord form the kingdom that is called the kingdom of God, it is apparent that nothing else is symbolically meant by reigning.
Reigning is mentioned because of the prior statement, “You have made us kings and priests”; and because kings symbolize people who are governed by wisdom springing from Divine truths from the Lord, and priests symbolize people who are governed by love springing from Divine good from Him (no. 20).
It is because of this that the Lord’s kingdom is also called a kingdom of saints (Daniel 7:18, 27); and of the Apostles it is said that with the Lord they will judge the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28), even though it is the Lord alone who judges and reigns. For He judges and reigns from Divine good by means of Divine truth, which they have in them as well from Him. But anyone who believes that what they have from the Lord is something of their own, is expelled from the kingdom, that is, from heaven.
Reigning has the same symbolic meaning in the following places in the book of Revelation:
…they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. (Revelation 20:6, cf. 20:4)
And of those who will come into the New Jerusalem, it is said:
(The Lamb) gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:5 [cf. 21:23])
Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes (the earth) waste, and will overturn its surface…. The land shall be entirely emptied…. The (habitable) earth will mourn and…be turned upside down…. The earth will be profaned under its inhabitants…. Therefore a curse shall devour the earth…and…the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men will be left…. …in the midst of the land…it shall be like the stripping of an olive tree…. …the cataracts on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is utterly split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard…. (Isaiah 24:1-23.)
[2] The lion has come up from his thicket…to make your land desolate…. I beheld the earth (when) lo, it was empty and void…. …Jehovah has said, “The whole land shall be desolate…. For this shall the earth mourn…. (Jeremiah 4:7, 23-28)
How long will the land mourn…? The whole land is made desolate, because no one lays it to heart. (Jeremiah 12:4, 11-13)
The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and withered away. (Isaiah 33:9)
Its land shall become burning pitch…(and) it shall lie waste. (Isaiah 34:9, 10)
…I have heard from the Lord…a destruction decreed upon the whole earth. (Isaiah 28:22)
Behold, the day of Jehovah comes…to lay the land desolate…, and the earth will be shaken out of its place…. (Isaiah 13:9-13)
The earth shook and trembled, and the foundations of the mountains quaked…. (Psalm 18:7)
…we will not fear when the earth is transformed…. When He uttered His voice, the earth melted. (Psalm 46:2, 3, 6, 8)
Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)
O God, You have forsaken us…. You have made the earth tremble…; heal its breaches, for it is shaken. (Psalm 60:1, 2)
[3] The earth and all its inhabitants will melt away; I will firm up its pillars. (Psalm 75:3)
Woe to a land overshadowed by wings…. Go, …messengers, to…a nation…trodden down, whose land rivers have despoiled. (Isaiah 18:1, 2)
By the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts the land is darkened…. (Isaiah 9:19)
…you will be a delightful land…. (Malachi 3:12)
…I have given You as a covenant of the people to restore the earth…. Sing, O heavens! And exult, O earth! (Isaiah 49:8, 13)
I shall not see Yah…in the land of the living. (Isaiah 38:11)
…who caused terror in the land of the living. (Ezekiel 32:23-27)
I would not have believed I would see the goodness…in the land of life. (Psalm 27:13)
Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)
I am Jehovah, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens alone, who spreads out the earth by Myself. (Isaiah 44, 24, cf. Zechariah 12:1, Jeremiah 10:11-13, 51:15, Psalm. 136:6)
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation…. …thus said Jehovah, who created the heavens…, who formed the earth…. (Isaiah 45:8, 12, 18, 19)
…behold, I create new heavens and a new earth…. (Isaiah 65:17, cf. 66:22)
And in many other places as well, which, if I were to cite them, would fill a page.
[4] The earth or land symbolizes the church for the reason that it very often means the land of Canaan, which is where the church was. That is the heavenly Canaan. Moreover, when the earth or land is mentioned, angels, being spiritual, do not think of the earth or land, but of the human race dwelling upon it and its spiritual state; and its spiritual state is the state of the church.
The earth or land also has an opposite meaning, and in that sense it symbolizes damnation, since when the church is not present in a person, damnation is. The earth or land is mentioned in that sense in Isaiah 14:12, 21:9, 26:19, 21, 29:4, 47:1, 63:6, Lamentations 2:2, 10, Ezekiel 26:20, 32:24, Numbers 16:29-33, 26:10, and elsewhere.
It may be seen in no. 275 above that a confession and glorification of the Lord was made by angels of the three heavens – by angels of the higher heavens in verses 8 to 10, and so now by angels of the lower heavens in verses 11, 12. Thus the voice of the angels around the throne means a confession and glorification of the Lord by angels of the lower heavens.
