944. 22:7 "Behold, I am coming quickly! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book." This symbolically means that the Lord will surely come and give eternal life to people who keep and obey the doctrinal truths or precepts in this book, now laid open by the Lord.

"Behold, I am coming quickly!" means, symbolically, that the Lord will surely come. Quickly symbolically means surely (nos. 4, 943), and coming symbolically means that He will come - not in person, but in the Word, in which He will be visible to all those people who will be part of His New Church. This is the meaning of His coming in the clouds of heaven, as may be seen in nos. 24, 642, 820 above.

"Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book" means, symbolically, that the Lord will give eternal life to people who keep and obey the doctrinal truths or precepts in this book, now laid open by the Lord. One who is blessed symbolizes a person who receives eternal life (nos. 639, 852). To keep symbolically means to keep and obey truths or precepts. The words are truths and precepts. The prophecy of this book symbolizes the doctrine in this book now laid open by the Lord, prophecy being doctrine (nos. 8, 133, 943).

[2] Anyone who weighs the matter can see that to keep the words of the prophecy of this book does not mean to preserve them, but to maintain them, that is, to keep and obey the doctrinal truths or precepts in this book that are now explained and laid open. Indeed, if not explained, the book of Revelation contains few things that can be kept, as they are prophecies previously not understood. Take for example the following:

It is impossible to keep what is related in chapter 6 regarding the horses emerging from the book. In chapter 7 regarding the twelve tribes. In chapters 8, 9 regarding the seven angels sounding their trumpets. In chapter 10 regarding the little book that John ate. In chapter 11 regarding the two witnesses that were killed and lived again. In chapter 12 regarding the woman and the dragon. In chapters 13, 14 regarding the two beasts. In chapters 15, 16 regarding the seven angels having the seven plagues. In chapters 17, 18 regarding the woman sitting on a scarlet beast and regarding Babylon. In chapter 19 regarding the white horse and the great supper. In chapter 20 regarding the Last Judgment. And in chapter 21 regarding the New Jerusalem as a city.

It is apparent from this that the verse does not mean that those people are blessed who preserve the words of the prophecy, for the meanings of the words are hidden, but it means that those people are blessed who maintain them, that is, who keep and obey the doctrinal truths or precepts that are contained in those words and are now laid open. That the explanations originate from the Lord may be seen in the Preface.

642. 14:14 Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man. This symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word.

A cloud symbolizes the Word in its literal sense, and a white cloud the Word in its literal sense as to what it is like interiorly. And the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word. Therefore we are told that on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man.

That a cloud symbolizes the Word in respect to its literal sense may be seen in nos. 24, 513 above. A white cloud symbolizes the literal sense of the Word as to what it is like interiorly because whiteness is predicated of truths in a state of light (nos. 167, 367), and the literal sense has interiorly within it spiritual truths, which appear in the light of heaven. That the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word may be seen in no. 44 above, and confirmed by numerous proofs in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 19-28.

[2] The Lord often said that His disciples would see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven. He said this in Matthew 24:30; 26:64, Mark 14:61-62, Luke 21:27, and no one knows that this symbolically means anything else than that when He comes to execute judgment He will appear on clouds in the sky. But this is not what it means. Rather it means that when He comes to judge, He will appear in the literal sense of the Word; and because He has now come, He has appeared therefore in the Word by revealing the existence of a spiritual meaning in every particular of the Word's literal sense, having the Lord alone in it as its subject, teaching that He alone is God of heaven and earth.

This is what is meant by the Lord's coming on the clouds of heaven.

That every particular of the Word's literal sense has in it a spiritual meaning, that this has the Lord alone in it as its subject, and that He alone is God of heaven and earth, is something we have shown in two Doctrines of the New Jerusalem - The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.

[3] Because the Lord's coming on the clouds of heaven means His coming in His Word, at a time when He is ready to execute judgment, and because this is the subject of the book of Revelation, therefore we are told there, "Behold, He is coming with clouds" (Revelation 1:7). And in the present verse, "I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat One like the Son of Man."

Moreover, in The Acts of the Apostles we are told:

...while they watched, (Jesus) was taken up (into heaven), and a cloud received Him out of their sight... And... two men... in white apparel... said, ."..This same Jesus, who was taken up... into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw Him go into heaven." (Acts of the Apostles 1:9-11)

A cloud symbolizes the Word's literal sense because that sense is natural, and in the sight of angels, whose light is a spiritual light, Divine truth in natural light appears as a cloud - as a white cloud in the case of people who possess genuine truths from the Word's literal sense, as a dark cloud in the case of people who lack genuine truths, as a black cloud in the case of people caught up in falsities, and as a black cloud combined with fire in the case of people caught up in a faith divorced from charity, because they are engaged in evil practices. I have witnessed it.