Apocalypse Revealed # 766
766. "And she will be burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her." This symbolically means that those Roman Catholics will be embodiments of animosity toward the Lord and toward His heaven and church, because they see then that the Lord alone governs and reigns over everything in heaven and on earth, and not at all any person of himself.
The fire with which she will be burned symbolizes an animosity toward the Lord and toward His heaven and church, as discussed below. "For strong is the Lord God who judges her" means, symbolically, because they see then - that is, in the spiritual world, into which they come after death - that the Lord alone governs and reigns over everything in heaven and on earth, and not at all any person of himself. "For strong is the Lord God who judges her" has this symbolic meaning because the Lord does not judge anyone to hell. Rather people themselves do, for when they sense the angelic atmosphere flowing down out of heaven from the Lord, they flee away and cast themselves into hell, as can be seen from what we presented in nos. 233, 325, 339, 340, 387, 502 above.
[2] It may be seen in nos. 468, 494 above that fire symbolizes love in two senses - both heavenly love, which is a love for the Lord, and hellish love, which is a love of self. Hellish fire is animosity, because the love of self is filled with hatred. For people caught up in that love all burn with wrath to the degree of their love, and blaze with hatred and vengeance against people who attack them; and people coming from Babylon do so against people who deny that they are to be worshiped and adored as embodiments of holiness. When they are told, therefore, that the Lord alone is worshiped and adored in heaven, and that to worship some man instead of the Lord is profane, any adoration of the Lord in them becomes animosity toward Him, and any adulteration of the Word in order that they may be worshiped becomes profane.
This, then, is what is symbolically meant by Babylon's being burned with fire. That to be burned with fire is the punishment for profaning what is holy may be seen in no. 748 above.
The same meaning is contained in the following verses in Jeremiah:
...I am against you, (Babylon,) O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth... ...I will... roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burning mountain... The... walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. (Jeremiah 51:25, 58)
Revelation 6
1
I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, "Come and see!"
2
And behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came forth conquering, and to conquer.
3
When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, "Come!"
4
Another came forth, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword.
5
When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, "Come and see!" And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand.
6
I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, "A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don't damage the oil and the wine!"
7
When he opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living creature saying, "Come and see!"
8
And behold, a pale horse, and he who sat on it, his name was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to him.
9
When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had.
10
They cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?"
11
A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.
12
I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and there was a great earthquake. The sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the whole moon became as blood.
13
The stars of the sky fell to the earth, like a fig tree dropping its unripe figs when it is shaken by a great wind.
14
The sky was removed like a scroll when it is rolled up. Every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15
The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
16
They told the mountains and the rocks, "Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb,
17
for the great day of his wrath has come; and who is able to stand?"
