19 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And Lord Of Lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
-Revelation 19:1-21 Bible, King James Version (KJV)
Apocalypse Explained, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1757-9], tr. by John Whitehead [1911], at sacred-texts.com
1194. ... EXPLANATION CONTENTS OF THE SEVERAL VERSES. GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD BY THOSE WHO ARE IN THE LOWER HEAVENS BECAUSE OF THEIR DELIVERANCE FROM BABYLON (verses 1, 2): THAT THEY MAY BE FOREVER DELIVERED FROM HER (verse 3). GLORIFICATION OF THE LORD BY THE HIGHER HEAVENS FOR THE SAME REASON (verse 4). ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE LORD OUT OF HEAVEN THAT THEY WORSHIP HIM (verse 5); AND SHOULD REJOICE THAT THE NEW CHURCH IS APPEARING (verses 6, 7). WHAT THAT CHURCH IS (verse 8). ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ANGELS TO THOSE WHO ARE ON THE EARTH RESPECTING THE NEW CHURCH (verses 9, 10). THE COMING OF THE LORD IN THE WORD, AND THE OPENING OF THE WORD (verses 11-16). THE CALLING OF ALL TO THAT CHURCH (verses 17, 18). RESISTANCE BY THOSE WHO ARE IN FAITH SEPARATE, AND THE REMOVAL AND CONDEMNATION OF SUCH (verses 19-21).
1195. Verses 1-3. After these things I heard as it were a voice of a great multitude in heaven saying, Alleluia, salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God. For true and just are His judgments, for He hath judged the great harlot that corrupted the earth with her whoredom, and He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand. And a second time they said, Alleluia, and her smoke shall go up unto the ages of the ages. (1) "After these things I heard as it were a voice of a great multitude in heaven" signifies the joy and gladness of the angels of the higher heavens because of the condemnation and casting out of those signified by "Babylon" and by "the beasts of the dragon," and because of the light of Divine truth that will consequently arise for the sake of the New Church that is to be established by the Lord (n. 1196); "Saying, Alleluia," signifies glorification of the Lord (n. 1197); "salvation and glory and honor and power unto the Lord our God" signifies because eternal life is from the Lord through the Divine truth and the Divine good from His Divine omnipotence (n. 1198). (2) "For true and just are His judgments" signifies that the laws of the Divine providence and the works of the Lord are of the Divine wisdom and the Divine love (n. 1199); "for He hath judged the great harlot" signifies judgment upon those who have transferred to themselves dominion over the church and over heaven (n. 1200); "that corrupted the earth with her whoredom" signifies by whom all the truths of the church have been falsified, and all its goods adulterated (n. 1201); "and He hath avenged the blood of His servants at her hand" signifies the deliverance of those that are in Divine truths from the Lord by the casting out of the Babylonians (n. 1202). (3) "And a second time they said, Alleluia," signifies the joy and gladness of the angels of the lower heavens (n. 1203); "and her smoke shall go up unto the ages of the ages" signifies that the falsity of evil that pertains to such is forever condemned to hell (n. 1204).
1196. ...(Continuation) [2] Something shall now be said about the life of animals, and afterwards about the soul of vegetables. The whole world, with each and every thing in it, came into existence and continues to exist from the Lord the Creator of the universe. There are two suns, the sun of the spiritual world and the sun of the natural world. The sun of the spiritual world is the Lord's Divine love, the sun of the natural world is pure fire. From the sun that is the Divine love every work of creation has begun, and by means of the sun that is fire it has been carried to completion. [3] Everything that proceeds from the sun that is the Divine love is called spiritual, and everything that proceeds from the sun that is fire is called natural... And because from these two fountains of the universe all things that are in both worlds have come into existence and continue to exist, it follows that there is in every created thing in this world a spiritual and a natural, a spiritual as its soul and a natural as its body, or a spiritual as its internal and a natural as its external; or a spiritual as the cause and a natural as the effect. That these two in any particular thing cannot be separated every wise person knows, for if you separate cause from effect or the internal from the external, the effect or the external goes to pieces, as when the soul is separated from the body. [4] That there is such a conjunction in the particular and even in the most particular things of nature has not yet been known. It has not been known because of the existing ignorance respecting the spiritual world, the sun there, and heat and light there, and because of the insanity of... men in ascribing all things to nature, and rarely anything to God except creation in general; and yet not the least thing is possible or can be possible in nature in which there is not a spiritual...
1198. ...(Continuation) [2] ...A sensual man, whose thoughts are confined to matter, compares the things pertaining to beasts with those pertaining to man, and from foolish intelligence concludes that their states of life are similar, even after death, insisting that if man lives after death, animals do also...
1199. Verse 2. For true and just are His judgments, signifies that the laws of the Divine providence, and all the works of the Lord, are of the Divine wisdom and the Divine love... "True" means what pertains to His Divine wisdom, and "just" what pertains to His Divine love, because from the Lord as a sun heat and light proceed, and the light is His Divine wisdom and the heat is His Divine love; therefore "light" signifies the Divine truth, from which angels and men have all their intelligence and wisdom, and "heat" signifies the Divine good, from which angels and men have all their love and charity...
(Continuation) [2] ...It is known that every animal has a soul, for they are alive, and life is soul, and this is why they are called in the Word "living souls." ...In that [spiritual] world, the same as in the natural world, beasts of every kind and birds of every kind, and fishes of every kind, are to be seen and so like in form that they cannot be distinguished from those in our world; but there is this difference, that in the spiritual world they spring evidently from the affections of angels and spirits, so that they are affections made apparent, and consequently they disappear as soon as the angel or spirit departs or his affection ceases. From this it is clear that their soul is nothing else; and that there are... as many... species of animals as there are... affections... It will be seen in what follows that the affections that are represented in the spiritual world by animals are not interior spiritual affections, but are exterior spiritual affections that are called natural... But something shall first be said about the animals that appear in heaven, in hell, and in the world of spirits which is intermediate between heaven and hell.
1200. ...(Continuation) [2] As the entire heaven and the entire hell, and the entire world of spirits are divided into societies, and the societies are arranged according to the... affections, and as the animals there, as has just been said, are affections made apparent, so one kind of animal with its species appears in one society, and another in another, and all kinds of animals with their species in the societies taken together. In the societies of heaven gentle and clean animals appear, in the societies of hell the savage and unclean beasts, and in the world of spirits beasts of an intermediate character. These I have often seen, and from these I have been able to recognize the quality of the angels and spirits there. All in the spiritual world are known from what appears near them and about them, and their affections are known from various things, and also from the animals. [3] In the heavens I have seen lambs, sheep, and goats, so closely resembling those seen in the world that they do not differ at all. I have also seen in the heavens turtle doves, pigeons, birds of paradise, and many others, beautiful in form and color. I have also seen fishes in the waters, but these in the lowest parts of heaven. In the hells, dogs, wolves, foxes, tigers, swine, mice, and many other kinds of savage and unclean beasts are seen, besides poisonous serpents of many kinds, also ravens, owls, and bats. But in the world of spirits camels, elephants, horses, asses, oxen, deer, lions, leopards, bears, also eagles, kites, magpies, peacocks, and quails, are seen. I have also seen there composite animals, like those seen by the prophets and described in the Word (as in Rev. 13:2, and elsewhere). [4] As the animals that appear in that world bear such a resemblance to the animals in this world that no difference is discernible, and as the animals in that world derive their existence from the affections of the angels of heaven, or from the lusts of the spirits of hell, it follows that natural affections or lusts are their souls, and when these have been clothed with a body they are animals in form...
1201. That corrupted the earth with her whoredom, signifies those by whom all the truths of the Word have been falsified and its goods adulterated... That such have falsified the truths of the Word is evident from this, that they have little regard for the Word; but from what is their own they devise new statutes, judgments, and commandments, most of which have regard to dominion over the church and heaven as an end, and these are all falsified truths. That the goods of the church are also adulterated is evident from this, that they call holy all things given to their monasteries and idols, and also to the papal chair, and call such gifts good works, and yet they thereby despoil homes, and deprive widows and orphans of their goods; and this they do notwithstanding they dwell amid treasures and possess superabundant revenues. Moreover, they make such works meritorious, and do many other like things.
(Continuation) [2] These things being premised, what the soul of beasts is shall be told. The soul of beasts, regarded in itself, is spiritual; for affection of whatever kind, whether good or evil, is spiritual, for it is a derivation from some love, and has its origin in the heat and light that proceed from the Lord as a sun; and whatever proceeds from that is spiritual... [3] Beasts and wild beasts, as mice, poisonous serpents, crocodiles, basilisks, vipers, and the like, with the various noxious insects, the souls of which are like evil affections, were not created from the beginning, but they originated with hell... But from the beginning useful and clean beasts only were created, the souls of which are good affections. [4] It must be known, however, that the souls of beasts are not spiritual in the same degree in which the souls of men are spiritual, but in a lower degree. For there are degrees in things spiritual; and although affections of a lower degree, regarded in their origin, are spiritual, they must be termed natural. They must be so called because they are like the affections of the natural man. In man there are three degrees of natural affections, and the same is true of beasts. In the lowest degree are insects of various kinds, in a higher degree are the flying things of heaven, and in a still higher degree are the beasts of the earth which were created from the beginning.
1202. ...(Continuation) [2] The difference between men and beasts is like that between wakefulness and dreaming, or between light and shade. Man is both spiritual and natural, while a beast is not spiritual but natural... Man has a will and an understanding, and his will is a receptacle of the heat of heaven, which is love, and his understanding is a receptacle of the light of heaven, which is wisdom. But a beast does not possess a will and an understanding, but in place of a will it has affection, and in place of an understanding it has knowledge... [5] Because man has both a spiritual mind and a natural mind, and his spiritual mind is above his natural mind, and the spiritual mind is such as to be able to contemplate and love truths and goods in every degree, either conjointly with the natural mind or abstracted from it, it follows that the interiors of man belonging to each mind are capable of being raised up by the Lord to the Lord and of being conjoined to Him; and this is why every man lives eternally. This is not so with beasts. A beast does not possess any spiritual mind, it has only a natural mind; and therefore its interiors, which belong solely to knowledge and affection, cannot be raised up by the Lord and conjoined to Him, and for this reason a beast does not live after death. [6] A beast indeed is led by a sort of spiritual influx falling into its soul..
1203.(Continuation) [2] Something shall now be said about the vegetable kingdom, and its soul, which is called the plant soul. That this, too, is spiritual is not known in the world... That the living force... is the spiritual... will be seen in what follows.
1204. ...(Continuation) ...(1) Nothing in nature exists and subsists except from the spiritual and by means of it. (2) Nature in itself is dead, being created that the spiritual may be clothed by it with forms that may serve for use... (5) From the spiritual by means of these forces both plants and animals, both those which appear in heaven and those which are in the world, have their existence. (6) These two classes have the same origin and thus the same soul, the difference being only in the forms into which the influx flows...
1205. Verses 4-5. And the twenty-four elders and the four animals fell down and adored God who sitteth upon the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, Praise God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both the small and the great. (4) "And the twenty-four elders and the four animals fell down" signifies humiliation of heart of the angels of the higher heavens (n. 1206); "and adored God who sitteth on the throne" signifies adoration of the Lord, who has all power in the heavens and on the earth (n. 1207); "saying Amen, Alleluia," signifies who in truth is alone to be worshiped and glorified (n. 1208). (5) "And a voice came forth from the throne" signifies the unanimity of the whole heaven (n. 1209); "saying, Praise God all ye His servants," signifies worship of the Lord by those who are in truths (n. 1210); "and ye that fear Him" signifies worship of the Lord by those who are in the good of love (n. 1211); "both the small and the great" signifies all who are in truths and goods in every degree (n. 1212).
1206. ...(Continuation) [2] (1) Nothing in nature exists except from the spiritual and by means of it. The reason of this is that nothing can exist except from another, and so finally from Him who is and exists in Himself, who is God... Nothing in nature comes forth except from the spiritual, because nothing is possible without a soul. All that is called soul, which is essence, for that which has in itself no essence has no existence... Thus it is with nature. Its essence from which it exists is the spiritual, because this has in itself the Divine... force... Moreover, this essence may be called soul. For everything spiritual is living... For there is a spiritual world; and that world is prior, interior and superior to the natural world, consequently everything in the spiritual world is a cause, and everything in the natural world is an effect...
1207. And adored God who sitteth upon the throne, signifies adoration of the Lord, who has all power in the heavens and on the earth... This is evident... for "the throne" means in reference to the Lord the whole heaven and also all power there. All power on the earth is also meant because power in the heavens cannot be separated from power on the earth; for the spiritual world, in which are the heavens and the hells, cannot be separated from the natural world; thus angels and spirits cannot be separated from men, for they are... conjoined; for as to the thoughts of his understanding and the affections of his will every man is in the spiritual world, in the societies there, thus with angels of heaven on the one hand or with spirits of hell on the other. For as to his thoughts and affections man is a spirit; consequently after death, when he becomes a spirit, he comes into the societies in which he was while in the world. This makes clear that since the Lord has power in the heavens He has power also on the earth, and that the one cannot be separated from the other. By "God" here and elsewhere in the Word, the Lord is meant, because He has all power in the heavens and on the earth, as He Himself teaches in the Word, for He alone is God.
(Continuation) [2] (2) Nature in itself is dead, being created in order that the spiritual may be clothed by it with forms that may serve for use... Nature and life are two distinct things. Nature has its beginning from the sun of this world, and life has its beginning from the sun of heaven. The sun of the world is pure fire, and the sun of heaven is pure love. That which proceeds from the sun that is pure fire is called nature; and that which proceeds from the sun that is pure love is called life...
1209. Verse 5. And a voice came forth from the throne signifies the unanimity of the whole heaven. This is evident from the signification of "a voice coming forth from the throne," as being the unanimity of the whole heaven, namely, in glorifying the Lord; for "throne" signifies the whole heaven because the Lord is on it, and the Lord is heaven itself. The angels of whom heaven consists do not make anything of heaven from what is of their own; but it is the Divine with them that proceeds from the Lord that makes heaven; and this is why "a voice out of heaven" signifies the unanimity of all the heavens, or of the whole heaven...
1210. ...(Continuation) [2] (5) From the spiritual, by means of these forces, both plants and animals, both those that appear in heaven and those in the world, have their existence. Such things exist also in heaven, because these forces are in the spiritual in things greatest and in things least... thus in the spiritual both in heaven and in the world. Its firsts are in the heavens... For there are degrees of spiritual things, and each degree is distinct from the other, and the prior or higher degree is more perfect than the... lower. This is evident from the light and the heat in the heavens, and from the wisdom of the angels from these. The light in the highest or third heaven is from a flame so brilliant as to exceed a thousand times the midday light of the world; in the middle or second heaven the light is less bright, and yet exceeds a hundred times the noonday light of the world; in the lowest or first heaven the light is like the noonday light of our world. Also there are degrees of heat, which in heaven is love, and according to those degrees the angels have wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. Everything spiritual belongs to the light and heat that are from the Lord as a sun, and wisdom and intelligence are from these...
