553. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ have come." (12:10) This symbolizes the joy of angels in heaven that the Lord alone now reigns in heaven and the church, and that those people are saved who believe in Him.

A loud voice in heaven symbolizes the joy of angels in heaven, and that is why the text later says in verse 12, "Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them!" The voice is also said to be loud because it is uplifted owing to a heartfelt joy. That salvation and power have come means, symbolically, that people are now saved by the Lord's Divine power. And that the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ have come means, symbolically, because the Lord alone reigns in heaven and in the church. That God means the Divine itself from which springs all else, namely the Divine called Jehovah, the Father, and that His Christ means the Divine humanity called the Son of God, may be seen in no. 520 above. So then, because the Divine itself from which all else springs and the Lord's Divine humanity are united as soul and body, it follows that the Lord alone reigns.

This is what is meant by the gospel of the kingdom and the kingdom of God in Matthew 3:2; 4:17, 23; 7:21; 9:35; 11:11; 12:28; Mark 1:14-15; 9:1; 15:43.

[2] That the Lord has all authority in heaven and on earth is clearly apparent in Matthew 28:18, John 3:35; 17:2, 10.

That those people are saved who are in the Lord and have the Lord in them, and that it is the Divine humanity in which they are, is clearly apparent in John, chapters 14, 15, 17. And that only those are saved who believe in Him is clear from the following passages:

As many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name. (John 1:12)

...that whoever believes in (the Son) should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:15)

...God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should... have everlasting life. (John 3:16)

He who believes in (the Son) is not judged, but he who does not believe is judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)

He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; but he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst... Assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me has everlasting life. (John 6:33, 35, 47)

Unless you believe that I am, you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)

Jesus said..., "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. Everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die. (John 11:25-26)

And so on elsewhere, as in John 6:38-40; 7:37-38; 8:12; 12:36, 46.

To believe in the Lord is to turn directly to Him and have confidence that He will save. And because no one can have that confidence unless he lives rightly, therefore this, too, is meant by believing in Him. See no. 67 above.

520. And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, "The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!" This symbolizes celebrations on the part of angels, that heaven and the church had become the Lord's, as they had been from the beginning, and that they had now become those of His Divine humanity, thus that the Lord would reign over heaven and earth as regards both aspects of Him to eternity.

"There were loud voices in heaven" symbolizes celebrations on the part of angels. "Saying, 'The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ,'" means, symbolically, that heaven and the church had become the Lord's, as they had been from the beginning, and now had become those of His Divine humanity. "And He shall reign forever and ever!" means, symbolically, that the Lord would reign over them as regards both aspects of Him.

Loud voices in heaven symbolize celebrations of the Lord for having now taken His great power, as is apparent from verse 17 following, where the substance of those great voices is presented.

The Lord here means the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, and the Christ here means His Divine humanity, which is the Son of God (Luke 1:32, 35).

[2] That the Lord will reign even as regards His Divine humanity is clearly apparent from the following passages:

The Father... has given all things into His (the Son's) hand. (John 3:35)

(The Father has) given (the Son) authority over all flesh... (John 17:2)

(Father,) all Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine... (John 17:10)

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18)

In reference to His Divine humanity the Lord also says that the Father and He are one, and that He is in the Father, and the Father in Him (John 10:30, 38; 14:5-12).

Furthermore, if the Lord's humanity is not acknowledged to be Divine, the church perishes, since the Lord cannot then be in man and man in the Lord, as He teaches in John 14:20; 15:4-6; 17:21, 23; and it is this conjunction that makes a person a person of the church, thus that makes the church a church.

[3] The Christ means the Lord's Divine humanity because the Christ is the Messiah, and the Messiah is the Son of God whose coming into the world was awaited by the Jews.

That the Christ is the Messiah is apparent from the following passages:

We have found the Messiah, which, if you translate it, is the Christ. (John 1:41)

The woman said to Him, "I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ." (John 4:25)

The reason is that Messiah in Hebrew means Anointed, as does Christ in Greek.

That the Messiah is the Son of God is apparent from the fact that the high priest asked Him whether He was "the Christ (i.e., the Messiah), the Son of God" (Matthew 26:63, Mark 14:61, cf. John 20:31). Also from the following:

...You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world. (John 11:27)

(Peter said,) "We believe and acknowledge that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (John 6:69)

That the Lord is the Son of God in respect to His Divine humanity:

(The angel said to Mary,) "You will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son... He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest... The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born of you will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:31-32, 35)

And so on in many places elsewhere.

It is apparent from this what is symbolically meant by the statement that the kingdoms have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.