238. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. (4:6) This symbolizes a new heaven formed of Christians who possessed general truths taken from the literal sense of the Word.

Atmospheres are seen in the spiritual world, and also bodies of water, as in our world - ethereal atmospheres seemingly where angels of the highest heaven dwell, airy atmospheres seemingly where angels of the intermediate heaven dwell, and watery ones seemingly where angels of the lowest heaven dwell. These watery atmospheres, moreover, are seas that are seen at the borders of heaven, and the inhabitants there are people who possess general truths taken from the literal sense of the Word. To be shown that waters symbolize truths, see no. 50 above.

As the place where waters terminate and are collected, a sea therefore symbolizes Divine truth in its terminal expressions.

Accordingly, since the One sitting on the throne means the Lord (no. 230), and since the seven lamps which are the seven spirits of God before the throne mean a new church which will possess Divine truth from the Lord (no. 237), it is apparent that the sea of glass that was before the throne means the church with people who are at its peripheries.

[2] Seas at the borders of the heavens are something I have been granted to see, and it has been given me to speak with the inhabitants there and so to learn the truth of this matter through personal experience. The inhabitants appeared to me to be living in a sea, but they said that they did not live in a sea but in an atmosphere. It was apparent to me from this that a sea is an appearance of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord in its terminal expressions.

The existence of seas in the spiritual world is clearly apparent from the fact that they were often seen by John, as in the present instance, and in 5:13 verses; 7:1-3; 8:8-9; 10:2, 8; 13:1; 14:7; 15:2; 16:3; 18:17, 19, 21; 20:13.

The sea is called a sea of glass like crystal owing to the translucence of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord.

[3] Since Divine truth in its terminal expressions produces the appearance of a sea in the spiritual world, therefore a sea elsewhere in the Word has a similar symbolic meaning, as in the following passages:

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, part of them to the eastern sea and part of them to the western sea. (Zechariah 14:8)

Living waters from Jerusalem are the church's Divine truths from the Lord. The sea is consequently where they terminate.

(Jehovah,) Your way was in the sea, and Your path in many waters. (Psalms 77:19)

Thus said Jehovah, who made a way in the sea, and a path through the many waters... (Isaiah 43:16)

(Jehovah) has founded (the world) on the seas, and established it on the rivers. (Psalms 24:2)

(Jehovah) set the earth on its foundations, so that it should not be moved to eternity. You covered it with the deep (or sea) as with a garment. (Psalms 104:5-6)

The earth was "founded on the sea" because the church, which is meant by the earth, is founded on general truths. For these are its footings and foundations.

[4] I will dry up (Babylon's) sea and make her spring dry... The sea will come up over Babylon; she will be covered with the multitude of its waves. (Jeremiah 51:36, 42)

To dry up Babylon's sea and make her spring dry means, symbolically, to extinguish all the church's truth from the firsts to the lasts of it.

They shall walk after Jehovah..., and His sons shall come with honor from the sea. (Hosea 11:10)

The sons from the sea are people who possess general truths or truths in their terminal expressions.

(Jehovah,) who builds His ascents in the heavens..., who calls the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth... (Amos 9:6)

By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made... He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap, putting the depths in storehouses. (Psalms 33:6-7)

...by My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness. (Isaiah 50:2)

And so likewise in other places.

[5] Since a sea symbolizes Divine truth with people who live on the borders of heaven, therefore Tyre and Sidon, which were on the seacoast, symbolized the church in respect to its learned concepts of goodness and truth. And therefore "the islands of the sea" ¹ likewise symbolize people engaged in a relatively remote Divine worship (no. 34).

For the same reason, too, the word used for the sea in Hebrew is "the west," that is, the direction in which the sun's light turns into its evening state, or truth into haziness.

We will see in subsequent discussions that a sea also symbolizes the natural component of a person divorced from his spiritual one, thus also hell.

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9331. 'And I will send the hornet before you' means the dread felt by those who are steeped in falsities arising from evil. This is clear from the meaning of 'hornets' as falsities that are stinging and lethal and therefore cause feelings of dread. Terror is used in reference to those immersed in evils, and dread to those steeped in falsities; regarding the terror felt by the former, see above in 9327. The reason why the dread felt by those steeped in falsities is meant by 'hornets' is that these are winged creatures equipped with stings with which they can administer venomous pricks. For living creatures both great and small mean such things as compose human affections, that is, such as are connected with the will, or else they mean such things as compose human thoughts, that is, such as are connected with the understanding. For everything without exception in the human being has connection either with his will or with his understanding. Things that have no connection with one or the other do not exist in the human being, and so are not part of the human being. Creatures that walk and also ones that creep mean affections in both senses, and so mean forms of good or else evils since these belong to the affections, whereas flying creatures, including insects with wings, mean such things as belong to thought in both senses, and so mean truths or else falsities since these belong to thoughts.

