733. Verses 7, 8. And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels. And they prevailed not, and their place was not found anymore in heaven.

7. "And there was war in heaven," signifies the combat of falsity against truth, and of truth against falsity n. 734; "Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels," signifies the combat between those who are for the life of love and charity and for the Divine of the Lord in His Human against those who are for faith alone or faith separate, and are against the Divine of the Lord in His Human n. 735.

8. "And they prevailed not, and their place was not found anymore in heaven," signifies that they were overcome, and that nowhere in the heavens henceforth is there a place that corresponds to the state of their life, which is a state of thought alone, and of no affection of good and truth (n. 736, 737).

10356. 'Surely you shall keep My sabbaths' means thought which is holy and goes on unceasingly regarding the union of Divinity itself to the Lord's Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'sabbaths' in the highest sense as the union of Divinity itself to the Divine Human within the Lord, and in the relative sense as the joining of the Lord's Divine Human to heaven and also the joining of heaven to the Church, and in general - with those who constitute the Church, or with whom the Church exists - as the joining together of goodness and truth (regarding that union and these joinings together, that they are meant by 'sabbaths', see 8495, 8510, 8890, 8893, 9274); and from the meaning of 'surely (or altogether) keeping' as thinking about something in a holy way and unceasingly, for when the word 'keeping' has regard to the realities that were represented in that Church, thinking about the realities that were represented, keeping them in mind, and cherishing them in a holy way, are meant. For representatives were outward things which embodied inner realities and which for this reason provided people with the opportunity to think about inner realities. This explains why 'keeping Jehovah's sabbaths' means thinking in a holy manner and constantly about the Lord and the union of Divinity itself to His Divine Human, about the joining of the Lord's Divine Human to heaven and the joining of heaven to the Church, and about the joining together of goodness and truth within the person belonging to the Church. Since these are the actual essential realities of the Church - for without the acknowledgement of these and belief in them the Church is not the Church - statements about the sabbath, by which those realities are meant, is talked about last, and again and again furthermore to the end of the chapter.