1211. ...(Continuation) [2] Something shall now be said about plants in heaven, as the animals there have already been spoken of. In the heavens, as on the earth, there are plants of all genera and species; yea, in the heavens there are also plants that are not on the earth, for there are composite forms of the different genera and species with infinite variation. This they derive from their origin... [3] According to the degrees of light and heat there, paradisal gardens, groves, fields, and plains are seen; and in these, groups of trees and flowers and lawns. In the inmost or third heaven especially there are orchards whose fruits drop oils; beds of flowers from which fragrant odors are spread abroad, and the seeds of which are sweet to the taste from the fragrance and the oil; and there are lawns diffusing like odors. In the middle or second heaven there are orchards whose fruits drop wine; and flower-beds from which exhale pleasant odors, with seeds of delicate flavor, and also lawns. In the lowest or first heaven there are the same things as in the inmost and in the middle heaven, with a difference of delights and pleasantnesses according to degrees... [4]... All these germinate from the lands there. There are lands there, as with us; but nothing springs up from seed sown, but only from seed created; and creation there is instantaneous, sometimes enduring for a long time and sometimes only for a moment; for they exist there by means of the forces of light and heat from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord... In the lands that are in the heavens... all things are spiritual with a natural appearance; but in the lands that are subject to the sun of our world it is not so...
1212. ...(Continuation) [2] (6) These two classes, animals and plants, have the same origin, and thus the same soul, the difference being only in the forms into which the influx flows. It has been shown above that the origin of animals, which also is their soul, is spiritual affection, such as man has in his natural. That plants have the same origin is evident especially from plants in the heavens, in their appearing according to the affections of angels, and representing those affections, even so that the angels see and recognize their affections in them as in their types; also that they are changed as the affections change; but this occurs outside of the societies. The only difference is that affections appear formed into animals by the spiritual in its intermediate parts, while they appear formed into plants in its [outer part,] which are the lands there. For the spiritual which is their source is living in its intermediates, but is not living in its [outer part.] In [the outer part] the spiritual retains no more of life than is sufficient to produce a resemblance of being alive. It is nearly the same as in the human body, the [outer part] of which... is from the soul... [3] That the plant soul has the same origin as the soul of the beasts of the earth and of the birds of heaven and of the fishes of the sea does not appear to be true at first sight, for the reason that the one is a living thing and the other is not; nevertheless it becomes plainly evident from the animals and the plants seen in the heavens, and also from those seen in the hells. In the heavens beautiful animals and like plants are seen; but in the hells noxious animals and like plants; and angels and spirits are known from the way the animals appear, and equally from the way the plants appear. The agreement with the affections of the angels and spirits is so complete that an animal can be changed into a corresponding plant, and a plant into a corresponding animal. [4] The angels of heaven know what element of affection is represented in the one and in the other... Moreover, it has been granted me to discern clearly the correspondence of both animals and of plants with the societies of heaven and with the societies of hell, thus with their affections, for in the spiritual world societies and affections make one... [5] The difference, therefore, between the plants in the spiritual world and those in the natural world is that in the spiritual world both their seeds and their germinations exist in an instant according to the affections of the angels and spirits there; but in the natural world the origin is implanted in the seeds, from which they spring each year. Moreover, there are two things proper to nature, time and consequent succession and space and consequent extension, but these do not exist in the spiritual world as properties of it, but in their place are appearances of the states of life of those there; and this is why from the lands there, which are from a spiritual origin, plants spring up instantly and disappear instantly. But this occurs only when the angels go away; as long as they remain the plants continue. This is the difference between plants in the spiritual world and plants in the natural world.
1213. Verses 6-7. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as it were the voice of many waters, and as it were the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory unto Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. 6. "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude," signifies the glorification of the Lord by all that are in the heavens because of the rejection of the evil and the consequent deliverance of the good (n. 1214); "and as it were the voice of many waters" signifies the glorification of Him from truths (n. 1215); "and as it were the voice of mighty thunders," signifies the glorification of Him from the goods of love (n. 1216); "saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God, the Almighty, reigneth," signifies joy and gladness that the Lord has now a kingdom on the earth as in the heavens (n. 1217). 7. "Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory unto Him," signifies manifestation of joy from the affection of truth and from the affection of good (n. 1218); "for the marriage of the Lamb is come," signifies the conjunction of the Lord with the church (n. 1219); "And His wife hath made herself ready," signifies that the church is now adorned with truths from good for receiving Him (n. 1220).
1214. ...(Continuation) [2] (7) That origin is use. This is because affections have reference to uses; use is the subject of all affection... Since, then, all affection supposes use, and the plant soul, from its spiritual origin, is an affection... it, too, is a use. For this very reason every plant contains a use, a spiritual use in the spiritual world, and both a spiritual and a natural use in the natural world. The spiritual use is for the various states of the mind, and the natural use is for the various states of the body. It is well known that minds are refreshed, recreated, and stimulated, or on the other hand that drowsiness, sadness, or fainting is induced, by the odors and flavors of different kinds of plants; also that the body is healed by the various solutions... and remedies made from plants, and on the other hand, is destroyed by the poisons extracted from them. [3] In the heavens the external spiritual use derived from them is the refreshment of minds, and the internal is the representation of Divine things in them, and thereby also the elevation of the mind. For the wiser angels see in them the quality of affections in a series. These, with what lies hidden in them, are manifested in the varieties of flowers in their order, also in the variegations of color and odor. For every [outer] affection which is called natural, although it is spiritual, derives its quality from an interior affection, which pertains to intelligence and wisdom, and these derive their quality from use and the love of it. In a word, from the soil in the heavens nothing but use blooms forth, for use is the plant soul. [4] Because use is the plant soul, in those places in the spiritual world that are called deserts, where those are who in the world had rejected works of charity, which are essential uses, no grass or herb of any kind is seen, but mere gravel and sand. Every good in act that is from the Lord through love to him and love towards the neighbor, is meant by the uses that alone blossom forth in the heavens. Every plant there represents a form of use... Those that are skilled in the sciences of botany, chemistry, medicine, and pharmacy, come after death into a knowledge of spiritual uses from the plants in the spiritual world, and cultivate that knowledge and find the greatest delight in it. I have talked with such and have heard from them wonderful things.
1215. And as it were the voice of many waters, signifies the glorification of Him from truths... In the heavens there are angels that are in truths and angels that are in goods. The angels that are in truths are called spiritual angels, and those that are in goods are called celestial angels. From this heaven is divided into two kingdoms, the spiritual and the celestial kingdoms. In the spiritual kingdom are all that are in truths, and in the celestial kingdom are all that are in goods. [2] All, indeed, are in truths from good; but good is twofold, spiritual good and celestial good; the good of charity is the good of love towards the neighbor, and celestial good is the good of love to the Lord. These goods are distinct; spiritual good is good in a lower degree, and celestial good is good in a higher degree; consequently the good that the angels of the higher heavens have is celestial good, while the good that the angels of the lower heavens have is spiritual good. All this makes clear that the "many waters," the voice of which was heard, signify all the spiritual angels in the heavens, but "the voice of mighty thunders" that follows signifies all the celestial angels in the heavens.
(Continuation) [3] From all that has thus far been presented respecting the life that is from the Lord and the existence of all things in the universe from it, everyone who is wise in heart can see that nature produces nothing from itself, but merely in the process of production serves the spiritual that proceeds from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord... It is an eternal truth that influx is spiritual and not physical, that is, influx from the soul, which is spiritual, into the body, which is material, or from the spiritual world into the natural world; also that as the Divine from itself and through that which proceeds from itself created all things, so it sustains all things; also that sustaining is perpetual creation...
1216. And as it were the voice of mighty thunders, signifies the glorification of the Lord from the goods of love... Angels and spirits... are spiritual, and the spiritual think from affection and also speak from affection, those who are in the celestial kingdom from the affection of good, and those in the spiritual kingdom from the affection of truth; thus they are distinguished by their tones. The sound of the speech of the angels in the higher parts of heaven is heard variously below, for it increases as it goes on, as sound does in the world when it descends from above. The sound of the spiritual angels is thus heard as the sound of roaring waters, and the sound of the celestial angels as the sound of thunders. (On the further signification of "thunders" see above, n. 273, 353, 498, 702, 704, 1014.)
1217. ...(Continuation) [3] How the Lord can be present with all who are in heaven and throughout the whole earth, and can know all things, even the most particular things connected with them, both present and future, can be comprehended only by means of the following truths: (1) In the natural world there are spaces and times, but in the spiritual world these are appearances. (2) Spaces and times must be removed from the ideas before the Lord's omnipresence with all and with each individual, and His omniscience of things present and things future connected with them, can be comprehended. (3) All angels of heaven and all men of the earth who constitute the church are as one man, and the Lord is the life of that man. (4) Consequently as there is life in the particular and most particular things of man and it knows the entire state of these, so the Lord is in the particular and most particular things of the angels of heaven and of the men of the church. (5) The Lord, by the intellectual faculty that each man has, or by its opposite, is also present with those who are out of heaven and out of the church, that is, those who are in hell or who are to come into hell, and knows their whole state. (6) From the omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord thus perceived it can be understood how the Lord is the all and is in all things of heaven and the church, and that we are in the Lord and He is in us. (7) The omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord can be comprehended also from the creation of the universe; for it was so created by Him that He is in things first and in things last, in the center and at the same time in the circumferences, and that the things in which He is are uses. (8) As the Lord has the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, so from these He has the Divine omnipresence and the Divine omniscience; but omnipresence is chiefly from the Divine love, and omniscience chiefly from the Divine wisdom.
1218. ...(Continuation) [2] (1)In the natural world there are spaces and times, but in the spiritual world these are appearances. The reason is that all things that appear in the spiritual world are immediately from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord's Divine love; but all things that appear in the natural world are from... the sun of the world, which is pure fire. Pure love, from which all things in the spiritual world exist immediately, is immaterial; but pure fire, through which all things in the material world exist mediately, is material. This is why all things that come forth in the spiritual world are by virtue of their origin spiritual, and all things that exist in the natural world are by virtue of their secondary origin material; and material things in themselves are fixed, permanent, and measurable. They are fixed because they endure, however the states of men may be changed, like the lands, mountains, and seas... In the spiritual world all things are as if they were fixed, as if they were permanent, and as if they were measurable, and yet in themselves they are not so. For they exist and continue according to the states of the angels, so that they make one with those states, and consequently they change in whatever way those states change. But this takes place especially in the world of spirits, into which every man first comes after death, and is not so in heaven or in hell. This occurs in the world of spirits, because every man there undergoes changes of state, and is thus prepared for heaven or for hell. [3] ...Spirits... see in the spiritual world things exactly like those they saw in the world, as lands, mountains, valleys, waters, gardens, forests, plants, palaces, houses, garments with which they are clothed, food by which they are nourished, animals, and themselves as men. All these things they see in a clearer light than that by which they saw like things in the world, and they feel them by a more exquisite touch than they had in the world. For these reasons man after death is wholly ignorant that he has put off his material part, and that he has emigrated from the world of his body into the world of his spirit. I have heard many declaring that they have not died... for the reason that all things in that world are like those in this world; and they do not know that the things they there see and feel are not material, but are substantial from a spiritual origin, and yet are real things, since they have the same origin that all things in this world have, with this difference only, that something additional like an outer garment has been added from the sun of the world to those things that are in the natural world by virtue of which they have become material, fixed, permanent, and measurable. But yet I can assert that those things that are in the spiritual world are more real than those in the natural world, for the dead part that is added in nature to the spiritual does not constitute reality but diminishes it. This is evident from the state of the angels of heaven compared with the state of men on the earth, and from all things that are in heaven compared with all things in the world.
1219. ...(Continuation) [2] As there are like things in heaven and in our world, in the heavens there are spaces and times, but the spaces there, like the lands themselves and the things upon them, are appearances; for they appear according to the states of the angels, and the extensions of spaces and distances appear according to the similarities and dissimilarities of states. By states are meant states of love and wisdom, or of affections and of thoughts therefrom, which are manifold and various. According to these the angelic societies in the heavens are distant from each other, also the heavens are distant from the hells, and the societies of the hells from each other. It has been granted me to see how likeness of state conjoins, and lessens the extension of space or distance, and how unlikeness of state separates, and produces extension of space or distance. Those there who appear to be a mile apart can instantly be present with each other when the love of one for the other is stirred up, and on the other hand those who are talking together can instantly become a mile apart when anything of hatred is aroused. [3] That spaces in the spiritual world are mere appearances has also been made evident to me by this, that many from distant lands, as from various kingdoms of Europe, from Africa, and from India, also the inhabitants of different planets and of widely separated earths, have been present with me. And yet spaces in the heavens appear extended in the same way as the spaces of our earth. But as the spaces there have only a spiritual origin, and not at the same time a natural origin, and thus appear according to the states of the angels, so the angels can have no idea of spaces, but they have instead an idea of their states; for the changeableness of the spaces gives rise to the idea that they are from a spiritual origin, thus from a likeness or unlikeness of affections and of thoughts therefrom. [4] It is the same in regard to times, for as spaces are, so are times, since progressions through spaces are also progressions through times. Times also are appearances of states because the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, does not there make days and years by its revolutions and progressions, as the sun of the world seems to do; consequently in the heavens there is perpetual light and a perpetual spring, and therefore times there are not fixed, permanent, and measurable. And as times also vary according to the states of the affections and of the thoughts therefrom, for they are short or diminished by things delightful to the affections, and are long or lengthened by things undelightful to the affections, so the angels cannot have from appearance an idea of time, but they have instead an idea of states from its origin. All this makes clear that the angels in heaven have no idea of space and time, but they have a spiritual idea about these, which is an idea of state...
1220. And His wife hath made herself ready signifies that the church is now adorned with truths from good for receiving Him. This is evident from the signification of "wife," in reference to the Lord as being the church (see n. 1120); also from the signification of "making herself ready," as being to be adorned with truths from good for receiving Him, for it is added, that "she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright," and "fine linen" signifies truth from celestial good. The church receives the Lord by these truths, for the Lord flows in with man into the good of His love, and is received by man in truths, and from this is all spiritual conjunction. The expression "to be adorned" is used, which means to be taught and to learn, for thus and no otherwise does the church adorn herself and make herself ready for the marriage and for receiving the Lord.
