9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. -Revelation 12:9 Bible, King James Version (KJV)
Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com
738. Verse 9. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the devil and Satan, that seduceth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 9. "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent," signifies that those who were in evils of life, and who had thence become sensual, and had perverted all things of the Word and thus of the church, were separated from heaven and were cast down into hell (n. 739); "called the devil and Satan," ...because inwardly they are in evils and falsities that are from hell (n. 740); "that seduceth the whole world," signifies that pervert all things of the church (n. 741); "he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him," signifies that those evils and their falsities were condemned to hell (n. 742).
739. Verse 9. And that great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, signifies that those who were in evils of life and who had thence become sensual, and had perverted all things of the Word and thus of the church, were separated from heaven and were cast down into hell. This is evident... from the signification of "the great dragon," as being those who are in evils of life, and yet with the mouth confess God and the Lord, and call the Word holy, and speak in favor of the church. (That such are meant by "the dragon," see above, n. 714-716, 718, 737.)... There are with men three degrees of life, an inmost, a middle, and an ultimate, and... these degrees with man are opened successively as he becomes wise... [3] And as at this time from parents, masters, and preachers, and from reading the Word and books thence, he imbibes knowledges of spiritual truth and good, and stores them up in his memory like other knowledges, he lays the foundations of the church with himself; and yet if he goes no further he continues natural. But if he goes on further, namely if he lives according to these knowledges from the Word, the interior degree is opened in him and he becomes spiritual, but only so far as he is affected by truths, understands them, wills them, and does them; and for the reason that evils and the falsities thence which by heredity have their seat in the natural and sensual man, are removed... For the spiritual man is in heaven and the natural in the world, and so far as heaven, that is, the Lord through heaven, can flow in through the spiritual man into the natural, so far evils and the falsities thence... are removed; for the Lord removes them, as he removes hell from heaven. The interior degree with man can be opened in no other way, because the evils and falsities that are in the natural man keep it closed up; for the spiritual degree, that is, the spiritual mind, contracts itself against evil and the falsity of evil of every kind as... the body does at the touch of a sharp point... But on the other hand, when things... which are Divine truths from the Word that derive their essence from good, approach that mind, it opens itself; yet the opening is effected not otherwise than by the reception of the good of love flowing in through heaven from the Lord, and by its conjunction with the truths that man has stored up in his memory, and this conjunction is only effected by a life according to Divine truths in the Word, for when these truths come to be of the life they are called goods. Thence it may be clear how the second or middle degree is opened. [4] The third or inmost degree is opened with those who apply Divine truths at once to life, and do not reason about them from the memory, and thus bring them into doubt. This is called the celestial degree. As there are these three degrees of life with every man, which yet are opened in diverse ways, thence there are three heavens. In the third or inmost heaven are those with whom the third degree is opened; in the second or middle heaven those with whom the second degree only is opened; and in the first or lowest heaven those with whom the interior natural man, which is also called the rational man, is opened; for this man, if truly rational, receives influx from the Lord through heaven. All these come into heaven. But those who have received Divine truths in the memory only... continue natural... consequently with such the loves of the body rule, which in general are the love of self and the love of the world, and the consequent love and pride of self-intelligence. These loves, and the evils and their falsities that flow from them, fill the interiors of their natural mind, although these are covered without by things respectable and becoming which pertain to moral life, that are put on for the sake of the world and the laws enacted for the external man. Such although they may have filled their memory with knowledges from the Word, from the dogmas of their several religions and from the sciences, are yet natural...; for the interiors of their natural mind, which are nearest to the spiritual mind, are closed up...
