AR 442 - Then the Sixth Angel Sounded

AR 442 [1, 2]

Then the sixth angel sounded.
(Revelation 13)

This symbolizes an examination and exposure
of the state of life among those people
in the Protestant Reformed Church
who were not so wise,
and yet who placed the whole of religion in faith,
thinking of it alone,
and of nothing besides it and ritual worship,
and so living as they pleased.

. . . The people who are the subject now
are totally different from those
who have been the subject so far in this chapter,
whose falsities in matters of faith
were seen in the form of locusts.
They differ in this respect,
that the people described so far
devote themselves to zealously exploring
the mysteries of justification by faith
and to teaching its signs and its testimonies,
which to them are the goods of a moral and civic life,
asserting that although the precepts of the Word
are in themselves indeed Divine,
in people they become natural,
because they emanate from a person's will,
and being natural,
they lack any connection
with the spiritual components of faith.

AR 430-441 (portions) - The Fifth Angel Sounded (part 4) - The Locusts

AR 430
The locusts in appearance.
(Revelation 9:7)

This symbolizes the appearance and likeness
of those people who affirmed in themselves
a faith divorced from charity.

AR 431
Were like horses prepared for battle.
(Revelation 9:7)

This symbolically means
that because of their ability to reason,
they appeared to themselves
to be battling from an understanding of truth
founded on the Word.

AR 432
And on their heads
were what looked like crowns of gold.
(Revelation 9:7)

This symbolically means
that they seemed to themselves to be conquerors.

AR 433
And their faces were like the faces of men.
(Revelation 9:7)

This symbolically means
that they seemed to themselves to be wise.

AR 434
They had hair like women's hair.
(Revelation 9:8)

This symbolically means
that they seemed to themselves
to have an affection for truth.

AR 435
And their teeth were like lions' teeth.
(Revelation 9:8)

This symbolically means that matters of the senses,
which constitute the lowest elements
of the natural self's life,
appeared to them to have power over all else.

. . . That teeth symbolize
the lowest elements of a person's life -
those elements called sensual -
and that when these are divorced
from the interior levels of the mind,
they are caught up in nothing but falsities
and attack truths and destroy them . . ..

AR 436
And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron.
(Revelation 9:9)

Breastplates symbolize protections,
because they protect the breast.
Here they symbolize protections of falsities,
which are concocted by arguments
based on fallacies,
which people use to defend a false proposition.
For from a false proposition
nothing but falsities can flow.
If truths are advanced,
they are regarded only externally or superficially,
thus also sensually,
and so are falsified,
becoming then fallacies
in the people who entertain them.

Breastplates have this symbolism
because battles in the Word
symbolize spiritual battles,
and weapons of war therefore symbolize
various defenses connected with such a battle . . ..

AR 437
And the sound of their wings was like the sound
of many horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle.
(Revelation 9:9)

This symbolizes their reasonings,
as though founded on
doctrinal truths from the Word fully understood,
which they had to ardently defend.

AR 438
They had tails like scorpions.
(Revelation 9:10)

This symbolizes the Word's truths falsified,
by which they induce a mental numbness.

A tail symbolizes the last extension of the head,
because the brain extends
through the spinal column into the tail.
Consequently the head and the tail
are united as their first and last elements.
Consequently, when the head symbolizes
a justifying and saving faith alone,
the tail symbolizes in summary all its proofs,
and as these are taken from the Word,
it symbolizes the Word's truths falsified.

Everyone who assumes some principle of religion
on the basis of on his own intelligence
and puts it at the head of the rest,
also takes proof passages from the Word
and puts them at the tail,
thus inducing a mental numbness in others
and so doing them injury.

AR 439
And there were stings in their tails,
and their power was to hurt men five months.
(Revelation 9:10)

This symbolizes their clever falsifications of the Word,
by which for a short time
they darkened and enchanted the intellect,
and so deceived and captivated it.

. . . Such is the case when people like this
take some things from the Word and apply them.
For the Word was written
in terms of things that correspond,
and the correspondent expressions
are partly apparent truths,
which conceal genuine truths within them.
If these genuine truths are unknown in the church,
it is possible for people to take from the Word
many things which at first appear to support heresy.
But when genuine truths are known in the church,
then the apparent truths are laid bare,
and the genuine truths come into view.
Before this comes about, however,
a heretic may use various things from the Word
to draw a veil over the intellect and enchant it,
and so to deceive and captivate it.

This is what those people do
who assert that a person's sins are forgiven him
so that he is justified, by an act of faith
of which no one is at all aware,
and this in a moment - if not before,
then in the last hour of dying.

AR 440

And they had as king over them
the angel of the bottomless pit,
whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon,
but who in Greek has the name Apollyon.
(Revelation 9:10)

This symbolically means
that those caught up in falsities springing from lusts,
who by a total falsification of the Word
destroyed the church,
are in a satanic hell.

. . . Abaddon in Hebrew is someone who destroys,
or a destroyer,
and likewise Apollyon in Greek,
and this is falsity of the most fundamental sort,
by which a total falsification of the Word
has destroyed the church.

