685. And He shall reign unto the ages of the ages.- That this signifies His dominion to eternity by means of Divine Truth, is evident from the signification of reigning, when said of the Lord, as denoting to have dominion by means of Divine Truth, concerning which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of unto the ages of the ages as denoting to eternity. Unto the ages of the ages denotes to eternity, because the sense of the letter of the Word is natural, to which the spiritual sense corresponds. The natural sense of the Word consists of such things as are in nature, which have reference in general to times and spaces, and to places and persons; and the ages of the ages have relation to times, to which eternity corresponds in the spiritual sense. It is the same with generation of generations, where the extension of faith and charity in the church is treated.

[2] To reign, in reference to the Lord, signifies to have dominion by means of Divine Truth, because dominion is said of good, and to reign of truth, for the Lord is called Lord (Dominus) from Divine Good, and king from Divine Truth. This is why both terms are mentioned everywhere in the Word, namely, dominion and kingdom, or to have dominion and to reign, as in the following passages.

[3] In Micah:

"Thou O hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall come and return the former dominion, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem" (4:8).

Since the daughter of Zion signifies the celestial church, whose essential is the good of love, therefore dominion is said of it, and because the daughter of Jerusalem signifies the spiritual church, whose essential is truth of doctrine, therefore the term kingdom is applied to it.

[4] In David:

"Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all the ages, and thy dominion to every generation and generation" (Psalm 145:13).

In Daniel:

To the Son of man "was given dominion, glory and a kingdom; his dominion is the dominion of an age, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed" (7:14).

In the same:

"The kingdom and the dominion, and majesty of the kingdoms, shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High" (7:27).

In these passages dominion is said of good, because from good the Lord is called Lord, and kingdom is said of truth, because from this the Lord is called king.

As in the Apocalypse:

He who sat upon the white horse "had upon his garment and upon his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords " (19:16).

King of kings is said of the name upon the vesture, and Lord of lords of the name upon the thigh, for garment signifies truth, here Divine Truth, because the Lord is meant, and thigh signifies good, here the Divine Good of Divine Love.

Similarly, as applied to men, in David:

"The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers consulted together" (Psalm 2:2).

From this it is evident what reigning unto the ages of the ages signifies in particular. That kingdom signifies heaven and the church as to the truth of doctrine, see above (n. 48). That to reign belongs to the Lord alone; and, that when said of men, it denotes to be in truths from good from the Lord, and to have power therefrom of resisting falsities from evil (n. 333).

48. In the kingdom. That this signifies, in the church where truths are, is evident from the signification of kingdom in the Word, as denoting heaven and the church. The reason why it denotes the church as to truth, or where truths are, is, because by the royalty of the Lord is signified the Divine truth proceeding from Him, and hence by kings are signified truths. (See above, n. 31.) It is said the church as to truth, by which is meant the church as to truths from good; the reason is, that truths are not possible without good, for truths have life from good; the truths which a man has who is not in good, are indeed actually in themselves truths, but they are not truths in him (as may be seen fully proved in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 11-27).

[2] That kingdom in the Word signifies heaven and the church as to truths, is evident from many passages in the Word, of which I will adduce some. Thus in Matthew:

"The sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness" (8:12).

The sons of the kingdom there mentioned, are those who are of the church where truths do not reign, but falsities. And in the same:

"He who heareth the Word of the kingdom, and giveth no heed to it, the wicked one cometh, and taketh away that which was sown in his heart; this is that which was sown by the way-side. The field is the world; the [good] seed are the sons of the kingdom" (13:19, 38).

To hear the Word of the kingdom is to hear the truths of the church; and because seed signifies truths, therefore those who receive truths are called sons of the kingdom. (That seed signifies the truth of the church see Arcana Coelestia 3038, 3373, 3671, 10248, 10249.) In the same:

"Therefore the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth fruit" (21:43).

That the kingdom of God there signifies the church as to truths, thus also the truths of the church, is clear from its being said that it should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth fruit; and fruit signifies good. Again, in the same:

In the consummation of the age, "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (24:7).

The consummation of the age is the last time of the church; nation against nation denotes evil against good, and kingdom against kingdom denotes falsity against truth. (That nation signifies the good of the church, and in an opposite sense, the evil thereof, see Arcana Coelestia 1059, 1159, 1258, 1260, 1416, 1849, 6005.)

[3] It is evident from these things what is meant by kingdom in the Lord's prayer,

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on the earth. Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory" (Matthew 6:10, 13).

Thy kingdom come, signifies, that truth may be received; thy will be done, signifies, that it may be received by those who do the will of God; thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, signifies, Divine truth from God alone; it is also said power and glory, because to Divine truth belong all power and glory (as may be seen above, n.33). From these considerations it may be seen that the kingdom of God signifies, in many other passages of the Word, the church as to truths, also heaven, and, in the highest sense, the Lord as to the Divine Human. The reason why kingdom, in the highest sense, signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human is, that all Divine truth proceeds from Him; and the reason why kingdom signifies heaven is, that heaven, with the angels, is from no other source than the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human (see in the work, Heaven and Hell 7-12, 78-86, 126-140).