174. "'Who has the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens.'" This symbolically means, who alone has the omnipotence to save.

David means the Lord in respect to Divine truth. The key symbolizes the Lord's omnipotence over heaven and hell. And to open so that no one shuts, and to shut so that no one opens, means, symbolically, to lead out of hell and introduce into heaven, thus to save, the same as in no. 62 above, where this was explained.

To be shown that David means the Lord in respect to Divine truth, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 43, 44.

The symbolic meaning of the key here is the same as that of the keys of Peter (Matthew 16:15-19), ¹ as may be seen explained in no. 798 below. The same is also meant by this declaration to all the disciples,

Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. (Matthew 18:18)

For the twelve disciples represented all elements of the church as regards its goods and truths, while Peter represented the church in respect to its truth; and it is truths and goods, thus the Lord from whom they come, that save a person.

The key of David given to Eliakim has also the same meaning, concerning which we read,

I will give your government into his hands, that he may be as a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem and to the house of Judah, and I will place on his shoulder the key of the house of David, so that he may open and no one shut, and close and no one open. (Isaiah 22:21-22)

The person referred to as he here was the person over the house of the king, and the house of the king symbolizes the church in respect to Divine truth.

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44. And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man. (1:13) This symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word, from whom that church originates.

People know from the Word that the Lord called Himself the Son of God and also the Son of Man. By "the Son of God" He meant Himself in respect to His Divine humanity, and by "the Son of Man" He meant Himself in relation to the Word. This we fully demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 19-28 and since we confirmed it thoroughly from the Word there, we refrain from confirming it further here.

Now because the Lord presented Himself to John as the Word, therefore in His appearance to him He is called the Son of Man.

The Lord presented Himself as the Word because the subject is the New Church, which is a church founded on the Word, according to its understanding of it. To be shown that the church is founded on the Word, and that its character is such as its understanding of the Word, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 76-79.

Since the church is a church from the Lord by means of the Word, therefore the Son of Man appeared in the midst of lampstands. "In the midst" means, symbolically, in the inmost, from which those things that are round about or exterior to it draw their essence, in this case their light or intelligence.

That the inmost is everything in the things that are round about or exterior to it is something we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom. It is like a light or flame at the center, in consequence of which all the peripheries shine with light and are warm.

[2] "In the midst" has the same symbolic meaning in the following passages in the Word:

Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst! (Isaiah 12:6)

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

...God...(working) lovingkindness in the midst of (the) temple.

God stands in the congregation of God; in the midst of the gods He will judge. (Psalms 82:1)

Gods are what those people who possess Divine truths from the Lord are called, and in an abstract sense, the truths themselves.

Behold, I am sending an angel before you... Beware of his presence...; for My name is in the midst of him. (Exodus 23:20-21)

The name of Jehovah means everything Divine. In the midst means in the inmost and so in every part.

In the midst or within symbolizes the inmost and so every part in many other places in the Word, even where the subject is evils, as in Isaiah 24:13, Jeremiah 23:9, Psalms 5:9, Jeremiah 9:5-6, and Psalms 36:1; 55:4; 62:4.

We have cited these places to make known that "in the midst of the lampstands" means, symbolically, in the inmost of the church, from which the church and everything connected with it originates; for the church and everything connected with it comes from the Lord through the Word.

To be shown that the lampstands symbolize a new church, see no. 43 just above.