664. "For just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!" This symbolically means that everything that emanates from the Lord is just and true, because He is Divine goodness itself and Divine truth itself in heaven and in the church.

Ways symbolize truths that lead to good (no. 176). The title "king" in reference to the Lord symbolizes Divine truth, and "O King of saints" the Divine truth derived from Him in heaven and the church; for saints symbolize people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord (nos. 173, 586). Consequently "just and true are Your ways, O King of the saints!" means symbolically that everything emanating from the Lord is just and true, because He is Divine truth itself in heaven and in the church.

The Lord is called a king in reference to His Divine humanity, because this is the Messiah, the Anointed, the Christ, the Son of God. Messiah in Hebrew is Christ in Greek, and Messiah or Christ is the Son of God, as may be seen in no. 520 above. It is well known that Messiah in Hebrew means both king and anointed.

The Lord as king is the embodiment of Divine truth because that is the symbolic meaning of the title "king" (nos. 20, 483). Kings accordingly symbolize people who possess Divine truths from the Lord (Revelation 1:6; 5:10).

It is because of this that heaven and the church are called the Lord's kingdom, and that His advent into the world is called the gospel of the kingdom.

Heaven and the church are called the Lord's kingdom in Daniel 2:44; 7:13-14, 27; Luke 1:33; 4:43; 8:1, 10; 9:2, 11, 27; 10:11; 16:16; 19:11; 21:31; 22:18; 23:51. And His advent is called the gospel of the kingdom in Matthew 4:23; 9:35; 24:14. ¹

But more on this subject may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.

[2] That the Lord is called a king is apparent from the following passages:

These will make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings. (Revelation 17:14)

(He who sat on the white horse) is called the Word... And... His... name (is) Lord of lords and King of kings. (Revelation 19:13, 16, cf. Daniel 2:47)

Nathanael... said..., ."..You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!" (John 1:49)

When the Son of Man comes in His glory..., ...He will sit on the throne of His glory... And the King will say to those on His right hand... (and) to those on the left hand... (Matthew 25:31, 34, 41)

...they cried out: "Hosanna! 'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!' The King of Israel! " (John 12:13)

Pilate (asked the Lord:) "Are You a king...?" Jesus answered, ."..I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world...." (John 18:37)

Your eyes will see the King in His beauty... ...Jehovah our King, He will save us. (Isaiah 33:17 , 22)

I am Jehovah, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. (Isaiah 43:15)

Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: "I am the First and I am the Last, and beside Me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6)

Jehovah shall become King over all the earth. (Zechariah 14:9, cf. Psalms 47:2, 6-8)

Lift up your heads, O you gates..., that the King of glory may come in... Jehovah of hosts, He is the King of glory. (Psalms 24:7-10)

I will raise to David a righteous Branch, (who as) a king shall reign... and execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. (Jeremiah 23:5, cf. 33:15)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 6:5; 52:7; Jeremiah 10:7, 10; 46:18; Ezekiel 37:22, 24; Zephaniah 3:15; Psalms 20:9; 45:11, 13-14; 68:24; 74:12.

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500. The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. This symbolically means that those people who are caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will oppose these two essential elements of the New Church, attack them, and reject them, in themselves and, as far as they are able, in others.

The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit means the people who ascended out of the bottomless pit having the appearance of locusts in Revelation 9:1-12. That they were people caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone may be seen in the exposition there. To make war means, symbolically, to oppose and attack these two essential elements of the church, as we shall see next. To overcome them and kill them means, symbolically, to reject them and root them out, in themselves and, as far as they are able, in others.

[2] People caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will attack and reject these two essential elements because they have established in themselves two ideas contrary to them, first, that it is not the Lord but God the Father to whom they should turn; and secondly, that a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments is not a spiritual life, but simply a moral and civic life, and they maintain this to keep anyone from believing that he is saved by works rather than by their faith alone.

All those people who in schools and universities have deeply impressed these dogmas on their minds do not afterward turn away from them. There are three reasons for this, hitherto unknown. First, they have introduced themselves as to their spirit into association with people in the spiritual world like themselves, where there are many satanic spirits who find delight only in falsities, and from these spirits they cannot possibly be set free unless they reject those falsities. Nor can they do that unless they turn to God the Savior directly and begin to live a Christian life in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

[3] The second reason is their belief that they are granted instant forgiveness for their sins and thus salvation in the act of faith, and afterward in the state or progression of it through the same act continued, preserved and retained by the Holy Spirit, apart from any exercises of charity. After that, then, once people have imbibed these ideas, they regard their sins as of no account in the sight of God, and so continue in their impure lives.

Moreover, because they know how to cleverly defend such ideas with falsifications of the Word in the presence of uneducated listeners, and with fallacious arguments in the presence of learned ones, we are told here that the beast from the bottomless pit overcame and killed the two witnesses. But this is the case only with people who love to live self-indulgently and are carried away by the delights of their appetites. Whenever these people think about salvation, they harbor at heart their lusts, and with both hands embrace that faith of theirs, because then they can be saved by uttering certain words in a confident tone and do not have to attend to anything having to do with their life for God's sake, but only for the sake of the world.

[4] The third reason is that people who in their youth have imbibed the interior tenets of that faith, called the mysteries of justification, when afterward promoted to a respectable ministry, do not think to themselves about God and heaven, but about themselves and the world, retaining the mysteries of their faith only for the sake of their reputation so as to be respected as wise, and because of their wisdom, accounted worthy to be rewarded with riches.

Such is the case as a result of that faith because it has nothing of religion in it. The reality of this may be seen in the third narrative account above, in no. 484.

[5] That wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, which are attacks on truth and are waged by reasonings based on falsities, is clear from the following passages:

...spirits of demons... go out... to gather them for war on the great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:14)

...the dragon was angry with the woman, and it went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

It was granted to (the dragon's beast) to make war with the saints... (Revelation 13:7)

Prepare holy war against (the daughter of Zion)..., and let us go up at noon. (Jeremiah 6:4)

You have not gone up into the breaches... to stand in battle on the day of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 13:5)

In Salem is (God's) tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion, where He broke the flaming arrows, the bow... and... war. (Psalms 76:2-3)

Jehovah shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up zeal like a man of war. (Isaiah 42:13, cf. Psalms 24:8)

In that day Jehovah... will be... for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, ...to those who turn back the battle at the gate. (Isaiah 28:5-6)

Deliver me... from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man... All day they gather for war. They sharpen their tongues like serpents. (Psalms 140:1-3)

...many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ," and will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled. (Matthew 24:5-7, cf. Mark 13:6-8, Luke 21:8-10)

The wars of the kings of the north and south and other wars in Daniel 10, 11, and 12 symbolize no other than spiritual wars. And so, too, the wars in other places, as in Isaiah 2:3-5, 13:4, 21:14-15, 31:4; Jeremiah 49:25-26; Hosea 2:18; Zechariah 10:5, 14:3; Psalm 18:35 ¹ , 46:8-9.

[6] As wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, therefore the ministry of the Levites was called military service, as is apparent from the following, that the command was given for the Levites to be numbered, to "perform military service, to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting" (Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47).

This is the service of the Levites: ...to perform military service in the ministry of the tabernacle of meeting; but at the age of fifty years he must cease the military service, and shall minister no more. (Numbers 8:24-25)

See also no. 447 above, where we established from the Word that armies symbolize the church's goods and truths, and in an opposite sense, its evils and falsities.

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