723. Verse 5. And she brought forth a male child, who is to tend (pascere) ¹ all the nations with a rod of iron; and her child was caught up unto God and his throne.

"And she brought forth a male child," signifies the doctrine of truth for the church which is called the New Jerusalem, "who is to tend all the nations with a rod of iron," signifies that this doctrine, by the power of natural from spiritual truth, will refute and convict those who are in falsities and evils, and yet are in the church, where the Word is; "and her child was caught up unto God and his throne," signifies protection of the doctrine by the Lord, because it is for the New Church.

Footnotes:

'The spirit of God,' as in Genesis 1:2, signifies the divine mercy of the Lord.

'The spirit of God' denotes good from an interior level, so from the divine. The spirit of God is what proceeds from the divine, so from good itself, because the divine is good itself, and what proceeds from it is truth within which is good. This is what 'the spirit of God' signifies in the Word, because the spirit itself does not proceed, but the truth itself within which is good, the spirit being the instrument which produces it.

(References: Arcana Coelestia 19; Divine Love and Wisdom 100)