'Great wrath,' as in Revelation 12:12, signifies hatred against the new church.

'Wrath,' as in Genesis 49:7, signifies aversion from truth.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Revealed 635, 658; Arcana Coelestia 6343)

558. "Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea! For the devil has come down to you, having great wrath." This symbolizes a lamentation over people who are caught up in both the internal and external tenets of the doctrine of faith alone and are thus engaged in evil practices, since people of their character were cast out of heaven into the world of spirits and so into conjunction with people on earth, where they incite them to persevere in their falsities and consequent evils because of their hatred of the New Church.

"Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea" symbolizes a lamentation over people in the church who are caught up in the doctrine of faith alone. "Woe" symbolizes a lamentation (no. 416). The inhabitants symbolize people in the church whose doctrine is one of faith alone. The earth means people caught up in its internal tenets, and the sea, people caught up in its external ones (no. 470). The devil's great wrath symbolizes a hatred of the New Church, because it is directed at the woman (no. 525). To come down to them means, symbolically, to those in the world of spirits, and because these are in conjunction with people on earth, it means symbolically also, to people of the same character on earth.

That the dragon was cast out of heaven into the world of spirits, and that people there are in conjunction with people on earth, may be seen in no. 552 above.

[2] The dragon is here called the devil because those people are meant who, owing to that heresy of theirs, are caught up in evil practices, and people who, owing to that heresy, are caught up in evil practices are people who live in accordance with this tenet of their faith, that no sins attach to people who pray confidently to God the Father, and if they do, that they have been forgiven. And because they do not examine themselves, they are not aware of any sin in them, and eventually do not even know what sin is, as may be seen in no. 531 above. That the dragon as the devil means people who are caught up in the evils of their lusts, see no. 550.

Everyone is in conjunction with people in the world of spirits because, in respect to the affections and consequent thoughts of his mind, everyone is a spirit. Therefore he is continually, in respect to these, in conjunction with spirits who have the same affection and consequent thoughts. The conjunction is such that if the connection should be broken even for a single moment, the person would fall dead.

The church has previously known nothing of this. Nor has it known that a person after death is the embodiment of his affection and consequent thought, thus of his charity and consequent faith, and that no one can embody a faith divorced from charity.