AR 534, 535 - The Doctrine of the New Church Is Opposed by the Dragon

AR 534

And on her head a crown of twelve stars.
(Revelation 12:1)

. . . the crown of twelve stars on the woman's head
symbolizes the wisdom and intelligence
of the New Church
resulting from its concepts
of Divine goodness and truth drawn from the Word.

AR 535

Then being with child,
she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth.
(Revelation 12:2)

This symbolizes the emerging doctrine
of the New Church
and the difficulty of its being accepted
owing to the opposition to it
by people meant by the dragon.

Being with child symbolizes the emerging doctrine
because the child that she had in her womb . . .
 symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church.
For to be with child, to be in labor,
and to give birth means,
symbolically in the spiritual sense,
to conceive and give birth to such things
as are matters of spiritual life . . ..
To cry out in labor and be in pain to give birth
symbolizes the difficulty
of that doctrine's being accepted
owing to the opposition to it
by people meant by the dragon.

 

AR 533 - A Church Must Exist Somewhere in the World

AR 533

A woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet.
(Revelation 12:1)

This symbolizes the Lord's New Church in heaven, 
which is the New Heaven,
and the New Church to come on earth,
which is the New Jerusalem.

That the woman here symbolizes
the Lord's New Church
is clear from the particulars in this chapter,
understood in their spiritual meaning.
. . . A woman symbolizes the church
because the church is called
the Lord's bride and wife.

The woman here appeared clothed with the sun
because the church is governed
by love toward the Lord;
for it acknowledges Him
and keeps His commandments,
and that is loving Him (John 14:21-24).
. . . the sun symbolizes love . . ..

The moon appeared under the woman's feet
because it means the church on earth,
which was not yet conjoined with
the church in heaven.
The moon symbolizes
the intelligence in a natural person, and faith.
And its being seen under the woman's feet
means, symbolically,
that it was a church to come on earth.
Feet otherwise symbolize that same church
after it has been conjoined.

 It should be known
that the church exists in heaven just as on earth.
For the Word is found there,
and churches,
and the preaching of sermons in them.
Clerical and priestly orders exist there.
For all the angels there were once people,
and their departure from the world
was for them but a continuation of life.
Consequently they are perfected
in love and wisdom,
each one according to the degree
of the affection for truth and goodness
that he brought with him from the world.

The church among these
is the church meant by
the woman clothed with the sun,
having on her head a crown of twelve stars.
But because the church in heaven
does not continue in existence
unless there is also a church on earth
that possesses an accordant love and wisdom,
and this was yet to come,
therefore the moon was seen
under the woman's feet,
which in particular here symbolizes faith,
a faith which, as it exists today,
is not a means of conjunction.

The church in heaven
does not continue in existence
unless it is conjoined with a church on earth,
because heaven where angels are,
and the church where people are,
function together,
like the internal and external components
in a person;
and the internal component in a person
does not continue in its proper condition
unless the external component is joined to it.
For the internal component
without the external one
is like a house without a foundation,
or like seed on top of the ground
and not in the ground,
thus like something without a root -
in a word, like a cause
without an effect in which to abide.

It can be seen from this
that it is an absolute necessity
that a church exist somewhere in the world
which has the Word
and where the Lord is consequently known.

 

AR 531 - Actual Repentance

AR 531 [5, 6]

Actual repentance is to examine oneself,
to recognize and acknowledge one's sins,
to make oneself guilty of them,
to confess them before the Lord,
to implore His aid and power in resisting them,
and so to refrain from them and lead a new life,
doing all this as though of oneself.
Do this once or twice a year
when you go to Holy Communion;
and afterward,
when the sins of which
you have made yourself guilty recur,
say to yourselves,
'We refuse to do them because
they are sins against God.'
That is actual repentance.

. . . with someone who repents actually.
His evils that he recognizes and acknowledges,
he calls sins,
and therefore he begins to refrain from them
and to be averse to them,
and to feel the delight he had felt in them
as undelightful.
Moreover, to the extent that he does this,
to the same extent he sees and loves goods,
and finally feels delight in them,
a delight which is one of heaven.
In a word,
to the extent someone casts the devil behind him,
to the same extent he is adopted by the Lord
and taught, led, withheld from evils by Him
and kept in goods.
This is the way,
the only way,
from hell to heaven.
 

AR 529 - What Makes the Ten Commandments Holy Laws?

AR 529

What nation in the entire world does not know
that it is evil to kill, commit adultery, steal,
and bear false witness?
If nations did not know this
and enact laws
to keep people from doing these things,
it would be all over with them.
For society, the republic, or kingdom
would collapse without these laws.

Who can suppose that the Israelite nation
was so stupid in comparison to all other nations
as not to know that such actions are evil?
One may wonder, therefore, why these laws,
being so universally known throughout the whole world,
were promulgated by Jehovah Himself
from Mount Sinai,
attended by the great miracle they were,
and written, moreover, with His finger.

But listen, they were promulgated by Jehovah
with such a great miracle and written with His finger
in order that people might know
that these laws are not only civil and moral laws,
but also spiritual laws,
and that to disobey them is not only to do evil
to one's fellow citizen and to society,
but is also to sin against God.
Their promulgation by Jehovah from Mount Sinai
made them therefore laws of religion.
For it is evident that whatever Jehovah God commands,
He commands to make it a matter of religion,
so that it must be obeyed for His sake,
and for a person's own sake,
that he may be saved.

Because these laws were the first elements
of the church to be established by the Lord
with the Israelite nation,
and because they embrace in brief summary
everything having to do with religion
which makes possible a conjunction
of the Lord with a person
and of a person with the Lord,
therefore they were so holy
that nothing was more holy.

. . . The Law's being called a covenant
symbolizes conjunction.
The reason is that covenants are made
for the sake of love, friendship, and association,
thus for the sake of conjunction.

