401. And all green grass was burned up. This symbolically means, and thus every constituent of faith having life had perished.

To be burned up means, symbolically, to perish, as said just above in no. 400.

Green grass, in the Word, symbolizes the goodness and truth of the church or faith that is born first in the natural self. It has the same symbolic meaning as "the herb of the field." ¹ And because faith has life owing to goodness and truth, therefore "all green grass was burned up" means, symbolically, that every constituent of faith having life had perished. Every constituent of faith having life perishes, moreover, when there is no affection for goodness or perception of truth, as said just above.

Grass has this symbolic meaning also because of its correspondence. Consequently, people who separate faith from charity, not only in doctrine by also in life, in the spiritual world live in a desert where there is no grass.

Since a fruit tree symbolizes a person in respect to his affections for goodness and perceptions of truth, so green grass symbolizes a person in respect to that constituent of the church that is first conceived in him and also given birth, while grass that is not green symbolizes that constituent now perished.

In general, everything found in gardens, forests, fields and plains symbolizes a person in respect to some constituent of the church, or to say the same thing, some constituent of the church in him. That is because they correspond. That this is true of grass can be seen from the following passages:

A voice said, "Cry out!" And he said, "What shall I cry?"

"All flesh is grass... The grass withered, and the flower faded, because the wind... blew upon it. Truly the people are grass. The grass withered, and the flower faded, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. (Isaiah 40:6-8)

Their inhabitants... became the herb of the field, tender grass, the grass on the housetops, and a field scorched before the standing grain. (Isaiah 37:27, 2 Kings 19:26)

...I will pour... My blessing on your offspring; they will spring up among the grass... (Isaiah 44:3-4)

Also elsewhere, as Isaiah 51:12, Psalms 37:2; 103:15; 129:6, Deuteronomy 32:2.

That a green plant or something green symbolizes something living or alive is apparent in Jeremiah 17:8; 11:16; Ezekiel 17:24; 20:47; Hosea 14:8; Psalms 37:35; 52:8; 92:10.

The same thing said here in the book of Revelation came to pass in Egypt, namely that by hail and fire mingled, every tree and every herb of the field were burned up (Exodus 9:22-35).

Footnotes:

505. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days. (11:9) This symbolizes all those who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and the resulting evil practices at the end of the church still existing, when they have heard and later hear about these two essential elements at the beginning of the New Church, namely, an acknowledgment of the Lord and of works in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

Peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations mean all those of the Protestant Reformed who were or who would be caught up in doctrinal falsities and the resulting evil practices owing to their faith alone. Peoples symbolize people caught up in doctrinal falsities (no. 483), tribes the falsities and evils in the church (no. 349), tongues a confession and acceptance of these (no. 483), and nations people caught up in evil practices (no. 483). Therefore the four together symbolize all those individually and collectively who were or who would be of such a character, thus all those who were in that great city and all those like them who would later come from the world.

The bodies that they would see, those of the two witnesses, symbolize the two essential elements of the New Church, as said in no. 501 above. That they would see them means, symbolically, when they have heard and later hear about them, since it is bodies that are said to be seen, and the two essential elements that are heard.

Three and a half days mean, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning, namely, at the end of the church still existing and the beginning of a new one.

Putting all these things together now into a single meaning, it is apparent that "those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their bodies for three and a half days" has, in the spiritual sense, the symbolic meaning stated above.

Three and a half days mean, symbolically, at the end and then the beginning because a day symbolizes a state, the number three symbolizes something completed to the end, and a half symbolizes a new beginning. For three and half days have the same symbolic meaning as a week, six days of which symbolize something completed to the end, and the seventh day something holy. That is because the number three and a half is one half of seven, and seven days constitute a week; and a number doubled or divided has the same symbolic meaning.

[2] That the number three symbolizes something completed, thus something completed to the end, can be seen from the following accounts in the Word:

That Isaiah was to go naked and barefoot for three years (Isaiah 20:3).

That Jehovah called three times to Samuel, and Samuel ran three times to Eli, and that the third time Eli understood (1 Samuel 3:1-8).

That Elijah stretched himself out three times on the widow's son (1 Kings 17:21).

That Elijah ordered that water be poured on the burnt sacrifice three times (1 Kings 18:34).

That Jesus said that the kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures of meal (Matthew 13:33).

That Jesus told Peter he would deny Him three times (Matthew 26:34).

That the Lord asked Peter three times, "Do you love Me?" (John 21:15-17).

That Jonah was in the belly of the whale three days and three nights (Jonah 1:17).

That Jesus said He would destroy the Temple and in three days build it (Matthew 26:61, John 2:19)

That Jesus prayed three times in Gethsemane (Matthew 26:39-44).

That Jesus rose on the third day (Matthew 28:1ff.).

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 16:14; Hosea 6:2; Exodus 3:18; 10:22-23; 19:1, 11, 15-16, 18; Leviticus 19:23-25; Numbers 19:11-22; 31:19-24; Deuteronomy 19:2-4; 26:12; Joshua 1:11; 3:2; 1 Samuel 20:5, 12, 19-20, 35-36, 41; 2 Samuel 24:11-13; Daniel 10:1-3; Mark 12:2, 4-6; Luke 20:12; 13:32-33.

Seven, like three, symbolizes something full and complete, but seven is predicated of holy things, while three is predicated of things not holy.