3623. 'What would life hold for me?' means, and so there would not be any conjunction. This is clear from the meaning of 'life' as conjunction by means of truths and goods. For when it was not possible for any truth from a common stem or genuine source to be joined to natural truth, there could not be any alliance of the natural to the truth of the rational, in which case it seemed to the rational as though its own life were no life, 3493, 3620. This is why here 'what would life hold for me?' means, and so there would not be any conjunction. Here and in other places the word 'life' in the original language is plural, and the reason for this is that in man there are two powers of life. The first is called the understanding and is the receptacle of truth, the second is called the will and is the receptacle of good. These two forms or powers of life make one when the understanding is rooted in the will, or what amounts to the same, when truth is grounded in good. This explains why in Hebrew the noun 'life' is sometimes singular, sometimes plural. The plural form of that noun is used in all the following places, Jehovah God formed the man, dust from the ground; and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Genesis 2:7. Jehovah God caused to spring up out of the ground every tree desirable to the sight and good for food, and the tree of life in the middle of the garden. Genesis 2:9. Behold, I am bringing a flood of waters over the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the spirit of life. Genesis 6:17.

They went in to Noah into the ark, two by two from all flesh in which there is the spirit of life. Genesis 7:15 (in 780).

Everything which had the breath of the spirit of life in its nostrils breathed its last. Genesis 7:12.

In David,

I believe [I am going] to see the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. Psalms 27:13.

In the same author,

Who is the man who desires life, who loves [many] days, that he may see good? Psalms 34:12

In the same author,

With You, O Jehovah, is the fountain of life; in Your light do we see light. Psalms 36:9.

In Malachi,

My covenant with Levi was [a covenant] of life and peace. Malachi 2:5.

In Jeremiah,

Thus said Jehovah, Behold, I set before you the way of life and the way of death. Jeremiah 21:8.

In Moses,

To love Jehovah your God, to obey His voice, and to cling to Him, for He is your life and the length of your days, so that you may dwell in the land. Deuteronomy 30:20.

In the same author,

It is not an empty word from you; for it is your life, and through this word you will prolong your days in the land. Deuteronomy 32:47.

And in other places too the plural form of the noun 'life' is used in the original language because, as has been stated, there are two kinds of life which yet make one. It is similar with the word 'heavens' in the Hebrew language, in that the heavens are many and yet make one, or like the expression 'waters' above and below, in Genesis 1:7-9 , by which spiritual things in the rational and in the natural are meant which ought to be one through being joined together. As for the plural form of 'life', when this is used both the life of the will and that of the understanding are meant, and therefore both the life of good and that of truth are meant. For man's life consists in nothing else than good and truth which hold life from the Lord within them. Devoid of good and truth, and of the life which these hold within them, no one is human. For devoid of these no one would ever have been able to will or to think anything. Everything that a person wills originates in good or in that which is not good, and everything he thinks originates in truth or in that which is not truth. Consequently man possesses two kinds of life and these make one when his thinking flows from his willing, that is, when truth which is the truth of faith flows from good which is the good of love.

878. And there was no more sea. This symbolically means that the outer part of the heaven composed of Christians since the church was first established was likewise dispersed, after those who were written in the Lord's Book of Life were liberated from there and saved.

A sea symbolizes the external component of heaven and the church, where the simple are, who think naturally and not much spiritually about matters connected with the church. A heaven inhabited by these is called external, as may be seen in nos. 238, 398 at the end, 403, 404, 470, 567, 659, 661. Here the sea means the outer part of the heaven composed of Christians from the first establishment of the church. However, the inner part of the heaven of Christians was not fully formed by the Lord until shortly before the Last Judgment, and also after it, as may be seen from chapters 14 and 15, which have that heaven as their subject, and from chapter 20:4, 5, too. See the exposition in those places.

The inner part of that heaven was not fully formed sooner because the dragon and its two beasts held sway in the world of spirits, and they burned with a desire to lead astray whomever they could. It would have been dangerous, therefore, to gather together those Christians into a heaven beforehand.

The separation of the good from adherents of the dragon and the damnation of the latter, followed by their finally being cast down into hell, is the subject in many places, and lastly in chapter 19:20, and chapter 20:10. And after that we are told that "the sea gave up the dead who were in it" (chapter 20:13), which means that the external and natural people of the church were called together for judgment, as may be seen in no. 869 above, and that those who were written in the Lord's Book of Life were then liberated and saved, as indicated also in the same number. This is the sea that is meant here.

[2] We are also told elsewhere regarding the New Christian Heaven that the outer part of the heaven of Christians extended to a sea of glass mixed with fire (Revelation 15:2), and the sea there also symbolizes the outer part of the heaven of Christians. See the exposition in nos. 659-661.

It can be seen from this that there being no more sea means, symbolically, that the outer part of the heaven composed of Christians since the church was first established was likewise dispersed, after those who were written in the Lord's Book of Life were liberated from there and saved.

Regarding the outer part of the heaven composed of Christians from the first establishment of the church, I have been granted to learn many things - too many, however, to present them here. I will say only that the previous heavens which passed away at the time of the Last Judgment were permitted for the sake of those Christians who were in that outer part of heaven or sea, because they were conjoined by external concerns and not by internal ones - on which subject something may be seen in no. 398 above.

The heaven where external people of the church dwell is called a sea because their dwelling place in the spiritual world appears from a distance as being in a sea. For celestial angels, or angels of the highest heaven, dwell as though in an ethereal atmosphere. Spiritual angels, or angels of the intermediate heaven, dwell as though in an airy atmosphere. And spiritually natural angels, or angels of the lowest heaven, dwell as though in a watery atmosphere, which, as we said, from a distance looks like a sea.

For this reason the outer part of heaven is meant by the sea also in many other places in the Word.