954. (Verse 7) And one of the four animals gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the anger of God, who liveth unto ages of ages. That this signifies manifestation from the Lord by means of Divine truth, or the Word, of all the falsities of evil which have destroyed the spiritual life of the men of the church, is evident from the signification of the four animals, as denoting the inmost heaven (concerning which see n. 277, 322, 462), and as denoting the Word (n. 717); consequently, the Lord as to heaven and as to the Word; for heaven is heaven from the Lord, and in like manner the Word; and from the signification of the seven angels, as denoting manifestations by Divine truth, or the Word (see above, n. 949); and from the signification of the seven vials as denoting all falsities and evils. For by the seven vials similar things are signified as by the seven plagues (ver. 6), namely, evils and the falsities therefrom, and falsities and the evils therefrom (see above, n. 949). These are said to be full of the anger of God, who liveth unto ages of ages, because they lay waste the church, and destroy the spiritual life of the men of the church. These are the things signified by the anger of God. From these considerations it is evident, that by one of the four animals giving unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the anger of God, who liveth unto ages of ages, is signified, manifestation from the Lord by means of Divine truth, or the Word, of all the falsities of evil that have destroyed the spiritual life of the men of the church. The reason why vials are mentioned instead of plagues is, that vials are things containing, and plagues are things contained; and, in the Word, the things containing are frequently mentioned instead of the things contained, because the things containing are ultimates, in order that the sense of the letter of the Word may be in ultimates; similarly, where cups and chalices are mentioned instead of wine. But we shall speak further upon this subject in the following chapter, where the seven vials and the seven plagues therein are treated of.

Continuation concerning the First Precept:-

[2] So far as a man resists his own two loves, which are the love of ruling from the sole delight of it, and the love of possessing the goods of the world from the delight of mere possession, and thus, so far as he shuns as sins the evils mentioned in the Decalogue, so far there flows in through heaven from the Lord [that which causes him to acknowledge] that there is a God, who is the Creator and Preserver of the universe, and also indeed that God is one. The reason why this then flows in is that when evils are removed, heaven is opened; and when heaven is opened, a man no longer thinks from himself, but by heaven from the Lord. This is the universal [principle] in heaven, embracing all others, that there is a God, and also that God is one. That, man from influx alone knows and, as it were, sees that God is one, is evident from the common confession of all nations, and from repugnance to think that there are several. The interior thought of man, which is the thought of his spirit, is either from hell or from heaven; it is from hell before evils are removed, but from heaven when they are removed. When it is from hell, then a man recognises only nature as God, and considers that the inmost of nature is what is called Divine. Such a man after death, when he becomes a spirit, calls any one a god who prevails in power, and he also seeks for power himself, in order that he may be called a god; all the evil have such madness lurking inwardly in their spirit. But when man thinks from heaven, as is the case when evils are removed, then he sees from the light from heaven that there is a God, and that He is one. Seeing from light from heaven is what is meant by influx.

9594. 'And you shall make the dwelling-place' means the second or middle heaven. This is clear from the meaning of 'the dwelling-place', when it refers to the Divine, as heaven - the middle or second heaven, strictly speaking. It is well known that there are three heavens, namely the inmost, middle, and lowest, or third, second, and first. All these heavens were represented by the tabernacle; the inmost or third heaven was represented by the ark where the Testimony was, the middle or second heaven by the dwelling-place where the table for the loaves of the Presence and the lampstand were, and the lowest or first heaven by the court. The reason why there are three heavens is that there are three degrees of life with the human being. (Human beings, who become angels after death, constitute heaven; angels have no other beginning, and the heavens spring from no other source.) The inmost degree of his life exists for the inmost heaven, the middle degree of life for the middle heaven, and the lowest for the lowest heaven. And because the human being is like this, or has been so formed, and heaven springs from the human race, there are three heavens.

