The Bible

 

Psalms 23 : The 23rd Psalm

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1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #835

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835. These two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. This symbolically means that all of them were cast as they were into the hell where their loves of falsity and accompanying lusts for evil are found.

Being alive means, symbolically, as they were. These two, namely the beast and the false prophet, symbolize all those people who have professed faith alone and are inwardly evil, both the laity and the clergy, as said just above in no. 834. The lake of fire burning with brimstone symbolizes the hell where those people are found who are impelled by loves of that falsity and at the same time lusts for evil. A lake symbolizes an abundance of falsities, as will be seen below. Fire symbolizes love, here these people's love of falsity. Fire symbolizes love in both senses, good and evil, as may be seen in nos. 468, 494, 599, and here it symbolizes a love of falsity, because it is described as a lake of fire. Brimstone symbolizes a lust for evil and its accompanying falsities (no. 452).

Something similar is said about the dragon and these two in the next chapter, in these words:

The devil (that is, the dragon) that deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. (Revelation 20:10)

[2] It should be known that the hell where people like this are appears at a distance as a lake of fire with a green flame like that of brimstone or sulfur. But those who are there do not see this. They are shut up in their workhouses where they vehemently argue with each other. Sometimes knives appear in their hands, which they brandish in a threatening manner to keep from yielding. It is their love of falsity together with their lusts for evil that occasions the appearance of such a lake. This appearance is produced because of its correspondence.

[3] That a lake symbolizes a place with an abundance of truth, and in an opposite sense, therefore, a place with an abundance of falsity, can be seen from the Word. A place with an abundance of truth from the following:

...waters shall burst forth in the wilderness, and streams in the desert. The parched ground shall become a lake... (Isaiah 35:6-7)

I will make the wilderness into a lake of water, and the dry land into springs of water. (Isaiah 41:18, cf. Psalms 107:33, 35)

I will make the rivers into islands, and I will dry up the lakes. (Isaiah 42:15)

...the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a lake of water, and the flint into a fountain of waters. (Psalms 114:7-8)

...all who make payment from the lakes of the soul. (Isaiah 19:10)

In an opposite sense from the following:

I will cut off from Babylon the name and remnant..., and I will make it into a possession of the bird of prey, and into lakes of water. (Isaiah 14:22-23)

Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14)

If anyone was not found written in the Book of Life, he was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)

...their part in the lake of fire burning with brimstone, which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

Isaiah 41:18

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18 I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of water.