385. "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." This symbolically means that they will be caught up no longer in battles against evils and the accompanying falsities, and so will no longer experience times of distress, but will be surrounded by goods and truths and thus by heavenly joys emanating from the Lord.

This is the symbolic meaning of the Lamb's wiping away every tear from their eyes because we are told in verse 14 above that they are "ones who are coming out of the great tribulation," which means, symbolically, that they are people who have undergone temptations or trials, and have fought against evils (no. 377). And people who after that are not caught up in battles against evils are people surrounded by goods and truths and thus by heavenly joys.

The following passage in Isaiah has a similar symbolic meaning:

He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord Jehovih will wipe away tears from all faces... Then they will say in that day: "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, to set us free. This is Jehovah, for whom we have waited; we will rejoice and be glad in His salvation." (Isaiah 25:8-9)

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