50. Was in the isle that is called Patmos, signifies revelation to the nations. This is evident from the signification of "Patmos," as being the revelation contained in Revelation; for all places mentioned in the Word signify things, and the things they signify are from the worship there, or from some memorable event that occurred there, or from their location in or near countries whereby the religious principle of the nation is signified. "Patmos" signifies revelation, from the memorable fact that there a revelation was made to John. The revelation was made on an island, because an "island" signifies a nation remote from true worship, but still desiring to be enlightened. That this is signified by "islands" in the Word, will be clear from what follows; in the first place something shall be said about names of places in the Word signifying things.

All persons mentioned in the Word, and all by whom the Word was written, were led to places that were significant, in order that all things might be significative of spiritual things. Even the Lord Himself, for the same reason, went to places thus significative; as into Galilee, to Tyre and Sidon, to Jerusalem, and to the Mount of Olives there, and also, when an infant, He was carried into Egypt. It was similar with the prophets, and with many who are mentioned in the historical Word, as may be abundantly shown. For this reason, John also was commanded to betake himself into the isle of Patmos, that the things that are to be at the end of the church might there be revealed, because "island" signifies a nation about to accept truths of doctrine. This island, moreover, is in the archipelago, where there are numerous other islands; and from this also it is that by "Greece" in the Word such nations are signified. (Thus in Daniel 8:21, 10:20; 11:2; John 12:20-21; Mark 7:26.) (That all names of places mentioned in the Word signify things, see Arcana Coelestia (Arcana Coelestia 1224, 1264, 1876, 1888, 4310, 4442, 10329)

[2] That "islands" signify nations that are about to accede to the true worship of God, is evident from the following passages. In Isaiah:

Glorify Jehovah in Urim, the name of the God of Israel in the isles of the sea (Isaiah 24:15).

In the same:

He shall not quench nor break, until He have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall hope in His law. Sing unto Jehovah a new song, His praises, ye ends of the earth: ye that go down to the sea, the isles, and the inhabitants thereof. Let them give glory unto Jehovah, and declare His praise in the islands (Isaiah 42:4, 10, 12).

In the same:

Listen, O isles, unto Me, and hearken, ye peoples from afar (Isaiah 49:1).

In the same:

The isles shall hope in Me, and on My arm shall they trust (Isaiah 51:5).

In the same:

The islands shall trust in Me, and the ships of Tarshish (Isaiah 60:9).

In Jeremiah:

Hear the words of Jehovah, O ye nations, and declare them in the isles afar off (Jeremiah 31:10).

And in Zephaniah:

Jehovah will make lean all the gods of the earth, that they may worship Him, everyone in his place, even all the isles of the nations (Zephaniah 2:11).

(And elsewhere as in Isaiah 23:2, 6 (Isaiah 23:6); Isaiah 41:1, 5; 42:15; 66:19; Jeremiah 2:10; 25:22; Ezekiel 27:3 (Ezekiel 27:3), 7, 15, 35.) From these and other passages it is plain that "isles" signify nations, specifically nations in respect to the doctrine of truth, in other places in respect to the doctrine of falsity; for most things in the Word have also opposite significations.

52. And for the testimony of Jesus Christ, signifies that the Lord's Divine Human may be acknowledged. This is evident from the signification of "testimony," as being acknowledgment in heart (See above, n. 10, 27); and from the signification of the names "Jesus" and "Christ," as being the Lord in respect to His Divine Human (See also above, n. 26. These things are said concerning the church of the Gentiles, which is about to receive Divine truth and acknowledge the Lord's Divine Human. (That these things are said of the church of the Gentiles, see just above, n. 50.) The Christian church indeed, acknowledges the Lord's Divine, but not His Divine Human; when, therefore, they think and speak about the Lord from doctrine, they separate His Human from the Divine, and make His Human like the human of another man; when yet the Divine is in His Human as the soul is in the body. This is why such as these can have no idea of the Divine; although it is the idea that conjoins, because thought conjoins; and moreover, without conjunction with the Divine through thought and affection, or what is the same, through faith and love, there is no salvation. It is said that conjunction through thought and affection is the same as conjunction through faith and love, since what I believe, that I think, and what I love, by that I am affected. To believe in the invisible is much the same as believing in the inmost of nature, an error to which the mind readily lapses when it indulges in its own phantasies. Yet there is implanted within everyone, from heaven, and this by continual influx therefrom, a desire to see what he regards as the Divine, and this, indeed, under the human form.

[2] This desire is implanted in the simpleminded, and also with well-disposed Gentiles (See the work on Heaven and Hell 82). All such therefore, if they have also lived a life of charity, are received by the Lord, and heaven is granted them. No others can be received, because they are not conjoined. (That all angels in heaven, also the most wise in ancient times, and all who have spiritual faith, that is, a living faith, both on this earth and on all the earths in the universe, see their Divine in thought, because they acknowledge the Divine Human, and are therefore accepted by the Lord, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 280-310; and in the work on Heaven and Hell 79-86, 316, 321; and in the small work on The Earths in the Universe 7, 40-41, 65, 68, 91, 98, 99, 107, 121, 141, 154, 158, 159, 169.) Because this implanted desire, which is in everyone from heaven, has been almost wholly rejected among the learned of the world, and access to the Divine thereby debarred, therefore, a new church is now being established by the Lord, among the Gentiles that have not extirpated that idea, and faith along with it. The extirpation from the Christian world of this implanted desire had its first beginning with the Babylonish body, which separated the Lord's Human from His Divine, in order that its chief might be acknowledged as the vicar of the Lord's Human, and might thus transfer to himself the Lord's Divine power, saying that the Lord received that power from the Father, when in fact it was from Himself, because it was from His Divine. Thus they are unwilling to hear anything about the Divine Human (See Arcana Coelestia 4738). But on this subject, as it is the chief thing of all things in the church, more will be said hereafter.