Apocalypse Explained #421
421. Verses 2, 3. And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun, having the seal of the living God; and he cried with a great voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea; Saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads.
2. "And I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun," signifies the Divine love going forth from the Lord. n. 422); "having the seal of the living God," signifies the Divine will (n. 423); "and he cried with a great voice," signifies Divine command (n. 424); "to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea," signifies as yet preventing the influx from becoming intense (n. 425).
3. "Saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees," signifies lest the good perish with the evil wherever they are n. 426; "till we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads," signifies that those who are in truths from good are first to be separated n. 427.
Heaven and Hell #141
141. THE FOUR QUARTERS IN HEAVEN.
Both in heaven and in the world there are four quarters, east, south, west, and north, determined in each world by its own sun; in heaven by the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, in the world by the sun of the world. And yet there are great differences between them. In the first place, in the world that is called the south where the sun is in its greatest altitude above the earth, north where it is in its opposite position beneath the earth, east where it rises at an equinox, and west where it then sets. Thus in the world it is from the south that all the quarters are determined. But in heaven that is called the east where the Lord is seen as a sun, opposite to this is the west, at the right is the south in heaven, and at the left the north; and this in whatever direction the face and the body are turned. Thus in heaven it is from the east that all the quarters are determined. That is called the east [oriens] where the Lord is seen as a sun, because all origin [origo] of life is from Him as a sun; moreover, so far as angels receive heat and light or love and intelligence from the Lord He is said to arise [exoriri] upon them. For the same reason the Lord is called the East [Oriens] in the Word. 1
Footnotes:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] In the highest sense the Lord is the east [oriens], because He is the sun of heaven, which is always rising and never setting (101, 5097, 9668).