John also saw then the living creatures and the elders along with the angels, because the living creatures and elders symbolize angels of the higher heavens (no. 275), and the lower heavens never act independently of the higher heavens, but conjointly with them. For the Lord flows in directly from Himself into all the heavens, thus also into the lower ones, but at the same time indirectly through the higher heavens into the lower ones.
This then is the reason that John first saw and heard the living creatures and elders by themselves, and afterward together with the angels.
The meaning of a number in its natural sense has relation to measure or weight, while the meaning of a number in its spiritual sense has relation to character; and here the people’s character is described by there being ten thousand times ten thousand of them and thousands of thousands; for ten thousand is predicated of truths, while a thousand is predicated of goods.
Ten thousand is predicated of truths and a thousand of goods because ten thousand is the greater number, and a thousand the lesser, and truths are complex, while goods are not; also because where the subject in the Word is truths, it deals as well with goods, owing to the marriage of truth and goodness in every part of the Word. Without that marriage the text could have said only ten thousand times ten thousand.
Because these two numbers have these symbolic meanings, they are specified therefore also elsewhere, as in the following places:
The chariots of God are twice ten thousand, even thousands of angels of peace, the Lord among them, in Sinai, in the Holy Place. (Psalm 68:17)
I watched when…the Ancient of Days was seated…. Thousands of thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. (Daniel 7:9, 10)
(Moses said of Joseph,) …his horns are the horns of a unicorn; with them He will smite the peoples to the ends of the earth, and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and…the thousands of Manasseh. (Deuteronomy 33:17)
You shall not be afraid (for yourself)…of the pestilence that creeps in the darkness, or of the death that lays waste at noonday. A thousand will fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand…. (Psalm 91:5-7)
…our sheep thousands, ten thousands in our streets. (Psalm 144:13)
Is Jehovah pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? (Micah 6:7)
When (the Ark) rested, (Moses) said: “Return, O Jehovah, to the ten thousand thousands of Israel.” (Numbers 10:36)
In all of these places ten thousands refer to truths, and thousands to goods.
Saying in a loud voice symbolizes a confession from the heart. “You are worthy” means, symbolically, that in the Lord are the qualities that follow. The Lamb symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine Humanity. Power means, symbolically, Divine power, which is omnipotence. Riches and wisdom symbolize Divine knowledge and wisdom, which are omniscience. Honor and glory symbolizes Divine good and Divine truth.
It may be seen in no. 206 above that riches symbolize concepts of goodness and truth and thus knowledge, and therefore when said of the Lord, omniscience. And in no. 249 above, that honor and glory, when said of the Lord, symbolize His Divine goodness and Divine truth.
A blessing means every good that a person has from the Lord, such as power and wealth, and everything that accompanies these, but especially every spiritual good, such as love and wisdom, charity and faith, and the accompanying joy and happiness, which have to do with eternal life. And because all of these come from the Lord, it follows that He has them in Him; for if He did not have them in Him, they could not be present in others from Him.
It is for this reason that in the Word the Lord is called blessed, and also a blessing, which is to say, blessing itself.
That Jehovah, or the Lord, is called blessed, is apparent from the following passages:
…the high priest asked (Jesus)…, “Are You the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?” (Mark 14:61)
(Jesus said,) “you shall see Me no more till you say, ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'” (Matthew 23:39, cf. Luke 13:35)
(Melchizedek) blessed (Abram) and said: “…blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand.” (Genesis 14:18-20)
Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Shem…. (Genesis 9:26)
Blessed be Jehovah (who) has heard (my) voice…. (Psalm 28:6)
Blessed be Jehovah, for He has shown me His marvelous clemency…. (Psalm 31:21)
Blessed be Jehovah…from everlasting to everlasting! (Psalm 41:13)
So likewise Psalm 66:20, 68:19, 35, 72:18, 19, 89:52, 119:12, 124:6, 135:21, 144:1, Luke 1:68.
It is owing to this that blessing is mentioned in this verse, as again in verse 12, and in chapter 7, verse 12. And in the book of Psalms:
Glory and honor You have placed upon Him, for You have made Him a blessing forever. (Psalm 21:5, 6)
The subject is the Lord.
