626. 14:6 Then I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach to those who dwell on the earth. This symbolizes an announcement of the Lord's advent, and of a new church to descend from Him out of heaven.

In the highest sense an angel means the Lord, and so also heaven (nos. 5, 344, 465). Another angel symbolizes something new now from the Lord. To fly in the midst of heaven means, symbolically, to look down, to observe and to foresee (no. 415), here to foresee something new in the church from the Lord out of heaven. The everlasting gospel symbolizes an announcement of the coming of the Lord and His kingdom (nos. 478, 553). Those who dwell on the earth symbolize people in the church to whom the announcement is made.

This serves also to announce that a new church is now about to descend from the Lord out of heaven, because the Lord's advent involves two elements: a last judgment and after that a new church. The last judgment is the subject of chapters 19, 20; and the new church, which is the New Jerusalem, is the subject of chapters 21, 22.

That the gospel and preaching the gospel symbolize an announcement of the advent of the Lord and His kingdom, can be clearly seen from the passages cited in no. 478, to which the reader is referred.