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.

123. Since the Lord appears in heaven like a Sun by reason of the Divine love which is in Him and from Him, so all in the heavens turn constantly towards Him, those in the celestial kingdom to Him as a Sun, those in the spiritual kingdom to Him as a Moon. But those in hell turn towards the dense blackness and darkness which are in the opposite direction, that is, they turn backwards, away from the Lord, the reason being that all in the hells are in the love of self and of the world, thus opposed to the Lord. Those who turn to the dense darkness, that is, in the place where this world's sun is, are in the hells behind, and are called genii; while those who turn to the darkness, that is, in the place of the moon, are in hells in front and are called spirits. This is why those in the hells are said to be in darkness, and those in the heavens in light. "Darkness" signifies falsity from evil, and "light", truth from good. They turn in that way because all in the other life look towards the things that rule in their interiors, thus to their loves, and it is the interiors that make the face of an angel or spirit. In the spiritual world, also, there are no fixed quarters, as in the natural world, but it is the face that determines them. Man also, in respect of his spirit, turns in the same way as a spirit does, backwards from the Lord, if he is in the love of self and of the world, and towards the Lord if he is in love to Him and the neighbour. But man does not know this, because he is in the natural world where the quarters are fixed according to the rising and setting of the sun. But, as this cannot be easily comprehended by man, it will be elucidated in subsequent sections which will treat of Quarters, Space, and Time in Heaven.