[2] It can be seen from this what blessing God means in the Word: that it is to attribute all blessing to Him, to pray for Him to bless, and to thank Him for blessing, as can be seen from the following passages:
(Zacharias’s) mouth was opened…and he spoke, blessing God. (Luke 1:64, 68)
(Simeon) took (the infant Jesus) up in his arms and blessed God…. (Luke 2:28, 30, 31)
I will bless Jehovah who has given me counsel. (Psalm 16:7)
…bless (Jehovah’s) name; proclaim His salvation from day to day. (Psalm 96:1-3)
Blessed be the Lord from day to day…. Bless God in the congregations, the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. (Psalm 68:19, 26)
That it is a confession and glorification of the Lord by angels of the lowest heavens is apparent from the series, because the preceding confessions and glorifications of the Lord were made by angels of the higher and lower heavens (nos. 275ff., 286ff.). For there are three heavens, and in each countless societies, every one of which is called a heaven.
It is apparent that angels are meant by every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and in the sea, for we are told, “I heard (them) saying,” and they said “Blessing and honor and glory and strength be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”
[2] Their being called created things accords with the style of the Word, in which all created things, both those of the animal kingdom and those of the plant kingdom, symbolize various constituents in a person – in general constituents having to do with his will or affection, and constituents having to do with his intellect or thought. They have symbolic meanings because they are correspondent forms. And because the Word was written solely in terms of things that correspond, similar things are therefore said in it about angels in heaven and people of the church. To confirm this we will cite just a few passages, as the following:
(Jesus) said (to the disciples,) “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.” (Mark 16:15)
But now ask the beasts, and they will teach you; and the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or…the vegetation of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will recount to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of Jehovah has done this…. (Job 12:7-9)
Let heaven and earth praise (Jehovah), the seas and everything that moves in them. For God will save Zion…. (Psalm 69:34, 35)
Praise Jehovah from the earth, you whales and all the depths. (Psalm 148:7)
I will utterly consume everything from the face of the earth…; I will consume man and beast; I will consume the birds of the heavens and the fish of the sea. (Zephaniah 1:2, 3. Cf. Isaiah 50:2, 3, Ezekiel 38:19, 20, Hosea 4:2, 3, Revelation 8:7-9)
The heavens will be glad, the earth will rejoice, the sea will pitch and roll, and all its fullness; the field will exult, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the forest will sing before Jehovah. For He is coming, coming to judge the earth. (Psalm 96:11-13)
And so on in many other places.
[3] The text says, “every created thing,” and the meaning is every reformed thing, or all reformed people. For to create means, symbolically, to reform and regenerate (no. 254).
To be shown the meaning of “in heaven,” “on the earth,” and “under the earth,” see no. 260 above. And for the meaning of the sea, no. 238. It is apparent from this what is symbolically meant by “such as are in the sea, and all that are in them.” Such things as are in the Word are meant by the fish of the sea, and these are sensual affections, which are the lowest affections of the natural self. For in the spiritual world people’s affections look at a distance like fish, and as being in a sea, because the atmosphere in which they exist appears as though made of water, and thus as a sea, in the eyes of the inhabitants who dwell in the heavens and on the earth there, as may be seen in no. 238 above, and as regards fish, in no. 405.
To be shown that the Lord from eternity is Jehovah, who in the process of time took on human form in order to redeem and save mankind, see no. 281 above. He who sits on the throne, therefore, means the Lord from eternity, who is called the Father, and the Lamb means the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, which is the Son. Moreover, because the Father is in the Son, and the Son in the Father, so that they are one, it follows that both the one sitting on the throne and the Lamb mean the Lord. And because they are one, we are also told that the Lamb was in the midst of the throne (verse 6, and so, too, 7:17).
To be shown that blessing, when said in connection with the Lord, means everything of heaven and the church present in Him, and from Him in people who are in heaven and in the church, see no. 289 above; and that honor and glory mean Divine good and truth, also no. 249. It is apparent, moreover, that strength, when said in connection with the Lord, means Divine power.
That these are all properties of the Lord can be seen from the following verses in Daniel:
Behold, One like the Son of Man (came) with the clouds of heaven! And He came to the Ancient of Days…. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom one which shall not perish. (Daniel 7:13, 14)
The Ancient of Days is the Lord from eternity, as is apparent from this verse in Micah:
You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of you shall come forth to Me One who will be Ruler in Israel, and whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity. (Micah 5:2)
And so, too, from this verse in Isaiah:
…unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; …the government will be upon His shoulder. …His name will be called…Counselor, God, Hero, Father of eternity, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6)
To be shown that the four living creatures or cherubim symbolize the Word, see no. 239 above. And that “Amen” symbolizes a Divine confirmation springing from truth itself, nos. 23, 28, 61, thus that it springs from the Word.
