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.

1876. The names of men, kingdoms, or cities that occur in the Word, as with the expressions of human speech, disappear at the very threshold of their progress upwards; for those names are earthly, bodily, and material, being things of which souls entering the next life gradually divest themselves and of which those entering heaven do so altogether. Angels do not retain the least idea of any person, nor therefore of his name. What Abram is, what Isaac is, or Jacob, they do not know any longer. Instead they form an idea for themselves from the things that are represented and meant by those characters in the Word. Names and expressions are like dust or like scales that fall off when they enter heaven. From this it becomes clear that names in the Word mean nothing other than real things. On these matters I have spoken many times to angels, who have informed me fully regarding the truth. The speech that spirits employ among themselves does not consist of verbal expressions but of ideas, like those comprising human thought without words, and is therefore the universal language of all languages. But when they speak to man their speech falls into the expressions of human language, as stated in 1635, 1637, 1639.

[2] When discussing this matter with spirits I have been given to say that when they are conversing among themselves they are not able to utter one single word of human language, still less utter any name. Astonished by this some went away and tried to do so, but on returning they said that they had been unable to pronounce them because those words were so grossly material that they belonged below their own sphere, for such words were produced by an audible emission of air articulated by organs of the body, or else by means of an influx into the same organs by an internal route leading to the organ of hearing. From this it also became perfectly clear that no part of any expression which occurs in the Word was able to pass over to spirits. Still less could it pass over to angelic spirits, whose speech is even more universal, 1642. And least of all could it pass over to angels, 1643, with whom nothing remains of even the first ideas that spirits possess; instead angels have spiritual truths and celestial goods. Such truths and goods are varied in an indescribable manner in their least forms - which are continuous and knit together in a harmonious sequence - together with the first springs of representatives whose very great delightfulness and beauty flow from the happiness belonging to mutual love, and whose happiness flows from all their delight and beauty, because the Lord's life is inspired into them