Apocalypse Revealed # 505
505. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days. (11:9) This symbolizes all those who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and the resulting evil practices at the end of the church still existing, when they have heard and later hear about these two essential elements at the beginning of the New Church, namely, an acknowledgment of the Lord and of works in accordance with the Ten Commandments.
Peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations mean all those of the Protestant Reformed who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and the resulting evil practices owing to their faith alone. Peoples symbolize people caught up in doctrinal falsities (no. 483), tribes the falsities and evils in the church (no. 349), tongues a confession and acceptance of these (no. 483), and nations people caught up in evil practices (no. 483). Therefore the four together symbolize all those individually and collectively who were or who would be of such a character, thus all those who were in that great city and all those like them who would later come from the world.
The bodies that they would see, those of the two witnesses, symbolize the two essential elements of the New Church, as said in no. 501 above. That they would see them means, symbolically, when they have heard and later hear about them, since it is bodies that are said to be seen, and the two essential elements that are heard.
Three and a half days mean, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning, namely, at the end of the church still existing and the beginning of a new one.
Putting all these things together now into a single meaning, it is apparent that "those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days" has, in the spiritual sense, the symbolic meaning stated above.
Three and a half days mean, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning because a day symbolizes a state, the number three symbolizes something completed to the end, and a half symbolizes a new beginning. For three and half days have the same symbolic meaning as a week, six days of which symbolize something completed to the end, and the seventh day something holy. That is because the number three and a half is one half of seven, and seven days constitute a week; and a number doubled or divided has the same symbolic meaning.
[2] That the number three symbolizes something completed, thus something completed to the end, can be seen from the following accounts in the Word:
That Isaiah was to go naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:3).
That Jehovah called three times to Samuel, and Samuel ran three times to Eli, and that the third time Eli understood (1 Samuel 3:1-8).
That Elijah stretched himself out three times on the widow's son (1 Kings 17:21).
That Elijah ordered that water be poured on the burnt sacrifice three times (1 Kings 18:34).
That Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal (Matthew 13:33).
That Jesus told Peter he would deny Him three times (Matthew 26:34).
That the Lord asked Peter three times, "Do you love Me?" (John 21:15-17).
That Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17).
That Jesus said He would destroy the Temple and in three days build it (Matthew 26:61, John 2:19)
That Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39-44).
That Jesus rose on the third day (Matthew 28:1ff.).
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 16:14; Hosea 6:2; Exodus 3:18; 10:22-23; 19:1, 11, 15-16, 18; Leviticus 19:23-25; Numbers 19:11-22; 31:19-24; Deuteronomy 19:2-4; 26:12; Joshua 1:11; 3:2; 1 Samuel 20:5, 12, 19-20, 35-36, 41; 2 Samuel 24:11-13; Daniel 10:1-3; Mark 12:2, 4-6; Luke 20:12; 13:32-33.
Seven, like three, symbolizes something full and complete, but seven is predicated of holy things, while three is predicated of things not holy.
John 20
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Now on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene went early, while it was still dark, to the tomb, and saw the stone taken away from the tomb.
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Therefore she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we don't know where they have laid him!"
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Therefore Peter and the other disciple went out, and they went toward the tomb.
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They both ran together. The other disciple outran Peter, and came to the tomb first.
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Stooping and looking in, he saw the linen cloths lying, yet he didn't enter in.
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Then Simon Peter came, following him, and entered into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying,
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and the cloth that had been on his head, not lying with the linen cloths, but rolled up in a place by itself.
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So then the other disciple who came first to the tomb also entered in, and he saw and believed.
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For as yet they didn't know the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead.
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So the disciples went away again to their own homes.
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But Mary was standing outside at the tomb weeping. So, as she wept, she stooped and looked into the tomb,
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and she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head, and one at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
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They told her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I don't know where they have laid him."
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When she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing, and didn't know that it was Jesus.
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Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Who are you looking for?" She, supposing him to be the gardener, said to him, "Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away."
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Jesus said to her, "Mary." She turned and said to him, "Rabboni!" which is to say, "Teacher!"
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Jesus said to her, "Don't hold me, for I haven't yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
18
Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that he had said these things to her.
19
When therefore it was evening, on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be to you."
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When he had said this, he showed them his hands and his side. The disciples therefore were glad when they saw the Lord.
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Jesus therefore said to them again, "Peace be to you. As the Father has sent me, even so I send you."
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When he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit!
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Whoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven them. Whoever's sins you retain, they have been retained."
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But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, wasn't with them when Jesus came.
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The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them, "Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe."
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After eight days again his disciples were inside, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, the doors being locked, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace be to you."
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Then he said to Thomas, "Reach here your finger, and see my hands. Reach here your hand, and put it into my side. Don't be unbelieving, but believing."
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Thomas answered him, "My Lord and my God!"
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Jesus said to him, "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and have believed."
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Therefore Jesus did many other signs in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book;
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but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
