725. 17:4 The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet. This symbolizes the celestial Divine good and truth contained in the Word among Roman Catholics.

Purple symbolizes celestial Divine good, and scarlet symbolizes celestial Divine truth, as will be seen presently. To be arrayed in them means, symbolically, to have these about them, thus among them. They have these among them from the Word, because the scarlet beast on which the woman was sitting symbolizes the Word (no. 723).

People know that Roman Catholics have the Divine good and truth in the Word about them, thus among them, as a kind of garment, for they venerate the Word outwardly and not inwardly. They acknowledge it, because it tells about the Lord and about His authority over heaven and the church, which they have transferred to themselves. It also tells about the keys given to Peter, whose successors they say they are. So, because they found their majesty, grandeur and power on these two points, of necessity they acknowledge the holiness of the Word. But still the Word is for them only a kind of garment of purple and scarlet, and of gold, precious stones and pearls, upon a harlot holding a golden cup in her hand, full of abominations and the filthiness of her licentiousness.

[2] Since the verse mentions purple and scarlet, and then gold, precious stones and pearls, and since purple and scarlet symbolize celestial Divine good and truth, while gold and precious stones symbolize spiritual Divine good and truth, both emanating from the Word, therefore we must say something about celestial Divinity and spiritual Divinity:

The Lord's whole heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the celestial kingdom and the spiritual kingdom. The celestial kingdom consists of angels who are impelled by love from the Lord, and the spiritual kingdom of angels who are impelled by wisdom from the Lord. Each kingdom has in it goodness and truth. The goodness and truth among angels in the celestial kingdom are symbolized by purple and scarlet, while the goodness and truth among angels in the spiritual kingdom are symbolized by gold and precious stones. Angels have both the one and the other goodness and truth from the Lord by means of the Word. Consequently the Word has in it two interior levels of meaning, one celestial and the other spiritual.

This now is the reason that the woman sitting on the scarlet beast appeared arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold, precious stones and pearls.

[3] Like the symbolism of the woman here is the symbolism of the "rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day," at whose gate Lazarus lay prostrate, "desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table" (Luke 16:19-21). The rich man clothed in purple and fine linen refers to the Jews, who had the Word, and Lazarus refers to the gentiles who did not have it.

Similar symbolic meanings are found in the following places:

Those who ate delicacies are devastated in the streets; those who were brought up on scarlet embrace dunghills. (Lamentations 4:5)

When you are plundered, what will you do? Though you clothe yourself with scarlet, though you adorn yourself with ornaments of gold..., in vain you will make yourself fair. (Jeremiah 4:30)

O daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with luxury, (and) who put ornaments of gold on your apparel. (2 Samuel 1:24)

Fine embroidered linen... was what you spread...; blue and purple... was your covering. (Ezekiel 27:7)

The last is said of Tyre, which symbolizes concepts of truth and goodness from the Word.

[4] Since purple and scarlet symbolize celestial goodness and truth, therefore Aaron's vestments and the veil and curtains of the Tabernacle were woven of blue, purple, scarlet and fine linen (Exodus 25:4; 26:31, 36; 27:16; 28:6, 15). Regarding the curtains (Exodus 26:1). The veil before the Ark (Exodus 26:31). The hem of the robe of the ephod (Exodus 28:33). The scarlet cloth over the showbread (Numbers 4:8).

It is apparent from this what is symbolized by the purple and scarlet with which the woman sitting on the scarlet beast appeared arrayed.

So likewise in the following passage, where we read:

Alas..., the great city that was clothed in fine linen, purple, and scarlet..., adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls! For in one hour such great riches were laid waste. (Revelation 18:16-17)

Moreover, purple and scarlet, gold, precious stones and pearls were among the merchandise of Babylon (Revelation 18:12).

8788. 'And sanctify them today and tomorrow' means covering over their interiors in order that those people may appear now and subsequently in the holiness of faith. This is clear from the meaning of 'sanctifying' as arranging them so that outwardly they may appear in holiness; and since this is accomplished by covering over their interiors, 'sanctifying' has this meaning also. The fact that 'today and tomorrow' means now and subsequently is self-evident. What all this implies will be stated briefly. The Church established among the Jews was not, as regards the Jews themselves, the Church, only a representative of the Church. For the Church to exist there must reside with those belonging to the Church faith in the Lord, and also love to Him, as well as love towards the neighbour. These virtues make the Church. But they did not reside with the people who were called Jacob; for they did not acknowledge the Lord, and so did not wish to hear about faith in Him, let alone about love to Him or indeed about love towards the neighbour. They were ruled by self-love and love of the world, the kinds of love that are the complete opposites of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Such a disposition has been rooted in that people from their earliest forebears. This is why no Church could be established among that people; all they could do was represent things that constitute the Church. Mere representation of the Church comes about when people's worship centres on external things, but only on such things as correspond to heavenly ones. External things then serve to represent internal, and the internal things are made evident in heaven, to which those people are consequently joined. Therefore to make representation possible among the Israelite people, when interiorly they were devoid of the faith and love of heaven, indeed were full of self-love and love of the world, their interiors were covered over. Then their externals alone, without their internals, could be conveyed to spirits, and through these to angels. Consequently unless their internals had been covered over, internals too would have been made evident, in which case the representation would have been destroyed because foul [thoughts and affections] would have burst out and defiled it. Such a covering over was possible with that people more than with all the rest because they venerated external things more than others did; they thought that those things themselves were intrinsically holy, indeed Divine.

All this makes clear what one should understand by 'sanctifying', namely covering over their interiors in order that those people may appear in the holiness of faith, though not to themselves, only to the angels present with them. See what has been shown already about this people and the establishment of the Church among them, in 4208, 4281, 4288, 4289, 4293, 4307, 4314, 4316, 4317, 4429, 4433, 4444, 4459, 4844, 4847, 4865, 4899, 4911, 4912, 4500, 7048, 7051, 8588. The fact that sanctification among them amounted to no more than an appearance of holiness in externals, since they themselves had no holiness within them, becomes clear from the ceremonies by which they were sanctified, that is to say, by sacrifices, washings, sprinklings of blood, and anointings, which do not in any way whatever touch internal things.