Apocalypse Revealed # 401
401. And all green grass was burned up. This symbolically means, and thus every constituent of faith having life had perished.
To be burned up means, symbolically, to perish, as said just above in no. 400.
Green grass, in the Word, symbolizes the goodness and truth of the church or faith that is born first in the natural self. It has the same symbolic meaning as "the herb of the field." 1 And because faith has life owing to goodness and truth, therefore "all green grass was burned up" means, symbolically, that every constituent of faith having life had perished. Every constituent of faith having life perishes, moreover, when there is no affection for goodness or perception of truth, as said just above.
Grass has this symbolic meaning also because of its correspondence. Consequently, people who separate faith from charity, not only in doctrine by also in life, in the spiritual world live in a desert where there is no grass.
Since a fruit tree symbolizes a person in respect to his affections for goodness and perceptions of truth, so green grass symbolizes a person in respect to that constituent of the church that is first conceived in him and also given birth, while grass that is not green symbolizes that constituent now perished.
In general, everything found in gardens, forests, fields and plains symbolizes a person in respect to some constituent of the church, or to say the same thing, some constituent of the church in him. That is because they correspond. That this is true of grass can be seen from the following passages:
A voice said, "Cry out!" And he said, "What shall I cry?"
"All flesh is grass... The grass withered, and the flower faded, because the wind... blew upon it. Truly the people are grass. The grass withered, and the flower faded, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. (Isaiah 40:6-8)
Their inhabitants... became the herb of the field, tender grass, the grass on the housetops, and a field scorched before the standing grain. (Isaiah 37:27, 2 Kings 19:26)
...I will pour... My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass... (Isaiah 44:3-4)
Also elsewhere, as Isaiah 51:12, Psalms 37:2; 103:15; 129:6, Deuteronomy 32:2.
That a green plant or something green symbolizes something living or alive is apparent in Jeremiah 17:8; 11:16; Ezekiel 17:24; 20:47; Hosea 14:8; Psalms 37:35; 52:8; 92:10.
The same thing said here in the book of Revelation came to pass in Egypt, namely that by hail and fire mingled, every tree and every herb of the field were burned up (Exodus 9:22-35).
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. Genesis 2:5; 3:18
Exodus 9:22-35
22
Yahweh said to Moses, "Stretch forth your hand toward the sky, that there may be hail in all the land of Egypt, on man, and on animal, and on every herb of the field, throughout the land of Egypt."
23
Moses stretched forth his rod toward the heavens, and Yahweh sent thunder, hail, and lightning flashed down to the earth. Yahweh rained hail on the land of Egypt.
24
So there was very severe hail, and lightning mixed with the hail, such as had not been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
25
The hail struck throughout all the land of Egypt all that was in the field, both man and animal; and the hail struck every herb of the field, and broke every tree of the field.
26
Only in the land of Goshen, where the children of Israel were, there was no hail.
27
Pharaoh sent, and called for Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I have sinned this time. Yahweh is righteous, and I and my people are wicked.
28
Pray to Yahweh; for there has been enough of mighty thunderings and hail. I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer."
29
Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread abroad my hands to Yahweh. The thunders shall cease, neither shall there be any more hail; that you may know that the earth is Yahweh's.
30
But as for you and your servants, I know that you don't yet fear Yahweh God."
31
The flax and the barley were struck, for the barley was in the ear, and the flax was in bloom.
32
But the wheat and the spelt were not struck, for they had not grown up.
33
Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and spread abroad his hands to Yahweh; and the thunders and hail ceased, and the rain was not poured on the earth.
34
When Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunders were ceased, he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart, he and his servants.
35
The heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he didn't let the children of Israel go, just as Yahweh had spoken through Moses.
