229. And behold, a throne set in heaven. This symbolizes the Judgment in a representative image.

It may be seen in no. 14 that a throne symbolizes heaven. That a throne also symbolizes judgment is apparent from the following passages:

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. (Matthew 25:31ff.)

The subject there is the Last Judgment.

...You [Jehovah] have executed my judgment...; You sat on the throne as a righteous judge... Jehovah... will prepare His throne for judgment. (Psalms 9:4-5, 7)

I watched (when)...the Ancient of Days was seated..., His throne (like) a fiery flame... A thousand thousands ministered to Him, and ten thousand times ten thousand stood before Him. He sat in judgment, and the books were opened. (Daniel 7:9-10)

Jerusalem is built...; to it the tribes go up... ...thrones are set there for judgment... (Psalms 122:3-5)

I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was turned over to them. (Revelation 20:4)

The throne that Solomon made, as described in 1 Kings 10:18-20, symbolized both royal authority and judgment, since kings sat upon thrones when they pronounced judgments.

We say that the throne symbolizes the Judgment in a representative image, because the things that John saw were representative visions. He saw them as he described them, but they were images representative of future events, as can be seen from the descriptions that follow, such as his seeing living creatures, a dragon, beasts, a temple, a tabernacle, an ark, and many other things.

Similar images were seen by the prophets, as noted in no. 36 above.

865. 20:11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away. And there was not found any place for them. This symbolizes a universal judgment executed by the Lord on all the former heavens that were occupied by people possessing a civil and moral goodness, but no spiritual goodness, thus who gave the appearance of being Christians outwardly, but who inwardly were devils. These heavens with their lands were totally dispersed so that no part of them was seen anymore.

Before we explain these literal images one by one, we must first say something about the universal judgment that is the subject here. From the time the Lord was in the world, when He executed a last judgment Himself in person, people who possessed a civil and moral goodness were permitted to tarry longer than others in the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, even though they were without any spiritual goodness, so that they appeared outwardly to be Christians, but inwardly were devils. And at last it was granted them to create permanent dwellings for themselves in that world, and through an abuse of correspondences and illusory appearances to form for themselves pseudo-heavens, which they also did till there was a great abundance of them. But when they multiplied those pseudo-heavens to such a degree as to cut off the spiritual light and warmth between the higher heavens and people on earth, then the Lord executed the Last Judgment and dispersed those illusory heavens. This He did by removing the outward appearances by which they feigned themselves Christians and revealing their inner selves, in which they were devils. The inhabitants were then seen to be what they were really, and those who were seen to be devils were cast into hell, each in accordance with the evils of his life. This took place in the year 1757. But regarding this universal judgment, more may be seen in a short work, The Last Judgment (London, 1758), and in A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment and the Spiritual World (Amsterdam, 1763).

[2] Now for the exposition: The great white throne and Him who sat on it symbolizes the universal judgment executed by the Lord. The throne symbolizes heaven and also judgment (no. 229). He who sat on the throne means the Lord (no. 808 at the end). The throne appeared white because judgment is executed on the basis of Divine truths, and the color white is predicated of truths (nos. 167, 379). And the throne appeared great because judgment is also executed in accordance with Divine goodness, and greatness is predicated of goodness (nos. 656, 663). "From whose face the earth and heaven fled away" means, symbolically, that the heavens they created for themselves, referred to just above, were dispersed along with their lands. For there are lands in the spiritual world just as in the natural world, as may be seen in nos. 260, 331. But like everything else there, the lands too have a spiritual origin. And no place being found for them means, symbolically, that their heavens along with their lands were so completely dispersed that no part of them was seen anymore.

It can be seen from this that John's seeing a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was not found any place for them, symbolizes a universal judgment executed by the Lord on all the former heavens that were occupied by people possessing a civil and moral goodness, but no spiritual goodness, thus who gave the appearance of being Christians outwardly, but who inwardly were devils; and that these heavens with their lands were so totally dispersed that no part of them was seen anymore.