A congregation is a group of people with common loves, interests, and purposes. It often refers to a church group. In the Word it is almost always used to speak of the whole group of the Children of Israel, as the tabernacle of the congregation, or the people of the congregation. Sometimes the original Hebrew is translated as assembly, too. This is a case where readers and translators need to be aware of the context and potential nuances of meaning. Swedenborg writes that,'The congregation of the people' stands for people who are ruled by truths constituting intelligence, since 'congregation' is used with reference to truths... as also is 'people'... 'the assembly of the old' stands for people who are ruled by good. The usage of the term congregation also implies an ordering, or arrangement of truths.

(რეკომენდაციები: Apocalypse Explained 417; Arcana Coelestia 6338, 7843, 7891; The Apocalypse Explained 724 [17])

301. Verses 2, 3. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof? And no one was able, in heaven nor upon the earth nor under the earth, to open the book, neither to look thereon.

2. "And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice," signifies the influx of the Lord into heaven (n. 302); "who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?" signifies is there anyone there who is such as to know and perceive the states of life of all (n. 303)? "And no one was able, in heaven nor upon the earth nor under the earth, to open the book, neither to look thereon," signifies manifestation that no one knows and perceives of himself anything whatever of the state of life of all in general, and of each in particular n. 304.