13. In the ninth chapter of the book of Revelation we read:

The fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth, and to him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth, and to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.... The locusts in appearance were like horses prepared for battle, and on their heads were what looked like crowns of gold, and their faces were like the faces of men. They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many...chariots rushing into battle. They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails, and their power was to hurt men five months. And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, who in Greek has the name Apollyon.

No one would understand this either unless the spiritual sense were revealed to him; for nothing was said there idly; everything down to the least detail has some symbolic meaning.

The subject there is the state of the church when all concepts of truth from the Word have been lost, so that people, having become sense-oriented, persuade themselves that falsities are truths.

[2] The star fallen from heaven symbolizes the lost concepts of truth. The darkened sun and air symbolize a thoroughly darkened light of truth. The locusts that came out of the smoke of the pit symbolize falsities of the lowest sort, such as are found in the case of people who have become sensual and who view and judge everything in accordance with fallacies. A scorpion symbolizes their persuasiveness.

The locusts’ looking like horses prepared for battle symbolizes their reasonings as though stemming from an understanding of truth. The locusts’ having what looked like crowns of gold on their heads, and their faces being like the faces of men, means symbolically that they seemed to themselves to be conquerors and wise. Their having hair like the hair of women means symbolically that they seemed to themselves to have an affection for truth. Their having teeth like lions’ teeth means symbolically that matters of the senses, which constitute the lowest elements of the natural self’s life, appeared to them to have power over all else.

[3] Their having breastplates like breastplates of iron symbolizes their arguments based on fallacies, with which they battled and prevailed. The sound of their wings being like the sound of chariots rushing into battle symbolizes their reasonings, as though founded on doctrinal truths from the Word, which they had to defend. Their having tails like scorpions symbolizes their persuasions. Their having stings in their tails symbolizes their clever arts to deceive by those persuasions. Their having the power to hurt men five months symbolizes their inducing a kind of numbness in people possessing an understanding of truth and a perception of goodness.

Their having as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, who has the name Abaddon or Apollyon, symbolically means that their falsities originated from hell, where the inhabitants are merely natural and caught up in their own intelligence.

[4] This is the spiritual meaning of these words, nothing of which is apparent in the literal sense. The case is the same throughout the book of Revelation.

It must be known that everything in the spiritual sense hangs together in an unbroken connection, and that every word in the literal or natural sense contributes to forming the connection. Consequently, if the smallest word were to be taken away, the connection would be broken and the continuity perish. To keep this from happening, therefore, at the end of this prophetic book a warning is added not to take away a word (Revelation 22:19).

The case is the same with the prophetic books of the Old Testament, from which nothing was to be taken away. Of the Lord’s Divine providence, it came to pass that everything in those books, even the very letters, were counted — this by the Masoretes.