325. I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. This symbolizes people who were hated by the evil, treated with scorn and expelled because of their life in accordance with the Word's truths and their acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine humanity, and who were protected by the Lord to keep them from being led astray.

"Under the altar" symbolizes a lower earth where the inhabitants were protected by the Lord. An altar symbolizes worship of the Lord out of the goodness of love.

The souls of those who had been slain mean here, symbolically, not martyrs, but people who were hated, treated with scorn, and expelled by the evil in the world of spirits, and who could be led astray by followers of the dragon and by heretics.

"For the word of God and for the testimony which they held" means, symbolically, "because of their life in accordance with the Word's truths and their acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine humanity." Testimony in heaven is given only to people who acknowledge the Lord's Divine humanity, for it is the Lord who testifies, and who enables angels to testify (no. 16); "for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (Revelation 19:10).

[2] Since the souls were under the altar, it is apparent that they were being protected by the Lord. For the Lord protects all people who have lived some life of charity, to keep them from being harmed by the evil; and after the Last Judgment, when the evil have been removed, they are released from their asylums and elevated into heaven. I have often seen them after the Last Judgment being let out of the lower earth and conveyed into heaven.

[3] The fact that those who are slain mean people who are expelled, treated with scorn, and hated by the evil in the world of spirits, and who can been led astray, as also people who wish to know truths, but cannot because of the falsities in the church - this can be seen from the following passages:

Thus said the Lord... God, "Feed the sheep for slaughter, whose owners slaughter them... So I fed the sheep for slaughter because of you, you poor of the flock." (Zechariah 11:4-5, 7)

...we are slain all day long; we are accounted as a flock for the slaughter... Do not forsake us, O Jehovah! (Psalms 44:22-23)

Those who are coming, Jacob will cause to take root... Has He been slain according to the slaughter of his slain? (Isaiah 27:6-7)

...I have heard... the voice of the daughter of Zion..., saying, 'Woe is me..., my soul is weary because of the murderers!" (Jeremiah 4:31)

...they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated... for My name's sake. (Matthew 24:9, cf. John 16:2-3)

The Lord said this last to His disciples, but by disciples He meant all who worship the Lord and live according to His Word's truths.

[4] The evil in the world of spirits continually wish to kill these people. But because they cannot do so physically there, they continually try to do so as regards the soul. And when they cannot do this, they burn with such hatred against these people that they feel nothing more delightful than to do them harm. The reason [they cannot kill them] is that the Lord protects them, and when the evil are cast out into hell, which happens after the Last Judgment, they are brought out of their asylums. But see the explanations to chapter 20, and no. 846 there regarding these people.

That killing or slaying in the Word symbolizes the destruction of souls, which is to kill spiritually, is apparent from many passages there, including also the following: Isaiah 14:19-21; 26:21; Jeremiah 25:33; Lamentations 2:21; Ezekiel 9:1, 6; Revelation 18:24.

766. "And she will be burned with fire, for strong is the Lord God who judges her." This symbolically means that those Roman Catholics will be embodiments of animosity toward the Lord and toward His heaven and church, because they see then that the Lord alone governs and reigns over everything in heaven and on earth, and not at all any person of himself.

The fire with which she will be burned symbolizes an animosity toward the Lord and toward His heaven and church, as discussed below. "For strong is the Lord God who judges her" means, symbolically, because they see then - that is, in the spiritual world, into which they come after death - that the Lord alone governs and reigns over everything in heaven and on earth, and not at all any person of himself. "For strong is the Lord God who judges her" has this symbolic meaning because the Lord does not judge anyone to hell. Rather people themselves do, for when they sense the angelic atmosphere flowing down out of heaven from the Lord, they flee away and cast themselves into hell, as can be seen from what we presented in nos. 233, 325, 339, 340, 387, 502 above.

[2] It may be seen in nos. 468, 494 above that fire symbolizes love in two senses - both heavenly love, which is a love for the Lord, and hellish love, which is a love of self. Hellish fire is animosity, because the love of self is filled with hatred. For people caught up in that love all burn with wrath to the degree of their love, and blaze with hatred and vengeance against people who attack them; and people coming from Babylon do so against people who deny that they are to be worshiped and adored as embodiments of holiness. When they are told, therefore, that the Lord alone is worshiped and adored in heaven, and that to worship some man instead of the Lord is profane, any adoration of the Lord in them becomes animosity toward Him, and any adulteration of the Word in order that they may be worshiped becomes profane.

This, then, is what is symbolically meant by Babylon's being burned with fire. That to be burned with fire is the punishment for profaning what is holy may be seen in no. 748 above.

The same meaning is contained in the following verses in Jeremiah:

...I am against you, (Babylon,) O destroying mountain, who destroys all the earth... ...I will... roll you down from the rocks, and make you a burning mountain... The... walls of Babylon shall be utterly overthrown, and her high gates shall be burned with fire. (Jeremiah 51:25, 58)