429. And I heard the number of them that were sealed.- That this signifies the quality of those who are in good, and separated from the evil, is evident from the signification of number, which denotes the quality of the thing treated of, with which signification we shall deal presently; and from the signification of the sealed, as denoting those who are in good, distinct and separate from others. Concerning which signification see just above (n. 427:1).

Number and measure are mentioned in many places in the Word, and it is supposed that nothing more is meant by these than number and measure; but by number and measure in the spiritual sense is meant the quality of the thing treated of. The quality itself is determined by the numbers expressed, as in this place by a hundred and forty and four thousand, and afterwards by twelve thousand out of every tribe. The signification of these numbers shall therefore be explained in the following article. The reason why number signifies the quality of the thing treated of, is that the Word is spiritual, and consequently every detail contained in it is spiritual, and spiritual things are not numbered and measured, but yet they fall into numbers and measures when they [descend] out of the spiritual world, or out of heaven, where angels are, into the natural world or earth, where men are; and similarly, when they pass out of the spiritual sense of the Word in which angels are, into the natural sense of the Word in which men are. The natural sense of the Word is the sense of its letter. This is the reason that in this sense there are numbers, and that they signify spiritual things, or such as relate to heaven and the church. It has been often shown me that the spiritual things of heaven, such as those which the angels think and speak, also fall into numbers. When they were conversing, their discourse fell into pure numbers, and these were seen upon paper; they afterwards said that it was their discourse which had fallen into numbers, and that those numbers in a series contained everything they uttered. I was also instructed as to their signification, and how they were to be understood; upon this subject we shall have frequent occasion to speak in the following pages. But concerning writings from heaven in pure numbers, see Heaven and Hell 263). That all numbers in the Word signify things pertaining to heaven and the church, see also above (n. 203, 336).

292. And cast their crowns before the throne. That this signifies humiliation and acknowledgment in heart at the time that nothing of good is from them, but that all is from the Lord, is evident from the signification of crown as being good and wisdom therefrom (concerning which see above, n. 272); and from the signification of casting their crowns before the throne, or laying them down there, as being to acknowledge, from humiliation, that the good thereby signified is not from themselves, but from the Lord alone; for to cast away is to renounce self; and to lay them down before the throne is to acknowledge that it is from the Lord alone. The good here signified by crowns is the good of love and of charity; this good flows in from the Lord alone, and is received by the angels of heaven and by the members of the church in truths from the Word. Truths from the Word, both with angels and with men, are in their memory; from this the Lord calls them out, and conjoins them to good, in proportion as the angel or the man is in the spiritual affection of truth; he has this affection when he lives according to truths from the Word; conjunction is effected in the interior or spiritual man, and thence in the exterior or natural man. This conjunction constitutes the church in man while on earth, and afterwards constitutes heaven in him. It is evident therefore that without such conjunction no one can be saved, and also that no conjunction of good and truth can be effected unless man lives a life of love; to live a life of love is to do the precepts of the Lord, for to love is to do, since what a man loves that he wills and that he does, but what he does not love that he does not will and therefore does not do.