The idea of a "prophet" is very closely tied to the idea of the Bible itself, since the Bible was largely written by prophets. At a lower level, prophets represent people who teach from the Bible. At a higher level, they represent the Lord as He reveals himself through the Bible. Viewed in a abstract way, prophets represent the holy parts of the Bible themselves, and also represent doctrine drawn from the Bible. The reason we say "largely written by prophets" and "the holy parts of the Bible" is that not all of the books currently included in the Bible have a complete and continuous internal sense. Some -- like Job, Ruth, and Song of Solomon -- are wonderful literary pieces that got included, but which lack the systematic meanings for words and phrases. Others -- the Acts and Epistles, primarily -- are really doctrinal works, the first attempt by others to extract meaning from Jesus' life and words.

606. Verse 5. And the angel whom I saw standing upon the sea and upon the earth, signifies the Lord, to whom all things of heaven and the church are subject. This is evident from the signification of "the angel coming down from heaven," as being the Lord (See above, n. 593); and from the signification of "standing upon the sea and upon the earth," as being to whom all things of heaven and the church are subject (See also above, n. 600, since "standing upon them" signifies that they are subject to Him. Thus in David:

Thou madest Him to have dominion over the works ¹ of Thy hands; Thou hast put all things under His feet (Psalms 8:6).

This is said of the Lord; His dominion over all things of heaven and the church is meant by "all things are put under His feet." And in Isaiah:

I will make the place of My feet honorable (Isaiah 60:13).

"The place of the Lord's feet" in a general sense means all things of heaven and the church, since the Lord as a sun is above the heavens; but in a particular sense "the place of His feet" signifies the church, for the Lord's church is with men in the natural world, and the natural is the lowest, into which the Divine closes, and upon which it as it were subsists. This is why the church on the earth is also called "the footstool of the Lord," as in the same:

The earth is My footstool (Isaiah 66:1; Matthew 5:35).

Also in Lamentations:

He hath cast down from the heavens unto the earth the splendor of Israel, and doth not remember His footstool (Lamentations 2:1).

And in David:

We will come into His tabernacles, we will bow down at His footstool (Psalms 132:7).

This is said of the Lord, and "His footstool" signifies the church on the earth.

[2] From this it can be seen that "to stand upon the sea and upon the earth" signifies in reference to the Lord that all things of heaven and the church are subject to Him. But "sea and earth upon which He set His feet," signify in particular the lowest heaven and the church on earth, as has just been said; for the higher parts of the body belonging to an angel signify the higher heavens, because they correspond to them; for the inmost heaven corresponds to the head, and the middle heaven to the breast down to the loins, and the ultimate heaven to the feet, but the church on the earth to the soles of the feet, consequently the church is meant by "His footstool." From this correspondence it can be concluded what the "angel (by whom is meant the Lord) standing upon the sea and upon the earth" represented in general and in particular, namely, that He represented the universal heaven; for the Lord is heaven, and His Divine Human forms heaven to an image of itself. This is why the whole heaven is in the sight of the Lord as one man, and corresponds to all things of man, therefore heaven also is called the Greatest Man. (Respecting this see what is said in the work on Heaven and Hell 59-102.)

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