(Continuation) [2] (2) Spaces and times must be removed from the ideas before the Lord's omnipresence with all and with each individual, and His omniscience of things present and future, can be comprehended. But inasmuch as spaces and times cannot easily be removed from the ideas of the thoughts of the natural man, it is better for a simple man not to think of the Divine omnipresence and omniscience from any reasoning of the understanding; it is enough for him to believe in them simply from his religion, and if he thinks from reason, let him say to himself that they exist because they pertain to God and God is everywhere and infinite, also because they are taught in the Word... The understanding with which man is endowed is capable of being raised up into the interior light of heaven if only man desires from love to know truths... The mind that... is unwilling to believe anything that it does not understand, cannot do otherwise than make blind its understanding, and from the dense darkness in which it is immersed, deny that there is any Divine providence, and thus deny the Divine omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, although these are just what religion teaches both within nature and above nature. And yet these cannot be comprehended by the understanding unless spaces and times are separated from the ideas of its thought... Divine spiritual things are the very essence of all things that have existed or that exist, and natural things apart from these are like bodies without souls, which become carcasses. [3] Every man who has become naturalistic by thoughts from nature continues such after death, and calls all things that he sees in the spiritual world natural, because they are similar. Such, however, are enlightened and taught by angels that these things are not natural, but are appearances of natural things; and they are so far convinced as to affirm that it is so. But they soon fall back and worship nature as they did in the world, and at length separate themselves from the angels and fall into hell... The reason is that their soul is not spiritual, but natural like the soul of beasts, although with the ability of thinking and speaking because they were born men. And because the hells at this day more than ever before are full of such, it is important that such dense darkness arising from nature, which at present fills and closes up the thresholds of the understanding of men, should be removed by means of rational light derived from spiritual.
1221. Verses 8-9. And it hath been given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints. And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true words of God. 8. "And it hath been given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright," signifies that that church should be instructed by the Lord in truths from the Word (n. 1222); "for the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints" signifies that by means of truths from the Word those who believe in the Lord have the goods of life (n. 1223). 9. "And he said unto me, Write," signifies that these things shall be for a memorial to posterity (n. 1224); "Blessed are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb" signifies that those who are conjoined to the Lord by means of truths from the Word and become a church will come into heaven (n. 1225); "And he said unto me, These are the true words of God," signifies that they are from the Lord, who is the Word and who is the truth (n. 1226).
1222. Verse 8. And it hath been given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright, signifies that that church should be instructed by the Lord in truths from the Word... It is evident also from the signification of "linen or fine linen," as being truths from a celestial origin (see n. 1143)... This truth is called "clean" from celestial good, and "bright" from spiritual good. All truth is from good, and there are two most general goods, from which are all truths, namely, celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, and spiritual good, which is the good of love towards the neighbor. Truth from this good is meant by "bright fine linen," and truth from the former good is meant by "clean fine linen."...
(Continuation) [2] All the angels of heaven and all the men on the earth who constitute the church are as one man, and the Lord is the life of that man. This you will see confirmed in the work on Heaven and Hell, in the following articles: The whole Heaven in the complex has relation to one Man (n. 59-67); Each Society in the heavens has relation to one Man (n. 68-72); Consequently each Angel is in a perfect Human Form (n. 73-77); Heaven as a whole and in part has relation to Man, and this is from the Lord's Divine Human (n. 78-86); There is a correspondence of all things of Heaven with all things of Man (n. 87-102; The same may be said of the Lord's church on the earth (n. 57). That heaven is like one man I have been taught by experience and am taught by reason. Experience: It has been granted me to behold a society consisting of thousands of angels as one man of a medium stature, and societies consisting of fewer angels in like form. This is seen, however, not by the angels in that society, but by angels outside of that society at a distance, and at the time when a society is to be purified of those who are foreign to it. When this is done all who constitute the life of that society are within that man, while those who do not are outside of him; and these are removed, but the former remain. It is the same with the whole heaven in the presence of the Lord. For this reason and no other every angel and spirit is a man, in a form like that which a man on earth has. [3] I have not seen but I have heard that the church on earth also before the Lord is like one man; and that it is also divided into societies, and that each society is a man; furthermore, that all who are within that man are within heaven, while those who are outside of him are in hell; and the reason has been stated, namely, that every man of the church is also an angel of heaven, for he becomes an angel after death. Moreover, not only does the church on earth together with the angels constitute the interiors of that man, the church constitutes also the exteriors...; this the church constitutes, because the men of the earth are provided with a body in which the lowest spiritual is clothed with the natural. This is what constitutes the conjunction of heaven with the church and of the church with heaven. [4] From reason: ...The angels are only recipients of the Divine from the Lord, and it is the Divine in them that constitutes what is angelic in them and thus heaven...
1224. ...(Continuation) [2] (5) The Lord by the intellectual faculty that each man has, or its opposite, is also present with those who are out of heaven and the church, with those who are in hell or who are to come into hell, and knows their whole state. Every man has three degrees of life, a lowest in common with beasts, and two higher that are not in common with beasts. By these two higher degrees man is a man; these are closed with the evil, but with the good are open. And yet, in regard to the light of heaven, which is the wisdom that proceeds from the Lord as a sun, these two degrees are not closed with the evil, but are closed in regard to the heat, which is the love, that at the same time proceeds therefrom. From this it is that every man, even an evil man, has a capacity to understand, but not a capacity to will from heavenly love, for the will is a receptacle of heat, that is, of love, and the understanding is a receptacle of light, that is, of wisdom, from that sun. [3] The reason why every man is not intelligent and wise is that some have by their lives closed up in themselves the receptacle of that love, and when that is closed they have no wish to understand anything except what they love, for that only do they wish and love to think about and thus understand. And as every man, even an evil man, has an ability to understand, and that ability is from an influx of light from the sun which is the Lord, it is clear that the Lord is also present with those who are out of heaven and the church, who are either in hell or are to come into hell. It is from the same ability that man is able to think and reason about various things, which beasts cannot do. It is from the same ability that man lives forever. [4] Another proof of the Lord's omnipresence in hell is that the entire hell, like the entire heaven, is before the Lord as one man, but as a man-devil or a man-monster; and in this all things are in opposition to those that are in the Divine man-angel, consequently from this latter everything that is in the former can be known, that is, from heaven everything that is in hell; for evil is known from good and falsity from truth, thus the entire quality of the one from the quality of the other. There are three heavens, and there are three hells; and as the heavens are divided into societies so are the hells; and each society of hell corresponds by opposition to a society of heaven. The correspondence is like that between good affections and evil affections, for all societies are affections. So in the same way that each society of heaven, as has been said, is in the Lord's sight as one man-angel in the likeness of its affection, each society of hell is in the Lord's sight as one man-devil in the likeness of its evil affection. This, too, it has been granted me to see. They appear like men, but monstrous. I have seen three kinds of them, the fiery, the black, and the pallid, but all of them with deformed faces, a husky voice, external speech, and like gestures. They all have a lascivious [or offensive sexual] love, and not one of them a chaste love. The delights of their will are evils, and the delights of their thoughts are falsities.
1225. ...(Continuation) [2] (6) From the omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord thus perceived it can be understood how the Lord is the All and is in all things of heaven and the church, and that we are in the Lord, and He is in us. All things of heaven and the church mean the Divine truth and the Divine good; the former is from the light of the sun of heaven, which is wisdom, and the latter is from the heat of the sun of heaven, which is love; and in the same way that the angels are recipients of these are they a heaven in general and heavens individually, and in the same way that men are recipients of them are they a church in general and churches individually. There can be nothing with any angel that makes heaven in him, nor anything with any man that makes the church in him, except the Divine that proceeds from the Lord; for it is well known that every truth of faith and every good of love is from the Lord, and nothing of these from man. All this makes clear that the Lord is the All and is in all things of heaven and the church. [3] That we are in the Lord and He is in us, He Himself teaches in John: ... In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me and I in you (John 14:20-21). And elsewhere: That in Him we live and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). All the angels of heaven and all the men of the church are in the Lord and the Lord is in them when they are in that heavenly man spoken of above. Angels and men are then in the Lord because they are recipients of life from Him, and thus are in His Divine, and the Lord is in them because He is the life in the recipients. All this makes clear that all who are in a natural idea of the Lord cannot understand His Divine omnipresence in any other way than as intuitive, although it is an actual omnipresence, like the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit, which is the Divine proceeding.
1226. ...(Continuation) [2] (7) The omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord can be comprehended also from the creation of the universe... The creation of the universe can be in no way so well understood as from types of it in the heavens. There creation is unceasing and instantaneous, for in the spiritual world lands exist in a moment, and upon them paradisal gardens, and in these trees full of fruits, also shrubs, flowers, and plants of every kind. When these are contemplated by one who is wise, they are found to be correspondences of the uses in which the angels are, to whom they are given as a reward. The angels, moreover, in accordance with their uses have houses given them, full of utensils and beautiful things according to uses; also garments according to their uses, and food that is... palatable according to their uses, and delightful conversations, which also are uses... All these things are given them gratuitously, and yet on account of the uses they perform. In a word, the whole heaven is so full of uses that it may be called the very kingdom of uses. [3] Those, on the other hand, who perform no uses, are sent into the hells, where they are compelled by a judge to perform tasks; and if they refuse no food is given them and no clothing, nor any bed but the ground, and they are scoffed at by their companions as slaves are by their masters. The judge even permits them to be their bond servants, and if they entice others from their tasks they are severely punished. All this is done until they yield. But those who cannot be made to yield are cast out into deserts, where a morsel of bread is given them daily, and water to drink, and they dwell by themselves in huts or in caves; and because they perform no uses the land about them is so barren that a grassy sod is rarely seen upon it. In such deserts and hells I have seen many of noble descent, who in the world gave themselves up to idleness, or sought offices, the duties of which they discharged not for the sake of use but for honor and gain, which were the only uses regarded. [4] The uses performed in the heavens and the tasks done in the hells are in part like those done in the world, although for the most part they are spiritual uses, that cannot be described by any natural language, and (what I have often wondered at) do not fall into the ideas of natural thought. But this is generally the case with what is spiritual. In the unceasing and instantaneous creation of all things in the heavens there can be seen as in a type the creation of the universe with its globes, and that there is nothing created in these except for use... [5] From the life of man. When this is regarded from the creation of all things in it no part will be found that is not for use... [6] That every man likewise was created and born for use is clearly evident from the use of all things in him, and from his state after death, when, if he performs no use, he is accounted so worthless that he is cast into infernal prisons or into desert places. That man is born to be a use is clear also from his life; for a man whose life is from a love of uses is wholly different from one whose life is from a love of idleness. By a life of idleness is meant a life made up of social interaction feasting, and entertainments. A life from the love of uses is a life of love of the public good and of love to the neighbor, and also a life of love to the Lord, for the Lord performs uses to man through man, consequently a life of the love of uses is the spiritual Divine life, and everyone who loves a good use and does it from a love for it is loved by the Lord, and is received with joy by the angels in heaven. But a life of the love of idleness is a life of the love of self and the world, and thus a merely natural life; and such a life does not hold the thoughts together, but diffuses them into every vain thing, and thereby turns man away from the delights of wisdom and immerses him in the delights of the body and of the world alone to which evils cling; therefore after death he is let down into the infernal society to which he has attached himself in the world, and is there compelled to work by force of hunger and lack of food. By uses in the heavens and on the earths are meant the ministries, functions, and pursuits of life, employments, various domestic tasks, occupations, consequently all things that are opposite to idleness and indolence [laziness.] [7] From the essence of uses. The essence of uses is the public good. With the angels the public good in the most general sense means the good of the entire heaven, in a less general sense the good of the society, and in a particular sense the good of the fellow citizen. But with men the essence of uses in the most general sense is both the spiritual and the civil good of the whole human race, in a less general sense the good of the country, in a particular sense the good of a society, and in an individual sense the good of the fellow citizen; and as these goods constitute the essence of uses, love is their life, since all good is of love and the life is in the love. In this love is everyone who takes delight in the use he is in because of its usefulness, whether he is a king, a magistrate, a priest, a minister, a general, a merchant, or a workman. Everyone who takes delight in the use of his function because of its usefulness loves his country and fellow citizens; but he who does not take delight in it because of its usefulness, but does it solely for the sake of self, or solely for the sake of honor and wealth, does not in his heart love his country and fellow citizens, but only himself and the world. This is because no one can be kept by the Lord in love to the neighbor unless he is in some love for the public good; and no one can be in that love unless he is in the love of use for the sake of use, or in the love of use from use, thus from the Lord. [8] Since, then, each thing, and all things in the world were created in the beginning for use, and in man also all things were formed for use, and the Lord from creation regarded the whole human race as one man, in which each individual is likewise for use or is a use, and since the Lord Himself, as has been said above, is the life of that man, it is clear that the universe was so created that the Lord is in things first and in things last, also in the center and in the circumference, that is, in the midst of all, and that the things in which He is are uses. And from all this the Lord's omnipresence and omniscience can be comprehended.
1227. Verse 10. And I fell down before his feet to adore him; and he said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; adore God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 10. "And I fell down before his feet to adore him" signifies perception from him of the Divine to which adoration belongs (n. 1228); "and he said unto me, See thou do it not," signifies the knowledge that he was not God but an angel (n. 1229); "I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus" signifies that he is like men on the earth who receive or have received the Divine truth from the Lord (n. 1230); "adore God" signifies that the Lord alone is to be acknowledged and worshiped from the heart (n. 1231); "for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" signifies that acknowledgment of the Lord and conjunction with Him is the life of all doctrine from the Word (n. 1232).
1228. Verse 10. And I fell down before his feet to adore him signifies perception from him of the Divine, to which adoration belongs... The essence of the matter is that when the Lord sends angels to men, as He did to the prophets, He fills them with His Divine and thus moves them to speak. Then the angel that is sent speaks from the Lord and not from himself; but as soon as he has spoken he returns into himself and then knows that he is only an angel. Thus the Word was written by the Lord by means of angels, and thus the Lord spoke with the ancients, as with Abraham, with Hagar his handmaid, with Gideon, and in general with the prophets, and this is why the prophets called the angels Jehovah, and some of them were adored as long as they were filled with the Divine. This presence of the Lord is the same as the presence of the Holy Spirit. This makes clear what is signified by these words.