 

AR 525 - Where Is Spiritual Life Found?; AR 527 - What Is It to Fear?

AR 525 [2]

Spiritual life is present only in people
who turn to the Lord
and at the same time refrain from evils as sins.

AR 527

To fear here means, symbolically, to love
because everyone who loves another
is afraid of injuring the one he loves.
There is no genuine love without that fear.
Accordingly, someone who loves the Lord
is afraid of doing evil,
because evils go counter to the Lord,
as they go counter to His Divine laws in the Word -
the Word that originates from the Lord
and thus embodies Him.
Indeed, they go counter to His Divine essence,
which is to will the salvation of all.
For He is a savior.
But He cannot save a person
unless the person lives in accordance with
the Lord's laws and commandments.
What is more, someone who loves evils
also desires to injure the Lord,
indeed to crucify Him.
This desire is inmostly present in every evil,
even in people who in the world
acknowledge Him with the lips.
The reality of this is something unknown to people,
but well known to angels.

AR 519-522 (portions) - Then the Seventh Angel Sounded

AR 519

Then the seventh angel sounded.
(Revelation 11 :15)

To sound the trumpet means, symbolically,
to explore and expose
the state of the church after its end,
at the time of the Lord's advent
and the advent of His kingdom.
. . . For the first six angels
and their sounding their trumpets symbolized
the examinations and exposures
of the church at its end,
as is clear from the preceding chapter,
where the whole subject is the church at its end.
But the subject now 
is the state of the church after its end,
or the Lord's advent
and the advent of His kingdom . . ..

The seventh angel's sounding
causes the aforesaid exposure
because the number seven
has the same symbolic meaning as a week,
in which six days are days of labor
and belong to man,
while the seventh is holy and is the Lord's.

AR 520

And there were loud voices in heaven, saying,
"The kingdoms of this world have become
the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ,
and He shall reign forever and ever!"
(Revelation 11 :15)

This symbolizes celebrations on the part of angels,
that heaven and the church had become the Lord's,
as they had been from the beginning,
and that they had now become
those of His Divine humanity,
thus that the Lord would reign over
heaven and earth
as regards both aspects of Him to eternity.

AR 521

And the twenty-four elders
who sat before God on their thrones
fell on their faces and worshiped God.
(Revelation 11 :16)

This symbolizes an acknowledgment
on the part of all the angels in heaven
that the Lord is God of heaven and earth,
and their highest adoration of Him.

AR 522.

Saying: "We give You thanks,
O Lord God Almighty,
who are and who were and who are to come."
(Revelation 11 :17)

This symbolizes a confession and glorification
on the part of the angels in heaven,
that the Lord is He who exists, lives,
and has power of Himself,
and who governs all things,
because He alone is eternal and infinite.
. . . that the Son of man,
who is the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity,
is the Almighty, the Alpha and Omega,
the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last,
and He who is and who was and who is to come.

 

AR 517 - To Give Glory to the God of Heaven and Doing Goods

AR 517

To give glory to the God of heaven means,
symbolically, to acknowledge the Lord
as God of heaven and earth -
to give glory symbolizing
to acknowledge and worship,
and the God of heaven meaning the Lord,
because He is God of heaven and earth:

Jesus came to them and spoke to them, saying,
"All authority has been given to  Me
in heaven and on earth."
(Matthew 28:18)

Because these people were moved by their fear
to acknowledge the Lord,
they were set apart in order
that they might be examined
as to the basis on which they did goods,
whether they did so on their own or from the Lord.
People who do goods on their own
are all those who do not refrain from evils
as being sins, that is,
who do not live
according to the Ten Commandments,
whereas people who do them from the Lord
are those who do refrain from evils as being sins
and live according to the Ten Commandments.

 

AR 510 - Spiritual Life, Natural Life

AR 510 [1, 2]

But after the three and a half days
the breath of life from God entered them,
and they stood on their feet.
(Revelation 11:11)

Three and a half days means, symbolically,
at the end and then the beginning,
thus at the end of the church still existing
and the beginning of a new one,
here the beginning of the church
in people in whom the New Church
commences and grows . . ..

The breath of life from God symbolizes spiritual life,
and standing on their feet symbolizes
natural life in harmony with spiritual life,
and thus one made living by the Lord.
This is the symbolic meaning
because the breath of life refers to
a person's inner being, called his inner self,
which regarded in itself is spiritual.
For it is a person's spirit that thinks and wills,
and to think and will is, in itself, a spiritual activity.
Standing on the feet symbolizes
a person's outer being, called his outer self,
which in itself is natural.
For it is the body that says and does
what the spirit in it thinks and wills,
and to speak and act is a natural activity.

. . . Everyone who is reformed is reformed first
in respect to his inner self,
and afterward in respect to his outer self.
The inner self is reformed,
not by simply knowing and understanding
the truths and goods by which a person is saved,
but by willing and loving them,
and the outer self by saying and doing
what the inner self wills and loves.
To the extent the outer self does this,
then, to the same extent the person is regenerated.
He is not regenerated prior to that
because before then his inner self
is not present in the effect,
but subsists only in the cause,
and unless a cause has an effect,
it dissipates.
It is like a house founded on a field of ice,
a house that sinks to the bottom
when the sun melts the ice.

 

AR 507 - To Rejoice and Be Glad; AR 509 - Opposition

  AR 507

To rejoice and be glad symbolizes
a delight of the heart and soul's affection.
A delight of the heart's affection
is a delight of the will,
and a delight of the soul's affection
is a delight of the intellect,
for in the Word the heart and soul
mean a person's will and intellect.
Thus the people are said to rejoice and be glad,
even though joy and gladness
seem to be the same thing.
Present in the two, however,
is a marriage of the will and intellect,
which is also a marriage of goodness and truth,
a marriage that exists
in each and every particular of the Word . . ..

