920. And cast into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. That this signifies the falsification of the Word as to all spiritual truth, and thence damnation, because there is no spiritual good, which is charity, is evident from the signification of wine-press, as denoting the production of truth from good. For by clusters and grapes, that were put into the wine-press, is signified spiritual good; and by the wine, which is produced, is signified truth from that good; see above (n. 219, 376). Because the production of truth from spiritual good is signified by a wine-press, therefore, in the opposite sense, the production of falsity from evil, is signified by it. For just as good produces truth, so evil, which is opposite to good, produces falsity.

The reason why wine-press here signifies the falsification of the Word as to all spiritual truth is, that it is called the great wine-press of the wrath of God; and by the wrath of God, is signified the contempt for and rejection of truth and good by man. And the chief form of rejection is the falsification of the sense of the letter of the Word even to the destruction of spiritual truth, or of the Divine truth in heaven. That this falsification closes heaven may be seen (n. 888). Those also who are in evil, as is the case with all those who are not in the good of charity, cannot do otherwise than produce falsities. For as good produces truths, so evil produces falsities. The reason why the great wine-press of the wrath of God also signifies damnation is, that this is a result, and because it is said the wrath of God, and a great wine-press. That the things now mentioned are signified by the wine-press, shall be proved from the Word in the next article.

[2] A few things shall be said here concerning the production of truth from good, and also of falsity from evil, which is signified by a wine-press in the spiritual sense. The origin and cause of such production is, that all good is of love; and what is loved, this is delightful; and because delight is grateful, and also cheers, therefore that which is from the love, a man thinks of from delight, and also confirms. Now since love and its delight constitute a man's life, therefore when man thinks from love and its delight, he thinks from himself and from his own life. That this is the case is quite clear from men after death, when they become spirits; for then, when they think [from themselves], they cannot but think from their own love, because their whole life is their love. Since, therefore, as good pertains to love, and truth to thought, it is evident how truth is produced from good.

[3] What has been said of good and truth may also be said of the will and understanding. For all good, because it is of the love belongs to the will; and all truth from good, because it is of the thought, belongs to the understanding; for the will loves, and the understanding thinks.

What has been said of good and truth may also be said of heat and light. For spiritual heat is love, which enkindles the will; and spiritual light is truth, which enlightens the understanding. For all love which belongs to the will presents an image of itself in the light of the understanding, where it knows itself; and because it loves itself, it desires to see itself; consequently it is that man thinks what he loves.

What has been said of the production of truth from good may also be said of the production of the falsity from evil. For all evil pertains to the love, and thence loves falsity; and evil therefrom belongs to the will, and falsity to thought.

These things are mentioned because wine-press, in the spiritual sense, signifies the production of truth from good, also the production of falsity from evil. The reason why, by the great wine-press of the wrath of God, is also signified the falsification of the Word is, that the falsification of the Word also produces falsity from evil. For evil falsifies, since evil loves the idea of itself in the thought; and the thought desires to have the same confirmed in the Word, for the purpose of persuasion.

666. And they stood upon their feet.- That this signifies a new life such as the regenerated man of the church has, is evident from the signification of standing, as denoting to be and to live, and also to sustain (concerning which see above 414); and from the signification of feet, as denoting the Natural, which is the ultimate of Divine order, and the basis upon which things prior or higher rest and upon which they subsist (concerning which also, see above 69, 600:1, 606). Standing upon the feet therefore signifies life in fulness, because in the ultimate; new life is signified, because the witnesses, who are here treated of, were slain and lived again. Standing upon the feet signifies here such life as pertains to the regenerated man of the church, because these things are said of the two witnesses, by whom are meant all who are in the goods of love by means of truths of doctrine, and who are such as have been regenerated; also, because when the Natural signified by the feet, is regenerated, then the whole man has life, such as pertains to a regenerated man, according to the words of the Lord in John:

[2] Jesus said to Peter,

"He that is washed, needeth not save to be washed as to the feet, and he is wholly clean" (13:10).

To be washed signifies to be purified from evils and falsities, which is to be regenerated, therefore he that is washed signifies he who is purified, that is, regenerated, as to what is spiritual, which is the good of love and the truth of doctrine; and these are first to be received in the memory and understanding, that is, to be known and acknowledged. Needeth not save to be washed as to the feet signifies that the natural or external man is then to be purified or regenerated, which is done by a life according to the precepts of love and faith, that is, according to the goods and truths of doctrine from the Word; when this takes place, the man himself is purified or regenerated. For to live according to the goods and truths of doctrine from the Word, is to will them, and thus to do them, which is the same thing as to be affected with them, and to love them; for what is done from the will, is done from affection and love, consequently from the man himself, the will being the man himself, because a man is his own love and his own affection; it is therefore said that then the whole man is clean.

[3] From these considerations it is evident why it is, that to stand upon the feet denotes life such as pertains to a regenerated man. Also of the dry bones seen by the prophet on the face of the valley, after they were covered with sinews, flesh, and skin it is said, "When I prophesied" concerning the spirit, "the spirit entered into them, and they lived again, and stood upon their feet" (Ezekiel 37:10). Here also by standing upon the feet is signified new life, such as pertains to a regenerated man. For the dry bones to which the house of Israel is likened signify the state of the church with them, namely, that it was without the goods of love and truths of doctrine; and by being clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin, is signified regeneration, and by the spirit which entered, new life by the influx and reception of Divine Truth; it is therefore then said, that they lived again and stood upon their feet. The signification of standing upon the feet elsewhere in the same prophet is similar.

A voice speaking to me said "Son of Man, stand upon thy feet, that I may speak to thee; then the spirit entered into me, when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, and I heard him speaking to me" (Ezekiel 2:1, 2).

And again:

"I fell upon my faces, but the spirit entered into me, and raised me upon my feet" (Ezekiel 3:23, 24).

These things happened, because life itself, when it is in its fulness, is signified by standing upon the feet, and it is in its fulness when the Natural lives from the Spiritual. For the ultimate of man's life is in his Natural, this ultimate being a base as it were for his interior and higher [things], for these terminate in the ultimate and subsist there. Unless therefore life be in the ultimate, it is not full, thus not perfect; and moreover, all the interior or higher co-exist in the ultimate, as in their simultaneity; thus interior or higher things are according to the quality of the ultimate, for these accommodate themselves to the ultimate, because it receives them.

[4] The signification of standing upon the feet in David is similar:

"Thou hast made my feet to stand in a broad place" (Psalm 31:8).

A broad place signifies the truth of doctrine from the Word, therefore to make my feet to stand in a broad place signifies to cause him to live according to Divine truths.

Again in the same:

"He made me to come up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock" (Psalm 40:2).

The pit of destruction signifies falsity of doctrine, and the miry clay, evil of life; the signification of setting his feet upon a rock is similar to that of making his feet stand in a broad place, for a rock signifies the truth of doctrine from the Word, and, in the highest sense, the Lord as to Divine truth.

[5] It is therefore evident, what is signified in the spiritual sense by Jehovah "will not suffer my foot to totter" (Psalm 121:3), namely, that He will not suffer the Natural to go astray from truths; for in proportion as the natural goes astray, the interiors which belong to the understanding and will also go astray.