1092. I saw [another] angel coming down out of heaven.- That this signifies the Divine proceeding from the Lord in heaven and in the world, is evident from the signification of an angel coming down out of heaven, as denoting the Lord in regard to the proceeding Divine; for by an angel, in the internal sense, is not meant an angel, but either the Lord, or something pertaining to the Lord (as may be seen above, n. 130, 302, 593, 910), in the present case the Lord, because it is said, that He had great power, and that the earth was lightened with His glory, which means the power and presence of Divine Truth now in heaven and in the world, it being now made manifest that Babylon is destroyed, and when this is destroyed, then the power and light of the Divine which proceeds from the Lord increase; the reasons for this will be explained hereafter.

Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- This is the doctrine concerning God which is accepted by the whole Christian world, because it has come down from a general council. But before the examination of it is entered upon, a fact not known concerning the state of man's faith and love in this world and afterwards in that other into which he comes after death, shall be revealed; for unless this were disclosed it might be supposed that every one, whatever his faith, can of the Divine mercy be admitted into heaven and saved. This is the source of the erroneous belief of the Roman Catholics (Gentis Babylonica) that man possesses heaven according to the good pleasure of the pope, and by the favour of his priests (vicariorum). The unknown fact is this, that all the thoughts of man extend into the spiritual world, in every direction, almost like rays of light from flame. Since the spiritual world consists of heaven and hell, and both heaven and hell are formed of countless societies, therefore man's thoughts must necessarily have extension into societies, spiritual thoughts - which are those relating to the Lord, to love and faith in Him, and to the truths and goods of heaven and the church - into heavenly societies; but thoughts merely natural, concerned with self, the world, and the love of these, and not at the same time with God, into infernal societies.

That all the thoughts of man have such an extension and direction (determinatio) has up to this time been unknown, because nothing is known of the nature of heaven and of hell, that is, that they are formed of societies, and that consequently there is an extension of man's thoughts into a world other than the natural world; into the latter also there is an extension of the sight of his eyes. But it is the spiritual world into which thought extends itself, and the natural world into which vision extends itself, since the thought of the mind is spiritual, and the vision of the eye natural.

It has been made so evident to me from an experience of many years that there is an extension of all the thoughts of man into the societies of the spiritual world, and that there can be no thought apart from such extension, that I can declare the fact with perfect confidence. In a word, man is in the spiritual world with his head, as he is in the natural world with his body.

By head we here mean his mind, consisting of understanding, thought, will, and love, while by body we mean his senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. And because man as to his head, that is, as to his mind, is in the spiritual world, therefore he is either in heaven or hell; and where the mind is, there is the entire man with head and body, when he becomes a spirit. And a man's quality is exactly in agreement with the nature of his conjunction with the societies of the spiritual world, he being an angel whose quality is like that of his conjunction with the societies of heaven, or a devil whose quality is like that of his conjunction with the societies of hell.

Evening, a time when the light and heat are fading away, represents a state in which a person -- or a community of people -- is turning away from the Lord, with little desire left to be good and little knowledge left regarding what good is. Evening is often a time of judgment.

In Genesis 19:1, the evening signifies the visitation that comes before judgment. (Arcana Coelestia 2318)

In Genesis 30:16, this signifies the good or truth in a state of good, but in the obscurity that is characteristic of the natural. (Arcana Coelestia 3949)