647. As often as they will, signifies as often as a man assaults the goods of love and the truths of doctrine that bear witness of the Lord, and from which man acknowledges and confesses the Lord, that he may inflict evil upon them. This is evident from the signification of "as often as they will," when it is said of "the two witnesses" (by whom are meant those who acknowledge and confess the Lord), for these do not will and do the evils that have been mentioned heretofore, but the evil inflict these evils upon themselves when they assault the goods and truths that proceed from the Lord that they may inflict injury upon them. In the sense of the letter of the Word it is indeed said of Jehovah God, that is, the Lord, that He is angry, and wrathful, that He is furious against the good, 1 and that He does evil to them, yea, that He wills to do so; and yet the Lord is never angry or wrathful, nor does He will or do evil to anyone; for into every man the Lord flows in from good with good, and from truth with truths from good; for He wills to bring all to Himself and to save them. This makes clear that "as often as the witnesses will" does not mean as often as they will, but as often as the evil will, that is, from willing do evil, in other words, assault the goods and truths of heaven and the church that are from the Lord that they may inflict injury upon them.
[2] That the Lord, and thus the good of love and the truth of faith that are of the Lord with man and angel, will no evil to anyone can be seen from this, that the Lord God is not the cause of evil with anyone, and he who is not the cause of evil is not the cause of punishment, but the evil itself that is with man is the cause. In the spiritual world where heaven and hell are, all things are so arranged that the Lord never casts anyone down into hell, but the evil spirit casts himself down (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 545-550); and this because the Lord is not the cause of evil, and he who is not the cause of evil cannot be the cause of any effect that springs from evil. From this it is clear that the contents of this verse, namely, that the two witnesses "have power to shut heaven that it rain no rain," and that "they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will," are not to be understood according to the sense of the letter, but according to the spiritual sense, which is, that those who do evil to the "two witnesses" bring such things upon themselves; for so far as anyone does evil to them so far he shuts heaven against himself, and turns truths with himself into falsities, and destroys himself by the lusts of evil.
Footnotes:
1. The Latin has good for evil.