(Continuation) [2] (8) As the Lord has the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, so from these He has Divine omnipresence and Divine omniscience, but omnipresence is chiefly from the Divine love, and omniscience is chiefly from the Divine wisdom. Love and wisdom in the Lord are not two but one, and this one is the Divine love, which appears before the angels of heaven as a sun. But when love and wisdom proceed from the Lord as a sun they appear as two distinct things, love appearing as heat, and wisdom as light. These from their origin... the sun act wholly as one; but with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church they are separated, some receiving more of love which is heat than of wisdom which is light, and these are called celestial angels and men; while others receive more of wisdom which is light than of love which is heat, and these are called spiritual angels and men. An illustration of this can be found in the sun of the world. In that sun fire and the origin of light are wholly one, and this one is the fiery element in that sun. From this the heat and light proceed together, but they appear as two distinct things, although from their origin they act as one... [3] It is similar with omnipresence and omniscience. In the Lord these are one; and yet they proceed from Him as two distinct attributes; for omnipresence has relation to love, and omniscience to wisdom; or what is the same, omnipresence has relation to good, and omniscience to truth, since all good is of love and all truth is of wisdom. The Lord's omnipresence has relation to love and to good because the Lord is present with man in the good of his love; and omniscience has relation to wisdom and to truth because from man's good of love the Lord is omnipresent in the truths of his understanding, and this omnipresence is called omniscience. As this is true individually of one man so it is true in general of all.
1229. And he said unto me, See thou do it not, signifies the knowledge that he was not God but an angel, as can be seen without explanation, for he said, "See thou do it not," namely that he was not God but an angel, before whom no one must fall down, that is, who must not be adored.
(Continuation) The... Divine love and the Divine wisdom, from which is the life of all things... shall now be treated of. But in order that these two essentials of all things may be distinctly seen they shall be considered in the following order. First respecting the Divine love: (1) In the world it is but little comprehended what love is, and yet it is man's very life. (2) The Lord alone is love itself... while men and angels are only recipients. (3) Life, which is love, is not given except in a form, and that form is a form of uses in the whole complex. (4) Such a form is man, individually and collectively, and in such a form is heaven, and also the world. (5) There... are degrees of uses. (6) There are as many affections as there are uses, and consequently there are... degrees of affections... (9) So far as man is in the love of uses so far is he in the Lord... (10) The active force of uses... produce... [what] is perceived in man as love... (12) All things in man are formed and grow and are held in connection by the Lord by means of love... (13) Man does not know what affection is, and still less that there are as many various affections as there are men born into the world, and will be born to eternity, thus that they are infinite. (14) Man does not know otherwise than that he is thought, and yet he is affection. (15) Neither does he know that he has eternal life according to his affection of use.
1231. Adore God signifies that the Lord is to be acknowledged and worshiped from the heart...
1232. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy signifies that acknowledgment of the Lord and conjunction with Him is the life of all doctrine from the Word. This is evident from the signification of "the testimony of Jesus," as being the acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine and reception of the Divine truth from Him (see just above, n. 1230), and thus conjunction with the Lord, for conjunction is effected through the acknowledgment of the Lord and reception of the Divine truth from Him. Also from the signification of "the spirit of prophecy," as being the life of all doctrine from the Word, "spirit" signifying life because the Holy Spirit is meant, which is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, and the Divine proceeding is the essential life of man, and "prophecy" signifies doctrine from the Word...
Apocalypse Revealed, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1766], tr. by John Whitehead [1912], at sacred-texts.com
820. Verse 11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, signifies the spiritual sense of the Word revealed by the Lord, and the interior understanding of the Word disclosed thereby; which is the coming of the Lord... By "a horse" is signified the understanding of the Word, and by "a white horse" the interior understanding of the Word (n. 298); and as this is signified by "a white horse," and as the spiritual sense is the interior understanding of the Word, therefore that sense is signified here by "the white horse."...Everyone who does not think beyond the sense of the letter, believes that when the Last Judgment shall come, the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven with the angels and sounds of trumpets. But that this is not meant, but that He will appear in the Word, may be evident from the explanation above (n. 24, 642). And the Lord appears manifestly in the spiritual sense of the Word... Now, because the Lord is the Word, and the Word became flesh (John 1:1-2, 14), and the Word became flesh that He might fulfill it, it is manifest that the Lord's coming in the Word is meant by His appearing "in the clouds of heaven." That "the clouds of heaven" signify the Word in the sense of the letter, may be seen above (n. 24, 642). It is manifest that the Lord's appearing in the Word is meant, because the interior understanding of the Word is signified by "the white horse," and it is said that the name of Him that sat upon the horse is "The Word of God," and that His name is "King of kings and Lord of lords" (verses 13, 16). It is now manifest from this, that by "I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse," is signified the spiritual sense of the Word revealed by the Lord, and thereby the interior understanding of it disclosed; which also is the coming of the Lord...
821. And He that sitteth upon him is called faithful and true, and in justice He doth judge and make war, signifies the Lord as to the Word, that it is the Divine good itself and the Divine truth itself, from both of which He executes judgment, and separates the good from the evil. By "He that sitteth upon him," that is, upon the white horse, the Lord is meant as to the Word... By "faithful and true" are signified the Divine good and the Divine truth; by "faithful," the Divine good, because this is faithful. That "faithful," when speaking of men, means one who is in the inmost or third heaven, and thus who is in celestial good, may be seen above (n. 744). That by "true," when speaking of the Lord, the Divine truth is signified, is manifest. That by "justice" both are signified, as well good as truth, and, where it is speaking of the Lord, the Divine good and Divine truth, may be seen above (n. 805). Hence it follows, that by "judging from justice" is signified to execute judgment from the Divine good and the Divine truth. That all judgment is executed by the Lord through the Word, and thus that the Word itself judges everyone, may be seen above (n. 233). That "to make war from justice" signifies to separate the good from the evil, is because the Lord does not make war against anyone, but separates the good from the evil; and when the good are separated from the evil, the evil then cast themselves into hell.
822. Verse 12. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, signifies the Divine wisdom of the Lord's Divine love, may be seen above (n. 48), where are similar things; and they are said of the Son of man, by whom the Lord as to the Word is meant (n. 44).
1204. ...(Continuation) ...(1) Nothing in nature exists and subsists except from the spiritual and by means of it. (2) Nature in itself is dead, being created that the spiritual may be clothed by it with forms that may serve for use... (5) From the spiritual by means of these forces both plants and animals, both those which appear in heaven and those which are in the world, have their existence. (6) These two classes have the same origin and thus the same soul, the difference being only in the forms into which the influx flows...
1205. Verses 4-5. And the twenty-four elders and the four animals fell down and adored God who sitteth upon the throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia. And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, Praise God, all ye His servants, and ye that fear Him, both the small and the great. (4) "And the twenty-four elders and the four animals fell down" signifies humiliation of heart of the angels of the higher heavens (n. 1206); "and adored God who sitteth on the throne" signifies adoration of the Lord, who has all power in the heavens and on the earth (n. 1207); "saying Amen, Alleluia," signifies who in truth is alone to be worshiped and glorified (n. 1208). (5) "And a voice came forth from the throne" signifies the unanimity of the whole heaven (n. 1209); "saying, Praise God all ye His servants," signifies worship of the Lord by those who are in truths (n. 1210); "and ye that fear Him" signifies worship of the Lord by those who are in the good of love (n. 1211); "both the small and the great" signifies all who are in truths and goods in every degree (n. 1212).
1206. ...(Continuation) [2] (1) Nothing in nature exists except from the spiritual and by means of it. The reason of this is that nothing can exist except from another, and so finally from Him who is and exists in Himself, who is God... Nothing in nature comes forth except from the spiritual, because nothing is possible without a soul. All that is called soul, which is essence, for that which has in itself no essence has no existence... Thus it is with nature. Its essence from which it exists is the spiritual, because this has in itself the Divine... force... Moreover, this essence may be called soul. For everything spiritual is living... For there is a spiritual world; and that world is prior, interior and superior to the natural world, consequently everything in the spiritual world is a cause, and everything in the natural world is an effect...
1207. And adored God who sitteth upon the throne, signifies adoration of the Lord, who has all power in the heavens and on the earth... This is evident... for "the throne" means in reference to the Lord the whole heaven and also all power there. All power on the earth is also meant because power in the heavens cannot be separated from power on the earth; for the spiritual world, in which are the heavens and the hells, cannot be separated from the natural world; thus angels and spirits cannot be separated from men, for they are... conjoined; for as to the thoughts of his understanding and the affections of his will every man is in the spiritual world, in the societies there, thus with angels of heaven on the one hand or with spirits of hell on the other. For as to his thoughts and affections man is a spirit; consequently after death, when he becomes a spirit, he comes into the societies in which he was while in the world. This makes clear that since the Lord has power in the heavens He has power also on the earth, and that the one cannot be separated from the other. By "God" here and elsewhere in the Word, the Lord is meant, because He has all power in the heavens and on the earth, as He Himself teaches in the Word, for He alone is God.
(Continuation) [2] (2) Nature in itself is dead, being created in order that the spiritual may be clothed by it with forms that may serve for use... Nature and life are two distinct things. Nature has its beginning from the sun of this world, and life has its beginning from the sun of heaven. The sun of the world is pure fire, and the sun of heaven is pure love. That which proceeds from the sun that is pure fire is called nature; and that which proceeds from the sun that is pure love is called life...
1209. Verse 5. And a voice came forth from the throne signifies the unanimity of the whole heaven. This is evident from the signification of "a voice coming forth from the throne," as being the unanimity of the whole heaven, namely, in glorifying the Lord; for "throne" signifies the whole heaven because the Lord is on it, and the Lord is heaven itself. The angels of whom heaven consists do not make anything of heaven from what is of their own; but it is the Divine with them that proceeds from the Lord that makes heaven; and this is why "a voice out of heaven" signifies the unanimity of all the heavens, or of the whole heaven...
1210. ...(Continuation) [2] (5) From the spiritual, by means of these forces, both plants and animals, both those that appear in heaven and those in the world, have their existence. Such things exist also in heaven, because these forces are in the spiritual in things greatest and in things least... thus in the spiritual both in heaven and in the world. Its firsts are in the heavens... For there are degrees of spiritual things, and each degree is distinct from the other, and the prior or higher degree is more perfect than the... lower. This is evident from the light and the heat in the heavens, and from the wisdom of the angels from these. The light in the highest or third heaven is from a flame so brilliant as to exceed a thousand times the midday light of the world; in the middle or second heaven the light is less bright, and yet exceeds a hundred times the noonday light of the world; in the lowest or first heaven the light is like the noonday light of our world. Also there are degrees of heat, which in heaven is love, and according to those degrees the angels have wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge. Everything spiritual belongs to the light and heat that are from the Lord as a sun, and wisdom and intelligence are from these...
1211. ...(Continuation) [2] Something shall now be said about plants in heaven, as the animals there have already been spoken of. In the heavens, as on the earth, there are plants of all genera and species; yea, in the heavens there are also plants that are not on the earth, for there are composite forms of the different genera and species with infinite variation. This they derive from their origin... [3] According to the degrees of light and heat there, paradisal gardens, groves, fields, and plains are seen; and in these, groups of trees and flowers and lawns. In the inmost or third heaven especially there are orchards whose fruits drop oils; beds of flowers from which fragrant odors are spread abroad, and the seeds of which are sweet to the taste from the fragrance and the oil; and there are lawns diffusing like odors. In the middle or second heaven there are orchards whose fruits drop wine; and flower-beds from which exhale pleasant odors, with seeds of delicate flavor, and also lawns. In the lowest or first heaven there are the same things as in the inmost and in the middle heaven, with a difference of delights and pleasantnesses according to degrees... [4]... All these germinate from the lands there. There are lands there, as with us; but nothing springs up from seed sown, but only from seed created; and creation there is instantaneous, sometimes enduring for a long time and sometimes only for a moment; for they exist there by means of the forces of light and heat from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord... In the lands that are in the heavens... all things are spiritual with a natural appearance; but in the lands that are subject to the sun of our world it is not so...
1212. ...(Continuation) [2] (6) These two classes, animals and plants, have the same origin, and thus the same soul, the difference being only in the forms into which the influx flows. It has been shown above that the origin of animals, which also is their soul, is spiritual affection, such as man has in his natural. That plants have the same origin is evident especially from plants in the heavens, in their appearing according to the affections of angels, and representing those affections, even so that the angels see and recognize their affections in them as in their types; also that they are changed as the affections change; but this occurs outside of the societies. The only difference is that affections appear formed into animals by the spiritual in its intermediate parts, while they appear formed into plants in its [outer part,] which are the lands there. For the spiritual which is their source is living in its intermediates, but is not living in its [outer part.] In [the outer part] the spiritual retains no more of life than is sufficient to produce a resemblance of being alive. It is nearly the same as in the human body, the [outer part] of which... is from the soul... [3] That the plant soul has the same origin as the soul of the beasts of the earth and of the birds of heaven and of the fishes of the sea does not appear to be true at first sight, for the reason that the one is a living thing and the other is not; nevertheless it becomes plainly evident from the animals and the plants seen in the heavens, and also from those seen in the hells. In the heavens beautiful animals and like plants are seen; but in the hells noxious animals and like plants; and angels and spirits are known from the way the animals appear, and equally from the way the plants appear. The agreement with the affections of the angels and spirits is so complete that an animal can be changed into a corresponding plant, and a plant into a corresponding animal. [4] The angels of heaven know what element of affection is represented in the one and in the other... Moreover, it has been granted me to discern clearly the correspondence of both animals and of plants with the societies of heaven and with the societies of hell, thus with their affections, for in the spiritual world societies and affections make one... [5] The difference, therefore, between the plants in the spiritual world and those in the natural world is that in the spiritual world both their seeds and their germinations exist in an instant according to the affections of the angels and spirits there; but in the natural world the origin is implanted in the seeds, from which they spring each year. Moreover, there are two things proper to nature, time and consequent succession and space and consequent extension, but these do not exist in the spiritual world as properties of it, but in their place are appearances of the states of life of those there; and this is why from the lands there, which are from a spiritual origin, plants spring up instantly and disappear instantly. But this occurs only when the angels go away; as long as they remain the plants continue. This is the difference between plants in the spiritual world and plants in the natural world.
1213. Verses 6-7. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as it were the voice of many waters, and as it were the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory unto Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. 6. "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude," signifies the glorification of the Lord by all that are in the heavens because of the rejection of the evil and the consequent deliverance of the good (n. 1214); "and as it were the voice of many waters" signifies the glorification of Him from truths (n. 1215); "and as it were the voice of mighty thunders," signifies the glorification of Him from the goods of love (n. 1216); "saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God, the Almighty, reigneth," signifies joy and gladness that the Lord has now a kingdom on the earth as in the heavens (n. 1217). 7. "Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory unto Him," signifies manifestation of joy from the affection of truth and from the affection of good (n. 1218); "for the marriage of the Lamb is come," signifies the conjunction of the Lord with the church (n. 1219); "And His wife hath made herself ready," signifies that the church is now adorned with truths from good for receiving Him (n. 1220).
