Apocalypse Revealed #342
342. CHAPTER 7
1. After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree.
2. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God. And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea,
3. saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads."
4. And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of Israel:
5. of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed;
6. of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed;
7. of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed;
8. of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.
9. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands,
10. and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
11. And all the angels stood around the throne, with the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,
12. saying, "Amen! Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, and honor and power and might, be to our God forever and ever. Amen."
13. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?"
14. And I said to him, "Lord, you know." So he said to me, "These are the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation, and have washed their robes and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb.
15. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them.
16. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; neither shall the sun strike them, nor any heat;
17. for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
THE SPIRITUAL MEANING
The Contents of the Whole Chapter
This chapter describes people who are and who will be in the Christian heaven. It describes first their separation from evil people (verses 1-3); after that, those of them who are impelled by love toward the Lord and so by wisdom, of whom the higher heavens consist (verses 4-8); and those who are impelled by charity from the Lord and its accompanying faith because they fought against evils, of whom the lower heavens consist (verses 9-17).
The Contents of the Individual Verses:
| Verse Contents | Spiritual Meaning |
|---|---|
| 1. After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, | The whole of heaven now in an effort to execute the Last Judgment. |
| holding back the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, on the sea, or on any tree. | The Lord's holding back and restraining a closer and thus stronger influx into the lower regions where good people were attached to evil ones. |
| 2. Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, | The Lord providing and moderating, |
| having the seal of the living God. | who alone knows the character of each and every person, and can distinguish and separate them from each other. |
| And he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was granted to harm the earth and the sea, 3. saying, "Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees | The Lord's restraining and holding back the closer and stronger influx into the lower regions, |
| till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads." | before those people were separated who were governed by truths springing from goodness from the Lord. |
| 4. And I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred and forty-four thousand, | All people who acknowledge the Lord as God of heaven and earth and are governed by truths of doctrine springing from the goodness of love, received from Him through the Word. |
| sealed out of every tribe of Israel: | The heaven and the Lord's church formed from them. |
| 5. of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed; | Celestial love, which is love toward the Lord, and this in all those people who will be in the New Heaven and in the New Church. |
| of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand were sealed; | Wisdom springing from celestial love in those people who will be there. |
| of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand were sealed; | Useful life endeavors, which are the exercises of wisdom springing from that love, in those people who will be there. |
| 6. of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand were sealed; | Mutual love in those people. |
| of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand were sealed; | A perception of useful endeavor, and of what is useful, in those people. |
| of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand were sealed; | A will to serve and to put into practice in those people. |
| 7. of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand were sealed; | Spiritual love, which is love for the neighbor, in those people. |
| of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand were sealed; | An affection for truth springing from goodness, producing intelligence in those people. |
| of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand were sealed; | Goodness of life in those people. |
| 8. of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand were sealed; | The conjugal love of goodness and truth in those people. |
| of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand were sealed; | A doctrine of goodness and truth in those people. |
| of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed. | A life of truth springing from goodness in accord with doctrine in those people. |
| 9. After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, | All other people who are not among those enumerated and yet are in the New Heaven and the Lord's New Church, who form the lowest heaven and the external church, and whose character is known to the Lord alone. |
| of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, | All in the Christian world who have some religion springing from goodness and are guided by truths from doctrine, |
| standing before the throne and before the Lamb, | listening to the Lord and doing what He commands. |
| clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands, | A communication and conjunction with the higher heavens, and a confession springing from Divine truths. |
| 10. and crying out with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!" | An acknowledgment from the heart that the Lord is their Savior. |
| 11. And all the angels stood around the throne, with the elders and the four living creatures, | All in the whole of heaven listening and doing what the Lord commands. |
| and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, | A humbling of their heart, and in their humility an adoration of the Lord. |
| 12. saying, "Amen! | Divine truth and an affirmation in response to it. |
| Blessing and glory and wisdom and thanksgiving, | The Lord's spiritual Divine attributes; |
| and honor and power and might, | the Lord's celestial Divine attributes; |
| be to our God forever and ever. | these being in the Lord and emanating from the Lord to eternity. |
| Amen." | The agreement of all. |
| 13. Then one of the elders answered, saying to me, "Who are these arrayed in white robes, and where did they come from?" 14. And I said to him, "Lord, you know." | Their desire to know and wish to inquire, and the reply and instruction given. |
| So he said to me, "These are ones who are coming out of the great tribulation, | They are people who have undergone temptations or trials, and have fought against evils and falsities, |
| and have washed their robes | who have cleansed their religious beliefs of the evils accompanying falsity, |
| and made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. | and by truths have purified those religious beliefs from the falsities accompanying evil, and so have been reformed by the Lord. |
| 15. Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them. | They are in the Lord's presence, and live constantly and faithfully in His church in accordance with the truths that they receive from Him. |
| 16. They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; | Hereafter they will not lack goods and truths. |
| neither shall the sun strike them, nor any heat; | Hereafter they will not possess lusts for evil, nor for the falsity accompanying evil. |
| 17. for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them | The Lord alone will teach them |
| and lead them to living fountains of waters. | and lead them by the truths in the Word to conjunction with Him. |
| And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." | They will be caught up no longer in battles against evils and the accompanying falsities, and so will no longer experience times of distress, but will be surrounded by goods and truths and thus by heavenly joys emanating from the Lord. |
THE EXPOSITION
After these things I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth. (7:1) This symbolizes the whole of heaven now in an effort to execute the Last Judgment on the people who were in the world of spirits.