=====================================

AR 509

Because these two prophets tormented
those who dwell on the earth.
(Revelation 11:10)

This symbolically means that these
two essential elements of the New Church,
one having to do with the Lord
and His Divine humanity,
and the other teaching a life
in accordance with the Ten Commandments,
are opposed to the two essential elements
accepted in the Protestant Reformed Church,
one teaching a trinity of persons,
and the other teaching faith alone
as saving apart from works of the law;
and because of that opposition
the two essential elements of the New Church,
which is the New Jerusalem,
are objects of contempt,
distress, and repugnance.

AR 502 - Sodom; AR 503 - Egypt

AR 502 [1, 2, 3

Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt.
(Revelaton 11:8)

This symbolizes the two hellish loves, namely,
a love of ruling springing from a love of self,
and a love of holding sway
from a conceit in one's own intelligence,
loves which are present
in the church where there is not one God
and where the Lord is not worshiped,
and where people do not live
in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

. . . A love of ruling springing from a love of self,
and a love of holding sway
from a conceit in one's own intelligence,
are the principal loves of all the loves in hell,
and so are the origin of all the evils
and thus of all the falsities in the church.

It should be known, however,
that a love of ruling springing from a love of self
and a love of ruling
springing from a love of performing useful services
are two different things.
The latter love is a heavenly love,
while the first is a hellish one.
Consequently, when one is in first place,
the other is in last place . . ..

AR 503 [1, 5]

We will now say what Egypt symbolizes in the Word:
Egypt symbolizes
the natural self joined to the spiritual self,
and its affection for truth then
and consequent knowledge and intelligence.
And in an opposite sense
it symbolizes the natural self
divorced from the spiritual self,
and its conceit in its own intelligence then
and consequent irrationality in spiritual matters.

The reason Egypt symbolizes both
intelligence and irrationality in spiritual matters
was that the Ancient Church,
which extended through many kingdoms in Asia,
existed also in Egypt,
and at that time the Egyptians,
more than any others,
cultivated a study of the correspondences
between spiritual and natural things,
as is apparent from the hieroglyphs there.
But when that study among them
was turned into magic and became idolatrous,
then their intelligence in spiritual matters
became irrational.
Egypt symbolizes this, therefore,
in an opposite sense.

 

AR 499-501 - After

AR 499

Then, when they finish their testimony.
(Revelation 11:7)

This symbolically means
that after the Lord has taught
that He is God of heaven and earth,
and that conjunction with Him is achieved
through a life
in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

AR 500

The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit
will make war against them,
overcome them, and kill them.
(Revelation 11:7)

This symbolically means
that those people who are caught up
in the interior tenets of the doctrine
regarding faith alone
will oppose
these two essential elements of the New Church,
attack them, and reject them,
in themselves
and, as far as they are able, in others.

AR 501

The bodies of the two witnesses
symbolize the two essential elements
of the New Church, namely,
an acknowledgment of the Lord
as the only God of heaven and earth,
and conjunction with Him by a life
in accordance with the Ten Commandments.
The street of the great city
symbolizes doctrinal falsity
connected with justification by faith alone -
the street symbolizing falsity,
as we shall see next,
and the city symbolizing doctrine.
It is called a great city
because the doctrine is the prevailing doctrine
throughout the Protestant Reformed Christian
world among the clergy,
though not in the same way among the laity.

Streets in the Word
have almost the same symbolic meaning as ways,
because streets are a city's ways.
Still, streets symbolize doctrinal truths or falsities,
because a city symbolizes doctrine,
while ways symbolize a church's truths or falsities,
because the earth symbolizes the church.


 

AR 493, 497 - There Are Two: Olive Trees, Lampstands, Essential Elements

AR 493

These are the two olive trees
and the two lampstands
standing before the God of the earth.
(Revelation 11:4)

This symbolizes love and intelligence,
or charity and faith,
both of which people have in them from the Lord.

An olive tree symbolizes love and charity . . ..
And a lampstand symbolizes
enlightenment in truths,
thus intelligence and faith,
inasmuch as intelligence comes from
an enlightenment in truths,
and faith in turn from this.
To stand before God means, symbolically,
to hear and do what He has commanded.
Here, therefore, it means
that these two characteristics in them
come from the Lord who is God of the earth,
that is, in people who possess
the two essential elements of the New Church . . ..
For these two form the church -
love and charity forming its life,
and intelligence and faith its doctrine.

An olive tree symbolizes love and charity
because the olive tree
symbolizes the celestial church,
and thus an olive, being its fruit,
symbolizes celestial love,
which is love toward the Lord.
Because of this,
that love is symbolized also by olive oil,
with which all the holy accouterments of the church
were anointed.
The oil called holy oil
was extracted from olives and mixed with spices.
Olive oil was also used
to light the lamps of the lampstand in the Tabernacle
every evening (Exodus 27:20, Leviticus 24:2).

AR 497

. . . people who turn away from
the two essential elements of the New Church
cannot see anything but the falsities
in which they are caught up,
and if they use the Word to defend them,
they falsify its truths.
__________

The Lord God Jesus Christ Reigns!
Happy New Church Day.

 

AR 490 - Two Witnesses

AR 490 [1, 2, 3]

"And I will give power to my two witnesses."
(Revelation 11:3)

This symbolizes those people
who confess and acknowledge from the heart
that the Lord is God of heaven and earth,
whose humanity is Divine,
and who are conjoined with Him by a life
in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

These are the people meant here
by the two witnesses
because these two characteristics
are the two essential elements of the New Church.

Regarding the first essential,
that the Lord is God of heaven and earth,
whose humanity is Divine -
that this is a testimony,
and therefore that those people are witnesses
who confess and acknowledge this from the heart.