 

AR 426-429 (portions) - The Fifth Angel Sounded (part 3)

AR 426

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth,
or any green thing, or any tree,
but only those men who do not have
the seal of God on their foreheads.
(Revelation 9:4)

This symbolizes the Lord's Divinely providing
that they be unable to take away
any truth or good of faith,
or any affection for or perception of these,
from any others than people lacking in charity
and so having no faith.

AR 428

And their torment was like the torment
of a scorpion when it strikes a man.
(Revelation 9:5)

This symbolically means
that this was owing to their persuasiveness.

. . . In the spiritual world one finds a persuasiveness
which takes away an understanding of truth,
and which induces a mental numbness
and thus an anguish of heart.
But this power of persuasion
is unknown in the natural world

AR 429

In those days men will seek death and will not find it;
they will desire to die,
and death will flee from them.
(Revelation 9:6)

This symbolically means that those people
caught up in the doctrine of faith alone
wish the intellect to be closed
and the will stopped up in matters of faith,
and thus that they be without
any spiritual light and life;
but that still the Lord has provided
that the intellect be not closed
or the will stopped up,
to keep the spiritual light and life in a person
from being extinguished.

. . . It is apparent that this is
the symbolic meaning of these words.
Otherwise what would it mean
that men in those days
will seek death and not find it,
or desire to die and have death flee from them?
For the only death meant by death here
is spiritual death,
which is induced when the intellect
is banished from tenets to be believed;
for a person then does not know
whether he is thinking and putting into practice
truth or falsity,
thus whether he is thinking and acting
in concert with angels in heaven
or in concert with devils in hell.

 

AR 424-425 (portions) - The Fifth Angel Sounded (part 2) - Locusts and Scorpions

Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth.
And to them was given power,
as the scorpions of the earth have power.
(Revelation 9:3)

AR 424 [1, 2]

Falsities that we term falsities of the lowest sort
are those which occur on the lowest level
of a person's life, called sensual . . ..
These falsities are symbolized in the Word by locusts.
It should be known, however,
that the locusts here did not look like
the locusts found in fields,
which hop about and devastate pastures and crops.
Instead they looked like pygmies or midgets,
as is apparent also from their description,
as for instance, that they had crowns on their heads,
faces like the faces of men,
hair like women's hair,
teeth like lions' teeth,
breastplates of iron,
and the angel of the bottomless pit as king over them.

Because falsities of the lowest sort
devour the growing truths and goods of the church
in a person,
they are symbolized by locusts
which devour the grasses in fields
and the vegetation on farms . . ..

AR 425

A scorpion symbolizes a deadly persuasiveness,
and a scorpion of the earth
a deadly persuasiveness
in matters having to do with the church,
as the earth symbolizes the church.
For when a scorpion stings a person,
it produces a numbness in the limbs,
and if it is not treated, death.
Persuasiveness does something similar to the intellect.
 

HH 64 - Loving Country

HH 64 [3]

There are people who in this world
love the good of their country more than their own
and the good of their neighbor as their own.
They are the ones who love and seek
the kingdom of the Lord in the other life,
since there the kingdom of the Lord
takes the place of one's country.
Further, people who love to do good to others
not for self-centered reasons
but for the sake of the good itself
are people who love their neighbor,
since in the other life the good is one's neighbor.
All individuals who are of this quality
are in the universal human - that is, in heaven.
 

AR 419-423 (portions) - The Fifth Angel Sounded (part 1)

Then the fifth angel sounded.
And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth.
And to him was given the key to the bottomless pit.

And he opened the bottomless pit,
and smoke arose out of the pit
like the smoke of a great furnace.
And the sun and the air were darkened
because of the smoke of the pit.
(Revelation 9:1-2)

AR 420

A star here symbolizes spiritual Divine truth,
because it fell from the spiritual heaven.
And the earth here symbolizes the church
with people concerned with its internal elements.

Spiritual Divine truth means intelligence
springing from a spiritual love,
which is love for the neighbor.
But because this intelligence is today called faith,
and this love, charity,
it is faith springing from charity, or rather,
it is the truth of faith
springing from the goodness of charity,
symbolized here by the star.

. . . For stars in the plural
symbolize concepts of goodness and truth,
and these are the means to intelligence.

AR 421

A key symbolizes the power to open,
and also to close.
And a bottomless pit symbolizes hell,
where those people reside
who have affirmed in themselves justification
and salvation by faith alone . . ..

. . . an affirmation of falsity
constitutes a denial of the truth.
Consequently, whenever
they hear some spiritual truth, namely,
a truth of the Word serviceable
for doctrine and life for people of the church,
they keep their mind
in the falsities they have affirmed;
and then they either
shroud the truth they have heard in falsities
or reject it as nothing but words,
or they yawn at it and turn away,
and this the more conceited they are
owing to their erudition (scholarship).
For conceit glues the falsities together
until they at last stick together,
like solidified sea foam.
The Word is therefore hidden from them,
like a book sealed with seven seals.

AR 422

The bottomless pit symbolizes the hell.
The smoke from it symbolizes falsities
arising from lusts,
and because the smoke is said to be
like that of a great furnace,
it means falsities accompanying lusts
springing from evil loves,
inasmuch as fire symbolizes love,
and the fire of hell, evil love.
A great furnace has the same symbolism,
since it smokes owing to fire.

 

AR 412-416 (portions) - The Forth Angel Sounded

Then 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 them was darkened,
so that a third of the day did not shine,
and likewise the night.

