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Daniel 7:19

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19 Darauf begehrte ich Gewißheit über das vierte Tier, welches von allen anderen verschieden war, sehr schrecklich, dessen Zähne von Eisen und dessen Klauen von Erz waren, welches fraß, zermalmte, und was übrigblieb, mit seinen Füßen zertrat;

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Apocalypse Revealed # 435

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435. And their teeth were like lions' teeth. This symbolically means that matters of the senses, which constitute the lowest elements of the natural self's life, appeared to them to have power over all else.

Teeth symbolize the lowest elements of the natural self's life, which are called sensual, as discussed in no. 424 above. These sensual elements are of two kinds, one having to do with the will, the other with the intellect. Sensual elements having to do with the will are symbolized by women's hair, as said just above in no. 434; and sensual elements having to do with the intellect are symbolized by teeth. The latter, which is to say, sensual people caught up in falsities by conviction, appear to themselves to have power over everything, so that they cannot be overcome. Therefore the locusts' teeth, which symbolize such sensual elements, were like lions' teeth - a lion symbolizing power (no. 241).

That teeth symbolize the lowest elements of a person's life - those elements called sensual - and that when these are divorced from the interior levels of the mind, they are caught up in nothing but falsities and attack truths and destroy them, can be seen from the following passages:

With my soul I lie down among lions...; their teeth are a spear and arrows... (Psalms 57:4)

O God, destroy their teeth in their mouth! Turn aside the molars of the young lions... (Psalms 58:6)

...a nation has come up against My land, strong..., its teeth the teeth of a lion, and it has the molars of a fierce lion. (Joel 1:6)

...O Jehovah..., You have broken the teeth of the impious. (Psalms 3:7)

...a beast (came up from the sea), terrible, dreadful, and exceedingly strong, which had huge iron teeth; it was devouring and breaking in pieces... (Daniel 7:3, 7).

Blessed be Jehovah, who has not given us as prey to their teeth. (Psalms 124:6)

Since sensual people do not see any truth in its own light, but reason and argue about everything as to whether it is so, and since these altercations in the hells sound outside the hells like the gnashing of teeth, which regarded in itself is a colliding of falsity and truth, it is apparent what the gnashing of teeth symbolizes in Matthew 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30, and Luke 13:28; and in some measure what to gnash with the teeth symbolizes in Job 16:9, Psalms 35:15-16; 37:12; 112:10, Micah 3:5, and Lamentations 2:16.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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Luke 13

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1 Now there were some present at the same time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.

2 Jesus answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered such things?

3 I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.

4 Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, and killed them; do you think that they were worse offenders than all the men who dwell in Jerusalem?

5 I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way."

6 He spoke this parable. "A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it, and found none.

7 He said to the vine dresser, 'Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down. Why does it waste the soil?'

8 He answered, 'Lord, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it, and fertilize it.

9 If it bears fruit, fine; but if not, after that, you can cut it down.'"

10 He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath day.

11 Behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and she was bent over, and could in no way straighten herself up.

12 When Jesus saw her, he called her, and said to her, "Woman, you are freed from your infirmity."

13 He laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight, and glorified God.

14 The ruler of the synagogue, being indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, said to the multitude, "There are six days in which men ought to work. Therefore come on those days and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day!"

15 Therefore the Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each one of you free his ox or his donkey from the stall on the Sabbath, and lead him away to water?

16 Ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound eighteen long years, be freed from this bondage on the Sabbath day?"

17 As he said these things, all his adversaries were disappointed, and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by him.

18 He said, "What is the Kingdom of God like? To what shall I compare it?

19 It is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and put in his own garden. It grew, and became a large tree, and the birds of the sky lodged in its branches."

20 Again he said, "To what shall I compare the Kingdom of God?

21 It is like yeast, which a woman took and hid in three measures of flour, until it was all leavened."

22 He went on his way through cities and villages, teaching, and traveling on to Jerusalem.

23 One said to him, "Lord, are they few who are saved?" He said to them,

24 "Strive to enter in by the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter in, and will not be able.

25 When once the master of the house has risen up, and has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside, and to knock at the door, saying, 'Lord, Lord, open to us!' then he will answer and tell you, 'I don't know you or where you come from.'

26 Then you will begin to say, 'We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.'

27 He will say, 'I tell you, I don't know where you come from. Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity.'

28 There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets, in the Kingdom of God, and yourselves being thrown outside.

29 They will come from the east, west, north, and south, and will sit down in the Kingdom of God.

30 Behold, there are some who are last who will be first, and there are some who are first who will be last."

31 On that same day, some Pharisees came, saying to him, "Get out of here, and go away, for Herod wants to kill you."

32 He said to them, "Go and tell that fox, 'Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I complete my mission.

33 Nevertheless I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the next day, for it can't be that a prophet perish outside of Jerusalem.'

34 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that kills the prophets, and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, like a hen gathers her own brood under her wings, and you refused!

35 Behold, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me, until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!'"