705. 16:15 "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and preserves his garments." This symbolizes the Lord's advent and heaven then for people who look to Him and remain steadfast in a life in accordance with His precepts, which are the Word's truths.

To come as a thief, when said of the Lord, symbolizes His advent, and heaven then for people who have lived a good life, but hell for those who have lived an evil life, as may be seen in no. 164 above. That person is called blessed who receives eternal life (no. 639). To watch means, symbolically, to live spiritually, that is, to possess truths and live in accordance with them and look to the Lord (no. 158). And to preserve one's garments means, symbolically, to remain steadfast in those truths to the end of one's life. For garments symbolize truths that clothe (nos. 166, 212, 328), thus the Lord's precepts in the Word, because these are truths.

This meaning now follows in sequence from the preceding ones, for the subject before was the Lord's advent and a new church, and then an attack on that church by people of the former church; and because the conflict is at hand, those people who possess truths from the Word are admonished to remain steadfast in them, lest they succumb in the battle that is the subject of the following verse.

701. 16:13 And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. This symbolizes something perceived from a theology founded on the doctrine of a trinity of persons in the Godhead and on the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works of the law.

A mouth symbolizes doctrine, and preaching and discourse from it (nos. 454, 574). The dragon symbolizes an acknowledgment of three gods and of justification by faith alone, and so a destruction of the church (no. 537). The beast from the sea, which is the beast meant here, symbolizes people of the external church who are caught up in that acknowledgment and faith (nos. 567, 576, 577, 601). The false prophet symbolizes people of the internal church, who teach a theology founded on those doctrines. The false prophet has not been mentioned by that name before, but it is the beast from the earth that is called that now (see no. 594 above).

Now because all of this is symbolically meant by the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (who is the beast from the earth here), it follows that John's seeing something coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, symbolizes something perceived from a theology founded on the doctrine of a trinity of persons in the Godhead and on the doctrine of justification by faith alone apart from works of the law.