Regarding the second essential of the New Church,
namely conjunction with the Lord by a life
in accordance with the Ten Commandments -
that this is a testimony is apparent from the fact
that the Ten Commandments
are called a testimony . . ..

We will say something here
regarding conjunction with the Lord
by a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments:

There are two tables
on which these commandments were written,
one for the Lord and one for mankind.
The contents of the first table declare
that several gods are not to be worshiped,
but only one.
The contents of the second table declare
that evils are not to be done.
When one God is worshiped
and people do not do evils,
conjunction takes place.
For in the measure
that a person desists from evils,
that is, in the measure that he repents,
he is in the same measure
accepted by God
and does good from God.

But who, now, is the one God?
A trinal or triune God is not one God
when the trine or trinity exists in three persons.
But a God who has a trine or trinity
in one person
is one God,
and that God is the Lord.

 

AR 485, 485 - A Reed and a Measuring Rod to Measure

AR 485 [1, 3]

Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod.
(Revelation 11:1)

This symbolically means
that the Lord gave John the ability and power
to learn and see the state of the church
in heaven and in the world.

A reed symbolizes weak power,
the kind a person has of himself,
and a rod symbolizes strong power,
the kind a person has from the Lord.
Consequently John's being given
a reed like a measuring rod
symbolizes power from the Lord.
That it was the ability and power
to learn and see the state of the church
in heaven and in the world
is apparent from the events
that follow in this chapter to the end.

A rod symbolizes power
because in olden times people in the church
made wooden rods,
and wood symbolizes goodness.
It also substituted for the right hand
and supported it,
and the right hand symbolizes power.
It is owing to this
that a scepter is a shortened rod,
and a scepter symbolizes the power of a king.
Moreover, "scepter" and "rod" in Hebrew
are the same word. (i.e., מַטֶּה.)

AR 486 [1, 2, 3]

And the angel stood by, saying,
"Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar,
and those who worship there."
(Revelation 11:1)

This symbolizes the Lord's presence
and His command to see and learn
the state of the church in the New Heaven.

The Lord is meant by the angel,
here . . . and elsewhere,
since an angel does nothing of himself
but is impelled by the Lord.
. . . The angel's standing by
symbolizes the Lord's presence,
and his speaking symbolizes the Lord's command.
To rise and measure means, symbolically,
to see and learn.

The temple, altar, and those who worship there
symbolize the state of the church
in the New Heaven -
the temple symbolizing the church
in respect to its doctrinal truth,
the altar symbolizing the church
in respect to the goodness of its love,
and those who worship there
symbolizing the church
in respect to its formal worship
as a result of those two elements.
Those who worship symbolize here
the reverence that is a part of formal worship,
since the spiritual sense
is a sense abstracted from persons,
as is apparent here also from the fact
that John is told to measure the worshipers.
These three elements are what form the church:
doctrinal truth, goodness of love,
and formal worship as a result of these.

It should be known that the church exists
in the heavens just as on earth,
and that the two are united
like the inner and outer selves in people.
Consequently the Lord provides
the church in heaven first,
and from it, or by means of it,
then the church on earth.
That is why the New Jerusalem
is said to come down from God
out of the New Heaven (Revelation 21:1-2).

To measure means, symbolically,
to learn and investigate the character of a thing
because the measure of something
symbolizes its character or state.

 

AR 485 - The Two Essential Elements of the New Church

AR 485

. . . the two essential elements of the New Church,
namely,
the Lord alone is God of heaven and earth,
whose humanity is Divine,
and that people ought to live
in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

-----------------------------

Also taught in
the Old Testament in the New Testament,
but without the emphasis
on the Divine Humanity:

Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your strength.
(Deuteronomy 6:5)

Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge
against anyone among your people,
but love your neighbor as yourself.
I am the Lord.
(Leviticus 19:18)

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul
and with all your mind.
This is the first and greatest commandment.
And the second is like it:
‘Love your neighbor as yourself.
All the Law and the Prophets
hang on these two commandments.”
(Matthew 22:37-40)

 

AR 484 - God's Grace

AR 484 [2]

"Is it not contrary to reason to think
that God the Father turned away from
grace toward the human race
and rejected mankind?
Is not Divine grace an attribute
of the Divine essence?
To turn away from grace, then,
would be to turn away from His own Divine essence,
and to turn away from His Divine essence
would mean He was no longer God.
Can God be estranged from Himself?
Believe me, grace on the part of God -
as it is infinite, so is it eternal.
The grace of God can be lost on mankind's part
if people do not accept it,
but never on God's part.
If grace should depart from God,
it would be all over with the whole of heaven
and with the whole human race,
to the point that people
would no longer be in the least bit human.
Therefore grace on the part of God
continues to eternity,
not only toward angels and people,
but also toward the devil himself.

 

AR 481 - "Take and Eat It"; AR 482 - To Prophesy, to Teach

AR 481

And he said to me, "Take and eat it;
and it will make your stomach bitter,
but in your mouth it will be as sweet as honey."
(Revelation 10:10)

This symbolically means
that accepting the doctrine
from an acknowledgment that
the Lord is the Savior and Redeemer
is pleasing and agreeable,
but acknowledging that He alone
is God of heaven and earth,
and that His humanity is Divine,
is displeasing and vexatious,
owing to their falsifications.

To take the little book means, symbolically,
to accept the doctrine regarding the Lord.
To eat it means, symbolically,
to acknowledge the doctrine.
To make the stomach bitter means, symbolically,
that the doctrine will be displeasing and vexatious
owing to falsifications;
for bitterness symbolizes truth falsified.
To be as sweet as honey in the mouth
means, symbolically,
that the initial acceptance of the doctrine
is pleasing and delightful.