1214. ...(Continuation) [2] (7) That origin is use. This is because affections have reference to uses; use is the subject of all affection... Since, then, all affection supposes use, and the plant soul, from its spiritual origin, is an affection... it, too, is a use. For this very reason every plant contains a use, a spiritual use in the spiritual world, and both a spiritual and a natural use in the natural world. The spiritual use is for the various states of the mind, and the natural use is for the various states of the body. It is well known that minds are refreshed, recreated, and stimulated, or on the other hand that drowsiness, sadness, or fainting is induced, by the odors and flavors of different kinds of plants; also that the body is healed by the various solutions... and remedies made from plants, and on the other hand, is destroyed by the poisons extracted from them. [3] In the heavens the external spiritual use derived from them is the refreshment of minds, and the internal is the representation of Divine things in them, and thereby also the elevation of the mind. For the wiser angels see in them the quality of affections in a series. These, with what lies hidden in them, are manifested in the varieties of flowers in their order, also in the variegations of color and odor. For every [outer] affection which is called natural, although it is spiritual, derives its quality from an interior affection, which pertains to intelligence and wisdom, and these derive their quality from use and the love of it. In a word, from the soil in the heavens nothing but use blooms forth, for use is the plant soul. [4] Because use is the plant soul, in those places in the spiritual world that are called deserts, where those are who in the world had rejected works of charity, which are essential uses, no grass or herb of any kind is seen, but mere gravel and sand. Every good in act that is from the Lord through love to him and love towards the neighbor, is meant by the uses that alone blossom forth in the heavens. Every plant there represents a form of use... Those that are skilled in the sciences of botany, chemistry, medicine, and pharmacy, come after death into a knowledge of spiritual uses from the plants in the spiritual world, and cultivate that knowledge and find the greatest delight in it. I have talked with such and have heard from them wonderful things.
1215. And as it were the voice of many waters, signifies the glorification of Him from truths... In the heavens there are angels that are in truths and angels that are in goods. The angels that are in truths are called spiritual angels, and those that are in goods are called celestial angels. From this heaven is divided into two kingdoms, the spiritual and the celestial kingdoms. In the spiritual kingdom are all that are in truths, and in the celestial kingdom are all that are in goods. [2] All, indeed, are in truths from good; but good is twofold, spiritual good and celestial good; the good of charity is the good of love towards the neighbor, and celestial good is the good of love to the Lord. These goods are distinct; spiritual good is good in a lower degree, and celestial good is good in a higher degree; consequently the good that the angels of the higher heavens have is celestial good, while the good that the angels of the lower heavens have is spiritual good. All this makes clear that the "many waters," the voice of which was heard, signify all the spiritual angels in the heavens, but "the voice of mighty thunders" that follows signifies all the celestial angels in the heavens.
(Continuation) [3] From all that has thus far been presented respecting the life that is from the Lord and the existence of all things in the universe from it, everyone who is wise in heart can see that nature produces nothing from itself, but merely in the process of production serves the spiritual that proceeds from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord... It is an eternal truth that influx is spiritual and not physical, that is, influx from the soul, which is spiritual, into the body, which is material, or from the spiritual world into the natural world; also that as the Divine from itself and through that which proceeds from itself created all things, so it sustains all things; also that sustaining is perpetual creation...
1216. And as it were the voice of mighty thunders, signifies the glorification of the Lord from the goods of love... Angels and spirits... are spiritual, and the spiritual think from affection and also speak from affection, those who are in the celestial kingdom from the affection of good, and those in the spiritual kingdom from the affection of truth; thus they are distinguished by their tones. The sound of the speech of the angels in the higher parts of heaven is heard variously below, for it increases as it goes on, as sound does in the world when it descends from above. The sound of the spiritual angels is thus heard as the sound of roaring waters, and the sound of the celestial angels as the sound of thunders. (On the further signification of "thunders" see above, n. 273, 353, 498, 702, 704, 1014.)
1217. ...(Continuation) [3] How the Lord can be present with all who are in heaven and throughout the whole earth, and can know all things, even the most particular things connected with them, both present and future, can be comprehended only by means of the following truths: (1) In the natural world there are spaces and times, but in the spiritual world these are appearances. (2) Spaces and times must be removed from the ideas before the Lord's omnipresence with all and with each individual, and His omniscience of things present and things future connected with them, can be comprehended. (3) All angels of heaven and all men of the earth who constitute the church are as one man, and the Lord is the life of that man. (4) Consequently as there is life in the particular and most particular things of man and it knows the entire state of these, so the Lord is in the particular and most particular things of the angels of heaven and of the men of the church. (5) The Lord, by the intellectual faculty that each man has, or by its opposite, is also present with those who are out of heaven and out of the church, that is, those who are in hell or who are to come into hell, and knows their whole state. (6) From the omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord thus perceived it can be understood how the Lord is the all and is in all things of heaven and the church, and that we are in the Lord and He is in us. (7) The omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord can be comprehended also from the creation of the universe; for it was so created by Him that He is in things first and in things last, in the center and at the same time in the circumferences, and that the things in which He is are uses. (8) As the Lord has the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, so from these He has the Divine omnipresence and the Divine omniscience; but omnipresence is chiefly from the Divine love, and omniscience chiefly from the Divine wisdom.
1218. ...(Continuation) [2] (1)In the natural world there are spaces and times, but in the spiritual world these are appearances. The reason is that all things that appear in the spiritual world are immediately from the sun of heaven, which is the Lord's Divine love; but all things that appear in the natural world are from... the sun of the world, which is pure fire. Pure love, from which all things in the spiritual world exist immediately, is immaterial; but pure fire, through which all things in the material world exist mediately, is material. This is why all things that come forth in the spiritual world are by virtue of their origin spiritual, and all things that exist in the natural world are by virtue of their secondary origin material; and material things in themselves are fixed, permanent, and measurable. They are fixed because they endure, however the states of men may be changed, like the lands, mountains, and seas... In the spiritual world all things are as if they were fixed, as if they were permanent, and as if they were measurable, and yet in themselves they are not so. For they exist and continue according to the states of the angels, so that they make one with those states, and consequently they change in whatever way those states change. But this takes place especially in the world of spirits, into which every man first comes after death, and is not so in heaven or in hell. This occurs in the world of spirits, because every man there undergoes changes of state, and is thus prepared for heaven or for hell. [3] ...Spirits... see in the spiritual world things exactly like those they saw in the world, as lands, mountains, valleys, waters, gardens, forests, plants, palaces, houses, garments with which they are clothed, food by which they are nourished, animals, and themselves as men. All these things they see in a clearer light than that by which they saw like things in the world, and they feel them by a more exquisite touch than they had in the world. For these reasons man after death is wholly ignorant that he has put off his material part, and that he has emigrated from the world of his body into the world of his spirit. I have heard many declaring that they have not died... for the reason that all things in that world are like those in this world; and they do not know that the things they there see and feel are not material, but are substantial from a spiritual origin, and yet are real things, since they have the same origin that all things in this world have, with this difference only, that something additional like an outer garment has been added from the sun of the world to those things that are in the natural world by virtue of which they have become material, fixed, permanent, and measurable. But yet I can assert that those things that are in the spiritual world are more real than those in the natural world, for the dead part that is added in nature to the spiritual does not constitute reality but diminishes it. This is evident from the state of the angels of heaven compared with the state of men on the earth, and from all things that are in heaven compared with all things in the world.
1219. ...(Continuation) [2] As there are like things in heaven and in our world, in the heavens there are spaces and times, but the spaces there, like the lands themselves and the things upon them, are appearances; for they appear according to the states of the angels, and the extensions of spaces and distances appear according to the similarities and dissimilarities of states. By states are meant states of love and wisdom, or of affections and of thoughts therefrom, which are manifold and various. According to these the angelic societies in the heavens are distant from each other, also the heavens are distant from the hells, and the societies of the hells from each other. It has been granted me to see how likeness of state conjoins, and lessens the extension of space or distance, and how unlikeness of state separates, and produces extension of space or distance. Those there who appear to be a mile apart can instantly be present with each other when the love of one for the other is stirred up, and on the other hand those who are talking together can instantly become a mile apart when anything of hatred is aroused. [3] That spaces in the spiritual world are mere appearances has also been made evident to me by this, that many from distant lands, as from various kingdoms of Europe, from Africa, and from India, also the inhabitants of different planets and of widely separated earths, have been present with me. And yet spaces in the heavens appear extended in the same way as the spaces of our earth. But as the spaces there have only a spiritual origin, and not at the same time a natural origin, and thus appear according to the states of the angels, so the angels can have no idea of spaces, but they have instead an idea of their states; for the changeableness of the spaces gives rise to the idea that they are from a spiritual origin, thus from a likeness or unlikeness of affections and of thoughts therefrom. [4] It is the same in regard to times, for as spaces are, so are times, since progressions through spaces are also progressions through times. Times also are appearances of states because the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, does not there make days and years by its revolutions and progressions, as the sun of the world seems to do; consequently in the heavens there is perpetual light and a perpetual spring, and therefore times there are not fixed, permanent, and measurable. And as times also vary according to the states of the affections and of the thoughts therefrom, for they are short or diminished by things delightful to the affections, and are long or lengthened by things undelightful to the affections, so the angels cannot have from appearance an idea of time, but they have instead an idea of states from its origin. All this makes clear that the angels in heaven have no idea of space and time, but they have a spiritual idea about these, which is an idea of state...
1220. And His wife hath made herself ready signifies that the church is now adorned with truths from good for receiving Him. This is evident from the signification of "wife," in reference to the Lord as being the church (see n. 1120); also from the signification of "making herself ready," as being to be adorned with truths from good for receiving Him, for it is added, that "she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright," and "fine linen" signifies truth from celestial good. The church receives the Lord by these truths, for the Lord flows in with man into the good of His love, and is received by man in truths, and from this is all spiritual conjunction. The expression "to be adorned" is used, which means to be taught and to learn, for thus and no otherwise does the church adorn herself and make herself ready for the marriage and for receiving the Lord.
(Continuation) [2] (2) Spaces and times must be removed from the ideas before the Lord's omnipresence with all and with each individual, and His omniscience of things present and future, can be comprehended. But inasmuch as spaces and times cannot easily be removed from the ideas of the thoughts of the natural man, it is better for a simple man not to think of the Divine omnipresence and omniscience from any reasoning of the understanding; it is enough for him to believe in them simply from his religion, and if he thinks from reason, let him say to himself that they exist because they pertain to God and God is everywhere and infinite, also because they are taught in the Word... The understanding with which man is endowed is capable of being raised up into the interior light of heaven if only man desires from love to know truths... The mind that... is unwilling to believe anything that it does not understand, cannot do otherwise than make blind its understanding, and from the dense darkness in which it is immersed, deny that there is any Divine providence, and thus deny the Divine omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience, although these are just what religion teaches both within nature and above nature. And yet these cannot be comprehended by the understanding unless spaces and times are separated from the ideas of its thought... Divine spiritual things are the very essence of all things that have existed or that exist, and natural things apart from these are like bodies without souls, which become carcasses. [3] Every man who has become naturalistic by thoughts from nature continues such after death, and calls all things that he sees in the spiritual world natural, because they are similar. Such, however, are enlightened and taught by angels that these things are not natural, but are appearances of natural things; and they are so far convinced as to affirm that it is so. But they soon fall back and worship nature as they did in the world, and at length separate themselves from the angels and fall into hell... The reason is that their soul is not spiritual, but natural like the soul of beasts, although with the ability of thinking and speaking because they were born men. And because the hells at this day more than ever before are full of such, it is important that such dense darkness arising from nature, which at present fills and closes up the thresholds of the understanding of men, should be removed by means of rational light derived from spiritual.
1221. Verses 8-9. And it hath been given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints. And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true words of God. 8. "And it hath been given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright," signifies that that church should be instructed by the Lord in truths from the Word (n. 1222); "for the fine linen is the just deeds of the saints" signifies that by means of truths from the Word those who believe in the Lord have the goods of life (n. 1223). 9. "And he said unto me, Write," signifies that these things shall be for a memorial to posterity (n. 1224); "Blessed are they that have been called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb" signifies that those who are conjoined to the Lord by means of truths from the Word and become a church will come into heaven (n. 1225); "And he said unto me, These are the true words of God," signifies that they are from the Lord, who is the Word and who is the truth (n. 1226).
1222. Verse 8. And it hath been given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, clean and bright, signifies that that church should be instructed by the Lord in truths from the Word... It is evident also from the signification of "linen or fine linen," as being truths from a celestial origin (see n. 1143)... This truth is called "clean" from celestial good, and "bright" from spiritual good. All truth is from good, and there are two most general goods, from which are all truths, namely, celestial good, which is the good of love to the Lord, and spiritual good, which is the good of love towards the neighbor. Truth from this good is meant by "bright fine linen," and truth from the former good is meant by "clean fine linen."...
(Continuation) [2] All the angels of heaven and all the men on the earth who constitute the church are as one man, and the Lord is the life of that man. This you will see confirmed in the work on Heaven and Hell, in the following articles: The whole Heaven in the complex has relation to one Man (n. 59-67); Each Society in the heavens has relation to one Man (n. 68-72); Consequently each Angel is in a perfect Human Form (n. 73-77); Heaven as a whole and in part has relation to Man, and this is from the Lord's Divine Human (n. 78-86); There is a correspondence of all things of Heaven with all things of Man (n. 87-102; The same may be said of the Lord's church on the earth (n. 57). That heaven is like one man I have been taught by experience and am taught by reason. Experience: It has been granted me to behold a society consisting of thousands of angels as one man of a medium stature, and societies consisting of fewer angels in like form. This is seen, however, not by the angels in that society, but by angels outside of that society at a distance, and at the time when a society is to be purified of those who are foreign to it. When this is done all who constitute the life of that society are within that man, while those who do not are outside of him; and these are removed, but the former remain. It is the same with the whole heaven in the presence of the Lord. For this reason and no other every angel and spirit is a man, in a form like that which a man on earth has. [3] I have not seen but I have heard that the church on earth also before the Lord is like one man; and that it is also divided into societies, and that each society is a man; furthermore, that all who are within that man are within heaven, while those who are outside of him are in hell; and the reason has been stated, namely, that every man of the church is also an angel of heaven, for he becomes an angel after death. Moreover, not only does the church on earth together with the angels constitute the interiors of that man, the church constitutes also the exteriors...; this the church constitutes, because the men of the earth are provided with a body in which the lowest spiritual is clothed with the natural. This is what constitutes the conjunction of heaven with the church and of the church with heaven. [4] From reason: ...The angels are only recipients of the Divine from the Lord, and it is the Divine in them that constitutes what is angelic in them and thus heaven...
