260. And no one in heaven or on the earth or under the earth was able. This symbolically means that no one in the higher heavens or in the lower heavens [had the power].

In heaven, on the earth, and under the earth mean in the higher and lower heavens, as also below in verse 13, where these words occur:

And every creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, I heard saying... [Revelation 5:13]

Because John heard them all speaking, it is apparent that the speakers were angels and spirits, inasmuch as John was in the spirit, as he himself says in the preceding chapter (4:2), and when he was in that state the only earth that appeared to him was that of the spiritual world. For there are lands there as in the natural world, as can be seen from the description of that world in the book Heaven and Hell, and in The Last Judgment (Supplement) 32-38.

The higher heavens in the spiritual world appear on mountains and hills, the lower heavens on lands below, and the lowest heavens as though underground. For the heavens are expanses, one above another, and each expanse is as ground beneath the feet of its inhabitants. The highest expanse is like a mountaintop, with the second expanse below it, but one spreading more broadly all around, with the lowest expanse being still more broadly spread. And because the last exists below the second, its inhabitants are those who are below ground.

The three heavens also so appear to angels in the higher heavens, because to them there are two heavens below them. To John they appeared likewise, therefore, for he was in the presence of those higher angels, having ascended to them, as is apparent from chapter 4:1, where he is told, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this."

Someone who knows nothing of the spiritual world and the lands there cannot possibly know what "under the earth" means, or by the same token what the lower parts of the earth in the Word mean, as in Isaiah,

Sing, O heavens...! Exult, you lower parts of the earth; ring with singing, you mountains...! For Jehovah has redeemed Jacob... (Isaiah 44:23)

And so elsewhere.

Who does not see that the lands of the spiritual world are meant there? For no one lives underground in the natural world.