313. (5:6) And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four animals, and in the midst of the elders. That this signifies in the whole heaven, and specifically in the inmost heavens, is evident from the signification of, in the midst, as denoting the inmost, and hence also the whole, concerning which we shall speak presently; from the signification of throne, as denoting heaven in its whole extent (concerning which see above, n. 253); from the signification of the four animals, as denoting the Lord's Providence and protection, that He should not be approached except by the good of love (concerning which see above, n. 277). And because that guard is especially in the third or inmost heaven, for all who are there are in the good of love to the Lord from the Lord, therefore that heaven is specifically signified by the four animals; this will more clearly appear from the following contents of this chapter; and from the signification of the elders, as denoting those who are in truths from good (concerning, which also see above, n. 270); here, therefore, those who are in the middle or second heaven, because all who are there are in truths from good; for those two heavens, the third and second, are distinguished from each other by this, that those who are in the third heaven, are in love to the Lord; and those who are in the second, in charity towards the neighbour; those who are in charity towards the neighbour are in truths from good; hence it may appear what is specifically signified by the four animals and by the elders.

[2] But in general, by the four animals is signified all Divine good which guards in the whole heaven, and in general by the elders all Divine truth proceeding from the Divine good also in the whole heaven; both guard, because they are united; thus by the four animals and elders together is signified Divine good united to the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and hence the whole angelic heaven, but specifically the two inner heavens. The reason of this is, that the angels are not angels from their proprium, but from the Divine good and the Divine truth which they receive; for the Divine with them, or received by them, causes them to be angels, and causes heaven to be called heaven from them (as may be seen in the work concerning Heaven and Hell 2-12, and 51-86).

[3] That the midst, or in the midst, signifies the inmost and thence the whole, is clear from many passages in the Word; but something shall first be said to explain how it is that the midst, because it signifies the inmost, signifies also the whole. This may be illustrated by comparison with light, with the sun, with the arrangement of all in the heavens, and also of all who belong to the church on earth. By comparison with light, thus; The light in the midst propagates itself round about, or from the centre, into the circumferences in every direction; and because it is propagated from the inmost, and fills the spaces around, hence by, "in the midst," is also signified the whole. By comparison with the sun: The sun is in the midst because it is the centre of its universe; and because from it are the heat and light in its world, therefore by the sun in the midst is signified its presence in every direction, or through the whole. By comparison with the arrangement of all in the heavens: There are three heavens, and the inmost of them is the third heaven; this flows into the two lower heavens, and makes them to be one with it by communication, which is effected by influx from the inmost; in every society of the heavens also the inmost is the most perfect; hence these who are round about in that society are in light and intelligence, according to the degree of distance from the inmost (as may be seen in the work concerningHeaven and Hell 43, 50, 189). By comparison with those who are of the church on the earth: The Lord's church is spread through the whole world, but its inmost is where the Lord is known and acknowledged, and where the Word is; from that inmost, light and intelligence are propagated to all who are around and belong to the church, but this propagation of light and intelligence takes place in heaven (concerning which circumstance, see the work concerning Heaven and Hell 308). From these things it is evident that the midst, or in the midst, because it signifies the inmost, signifies also the whole. Hence it is evident what is meant by, "I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four animals, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb," namely, the Lord as to His Divine Human, in the whole heaven, and specifically in the inmost heavens.

[4] The midst also signifies the inmost, and hence the whole, in many passages of the Word, as in the following. In Isaiah:

"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy [One] of Israel, in the midst of thee" (12:6).

By the inhabitant of Zion is signified the same as by the daughter of Zion, namely, the celestial church, or the church which is in the good of love to the Lord; great is the Holy [One] of Israel in the midst of thee, signifies the Lord, that He is everywhere and throughout the whole there.

[5] In David:

"We have considered thy mercy, O God, in the midst of thy temple. According to thy name, O God, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth" (Psalms 48:9, 10).

By temple is signified the church, which is in truths from good, which is called the spiritual church; in the midst thereof, denotes in the inmost, and thence in the whole thereof; therefore it is said, "According to thy name, so is thy praise unto the ends of the earth." "To the ends of the earth," denotes even to the last things of the church, the earth denoting the church.

[6] In the same:

"God is my King of old, working salvations in the midst of the earth" (Psalms 74:12).

Working salvations in the midst of the earth, signifies in every direction.