1224. ...(Continuation) [2] (5) The Lord by the intellectual faculty that each man has, or its opposite, is also present with those who are out of heaven and the church, with those who are in hell or who are to come into hell, and knows their whole state. Every man has three degrees of life, a lowest in common with beasts, and two higher that are not in common with beasts. By these two higher degrees man is a man; these are closed with the evil, but with the good are open. And yet, in regard to the light of heaven, which is the wisdom that proceeds from the Lord as a sun, these two degrees are not closed with the evil, but are closed in regard to the heat, which is the love, that at the same time proceeds therefrom. From this it is that every man, even an evil man, has a capacity to understand, but not a capacity to will from heavenly love, for the will is a receptacle of heat, that is, of love, and the understanding is a receptacle of light, that is, of wisdom, from that sun. [3] The reason why every man is not intelligent and wise is that some have by their lives closed up in themselves the receptacle of that love, and when that is closed they have no wish to understand anything except what they love, for that only do they wish and love to think about and thus understand. And as every man, even an evil man, has an ability to understand, and that ability is from an influx of light from the sun which is the Lord, it is clear that the Lord is also present with those who are out of heaven and the church, who are either in hell or are to come into hell. It is from the same ability that man is able to think and reason about various things, which beasts cannot do. It is from the same ability that man lives forever. [4] Another proof of the Lord's omnipresence in hell is that the entire hell, like the entire heaven, is before the Lord as one man, but as a man-devil or a man-monster; and in this all things are in opposition to those that are in the Divine man-angel, consequently from this latter everything that is in the former can be known, that is, from heaven everything that is in hell; for evil is known from good and falsity from truth, thus the entire quality of the one from the quality of the other. There are three heavens, and there are three hells; and as the heavens are divided into societies so are the hells; and each society of hell corresponds by opposition to a society of heaven. The correspondence is like that between good affections and evil affections, for all societies are affections. So in the same way that each society of heaven, as has been said, is in the Lord's sight as one man-angel in the likeness of its affection, each society of hell is in the Lord's sight as one man-devil in the likeness of its evil affection. This, too, it has been granted me to see. They appear like men, but monstrous. I have seen three kinds of them, the fiery, the black, and the pallid, but all of them with deformed faces, a husky voice, external speech, and like gestures. They all have a lascivious [or offensive sexual] love, and not one of them a chaste love. The delights of their will are evils, and the delights of their thoughts are falsities.
1225. ...(Continuation) [2] (6) From the omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord thus perceived it can be understood how the Lord is the All and is in all things of heaven and the church, and that we are in the Lord, and He is in us. All things of heaven and the church mean the Divine truth and the Divine good; the former is from the light of the sun of heaven, which is wisdom, and the latter is from the heat of the sun of heaven, which is love; and in the same way that the angels are recipients of these are they a heaven in general and heavens individually, and in the same way that men are recipients of them are they a church in general and churches individually. There can be nothing with any angel that makes heaven in him, nor anything with any man that makes the church in him, except the Divine that proceeds from the Lord; for it is well known that every truth of faith and every good of love is from the Lord, and nothing of these from man. All this makes clear that the Lord is the All and is in all things of heaven and the church. [3] That we are in the Lord and He is in us, He Himself teaches in John: ... In that day ye shall know that ye are in Me and I in you (John 14:20-21). And elsewhere: That in Him we live and move, and have our being (Acts 17:28). All the angels of heaven and all the men of the church are in the Lord and the Lord is in them when they are in that heavenly man spoken of above. Angels and men are then in the Lord because they are recipients of life from Him, and thus are in His Divine, and the Lord is in them because He is the life in the recipients. All this makes clear that all who are in a natural idea of the Lord cannot understand His Divine omnipresence in any other way than as intuitive, although it is an actual omnipresence, like the omnipresence of the Holy Spirit, which is the Divine proceeding.
1226. ...(Continuation) [2] (7) The omnipresence and omniscience of the Lord can be comprehended also from the creation of the universe... The creation of the universe can be in no way so well understood as from types of it in the heavens. There creation is unceasing and instantaneous, for in the spiritual world lands exist in a moment, and upon them paradisal gardens, and in these trees full of fruits, also shrubs, flowers, and plants of every kind. When these are contemplated by one who is wise, they are found to be correspondences of the uses in which the angels are, to whom they are given as a reward. The angels, moreover, in accordance with their uses have houses given them, full of utensils and beautiful things according to uses; also garments according to their uses, and food that is... palatable according to their uses, and delightful conversations, which also are uses... All these things are given them gratuitously, and yet on account of the uses they perform. In a word, the whole heaven is so full of uses that it may be called the very kingdom of uses. [3] Those, on the other hand, who perform no uses, are sent into the hells, where they are compelled by a judge to perform tasks; and if they refuse no food is given them and no clothing, nor any bed but the ground, and they are scoffed at by their companions as slaves are by their masters. The judge even permits them to be their bond servants, and if they entice others from their tasks they are severely punished. All this is done until they yield. But those who cannot be made to yield are cast out into deserts, where a morsel of bread is given them daily, and water to drink, and they dwell by themselves in huts or in caves; and because they perform no uses the land about them is so barren that a grassy sod is rarely seen upon it. In such deserts and hells I have seen many of noble descent, who in the world gave themselves up to idleness, or sought offices, the duties of which they discharged not for the sake of use but for honor and gain, which were the only uses regarded. [4] The uses performed in the heavens and the tasks done in the hells are in part like those done in the world, although for the most part they are spiritual uses, that cannot be described by any natural language, and (what I have often wondered at) do not fall into the ideas of natural thought. But this is generally the case with what is spiritual. In the unceasing and instantaneous creation of all things in the heavens there can be seen as in a type the creation of the universe with its globes, and that there is nothing created in these except for use... [5] From the life of man. When this is regarded from the creation of all things in it no part will be found that is not for use... [6] That every man likewise was created and born for use is clearly evident from the use of all things in him, and from his state after death, when, if he performs no use, he is accounted so worthless that he is cast into infernal prisons or into desert places. That man is born to be a use is clear also from his life; for a man whose life is from a love of uses is wholly different from one whose life is from a love of idleness. By a life of idleness is meant a life made up of social interaction feasting, and entertainments. A life from the love of uses is a life of love of the public good and of love to the neighbor, and also a life of love to the Lord, for the Lord performs uses to man through man, consequently a life of the love of uses is the spiritual Divine life, and everyone who loves a good use and does it from a love for it is loved by the Lord, and is received with joy by the angels in heaven. But a life of the love of idleness is a life of the love of self and the world, and thus a merely natural life; and such a life does not hold the thoughts together, but diffuses them into every vain thing, and thereby turns man away from the delights of wisdom and immerses him in the delights of the body and of the world alone to which evils cling; therefore after death he is let down into the infernal society to which he has attached himself in the world, and is there compelled to work by force of hunger and lack of food. By uses in the heavens and on the earths are meant the ministries, functions, and pursuits of life, employments, various domestic tasks, occupations, consequently all things that are opposite to idleness and indolence [laziness.] [7] From the essence of uses. The essence of uses is the public good. With the angels the public good in the most general sense means the good of the entire heaven, in a less general sense the good of the society, and in a particular sense the good of the fellow citizen. But with men the essence of uses in the most general sense is both the spiritual and the civil good of the whole human race, in a less general sense the good of the country, in a particular sense the good of a society, and in an individual sense the good of the fellow citizen; and as these goods constitute the essence of uses, love is their life, since all good is of love and the life is in the love. In this love is everyone who takes delight in the use he is in because of its usefulness, whether he is a king, a magistrate, a priest, a minister, a general, a merchant, or a workman. Everyone who takes delight in the use of his function because of its usefulness loves his country and fellow citizens; but he who does not take delight in it because of its usefulness, but does it solely for the sake of self, or solely for the sake of honor and wealth, does not in his heart love his country and fellow citizens, but only himself and the world. This is because no one can be kept by the Lord in love to the neighbor unless he is in some love for the public good; and no one can be in that love unless he is in the love of use for the sake of use, or in the love of use from use, thus from the Lord. [8] Since, then, each thing, and all things in the world were created in the beginning for use, and in man also all things were formed for use, and the Lord from creation regarded the whole human race as one man, in which each individual is likewise for use or is a use, and since the Lord Himself, as has been said above, is the life of that man, it is clear that the universe was so created that the Lord is in things first and in things last, also in the center and in the circumference, that is, in the midst of all, and that the things in which He is are uses. And from all this the Lord's omnipresence and omniscience can be comprehended.
1227. Verse 10. And I fell down before his feet to adore him; and he said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus; adore God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. 10. "And I fell down before his feet to adore him" signifies perception from him of the Divine to which adoration belongs (n. 1228); "and he said unto me, See thou do it not," signifies the knowledge that he was not God but an angel (n. 1229); "I am thy fellow servant and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus" signifies that he is like men on the earth who receive or have received the Divine truth from the Lord (n. 1230); "adore God" signifies that the Lord alone is to be acknowledged and worshiped from the heart (n. 1231); "for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" signifies that acknowledgment of the Lord and conjunction with Him is the life of all doctrine from the Word (n. 1232).
1228. Verse 10. And I fell down before his feet to adore him signifies perception from him of the Divine, to which adoration belongs... The essence of the matter is that when the Lord sends angels to men, as He did to the prophets, He fills them with His Divine and thus moves them to speak. Then the angel that is sent speaks from the Lord and not from himself; but as soon as he has spoken he returns into himself and then knows that he is only an angel. Thus the Word was written by the Lord by means of angels, and thus the Lord spoke with the ancients, as with Abraham, with Hagar his handmaid, with Gideon, and in general with the prophets, and this is why the prophets called the angels Jehovah, and some of them were adored as long as they were filled with the Divine. This presence of the Lord is the same as the presence of the Holy Spirit. This makes clear what is signified by these words.
(Continuation) [2] (8) As the Lord has the Divine love and the Divine wisdom, so from these He has Divine omnipresence and Divine omniscience, but omnipresence is chiefly from the Divine love, and omniscience is chiefly from the Divine wisdom. Love and wisdom in the Lord are not two but one, and this one is the Divine love, which appears before the angels of heaven as a sun. But when love and wisdom proceed from the Lord as a sun they appear as two distinct things, love appearing as heat, and wisdom as light. These from their origin... the sun act wholly as one; but with the angels of heaven and with the men of the church they are separated, some receiving more of love which is heat than of wisdom which is light, and these are called celestial angels and men; while others receive more of wisdom which is light than of love which is heat, and these are called spiritual angels and men. An illustration of this can be found in the sun of the world. In that sun fire and the origin of light are wholly one, and this one is the fiery element in that sun. From this the heat and light proceed together, but they appear as two distinct things, although from their origin they act as one... [3] It is similar with omnipresence and omniscience. In the Lord these are one; and yet they proceed from Him as two distinct attributes; for omnipresence has relation to love, and omniscience to wisdom; or what is the same, omnipresence has relation to good, and omniscience to truth, since all good is of love and all truth is of wisdom. The Lord's omnipresence has relation to love and to good because the Lord is present with man in the good of his love; and omniscience has relation to wisdom and to truth because from man's good of love the Lord is omnipresent in the truths of his understanding, and this omnipresence is called omniscience. As this is true individually of one man so it is true in general of all.
1229. And he said unto me, See thou do it not, signifies the knowledge that he was not God but an angel, as can be seen without explanation, for he said, "See thou do it not," namely that he was not God but an angel, before whom no one must fall down, that is, who must not be adored.
(Continuation) The... Divine love and the Divine wisdom, from which is the life of all things... shall now be treated of. But in order that these two essentials of all things may be distinctly seen they shall be considered in the following order. First respecting the Divine love: (1) In the world it is but little comprehended what love is, and yet it is man's very life. (2) The Lord alone is love itself... while men and angels are only recipients. (3) Life, which is love, is not given except in a form, and that form is a form of uses in the whole complex. (4) Such a form is man, individually and collectively, and in such a form is heaven, and also the world. (5) There... are degrees of uses. (6) There are as many affections as there are uses, and consequently there are... degrees of affections... (9) So far as man is in the love of uses so far is he in the Lord... (10) The active force of uses... produce... [what] is perceived in man as love... (12) All things in man are formed and grow and are held in connection by the Lord by means of love... (13) Man does not know what affection is, and still less that there are as many various affections as there are men born into the world, and will be born to eternity, thus that they are infinite. (14) Man does not know otherwise than that he is thought, and yet he is affection. (15) Neither does he know that he has eternal life according to his affection of use.
1231. Adore God signifies that the Lord is to be acknowledged and worshiped from the heart...
1232. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy signifies that acknowledgment of the Lord and conjunction with Him is the life of all doctrine from the Word. This is evident from the signification of "the testimony of Jesus," as being the acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine and reception of the Divine truth from Him (see just above, n. 1230), and thus conjunction with the Lord, for conjunction is effected through the acknowledgment of the Lord and reception of the Divine truth from Him. Also from the signification of "the spirit of prophecy," as being the life of all doctrine from the Word, "spirit" signifying life because the Holy Spirit is meant, which is the Divine proceeding from the Lord, and the Divine proceeding is the essential life of man, and "prophecy" signifies doctrine from the Word...
Apocalypse Revealed, by Emanuel Swedenborg, [1766], tr. by John Whitehead [1912], at sacred-texts.com
820. Verse 11. And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse, signifies the spiritual sense of the Word revealed by the Lord, and the interior understanding of the Word disclosed thereby; which is the coming of the Lord... By "a horse" is signified the understanding of the Word, and by "a white horse" the interior understanding of the Word (n. 298); and as this is signified by "a white horse," and as the spiritual sense is the interior understanding of the Word, therefore that sense is signified here by "the white horse."...Everyone who does not think beyond the sense of the letter, believes that when the Last Judgment shall come, the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven with the angels and sounds of trumpets. But that this is not meant, but that He will appear in the Word, may be evident from the explanation above (n. 24, 642). And the Lord appears manifestly in the spiritual sense of the Word... Now, because the Lord is the Word, and the Word became flesh (John 1:1-2, 14), and the Word became flesh that He might fulfill it, it is manifest that the Lord's coming in the Word is meant by His appearing "in the clouds of heaven." That "the clouds of heaven" signify the Word in the sense of the letter, may be seen above (n. 24, 642). It is manifest that the Lord's appearing in the Word is meant, because the interior understanding of the Word is signified by "the white horse," and it is said that the name of Him that sat upon the horse is "The Word of God," and that His name is "King of kings and Lord of lords" (verses 13, 16). It is now manifest from this, that by "I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse," is signified the spiritual sense of the Word revealed by the Lord, and thereby the interior understanding of it disclosed; which also is the coming of the Lord...
