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)

340. "For the great day of His wrath has come, and who is able to stand?" (6:17) This symbolically means that they became of such a character of themselves as a result of their separation from good and faithful people, because of the Last Judgment, which they could not otherwise endure.

The great day of the Lamb's wrath symbolizes the day of the Last Judgment. And "who is able to stand" symbolizes an inability to bear it because of the torture experienced. For when a last judgment is at hand, the Lord draws near with heaven, and of the people who are below in the world of spirits, only those are able to bear the Lord's coming who are inwardly good, and the inwardly good are people who refrain from evils as being sins and turn to the Lord.

That the day of the Lord's wrath symbolizes a last judgment is clearly apparent from the following passages:

While the wrath of the anger of Jehovah has not yet come upon you, while the day of the anger of Jehovah has not yet come upon you..., it may be that you will be hidden in the day of the anger of Jehovah. (Zephaniah 2:2-3)

Behold, the day of Jehovah comes, cruel, and one of ire and the wrath of His anger... (Isaiah 13:9, cf. 13:13)

The great day of Jehovah is near... That day is a day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish..., a day of darkness and pitch darkness... (Zephaniah 1:14-15)

...Your wrath has come, and the time for judging the dead, and for rewarding Your servants..., and for destroying those who destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18)

Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, because His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all those who put their trust in Him. (Psalms 2:12)

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