686. Verses 16, 17. And the twenty-four elders who sit before God upon their thrones fell upon their faces and worshipped God, saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who is, who was, and who is to come, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and entered upon the kingdom.

16. "And the twenty-four elders who sit before God upon their thrones," signifies the higher heavens in light and power from the Lord to separate the evil from the good before the day of the Last Judgment which is to come shortly n. 687; "fell upon their faces and worshipped God," signifies the adoration of the Lord with them from a most humble heart n. 688.

7. "Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty," signifies the acknowledgment that all being, living, and ability are from the Lord. n. 689); "who is, and who was, and who is to come," signifies from Him who is the all in all things of heaven and the church from eternity to eternity (n. 690); "because Thou hast taken Thy great power and entered upon the kingdom," signifies the establishment of the new heaven and the New Church, when the former heaven and church are destroyed n. 691.

678. And gave glory to the God of heaven, signifies that they acknowledged and worshipped the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "giving glory" or of "glorifying," as being to acknowledge and worship (of which presently); also from the signification of "the God of heaven," as being the Lord. That the Lord is the God of heaven He Himself made clear when He was in the world and when He departed out of the world. When He was in the world He said in John:

The Father hath given all things into the hand of the Son (John 3:35).

The Father hath given to the Son power over all flesh (John 17:2).

And in Matthew:

All things have been delivered unto Me by the Father (Matthew 11:27).

And when He departed out of the world He said to the disciples:

All power hath been given unto Me in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).

From this it is clear that the Lord is the God of heaven.

[2] "To give glory" means to acknowledge and worship the Lord, because "to give glory" signifies that to Him alone glory belongs because He is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time to acknowledge that all things of the church are from Him, thus all salvation and eternal life. From this it follows that "to give glory" and "to glorify," in reference to God, mean to worship and to adore Him. In reference to the Lord, "glory" properly signifies in the Word the Divine truth proceeding from Him, for the reason that this Divine truth is the light of heaven, and from that light angels and men have not only all their intelligence and wisdom, but also all their happiness, and besides this, all magnificence in the heavens, which is ineffable; these, therefore, are what are properly signified by "the glory of God;" and because Divine truth is glory it follows that "the glory of the Lord" means to enlighten angels and men, and to bestow intelligence and wisdom, and to bless with felicities and delights, and also to make magnificent all things in the heavens, and that this glory is not from the love of glory, but from love towards the human race. This is why the Lord says in John:

Herein is My Father glorified that ye may bear much fruit, and may become My disciples (John 15:8);

again:

The words which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them, and I am glorified in them (John 17:8, 10).

[3] That this is the glory of the Lord can be seen from this, that the light of heaven, from which is all wisdom, beauty, and magnificence in the heavens, proceeds from the Lord as a sun, and it is the Lord's Divine love that appears to the angels as a sun. From this it is clear that the light of heaven, which in its essence is Divine truth and Divine wisdom, is the Divine love proceeding; and as love desires nothing else than to give that which is its own to another, thus to fill others with blessedness, what will not the Divine love do? Nevertheless, the Lord cannot give His glory to anyone and fill him with wisdom and blessedness unless he acknowledges and worships the Lord, for it is by this that man conjoins himself to the Lord by love and faith; for in order that acknowledgment and worship may be acknowledgment and worship, it must be from love and faith; and without conjunction by means of these no good can flow in from the Lord, because it is not received. All this makes clear that "to give glory to the God of heaven" means to acknowledge and worship the Lord.

[4] That "glory" signifies the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and that the Lord's glory with man is the reception of Divine truth, may be seen above (n. 33, 345). That the Lord's glorification is from the Lord Himself, and that with men and angels it is the reception and acknowledgment that every good and truth and everything of salvation and life is from the Lord, may also be seen above n. 288.

304.

601.