791. 18:21 Then a mighty angel lifted up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, "Thus shall Babylon, that great city, be forcefully thrown down, and not be found anymore." This symbolically means that by a powerful influx of the Lord from heaven, the Roman Catholic religion will be cast headlong into hell, together with all its adulterated truths of the Word, and angels will never see it again.

A mighty angel's lifting up symbolizes a powerful influx of the Lord from heaven; for an angel symbolizes the Lord and His operation, an operation which takes place through heaven (nos. 258, 415, 465, 649). Here, because the angel is called a mighty angel and lifts up a great millstone, the operation symbolized is a powerful one, which means a powerful influx. A stone like a great millstone symbolizes the adulterated and profaned truths of the Word; for a stone symbolizes truth, and a mill symbolizes an inquiry into, examination of, and verification of truth from the Word, as we will show in no. 794. Here, however, it symbolizes an adulteration and profanation of the Word's truth, because the subject is Babylon. Being cast into the sea means, symbolically, into hell. "Thus shall Babylon, that great city, be forcefully thrown down," symbolically means that thus that great religion will be cast headlong into hell. Its not being found anymore means, symbolically, that angels will never see it again.

[2] This is the symbolic meaning, because all adherents of the Roman Catholic religion who are caught up in its evils and falsities come, in fact, after death into the world of spirits. For that world is like a public square in which all first gather, and it is like the stomach into which all foodstuffs are first collected. The stomach also corresponds to that world. However, at this day, because the Last Judgment is over, having been completed in 1757, people are no longer allowed to stay in that world and to form for themselves pseudo-heavens, as was the case before, but as soon as they arrive there, they are sent off to societies in that world that are connected with the hells, and from time to time are cast into them. And in this way the Lord has taken care that the angels never see them again. This, then, is what is symbolically meant by that city's, that is to say, that religion's, not being found anymore.

[3] Since a millstone symbolizes the Word's truth adulterated, and the sea symbolizes hell, therefore the Lord says:

Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depth of the sea. (Matthew 18:6; called simply a millstone in Mark 9:42, Luke 17:2)

Almost the same thing is said regarding Babylon in Jeremiah:

...when you have finished reading this book, you shall tie a stone to it and throw it into midst of the Euphrates. Then you shall say, "Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise again...." (Jeremiah 51:63-64)

The midst of the Euphrates has the same meaning as the sea, because the river Euphrates formed the boundary that separated Assyria, where Babylon was located, from the land of Canaan.

794. "And the sound of a mill shall not be heard in you anymore." This symbolically means that those caught up in the Roman Catholic religion because of its doctrine and a life in accordance with it do not inquire into, investigate, or confirm spiritual truth, because the falsity they have accepted, affirmed, and so enrooted in themselves stands in the way.

The sound of a mill symbolizes nothing else but an inquiry, investigation, and confirmation of spiritual truth, especially that drawn from the Word. This is the symbolic meaning of the sound of a mill or milling because wheat and barley, the grains milled, symbolize celestial and spiritual goodness, and wheat flour and barley meal symbolize the truth springing from that goodness. For all truth originates from goodness, and every truth that does not spring from spiritual goodness is not spiritual truth.

It is called the sound of a mill because spiritual entities are designated here and there in the Word by devices consisting of the most external things of nature, such as spiritual truths and goods by cups, bowls, wineskins, dishes, and many other kinds of vessels (see no. 672 above).

That wheat symbolizes the goodness of the church from the Word may be seen in no. 315; and that flour milled from wheat symbolizes truth springing from that goodness, no. 778.

[2] That a mill symbolizes an inquiry, investigation, and confirmation of spiritual truth can be seen from the following passages:

(Jesus said,) "(At the end of the age) two men will be in the field: one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be milling: one will be taken and the other left." (Matthew 24:40-41)

The final period of the church is meant by the end of the age, when the Last Judgment takes place. The field symbolizes the church, because that is the place of harvest. The women milling symbolize people in the church who inquire into truths. The people taken symbolize people who find and accept those truths, and the people left symbolize people who do not inquire into or accept truths, because they are caught up in falsities.

I will take from them the sound of mirth and the sound of gladness, the sound of the bridegroom and the sound of the bride, the sound of mills and the light of the lamp. (Jeremiah 25:10)

The sound of mills has the same symbolic meaning here as in this verse of the book of Revelation.

No man shall take in pledge a mill or millstone, for he would be taking the person's life in pledge. (Deuteronomy 24:6)

The mill here is called a person's life, because the life or soul symbolizes the truth of wisdom and faith (no. 681).

[3] In an opposite sense a mill symbolizes an investigation and confirmation of falsity, as is apparent from these passages:

They took away young men to mill, and youths collapse under the wood. (Lamentations 5:13)

...sit on the dust, O... daughter of Babylon... Take the mill and grind meal. Uncover your hair..., uncover your thigh, pass through the rivers. Let your nakedness be uncovered and your shame be seen. (Isaiah 47:1-3)

To take the mill and grind meal means, symbolically, to inquire into and investigate in order to confirm falsities.