And I looked,
and I heard an angel flying in the midst of heaven,
saying with a loud voice,
"Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth,
because of the remaining
blasts of the trumpet of the three angels
who are about to sound!"
(Revelation 8:12-13)

AR 413

And a third of the sun was struck,
a third of the moon,
and a third of the stars,
and a third of them was darkened.
(Revelation 5:12)

This symbolically means
that because of their evils springing from falsities
and their falsities springing from evils,
they did not know what love is,
or what faith is, or any truth.

A third means, symbolically, all.
The sun symbolizes love.
The moon symbolizes intelligence and faith.
The stars symbolize concepts
of truth and goodness from the Word.
To be darkened means, symbolically,
to be unseen and unknown
because of evils springing from falsities
and falsities springing from evils.

Evils springing from falsities
are found in people who adopt falsities
having to do with religion
and defend them to the point
that they appear to be true.
Then, when they live in accordance with them,
they do evils as a result of the falsities,
or the evils of falsity.

On the other hand,
falsities springing from evils are found in people
who do not regard evils as being sins,
and still more in people who employ reasonings
issuing from their natural self,
and moreover from the Word,
to establish in themselves that evils are not sins.
Their very arguments are falsities
springing from evils,
and what we call the falsities of evil.

Darkness symbolizes these falsities
because light symbolizes truth,
and when the light has been extinguished,
darkness is left.

AR 414

Divine truth in the spiritual sense of the Word
is like the light of the sun during the day,
and Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word
is like the light of the moon and stars at night.
The spiritual sense of the Word, moreover,
flows into its natural sense,
as the sun does with its light to the moon,
and this reflects the light of the sun indirectly.

In this way also
does the spiritual sense of the Word enlighten people,
even people who know nothing of that sense,
when they read the Word in its natural sense.
However, it enlightens a spiritual person
as light from the sun does his eye,
but a natural person
as light from the moon and stars does his eye.
Everyone is enlightened in accordance with
his spiritual affection for truth and goodness,
and at the same time in accordance with
the genuine truths by which
he has opened his rational faculty.

AR 416

Saying with a loud voice,
"Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth,
because of the remaining blasts of the trumpet
of the three angels who are about to sound!"
(Revelation 5:13)

This symbolizes the utmost lamentation
over the state of damnation of people in the church
who in doctrine and life
have confirmed themselves
in a faith divorced from charity.

"Woe" symbolizes a lamentation
over the evil in someone,
and so over his unhappy state.
Here it means over the state of damnation
of those people who are the subject of
the next chapter and later.

 

AR 407-411 (portions) - The Third Angel Sounded

Then the third angel sounded:
And a great star fell from heaven,
burning like a torch,
and it fell on a third of the rivers
and on the springs of water.
The name of the star is Wormwood,
and a third of the waters became wormwood,
and many people died from the water,
because it was made bitter.
(Revelation 8:10-11)

AR 408

A great star falling from heaven
symbolizes the appearance
of their personal intelligence
owing to a conceit arising from a hellish love,
because it appeared to burn like a torch,
and because its name was Wormwood,
as we are told in the next verse.
Both a star and a torch symbolize intelligence,
here the people's personal intelligence,
because it appeared to burn,
and everyone's personal intelligence
burns with conceit,
a conceit that arises from a hellish love,
a love symbolized by the mountain burning with fire.
Wormwood symbolizes hellish falsity,
which gives rise to and composes that intelligence.

AR 409

And it fell on a third of the rivers
and on the springs of water.
(Revelation 8:10)

This symbolically means
that consequently all the Word's truths
had been completely falsified.

Rivers symbolize truths in abundance,
because waters symbolize truths;
and springs of water or fountains
symbolize the Word.

. . . Rivers also symbolize temptations or trials,
because temptations or trials
are inundations of falsities.

AR 410

As for wormwood, it symbolized hellish falsity
because of its extreme bitterness,
which renders foods and beverages unpalatable.

Since the Jewish Church falsified
all the Word's truths,
like the church which is the subject here,
and the Lord represented it
by all the events of His suffering,
by permitting the Jews to treat Him
as they had the Word,
because He embodied the Word,
therefore "they gave Him vinegar mingled with gall,"
which is like wormwood,
"but when He had tasted it, He would not drink"
(Matthew 27:34, Mark 15:23, cf. Psalms 69:21).

AR 411 [2]

Spiritual life, for a Christian,
comes only from the Word's truths,
for in them is life.
But when the Word's truths have been falsified,
and a person interprets them and views them
in accordance with falsities
connected with his religion,
then the spiritual life in him is extinguished.
That is because the Word
communicates with heaven.
Consequently, when a person reads it,
the truths in it ascend into heaven,
while the falsities
to which truths have been attached or joined
lead to hell.
As a result the person is torn apart,
which extinguishes the Word's life.
This occurs, however,
only in the case of people
who use the Word to defend falsities,
but not in the case of people
who do not defend them.

