103. And hast not failed, signifies so far as they could. This is evident from the signification of "not failing," in reference to those who are eager for the knowledges of truth and good, as being so far as they could; for in what now follows, a life according to these knowledges is treated of. Those who are in a life according to these go forward and do not fail; but those who are as yet in knowledges alone, go forward as far as they can, but do not yet have the light of life, from which is vigor.

94. EXPOSITION.

Verses 1-7. To the angel of the Ephesian church write: These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand; He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands; I know thy works and thy toil, and thy endurance, and that thou canst not bear the evil, and hast tried them that say, that they are apostles and they are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne and hast endurance, and for My name's sake hast toiled, and hast not failed. But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first charity. Be mindful therefore of whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works; but if not I will come unto thee quickly, and will move thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

1. "To the angel of the Ephesian church write," signifies for remembrance to those within the church who are in the knowledges of truth and good from the Word (n. 95); "these things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand," signifies from whom are all the knowledges of good and truth (n. 96); "He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands," signifies from whom is life to all in the new heaven and the new church (n. 97 [1-2]).

2. "I know thy works, and thy toil, and thy endurance," signifies all things that they think, will, and do, thus all things of love and faith in the spiritual and in the natural man n. 98; ["and that thou canst not bear the evil," signifies that they reject evils (n. 99)] and hast tried them that say they are apostles and they are not, and hast found them liars," signifies also falsities, so far as they are able to search them out n. 100.

3. "And hast borne, and hast endurance," signifies resistance against those who assail the truths of faith, and diligence in instructing (n. 101); "and for My name's sake hast toiled," signifies acknowledgment of the Lord and of the knowledges of truth that have respect to Him n. 102; "and hast not failed," signifies so far as they could (n. 103).

4. "But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first charity," signifies that they do not make such a life as those lived who were in the church at its beginning the essential of knowledges (n. 104).

5. "Be mindful therefore of whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works," signifies the remembrance of former things, and thus the remembrance of having deviated from the truth, and this in order that the good of life of the church at its beginning may come into mind n. 105; "but if not I will come unto thee quickly, and will move thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent," signifies that if not, it is certain that heaven cannot be given (n. 106).

6. "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate," signifies an aversion, derived from the Divine, towards those who separate good from truth, or charity from faith, from which separation there is no life n. 107.

7. "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches," signifies that he who understands should hearken to what Divine truth proceeding from the Lord teaches and says to those who are of His church n. 108; "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life," signifies that he who receives in the heart shall be filled with the good of love, and with heavenly joy therefrom n. 109; "which is in the midst of the paradise of God," signifies that all knowledges of good and truth in heaven and in the church look thereto and proceed therefrom n. 110.

110. Which is in the midst of the paradise of God, signifies that all the knowledges of good and truth in heaven and in the church look thereto and proceed therefrom. This is evident from the signification of "the midst," as being the center to which all things that are round about look and from which they proceed (of which above, n. 97 [1-2]) and from the signification of "paradise," as being the knowledges of good and truth and intelligence therefrom (Arcana Coelestia 100, 108, 1588, 2702, 3220); and because these are signified by "paradise," therefore by the "paradise of God" heaven is signified, and as heaven, so also the church is signified, for the church is the Lord's heaven on the earth. Heaven and the church are called the "paradise of God," because the Lord is in the midst of them, and from Him is all intelligence and wisdom. Since it has not been known heretofore that all things in the Word are written by correspondences, consequently that there are spiritual things in every particular that is mentioned therein, it is believed that by the "paradise" treated of in the second chapter of Genesis, a paradisal garden is meant. But no earthly paradise is there meant, but the heavenly paradise which those possess who are in intelligence and wisdom from the knowledges of good and truth (See above, n. 109); and in the work on Heaven and Hell 176, 185).

[2] From this it can be seen not only what is signified by the "paradise" or "garden in Eden," but also by the "paradises" or "gardens of God" elsewhere in the Word, as in Isaiah:

Jehovah shall comfort Zion, He will comfort all her waste places, even that He may make her wilderness into Eden, and her desert into a garden of Jehovah; joy and gladness shall be found therein (Isaiah 51:3).

In Ezekiel:

Thou hast been in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering (Ezekiel 28:13).

These things are said of Tyre, because by "Tyre" in the Word a church that is in the knowledges of truth and good and in intelligence therefrom is signified (See Arcana Coelestia 1201); its intelligence therefrom is "Eden, the garden of God," likewise "the precious stone" from which is its "covering" (See n. 114, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873). In the same:

Behold Asshur a cedar in Lebanon. The cedars have not hid it in the garden of God; nor was any tree in the garden of God equal to it in beauty. I have made it beautiful by the multitude of its branches; and all the trees of Eden in the garden of God envied it (Ezekiel 31:3, 8, 31:8-9).

By "Asshur" in the Word those who have become rational by the knowledges of good and truth, thus whose minds are illustrated from heaven, are meant. (That "Asshur" is the rational of man, see Arcana Coelestia 119, 1186.)

[3] Something shall now be said to explain how it is to be understood that all knowledges of good and truth look to the good of love to the Lord and proceed therefrom, which is the significance of these words: "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God." The good of love to the Lord is the Lord Himself, since the Lord is in the good of His love with man, spirit, and angel. That all knowledges of good and truth look thereto, or to the Lord, is known in the Christian church; for the doctrine of the church teaches that there is no salvation apart from the Lord, and also that all salvation is in the Lord.

The knowledges of good and truth, or doctrinals from the Word, teach how man can come to God and be conjoined to Him. (That no one can be conjoined to God except from the Lord and in the Lord, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 283, 296.) From this it can be seen that all things taught by the church from the Word look to the Lord and to love to Him, as the end to which [ad quem]. That all knowledges of good and truth, or all doctrinals from the Word, proceed from the Lord is also known in the church, for it is there taught that everything of love and everything of faith is from heaven, and that nothing is from man; and that no one can love God and believe in Him from himself. To love God and to believe in Him involve all things that the church teaches, called doctrinals and knowledges, since from these is God loved and believed in. There is no love and faith without previous knowledges; for without knowledges man would be empty.

[4] From this it follows that as everything of love and of faith proceeds from the Lord, so do all knowledges of good and truth which make and form love and faith. Because all knowledges of good and truth look to the Lord, and proceed from Him, and this is what is signified by "the tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God," therefore all the trees in paradise are called "trees of life" and "trees of Jehovah;" in Revelation "trees of life":

In the midst of the street and of the river (flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb) on this side and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve fruits (Revelation 22:2).

In David they are called "trees of Jehovah":

The trees of Jehovah are satisfied, the cedars of Lebanon which He hath planted (Psalms 104:16).

From this also it is clear that by the "tree of life in the midst of paradise" is meant every tree there, in other words, every man in the midst of whom, that is, in whom is the Lord. From what has been shown here and in the preceding article, what is signified by the words, "The Lord will give to him that overcometh to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God," may be learned.