Living creatures mean forms of good or else evils, see 9280. Ones that creep mean forms of good or else evils on the external level of the senses, 746, 909, 994. Flying creatures mean truths or falsities, 40, 745, 776, 778, 866, 911, 988, 3219, 5149, 7441. Consequently insects with wings mean the same things, but as they exist on the outermost levels of the human mind.

[2] But falsities, which are the subject now, are of many kinds. There are falsities which do no harm, there are falsities which do slight harm and those which do serious harm, and there are also those which are lethal. What kind they are is recognized from the evils they arise from. Every falsity that is harmful or that is lethal owes its existence to evil; for falsity arising from evil is evil revealing itself in an outward form. In the next life also, when such falsities are represented visually, they are seen as swarms of filthy insects and flying creatures, a terrifying sight that is determined by the type of evil from which the falsities derive. From all this it is evident why it is that the dread felt by those steeped in falsities arising from evil is meant by 'hornets'. Similarly in Deuteronomy,

Jehovah your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left and hide themselves from you have perished. Deuteronomy 7:20.

[3] Throughout the Word various types of insects are mentioned, and wherever they are mentioned they mean falsities or evils in the outermost levels of the human mind, or the external level of the senses. These evils and falsities have their origin in the illusions of the senses and in various bodily pleasures and appetites, which mislead by means of their allurements and by outward appearances, and cause reason to assent to and so become immersed in falsities arising from evil. This type of falsities is meant by 'the noxious flying insects' of Egypt, see 7441, and likewise by 'the locusts' there, 7643. By 'the frogs' of Egypt reasonings arising from falsities are meant, 7351, 7352, 7384; by 'the lice' there evils of the same kind are meant, 7419; and by 'worms' falsities that devour and torment, 8481.

[4] Such evils and falsities are also meant by the various types of insects referred to in the following places: In Isaiah,

It will happen on that day, that Jehovah will whistle for the fly that is in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt, and for the bee that is in the land of Asshur. They will come and all of them will rest in the river of desolations, and in the clefts of the rocks, and in all bushes. Isaiah 7:18-19.

This refers to the Lord's Coming, and to the state of the Church then. 'The fly in the farthest part of the rivers of Egypt' is falsity on the outermost levels of the human mind, that is, on the external level of the senses, 7441. 'The bee in the land of Asshur' is falsity perverting reasonings in the mind; for 'Asshur' means reasoning, 1186. 'The river of desolations' is falsity reigning everywhere; 'the clefts of the rocks' are the truths of faith lying in obscurity, because they have been removed from the light of heaven, 8581 (end); and 'bushes' are similar but newly developing truths, 2682.

[5] In Amos,

I struck you with blight and mildew; your very many gardens, and your vineyards, and your fig trees, and your olive trees the caterpillar (eruca) devoured. Amos 4:9.

In Joel,

What the caterpillar (eruca) has left the locust will devour, and what the locust has left the beetle (melolontha) will devour, and what the beetle has left the bruchus ¹ will devour. Awake, you drunkards; and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine that has been cut off from your mouth. Joel 1:4-5.

In the same prophet,

The threshing-floors are full of clean grain; the presses overflow with new wine and oil. And I will recompense for you the years that the locust has consumed, the beetle (melolontha), and the bruchus, and the caterpillar (eruca), My great army which I sent among you. Joel 2:24-25.

Here falsities and evils on the outermost levels or the external level of the senses of a member of the Church are meant by these types of insects, as is evident from the specific details in these quotations; for they refer to the perversion of the Church's truth and good. What 'the locust' and what 'the bruchus' mean may be seen in 7643; and the fact that the Church's forms of good and its truths in general are meant by 'gardens', 'vineyards', 'fig trees', 'olive trees', 'wine', and 'new wine', which are destroyed by such creatures, has been shown often in explanations.

[6] In David,

He caused frogs to crawl forth onto their land, into the chambers of their kings. He spoke, that a swarm might come, lice in all their borders. Psalms 105:30-31.

This refers to Egypt. What is meant by 'frogs' there, see 7351, 7352, 7384; and what by 'lice', 7419. In Moses,

You will plant and dress vineyards, but not drink wine nor gather [the fruit]; for the worm will eat it. Deuteronomy 28:39.

'The worm' stands for all such falsity and evil in general.

[7] In Isaiah,

Do not fear the reproach of man (homo), and do not be dismayed by their slanders. For the moth will devour them as a garment, and the grub will devour them as wool. Isaiah 51:7-8.

'The moth' stands for falsities on the outermost levels of the human mind, and 'the grub' for evils there. For 'a garment' which the moth will devour means the lower or more external truths that belong to the sensory level of the human mind, 2576, 5248, 6377, 6918, 9158, 9212; and 'wool' which the grub will devour means the lower or more external forms of good that belong to the sensory level of the human mind, as is evident from many places in the Word, and also from the meaning of 'a sheep', from which wool is obtained, as the good of charity, 4169. What exactly are the outermost levels of the natural man, which are called those of the senses, and what they are like, see 4009, 5077, 5081, 5084, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5580, 5767, 5774, 6183, 6201, 6310-6318, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949, 7442, 7645, 7693, 9212, 9216.

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