In application now to this doctrine,
meant by the little book
open in the hand of the angel,
these particulars mean, symbolically,
that accepting it from an acknowledgment
that the Lord is the Savior and Redeemer
is pleasing and delightful,
but that any acknowledgment
that He only is God of heaven and earth,
and that His humanity is Divine,
is displeasing and vexatious owing to falsifications.

The falsifications
which cause this doctrine to be perceived
as displeasing and vexatious are chiefly these,
that people do not acknowledge
the Lord to be one with the Father,
as He Himself nevertheless taught,
and that they do not acknowledge
the Lord's humanity to be Divine,
which nevertheless is the Son of God.
And so it may be said
that they make God three and the Lord two.
Added to these falsifications
are the continual falsities flowing from them.
From these flows faith alone,
and faith alone afterward serves to confirm them.

AR 483

And he said to me,
"You must prophesy again
about peoples, nations, tongues, and many kings."
(Revelation 10:11)

. . . To prophesy means, symbolically, to teach,
and so to prophesy again means to teach further.
"Peoples" symbolize people who are impelled by
doctrinal truths or doctrinal falsities,
and "nations" symbolize people
who are impelled by good practices or evil practices.
More about these later.
"Tongues" symbolize people
who are impelled by truths and goods
or falsities and evils externally,
and "kings" people who are impelled by them internally.
To be shown that kings symbolize people
who are impelled by truths springing from goodness,
and in an opposite sense,
people who are impelled by
falsities springing from evil,
and abstractly truths themselves
springing from goodness
or falsities themselves springing from evil.

. . . The text says peoples, nations, tongues and kings
in order to mean all people in the church
who are of this character.

John's being told that he had to prophesy again
means, symbolically, to teach further
the character of people caught up in faith alone,
in order that their falsities may be exposed
and thus eradicated,
since no falsity is eradicated
before it has been exposed.

That "peoples" symbolize people
impelled by doctrinal truths or falsities,
and "nations" people impelled
by good or evil practices,
can be seen from many passages in the Word
where peoples and nations are mentioned. 

AR 477, 478 - The Seventh Angel Is About to Sound

AR 477

But in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel,
when he is about to sound.
(Revelation 10:7)

. . . Sounding a trumpet means, symbolically,
to examine and expose the state of life
of people in the church,
thus also the state of the church . . ..
And because there were seven angels who sounded,
the sounding of the seventh angel symbolizes
the final examination and exposure,
showing that the church would perish
if the Lord did not establish a new one.

AR 478 [1, 6]

The mystery of God would be concluded,
as He declared to His servants the prophets.
(Revelation 10:7)

. . . To be concluded means, symbolically,
to be fulfilled, to come to an end,
and then to reappear.
The mystery of God declared to the prophets
symbolizes something foretold
by the Lord in the Word and previously concealed.
To declare good news means, symbolically,
to proclaim the coming of the Lord and His kingdom,
for the gospel is happy news.
That this would come about
after the Last Judgment was executed
on the people who destroyed the church
was also foretold in the Word.

Our being told
that the mystery of God would be concluded
means that something would be fulfilled
that was not fulfilled before, namely,
the coming of the Lord's kingdom.
It was not fulfilled by the Jews
because they did not acknowledge the Lord.
Neither has it been fulfilled by Christians
because they do not acknowledge the Lord
to be God of heaven and earth
even in respect to His human element;
for they regard this
as being like anyone else's human element.
Consequently they do not turn to Him directly,
even though He is Jehovah who came into the world.

 

AR 474, 475, 476 - The Angel Standing, A New Church Is Necessary

AR 474 [1, 2, 3]

Then the angel whom I saw standing
on the sea and on the land
lifted up his hand to heaven
and swore by Him who lives forever and ever.
(Revelation 10:6)

That Jehovah, which is to say, the Lord,
swore by Himself or on His own authority means,
symbolically, that Divine truth attests;
for the Lord is Divine truth itself,
and this attests of itself and on its own authority.

AR 475.

Who created heaven and the things that are in it,
the earth and the things that are in it,
and the sea and the things that are in it.
(Revelation 10:6)

. . . In the natural sense,
to create means to create,
but in the spiritual sense to create means,
symbolically, to reform and regenerate,
which is also to enliven.
Heaven means the heaven inhabited by angels.

AR 476

That there should be no more time.
(Revelation 10:6)

. . . it means there would be no church
unless people acknowledge one God,
and that the Lord is that God.
But what is the case today?
No one denies that there is one God,
but people do deny that the Lord is that God.
And yet there cannot be one God
in whom there is at the same time a Trinity
unless that God is the Lord.
No one denies that the church originates from Him
who is the Savior and Redeemer,
but people do deny that they should
turn to Him directly as their Savior and Redeemer.

It is apparent from this
that the church will die unless a new one arises,
one that acknowledges the Lord alone
as God of heaven and earth
and accordingly turns to Him directly.

. . . Time symbolizes state
because in the spiritual world
time is not measured by days, weeks,
months and years,
but instead by states which are progressions
of the inhabitants' lives,
by which they recall the past.

The state of the church is meant here by time
because although day and night,
morning and evening, summer and winter mark
periods of time in the world,
when interpreted in the spiritual sense
they mark states of the church.
Consequently, when these states come to an end,
there is no church;
and that is the case when
there is no longer any good and truth,
thus when the light of truth has become dark,
and the warmth of goodness cold.

AR 472, 476 - The Seven Thunders

AR 472 [1, 3]

And when he cried out,
seven thunders uttered their voices.
(Revelation 10:3)

This symbolically means
that the Lord has disclosed
throughout the whole of heaven
what is in the little book.

