483. And he said to me, "You must prophesy again about peoples, nations, tongues, and many kings." (10:11) This symbolically means that such being the case, the character of people caught up in faith alone must be further told.

That this is the symbolic meaning is apparent from what follows, in which the subject is people caught up in faith alone, to the end of chapter 16. After that the subject is the Roman Catholic religion, then the casting out of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet into hell, and afterward the New Church, which will worship the Lord alone.

To prophesy means, symbolically, to teach (nos. 8, 133), and so to prophesy again means to teach further. "Peoples" symbolize people who are impelled by doctrinal truths or doctrinal falsities, and "nations" symbolize people who are impelled by good practices or evil practices. More about these later. "Tongues" symbolize people who are impelled by truths and goods or falsities and evils externally (no. 282), and "kings" people who are impelled by them internally. To be shown that kings symbolize people who are impelled by truths springing from goodness, and in an opposite sense, people who are impelled by falsities springing from evil, and abstractly truths themselves springing from goodness or falsities themselves springing from evil, see nos. 20, 664, 704, 720, 830, 921. And as the subject in what follows is in particular people impelled by interior falsities, the text says, "and many kings," which symbolizes falsities accompanying evil in abundance.

The text says peoples, nations, tongues and kings in order to mean all people in the church who are of this character.

John's being told that he had to prophesy again means, symbolically, to teach further the character of people caught up in faith alone, in order that their falsities may be exposed and thus eradicated, since no falsity is eradicated before it has been exposed.

[2] That "peoples" symbolize people impelled by doctrinal truths or falsities, and "nations" people impelled by good or evil practices, can be seen from many passages in the Word where peoples and nations are mentioned. However, to demonstrate this we will cite here only some passages where peoples and nations are mentioned together, from which this conclusion may be drawn, as each and every particular in the Word contains a marriage of the Lord and the church, and consequently a marriage of goodness and truth; and "peoples" refer to truth, and "nations" to goodness. The presence of such a marriage in each and every particular of the Word may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 80-90.

[3] Here are the passages in the Word:

Woe to a sinful nation, to a people laden with iniquity... (Isaiah 1:4)

I will send him against a hypocritical nation, against the people of My wrath I will command him... (Isaiah 10:6)

(Jehovah) who is striking the peoples... with an incurable plague, who is ruling the nations in anger... (Isaiah 14:6)

At that time a present will be brought to Jehovah..., a people scattered and shaven..., and a nation marked off and downtrodden... (Isaiah 18:7)

...a strong people will honor You, a city of mighty nations will fear You. (Isaiah 25:3)

(Jehovah) will swallow up... the covering... over all peoples, and the veil... over all nations. (Isaiah 25:7)

Come near, you nations..., and pay heed, you peoples! (Isaiah 34:1)

I... have called You... as a covenant to the peoples, and as a light to the nations. (Isaiah 42:6)

Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples assemble. (Isaiah 43:9)

Behold, I will lift My hand... to the nations, and... My standard to the peoples. (Isaiah 49:22)

...I have given him as a witness to the peoples, a leader and lawgiver to the nations. (Isaiah 55:4)

Behold, a people is coming from the north country, and a great nation... from the edges of the earth. (Jeremiah 6:22)

Many peoples and numerous nations shall come to seek Jehovah of hosts in Jerusalem... (Zechariah 8:22)

Jehovah renders the counsel of the nations of no effect, He overturns the deliberations of the peoples. (Psalms 33:10)

(Jehovah) will subdue the peoples under us, and the nations under our feet... (Jehovah) reigned over the nations... The willing of the peoples have gathered together... (Psalms 47:3, 8-9)

The peoples shall confess You... The nations shall be glad... For You shall judge the peoples righteously, and guide the nations on the earth. (Psalms 67:3-4)

Remember me, O Jehovah, with good pleasure toward Your people..., that I may rejoice in the joy of Your nations... (Psalms 106:4-5)

...all peoples, nations, and languages shall worship (the Son of Man). (Daniel 7:14)

And so on elsewhere, as in Psalms 18:43, Isaiah 9:2-3; 11:10, Ezekiel 36:15, Joel 2:17, Zephaniah 2:9, Revelation 5:9, Luke 2:30-32.

