Apocalypse Revealed # 435
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.
Matthew 8
1
When he came down from the mountain, great multitudes followed him.
2
Behold, a leper came to him and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, if you want to, you can make me clean."
3
Jesus stretched out his hand, and touched him, saying, "I want to. Be made clean." Immediately his leprosy was cleansed.
4
Jesus said to him, "See that you tell nobody, but go, show yourself to the priest, and offer the gift that Moses commanded, as a testimony to them."
5
When he came into Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking him,
6
and saying, "Lord, my servant lies in the house paralyzed, grievously tormented."
7
Jesus said to him, "I will come and heal him."
8
The centurion answered, "Lord, I'm not worthy for you to come under my roof. Just say the word, and my servant will be healed.
9
For I am also a man under authority, having under myself soldiers. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and tell another, 'Come,' and he comes; and tell my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."
10
When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to those who followed, "Most certainly I tell you, I haven't found so great a faith, not even in Israel.
11
I tell you that many will come from the east and the west, and will sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven,
12
but the children of the Kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
13
Jesus said to the centurion, "Go your way. Let it be done for you as you have believed." His servant was healed in that hour.
14
When Jesus came into Peter's house, he saw his wife's mother lying sick with a fever.
15
He touched her hand, and the fever left her. She got up and served him.
16
When evening came, they brought to him many possessed with demons. He cast out the spirits with a word, and healed all who were sick;
17
that it might be fulfilled which was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: "He took our infirmities, and bore our diseases."
18
Now when Jesus saw great multitudes around him, he gave the order to depart to the other side.
19
A scribe came, and said to him, "Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go."
20
Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes, and the birds of the sky have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."
21
Another of his disciples said to him, "Lord, allow me first to go and bury my father."
22
But Jesus said to him, "Follow me, and leave the dead to bury their own dead."
23
When he got into a boat, his disciples followed him.
24
Behold, a violent storm came up on the sea, so much that the boat was covered with the waves, but he was asleep.
25
They came to him, and woke him up, saying, "Save us, Lord! We are dying!"
26
He said to them, "Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?" Then he got up, rebuked the wind and the sea, and there was a great calm.
27
The men marveled, saying, "What kind of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?"
28
When he came to the other side, into the country of the Gergesenes, two people possessed by demons met him there, coming out of the tombs, exceedingly fierce, so that nobody could pass that way.
29
Behold, they cried out, saying, "What do we have to do with you, Jesus, Son of God? Have you come here to torment us before the time?"
30
Now there was a herd of many pigs feeding far away from them.
31
The demons begged him, saying, "If you cast us out, permit us to go away into the herd of pigs."
32
He said to them, "Go!" They came out, and went into the herd of pigs: and behold, the whole herd of pigs rushed down the cliff into the sea, and died in the water.
33
Those who fed them fled, and went away into the city, and told everything, including what happened to those who were possessed with demons.
34
Behold, all the city came out to meet Jesus. When they saw him, they begged that he would depart from their borders.