[7] In the same:

"God standeth in the assembly of God, in the midst of the gods he will Judge" (Psalms 82:1).

The assembly of God, signifies heaven; in the midst of the gods, signifies with all the angels there, thus in the whole heaven; for the angels are called gods from the Divine truth which they receive from the Lord, for God in the Word signifies the Lord as to the Divine truth which proceeds from Him, and which constitutes heaven (as may be seen above, n. 24, 130, 220, 222, 302).

[8] In Moses:

"Behold, I send an angel before thee; beware of his faces, for my name is in the midst of him" (Exodus 23:20,21).

By the angel here, in the highest sense, is meant the Lord; by "My name in the midst of him," is meant that all Divine good and Divine truth are in Him (as may be seen above, n. 102, 135, 224).

[9] In Luke,

Jesus said concerning the last times, "Then let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them that are in the midst of it go forth out" (21:21).

Here the consummation of the age is treated of, by which is signified the last time of the church when judgment takes place. By Judea is not meant Judea, but the church; and by the mountains are not meant mountains, but the good of love to the Lord; and because these things are said concerning the end of the church, it is evident what is signified by, "Let them that are in Judea flee to the mountains; and let them that are in the midst of it go forth"; namely, that when judgment takes place, all those of the church who are in the good of love to the Lord will be safe.

[10] In Isaiah:

"In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; whom Jehovah shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance" (19:24, 25).

By Israel is meant the Spiritual of the church; by Assyria, the Rational of the men thereof, and by Egypt, the knowledges (cognitiones) and scientifics. Hence it is evident what is signified by Israel being the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land; namely, that the Spiritual shall be the everything there, as well the Rational as the Cognitive and Scientific; for when the Spiritual, which is truth from good, is the inmost, then also the Rational, which is thence, is spiritual too, and also the Cognitive and Scientific; for both are formed from the inmost, which is truth from good or the Spiritual.

[11] In Jeremiah:

"My heart is broken in the midst of me, all my bones are shattered" (23:9).

The heart broken in the midst of me, signifies grief from inmost to ultimates, or throughout the whole; therefore it is said, "All my bones are shattered," the bones signifying the ultimates.

In the following passages, also, "in the midst," signifies in the whole, or through the whole.

[12] In Isaiah:

It shall be in the midst of the earth, in the midst of the peoples, as the shaking of an olive tree, as the gleanings when the vintage is done" (24:13).

These things are said concerning the church vastated as to good and as to truth, in which there is nothing but evil and falsity. In the midst of the earth, denotes that throughout the whole of the church there is evil; and in the midst of the peoples, denotes that throughout the whole of it there is falsity; therefore it is compared to the shaking of an olive tree, and to the gleanings left when the vintage is done, the olive signifying the good of the church, the vintage the truth thereof, and the shaking and gleaning thereof signifying vastation.

[13] In David:

"They search out perversities; for the midst of man and the heart are deep" (Psalms 64:6).

The midst of man denotes the Intellectual where truth should be, and the heart the Voluntary, where good should be; in the present case, both perverted, the latter into evil, and the former into falsity.

[14] In the same:

"There is nothing sure in the mouth of any one; their midst are destructions" (Psalms 5:9).

In the same:

"They bless with their mouth, but in their midst they curse" (Psalms 62:4).

In the same:

"The saying of prevarication to the impious in the midst of my heart, there is no fear of God before his eyes" (Psalms 36:1).

In Jeremiah:

"They have taught their tongue to speak a lie; it is theirs to dwell in the midst of deceit; through deceit they refuse to know me" (9:5, 6).

In these passages also, besides others, in the midst, signifies in the whole because in the inmost; for such as is the inmost such is the whole; because from the inmost all other things are produced and derived, as the body is from its soul. The inmost of any thing whatever is also that which is called the soul. For example: the inmost of man is his will and the understanding therefrom, and according to the quality of the will and of the understanding, therefrom, such is the whole man; also, the inmost of man is his love and the faith therefrom, and according to the quality of his love and the faith therefrom, such is the whole man.

[15] That the whole man is such as is his midst or inmost, is also meant by the Lord's words in Matthew:

"The lamp of the body is the eye; if the eye be good, the whole body is light; if the eye be evil, the whole body is dark" (6:22, 23).

