138. Where Satan dwelleth, signifies by those who are in the doctrine of all falsities. This is evident from what was cited and shown above (n. 120 and 134). In what precedes we are told in what company those are who are in temptations, namely, they are among those who are in falsities of every kind; for man as to his body is with men in the natural world, but as to thoughts and intentions he is with spirits in the spiritual world. When he comes into spiritual temptation, he is among those spirits who are in falsities; these bind his thoughts and hold them as it were bound in prison, and continually pour in calumnies against the truths of faith, and call forth the evils of his life; but the Lord continually protects man by flowing in from the interior, and thus holds man in constancy in resisting; such are spiritual temptations. That man who is in temptations is among spirits that are in falsities is meant by these words in this verse, "I know where thou dwellest, where Satan's throne is;" and also by these words, "Even in the days wherein Antipas, My faithful martyr, was slain among you where Satan dwelleth;" and constancy in resisting is understood by these words, "Thou holdest My name, and didst not deny My faith." But none except those who acknowledge the Lord's Divine in His Human and who are in the spiritual affection of truth are let into spiritual temptations; the rest are natural men, who cannot be tempted. (On temptations, see what is shown in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 187-201.)

493. There is no need to pause too long over the consideration that 'days' and 'years mean periods of time and states. Only this need be stated here, that in the world periods of time and measurements to which numbers may be applied are indispensable, for they belong within the ultimate realms of nature. But whenever such application occurs, the numbers of days and years, and also the numbers applied to measurements, mean something which is completely different from periods of time or from measurements, and which is determined by the meaning of the number used, as in the statements about there being six days for work, and the seventh being holy, which are dealt with above; in the statement about a jubilee having to be announced every forty-ninth year and celebrated in the fiftieth; about the tribes of Israel being twelve, the same number as the Lord's Apostles; and about there being seventy elders, the same number as the Lord's disciples. And there are many other examples where the numbers mean some special characteristic completely different from the persons or objects to which they apply. And when completely separated one from the other the states meant by the numbers are then left.