[2] These degrees of life with a person are opened up in successive stages. The first degree is opened up by a life led in accord with what is right and fair, the second degree by a life in accord with the truths of faith drawn from the Word and with forms of the good of charity towards the neighbour that follow on from those truths, and the third degree by a life in accord with the good of mutual love and the good of love to the Lord. These virtues are the means by which those three degrees of life with a person, and so the three heavens with him, are opened up in successive stages. But it should be recognized that to the extent that a person departs from good in life and moves towards evil in life those degrees are closed, that is, the heavens with him are closed; for just as good in life opens them, so evil in life closes them. This being so, all who are steeped in evil are outside heaven, thus are in hell. It should also be recognized that with some people - since the heavens with a person are opened up in successive stages according to the good present in his life, as stated above - the first heaven and not the second is opened up; that with some others the second heaven and not the third is opened up; but that the third heaven is opened up solely with those governed by good in life springing from love to the Lord. For the human being is heaven in its smallest form, and has been created so as to conform to an image of heaven and of the world, see the places referred to in 9279.

[3] There is therefore an inmost heaven, represented by the ark of the Testimony, which was the subject in the previous chapter; a middle heaven, represented by the dwelling-place, which is the subject in the present chapter; and a lowest heaven, represented by the court, which is the subject in the next chapter. Heaven is called God's dwelling-place because what is Divine and the Lord's dwells there; for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good is what makes heaven, indeed gives life to the angels there. And since the Lord dwells with angels in that which comes from Him, 9338 (end), heaven is called God's dwelling-place, and the actual Divine Truths emanating from Divine Good, which angels or angelic communities are recipients of, are called dwellings, as in David,

Send out Your light and Your truth; let them lead me, let them lead me to [Your] holy mountain and to Your dwellings, that I may go in to the altar of God, to God ... Psalms 43:3-4.

In the same author,

There is a river whose streams will make glad the city of God, the holy place of the dwellings of the Most High. Psalms 46:4.

In the same author,

Down to the ground ¹ they have profaned the dwelling-place of Your name. Psalms 74:7.

In the same author,

How lovely are Your dwellings, O Jehovah! Psalms 84:1.

[4] The fact that the Divine realities which emanate from the Lord's Divine Human are what are rightly called 'dwellings', as a result of which heaven itself is called 'the dwelling-place', is also clear in David,

He swore to Jehovah, he made a vow to the Mighty One of Jacob, Surely I will not give sleep to my eyes, until I find a place for Jehovah, the dwelling-places for the Mighty One of Jacob. Behold, we heard of Him in Ephrathah, we found Him in the fields of the wood. We will enter His dwelling-places. Psalms 132:2, 4-7.

'The Mighty One of Jacob' is the Lord's Divine Human, 6425. 'Ephrathah', where He was to be found, is Bethlehem where He was born, Genesis 35:19; 48:7; Micah 5:2; Matthew 2:5-6. 'The fields of the wood' are the forms of good composing the Church among gentiles.

[5] In Ezekiel,

They will dwell in the land which I gave to My servant Jacob. They will dwell in it, they [and their sons] and their sons' sons forever. And David My servant will be their prince forever. I will make with them a covenant of peace; it will be an eternal covenant with them. And I will set My sanctuary in their midst forever; so shall My dwelling-place be among them. Ezekiel 37:25-27.

'David, who will be their prince forever' stands for the Lord, 1888; 'the sanctuary' (sanctuarium) stands for the Lord's Divine Human, since He is the source of all holiness (sanctum), 3210, 9229, so that 'dwelling-place' stands for heaven and for the Church, where the Lord is.

[6] In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I will bring back the captivity ² of the tents of Jacob, and will have compassion on his dwellings, that the city may be built upon its mound. Jeremiah 30:18.

'Bringing back the captivity of the tents of Jacob' stands for restoring the external Church's forms of good and truths which had been destroyed, 'having compassion on his dwellings' for restoring the internal Church's truths, 'the city which was to be built upon its mound' for doctrinal teachings about the truth, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493.

[7] How the Lord dwells in the heavens may be seen from what has been shown previously regarding the Lord, that is to say, where it has been shown that the Lord's Divine Human is the Sun, the source of heat and light in the heavens. The heat radiating from the Lord as the Sun is love, while the light is faith. The Lord therefore dwells with those who receive from Him the good of love and the truth of faith, which are the heat and light of life; and how fully He is present depends on their degree of receptivity.

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