By the eye is signified the understanding of man (as may be seen above, n. 37, 152), which, if good, that is, if from truths that are from good, then the whole man is such, which is signified by the whole body being then full of light; but, on the other hand, if the understanding is from the falsities of evil, that the whole man is such, is signified by the whole body being then full of darkness. The eye is called good, but, in the original tongue, it is said, single eye, and single signifies that it is one; and it is one when truth is from good, or the understanding from the will. By the right eye also is signified the understanding of good, and by the left eye the understanding of truth, which, if they make one, constitute the single eye, thus the good eye.

3147. 'And water to wash his feet' means purification there. This is clear from the meaning of 'water to wash' or 'washing with water' as purifying, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'feet' as natural things, or what amounts to the same, those things that are in the natural man, dealt with in 2162. In the representative Church washing feet with water was a ceremonial act which meant washing away the filth of the natural man. The filth of the natural man is composed of all the things that belong to self-love and love of the world, and when such filth has been washed away goods and truths flow in, for that filth alone is what hinders the influx of good and truth from the Lord.

[2] For good is flowing in constantly from the Lord, but when by way of the internal or spiritual man it reaches the external or natural man it is either perverted there, or turned away, or stifled. But when indeed the things that belong to self-love and love of the world are removed, good is received there, and bears fruit there, since the person now performs the works of charity. This may become clear from many considerations, such as this: When the things that belong to the external or natural man are quiescent - as they are in times of ill-fortune, wretchedness, and sickness - a person instantly starts to become spiritually-minded and to will what is good, and also to perform acts of devotion insofar as he is able. But when that state alters, these things are altered too.

[3] In the Ancient Church 'washings' were signs meaning these things, and in the Jewish Church the same were representations. The reason why in the Ancient Church they were meaningful signs but in the Jewish Church representations was that members of the Ancient Church regarded that custom as some external act of worship. Nor did they believe that they were purified by that kind of washing but by a washing away of the filth of the natural man, which, as has been stated, is composed of the things that belong to self-love and love of the world. But the member of the Jewish Church did believe that he was purified by such washing, for he did not know, and did not wish to know, that the purifying of a person's interior self was meant.

[4] That 'washing' means the washing away of that filth is clear in Isaiah,

Wash yourselves; purify yourselves; remove the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16.

Here it is evident that 'washing themselves' means purifying themselves and removing evils. In the same prophet,

When the Lord will have washed the excrement of the daughters of Zion and washed away the blood of Jerusalem from its midst in a spirit of judgement and in a spirit of purging. Isaiah 4:4.

Here 'washing the excrement of the daughters of Zion and washing away the blood of Jerusalem' stands for purifying from evils and falsities. In Jeremiah,

Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long will your iniquitous thoughts lodge within you? Jeremiah 4:14.

[5] In Ezekiel,

I washed you with water, and washed away the blood from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezekiel 16:9.

This refers to Jerusalem, which is used here to mean the Ancient Church. 'Washing with water' stands for purifying from falsities, 'washing away the blood' for purging from evils, 'anointing with oil' for filling with good at that time. In David,

Wash me from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. You will purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; You will wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Psalms 51:2, 7.

'Being washed' plainly stands for being purified from evils and derivative falsities.

[6] These were the things that were meant by 'washing' in the Representative Church. For the sake of the representation, when they had been made unclean and needed to be cleansed, people were commanded in that Church to wash the skin, hands, feet, and also their garments. All these meant things that belong to the natural man. Also for the sake of the representation, lavers made of bronze were placed outside the Temple - that is to say, 'the bronze sea and the ten bronze lavers' mentioned in 1 Kings 7:23-29; there was also the bronze laver from which Aaron and his sons were to wash themselves, placed between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar, and so outside the Tent of Meeting, Exodus 30:18-19, 21 - the meaning of which was that only external or natural things needed to be purified. And unless they have been purified, that is, unless things belonging to self-love and love of the world have been removed from them, internal things which belong to love to the Lord and towards the neighbour cannot possibly flow in, as stated above.

[7] To enable these matters to be understood more easily, that is to say, regarding the need for external things to be purified, let good works - or what amounts to the same, the goods of charity, which are at the present day called the fruits of faith, and which, since they are actions, are external - serve to exemplify and illustrate the point: Good works are bad works unless the things belonging to self-love and love of the world are removed. For until these have been removed works, when performed, are good to outward appearance but are inwardly bad. They are inwardly bad because they are done either for the sake of reputation, or for financial gain, or for improvement of one's position, or for reward. They are accordingly either merit-seeking or hypocritical, for the things that belong to self-love and love of the world cause those works to be such. But when indeed these evils are removed, works become good, and are the goods of charity. That is to say, they are done regardless of self, the world, reputation, or reward, and so are not merit-seeking or hypocritical, because in that case celestial love and spiritual love flow from the Lord into those works and cause them to be love and charity in action. And at the same time the Lord also purifies the natural or external man by means of those things and orders it so that that man receives correspondingly the celestial and spiritual things that flow in.

