452. Verse 9. After these things I saw, and behold a great multitude, signifies all those who are in the good of life according to their religion, in which there are no genuine truths, as is evident from this, that "the twelve thousand sealed" out of each tribe meant those who are of the church in which there are genuine truths; for "the twelve tribes of Israel" mean those who are in genuine goods and truths, and in an abstract sense all goods and truths of the church; therefore these now treated of mean those who are in the good of life according to their religion, in which nevertheless there are no genuine truths. That this is the meaning of "a great multitude" can be seen also from what follows in this chapter, where it is said, "These are they who come out of the great tribulation" (verse 14), which means out of temptations, for those who are in the good of life according to their religion, in which there are no genuine truths, in the other life undergo temptations, by which the falsities of their religion are scattered, and genuine truths implanted in their place (on this more will be said in what follows). From this it can be seen who are meant by "a great multitude" (which is treated of in what follows to the end of the chapter). It is to be known that no one, either within the church where the Word is or outside of that church, is damned who lives a good life according to his religion, for it is not the fault of such that they are ignorant of genuine truths. Moreover, as the good of life holds deep within it the affection of knowing truths, when such come into the other life they easily receive truths and drink them in. It is altogether different with those who have lived an evil life and have made light of religion. (Those who are not in genuine truths, and thus are in falsities from ignorance, and yet in the good of life, have been treated of above, n. 107, 195, 356; and in the work on Heaven and Hell, where the peoples and nations outside of the church who are in heaven are treated of. Also in the Arcana Coelestia, as follows: There may be falsities of religion that agree with good, and falsities that disagree, n. 9258, 9259; falsities of religion, if they do not disagree with good, produce evil only with those who are in evil, n. 8311, 8318; falsities of religion are not imputed to those who are in good, but only to those who are in evil, n. 8051, 8149; truths not genuine, and also falsities, may be consociated with genuine truths with those who are in good, but not with those who are in evil, n. 3470, 3471, 4551, 4552, 7344, 8149, 9298; falsities and truths are consociated by appearances from the sense of the letter of the Word, n. 7344; falsities are made truthlike by good and become soft when they are applied to good and lead to good, and evil is removed, n. 8149; falsities of religion with those who are in good are received by the Lord as truths, n. 4736, 8149; a good that derives its quality from a falsity of religion is accepted by the Lord if there be ignorance, and if there be in it innocence and a good end, n. 7887; the truths that are with man are appearances of truth and good, tinctured with fallacies, and yet the Lord adapts them to genuine truths in the man who lives in good, n. 2053; there are falsities in which there is good with those who are outside of the church and thence in ignorance of truth, also with those within the church where there are falsities of doctrine, n. 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 3778, 4189, 4190, 4197, 6700, 9256)

8149. 'And all the chariots of Egypt' means also doctrinal teachings upholding falsity that were subservient to these. This is clear from the meaning of 'Pharaoh's chariots' as the chief doctrinal teachings that uphold falsity, to which all others are subordinate, so that 'the chariots of Egypt' means doctrinal teachings upholding falsity that were subservient to them, dealt with immediately above in 8148. For 'the king' and 'his chariots' mean the chief things, while 'the people' or the Egyptians and 'their chariots' mean the secondary ones. The Church's teachings among those who lead a life of evil are called doctrinal teachings that uphold falsity, even though in part, to a greater or a lesser extent, they may contain the truth. The reason for this is that truths residing with those who lead a life of evil are not truths insofar as they exist with those people; for when they are applied to evil in life they lose the essential quality of truth and take on the nature of falsity, because they look towards the evil to which they are joined. Truths cannot be joined to evil without being falsified, which comes about through misinterpretations and so perversions of them. So it is that the Church's teachings among those people are called doctrinal teachings that uphold falsity, even though they have been truths. For it is a law or principle that truths among people who lead a life of evil are made false, and falsities among those who lead a life of good are made true. The reason why falsities among them are made true is that they are used to accord with good, and when that is done the crudities of falsity are wiped away, see 8051.