674. There was a great earthquake, signifies a notable change of state of the interiors with those who are of the church. This is evident from the signification of "a great earthquake," as being a notable change of the state of the church; for the "earth" signifies the church, "quaking" change of state, and "great" what is notable. (That an "earthquake" signifies in the Word a change of state of the church, see above, n. 400, 499.)

[2] The change of state in respect to the truths and goods of the church evidently sprang from causes that are described in the preceding verse, that is, because the two witnesses that had been killed and restored to life went up by command into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beheld them. Thence it may be seen that the cause of this was the separation of the good from the evil, as has been shown in the preceding articles, where the going up of the two witnesses is explained. But this cannot be presented to the understanding unless it first be told how things are in the spiritual world; for the things described in this verse, namely, that "there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and there were killed in the earthquake names of men seven thousand, and the rest became afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven," are things that take place, and in fact have already taken place at the time when the Last Judgement was at hand, but in the spiritual world, and not in the natural world; for when the good there are to be separated from the evil, and the good are to be protected from being harmed by the evil, then the good are taken away from the societies and the evil are left, according to the Lord's words in Matthew:

Two [men] shall be in the field, one shall be taken, the other shall be left; two [women] shall be grinding, one shall be taken, the other shall be left (Matthew 24:40, 41).

This may be seen explained in the Arcana Coelestia 4334, 4335). When the good are taken away there occurs in the societies in which the good and evil had been together, a notable change in respect to the things that pertain to the church.

[3] But the cause of this change shall be further disclosed. In the spiritual world there is a communication of all affections, and sometimes of thoughts; and within each society there is a general communication, extending itself from the middle of the society in every direction even to the boundaries, much as light spreads forth from a center to the circumferences. The variations and changes of the affections that arise from this communication and its extension spring from an influx of the affections from other societies, either above or at the sides, also from the newcomers that enter the society, and also from a few or many being taken away from the society.

[4] The societies upon which the Last Judgment came consisted both of the good and of the evil, but of such evil as were interiorly but not exteriorly opposed to the goods of love and the truths of doctrine; for exteriorly these were able to act rightly and justly and to speak piously and truly, not however for the sake of the right, of justice, of piety, and of truth, but from habit acquired in the world, for the sake of fame, glory, honor, gain, and the various delights of the natural loves, also on account of the laws and their penalties. For this reason, although they were interiorly evil, yet they could be together with those who were both exteriorly and interiorly good. When, therefore, the good were to be separated from those who merely appeared good in external form, their external good vanished, and their internal evil appeared; for they were held in that external good by communication with those within the same society who were not only exteriorly but also interiorly good, as has been said above. So when external good was taken away from the evil their interiors were opened; and these were full of mere evil and filthy things, which made evident of what quality they were in themselves. Such, then, is what is meant in particular by "the two witnesses going up by command into heaven in the cloud, and their enemies beholding them;" and here that "in that hour there was a great earthquake," namely, that when that state came a notable change took place in respect to those things that pertain to the church.

1361. The fact that the Church became representative as the result of idolatry nobody is able to know unless he knows what a representative is. The things that were represented in the Jewish Church, and in the Word, are the Lord and His kingdom, and therefore the celestial things of love and the spiritual things of faith. These are the things that are represented, in addition to many things that go with them, such as everything belonging to the Church. Those that represent are either persons or else things in the universe or on this earth; in short, all things that are objects of the senses, so much so that scarcely any object is incapable of being representative. It is a general law of representation however that no attention is paid to the representative person or thing, but to the actual subject being represented.

[2] For example: Every king who has lived - in Judah or Israel, or even in Egypt and elsewhere - could represent the Lord Their royal status itself is representative, and thus the worst king of all was able to represent Him, such as the Pharaoh who promoted Joseph over the land of Egypt, or Nebuchadnezzar in Babylon, Daniel 2:37-38, or Saul and all the other kings of Judah and Israel, no matter what kind of men they were. The anointing of them, by virtue of which they were called 'Jehovah's anointed', carried that representation with it. In the same way all priests, however many there were, represented the Lord. Their priestly status itself is representative. This applies even to priests who were evil and immoral, for in representatives no attention is paid to the character of the person involved. And not only human beings but also animals were representative, for example all those used in sacrifice. Lambs and sheep represented celestial things, doves and turtle doves spiritual, as did rams, he-goats, young bulls, and oxen, though these latter represented lower types of celestial and spiritual things.

[3] Nor, as has been stated, was it just living creatures that were representative but also inanimate objects, such as the altar and even the stones of the altar; also the Ark and the Tabernacle together with everything in it; and the Temple too together with everything in it, a fact that anyone is capable of seeing. The lamps, the loaves, and Aaron's garments were accordingly representative. And not only these but also all the religious ceremonies in the Jewish Church. In the Ancient Churches representatives extended to every object of the senses, such as mountains and hills, and valleys, plains, rivers, streams, springs, reservoirs, woods, trees in general, and every kind of tree in particular, so that every single tree had some definite meaning. Once the Church of meaningful signs had come to an end these things became representatives. These considerations make clear what is to be understood by representatives. And seeing that not only human beings, no matter who or of what character, but also animals and even inanimate objects, could represent celestial and spiritual things - which are things belonging to the Lord's kingdom in heaven and those belonging to the Lord's kingdom on earth - it is consequently clear what a representative Church is.

[4] Representatives were such that to spirits and angels all things that were carried out according to the prescribed ritual appeared holy, as when the high priest, who had washed himself with water, ministered dressed in the robes of his office, and stood before the lighted candles, no matter what kind of man he was, even the most immoral and an idolater at heart. And the same applied to all other priests, for, as has been stated, in representatives no attention is paid to the person, but only to the actual thing being represented. The representation was completely abstracted from the person, as it was from the oxen, young bulls, or lambs that were sacrificed, or from the blood that was poured out around the altar, or again from the altar itself, and so on.

[5] This representative Church was established after all internal worship had perished, when worship became not only wholly external but also idolatrous It was established so that heaven might be joined in some measure to the earth, that is, the Lord might be joined to human beings by means of heaven. And this came about after conjunction by means of the internal things of worship had perished. The nature of this conjunction by means of representatives alone will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. Representatives do not start until the next chapter, where every single thing from then on is purely representative. At the moment the subject is the state of those who were their forefathers, before some of them and their descendants became representative, whose worship, as shown above, was idolatrous.