542. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. This symbolically means that those people meant by the dragon endeavor to snuff out the doctrine of the New Church at its first appearance.

For the people who are meant by the dragon, see no. 537 above. That the woman symbolizes the New Church, no. 533. That to give birth means, symbolically, to accept doctrinal goods and truths from the Word, no. 535. That the Child that she bore symbolizes the doctrine of the New Church - this will be seen in the exposition following next. To devour means, symbolically, to snuff out because the Child symbolizes doctrine, and when a child is said to be devoured, the doctrine is said to be extinguished.

We say that this occurs at the doctrine's first appearance because we are told that the dragon stood before the woman to devour her Child as soon as it was born.

The Lord, in the simplest terms, is love itself expressed as wisdom itself. In philosophic terms, love is the Lord's substance and wisdom is His form. Of course, we feel the Lord's love and hear His wisdom in many different ways, depending on our state in life and how receptive we are. That's why the Lord has so many different names in the Bible, and is referred to in so many different ways.