. . . We are told that the seven thunders
uttered their voices because the Lord's speech
descending through the heavens
into the lower regions sounds like thunder.
And because He speaks at the same time
throughout the whole of heaven,
thus in fullness,
there are said to be seven thunders,
for the number seven means, symbolically,
all people or all things, and thus completeness.
Consequently thunder also symbolizes
instruction and a perception of truth,
and here discovery and disclosure as well.

AR 473

Now when the seven thunders
uttered their voices,
I was about to write;
but I heard a voice from heaven saying to me,
"Seal up the things
which the seven thunders uttered,
and do not write them."
(Revelation 10:4)

This symbolically means
that these things must indeed be disclosed,
but they are not accepted
until after those people meant by
the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet
have been cast out of the world of spirits,
because it would be dangerous before then.
 

AR 469 - An Opened Little Book; AR 470 - One Foot on the Sea, One on the Land: AR 471 - When a Lion Roars

AR 469 [1, 2]

He had in his hand a little book open.
(Revelation 10:2)

This symbolizes the Word 
in respect to this point of doctrine there,
that the Lord is God of heaven and earth,
and that His humanity is Divine.

This is the subject now
because it is the essential doctrine
of the New Church.
That is because
everyone's salvation depends on
a conception and acknowledgment of God.
For the case is as stated in the Preface,
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," inasmuch as
"that idea leads to conjunction,
and through conjunction to
light, wisdom, and eternal happiness."

AR 470

And he set his right foot on the sea
and his left foot on the land.
(Revelation 10:2)

This symbolically means
that the Lord has the entire church
under His auspices and governance,
both those people in it
who concern themselves
with its external elements,
and those in it who concern themselves
with its internal ones.

AR 471

And cried with a loud voice,
as when a lion roars.
(Revelation 10:3)

This symbolizes a grievous lamentation
that the church was taken from Him.

. . . A lamentation over this is
what the angel's roaring like a lion symbolizes;
for a lion roars when it sees its enemies
and is attacked by them,
and when it sees its young or its prey carried off.
The same is comparatively the case
with the Lord when He sees His church
carried off by devils.

 

AR 464-468 - Revelation 10 and Another Mighty Angel

AR 464 - What We Will learn in Revelation 10

The subject of this and the following chapter
is the Lord,
showing that He is God of heaven and earth,
and that He is God even in respect to His humanity,
thus that He is Jehovah.

AR 465

I saw another mighty angel
coming down from heaven.
(Revelation 10:1)

This symbolizes the Lord
in His Divine majesty and power.

AR 466

Clothed with a cloud,
with a rainbow over his head.
(Revelation 10:1)

. . . a cloud is used to symbolize the Word
in its natural sense,
which also originates from Him,
and which thus pertains to Him and is Him.
A rainbow symbolizes the Lord's Divinity
on the spiritual plane,
and because this exists above the natural plane,
the rainbow was therefore seen
over the angel's head.

It must be known that the Lord is present
with people in His Divinity on the natural plane,
with angels of the spiritual kingdom
in His Divinity on the spiritual plane,
and with angels of the celestial kingdom
in His Divinity on the celestial plane.
Still, He Himself is not partitioned,
but He appears to each person
in accordance with that person's character.

AR 467

And his face was like the sun.
(Revelation 10:1)

That this symbolizes the Lord's Divine love
and at the same time Divine wisdom . . ..

AR 468

And his feet like pillars of fire.
(Revelation 10:1)

. . . The angel's feet looked like pillars of fire
because the Lord's Divinity on the natural plane -
which fundamentally is
the Divine humanity that He took on in the world -
supports His Divinity from eternity,
as the body does the soul,
and likewise as the Word's natural meaning
supports its spiritual and celestial meanings . . ..

Fire symbolizes love because
spiritual fire is nothing else.
Therefore it is customary in worship
to pray that heavenly fire, that is to say,
heavenly love, may kindle the worshipers' hearts.
People know that there is a correspondence
between fire and love from the fact
that a person grows warm with love,
and cold with its loss.
Nothing else produces vital warmth but love,
in both senses.
The origin of these correspondences
is owing to the existence of two suns,
one in the heavens, which is pure love,
and the other in the world, which is nothing but fire.
This, too, is the reason for the correspondence
between all spiritual and natural things.

 

AR 461-462 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 8) - Faith Alone Does Not Repent

AR 461

And they did not repent
of their murders or their enchantments
or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
(Revelation 9:21)

. . . Faith alone induces stupidity, backsliding,
and intransigence in the hearts of people
found in Protestant Reformed churches
because goodness of life does not constitute religion
where faith alone prevails;
and if goodness of life does not constitute religion,
then the second table of the Ten Commandments,
a table calling for repentance,
is as though an empty one,
in which no writing appears.

It is apparent that
the second table of the Ten Commandments
is a table calling for repentance,
since it does not say that good works should be done,
but that evil works must not be done,
namely, that you shall not kill,
you shall not commit adultery,
you shall not steal,
you shall not bear false witness,
you shall not covet things that are your neighbor's.
If these are not matters of religion,
then the case is as stated:
"And they did not repent of their murders
or their enchantments
or their sexual immorality or their thefts."

AR 462

To bear false witness means,
in the natural sense,
to act as a false witness, to lie and defame;
and in the spiritual sense it means
to convince and persuade that falsity is true
and that evil is good.
It is apparent from this
that to practice enchantment means, symbolically,
to persuade someone of falsity
and thus to destroy the truth.

 

AR 458-460 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 7) - Idols: Falsities in Worship

AR 458

So as not to worship demons.
(Revelation 9:20)

Someone, then, who invokes faith alone
as the chief tenet of his religion or as his idol -
he, because he does not search out
any evil in himself that he calls a sin,
and therefore does not determine to remove it
by repentance,
remains caught up in it.
And because every evil is composed of lusts,
and is nothing but a bundle of lusts,
it follows that a person who does not
search out any evil in himself
and refrain from it as a sin against God,
which is possible solely through repentance,
after death becomes a demon.

