“Eden” by itself stands for love, in most cases the love that comes from the Lord and our love for the Lord, which is the highest human love of all. Of course, “Eden” is closely identified with “garden,” which means intelligence and the intellect. The “Garden of Eden,” then, means the state of love and wisdom with people who are in a pure state of love to the Lord. The Garden of Eden is referred to throughout Scripture, but is described in detail in Genesis 2:8-17. Those verses, understood on a spiritual level, show the nature of what the Writings call the Most Ancient Church, in which people of pre-historic times were elevated to a state of love to the Lord and communion with heaven, a degree of innocence and love that we cannot truly imagine in the modern world.

421. Verses 2, 3. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea; Saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.

2. "And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun," signifies the Divine love going forth from the Lord. n. 422); "having the seal of the living God," signifies the Divine will (n. 423); "and he cried with a great voice," signifies Divine command (n. 424); "to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea," signifies as yet preventing the influx from becoming intense (n. 425).

3. "Saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees," signifies lest the good perish with the evil wherever they are n. 426; "till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads," signifies that those who are in truths from good are first to be separated n. 427.