958. 22:19 And if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. This symbolically means that people who read and know the doctrinal truths in this book now laid open by the Lord, and yet acknowledge some other God than the Lord, and some other faith than faith in the Lord, by taking away something in order to destroy these two tenets, cannot perceive or acquire for themselves anything from the Word or be received into the New Jerusalem, or have their lot with people in the Lord's kingdom.
The symbolic meaning here is similar to that above, only here it applies to people who take away from these words, while there it applies to people who add to them. The warning accordingly applies to people who, either by adding to them or taking away from them, destroy these two truths.
To take away a person's part from the Book of Life means, symbolically, that it is impossible for him to perceive or assimilate into himself anything from the Word. The Book of Life is the Word, and also the Lord in relation to the Word (nos. 256, 469, 874, 925). That is because the Lord embodies the Word, for the Word has the Lord alone as its subject, as we have fully shown in two Doctrines of the New Jerusalem, one Regarding the Lord, and the other Regarding the Sacred Scripture. Therefore people who do not turn directly to the Lord cannot see any truth emerging from the Word.
To take away a person's part from the holy city means, symbolically, from the New Church, the Holy Jerusalem. For no one is accepted into it who does not turn to the Lord alone.
To take away a person's part from the things which are written in this book means, symbolically, that he does not have his lot with people in the Lord's kingdom. For everything written in this book looks forward to a new heaven and a new church, which constitute the Lord's kingdom, as the end result, and the end result is that to which everything written in the book has relation.
