829. Which hath the stroke of the sword and did live, signifies the nature of those natural things by which the things taken from the natural sense of the Word for confirmation were conjoined. This is evident from the explanation of what is said above in the third verse of the chapter, where are these words, "I saw one of his heads as if it had been wounded unto death, and the stroke of his death was healed," for the explanation of which see above (n. 785, 786). That "sword" signifies the combat of falsity against truth and the destruction of truth by falsities see also above (n. 131, 367).