AR 402-406 (portions) - The Second Angel Sounded

Then the second angel sounded:
And something like a great mountain burning with fire
was cast into the sea,
and a third of the sea became blood.
And a third of the living creatures in the sea died,
and the ships were destroyed.
(Revelation 8:8-9)

AR 402

What is said here concerns people
caught up externally in that faith (faith alone)
because the subject now is people who are at sea,
whereas previously it was people upon the earth;
and those on the earth mean people
concerned with the internal elements of the church,
namely the clergy,
while those at sea mean people concerned with
the external elements of the church,
namely the laity.

These people in the spiritual world
are seemingly at sea.

AR 405

Creatures mean people who can be reformed.
The reason is that to create
means, symbolically, to reform.
Their living means, symbolically,
to be able by reformation to receive life.
That they died means, symbolically,
that people who live that faith alone
cannot receive life.
They cannot, because people are all reformed
by a faith united to charity,
thus by a faith accompanying charity,
and none by faith alone;
for charity is the life of faith.

AR 406

Ships symbolize concepts
of goodness and truth from the Word
that are serviceable for application to life.
Ships have this symbolism
because ships travel the sea
and bring back the necessities
that the natural self needs for its every endeavor,
and concepts of goodness and truth
are the necessities that the spiritual self needs
for its every endeavor.
For out of them
is formed the doctrine of the church,
and in accordance with that a person's life.

Ships symbolize these concepts
because they are vessels,
and in many places in the Word
a vessel is used to express what it contains,
as a cup for wine, a dish for food,
the Tabernacle or Temple
for the sacred objects in it,
the Ark for the Law,
altars for worship, and so on.

 

AR 398-401 (portions) - The First Angel Sounded

The first angel sounded:
And hail and fire followed, mingled with blood,
and they were cast down to the earth,
and a third of the trees were burned up,
and all green grass was burned up.
(Revelation 8:7)

AR 398

To sound a trumpet means, symbolically,
to examine and expose.
The sounding of the first angel means
an examination and exposure
of the state of the church among people
caught up interiorly in that faith,
because it produced its effect on the earth,
as said next,
and the sounding of the second angel
produced its effect on the sea;
and throughout the book of Revelation,
when both earth and sea are mentioned,
the whole church is meant -
the earth meaning the church composed of people
concerned with its internal elements,
and the sea meaning
the church composed of people
concerned with its external ones.
For the church is internal and external -
internal in the case of the clergy,
external in the laity,
or internal in the case of people
who study its doctrines interiorly
and defend them by the Word,
and external in the case of people
who do not do that.

AR 399

Hail symbolizes falsity destroying goodness and truth.
Fire symbolizes hellish love.
And blood symbolizes the falsification of truth.

AR 400

A third part symbolizes everything
in relation to truth,
as a fourth part symbolizes everything
in relation to goodness.

. . . A tree symbolizes a person.
and because a person is human
by virtue of the affection of his will
and the perception of his intellect,
these also are symbolized by a tree.

There is as well a correspondence
between a person and a tree.
Consequently in heaven one sees paradisal parks
formed of trees that correspond to
the affections and resulting perceptions of angels.
And elsewhere, in hell,
there are forests formed of trees
that bear harmful fruit,
in accordance with their correspondence
to the lusts and resulting thoughts
of the inhabitants there.

AR 401

Green grass, in the Word,
symbolizes the goodness and truth of the church
or faith that is born first in the natural self.
It has the same symbolic meaning as
"the herb of the field."
And because faith has life
owing to goodness and truth,
therefore "all green grass was burned up"
means, symbolically,
that every constituent of faith having life
had perished.
Every constituent of faith having life perishes,
moreover, when there is no affection
for goodness or perception of truth . . ..

 

AR 388 - Opening the Seventh Seal; AR 396 - Voices, Thunderings, Lightnings, and an Earthquake

AR 388

When He opened the seventh seal.
(Revelation 8:1)

This symbolizes an examination by the Lord
of the state of the church
and consequent life of people
who are in His spiritual kingdom -
people who are governed by charity
and its accompanying faith -
here people caught up in faith alone.

. . . Faith alone is also faith divorced from charity,
because there is no conjunction of the two.

AR 396

And there were voices, thunderings, lightnings,
and an earthquake.
(Revelation 8:3)

This symbolically means
that after a communication with them was opened,
the angels heard reasonings about faith alone
and arguments in support of it,
and they perceived the state of the church
among those below
as heading for destruction.

 

AR 387 - What the Lord Reveals in Revelation Chapter 8

AR 387

The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The celestial kingdom consists of people who are governed by love toward the Lord and its accompanying wisdom; and the spiritual kingdom consists of people who are governed by love for the neighbor and its accompanying intelligence. But because love for the neighbor is today called charity, and intelligence faith, this latter kingdom consists of people who are governed by charity and its accompanying faith.

Now because heaven has been divided into two kingdoms, hell also has been divided into two kingdoms opposite to these - the diabolical kingdom and the satanic kingdom. The diabolical kingdom consists of people who are governed by a love of ruling stemming from a love of self and by its accompanying foolishness, for that love is the opposite of celestial love, and its foolishness is the opposite of celestial wisdom. The satanic kingdom, on the other hand, consists of people who are governed by a love of ruling from a conceit in their own intelligence and by its accompanying irrationality, for that love is the opposite of spiritual love, and its irrationality is the opposite of spiritual intelligence.

By foolishness and irrationality we mean foolishness and irrationality in celestial and spiritual matters.