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20. And makes us kings and priests. (1:6) This symbolically means, who grants those who are born from Him, that is, who are reborn or regenerated, to be governed by wisdom from Divine truths, and by love from Divine goods.

People know that in the Word the Lord is called a king and also a priest. He is called a king owing to His Divine wisdom, and a priest owing to His Divine love. People who are governed by wisdom from the Lord are consequently called children of the king, and also kings, while people who are governed by love from Him are called ministers and priests. For the wisdom and the love in them do not originate from them, and so are not theirs but the Lord's. It is these people who are therefore meant in the Word by kings and priests. Not that they are kings and priests, but that they have the Lord in them, and He causes them to be termed such.

Such people are called also children born of Him, children of the kingdom, children of the Father, and heirs - children born of Him in John 1:12-13ff.), children of the kingdom in Matthew 8:12; 13:38, children of their Father in heaven in Matthew 5:45, and heirs in Psalms 127:3, 1 Samuel 2:8, Matthew 25:34. And being heirs, children of the kingdom, and children born of the Lord as their Father, they are therefore called kings and priests. Moreover, in Revelation 3:21 it is also said that they will sit with the Lord on His throne.

[2] The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord's kingship, and because all who are in it are governed by wisdom founded on truths, therefore it is they who are meant by the kings that the Lord will make those people who are governed by wisdom from Him. The celestial kingdom, on the other hand, is what is called the Lord's priesthood, and because all who are in it are governed by love arising from goodness, therefore it is they who are meant by the priests that the Lord will make those people who are governed by love from Him. The Lord's church on earth is likewise divided into two kingdoms. Regarding these two kingdoms, see nos. 24, 226 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758.

[3] Someone who does not know the spiritual meaning of kings and priests may be deluded in regard to many things said in the prophets and in the book of Revelation about them. For example, in regard to these statements in the prophets:

The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you... You shall suck the milk of gentiles, even the breasts of kings you shall suck, that you may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer... (Isaiah 60:10, 16)

Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your wet nurses. (Isaiah 49:23)

Also elsewhere, as in Genesis 49:20; Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26; 4:9; 49:3; Lamentations 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26-27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8. Kings there do not mean kings, but people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, Divine truths themselves, from which comes wisdom.

"The king of the south" and "the king of the north" who waged war with each other in Daniel 11 do not mean kings either, but the king of the south means people who are governed by truths, and the king of the north people who are caught up in falsities.

[4] Likewise in the book of Revelation, which many times mentions kings, as in the following passages:

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)

(With) the great harlot who sits on many waters... the kings of the earth committed whoredom... (Revelation 17:1-2)

...of the wine of the wrath of (Babylon's) whoredom all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her... (Revelation 18:3)

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him who sat on the (white) horse... (Revelation 19:19)

And the nations that are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into (the New Jerusalem). (Revelation 21:24)

Elsewhere also, as in Revelation 16:14; 17:9-14; 18:9-10. The kings there means people who are governed by truths, and in an opposite sense, people caught up in falsities, and abstractly, truths or falsities themselves. The whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth means the falsification of the truth of the church. Obviously Babylon, or the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with kings, but rather falsified truths of the Word.

[5] It is apparent from this that the Lord's going to make people who are wise from Him kings does not mean that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. The reality of this is also something that enlightened reason sees.

Likewise in the following:

You have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

That by king the Lord meant truth is apparent from His words to Pilate:

Pilate... said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "As you have said, because I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:27, 38)

To bear witness to the truth is to be Himself the embodiment of truth. And because He called Himself a king by virtue of it, Pilate said, "What is truth?" - which is to say, "Is truth a king?

As for priests, we will see in later explanations that they symbolize people who are governed by the goodness of love, and abstractly, goods of love themselves.