'The first resurrection,' mentioned in Revelation 20:5, 6, does not mean a first resurrection, but the essence and primary part of resurrection, which is salvation and eternal life. There is only one resurrection to life. A second does not happen, and is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 6; Apocalypse Revealed 851; Revelation 20:5-6)

64. Clothed with a garment down to the foot. That this signifies Divine truth proceeding from Him, is evident from the signification of garments, as being truths which invest good (concerning which see Arcana Coelestia 1073, 2576, 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216, 9952, 10536). Mention is here made only of a garment reaching to the foot, which is a general covering; by which, as the Lord is treated of, is therefore signified in general all Divine truth. But as the Lord is here described as to the Divine Human, which in this case is the Son of man appearing in the midst of the lampstands, and it is said that He was "clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the breasts with a golden girdle," and afterwards that "His face shone as the sun in his power," I desire to give the explanation of what is related in the Evangelists concerning the Lord when He was transfigured, where some similar expressions occur; and then of what is said concerning the soldiers dividing His garments, and casting lots upon His vesture.

[2] Concerning the Lord's transfiguration it is thus written: Jesus took Peter, James, and John into an exceedingly high mountain, and was transfigured before them; and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment became white as the light. And behold there appeared to them Moses and Elias talking with him. And, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and, behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him" (Matthew 17:1-5; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36). The reason why the Lord took Peter, James, and John, was, that they represented the church as to faith, charity, and the works of charity. He took them into a high mountain, because by mountain is signified heaven. His face shone as the sun, because the face signifies the interiors, which, being Divine, shone as the sun; for the sun is the Divine love. His garments became white as the light, because garments signify Divine truth proceeding from Him; the same is also signified by light. Moses and Elias appeared, because they both signify the Word, Moses the historical Word, and Elias the prophetical Word. A bright cloud overshadowed them, because a bright cloud signifies the Word in the letter, in which is the internal sense. The voice out of the cloud said, This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him, because a voice out of a cloud signifies Divine truth from the Word, and beloved Son, the Lord's Divine Human; and because Divine truth, and therefore all the truth of the church, is from Him, it was said out of the cloud, "In whom I am well pleased; hear ye him."

[3] That the Divine Human of the Lord was thus seen, is clear, because the Divine itself cannot appear to any except by means of the Divine Human; this the Lord teaches also in John:

"No one hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath brought him forth to view" (1:18).

And in another place:

"Ye have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his shape" (John 5:37).

(That such things are signified by these words in the Evangelists, is evident from Arcana Coelestia, where it is shown that, in the Word by Peter, James, and John are signified faith, charity, and the works of charity, n. 3750, and above, n. 9; that by a high mountain is signified heaven, n. 8327, 8805, 9420, 9422, 9434, 10608; that by face are signified the interiors of the mind, n. 1999, 2434, 3527, 4066, 4796, 5102, 9306, 9546, and by the face of the Lord, mercy, peace, and every good, n. 222, 223, 5585, 9306, 9546, 9888. That by the sun is signified Divine love, see n. 2495, 4060, 7083, and in the work, Heaven and Hell 116-125. That by garments, when the Lord is treated of, is signified Divine truth, see n. 9212, 9216; that the same is signified by light, see n. 3195, 3222, 5400, 8644, 9399, 9548, 9684, and in the work, Heaven and Hell 126-140. That Moses and Elias signify the Word; that Moses does so, see Arcana Coelestia 5922, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382, 9372, 10234; and that Elias does, see n. 2762, 5247. That clouds signify the Word [in the letter], see above, n. 36; that beloved Son is the Divine Human of the Lord is evident.) From the signification of the Lord's garments, as being Divine truth, it may be known what is signified by the soldiers dividing the Lord's garments among them, and casting lots upon His vesture, concerning which it is thus written in John,

"The soldiers took his garments and made four parts, to each soldier a part, and also his coat; now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout. They said therefore among themselves, Let us not divide it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be; that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my garments among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did" (19:23, 24).

[4] He who does not know that in every particular of the Word there is an internal sense, which is spiritual, cannot see any arcanum in these things; he only knows that the soldiers divided the garments and not the coat, and he perceives nothing more than this, when, nevertheless, there is not only a Divine arcanum contained in this circumstance, but also in every particular of the things recorded concerning the Lord's passion. The arcanum which is contained in this circumstance is, that the Lord's garments signified Divine truth, thus the Word, because the Word is Divine truth; the garments which they divided, the Word in the letter, and the coat, the Word in the internal sense. To divide them, signifies to disperse and falsify; and soldiers signify those who belong to the church, who fight for Divine truth; wherefore it is said, "These things therefore the soldiers did." It is therefore clear, that by these words in the spiritual sense, is meant, that the Jewish Church dispersed the Divine truth which is in the sense of the letter; but that they could not disperse the Divine truth which is in the internal sense. (That the Lord's garments signified Divine truth, thus the Word, was shown above; that His coat signified Divine truth, or the Word, in the internal sense, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 9826, 9942; that to divide is to disperse and separate from good and truth, thus to falsify, may be seen, n. 4424, 6360, 6361, 9094. That soldiers signify those who belong to the church, in this place to the Jewish church, who fought for Divine truth, is evident from the spiritual sense of warfare and of war; that war signifies spiritual combats, which are those of truth against falsity, may be seen, n. 1659, 1664, 8295, 10455; it is therefore said concerning the Levites, whose function was to deal with the things of the church, that they should go out to the warfare, and should serve in the warfare, by exercising the ministry in the tent of the assembly (Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47; 8:23, 24).