What we have said about heaven is to be understood to apply likewise to the church on earth, for the two are inseparable.

. . . Now because the book of Revelation has as its sole subject the state of the church at its end, as we said in the Preface and in no. 2, therefore from this point on it deals with the inhabitants of the two kingdoms of heaven and the inhabitants of the two kingdoms of hell, and their character: with the inhabitants of the spiritual kingdom and of the satanic kingdom opposite to that kingdom, from chapter eight here to chapter sixteen, and with the inhabitants of the celestial kingdom and of the diabolical kingdom opposite to it in chapters seventeen and eighteen. After that it describes the Last Judgment, and finally the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. This concludes everything that precedes, because it is to this end that they looked.

Here and there in the Word we find mention of the devil and Satan, and both mean hell. Each is mentioned because all the inhabitants in one hell are called devils, and all in the other hell, satanic spirits.

 

AR 381 - Hunger, Thirst

AR 381

"They shall neither hunger anymore
nor thirst anymore."
(Revelation 7:16)

This symbolically means
that hereafter they will not lack goods and truths.
Not to hunger means, symbolically,
to have no lack of goodness,
and not to thirst means, symbolically,
to have no lack of truth.
For hungering is predicated of bread and food,
while thirsting is predicated of wine and water;
and bread and food symbolize goodness,
while wine and water symbolize truth.

AR 376 - Wish, Desire, Pray

AR 376

. . . it is common in all Divine worship
for a person to first wish, desire, and pray,
and for the Lord then to reply, instruct, and effect.
A person does not otherwise accept anything Divine.

. . . in the Word we frequently read
that the Lord answers when people call on Him
or cry out to Him
(as in Psalms 4:1; 17:6; 20:9; 34:4; 91:15; 120:1),
and that He gives to people when they ask
(Matthew 7:7-8; 21:22).
Yet, even so, it is the Lord who gives people to ask
and what they should ask for,
and the Lord knows it, therefore, beforehand.
But still it is the Lord's will
that a person first ask,
in order that the person may do so
as though on his own,
and that the petition may thus be assigned to him.

AR 363 - The Great Multitude; AR 366 - To Stand; AR 370 - To Fall On Their Faces

AR 363 [3]

The Lord's church . . . is internal and external.
The people meant by the twelve tribes of Israel
are ones who make up
the Lord's internal church,
whereas the people referred to now
are ones who make up His external church,
and who cohere as one
with those enumerated before,
as lower things do with higher ones,
thus as the body with the head.
The twelve tribes of Israel therefore symbolize
the higher heavens and also the internal church,
while the latter symbolize
the lower heavens and the external church.

AR 366

To stand before the Lord means, symbolically,
to hear and do what He commands,
like one who stands before a king.

AR 370

To fall on their faces and worship
is plainly a humbling of their heart
and consequent worship.
Humility before the Lord and worship of Him
is symbolically meant by
falling before the throne and adoring God
because God means His Divinity -
the Divine from which all else springs -
and at the same time His Divine humanity;
for the two constitute one God, being one Person.

Those People Who Will Be Part of the New Heaven and of the Lord's New Church

(Sorry so long, but hopefully helpful.)

AR 350 [1-2. 5] - Judah

Of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:5)

In the highest sense Judah symbolizes the Lord
in relation to celestial love;
in the spiritual sense,
the Lord's celestial kingdom and the Word;
and in the natural sense,
the doctrine of a celestial church
drawn from the Word.
Here, however, Judah symbolizes celestial love,
which is love toward the Lord;
and because it is named first in the series,
it symbolizes that love in all those people
who will be in the New Heaven
and in the Lord's New Church.
For the tribe named first is everything in the rest,
being to them as though their head
and serving as a universal property
entering into all those that follow,
tying them together,
qualifying them and affecting them.
This property is love toward the Lord.

. . . twelve thousand symbolizes
all who possess that love . . ..

People know that after the death of Solomon
the twelve tribes of Israel
were divided into two kingdoms:
the kingdom of Judah and the kingdom of Israel.
The kingdom of Judah represented
the celestial kingdom or the Lord's priestly kingdom,
while the kingdom of Israel represented
the spiritual kingdom or the Lord's royal kingdom.
But the latter was destroyed
when the people had nothing spiritual left in them,
whereas the kingdom of Judah was preserved,
for the sake of the Word,
and because the Lord would be born there.
However,
when the people adulterated the Word completely,
and thus could not recognize the Lord,
then their kingdom was destroyed.

AR 351 [1-2, 3] - Reuben

Of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:5)

In the highest sense Reuben symbolizes omniscience;
in the spiritual sense, wisdom,
intelligence and knowledge, also faith;
and in the natural sense, sight.
Here, however, Reuben symbolizes wisdom,
because he comes after Judah,
who symbolizes celestial love,
and celestial love produces wisdom.
For there is no love without its partner,
which is knowledge, intelligence, or wisdom.
The partner of natural love is knowledge;
that of spiritual love is intelligence;
and that of celestial love is wisdom.

Reuben symbolizes these three
because his name was derived from a word
meaning to look or see,
and natural sight spiritually is knowledge,
spiritual sight is intelligence,
and celestial sight is wisdom.