AR 459

And idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood.
(Revelation 9:20)

This symbolically means that thus they engage
in worship founded on nothing but falsities.

Idols in the Word symbolize falsities in worship,
and therefore worshiping them
symbolizes worship founded on falsities.
Worshiping idols of gold, silver,
brass, stone, and wood,
then, symbolizes worship
founded on falsities of every kind,
and when taken in combination,
worship founded on nothing but falsities.
Moreover, the materials, figures,
and garments of the idols among ancient peoples
represented the falsities of religion
on which they founded their worship.
Idols of gold symbolized
falsities regarding matters pertaining to God;
idols of silver,
falsities regarding matters pertaining to the spirit;
idols of brass,
falsities regarding charity;
idols of stone,
falsities regarding faith;
and idols of wood,
falsities regarding good works.

All of these falsities
are held by people who do not repent,
that is, who do not refrain from evils
as being sins against God.

AR 460

Which can neither see nor hear nor walk.
(Revelation 9:20)

This is said because idolaters believe
that their idols see and hear,
for they make them gods.
But still this is not what the statement means.
Rather it means that falsities in worship
do not have in them
any spiritual or truly rational life,
as to see and hear means, symbolically,
to understand and perceive.
To walk, moreover, symbolically means to live.
Thus the three together
symbolize a spiritual and truly rational life.

 

AR 456-457 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 6) - The Work of Our Hands

AR 456

But the rest of mankind,
who were not killed in these plagues.
(Revelation 9:20)

The rest of mankind mean
people who are not like those described,
but who still make faith alone
the chief tenet of their religion.
Their not being killed
symbolizes people not so spiritually dead.
The plagues in which the former were killed
mean a love of self,
a conceit in their own intelligence,
and the attendant lusts for evil and falsity,
because these three are symbolized by
fire, smoke and brimstone . . ..

AR 457 [1, 2, 4]

Still did not repent of the works of their hands.
(Revelation 9:20)

The works of a person's hands
symbolize a person's native proclivities,
which are evils and their attendant falsities,
because the hands symbolize in summary
the things that emanate from a person;
for the forces of the mind
and consequently of the body
are directed into the hands and terminate there.
Consequently the hands in the Word
symbolize power.

In the natural sense of the Word,
the works of a person's hands
mean carved images, cast images, and idols;
but in its spiritual sense,
they symbolize evils and falsities of every kind,
which are a person's native proclivities.

Everything that the Lord does
is likewise called the work of His hands,
and these are His inherent attributes,
which in themselves are goods and truths.

 

AR 453-455 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 5) - The Serpents

AR 453

By these three a third of mankind was killed -
by the fire and smoke and brimstone
coming out of their mouths.
(Revelation 9:18)

It is owing to these falsities
that no one knows
anywhere in the whole Christian world
that the fire mentioned here
is the love of self and the world,
and that this love is the devil.
Nor does anyone know
that the smoke issuing from this fire
is a conceit in one's own inherent intelligence,
and that this conceit is satan.
Neither does anyone know that the brimstone
ignited by this fire through that conceit
is the lusts attendant on evil and falsity,
and that these lusts
are the diabolical and satanic crew
of which hell consists.
And when these things are not known,
it is impossible for anyone to know what sin is;
for sin finds its every delight and gratification in them.

AR 454

For truth shines only in the eyes of people
who are directed by charity
and its accompanying faith,
and it is only these
that the Word teaches.

AR 455 [1, 2, 4]

[And in their tails,] for their tails were like serpents,
having heads,
and with them they do harm.
(Revelation 9:19)

The symbolism here is similar to that earlier
in the case of the locusts,
but there we were told
that they had tails like scorpions,
and here tails like serpents.
For the people described by locusts there
speak and persuade using the Word,
scholarship and learning,
whereas the people described here
employ arguments that consist only
of appearances of truth and fallacies;
and people who use these
to speak harmoniously and seemingly wisely
do indeed deceive others,
but not to the same extent.

Since sensual people
are cunning and crafty like foxes,
therefore the Lord says,
"Be as wise as serpents" (Matthew 10:16).
For a sensual person speaks and reasons
on the basis of appearances and fallacies,
and if he possesses a talent for arguing,
he knows how to skillfully defend every falsity,
including as well the heresy of faith alone;
and yet he is so dim-sighted at seeing truth
that almost no one could be more so. 

AR 449-452 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 4) - The Horses

AR 449 [1,3]

And thus I saw the horses in the vision
and those who sat on them.
(Revelation 9:17)

This symbolizes the discovery then
that the reasonings of the interiors of their minds
concerning faith alone were fanciful and illusory,
and that they themselves were insane
because of them.

To see means, symbolically,
to perceive their character.
The horses symbolize the reasonings
of the interiors of their minds
concerning faith alone . . ..
People sitting on horses
symbolize people who are intelligent
owing to their understanding of the Word -
here people who are insane
because of their fanciful and illusory reasonings
contrary to the Word.

All of this that they told me collapses, however,
if one turns to the Lord directly as Savior,
believing in Him and doing good,
both of these for the sake of salvation,
and this by the person as if of himself,
yet believing that it is the Lord's doing.
Unless a person does this as if of himself,
no faith is possible,
and no charity,
and thus no religion and so no salvation.

AR 450

Having breastplates that were fiery,
hyacinthine and sulfurous.
(Revelation 9:17)

Breastplates symbolize the arguments
people use to do battle for faith alone.
Fire symbolizes heavenly love,
and in an opposite sense, hellish love.
Hyacinthine symbolizes intelligence
springing from a spiritual love,
and in an opposite sense,
intelligence springing from a hellish love,
which is one's own inherent intelligence . . ..
And sulfur symbolizes lust
arising from that hellish love
and expressed through
their own inherent intelligence.