821. And He that sitteth upon him is called faithful and true, and in justice He doth judge and make war, signifies the Lord as to the Word, that it is the Divine good itself and the Divine truth itself, from both of which He executes judgment, and separates the good from the evil. By "He that sitteth upon him," that is, upon the white horse, the Lord is meant as to the Word... By "faithful and true" are signified the Divine good and the Divine truth; by "faithful," the Divine good, because this is faithful. That "faithful," when speaking of men, means one who is in the inmost or third heaven, and thus who is in celestial good, may be seen above (n. 744). That by "true," when speaking of the Lord, the Divine truth is signified, is manifest. That by "justice" both are signified, as well good as truth, and, where it is speaking of the Lord, the Divine good and Divine truth, may be seen above (n. 805). Hence it follows, that by "judging from justice" is signified to execute judgment from the Divine good and the Divine truth. That all judgment is executed by the Lord through the Word, and thus that the Word itself judges everyone, may be seen above (n. 233). That "to make war from justice" signifies to separate the good from the evil, is because the Lord does not make war against anyone, but separates the good from the evil; and when the good are separated from the evil, the evil then cast themselves into hell.
822. Verse 12. And His eyes were as a flame of fire, signifies the Divine wisdom of the Lord's Divine love, may be seen above (n. 48), where are similar things; and they are said of the Son of man, by whom the Lord as to the Word is meant (n. 44).
823. And upon His head were many diadems signifies the Divine truths of the Word from Him... "Diadems upon the head" were seen because the Divine truths of the Word, which are signified by "diadems," are from Him... In the spiritual world the Divine truths of the Word correspond to diadems [a jeweled crown or headband worn as a symbol of sovereignty,] and they appear there from correspondence, and in heaven upon the head of those who hold the Word as holy. Hence it is that "diadems" signify the Divine truths of the Word in the sense of its letter. The reason is, because the sense of the letter is translucent from its spiritual and celestial sense, as a diadem is from light.
824. Having a name written which no one knew but Himself, signifies that no one sees of what quality the Word is in its spiritual and celestial senses but the Lord, and he to whom He reveals it. By "a name" is signified the quality of anyone (n. 165, and elsewhere); here the quality of the Word, or what the Word is within, that is, in its spiritual and celestial senses. It is said, "a name written," because the Word is both with men on earth and with the angels in the heavens; see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 70-75). By "no one knew but Himself," is signified that no one sees but the Lord Himself, and he to whom He reveals it, that is, what the quality of the Word is in the spiritual sense. That no one sees the spiritual sense of the Word but the Lord alone, and hence that no one sees that sense except from the Lord, and no one from the Lord unless he is in Divine truths from Him, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 26).
825. Verse 13. And He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God, signifies the Divine truth in its [outer] sense, or the Word in the letter, to which violence has been offered. By a garment is signified truth clothing good (n. 166, 212, 328); and when concerning the Word, it signifies the Word in the sense of the letter; for this is like a garment, in which its spiritual and celestial senses are clothed. By "the blood" is signified violence offered to the Lord's Divine and to the Word (n. 327, 684). The reason that this is signified is that the Lord's Divine truth in the Word is signified by blood (n. 379, 653); wherefore by "shedding blood" is signified to offer violence to the Lord's Divine and to the Word. By "the Word of God" is signified here the Word in the sense of the letter; for violence has been offered to this, but not to the Word in the spiritual sense, because this sense has not been known; and if it had been known, violence would have been offered to it also. Wherefore that sense was not revealed until after the Last Judgment was accomplished, and the New Church was to be instituted by the Lord. Nor is it revealed to anyone at this day, except to him who is in Divine truths from the Lord; see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture (n. 26). [2] That violence has been offered to the Lord's Divine and to the Word, is plainly manifest from the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, and from the religious persuasion of the Reformed concerning faith alone. The Roman Catholic religious persuasion gives forth that the Lord's Human is not Divine, wherefore they have transferred all things of the Lord to themselves; also that the Word is to be interpreted only by them; yet the interpretation by them is everywhere contrary to the Divine truth of the Word, as was shown in the explanation of the preceding chapter 18. It is manifest from this, that violence is offered to the Word by that religious persuasion. In like manner by the religious persuasion of the Reformed concerning faith alone. Neither does this make the Lord's Human Divine, and it founds theology upon a single saying of Paul falsely understood; and it therefore makes nothing of all the things which the Lord taught concerning love and charity and concerning good works; which are yet so prominent that everyone, if he only has eyes, can see. The like was done with the Word by the Jews. [3] Their religious persuasion was, that the Word was written for no others but themselves, and thus that no others are meant therein; and that the Messiah who was to come would exalt them above all in the whole world; by which and many other things they falsified and adulterated all things of the Word...
826. Verse 14. And the armies in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen white and clean, signifies the angels in the New Christian heaven, who were conjoined with the Lord in the interior understanding of the Word, and thus in pure and genuine truths. By "the armies in heaven" are meant the angels who are in Divine truths and goods (n. 447). By "heaven" is here meant the New Christian Heaven, spoken of above (n. 612, 613, 626, 659, 661). The reason that this heaven is meant, is because this is the New Heaven which is treated of in Revelation. By "following the Lord" is signified to be conjoined to Him (n. 621). By "the white horses" upon which they appeared, is signified the interior understanding of the Word, as above (n. 820). By "the fine linen white and clean," is signified pure and genuine truth from the Lord through the Word (n. 814). It is also said of the New Church, that it should be clothed in "fine linen clean and bright" (verse 8 of this chapter); and so here of the New Christian Heaven, through which, from the Lord, that church will exist.
827. Verse 15. And out of His mouth went forth a sharp sword. That it signifies the dispersion of falsities, by doctrine from the Lord is manifest from the things explained above (n. 52), where similar things are said of the Lord, who is there called the Son of man; and by the Son of man is meant the Lord as to the Word (n. 44); here in like manner by "Him that sitteth upon the white horse": for the dispersion of falsities is effected by the Lord through the Word.
828. That with it He should smite the nations; and He shall tend them with a rod of iron, signifies that He will convince all who are in dead faith, by the truths of the sense of the letter of the Word, and by rational things... It is evident... that by "the rod of iron" with which the nations should be smitten, are signified truths from the sense of the letter of the Word confirmed by rational things from the natural man... That faith alone without works is dead, is clearly manifest in James 2:17, 20; who also says: Be ye doers of the Word, not hearers only; how ye deceive yourselves (James 1:22 seq.). Paul says in like manner: Not the hearers of the law will be justified by God, but the doers of the law will be justified (Rom. 2:13).
829. And He treadeth the wine-press of the wine of the fury and anger of God Almighty, signifies that the Lord endured alone all the evils of the church, and all the violence offered to the Word, thus to Himself. By "the wine of the fury and anger of God" are signified the goods and truths of the church, which are from the Word, profaned and adulterated, thus the evils and falsities of the church (n. 316, 632, 635, 758). By "treading the wine-press" of that wine is signified to endure them, to fight against them, and to condemn them, and thus to liberate the angels in the heavens and the men on earth from infestation by them. For the Lord came into the world to subjugate the hells, which had then increased so that they began to infest the angels; and He subjugated them by combats against them, and thus by temptations; for spiritual temptations are nothing else than combats against the hells. And because every man is in consort with spirits as to his affections and thence thoughts, an evil man with spirits from hell and a good man with angels from heaven, therefore when the Lord subjugated the hells, He not only liberated the angels of heaven from infestation, but also the men of the earth... [2] ...It is said, the violence offered to the Word, and thus to Himself, because the Lord is the Word; and violence is offered to the Word and to the Lord Himself by the Roman Catholic religious persuasion, also by the religious persuasion with the Reformed concerning faith alone. The Lord endured the evils and falsities of both, when He executed the Last Judgment, by which He again subjugated the hells; and unless they had been subjugated again, no flesh could have been saved; as He says in Matt. 24:21, 22.
830. Verse 16. And He hath upon His garment and upon his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords, signifies that the Lord teaches in the Word what He is, that He is the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom and the Divine good of the Divine love, thus that He is the God of the universe...
831. Verse 17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and He cried with a great voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God, signifies the Lord from the Divine love... calling... together all who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and who think of heaven, to the New Church, and to conjunction with Himself, and thus to eternal life. By "the angel standing in the sun" is meant the Lord in the Divine love; by "the angel" the Lord is meant, and by "the sun" His Divine love... By "the birds that fly in the midst of heaven" are signified all who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and thence think of heaven. By "coming and being gathered together to the supper of the great God," is signified a calling and a calling together to the New Church and to conjunction with the Lord; and because eternal life is from conjunction with the Lord, therefore that is also signified... [2] That the Lord is meant in the Word by "an angel," ...as He was seen to stand in the sun; ...for the Lord is the sun of the spiritual world... [See 116. THE SUN IN HEAVEN. Heaven and Hell by Emanuel Swedenborg [1758] Translated by John C. Ager (1900)] That by "the sun," when speaking of the Lord, the Divine love is signified, may be seen (n. 53, 414)... That such things as are of the understanding and thence of the thought are signified by "birds," see above (n. 757); here they who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and think concerning heaven, since it is said, "the birds that fly in the midst of heaven:" and by "flying in the midst of heaven" is signified to observe, attend, and think (n. 245, 415)...
832. Verse 18. That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of commanders of thousands, and the flesh of the mighty, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit upon them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, and small and great, signifies the appropriation of goods from the Lord through the truths of the Word and of doctrine thence, in every sense, degree, and kind...; by "the flesh" which they should eat are signified the goods of the Word and thence of the church; and by "kings, commanders of thousands, the mighty, horses, them that sit upon them, free and bond, small and great," are signified truths in every sense, degree, and kind. By "kings" are signified those who are in the truths of the church from the Word... By "commanders of thousands" are signified those who are in the knowledges of good and truth... By "horses" the understanding of the Word is signified; and by "them that sit upon horses" are signified they who are in wisdom from the understanding of the Word, and abstractly wisdom thence (n. 298, 820). By "the free and bond" are signified they who know from themselves and they who know from others (n. 337, 604). By "small and great" those are signified who are in a lesser and in a greater degree (n. 527, 810). It is manifest from these things, that by "they may eat their flesh" is signified the appropriation of goods from the Lord through the truths of the Word and of doctrine thence in every sense, degree, and kind. [2] It is to be known that no man has any spiritual good from the Lord, except through truths from the Word; for the truths of the Word are in the light of heaven, and its goods are in the heat of that light; wherefore, unless the understanding is in the light of heaven through the Word, the will cannot come into the heat of heaven. Love and charity cannot be formed except through truths from the Word; a man cannot be reformed except through truths therefrom. The church itself with man is formed by them; but not by those truths in the understanding alone, but by a life according to them...
833. Verse 19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war with him that sat upon the horse, and with his army, signifies that all the interiorly evil, who have professed faith alone, with the leaders and their followers, will fight against the Lord's Divine truths in His Word, and will infest those who will be of the Lord's New Church. That by "the beast" are signified those who are in the religious persuasion of faith alone, may be seen above (n. 567, 576, 577, 594, 598, 601). That it is only they who are interiorly evil, and have professed that religious persuasion, will be seen below. By "the kings of the earth" are signified those who are in the falsities of that religious persuasion more than the rest, thus the leaders... By "their armies" all those among them are signified who in like manner are in falsities (n. 447). By "making war" is signified to contend against, since by "war" in the Word spiritual war is signified, which is that of falsity against truth, and of truth against falsity (n. 500, 586, 707). By "Him that sat upon the horse" is meant the Lord as to the Word (n. 820, 821); and because they cannot fight against the Lord Himself, but against His Divine truths which are in the Word, and thus they fight also against the Lord, because the Lord is the Word, this therefore is meant by "making war with Him that sat upon the horse." That by "an army" those are signified who are in Divine truths... consequently those who are of the Lord's New Heaven and New Church, because Divine truths are with them, may be seen above (n. 826).
834. Verse 20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, that did signs before him, with which he seduced them that receive the mark of the beast and that adore his image, signifies all those who professed faith alone, and were interiorly evil, as well the laity and common people as the clergy and the learned, who by reasonings and attestations that faith alone is the only means of salvation, have induced others to receive that faith, and to live according to it. By "the beast" here is meant "the beast out of the sea," spoken of (Rev. 13:1-10); and by "the false prophet" is meant "the beast out of the earth," spoken of in the same chapter (verses 11-18). That by "the beast out of the sea" are meant the laity and the common people who are in the religious persuasion concerning faith alone, and that by "the beast out of the earth" are meant the clergy and the learned who are in that religious persuasion, may be seen from the explanations of that chapter. That "the false prophet" here is "the beast out of the earth," which is treated of in that chapter (verses 11-18) is plainly manifest; because it is here said of "the false prophet," that it is "he that did signs before the other beast, with which he seduced them that receive the mark of the beast, and that adore his image:" for similar things are said of the beast out of the earth (chap. 13); namely, that: He did great signs before the beast out of the sea, and seduced them that dwell upon the earth, that they should adore his image, and receive his mark upon the right hand and upon the forehead (Rev. 13:12-17): from which it is manifest, that the clergy and the learned are here signified by "the false prophet," who have confirmed themselves in the religious persuasion concerning faith alone, and have seduced the laity and the common people. They are called the false prophet, because... those are signified who teach and preach falsities by perverting the truths of the Word (n. 8, 701). That by "the signs" of that beast are signified reasonings and attestations that faith alone is the only means of salvation, may be seen above (n. 598, 599, 704). By "receiving the mark of the beast and adoring his image" is signified to acknowledge and receive that faith (n. 634, 637, 679).
835. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone, signifies that all those... were cast into the hell where are the loves of falsity, and at the same time the lusts of evil... By "these two," namely, "the beast and the false prophet," are signified all those who professed faith alone, and were interiorly evil, both the laity [the people of a religion who are not priests, ministers, etc.] and the clergy; as just above (n. 834). By "the lake of fire burning with brimstone" is signified the hell where they are who are in the loves of that falsity, and at the same time in the lusts of evil. By "a lake" is signified falsities in abundance, treated of in what follows. By "fire" is signified love, here their love of falsity. That "fire" signifies love both in the good and the evil sense, may be seen (n. 468, 494, 599); here the love of falsity, because it is said "a lake of fire." By "brimstone" is signified the lust of evil and thence of falsity (n. 452)...
