331. And behold, there was a great earthquake. This symbolizes the state of the church among those people completely changed, and their terror.

Earthquakes symbolize changes in the state of the church because the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285), and because in the spiritual world, when the state of the church is corrupted somewhere and a change is made, an earthquake occurs. And because this presages the people's destruction, they are in terror. For lands in the spiritual world are in appearance like lands in the natural world (no. 260). But because lands there, like everything else in that world, have a spiritual origin, therefore those lands change in accordance with the state of the church among the inhabitants upon them, and when the state of the church is corrupted, the lands tremble and quake, even sinking down and being moved from their location.

That this is what happened when the Last Judgment was imminent and taking place may be seen in the short work, The Last Judgment.

It can be seen from this what quakes, shakings and removals of the earth symbolize in the following places:

...there will be pestilences, famines, and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7, cf. Mark 13:8, Luke 21:11)

(These things are said there of the Last Judgment.)

...in the fire of My wrath I have spoken, if in that day there is not a great earthquake... so that... every person on the face of the earth shakes... and the mountains are overthrown... (Ezekiel 38:18-20).

...there was a great earthquake, such as had not occurred since people came on the earth. (Revelation 16:18)

...I will shake the heavens, and the earth will be moved out of her place, in the wrath of Jehovah of hosts... (Isaiah 13:13)

...the foundations of the earth are shaken... The earth is shaken exceedingly...(because) its transgression is heavy upon it... (Isaiah 24:18-20)

The earth shook and quaked, and the foundations of the hills..., because He was angry. (Psalms 18:7)

The mountains quake before (Jehovah)...and the rocks are overthrown... (Nahum 1:5-6)

So likewise in other places, as in Jeremiah 10:10; 49:21, Joel 2:10, Haggai 2:6-7, Revelation 11:19, and elsewhere.

These things, however, must be understood as taking place in the spiritual world, and not in the natural world. In the natural world they symbolize such things as stated above.

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.