749. And through the word of their testimony, signifies and through the confession and acknowledgment of the Divine in His Human. This is evident from the signification of "the word of testimony," as being the confession of the Lord, and the acknowledgment of the Divine in His Human (See above, n. 392, 635, 649). That this is "the word of testimony" is evident from the following passages in Revelation:

The angel said unto John, I am thy fellow-servant and of thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

And after the angel had so said:

A white horse was seen upon which One sat who was called "the Word of God," and also "King of kings and Lord of lords" (Revelation 19:13, 16).

From this it can be seen that "the word of their testimony" signifies the confession and acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord's Human. Those who are in this acknowledgment are also in the acknowledgment that the Lord's Human is Divine, for the Divine itself cannot dwell elsewhere than in what is Divine from itself. But because the scholars amongst us cannot easily comprehend this, they separate in their thought the Divine from the Human of the Lord, and place the Divine without or above it; nevertheless, this is contrary to the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which is called the Athanasian or Nicene Confession, which is that the Divine took to itself the Human, and that they are not two but a united Person, just the same as soul and body.

3505. 'Before I die' means the first state of awakening in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'dying' as rising again or awakening into life, dealt with in 3326, 3498. That this is the first state is evident from the consideration that it is the good of early childhood and therefore the good of life which comes first in regeneration, which first state up to now has been represented by 'Esau'. Subsequent states, dealt with consecutively, form the subject in this chapter.