Apocalypse Revealed # 378
378. "And have washed their robes." This symbolically means, who have cleansed their religious beliefs of the evils accompanying falsity.
Washing in the Word symbolizes a cleansing oneself of evils and falsities, and robes symbolize general truths (no. 328). General truths are concepts of goodness and truth drawn from the literal sense of the Word, in accordance with which these people have lived, so that they are religious beliefs. And because every matter of religion has relation to goodness and truth, therefore robes are mentioned twice - "have washed their robes" and "have made their robes white."
Robes or religious beliefs are cleansed only in the case of people who fight against evils and so reject falsities, who thus undergo temptations or trials, which are symbolically meant by "the great tribulation" (no. 377).
That to be washed means, symbolically, to be cleansed of evils and falsities, and so to be reformed and regenerated, can be seen from the following passages:
When the Lord has washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and rinsed away the blood of Jerusalem... by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of purification... (Isaiah 4:4)
Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings from My eyes. Cease to do evil... (Isaiah 1:16)
Wash your heart of its wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. (Jeremiah 4:14)
Wash me clean of my iniquity..., and I shall be whiter than snow. (Psalms 51:2, 7)
...if you wash yourself with soda, and use much soap, your iniquity will still retain its spots. (Jeremiah 2:22)
If I wash myself with melted snow, and cleanse my hands with soap..., yet... my own clothes will abhor me. (Job 9:30-31)
Who... has washed his clothing in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes. (Genesis 49:11)
This is said of the celestial church, from which come people prompted by love toward the Lord, and in the highest sense it is said of the Lord Himself. Wine and the blood of grapes are spiritual and celestial Divine truth.
I washed you with water, and rinsed off your blood from upon you... (Ezekiel 16:9)
This is said of Jerusalem. Water is truth, and blood is an adulteration of truth.
[2] It can be seen from this what washing in the Israelite Church represented and thus symbolized. As, for example, that Aaron was to wash himself before he put on the vestments of his ministry (Leviticus 16:4, 24), and before he approached the altar to minister (Exodus 30:18-21; 40:30-31).
[3] It can be seen from this that among the children of Israel washing represented a spiritual washing, which is a cleansing from evils and falsities, and thus reformation and regeneration.
It is apparent also from the aforesaid what baptism by John in the Jordan symbolized (Matthew 3, Mark 1:4-13), and what the symbolic meaning of the following words by John regarding the Lord is, that He baptized with the Holy Spirit and with fire (Luke 3:16, John 1:33), and regarding himself, that he baptized with water (John 1:26). The meaning is that the Lord washes or purifies a person by Divine truth and Divine goodness, and that John by his baptism represented this. For the Holy Spirit is Divine truth, the fire is Divine goodness, and the water is representative of these. For water symbolizes the truth in the Word, which becomes goodness by one's living in accordance with it (no. 50).
Matthew 2
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Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of King Herod, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying,
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"Where is he who is born King of the Jews? For we saw his star in the east, and have come to worship him."
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When King Herod heard it, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
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Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he asked them where the Christ would be born.
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They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea, for this is written through the prophet,
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'You Bethlehem, land of Judah, are in no way least among the princes of Judah: for out of you shall come forth a governor, who shall shepherd my people, Israel.'"
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Then Herod secretly called the wise men, and learned from them exactly what time the star appeared.
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He sent them to Bethlehem, and said, "Go and search diligently for the young child. When you have found him, bring me word, so that I also may come and worship him."
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They, having heard the king, went their way; and behold, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, until it came and stood over where the young child was.
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When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceedingly great joy.
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They came into the house and saw the young child with Mary, his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him. Opening their treasures, they offered to him gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
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Being warned in a dream that they shouldn't return to Herod, they went back to their own country another way.
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Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, "Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and stay there until I tell you, for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him."
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He arose and took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt,
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and was there until the death of Herod; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called my son."
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Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked by the wise men, was exceedingly angry, and sent out, and killed all the male children who were in Bethlehem and in all the surrounding countryside, from two years old and under, according to the exact time which he had learned from the wise men.
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Then that which was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled, saying,
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"A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children; she wouldn't be comforted, because they are no more."
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But when Herod was dead, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying,
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"Arise and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who sought the young child's life are dead."
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He arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
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But when he heard that Archelaus was reigning over Judea in the place of his father, Herod, he was afraid to go there. Being warned in a dream, he withdrew into the region of Galilee,
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and came and lived in a city called Nazareth; that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through the prophets: "He will be called a Nazarene."
