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.

Many translations of the Bible often use the word "save" in a secondary way, as a synonym for "except." In those cases its meaning is clear. To be saved or rescued means getting true ideas that we can hold to even in the face of a storm of false thinking. Sometimes these can be profound and simple truths like "the Lord loves me and wants the best for me," the golden rule or the 10 Commandments. And if we pray to the Lord asking sincerely for His help, He will put in our minds ideas that can help us.