True Christianity # 310
310. In the spiritual meaning, murders stand for all methods of killing and destroying people's souls. There are many different methods, such as turning people away from God, religion, and divine worship; setting up roadblocks against such things; and persuading people to turn away from and even feel aversion to such things. All the devils and satans in hell practice these methods. People in our world who violate and prostitute the holy things of the church are connected to these devils and satans.
The king of the abyss, who is called Abaddon or Apollyon (meaning the Destroyer, Revelation 9:11), stands for people who use falsities to destroy souls. The "killed" in the prophetic Word have the same meaning, as for example in the following passages:
Jehovah God said, "Feed the sheep for slaughter whom their owners have killed. " (Zechariah 11:4-5, 7)
We have been killed all day long; we are considered a flock for slaughter. (Psalms 44:22)
He will cause those who are yet to come to take root in Jacob. Was he killed in the way that his henchmen would kill? (Isaiah 27:6-7)
A stranger comes only in order to steal and slaughter the sheep. I have come so that they may have life and abundance. (John 10:10; other such passages are Isaiah 14:21; 26:21; Ezekiel 37:9; Jeremiah 4:31; 12:3; Revelation 9:5; 11:7)
This is why the Devil is called "a murderer from the beginning" (John 8:44).
Revelation 9:4-5
4
And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
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And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
