18. And the ruler of the kings of the earth. This symbolically means, from whom originates all truth from good in the church.

This follows from the preceding, because "a faithful witness" symbolizes the Lord in respect to Divine truth, and "the firstborn" the Lord in respect to Divine good. Thus "the ruler of the kings of the earth" means, symbolically, that from Him originates all truth from good in the church. This is symbolically meant by "the ruler of the kings of the earth" because in the spiritual sense of the Word, kings mean people who possess truths from good, and abstractly, truths from good themselves, and the earth means the church.

That these are the symbolic meanings of kings and earth may be seen in nos. 20 and 285 below.