762. 18:6 "Render to her as she rendered to you, repay her double according to her works; in the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her." This symbolizes a just retribution and punishment after death, that the evils and falsities with which Roman Catholics led astray and destroyed others will, in accordance with the magnitude and character of them, come back upon themselves, which is called the lex talionis (law of retaliation).

"Render to her as she rendered to you" symbolizes their just retribution and punishment after death. "Repay her double according to her works" means symbolically that the evils with which they led astray and destroyed others will, in accordance with the magnitude and character of them, come back upon themselves. "In the cup which she has mixed, mix double for her," means symbolically that their falsities will likewise come back upon themselves; for a cup or wine symbolizes falsities (nos. 316, 635, 649, 672).

Almost the same statement is made of Babylon in the Prophets:

Repay (Babylon) according to her work; according to all she has done, do to her; for she has behaved insolently against Jehovah, against the Holy One of Israel. (Jeremiah 50:29)

...the vengeance of Jehovah (is this): Take vengeance on (Babylon). As she has done, so do to her. (Jeremiah 50:15)

The daughter of Babylon has been destroyed. Blessed is the one who repays you your retribution as you have repaid us! (Psalms 137:8)

[2] According to the literal meaning, people whom Roman Catholics have led astray and destroyed are to visit retribution on them. But according to the spiritual meaning, it is not they who are to visit retribution on those Roman Catholics, but those Roman Catholics themselves, because every evil carries with it its own punishment. The case is similar to when the Word says here and there that God will visit retribution and avenge injustices and injuries done to Him, and will be moved by anger and wrath to destroy people, when in fact it is the evils done against God themselves that do this, thus the people themselves who do it to themselves.

This is, indeed, the lex talionis or law of retaliation, which takes its origin from the following Divine law:

Everything whatever you wish people to do to you, do you also to them. This is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12, cf. Luke 6:31)

In heaven this law is one of mutual love or charity, from which arises its opposite in hell, namely, that everyone has done to him as he has done to another - not that it is done to them by anyone in heaven, but that they do it to themselves. For the retribution of the lex talionis arises from its opposition to the aforesaid law of life in heaven, as a law engraved on their evils.

[3] Double symbolizes much in accordance with the magnitude and character of a thing also in the following place:

Let my persecutors be shamed! ...Bring on them the day of evil, and shatter them with double shattering! (Jeremiah 17:18)

And much in accordance with the magnitude and character of people's turning away from evils in the following:

Comfort... My people! ...that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is atoned for; for she has received from Jehovah's hand double... (Isaiah 40:1-2)

Return to the stronghold, you prisoners of hope. This day I declare the double that I will repay to you. (Zechariah 9:12)

Instead of your shame you shall have double, and... in their land they shall possess double; everlasting joy shall be theirs. (Isaiah 61:7)

649. And he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, "Thrust in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters of grapes of the vine of the earth." This symbolizes the Lord's operation from the goodness of His love through the Word's Divine truth into the works of charity and faith among people belonging to the Christian Church.

This is the spiritual meaning of these words, inasmuch as the two angels symbolize the heavens of the Lord's spiritual and celestial kingdoms (nos. 647, 648), and the heavens do nothing of themselves, but from the Lord. For the angels in the heavens are only recipient vessels. Consequently in the spiritual sense nothing else is symbolized but the Lord's operation, here His operation into the church in the Christian world and into the works of charity and faith among the people in it. The vine, indeed, symbolizes that church, as we shall see after this in number 651, and grapes and clusters of grapes symbolize works of charity. This is the symbolism of grapes and clusters of grapes because they are the fruits of the vine in a vineyard, and fruits in the Word symbolize good works.

[2] The angel who came out from the altar told the angel who came out of the temple to thrust in his sickle and gather the grapes because, as we said before, the angel who came out from the altar symbolizes the heavens of the celestial kingdom, or heavens characterized by the goodness of love, while the angel who came out of the temple symbolizes the heavens of the spiritual kingdom, or heavens characterized by truths of wisdom; and the goodness of love does nothing by itself, but only through the truth of wisdom, and the truth of wisdom does nothing by itself, but only in response to the goodness of love. The reality of this is something we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom. That is why the angel who came out from the altar told the angel who came out of the temple to thrust in his sickle and gather the clusters of grapes of the vine of the earth.

That now is why this description symbolizes the Lord's operation from the goodness of His love through the Divine truth of His Word.

[3] That grapes and clusters of grapes symbolize goods and the works of charity can be seen from the following passages:

Woe is me! ...I have become like the gatherings of summer, like the gleanings of vintage grapes; there is no cluster to eat; first-ripe fruit my soul desires. The holy man has perished from the earth, and the upright among men. (Micah 7:1-2)

Their grapes are grapes of gall, they have bitter clusters. (Deuteronomy 32:32)

My beloved had a vineyard... He expected it to produce good grapes, but it produced wild grapes. (Isaiah 5:1-2, 4)

They look to other gods, they love flagons of grapes. (Hosea 3:1)

...every tree is known by its own fruit. ...people do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. (Luke 6:44)

...in the midst of the land... it shall be... like the gleanings of grapes when the grape harvest is done. (Isaiah 24:12-13)

If the gatherers of the grapes come to you, they will not leave any gleanings. (Jeremiah 49:9, cf. Obadiah verses 4, 5)

The plunderer has fallen on... your grape harvest. (Jeremiah 48:32-33)

You will be troubled, you complacent ones, for the grape harvest is failing, the gathering will not come. (Isaiah 32:9-10)

And so on elsewhere where the fruit of the vineyard and the fruit of the vine are mentioned.

Some goods are the goods of a celestial love, and some are the goods of a spiritual love. The goods of a celestial love are those of love toward the Lord, and the goods of a spiritual love are those of a love for the neighbor. The latter goods are called goods of charity and are those meant by the fruits of the vineyard, which are grapes and clusters of grapes. But the goods of love toward the Lord are meant in the Word by the fruits of trees, primarily olives.

[4] "For her grapes are ripe." This symbolically means, because the Christian Church has reached its last state.

The ripening of the vineyard's grapes has the same symbolic meaning as the drying of the harvest above, but a harvest is mentioned in reference to the church in general, while a vineyard is mentioned in reference to the church in particular. The drying of the harvest symbolizes the last state of the church, as may be seen in no. 645 above, and so likewise does the ripening of the grapes of the vineyard.

A vineyard symbolize the church which has the Word's Divine truth and where the Lord is thereby known, since wine symbolizes the interior truth that comes from the Lord through the Word. The vineyard here accordingly symbolizes the Christian Church.

That wine symbolizes truth springing from the goodness of love, thus from the Lord, may be seen in no. 316 above.