18. Verses 4, 5, 6. John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven spirits which are in sight of his throne. And from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the first-born from the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loveth us, and washeth us from our sins in his blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father: to him be the glory and the strength unto the ages of the ages. Amen.

"John," signifies, the Lord as to doctrine; "to the seven churches," signifies, to all those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity; "in Asia," signifies those who are in the light of intelligence; "Grace be unto you, and peace," signifies, the delight of truth and good; "from him who is, and who was, and who is to come," signifies, from Him who is the All in all of heaven and the church from eternity; "to eternity and from the seven spirits," signifies, the Divine in heaven; "which are in sight of his throne," signifies, presence and providence.

"And from Jesus Christ," signifies, from the Lord as to the Divine Human; "the faithful witness," signifies, from whom is all truth in heaven; "the first-born from the dead," signifies, from whom is all the good there; "and the prince of the kings of the earth," signifies, from whom is all truth from good in the church; "to him that loveth us, and washeth us from our sins in his blood," signifies, His love, and regeneration by Him, by means of truths which are from Him.

"And hath made us kings and priests," signifies, that from Him we are in His spiritual and celestial kingdom; "to God and his Father," signifies, by Divine truth and Divine good; "to him be the glory and the strength unto the ages of the ages," signifies, that these things are from Him alone to eternity; "Amen," signifies, Divine confirmation.

1876. The names of men, kingdoms, or cities that occur in the Word, as with the expressions of human speech, disappear at the very threshold of their progress upwards; for those names are earthly, bodily, and material, being things of which souls entering the next life gradually divest themselves and of which those entering heaven do so altogether. Angels do not retain the least idea of any person, nor therefore of his name. What Abram is, what Isaac is, or Jacob, they do not know any longer. Instead they form an idea for themselves from the things that are represented and meant by those characters in the Word. Names and expressions are like dust or like scales that fall off when they enter heaven. From this it becomes clear that names in the Word mean nothing other than real things. On these matters I have spoken many times to angels, who have informed me fully regarding the truth. The speech that spirits employ among themselves does not consist of verbal expressions but of ideas, like those comprising human thought without words, and is therefore the universal language of all languages. But when they speak to man their speech falls into the expressions of human language, as stated in 1635, 1637, 1639.

[2] When discussing this matter with spirits I have been given to say that when they are conversing among themselves they are not able to utter one single word of human language, still less utter any name. Astonished by this some went away and tried to do so, but on returning they said that they had been unable to pronounce them because those words were so grossly material that they belonged below their own sphere, for such words were produced by an audible emission of air articulated by organs of the body, or else by means of an influx into the same organs by an internal route leading to the organ of hearing. From this it also became perfectly clear that no part of any expression which occurs in the Word was able to pass over to spirits. Still less could it pass over to angelic spirits, whose speech is even more universal, 1642. And least of all could it pass over to angels, 1643, with whom nothing remains of even the first ideas that spirits possess; instead angels have spiritual truths and celestial goods. Such truths and goods are varied in an indescribable manner in their least forms - which are continuous and knit together in a harmonious sequence - together with the first springs of representatives whose very great delightfulness and beauty flow from the happiness belonging to mutual love, and whose happiness flows from all their delight and beauty, because the Lord's life is inspired into them