327. Saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof. That this signifies that the Lord from His Divine Human has Omnipotence and Omniscience, is evident from all that has preceded: for the subject hitherto treated of is that the Lord from His Divine Human has Omnipotence and Omniscience, and that thence judgment belongs to Him. That this is meant by, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof," is evident from the series of the things explained from the beginning of this chapter to the present verse, which I desire to cite in order, namely, that by, "I saw in the right hand of him that sat upon the throne," is signified the Lord as to Omnipotence and Omniscience, n. 297; by "a book written within and on the back, sealed with seven seals," is signified the state of the life of all in heaven and in the earth altogether hidden, n. 299, 300; by, "I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" is signified exploration, whether there is any such as know and perceive the state of the life of all, (n. 302, 303; by "no one in heaven, or on earth, or under the earth, was able to open the book," is signified that no one [could] in the least from himself, n. 304; by, "Behold! the lion who is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book and to loose the seven seals thereof," is signified that the Lord from His own power subdued the hells, and reduced all things in the heavens to order, and this by Divine good united to Divine truth in His Human, (n. 309, 310; by, "I saw a lamb having seven horns, and seven eyes," is signified the Lord as to the Divine Human, [and] that from it He has Omnipotence and Omniscience, n. 314, 316, 317; and by, "He came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne," is signified that those things are from His Divine Human, n. 319. Hence it is now clear, that here by, "Thou art worthy to take the book, and to loose the seals thereof," is signified that the Lord from the Divine Human has Omnipotence and Omniscience.

2117. THE LAST JUDGEMENT

Few nowadays know what the Last Judgement is. They imagine that it is going to be accompanied by the destruction of the world; and this leads to conjectures that this earth, together with everything else in the visible world, is going to be destroyed by fire. They also conjecture that then for the first time the dead will rise again and appear for judgement, and the evil are to be cast into hell and the good to rise up to heaven. These conjectures are based on the prophetical parts of the Word where references are made to a new heaven and a new earth, and also to a New Jerusalem. Such people do not realize that the prophetical parts of the Word have a meaning altogether different in the internal sense from what appears in the sense of the letter, and that 'heaven' is not used to mean heaven, nor 'the earth' to mean the earth, but the Lord's Church in general, and as it exists with each individual in particular.