884. 21:4 "And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more toil, for the former things have passed away." This symbolically means that the Lord will take away from them all grief of mind, all fear of damnation, all fear of evils and falsities from hell, and of temptations or trials on account of them, and they will remember them no more, because the dragon that inflicted them has been cast out.

God's wiping away every tear from their eyes means, symbolically, that the Lord will take away from them all grief of mind, for shedding tears is caused by grief of mind. The death that will be no more symbolizes damnation, as in nos. 325, 765, 853, 873 - here, the fear of it. The sorrow that will be no more symbolizes a fear of evils from hell, for sorrow has various symbolic meanings, being everywhere a sorrow over whatever is portrayed as its cause. Here it is a fear of evils from hell, because it is preceded by a fear of damnation and followed by a fear of falsities from hell, and of temptations or trials on account of them. Crying symbolizes a fear of falsities from hell, as will be seen in the next number. The toil that will be no more symbolizes temptations or trials (no. 640). Its being no more because the former things have passed away means, symbolically, that the temptations or trials will not be remembered, because the dragon that inflicted them has been cast out; for these are the former things that have passed away.

[2] But this needs to be illustrated. Every person after death comes first into the world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell, and there he is prepared, a good person for heaven, and an evil one for hell. Regarding this world, see nos. 784, 791, 843, 850, 866, 869 above. And because associations are formed there as in the natural world, it had to be the case, before the Last Judgment, that people who outwardly were civic-minded and moral but inwardly evil met up with and conversed with people who likewise were outwardly civic-minded and moral but inwardly good. And because inherent in evil people is a desire to lead astray, therefore the good people with whom they associated were harassed by them in various ways. But those who grieved because of their torments and began to experience fears of being damned, of evils and falsities flowing in from hell, and of undergoing severe temptation or trial - these the Lord removed from association with the evil and conveyed them into a land below the one they were on, where they formed new associations, and there were protected. Moreover, this continued until all the evil had been separated from the good, which was brought about by the Last Judgment; and then those who were protected in the lower land or earth were raised by the Lord into heaven.

[3] The torments were inflicted primarily by the people meant by the dragon and its beasts. That is why the dragon and its two beasts were cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. Then, because all harassment ceased, and so also any grief over and fear of damnation and hell, those who had been tormented were told that God would wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there would be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, neither would there be any more toil, for the former things had passed away, which symbolically means that the Lord would take away from them all grief of mind, all fear of damnation, all fear of evils and falsities from hell, and of severe temptation or trial on account of them, and they would remember them no more, because the dragon that inflicted them had been cast out.

That the dragon had been cast out along with its two beasts and cast into the lake of fire and brimstone may be seen in 19:20 verses and 20:10 above. Moreover, that the dragon inflicted torments is apparent from many passages. For it fought with Michael and tried to devour the child that the woman bore, and after pursuing the woman, it went off to make war with the rest of her offspring (12:4 verses, 5, 7-9, 13-17; 16:13-16, and elsewhere).

Many people who were inwardly good were protected by the Lord to keep them from being tormented by the dragon and its beasts. This is apparent from 6:9-11 verses. That they were tormented is apparent from 7:13-17 verses, and that they were afterward taken up into heaven from 20:4-5 and elsewhere.

The same people are also meant by prisoners and those bound in a pit, and by those set free by the Lord (Isaiah 24:22; 61:1; Luke 4:18-19; Zechariah 9:11; Psalms 79:11).

This is symbolized as well in the Word where we are told that graves were opened, ¹ and where we are told of souls awaiting a last judgment and resurrection then. ²

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866. 20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. This symbolizes all people of every condition and character, who had died from earthly lands and were now among those in the world of spirits, gathered by the Lord for judgment.

The dead symbolize all who had departed from earthly lands, or who had died physically. More on this below. Small and great symbolize people of every condition and character, as in no. 604. To stand before God, that is, before Him who sat on the throne, symbolically means to be gathered and presented for judgment.

The dead in the Word have the same symbolic meaning as their deaths, and deaths have various symbolic meanings. For death symbolizes not only the extinction of natural life, which is its demise, but also the extinction of spiritual life, which is a state of damnation. Death also symbolizes the extinction of physical loves or lusts of the flesh, which is followed by a renewal of life. Death likewise symbolizes resurrection, because after death a person immediately rises again. Death also symbolizes a state of being ignored, disregarded and rejected by the world.

In its most general sense, however, death has the same symbolic meaning as the Devil, which is why the Devil is also called Death, ¹ and the Devil means the hell where the inhabitants are called devils. Consequently death means evil of will as well, which makes a person to be a devil. It is in this last sense that Death is referred to in the next two verses, where we are told that Death and Hell delivered up their dead and that these were cast into the lake of fire.

It can be seen from this who are symbolically meant by the dead in the various senses of the term. Symbolized here are all those people who had departed from the world or died from earthly lands, and were then in the world of spirits.

[2] We say, in the world of spirits, because all people come first into that world after their demise, and are there prepared, the good for heaven and the evil for hell, and some remain there for only a month or a year, and some for as much as ten to thirty years. And those who were granted to form for themselves pseudo-heavens remained there for several centuries. People today, however, remain no more than twenty years. There is a huge multitude of them, and they form societies there as in the heavens and hells. Regarding this world, see nos. 784, 791 above.

It was on these people in the world of spirits that the Last Judgment was executed, and not on those in heaven or those in hell. For those who were in heaven had already been saved, and those who were in hell had already been damned.

It can be seen from this how deluded those people are who believe that the Last Judgment will take place on earth, and that people will then rise again with their bodies. For all who have lived from the first creation of the world are together in the spiritual world, and all are clothed with a spiritual body, so that to the eyes of spiritual people they appear in the same human form as people do in the natural world to the eyes of natural people.

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