Apocalypse Revealed #860
860. Whose number is as the sand of the sea. This symbolizes the multitude of such people.
The multitude of such people is likened to the sand of the sea, because the sea symbolizes the external component of the church (nos. 402-404, 470), and the sand is something which serves no use in the sea except to compose the bottom.
Because the number of such people is so great, therefore the valley of their burial is called "The Multitude of Gog," and the name of the city where they are, "The Multitude" (Ezekiel 39:15-16).
Beast
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In Genesis 1:24, beasts signify the things of man's will or loves. (Arcana Coelestia 44, 46)
In Genesis 9:10, beasts signify all that was living in the man of the Ancient Church, and also what belonged to his new will; likewise the lower things of his understanding and the will therefrom. (Arcana Coelestia 1026-1029)
In Psalm 104:20, beasts signify affections longing to be instructed, or spiritually nourished. (Apocalypse Explained 650[10])
In Luke 10:35, since the beast was a donkey, this signifies to instruct another according to his capability. (Apocalypse Explained 1154)
The beast of the south (Isaiah 30:6) signifies people who are principled in the knowledges of good and of truth, but do not apply them to life and instead to science.
Every beast and creeping thing (Genesis 8:19) signifies the goodnesses of the internal and external man.
"Beasts" represent the affection for doing good things, a true desire to do them from the heart. In the negative sense, "beasts" stand for the lust to do evil.
The beast ascending out of the sea (Revelation 13:1) signifies reasonings from the natural man confirming the separation of faith from life.
(références: Apocalypse Explained 13, 773; Revelation 13:11)