Reuben was also Jacob's firstborn,
and therefore Israel called him
"my might, the beginning of my strength,
excellent in eminence and excellent in valor".
(Genesis 49:3)
Of such a character also
is wisdom springing from celestial love.

Because the tribes all symbolize
their opposites as well,
so too does the tribe of Reuben;
and in an opposite sense
he symbolizes wisdom divorced from love,
and thus also faith divorced from charity.

AR 352 - Gad

Of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:5)

In the highest sense Gad symbolizes omnipotence;
in the spiritual sense, goodness of life,
which also is useful endeavor;
and in the natural sense, work.
Here he symbolizes useful life endeavors,
because he comes after Reuben and Judah,
and celestial love by means of wisdom
produces useful endeavors.

There are three things that hang together
and cannot be separated:
love, wisdom and useful life endeavor.
If one is taken away, the other two collapse.

It should be known that the tribes of Israel here
are all distinguished into four groups,
as they were in the Urim and Thummim,
and as they were in their encampment,
and that each group contains three tribes,
because the three go together as a unit,
like love, wisdom and useful service,
and like charity, faith and work.
For, as we said, if one is missing,
the other two have no reality.

AR 353 - Asher

Of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:6)

In the highest sense Asher symbolizes eternity;
in the spiritual sense, eternal bliss;
and in the natural sense,
an affection for goodness and truth.
Here, however, Asher symbolizes
a love of performing useful services,
which is found among people
who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom,
and is called there mutual love.
This love descends directly from love toward the Lord,
since the Lord's love
is to perform useful services to the community
and to each society in the community,
and He does these through the agency of people
who possess a love for Him.

AR 354 - Naphtali

Of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:6)

In the highest sense
Naphtali symbolizes the intrinsic power
of the Lord's Divine humanity;
in the spiritual sense,
temptation or trial, and victory;
and in the natural sense,
resistance on the part of the natural self.
For his name was derived from
a word meaning wrestling.
Here, however,
Naphtali symbolizes a perception of useful endeavor,
and of what is useful,
because in the series he comes after Asher,
who symbolizes a love of useful services.
Moreover those people
who have overcome in temptations or trials
have an interior perception of useful ends;
for temptations or trials
open the interior constituents of the mind.

AR 355

Of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:6)

There are three things that follow in order:
love toward the Lord, wisdom, and useful endeavor . . ..
So again here:
mutual love, understanding or perception,
and will or action.
These also form a unit,
so that if one is missing,
the other two have no reality.
A will to serve, combined with action,
constitute the effect,
thus the final element,
in which the two prior ones are present and coexist.

Manasseh has this symbolism because Joseph,
who was the father of Manasseh and Ephraim,
symbolizes the spiritual component of the church,
and the spiritual component of the church
is goodness of will
and at the same time truth in the intellect.
Manasseh consequently symbolizes
the volitional component of the church,
and Ephraim its intellectual component.

Manasseh symbolizes
the volitional component of the church
because Ephraim symbolizes
its intellectual component . . ..
And because Manasseh symbolizes
the volitional component of the church,
he also symbolizes action or practice;
for will is the impetus in every action,
and where impetus exists,
there action takes place whenever possible.

AR 356 - Simeon

Of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:7)

In the highest sense Simeon symbolizes providence;
in the spiritual sense,
love for the neighbor or charity;
and in the natural sense,
obedience and giving ear.

In the first two series
the subject was people
who are in the Lord's celestial kingdom.
In this series, now,
the subject is people
who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom.
Their love is termed a spiritual love,
which is love for the neighbor and charity.

Simeon and his tribe represented this love
and thus symbolize it in the Word
because he was born after Reuben
and was the next before Levi,
and these three - Reuben, Simeon and Levi -
in that sequence symbolized truth
in the intellect or faith, truth in the will or charity,
and truth in practice or good work,
like Peter, James and John.
As Simeon and his tribe
consequently represented truth in the will,
which is both charity and obedience,
therefore he was given a name
derived from a word meaning to hear,
and to hear symbolizes
both to understand truth and to will it or obey -
to understand it in the phrase to "hear someone,"
and to will it and obey in the phrase to
"listen to someone" or hearken.

AR 357 - Levi

Of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:7)

In the highest sense
Levi symbolizes love and mercy;
in the spiritual sense, charity in practice,
which constitutes goodness of life;
and in the natural sense,
association and conjunction.
The name Levi also
comes from a word meaning to attach,
which in the Word symbolizes
a conjunction by love.
Here, however,
Levi symbolizes a love or affection for truth
and the resulting intelligence,
because he comes after Simeon
and is the middle one in this series.

Since this is what Levi represents,
therefore that tribe became the priesthood.

That the tribe of Levi symbolizes a love of truth,
which is the fundamental love
that causes a church to be a church,
and at the same time the resulting intelligence . . ..

AR 358 - Issachar

Of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:7)

In the highest sense
Issachar symbolizes the Divine good of truth
and truth of good;
in the spiritual sense,
the conjugal love of heaven,
which is one of goodness and truth;
and in the natural sense, recompense.
Here, however, it is goodness of life,
because in this group Issachar is the third in order,
and the third element in every group
symbolizes the final one,
which is the product of the first two,
as an effect is of its causes.
And the effect produced by spiritual love,
which is love for the neighbor
and symbolized by Simeon,
operating through an affection for truth,
which is symbolized by Levi,
is goodness of life, which is Issachar.
The name Issachar also comes from
a word meaning payment,
thus recompense;
and goodness of life has in it its own recompense.

