6
After this I saw, and behold, another, like a leopard, and it had four wings of a bird upon its back; and the beast had four heads; and dominion was given to it.
Daniel 7:6
Apocalypse Revealed # 718
718. 17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me. This symbolizes influx now and a revelation from the Lord from the inmost of heaven about the Roman Catholic religion.
Up to this point the subject has been the state of the Protestant Reformed church at its end. Now the subject is the state of the Roman Catholic religion at its end. This also follows in order, as mentioned in the introduction [no. 717].
We do not call it the Roman Catholic Church, but the Roman Catholic religion, because Roman Catholics do not turn to the Lord or read the Word, and because they invoke the dead, and yet it is the Lord and the Word that make the church a church, and its perfection depends on its acknowledgment of the Lord and on its understanding of the Word.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with John, because the seven angels who had the seven bowls symbolize an influx from the Lord from the inmost of the Christian heaven into the church in order to expose the evils and falsities in it (see nos. 672, 676, 677, 683, 690, 691, 699, 700 above). Therefore those seven angels here symbolize the Lord speaking from the inmost of heaven and revealing the state in which the Roman Catholic religion would be at its end.
That is also why one of the seven angels took John onto a high mountain and showed him the Lamb's wife, which is the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-10).
Apocalypse Revealed # 726
726. And adorned with gold and precious stones. This symbolizes the spiritual Divine good and truth contained in the Word among Roman Catholics.
Gold symbolizes goodness (no. 211), precious stones symbolize truth (nos. 231, 540, 570), both of these in the Word.
Good and truth are symbolized because the purple and scarlet symbolize celestial goodness and truth, and the two are conjoined in the Word to bring about a marriage of goodness and truth in it (no. 134). Moreover, celestial goodness and truth, being products of love, are in their essence good, while spiritual goodness and truth, being products of wisdom, are in their essence truth. That celestial goodness and truth are products of love, and spiritual goodness and truth products of wisdom, may be seen in no. 725 above.
What else is meant by the woman's appearing here thus arrayed and adorned may be seen in the preceding number.
