Apocalypse Revealed #847
847. We are told here and there in the Word that people were slain, pierced or stabbed, or simply put to death, and yet the meaning is not that they were slain, pierced, stabbed, or put to death, but that they were rejected by people caught up in evils and falsities, as may be seen in nos. 59, 325, 589. This is also the symbolic meaning of the dead in the next verse, where we are told:
The rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were completed. (Revelation 20:5)
It is apparent from this that those who are said to have been beheaded symbolize people rejected by those caught up in falsities hatched out of their own intelligence.
That an axe used to behead someone symbolizes falsity hatched out of people's own intelligence is apparent from the following:
...the statutes of the peoples are vanity, if indeed one cuts wood from the forest, the work of the hands of an artisan, with an ax. (Jeremiah 10:3)
(Egypt's) voice shall go like a serpent, ...they come... with axes, like hewers of wood. (Jeremiah 46:22)
He is known as one who lifts up axes against a thicket of wood, and already they are demolishing his carvings with axes and hammers... They have profaned to the ground the dwelling place of Your name. (Psalms 74:5-7)
When you besiege a city..., you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an ax against them. (Deuteronomy 20:19)
Axes in these passages symbolize falsity hatched out of people's own intelligence, and this for the reason that iron symbolizes truth in its lowest form, which we call sensual truth, which when divorced from rational and spiritual truth turns into falsity. It is falsity hatched from people's own intelligence because sensuality is inherent in people's native character, as may be seen in no. 424.
Because iron and axes have this symbolic meaning, the command was given to Israel that if they built an altar of stone, it should be built of unhewn stones, and that no iron tool should be used on the stones, lest they profane it (Exodus 20:25, Deuteronomy 27:5).
Therefore, regarding the temple in Jerusalem, we are told the following:
...the edifice itself... was built with unhewn stone, and no hammer or ax or any iron tool was heard in the edifice while it was being built. (1 Kings 6:7)
Conversely, when a carved image is the subject, which symbolizes falsity hatched out of people's own intelligence, we are told that it was fashioned with iron, with tongs or axes and hammers (Isaiah 44:12). To be shown that falsity hatched out of people's own intelligence is symbolically meant by a carving or idol, see no. 459 above.
Revelation 20
1
I saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand.
2
He seized the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole inhabited earth, and bound him for a thousand years,
3
and cast him into the abyss, and shut it, and sealed it over him, that he should deceive the nations no more, until the thousand years were finished. After this, he must be freed for a short time.
4
I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the word of God, and such as didn't worship the beast nor his image, and didn't receive the mark on their forehead and on their hand. They lived, and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5
The rest of the dead didn't live until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6
Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will reign with him one thousand years.
7
And after the thousand years, Satan will be released from his prison,
8
and he will come out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to the war; the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9
They went up over the breadth of the earth, and surrounded the camp of the saints, and the beloved city. Fire came down out of heaven from God, and devoured them.
10
The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet are also. They will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
11
I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
12
I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and they opened books. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13
The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. They were judged, each one according to his works.
14
Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
15
If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.
