428. Verse 4. And I heard the number of them that were sealed; a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed out of every tribe [of the sons] of Israel. "And I heard the number of them that were sealed," signifies the quality of those who are in good separated from the evil; "a hundred and forty and four thousand, sealed out of every tribe [of the sons] of Israel," signifies all who are in truths from good, and therefore in the church of the Lord.

153. Evil spirits sometimes appear turned towards the quarters of heaven, and they then have intelligence and perception of truth, but no affection of good. Wherefore, as soon as they turn back to their own quarters they have not intelligence or perception of truth, even declaring then, that the truths which they heard and perceived are not truths but falsities. They also wish falsities to be truths. In respect of this turning, I have been told that with the evil, the intellectual part [of the mind] can be so turned, but not the voluntary part, and that this is provided by the Lord to the end that each one may have the ability to see and acknowledge truths, but that no-one receives truths unless he is in good, since it is good and never evil that receives truths, also that man has the same ability to the end that he may be made better by means of truths. Nevertheless, he is made better only so far as he is in good. Consequently, a man can in like manner be turned to the Lord. But if he is in evil as to his life he immediately turns back and confirms in himself the falsities of his evil which are contrary to the truths he has understood and seen. This takes place when he thinks in himself from his interior.