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In the natural world people possess two levels of speech, because they possess two levels of thought, one inward and one outward. For a person can speak from his inner thought and at the same time then from his outer one, or he can speak from his outer thought and not from his inner one, and even contrary to his inner one. This is what makes possible pretenses, flatteries, and hypocrisies.
In the spiritual world, however, people do not possess two levels of speech, but a single one. A person there speaks as he thinks. Otherwise his voice becomes grating and hurts the ears. Still, he can remain silent and so not divulge the thoughts of his mind. Consequently, when a hypocrite comes into the company of people who are wise, either he goes away, or he hurries to a corner of the room and makes himself inconspicuous, and sits silent.
[2] Many spirits once gathered in the world of spirits and discussed this circumstance with each other, saying that being unable to speak as one thinks in the company of good spirits was a hardship for those who had not thought correctly about God and the Lord.
At the center of the gathering were the Protestant Reformed, and many of their clergy, and next to them Roman Catholics with some monks. Both groups said at first that it was not a hardship. What need is there to speak otherwise than as one thinks? And if perchance one does not think correctly, can he not purse his lips and remain silent?
Moreover, one of the clergy said, “Who does not think correctly about God and the Lord?”
But some of the gathering said, “Still, let’s put it to the test.”
And regarding God, there were some who had confirmed themselves in a trinity of persons – particularly because of the statement in the Athanasian doctrine,
The person of the Father is one person, that of the Son another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another.
And,
As the Father is God, so is the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God.
These were told to say “one God.” But they could not. They contorted their lips and twisted them into many convolutions, but they could not articulate the sound into any other words than those in keeping with the ideas of their thought, which were ideas of three persons and so of three Gods.
[3] Moreover, those who had affirmed a faith divorced from charity were told to say the name Jesus. But they could not, even though they could all say Christ, and also God the Father. They were surprised at this, and inquiring into the reason, they found that they prayed to God the Father for the sake of the Son, and did not pray to the Savior Himself. For Jesus means Savior.
[4] They were further told to speak from their thought about the Lord’s humanity and say, “Divine humanity.” But none of the clergy present there could do so, though some of the laity could, and therefore the subject was presented for a serious ventilation.
So then, 1. They had read to them these statements in the Gospels:
The Father…has given all things into (the Son’s) hand. (John 3:35)
(The Father has) given (the Son) authority over all flesh…. (John 17:2)
All things have been delivered to Me by My Father. (Matthew 11:27)
All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18)
They were then told to retain in thought therefore the idea that Christ is God of heaven and earth, both in respect to His Divinity and in respect to His humanity, and so to utter the term, “Divine humanity.” But still they could not. And they said that they even retained from the quotations some thought of the idea from an understanding of it, but nevertheless without any acknowledgment of it, and that for that reason they could not.
[5] 2. After that they had read to them statements from Luke 1:32, 34, 35,* saying that the Lord in respect to His humanity was the Son of Jehovah God, and statements showing that in respect to His humanity He is everywhere in the Word called the Son of God, and also the only-begotten.** And the examiners asked them to retain this idea in their thought, along with the idea that the only begotten Son of God born into the world could not but be God, as the Father is God, and to utter the term, “Divine humanity.”
But they said, “We cannot, because our spiritual thought, which is the inner one, does not allow into the thought nearest our speech any other than like ideas.”
They said, too, that they perceived from this that it is now not possible to keep separate their levels of thought as in the natural world.
[6] 3. Next they had read to them the Lord’s words to Philip:
Philip said to Him, “Lord, show us the Father….” (And the Lord) said to him, “…He who sees Me has seen the Father…. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me?” (John 14:8-11)
And moreover other passages, saying that the Father and He are one (John 10:30, and elsewhere). And they were told to retain this idea in thought and then say “Divine humanity.” But because their thought was not rooted in an acknowledgment that the Lord was God even in respect to His humanity, therefore they could not. They contorted their lips into convolutions to the point of becoming irate, and they tried to force their mouths into uttering it and to spit it out. But without success. The reason was that mental ideas flowing from an acknowledgment unite with spoken words in people who live in the spiritual world; and when those ideas do not exist, words are lacking, for ideas become words when uttered in speech.
[7] 4. Then they had read to them statement from the church’s doctrine accepted throughout the world, saying that the Divine and human in the Lord are not two but one, indeed one person, united altogether like soul and body – statements from the Athanasian Creed. And they were told, “You may take from this an idea in keeping with your acknowledgment, that the Lord’s humanity is Divine, because His soul is Divine, for it comes from your church’s doctrine which you acknowledged in the world. Moreover the soul is the underlying essence and the body the form, and the essence and form are united, like being and expression, or like the efficient cause of an effect and the effect itself.”