[8] This becomes quite clear from what the Lord taught when He washed the disciples' feet: In John,

He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, Lord, do You wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing you do not know now, but you will know afterwards. Peter said to Him, You will never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and head! Jesus said to him, He who is washed has no need except that his feet be washed, but is clean all over. Now you are clean, but not all of you. John 13:4-17.

'He who is washed has no need except that his feet be washed' means that anyone who has been reformed needs to be cleansed only in regard to natural things, that is, to have evils and falsities removed from them. For when that happens all is ordered by the influx of spiritual things from the Lord. Furthermore 'feet-washing' was an act of charity, meaning that one ought not to dwell on the evils of another person. It was also an act of humility, meaning the cleansing of another from evils, like filth from the body, as also becomes clear from the Lord's words in verses 12-17 of that chapter in John, and also in Luke 7:37-38, 44, 46; John 11:2; 1 Samuel 25:41.

[9] Anyone may see that washing himself does not purify a person from evils and falsities, only from the filth that clings to him. Yet because it belonged among the religious observances commanded in the Church it follows that it embodies some special idea, namely spiritual washing, which is purification from the filth that clings to man inwardly. Members of that Church therefore who knew these things and thought of purification of the heart, that is, the removal of the evils of self-love and love of the world from the natural man, and tried to achieve it with utmost zeal, practiced ritual washing as an external act of worship, as commanded. But among those who did not know and did not wish to know those things but who supposed that the mere ritual act of washing garments, skin, hands, and feet would purify them, and who supposed that provided they performed such rituals they would be allowed to continue leading lives of avarice, hatred, revenge, mercilessness, and cruelty - all of which constitute spiritual filth - the performance of the ritual was idolatrous. Nevertheless by means of that ritual they were still able to represent, and by means of the representation to display, some vestige of a Church, by means of which heaven was in a way joined to mankind prior to the Lord's Coming. But that conjunction was such that heaven had little or no influence at all on the member of that Church.

[10] The Jews and Israelites were such that they did not think at all of the internal man, nor did they wish to know anything about the same. Thus they knew absolutely nothing about the celestial and spiritual things which belong to the life after death. Nevertheless to prevent the end of all communication with heaven and so with the Lord, they were bound to the performance of external observances by which internal things were meant. All their captivities and plagues were in general to the end that external observances might be duly carried out for the sake of the representation. It was for this reason that the following laws were given:

Moses was to wash Aaron and his sons with water at the tent door, to sanctify them. Exodus 29:4; 40:12; Leviticus 8:6.

Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet before entering the Tent of Meeting and approaching the Altar to minister, lest they died. This was to them a statute for ever. Exodus 30:18-21; 40:30-31.

Before putting on his vestments Aaron was to wash his flesh. Leviticus 16:4, 24.

Levites were to be purified by sprinkling the water of expiation over them, passing a razor over their flesh, and washing their clothes - then they were pure. Numbers 8:6-7.

Anyone who ate the carcass of a clean animal, ¹ or that which had been torn to pieces, was to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and if he did not wash himself and bathe his flesh he would bear his iniquity. Leviticus 17:15-16.

Anyone who touched the bed of a person who had a discharge, or sat on a vessel on which that person had sat, and anyone who touched that person's flesh was to wash his clothes and to bathe himself with water, and be unclean until the evening. Leviticus 15:5-7, 10-12 and following verses.

The person who sent the goat away to Azazel was to wash his flesh. Leviticus 16:26.

When a leper was to be cleansed he was to wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, wash himself in water, and then he would be clean. Leviticus 14:8-9.

Even vessels themselves which had become unclean through contact with unclean persons were made to go through water and be unclean until the evening. Leviticus 11:32.

From all these laws it may be seen that nobody was made clean or pure internally through ritual washing, but that such a person merely represented him who was pure or spiritually clean, for the reason stated above. The Lord teaches the same quite explicitly in Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23.

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