9434. 'And the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself, but harmful and ruinous with those restricted to its outward level, separated from the inward. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sight of Jehovah's glory' as the appearance presented by Divine Truth emanating from the Lord (the fact that 'the sight of' means the appearance presented before the eyes is self-evident; and for the meaning of 'Jehovah's glory' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 9429); from the meaning of 'fire' as love in both senses, dealt with in 4906, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, in this instance God's love itself; from the meaning of 'the top of the mountain' as the inmost part of heaven, for 'Mount Sinai' means heaven, 9420, 9427, and its highest point, which is called 'the top' and the peak, means its inmost part, 9422; from the meaning of 'devouring' as consuming, and so harming and ruining; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as those restricted to outward things, apart from inward ones, dealt with often above. From all this it becomes clear that 'the sight of Jehovah's glory was like a [devouring] fire on the top of the mountain' means Divine Truth beaming brightly with the good of love in heaven itself; and the statement that it was 'like a devouring fire in the eyes of the children of Israel' means that with those restricted to its outward level, apart from the inward, it was harmful and ruinous.

[2] The implications of all this are that there are two kinds of love which are complete opposites, heavenly love and hellish love. Heavenly love consists of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour; hellish love consists of self-love and love of the world. Those with whom hellish loves reign are in hell, whereas those with whom heavenly loves reign are in heaven. For love is what constitutes the actual life within a person; without the love there is no life whatever. In everyone the heat and fire that his life possesses originate in his love; without that animating heat and fire he has no life, as is plainly evident. From this it follows that the character of the love determines the character of the life, and therefore that the character of the love determines that of the person. This being so, anyone can know from what his loves are whether he has heaven within himself or hell. The love present in a person is like a fire or flame, and in addition constitutes, as has been stated, the fire or flame of life; and the faith present there is like the light radiating from that fire or flame, and in addition constitutes the light which enlightens the more internal parts of his understanding. This also reveals the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those governed by heavenly love and the character of the light which gives rise to faith among those ruled by hellish love. The latter kind of light gives rise to faith that is no more than persuasion, which in itself is not faith at all, only a conviction that something is so, dictated by selfishness and worldliness, see 9363-9369. In the Church at the present day spiritual life, which is eternal life, is thought to lie in faith alone, thus in faith without the good works of heavenly love. But anyone who gives thought to the matter can see from the things which have now been stated what the character of that life is.

[3] Something must be said next about what Divine fire, that is, Divine Love, is like among those governed by heavenly love and what it is like among those ruled by hellish love. Among those governed by heavenly love it is God's fire or love constantly creating and renewing the interior parts of the will and enlightening the interior parts of the understanding. But among those ruled by hellish love it is God's fire or love constantly harming and ruining; and the reason for this is that among these people God's love meets with contrary feelings that destroy it. For it is turned into the fire or love of self and the world, and so into contempt for others in comparison with themselves, into feelings of enmity towards all who do not support them, thus into feelings of hatred, feelings of vengeance, and finally the readiness to behave brutally. This is why Jehovah's fire appeared before the eyes of the children of Israel as a devouring or consuming one. For being restricted to outward things, apart from inward, they were ruled by selfish and worldly love.

[4] The fact that this fire was to them a devouring and consuming one is again evident elsewhere in Moses,

It happened, when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, and the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. And you said, Lo, Jehovah our God has caused us to see His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire. Why therefore should we die? For this great fire will devour us; if we hear the voice of Jehovah our God any more we shall certainly die. Deuteronomy 5:23-25.

See also what has been shown in 6832, 8814, 8819, and the places quoted in 9380 showing that the character of this people was such. There are other places in the Word in which 'devouring fire' is used in reference to the wicked and means ruination, for example in Joel,

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and thick darkness, a day of cloud and gloom. Fire devours before them, ¹ and behind them a flame burns. The land before them is like the garden of Eden, but behind them a desolate wilderness. ² Joel 2:1-3.

[5] In Isaiah,

Jehovah will cause His glorious voice ³ to be heard, in the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 30:30.

In the same prophet,

Who among us will dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us will dwell with the hearths of eternity? Isaiah 33:14.

In the same prophet,

You will be punished ⁴ by Jehovah with the flame of a devouring fire. Isaiah 29:6.

In Ezekiel,

Your descendants will be devoured by fire. Ezekiel 23:25.

In these places 'a devouring fire' is the fire of desires that spring from self-love and love of the world, for this fire is that which consumes a person and ruins the Church. This was also represented by the fire that went out from before Jehovah, which devoured Aaron's sons Nadab and Abihu, because they put foreign ⁵ fire in their censers, Leviticus 10:1-2. 'Putting foreign fire in censers' means introducing worship that springs from a love other than that which is heavenly. Such fire means selfish and worldly love, and every desire arising from it, see 1297, 1861, 5071, 5215, 6314, 6832, 7324, 7575, 9141.

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