There follows now much concerning the state of the spiritual world just before the Last Judgment, which no one could know without its being revealed by the Lord. And because I have been given to see how the Last Judgment was executed, including the transformations which preceded it and the dispositions following it, I can relate therefore the symbolic meaning of everything in this chapter and in the chapters that follow.
[2] The four angels here symbolize the whole of heaven. The four corners of the earth symbolize the entire world of spirits, which is midway between heaven and hell. For the Last Judgment was executed on people who were in the world of spirits, and not on anyone in heaven, nor on anyone in hell.
Angels symbolize heaven because an angel in the highest sense means the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity (no. 344), and as heaven is heaven owing to the Lord, angels symbolize heaven as well.
[3] The four angels here symbolize the whole of heaven because they were seen standing at the four corners of the earth, and the four corners symbolize the four quarters of the compass.
They symbolize that the whole of heaven was now in an effort to execute the Last Judgment for the reason that when the Last Judgment was at hand, the Lord caused the heavens to draw closer over the world of spirits, and the closeness of the heavens produced such a change in the state of the inner constituents of the people's minds below that they saw nothing but terrors before their eyes.
[4] That corners symbolize quarters of the compass, and thus the four quarters all points, can be seen from the following passages:
You shall measure, outside the city, the corner toward the east..., the corner toward the south..., the corner toward the west..., and the corner toward the north... (Numbers 35:5)
You shall make the boards for the Tabernacle, ...for the south corner..., and for... the north corner... (Exodus 26:18, 20, 23)
And... the court..., for the south corner..., for the north corner..., for the west corner..., and... for the east corner... (Exodus 27:9, 11-13)
[5] The four quarters are also called four corners often in Ezekiel, as in Ezekiel 47:18-20, and 48.
Since corners symbolize the quarters of the compass, they also therefore symbolize everything, such as everything in heaven or in hell, or everything pertaining to goodness or to truth, as is apparent from the following:
(Satan) will go out to lead astray the nations which are at the four corners of the earth... (Revelation 20:8)
I will cut off nations, (and) their corners will be devastated. (Zephaniah 3:6)
...(Israel) gathered together as one man... And the corners of all the people stationed themselves... (Judges 20:1-2)
A scepter shall rise out of Israel, and crush the corners of Moab... (Numbers 24:17)
A day of trumpet and alarm... upon the high corners. (Zephaniah 1:16)
I will cast them into the ends of the corners. (Deuteronomy 32:26)
[6] That a corner symbolizes the lowest component supporting higher ones, as a foundation does a house, and so symbolizes also everything, is apparent from the following:
(He) will lay in Zion a corner stone..., the price of the laying of a foundation. (Isaiah 28:16)
They shall not take from it a stone for a corner... (Jeremiah 51:26)
From (Judah) shall come the corner stone... (Zechariah 10:4)
The stone which (they) rejected has become the corner stone. (Psalms 118:22, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10, Luke 20:17-18)
Arcana Coelestia #10545
10545. 'And Moses took a tent' means the holiness of worship, the Church, and the Word. This is clear from the meaning of 'a tent' in the highest sense as the Lord, also heaven and the Church, and in the relative sense as everything holy belonging to heaven and the Church, consequently also the holiness of worship and the holiness of the Word; for worship and the Word belong to the Church, and they are the Lord's since they are derived from Him. The reason why 'a tent' means these things is that the most ancient people used to live in tents and also to hold their holy worship in them. Among these people the celestial Church existed, and this was holier than all the Churches that came after it. For the one they worshipped was the Lord; for them Jehovah was none other than Him. And since it was He who led them, they were in direct contact with the angels of heaven, as a consequence of which they possessed heavenly wisdom that comes from the Lord. The establishment of that Church is what the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis describes, and their wisdom is what paradise describes; for 'heaven and earth' in the Word means the Church, 'paradise' means intelligence and wisdom, and 'man' (homo) means the Church itself, as does 'the ground', from which the name Adam derives.
