331. And behold, there was a great earthquake. This symbolizes the state of the church among those people completely changed, and their terror.

Earthquakes symbolize changes in the state of the church because the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285), and because in the spiritual world, when the state of the church is corrupted somewhere and a change is made, an earthquake occurs. And because this presages the people's destruction, they are in terror. For lands in the spiritual world are in appearance like lands in the natural world (no. 260). But because lands there, like everything else in that world, have a spiritual origin, therefore those lands change in accordance with the state of the church among the inhabitants upon them, and when the state of the church is corrupted, the lands tremble and quake, even sinking down and being moved from their location.

That this is what happened when the Last Judgment was imminent and taking place may be seen in the short work, The Last Judgment.

It can be seen from this what quakes, shakings and removals of the earth symbolize in the following places:

...there will be pestilences, famines, and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7, cf. Mark 13:8, Luke 21:11)

(These things are said there of the Last Judgment.)

...in the fire of My wrath I have spoken, if in that day there is not a great earthquake... so that... every person on the face of the earth shakes... and the mountains are overthrown... (Ezekiel 38:18-20).

...there was a great earthquake, such as had not occurred since people came on the earth. (Revelation 16:18)

...I will shake the heavens, and the earth will be moved out of her place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts... (Isaiah 13:13)

...the foundations of the earth are shaken... The earth is shaken exceedingly...(because) its transgression is heavy upon it... (Isaiah 24:18-20)

The earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the hills..., because He was angry. (Psalms 18:7)

The mountains quake before (Jehovah)...and the rocks are overthrown... (Nahum 1:5-6)

So likewise in other places, as in Jeremiah 10:10; 49:21, Joel 2:10, Haggai 2:6-7, Revelation 11:19, and elsewhere.

These things, however, must be understood as taking place in the spiritual world, and not in the natural world. In the natural world they symbolize such things as stated above.

285. We are told they "will reign upon the earth" because the earth here and elsewhere means the Lord's church in heaven and on earth. The church in both worlds is the Lord's kingdom. Therefore, lest anyone suppose that people who are redeemed by the Lord all become kings and priests who will reign upon the earth, it is important that we demonstrate from the Word that the earth or land symbolizes the church. This can be seen from the following passages:

Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes (the earth) waste, and will overturn its surface... The land shall be entirely emptied... The (habitable) earth will mourn and... be turned upside down... The earth will be profaned under its inhabitants... Therefore a curse shall devour the earth... and... the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men will be left... ...in the midst of the land... it shall be like the stripping of an olive tree... ...the cataracts on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is utterly split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard... (Isaiah 24:1-23.)

[2] The lion has come up from his thicket... to make your land desolate... I beheld the earth (when) lo, it was empty and void... ...Jehovah has said, "The whole land shall be desolate... For this shall the earth mourn... (Jeremiah 4:7, 23-28)

How long will the land mourn...? The whole land is made desolate, because no one lays it to heart. (Jeremiah 12:4, 11-13)

The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and withered away. (Isaiah 33:9)

Its land shall become burning pitch...(and) it shall lie waste. (Isaiah 34:9-10)

...I have heard from the Lord... a destruction decreed upon the whole earth. (Isaiah 28:22)

Behold, the day of Jehovah comes... to lay the land desolate..., and the earth will be shaken out of its place... (Isaiah 13:9-13)

The earth shook and trembled, and the foundations of the mountains quaked... (Psalms 18:7)

...we will not fear when the earth is transformed... When He uttered His voice, the earth melted. (Psalms 46:2-3, 6, 8)

Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)

O God, You have forsaken us... You have made the earth tremble...; heal its breaches, for it is shaken. (Psalms 60:1-2)

[3] The earth and all its inhabitants will melt away; I will firm up its pillars. (Psalms 75:3)

Woe to a land overshadowed by wings... Go, ...messengers, to... a nation... trodden down, whose land rivers have despoiled. (Isaiah 18:1-2)

By the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts the land is darkened... (Isaiah 9:19)

...you will be a delightful land... (Malachi 3:12)

...I have given You as a covenant of the people to restore the earth... Sing, O heavens! And exult, O earth! (Isaiah 49:8, 13)

I shall not see Yah... in the land of the living. (Isaiah 38:11)

...who caused terror in the land of the living. (Ezekiel 32:23-27)

I would not have believed I would see the goodness... in the land of life. (Psalms 27:13)

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

I am Jehovah, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens alone, who spreads out the earth by Myself. (Isaiah 44,24, cf. Zechariah 12:1, Jeremiah 10:11-13; 51:15, Psalm. 136:6)

Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation... ...thus said Jehovah, who created the heavens..., who formed the earth... (Isaiah 45:8, 12, 18-19)

...behold, I create new heavens and a new earth... (Isaiah 65:17, cf. 66:22)

And in many other places as well, which, if I were to cite them, would fill a page.

[4] The earth or land symbolizes the church for the reason that it very often means the land of Canaan, which is where the church was. That is the heavenly Canaan. Moreover, when the earth or land is mentioned, angels, being spiritual, do not think of the earth or land, but of the human race dwelling upon it and its spiritual state; and its spiritual state is the state of the church.

The earth or land also has an opposite meaning, and in that sense it symbolizes damnation, since when the church is not present in a person, damnation is. The earth or land is mentioned in that sense in Isaiah 14:12; 21:9; 26:19, 21; 29:4; 47:1; 63:6, Lamentations 2:2, 10, Ezekiel 26:20; 32:24, Numbers 16:29-33; 26:10, and elsewhere.