The spirits retained this idea and tried in accord with it to utter the term, “Divine humanity.” But they could not, for their inner idea of the Lord’s humanity dismissed and expunged this novel new idea, as they called it.
[8] 5. Again they had read to them the following from John:
…the Word was with God, and the Word was God…. And the Word became flesh…. (John 1:1, 14)
And the following from Paul:
…in (Christ Jesus) dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. (Colossians 2:9)
And they were told to think hard that God, who was the Word, became flesh, and that all the Divine dwells in Him bodily. “Perhaps,” they were told, “you can then utter the term, ‘Divine humanity.'”
But they could not, saying openly that they could not entertain the idea of a Divine humanity, as God is God and man is man, and God is a spirit, “and we can think of a spirit only as being like a puff of wind or bit of ether.”
[9] 6. Finally they were told, “You know that the Lord said, “Abide in Me, and I in you…. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4, 5)” And because some of the English clergy were present, they had read to them also something from one of their prayers before 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 you now think that this would not be possible unless the Lord’s humanity is Divine, utter then the term, “Divine humanity,” from an acknowledgment in the thought.”
But still they could not. For they had the idea so deeply impressed on them that the Lord’s Divinity was one thing and His humanity another, so that His Divinity was like the Divinity of the Father, and His humanity like the humanity of any other man.
The examiners said to them, however, “How can you think so? Is it possible for a rational mind ever to think that God is three and the Lord two?”
[10] 7. After that the examiners turned to the Lutherans, saying that the Augsburg Confession and Luther taught that the Son of God and the Son of Man in Christ are one person, that He is also in respect to His human nature the true, almighty and eternal God, and that being in respect to that nature at the right hand of almighty God, He governs everything in heaven and on earth, fills everything, is present with us, and dwells and acts in us. Moreover, there is no difference in any worship of them, since through the nature that is seen, the Divinity that is not seen is worshiped. Thus in Christ, God is man, and man is God.
Hearing this, the Lutherans replied, “Is that right?” And having looked around, they presently said, “We have not known this before. Consequently we cannot.”
But one or two of them said, “We have read this and written it, yet when we have thought about it to ourselves on our own, the words were still only words, of which we could not form an interior idea.”
[11] 8. Finally, turning to the Roman Catholics, the examiners said, “Perhaps you can pronounce the term ‘Divine humanity,’ because you believe that Christ is wholly present in the bread and wine of your Eucharist and in every particle of it, and you also worship Him as God when you present the host and distribute it, and you call Mary the mother of God. Consequently you acknowledge that she gave birth to God, which is to say, to His Divine humanity.”
They then tried to utter the term in accord with those mental ideas they had of the Lord. But they could not, because of the physical idea they had of His body and blood, and because of their assertion that it was human power and not Divine power that He conferred on the Pope.
A monk then rose and said that he could think of the term “Divine humanity” as applying to the Virgin Mary, mother of God, and also to the patron saint of his monastery.
And another monk came forward saying, “I can, in accord with my mental idea of it, say ‘Divine humanity’ as a term applying to our most holy Pope rather than to the Christ.”
But at that other monks pulled him back and said, “Shame on you.”
[12] After that I saw heaven opened, and I saw little flame-like tongues descending and flowing into some of those present, and they then began to celebrate the Lord’s Divine humanity, saying, “Put aside the idea of three Gods and believe that in the Lord dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, that the Father and He are one as a soul and body are one, and that God is not a puff of wind or bit of ether, but human, and you will then be conjoined with heaven, and the Lord will enable you thereby to say the name Jesus and utter the term, Divine humanity.
* “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David…. Then Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I do not know a man?’ And the angel answered and said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.'”
** John 1:14, 18, 3:16, 18. See also Hebrews 11:17, 1 John 4:9, 2 Esdras 6:58.
1 Now I saw when the Lamb opened the first of the seals; and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as though with a voice of thunder, “Come and see.” 2 And I looked, and behold, a white horse. And he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.
3 When He opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come and see.” 4 And another horse, fiery red, went out. And it was granted to the one who sat on it to take peace from the earth, so that people might kill one another; and there was given to him a great sword.
5 When He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come and see.” So I looked, and behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a scale in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
7 When He opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come and see.” 8 So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with famine, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.
9 When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. 10 And they cried with a loud voice, saying, “How long, O Lord, who are holy and true, will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?” 11 Then white robes were given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until the number of both their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was complete.
12 Then I looked when He opened the sixth seal, and behold, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became as black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon becam