649. Verse 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, signifies in the end of the church, when the Divine of the Lord is no longer acknowledged, and thence there is no longer any good of love or truth of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "testimony," as being the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, and thence of the good of love and truth of doctrine (of which presently), and from the signification of "to finish it," as being to bring to an end; and as this comes to an end at the end of the church; "to finish" here signifies the end of the church; and as there is then no longer any acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, there is therefore no good of love or truth of doctrine.

[2] That this is the signification of "testimony," can be seen from what has been thus far said about "the two witnesses," namely, that by them the good of love and charity and the truth of doctrine and faith are meant, because these are what especially testify concerning the Lord, for they are from the Lord, and are His with man; therefore "their testimony" signifies preaching concerning these. That "testimony" here signifies the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord is evident from what follows in Revelation:

That the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

For unless a man acknowledges this from the heart, and believes it from spiritual faith, he can have no ability to receive the good of love or the truth of doctrine.

[3] At the end of the church indeed the Lord is preached, and from doctrine a Divine is also attributed to Him like the Divine of the Father; yet scarcely anyone thinks of His Divine, for the reason that they place it above or outside of His Human; therefore they do not look to the Lord when they look to His Divine, but to the Father as to another, and yet the Divine that is called the Father is in the Lord, as He Himself teaches in John 10:30, 38; 14:7. For this reason men think of the Lord in the same way as they think of a common man, and from that thought their faith flows, however much they may say with the lips that they believe in His Divine. Let anyone explore, if he can, the idea of his thought about the Lord, whether it be not such. But when it is such man cannot be conjoined to the Lord by faith and love, nor through conjunction receive any good of love or truth of faith. This, then, is why there is at the end of the church no acknowledgment of the Lord, that is, of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord. It is believed that there is an acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, because such is the doctrine of the church; but so long as His Divine is separated from His Human, His Divine is yet not acknowledged interiorly but only exteriorly, and to acknowledge exteriorly is to acknowledge with the mouth only and not with the heart, or in speech only and not in faith.

[4] That this is so can be seen from Christians in the other life, where the thoughts of the heart are manifested. When they are permitted to speak from doctrine and from what they have heard from preaching they attribute a Divine to the Lord, and call it their belief; but when their interior thought and faith are explored they have no other idea of the Lord than as of a common man who has no Divine. It is man's interior thought that is the source of his faith; and as such is the thought and consequent faith of man's spirit, there is plainly no acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord in the Christian world at the end of the church. In other words, there is an external acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, but no internal, and an external acknowledgment is of the natural man alone, while internal acknowledgment is of his very spirit; and after death the external acknowledgment is put to sleep, while the internal is the acknowledgment of his spirit. From this it can in some measure be seen how what follows is to be understood, namely, "the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall overcome and kill the two witnesses," and their "bodies shall be seen upon the street of the city that is called Sodom and Egypt," and afterwards that "the spirit of life entered into them."

593. Verse 1. And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven, signifies the Lord as to the Word, here as to its ultimate sense, which is called the sense of the letter. This is evident from the signification of a "strong angel," as being the Lord as to the Word (of which presently); it means as to the Word in its ultimate sense, which is called the sense of the letter, because it is from that sense that the Lord is called "strong," for all the strength and all the power of Divine truth exist and consist in its ultimate, consequently in the sense of the letter of the Word (of which also presently).

[2] Because it is the sense of the letter of the Word that is meant, therefore it is said that the angel was seen "coming down out of heaven." The like is said of the Word, which is the Divine truth; this comes down from the Lord through the heavens into the world, consequently it is adapted to the wisdom of the angels who are in the three heavens, and is also adapted to men who are in the natural world. For this reason the Word in its first origin of all is wholly Divine, afterward celestial, then spiritual, and lastly natural; it is celestial for the angels of the inmost or third heaven, who are called celestial angels, it is spiritual for the angels of the second or middle heaven who are called spiritual angels, and it is celestial-natural and spiritual-natural for the angels of the ultimate or first heaven who are called celestial-natural and spiritual-natural angels, and it is natural for men in the world; for so long as men live in a material body they think and speak naturally. This then is why the Word is with the angels of each heaven, but with a difference according to the degrees of their wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge [scientia]; and although it differs in its sense in each heaven, still it is the same Word, because it is the Divine itself, which is in the Word from the Lord that becomes Divine celestial when it comes down to the inmost or third heaven, and becomes Divine spiritual when it comes down therefrom to the middle or second heaven, and becomes Divine celestial-natural or spiritual-natural when it comes down from that heaven to the ultimate or first heaven, and when it comes down therefrom into the world becomes a Divine natural Word, such as it is with us in the letter. These successive derivations of Divine truth proceeding from the Lord Himself exist by virtue of correspondences, established from creation itself, between things higher and lower, respecting which, the Lord willing, more will be said hereafter.

[3] All strength and all power are in the ultimates of Divine truth, thus in the natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of the letter, because this sense is the containant of all the interior senses, that is, of the spiritual and celestial (spoken of above); and as it is the containant it is also the base, and in the base lies strength itself. For if higher things do not rest upon their base they fall and are scattered. So would it be if the spiritual and celestial things of the Word did not rest upon its natural or literal sense, for this not only sustains the interior senses, but also contains them, consequently the Word or Divine truth is not only in its power, but also in its fullness in this sense. (But on this subject more may be seen above; namely, that strength is in the ultimate, because the Divine is there in its fullness, n. 346, 567. That interior things flow in successively into exteriors, even into the most external or ultimate, and that they coexist there, see Arcana Coelestia 634, 6239, 6465, 9215, 9216; that they not only flow in successively, but also form in their ultimate what is simultaneous, in what order, n. 5897, 6451, 8603, 10099. That therefore there is strength and power in ultimates, n. 9836; that therefore responses and revelations were given in ultimates, n. 9905, 10548; that therefore the ultimate is more holy than the interiors, n. 9824.) From this, too, it follows that everything of doctrine of the church ought to be formed and confirmed from the literal sense of the Word, and that also doctrine has its power from that (See above, n. 356). This is why the "angel coming down out of heaven" is said to be "strong." That "angel" in the Word means in the highest sense the Lord, in a relative sense every recipient of Divine truth from the Lord, and in an abstract sense Divine truth itself, may be seen above (n. 130, 302); here, therefore, "angel" means the Lord as to the Word, because the Word is Divine truth itself. That the Lord Himself is here meant by "angel" can be seen from a like representation of the Lord Himself as to face and feet in the first chapter of this book, where it is said of the Son of man, who is the Lord:

That His face shone as the sun in his power, and that His feet were like unto burnished brass glowing in a furnace (verses Revelation 1:15, 16).