AR 359 - Zebulun

Of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:8)

In the highest sense
Zebulun symbolizes the union of the Divine itself
and the Divine humanity in the Lord;
in the spiritual sense,
the marriage of goodness and truth
in those people who are in heaven and in the church;
and in the natural sense,
married love itself.
Thus Zebulun here symbolizes
the conjugal love of goodness and truth.
His name also comes from
a word meaning cohabitation,
and cohabitation is a word used of married partners,
whose minds are joined into one;
for that conjunction is a spiritual cohabitation.

The conjugal love of goodness and truth
that Zebulun symbolizes here
is the conjugal love of the Lord and the church.
For the Lord is love's goodness itself,
and He grants that the church be
the truth springing from that love;
and a cohabitation results
when the person of the church receives
in truths goodness from the Lord.
The person then has formed in him
a marriage of goodness and truth,
which is the essential church,
and he becomes a heaven.

It is because of this that God's kingdom -
which is to say, heaven and the church -
is so often likened in the Word to a marriage.

AR 360 - Joseph

Of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:8)

In the highest sense Joseph symbolizes
the Lord
in respect to His Divinity on the spiritual plane;
in the spiritual sense, the spiritual kingdom;
and in the natural sense,
reproduction and multiplication.
Here, however, Joseph symbolizes
the doctrine of goodness and truth
that is found in people
who are in the Lord's spiritual kingdom.
Joseph has this symbolism here
because he is named
after the tribe of Zebulun
and before the tribe of Benjamin,
thus in between them,
and the tribe mentioned first in a series or group
symbolizes some love pertaining to the will;
the tribe mentioned after that
symbolizes some aspect of wisdom
pertaining to the intellect;
and the tribe mentioned last
symbolizes some useful outcome or effect
resulting from them.
Every series is thus a complete one.

. . . The spiritual kingdom is the Lord's royal one,
while the celestial kingdom is His priestly one.

Joseph here symbolizes
a doctrine of goodness and truth
because he is substituted here for Ephraim,
and Ephraim symbolizes
the intellectual component of the church,
the intellectual component of the church
being everything derived from
the doctrine of goodness and truth
drawn from the Word.

Joseph is substituted here for Ephraim
because Manasseh, Joseph's second son,
who symbolized
the volitional component of the church,
was already included among the tribes (no. 355).

Because the intellectual component of the church
is derived from a doctrine of goodness and truth,
therefore Joseph symbolizes this
intellectual component and also that doctrine . . ..

AR 361 - Benjamin

Of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.
(Revelation 7:8)

Since Zebulun symbolizes
the conjugal love of goodness and truth,
and Joseph symbolizes
a doctrine of goodness and truth,
Benjamin, being third in the series,
symbolizes a life of truth springing from goodness.

Benjamin bears this symbolic meaning
because he was the last-born.
Moreover, his father Jacob called him
"Son-of-the-Right-Hand" (Genesis 35:18),
and a son of the right hand symbolizes
truth springing from goodness.

This tribe also lived, therefore,
in the vicinity of Jerusalem,
which was in the territory of Judah,
the city of Jerusalem symbolizing
the church in respect to doctrine,
and the places around it
such matters as proceed from doctrine.

AR 362 - Dan, Ephraim

In this list of the tribes of Israel,
no mention is made of Dan or Ephraim.
The reason is that Dan was the last of the tribes,
and its tribe lived in the most remote part
of the land of Canaan.
Thus it could not symbolize anything
in the New Heaven or in the Lord's New Church,
where there would be
only celestial and spiritual people.
Therefore Manasseh is substituted for Dan.
That Joseph is substituted for Ephraim
may be seen in no. 360 above.

 

AR 348 - 144,000; AR 349 - Tribes

AR 348 [1, 2, 4]

And I heard the number of those who were sealed,
one hundred and forty-four thousand.
(Revelation 7:4)

This symbolizes all people
who acknowledge the Lord
as God of heaven and earth
and are governed by truths of doctrine
springing from the goodness of love,
received from Him through the Word.

. . . Numbers all symbolize
additional properties of things
that determine their quality or quantity,
and this can be clearly seen
from numbers in the book of Revelation,
which in many places
would not have any meaning
unless they were symbolic.

. . . From the foregoing it can now be seen
that the 144,000 sealed,
and the 12,000 from each tribe,
mean not that these many were sealed or chosen
from the tribes of Israel,
but that all those were
who are governed by truths of doctrine
springing from the goodness of love
received from the Lord.

. . . Since the twelve tribes
symbolize the Lord's church
in respect to all its truths and goods,
therefore the number twelve
became an ecclesiastical number,
and one customary in its sanctities.

. . . It can now be seen . . . that 144,000 sealed,
12,000 from each tribe,
means not this number of Jews and Israelites,
but all who, as part of the new Christian heaven
and of the New Church,
will be governed by truths of doctrine
springing from the goodness of love,
received from the Lord through the Word.

