Apocalypse Revealed #20
20. And makes us kings and priests. (1:6) This symbolically means, who grants those who are born from Him, that is, who are reborn or regenerated, to be governed by wisdom from Divine truths, and by love from Divine goods.
People know that in the Word the Lord is called a king and also a priest. He is called a king owing to His Divine wisdom, and a priest owing to His Divine love. People who are governed by wisdom from the Lord are consequently called children of the king, and also kings, while people who are governed by love from Him are called ministers and priests. For the wisdom and the love in them do not originate from them, and so are not theirs but the Lord's. It is these people who are therefore meant in the Word by kings and priests. Not that they are kings and priests, but that they have the Lord in them, and He causes them to be termed such.
Such people are called also children born of Him, children of the kingdom, children of the Father, and heirs - children born of Him in John 1:12-13ff.), children of the kingdom in Matthew 8:12; 13:38, children of their Father in heaven in Matthew 5:45, and heirs in Psalms 127:3, 1 Samuel 2:8, Matthew 25:34. And being heirs, children of the kingdom, and children born of the Lord as their Father, they are therefore called kings and priests. Moreover, in Revelation 3:21 it is also said that they will sit with the Lord on His throne.
[2] The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord's kingship, and because all who are in it are governed by wisdom founded on truths, therefore it is they who are meant by the kings that the Lord will make those people who are governed by wisdom from Him. The celestial kingdom, on the other hand, is what is called the Lord's priesthood, and because all who are in it are governed by love arising from goodness, therefore it is they who are meant by the priests that the Lord will make those people who are governed by love from Him. The Lord's church on earth is likewise divided into two kingdoms. Regarding these two kingdoms, see nos. 24, 226 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758.
[3] Someone who does not know the spiritual meaning of kings and priests may be deluded in regard to many things said in the prophets and in the book of Revelation about them. For example, in regard to these statements in the prophets:
The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you... You shall suck the milk of gentiles, even the breasts of kings you shall suck, that you may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer... (Isaiah 60:10, 16)
Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your wet nurses. (Isaiah 49:23)
Also elsewhere, as in Genesis 49:20; Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26; 4:9; 49:3; Lamentations 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26-27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8. Kings there do not mean kings, but people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, Divine truths themselves, from which comes wisdom.
"The king of the south" and "the king of the north" who waged war with each other in Daniel 11 do not mean kings either, but the king of the south means people who are governed by truths, and the king of the north people who are caught up in falsities.
[4] Likewise in the book of Revelation, which many times mentions kings, as in the following passages:
The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)
(With) the great harlot who sits on many waters... the kings of the earth committed whoredom... (Revelation 17:1-2)
...of the wine of the wrath of (Babylon's) whoredom all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her... (Revelation 18:3)
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him who sat on the (white) horse... (Revelation 19:19)
And the nations that are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into (the New Jerusalem). (Revelation 21:24)
Elsewhere also, as in Revelation 16:14; 17:9-14; 18:9-10. The kings there means people who are governed by truths, and in an opposite sense, people caught up in falsities, and abstractly, truths or falsities themselves. The whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth means the falsification of the truth of the church. Obviously Babylon, or the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with kings, but rather falsified truths of the Word.
[5] It is apparent from this that the Lord's going to make people who are wise from Him kings does not mean that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. The reality of this is also something that enlightened reason sees.
Likewise in the following:
You have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)
That by king the Lord meant truth is apparent from His words to Pilate:
Pilate... said to Him, "Are You a king then?"
Jesus answered, "As you have said, because I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."
Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:27, 38)
To bear witness to the truth is to be Himself the embodiment of truth. And because He called Himself a king by virtue of it, Pilate said, "What is truth?" - which is to say, "Is truth a king?
As for priests, we will see in later explanations that they symbolize people who are governed by the goodness of love, and abstractly, goods of love themselves.
Revelation 19
1
And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God:
2
For true and righteous are his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3
And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
4
And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5
And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all ye his servants, and ye that fear him, both small and great.
6
And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.
7
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
8
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9
And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10
And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
11
And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.
12
His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself.
13
And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14
And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
15
And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16
And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
17
And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18
That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19
And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20
And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21
And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