[2] It is to be known that the hell where such are, appears at a distance like a fiery lake with a green flame as of brimstone. But they who are in it do not see this; they are shut up there in their workhouses, where they wrangle among themselves vehemently; and sometimes there appear knives in their hands, with which they threaten, if they do not yield. It is their love of falsity, together with the lusts of evil, that makes the appearance of such a lake. That appearance is from correspondence. [3] That by "a lake" is signified where there is truth in abundance, and thence in the opposite sense where there is falsity in abundance...
836. Verse 21. And the rest were slain by the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, that proceeded out of His mouth, signifies that all from the various heresies among the Reformed [churches,] who have not lived according to the Lord's commandments in the Word which they knew, being judged from the Word, perish. By "the rest" are meant all from the various heresies among the Reformed, who have not lived according to the Lord's commandments in the Word which they knew, which are the commandments..., who thus do not shun evils as sins; for they who do not thus shun them are in evils of every kind; for the evils remain fixed in them from birth, and thence from infancy even to the end of life; and they increase daily, if they are not removed by actual repentance. Of these it is said that "they were slain with the sword of Him that sat upon the horse." By "being slain" is signified here, as often before, to be slain spiritually, which is to perish as to the soul. By "the sword of Him that sat upon the horse, that proceeded out of His mouth," the truths of the Word fighting against the falsities of evil are signified... The reason that the combat with the Reformed [churches,] and not with the Babylonians [or Roman Catholic church,] is here treated of, is because the Reformed read the Word, and acknowledge the truths therein as Divine truths. It is otherwise with the Babylonians; these indeed acknowledge the Word, but still they do not read it; and everyone regards the decrees of the pope as in the first place, and far above it; wherefore with them there cannot be combat from the Word. They also put themselves above it, and not under it. But still these are judged from the Word, and from the decrees of the pope so far as these agree with the Word.
837. And all the birds were satiated with their flesh, signifies that from their lusts of evil... the infernal genii [in hell] are as it were nourished. By "the birds" are signified the falsities which are from hell; and because the infernal genii are in those falsities, who are together with men in the falsities which are of their love, therefore they are here signified by "the birds." A man also who is in those falsities, becomes one of such genii after death... By "being satiated with them" is signified to be as it were nourished by them, and to draw them in with delight; for the infernal genii, who are in similar lusts of evil, eagerly draw in and fill their nostrils, and thence their life, from the lusts exhaled from the thoughts and respiration of such; wherefore they also live and dwell together.
838. Let everyone therefore beware of that heresy, that man is justified by faith without the works of the law; for he who is in it, and does not fully recede from it before the end of life draws near, is consociated after death with infernal genii [in hell;] for they are the goats of whom the Lord says: Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matt. 25:41-42). For the Lord does not say of "the goats" that they had done evils, but that they had not done goods. The reason that they did not do goods is because they say in themselves, "I cannot do good of myself; the law does not condemn me; the blood of Christ cleanses me, and liberates me; the passion of the cross has taken away the guilt of sin; the merit of Christ is imputed to me by faith; I am reconciled to the Father, I am in grace, I am regarded as a son; and He considers our sins as infirmities, which He immediately remits for His Son's sake; thus He justifies through faith alone; and unless this was the only means of salvation, no mortal could be saved. For what other end should the Son of God suffer the cross, and fulfill the law, but that He might take away the condemnation of our transgressions?" These and many similar things they say within themselves, and thus do not do goods which are goods; for from their faith alone... there do not proceed any goods; for it is a dead faith, into which no life or soul comes, unless the man approaches the Lord immediately, and shuns evils as sins of himself; then the goods which he does as of himself are from the Lord, and thus goods in themselves...
839.
I looked forth into the world of spirits, and saw an army upon red and black horses. They that sat upon them appeared like apes, with their faces and breasts turned towards the loins and tails of the horses, and with the backs of their heads and their backs towards the necks and heads of the horses; and the reins hung around the necks of the riders. And they cried out, "Let us fight against them that ride upon the white horses." And they pulled the reins with both hands, and thus pulled back the horses from the fight; and this continually. Then two angels descended from heaven, and drew near to me, and said, "What do you see?" And I related that I saw this ludicrous company of horsemen, and asked what it was, and who they were. [2] And the angels answered, "They are from the place which is called Armageddon (Rev. 16:16), where they have been gathered together to the number of some thousands, to fight against those who are of the Lord's New Church, which is called the New Jerusalem. They spoke in that place concerning the church and religion; and yet there was not anything of the church with them, because there was not any spiritual truth; nor anything of religion, because there was not any spiritual good. They spoke there on both subjects with the mouth and with the lips, but for the reason that... they might have dominion. They learned in their youth to confirm faith alone, the Trinity of God, and the duality of Christ; and when they were promoted to more eminent offices in the church, they retained those things for some time; but as they then began to think no more about God and heaven, but about themselves and the world, and thus not about eternal happiness and felicity, but about temporal eminence and opulence, they rejected the doctrinals acquired in their youth from the interiors of the rational mind, which communicate with heaven, and hence are in the light of heaven, into the exteriors of the rational mind, which communicate with the world, and hence are only in the light of the world; and at length they thrust them down into the sensual natural; whence the doctrinals of the church have become with them things of the mouth only, and are no longer of the thought from reason, and still less of the affection from love; and because they have made themselves such, they do not admit any genuine truth which is of the church, nor any genuine good which is of religion. The interiors of their minds have become comparatively like bottles filled with iron filings mixed with powdered sulphur, into which if water be poured, there first arises a heat, and afterwards a flame, by which the bottles are burst. In like manner, when they hear anything about living water, which is the genuine truth of the Word, and this enters through the ears, they are violently heated and inflamed, and reject it as a thing that would burst their heads. [3] "These are they who appeared to you like apes riding, with the body turned round, upon red and black horses, with the reins around their necks; since they who do not love the truth and the good of the church from the Word, will not look at the forward parts of any horse, but at his hinder parts; for 'a horse' signifies the understanding of the Word; 'a red horse' the understanding of the Word destroyed as to good, and 'a black horse' the understanding of the Word destroyed as to truth. The reason why they cried out to fight against those riding upon the white horses is that 'a white horse' signifies the understanding of the Word as to truth and good. They were seen to pull back the horses by their necks, because they feared the combat, lest the truth of the Word should come to many, and so into the light. This is the interpretation." [4] The angels said further, "We are from the society in heaven which is called Michael, and were commanded by the Lord to descend into the place called Armageddon, whence the company of horsemen was seen by you to burst forth. By 'Armageddon,' with us in heaven, is signified the state and purpose of fighting from falsified truths, arising from the love of command and supereminence; and because we perceive with you the desire of knowing about the combat there, we will tell about it. After our descent from heaven, we approached the place called Armageddon, and saw there some thousands gathered together. Nevertheless we did not enter into that assembly; but there were two houses on the southern side of that place, where there were boys with their masters. We went in thither, and they received us kindly. We were delighted with their company. Their faces were all handsome, from the life in their eyes, and from the zeal in their discourse. The life in their eyes was from the perception of truth, and the zeal in their discourse from the affection of truth; on which account also caps had been given them from heaven, the borders of which were ornamented with bands of golden threads interwoven with pearls; and garments were also given, variegated with white and blue colors. We asked them whether they looked into the neighboring place, which is called Armageddon. They said that they did so through a window under the roof of the house, and that they saw there a congregation, but under various figures, now as tall men, and now not as men, but as statues and carved idols, and an assembly around them bending the knees. They also appeared to us under various forms; now as men, now as leopards, now as goats; the latter with horns bent downwards, with which they dug up the ground. We interpreted those metamorphoses, whom they represented and what they signified. [5] "But to the point: They that were gathered together, when they heard that we had entered into those houses, said among themselves, 'What are they doing with those boys? Let us send some from our assembly to cast them out.' And they sent, and when they came, they said to us, 'Why have you entered into those houses? Whence are you? We command you by authority to depart.' "But we answered, 'You cannot command that by authority. You are, indeed, in your own eyes, like Anakim [According to the Tanakh, Anakim are a race of giants descended from Anak. They dwelt in the south of the land of Canaan, near Hebron. According to Genesis 14:5-6 they inhabited the region afterwards known as Edom and Moab in the days of Abraham,] and they who are here like dwarfs. But still you have no power and right here... Wherefore take back word to your companions, that we were sent hither from heaven, to ascertain whether there is any religion with you, or not; and if not, that you should be cast out of this place. Wherefore propose to them this, in which is the very essential of the church, and thence of religion, how they understand these words in the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father who art in the heavens, hallowed be Thy name; Thy kingdom come; Thy will be done as in heaven so also upon the earth."' On hearing this, they said at first, 'What is this?' and then that they would propose it. And they went away, and told these things to their companions, who answered, 'What is this proposition and its nature?' Yet they understood the Arcanum [or secret,] that they wished to know, whether those things confirm the way to God the Father according to our faith; wherefore they said, 'The words are clear, that one must pray to God the Father; and because Christ is our Savior, that we must pray to God the Father for the Son's sake.' And they soon concluded in indignation, that they would go to us, and declare it orally; saying also, that they would pull our ears. They also went out of that place, and entered a grove near the two houses in which these boys were with their masters; where was a level place elevated like a gymnasium. And they took hold of each other's hands, and entered into the gymnasium, where we were, and were waiting for them. "There were there sods cut from the ground like hillocks [small hills or mounds;] upon them then they reclined; for they said among themselves, 'Let us not stand before them, but sit.' And then one of them, who could make himself appear like an angel of light, on whom it had been enjoined by the rest to speak with us, said, 'You have proposed to us to open our mind concerning the first words in the Lord's Prayer, how we understand them. I say to you, therefore, that we understand them thus; that we must pray to God the Father; and because Christ is our Savior, and we are saved by His merit, that we must pray to God the Father from faith in His merit.' [6] "But we then said to them, 'We are from the society of heaven which is called Michael, and we were sent to visit and inquire, whether you that are gathered together in this place have any religion or not; and we cannot know this otherwise than by questioning concerning God; for the idea of God enters into the whole of religion, and by it conjunction is effected, and by conjunction salvation. We in heaven read that prayer daily, like men on earth; and we do not then think of God the Father, because He is invisible; but we think of Him in His Divine Human, because in this He is visible; and in this He is called by you Christ, but by us the Lord; and thus to us the Lord is the Father in heaven. The Lord also taught that He and the Father are one; that the Father is in Him and He in the Father; and that he who seeth Him seeth the Father; also that no one cometh to the Father but by Him; and likewise that it is the will of the Father, that they should believe in the Son; and that he that believeth not in the Son, cannot see life; yea, that the anger of God abideth upon him. From which it is manifest, that the Father is approached through Him and in Him. And because it is so, He also taught that all authority is given unto Him in heaven and in earth. It is said in that prayer, "hallowed be Thy name, and Thy kingdom come"; and we have demonstrated from the Word that His Divine Human is the Father's name; and that the Father's kingdom is then come, when the Lord is immediately approached; and not at all when God the Father is approached immediately; wherefore also the Lord said to the disciples, that they should preach the kingdom of God; and this is the kingdom of God.' [7] "Moreover we instructed them from the Word, that the Lord came into the world, that He might glorify His Human, for the end that the angels of heaven and the men of the church might be united to God the Father through Him and in Him; for He taught that they who believe in Him are in Him, and He in them; which is as the church teaches, that they are in the body of Christ. Finally we informed them, that at this day a New Church is being established by the Lord, which is meant by 'the New Jerusalem' in Revelation; in which will be the worship of the Lord alone, as it is in heaven; and that thus everything which is contained in the Lord's Prayer from beginning to end will be fulfilled. All the things which we have said above we confirmed from the Word in the Evangelists, and from the Word in the Prophets, in such abundance that they were tired of hearing. [8] "First. We confirmed that 'our Father in the heavens' is the Lord Jesus Christ, from these passages: Unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Father of eternity, Prince of peace (Isa. 9:6). Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, the Redeemer from everlasting is Thy name (Isa. 63:16). Jesus said, He that seeth Me, seeth Him that sent Me (John 12:45). If ye have known Me, ye have known the Father also; and henceforth ye have known Him, and have seen Him (John 14:7). Philip said, Lord, show us the Father; Jesus said unto him, He that seeth Me, seeth the Father; how sayest thou then, show us the Father (John 14:8, 9)? Jesus said, the Father and I are one (John 10:30). All things whatsoever the Father hath are Mine (John 16:15; 17:10). The Father is in Me, and I in the Father (John 10:38; 14:10, 11, 20). That no one hath seen the Father, except the only Son who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18; 5:37; 6:46). Wherefore He also says that: No one cometh to the Father, but by Him (John 14:6). And that to come to the Father is by Him, from Him, and in Him (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4-6; 17:19, 23). But concerning the unity of God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, more may be seen in the relation (n. 962). [9] "Second. That 'hallowed be Thy name,' is to approach the Lord and worship Him, we confirmed by these passages: ...This is concerning the Lord: Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy Name; and there came forth a voice from heaven, I have both glorified it and will glorify it (John 12:28). The name of the Father which was glorified is the Divine Human... [10] "Third. That 'Thy kingdom come' means that the Lord reigns... [11] "Fourth. 'Thy will be done as in heaven so also upon the earth,' we confirmed by these passages: Jesus said, This is the will of the Father, that everyone that seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life (John 6:40). God so loved the world, that He gave His Only begotten Son, that everyone who believeth in Him may not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:15-16). He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the anger of God abideth upon him (John 3:36; besides other places). To believe in Him is to go to Him, and to have confidence that He saves, because He is the Savior of the world. Besides, it is known in the church, that the Lord Jesus Christ reigns in heaven. He says also that His kingdom is there. When, therefore, the Lord reigns in like manner in the church, 'then the Father's will is done as in heaven so also upon the earth.' [12] "To these things we finally added the following: It is said in the whole Christian world, that they who are of the church make the body of Christ, and are in His body. How then can the man of the church approach God the Father, except through Him in whose body he is? If otherwise, he must go entirely out of the body, and approach. "On hearing these and still more things from the Word, the Armageddons wished now and then to interrupt our discourse, and to adduce such things as the Lord spoke with the Father in His state of exinanition [or fasting?] But their tongues then adhered to their palates, as it was not permitted them to contradict the Word. But the bridles of their tongues being at length loosened, they cried out, 'You have spoken against the doctrine of our church, which is that God the Father is to be approached immediately, and that we must believe in Him. You have thus made yourselves guilty of a violation of our faith: therefore go out from here; and if not, you shall be cast out.' And their minds being inflamed from threats, they endeavored to do it. But, by power then given us, we smote them with blindness; owing to which, not seeing us, they rushed forth into the plain, which was a wilderness; and those who appeared to you like apes upon horses, were the same as were seen by the boys out of the window like statues and idols, before whom the rest knelt."
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