AR 349 [1, 4]

Sealed out of every tribe of Israel.
(Revelation 7:4)

A tribe symbolizes religion
as regards goodness of life,
and every tribe symbolizes the church
in respect to every good of love
and every truth springing from that good,
which produces goodness of life.
For there are two elements
which form the church:
the goodness of love and doctrinal truth.
The marriage of these two constitutes the church.
The twelve tribes of Israel
represented and so symbolized the church
with respect to that marriage,
and each tribe represented and so symbolized
some universal truth accompanying goodness
or some goodness accompanying truth
present in that marriage.

. . . Tribes symbolize religion,
and the twelve tribes the church
and everything pertaining to it,
because "tribe" and "scepter"
are, in Hebrew, the same word,
and a scepter means a kingdom,
and the Lord's kingdom is heaven and the church.

 

AR 344 - Angels; AR 347 - The Forehead

AR 344

Then I saw another angel ascending
from the rising of the sun.
(Revelation 7:2)
This symbolizes the Lord providing and moderating.

The angel here means the Lord
in respect to Divine love,
because he ascended from the rising of the sun,
and from the rising of the sun or from the east
means from Divine love.
For in the spiritual world
the Lord is the sun and the east,
and He is called that in respect to that love.
His providing and moderating is apparent from
His commandment to the four angels
not to harm the earth and sea
till the servants of God
had been sealed on their foreheads.

. . . "Angel" and "one sent" are, in Hebrew,
the same word.
That is why the Lord so often calls Himself
one sent by the Father,
meaning by it His Divine humanity.

In a relative sense, on the other hand,
an angel is anyone who accepts the Lord,
whether in heaven or in the world.

AR 347 [1, 2]

Because the forehead symbolizes love -
a good love in the case of good people,
and an evil love in the case of evil people -
therefore to seal them on the foreheads
means, symbolically,
to distinguish and separate one from the other
according to their love.

. . . It should be known that the Lord
views angels by looking upon their foreheads,
and they in turn view the Lord with their eyes.
The reason is that the Lord regards all
in accordance with the goodness of their love,
and wills that they in turn
regard Him in accordance
with the truths of wisdom,
so as to bring about a conjunction.

 

AR 342 - The Four Angels: AR 343 - The Four Winds

AR 342 [1, 2]

After these things I saw four angels
standing at the four corners of the earth.
(Revelation 7:1)

There follows now
much concerning the state of the spiritual world
just before the Last Judgment . . ..

The four angels here
symbolize the whole of heaven.
The four corners of the earth
symbolize the entire world of spirits,
which is midway between heaven and hell.
For the Last Judgment was executed on people
who were in the world of spirits,
and not on anyone in heaven,
nor on anyone in hell.

Angels symbolize heaven
because an angel in the highest sense
means the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity,
and as heaven is heaven owing to the Lord,
angels symbolize heaven as well.

AR 343 [1, 2-3]

Holding back the four winds of the earth,
that the wind should not blow
on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.
(Revelation 7:1)

It must be known
that a last judgment takes place
when evil people multiply
below the heavens
in the world of spirits,
and this to such a degree
that angels in the heavens
cannot continue in the state
of their love and wisdom,
as they are then without a support and foundation.

The four winds symbolize an influx of the heavens.

. . . The wings of the wind
are Divine truths that flow in.
The Lord is therefore called
"the breath of our nostrils"
(Lamentations 4:20),
and we are told that He
"breathed into (Adam's) nostrils the breath of life"
(Genesis 2:7);
moreover, that "He breathed on (the Disciples)
and said . . ., "Receive the Holy Spirit"
(John 20:21-22).
The Holy Spirit is the Divine truth
emanating from the Lord,
the influx of which into the Disciples
was represented and thus symbolized
by the Lord's breathing on them.

A wind and breathing symbolize
the influx of Divine truth into the intellect,
owing to the correspondence
of the lungs with the intellect . . ..

 

AR 337, 338 - The Fifth Seal: The Souls Under the Altar (last part)

AR 337

And the kings of the earth and the great men,
the rich men and the commanders, and the powerful,
and every slave and every freeman.
(Revelation 6:15)

This symbolizes those people
who before the separation
had possessed an understanding of truth and good,
a knowledge of their concepts,
and learning, acquired from others or on their own,
and yet who lacked a life in accordance with them.

. . . In the spiritual sense
kings symbolize people who possess truths;
great men, people who possess good qualities;
rich men, people who possess concepts of truth;
commanders, people who possess
concepts of goodness;
the powerful, people who possess learning;
slaves,
people who acquire these things from others,
thus as a matter of memory;
and freemen,
people who acquire these things on their own,
thus with judgment.

. . . whatever resides in the intellect alone,
and is not present at the same in a person's life,
does not exist in the person,
being outside of him, as though in a forecourt.
But whatever is present at the same time
in a person's life exists in the person,
being within him as though in the house.
Consequently these people are preserved
and the former rejected.

AR 338

Hiding themselves in caves
and in mountain rocks means, symbolically,
to be caught up in evils
and in the falsities accompanying evil,
because the people who pretended before the world
that they were prompted by the goodness of love,
and yet were caught up in evil,
after death hid themselves in caves.
And those who pretended
that they were prompted by truths of faith,
and yet were caught up in
the falsities accompanying evil,
hid themselves in mountain rocks.