In actual fact, however,
people who live a moral life
solely for the sake of themselves and the world
do not know this.
The reason is
that although they inwardly are such as described,
in outward appearances
they are like people who live a Christian life.
But they should know
that when anyone of them dies,
he comes into his interior life,
because it is the life of his spirit,
and he is his internal self.
Moreover, his inner character
then accommodates his outward one to itself,
and they become alike.

The case is altogether different with people
who regard the precepts of a moral life as Divine,
and who make them at the same time
civil precepts because they are expressive
of a love for the neighbor.

AR 451 [1-2,3]

And the heads of the horses
were like the heads of lions.
(Revelation 9:17)

Heads symbolize the fanciful and illusory ideas
that these people have regarding faith alone,
which are the subject here,
and for which we use the single term delusions.
Horses symbolize the reasonings
in the interiors of their minds . . ..
Lions symbolize power.
It is a power based on fallacies,
because these people are sense-oriented,
and sense-oriented people
base their reasoning on fallacies,
which they use to persuade and captivate.

. . . faith divorced from charity is a mirage,
and a figment of the imagination,
like a bubble floating in the air.

AR 452

And out of their mouths came
fire, smoke, and brimstone.
(Revelation 9:17)

Out of their mouths means
from their thoughts and discourses.
Fire symbolizes a love of self and the world,
which is a characteristic trait of the will.
Smoke symbolizes a conceit
in one's own intelligence,
which is a characteristic trait of the intellect,
emanating from the love of self and the world
like smoke from a fire.
And brimstone symbolizes the lusts
attendant on evil and falsity,
which are a characteristic trait
flowing from them both.

This is not, however, apparent
from these people's discourses in public in the world.
But it is clearly apparent to angels in heaven.
Consequently we say
that their thoughts and discourses,
interiorly regarded, are of this character.

 

AR 447-448 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 3) - The Horsemen

AR 447 [1, 3]

Now the number of the army of the horsemen
was two hundred million.
(Revelation 9:16)

Armies symbolize goods and truths,
and in an opposite sense, evils and falsities -
here falsities accompanying evil,
as we will see presently.
Horsemen symbolize reasonings
concerning faith alone,
because a horse symbolizes
an understanding of the Word
and also a destroyed understanding of the Word.
Horsemen consequently symbolize reasonings
based on a destroyed understanding of the Word -
here reasonings concerning faith alone,
because the subject is
people caught up in that faith.
Two hundred million
does not mean two hundred million,
but an abundance.
The number two is used
because two is said in application to goodness,
and in an opposite sense, to evil;
and a hundred million,
or ten thousand times ten thousand,
is said in application to truths,
and in an opposite sense, to falsities.

It can be seen from this
that the number of the army of horsemen
being two hundred million
symbolizes reasonings concerning faith alone,
with which these people had filled
the interiors of their minds,
springing from nothing
but an abundance of falsities accompanying evil.

Since the hosts of heaven
symbolize the goods and truths
of heaven and the church,
therefore the Lord is called Jehovah Zebaoth,
or Jehovah of Hosts.
And therefore the ministry of the Levites
was called military service
(Numbers 4:3. 23. 30, 39).

AR 448

And I heard the number of them.
(Revelation 9:16)

To hear means, symbolically, to perceive.
A number symbolizes
the character of a thing or a state.
It is the character of these people's state
as described hereafter
because that is what is now described
in the following verses,
which is why it begins, "And thus I saw."

 

AR 443-446 (portions) - The Sixth Angel Sounded (part 2)

AR 443

And I heard a voice
from the four horns of the golden altar
which is before God,
saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet.
(Revelation 9:14)

This symbolizes a command
by the Lord out of the spiritual heaven
to those who were to examine and expose
the state of life among those people
who were not so wise.

A voice symbolizes a Divine command.
The golden altar,
or the altar upon which incense was burned,
symbolizes the spiritual heaven.
The four horns of the altar symbolize its power,
here the power to release the four angels
that were bound at the river Euphrates,
as we are told next.
The sixth angel having a trumpet
symbolizes a directive
to those on whom was enjoined the task
of examining and disclosing these things.

AR 444

"Release the four angels
who are bound at the great river Euphrates."
(Revelation 9:14)

. . . In the Word,
the Euphrates symbolizes the inner constituents
of the human mind, called rational,
which in people governed by truths
springing from goodness
are full of wisdom,
but which in people caught up in falsities
springing from evil
are full of irrationality.
This is the symbolic meaning
of the river Euphrates in the Word.
The reason is that this river formed the boundary
between the land of Canaan and Assyria,
and the land of Canaan symbolized the church,
and Assyria its rational component.
Therefore the river
that formed the boundary between them
symbolizes the inner constituents of the mind
called rational,
and this in both senses.
For there are three components
that form the person of the church:
the spiritual component;
the rational or intellectual component;
and the natural component,
which is one of knowledge.
The spiritual component of the church
is symbolized by the land of Canaan and its rivers;
the rational or intellectual component of the church
by Asshur or Assyria and its river, the Euphrates;
and the natural component of the church,
which is one of knowledge,
by Egypt and its river, the Nile.

AR 445

And the four angels were released.
(Revelation 9:14)

This symbolically means
that when the external bonds were removed,
the interiors of their minds became apparent.

AR 446

Who had been prepared for
the hour and day and month and year,
to kill a third of mankind.
(Revelation 9:15)

This symbolizes their being in a perpetual effort
to take away spiritual light and life
from the people of the church.

. . . To kill means, symbolically,
to take away spiritual light and life
from people of the church.