686. Verses 16, 17. And the twenty-four elders who sit before God upon their thrones fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and entered upon the kingdom.

16. "And the twenty-four elders who sit before God upon their thrones," signifies the higher heavens in light and power from the Lord to separate the evil from the good before the day of the Last Judgment which is to come shortly n. 687; "fell upon their faces and worshipped God," signifies the adoration of the Lord with them from a most humble heart n. 688.

7. "Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty," signifies the acknowledgment that all being, living, and ability are from the Lord. n. 689); "who is, and who was, and who is to come," signifies from Him who is the all in all things of heaven and the church from eternity to eternity (n. 690); "because Thou hast taken Thy great power and entered upon the kingdom," signifies the establishment of the new heaven and the New Church, when the former heaven and church are destroyed n. 691.

691. Because Thou hast taken Thy great power and entered upon the kingdom, signifies the establishment of the new heaven and the New Church, when the former heaven and church are destroyed. This is evident from the signification of "to take His great power and to enter upon the kingdom," as being that when the former heaven and former church are destroyed the new heaven and the New Church will be established; this is what is meant by "taking great power and entering upon the kingdom," because the Lord then has omnipotence and the kingdom; for then His will is done, since the angels of heaven and the men of the church then suffer themselves to be led by Him, and He thus rules all according to order from Himself, by keeping them in Divine goods and truths, which proceed from Him, and withholding them from evils and falsities, which are from hell, and this cannot be done until the evil have been separated from the good and the evil have been cast down into hell, and a new heaven has been made from the good. This is brought into actuality by the Last Judgment, which is treated of in what follows.

[2] That the Lord then has power and sovereignty can be illustrated by a comparison with the sun of the world; so long as the winter continues the sun has no power or sovereignty on the earth, because its heat is not received, for it is extinguished by the cold of the air and of the earth; but when spring is at hand the sun has power and sovereignty, for its heat is then received, and also its light, because it is joined with the heat, and from these the whole earth blossoms. It is similar with the Lord's power and sovereignty, which come when the evil have been separated from the good and cast down into hell; for the evil are colds like those of winter, and they extinguish the spiritual heat of the sun, which is love, and bring to naught the power and sovereignty of the Lord, although viewed in Himself He is perpetually in the like omnipotence, yet He is not so in subjects until the new heaven and the New Church come into existence.