740. Called the devil and Satan, signifies because interiorly they were in evils and in falsities that are from hell.. It means those who were interiorly in evils and the falsities thence, since those who are here meant by "the dragon" and are called "the devil and Satan," are not exteriorly such, but interiorly; for exteriorly 740-1 they speak like men of the church, and some like angels of heaven, about God, the Lord, faith in Him and love to Him, and about heaven and hell, and they gather many things from the Word by which they confirm their dogmas; thus by these exteriors they are conjoined to heaven; and yet interiorly they are not affected by them... They are such because they... say... that faith alone saves, and not any good of life. Therefore they are devils and satans, for man is such as he is interiorly, and not such as he is merely exteriorly, except when he speaks and acts outwardly from the interior. Moreover, a man continues such after death; for such as a man is interiorly, such he is in respect to the spirit, and the spirit of man is the affection from which is the will and the life therefrom. From this it follows that those who... are interiorly devils and satans... they also become devils and satans when their life in the world is ended and they become spirits. [2] They are called "the devil and Satan" because both "the devil" and "Satan" signify hell; "the devil" signifying the hell from which are evils, and "Satan" the hell from which are falsities; this hell is called "Satan" because all who are in it are called satans, and the other hell is called "the devil" because all who are in it are called devils. Before the creation of the world there was no devil or Satan who had been an angel of light and was afterwards cast down with his crew into hell, as can be seen from what has been said in the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 311-316, under the head, "Heaven and Hell Are from the Human Race"). [3] It is to be known that there are two kingdoms into which the heavens are divided, namely, a celestial kingdom and a spiritual kingdom (on which see in the work on Heaven and Hell, n. 20-28). To these two kingdoms correspond by opposition the two kingdoms into which the hells are divided; to the celestial kingdom corresponds by opposition the infernal kingdom that consists of devils and is therefore called "the devil," and to the spiritual kingdom corresponds by opposition the infernal kingdom that consists of satans and is therefore called "Satan." And as the celestial kingdom consists of angels who are in love to the Lord, so the infernal kingdom corresponding by opposition to the celestial kingdom consists of devils, who are in the love of self; consequently from that hell evils of every kind flow forth. And as the spiritual kingdom consists of the angels who are in charity towards the neighbor, so the infernal kingdom that corresponds by opposition to the spiritual kingdom consists of satans, who are in falsities from love of the world, consequently from that hell falsities of every kind flow forth... [11] In the Gospels: Peter rebuking Jesus because He was willing to suffer, Jesus turned and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan, thou art a stumbling-block, because thou savorest not the things which are of God, but the things which are of men (Matt. 16:22, 23; Mark 8:32, 33). The Lord said this to Peter because in a representative sense "Peter" signified faith; and as faith is of truth, and also, as here, of falsity, Peter is called Satan, for as has been said "Satan" means the hell that is the source of falsities... From this it may be clear that "the devil" signifies the hell from which are evils, and "Satan" the hell from which are falsities...
741. That seduceth the whole world, signifies that pervert all things of the church. This is evident from the signification of "the whole world," as being all things of the church; and as all things of the church are signified by "the whole world," so "to seduce it" signifies to pervert those things; for all things of the church are perverted when the good of charity, which is the good of life, is separated and removed from faith as not contributing and effecting anything to salvation. Thereby all things of the Word and thence all things of the church are falsified... Since this chapter treats of "the dragon," which especially signifies the religion of faith separate from charity, I will mention in passing some things whereby the defenders of faith separate seduce the world. They especially seduce by teaching that as from oneself no one can do good that is in itself good... so good works can contribute nothing to salvation; nevertheless, goods should be done on account of use for the public good... How great an error this is shall now be told... [4] ...The good that a man does from the Word is spiritual good, and... this conjoins man to the Lord and to heaven. But the good that a man does for the world's sake and for the sake of the communities in the world, which is called civil and moral good, conjoins him to the world and not to heaven...
742. He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him, signifies that those evils and the falsities thence were condemned to hell... "The angels of heaven" signify in the Word Divine truths because they are recipients of them (see above, n. 130, 302); therefore The dragon's "angels" signify the infernal falsities that proceed from the evil that is signified by "the dragon." The falsities signified by the dragon's "angels" are for the most part truths falsified, which in themselves are falsities... [2] "To be cast out into the earth" means to be condemned to hell, because this is signified by the expression "to be cast out of heaven." In the spiritual world there are lands as in the natural world, full of mountains and hills, likewise of valleys and rivers... "To be cast out of heaven into the earth," ...signifies what is condemned, because under those lowest parts are the hells, and in the hells also there are lands, but such as are condemned... The earths (or lands) there that are condemned are easily distinguished from those that are not condemned, because the condemned land is utterly barren and mere dust, and is here and there covered with thorns and briars, while the land not condemned is fertile and full of herbs, shrubs, trees, and also fields... That those meant by "the dragon and his angels" were separated from heaven and condemned to hell while the Last Judgment was executed and afterwards, it was granted me to see as an eyewitness... From this it can be seen that "to be cast out of heaven into the earth" signifies to be condemned to hell.
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