704. That perform signs to go away to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. This symbolizes assertions that their falsities are true, and efforts to stir up all those throughout the church who are caught up in the same falsities to attack the truths of the New Church.

To perform signs is to testify and also to assert that something is true, as may be seen in nos. 598, 599 above, here that their falsities are true. Kings of the earth and of the whole world symbolize people who are caught up primarily in falsities springing from evil, here all who are caught up in the same falsities throughout the church. For kings symbolize people impelled by truths that spring from goodness, and in an opposite sense people impelled by falsities springing from evil (no. 483). The earth symbolizes the church (no. 285), and so likewise does the world (no. 551). To go away to gather them to battle means, symbolically, to stir those people to fight or attack; for war symbolizes a spiritual war, which is one of falsity against truth and of truth against falsity (nos. 500, 586). It is to attack the truths of the New Church because it is called the battle of that great day of God Almighty, and that day symbolizes the Lord's advent and a new church then. That this is the symbolic meaning of the great day there will be seen below.

We are told that the spirits of demons would do this, because the spirits of demons symbolize lusts to falsify truths and to reason on the basis of falsities, as just said in no. 703 above.

It is apparent from this that spirits of demons performing signs to go away to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, symbolize assertions by the people meant by the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, as described in nos. 701, 702 above, that their falsities are true, and efforts to stir up all those throughout the church who are caught up in the same falsities to attack the truths of the New Church.

[2] That the great day of God Almighty symbolizes the Lord's advent and a new church then, is clear from many passages in the Word, as from the following:

Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. (Isaiah 2:11)

...in that day... Israel... will depend on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. (Isaiah 10:20)

In that day a Root of Jesse... shall the Gentiles seek, and His resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10-11)

In that day... eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 17:7, 9)

They will say in that day: "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, to set us free." (Isaiah 25:9)

...My people shall know My name...(and) in that day, I am He who speaks: "Behold, it is I." (Isaiah 52:6)

Alas! ...great is (the day of Jehovah, and) there is none like it. (Jeremiah 30:7)

Behold, the days are coming... when I will make a new covenant... and the city shall be built for Jehovah... (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 38)

In those days... I will cause to grow up to David a righteous Branch... (Jeremiah 33:15)

(They will not) stand in battle on the day of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 13:5)

In that day Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the children of your people... In that day... shall be delivered everyone who is found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)

...in that day... you will call Me "My Husband."... In that day I will make a covenant for them... ...in that day I will hear... (Hosea 2:16, 18, 21).

Behold, I am sending you Elijah... before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Malachi 4:5)

Jehovah... will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. (Zechariah 9:16)

In that day Jehovah will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:8)

Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming... It shall be one day which is known to Jehovah... In that day Jehovah shall be one and His name one... In that day there shall be a great tumult... In that day "Holiness to the Lord" shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. (Zechariah 14:1, 4, 6-9, 13, 20-21)

There are many other passages in addition to these in which "the day of Jehovah" means the Lord's advent and a new church from Him then, as in the following: Isaiah 4:2; 19:16, 18, 21, 24; 22:20; 28:5; 29:18; 30:25-26; 31:7; and elsewhere.

Since the end of an age or final period of a former church is the time when the Lord's advent takes place and a new church begins, therefore the day of Jehovah in many places symbolizes the end of a previous church, and we are told that then there will be rumors, tumult, and wars. ¹ See the passages collected in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 4, 5.

Footnotes:

458. So as not to worship demons. This symbolically means that thus they were caught up in the evils of their lusts, and acted in concert with their like in hell.

Demons symbolize lusts for evil arising from a love of the world. That is because people in hell who are caught up in those lusts are called demons, and people on earth who are caught up in them too, become demons after death. They also have an affiliation with those in hell. For everyone is affiliated with spirits in respect to his affections, so closely that the two are inseparable. It is apparent from this that to worship demons is to yield to those lusts from a love of them.

Someone, then, who invokes faith alone as the chief tenet of his religion or as his idol - he, because he does not search out any evil in himself that he calls a sin, and therefore does not determine to remove it by repentance, remains caught up in it. And because every evil is composed of lusts, and is nothing but a bundle of lusts, it follows that a person who does not search out any evil in himself and refrain from it as a sin against God, which is possible solely through repentance, after death becomes a demon.

[2] Demons symbolize just such lusts in the following passages:

They sacrifice to demons, not to God. (Deuteronomy 32:17)

(The children of Israel) no longer offered their sacrifices to demons, after whom they had played the harlot. (Leviticus 17:7, cf. Psalms 106:37)

Ziyyim will meet with 'iyyim, and the forest demon will encounter its companion. (Isaiah 34:14)

Ziyyim will sing there, and their houses will be full of 'ochim; the offspring of owls will dwell there, and forest demons will caper there. (Isaiah 13:21).

Ziyyim, 'iyyim, 'ochim, and the offspring of owls symbolize various lusts. Forest demons are the kinds of lusts exhibited by priapi and satyrs.

Babylon... has become a dwelling place of demons, and a prison for every foul spirit... (Revelation 18:2)

The demons that the Lord cast out embodied such lusts when they lived in the world - regarding which see Matthew 8:16, 28; 9:32-33; 10:8; 12:22; 15:22; Luke 4:33-37, 41; 8:2, 8:26-40; 9:1, 9:37-42, 9:49; 13:32.