'Heaven and earth' in the Word means the Church, 'heaven' the internal Church and 'earth' the external Church, see 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355(end), 4535, 10373.
Intelligence and wisdom is described by paradise-like and other gardens, 100, 108, 2702, 3220.
'Man' means the Church, 478, 768, 4287, 9276, and so does 'the ground', 566, 1068.
'Creating man' means establishing the Church, 16, 88, 10373.
[2] Because this Church was the Lord's beloved more than all the rest and the Lord had His home with them in their tents (for the Lord is said to have His home with the person who loves Him, John 14:23), therefore to commemorate these things the tabernacle or tent of meeting was erected among the Israelite nation, to house their holy worship. And this was why the feast of tabernacles or tents was instituted.
[3] The fact that 'tent' means those holy things, and in particular the holiness of worship, is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,
Sing, O barren one that did not bear. Enlarge the place of your tent, and let them stretch out the curtains of your dwelling-places. Isaiah 54:1-2.
'Enlarging the place of the tent' means doing so to the things which belong to the Church and consequently to those which belong to worship. 'Stretching out the curtains of the dwelling-places' means multiplying truths, 'curtains' meaning the Church's truths, see 9595, 9596, 9606, 9756. 'Barren one' means the person with whom the Church's truths and forms of good have not existed hitherto, 3908, 9325.
[4] In Jeremiah,
The whole land has been laid waste. Suddenly My tents have been laid waste, My curtains in a moment. Jeremiah 4:20.
'The land' means the Church, see in the places referred to in 9325; and since the Church is the Church by virtue of forms of the good of love and by virtue of the truths of faith it says that tents and curtains have been laid waste, 'tents' being the Church's forms of good and 'curtains' its truths.
[5] In the same prophet,
My tent has been laid waste, and all My ropes torn away. My sons have gone away from Me, and they are not. There is no one stretching out My tent any more, or setting up My curtains. For the shepherds have become stupid. Jeremiah 10:20-21.
Similar things are meant here by 'tent' and 'curtains'. 'Ropes torn away' means that goodness and truth are no longer joined together, nor truths to one another. Therefore also it says 'My sons have gone away', for truths are meant by 'sons'.
'Ropes' means a joining together, see 9777, 9854, 9880.
'Sons' means truths, 489, 491, 533, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3373, 3704, 4257, 9807.
[6] In David,
O Jehovah, who will sojourn in Your tent? Who will dwell on Your holy mountain? He who walks blameless and who does righteousness, and speaks the truth in his heart. Psalms 15:1-2.
'Sojourning in Jehovah's tent' means abiding in heaven, and in the good of love there. In the same author,
I will remain in Your tent forever. Psalms 61:4.
Here the meaning is similar.
[7] In Amos,
On that day I will raise up the tent of David that is fallen down, and I will close up its breaches and restore its destroyed places. Amos 9:11.
'The tent of David' means the Lord's Church and the holiness that goes with worship of Him. 'Closing up breaches and restoring destroyed places' means renewing those things by moving falsities away from them. 'David' in the Word means the Lord, see 1888, 9954, so that 'the tent of David' means the Lord's Church and the holiness that goes with worship. In Jeremiah,
Behold, I will bring back the captivity 1 of the tents of Jacob, and will have compassion on his dwellings. Jeremiah 30:18.
'The tents of Jacob' and 'his dwellings' stand for the Church's forms of good and its truths.
[8] Since forms of good present in the Church and in worship are meant by 'tents', forms of evil present in worship and in the Church are meant in the contrary sense by 'tents', as may be recognized from the following places: In Jeremiah,
I will liken the daughter of Zion to one who is comely. Shepherds and their flocks will come to her and pitch their tents against her round about. Jeremiah 6:2-3.
In the same prophet,
Go up against Arabia, and lay waste the sons of the east. They will take their tents and their flocks, their curtains and all their vessels. Jeremiah 49:28-29.
In Hosea,
What will you do on the solemn day, and on the day of the feast of Jehovah? For behold, they have gone away on account of the devastation; the thorn will possess their precious things of silver, the nettle will be in their tents. Hosea 9:5-6.
In David,
He smote all the firstborn of Egypt, the beginning of strength in the tents of Ham. Psalms 78:51.
Bilješke:
1. i.e. restore the fortunes
