533. A woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet. This symbolizes the Lord's New Church in heaven, which is the New Heaven, and the New Church to come on earth, which is the New Jerusalem.

That the woman here symbolizes the Lord's New Church is clear from the particulars in this chapter, understood in their spiritual meaning. To be shown that a woman elsewhere in the Word also symbolizes the church, see no. 434. A woman symbolizes the church because the church is called the Lord's bride and wife.

The woman here appeared clothed with the sun because the church is governed by love toward the Lord; for it acknowledges Him and keeps His commandments, and that is loving Him (John 14:21-24). That the sun symbolizes love may be seen in no. 53.

The moon appeared under the woman's feet because it means the church on earth, which was not yet conjoined with the church in heaven. The moon symbolizes the intelligence in a natural person, and faith (no. 413). And its being seen under the woman's feet means, symbolically, that it was a church to come on earth. Feet otherwise symbolize that same church after it has been conjoined.

[2] It should be known that the church exists in heaven just as on earth. For the Word is found there, and churches, and the preaching of sermons in them. Clerical and priestly orders exist there. For all the angels there were once people, and their departure from the world was for them but a continuation of life. Consequently they are perfected in love and wisdom, each one according to the degree of the affection for truth and goodness that he brought with him from the world.

The church among these is the church meant by the woman clothed with the sun, having on her head a crown of twelve stars. But because the church in heaven does not continue in existence unless there is also a church on earth that possesses an accordant love and wisdom, and this was yet to come, therefore the moon was seen under the woman's feet, which in particular here symbolizes faith, a faith which, as it exists today, is not a means of conjunction.

[3] The church in heaven does not continue in existence unless it is conjoined with a church on earth, because heaven where angels are, and the church where people are, function together, like the internal and external components in a person; and the internal component in a person does not continue in its proper condition unless the external component is joined to it. For the internal component without the external one is like a house without a foundation, or like seed on top of the ground and not in the ground, thus like something without a root - in a word, like a cause without an effect in which to abide.

It can be seen from this that it is an absolute necessity that a church exist somewhere in the world which has the Word and where the Lord is consequently known.

1093. Having great authority, signifies which has omnipotence, as in the heavens so upon the earth. This is evident from the signification of "great authority," as being, in reference to the Lord, omnipotence. "Great authority" here signifies omnipotence because according to the idea that man has of angels, great authority can be predicated of an angel, but not omnipotence; but when the Lord as to His Divine proceeding is meant by an angel, then "great authority" means omnipotence. Moreover, omnipotence belongs to the Lord because He is the God of heaven and the God of the earth, and by the Divine that proceeds from Him as a sun heaven and earth were created, and by it heaven with the earth is held together and subsists. The Divine proceeding is what is called in John, "the Word that was with God and that was God, by which all things were made that have been made, and by which also the world was made" (John 1:1, 2, 10). The Lord's omnipotence as in the heavens so upon the earth, is what is meant by "the great authority of the angel," because it is added, that "the earth was lightened by his glory;" for when the Last Judgment upon those who are meant by "the harlot or Babylon" was accomplished, the darkness that was interposed between heaven and earth was removed. But more upon this below.

(Continuation respecting the Athanasian Faith)

[2] From what has been said it is clear that the thoughts of man are extensions into societies either heavenly or infernal, and that if there were no extensions there would be no thoughts. For man's thought is like the sight of his eyes; if sight had no extension out of itself, either there would be no sight or there would be blindness. But it is a man's love that determines his thoughts into societies, good love determining them into heavenly societies, and evil love into infernal societies; for the entire heaven is arranged into societies, generally, particularly, and most particularly, according to all the varieties of affections belonging to the love; while on the other hand, hell is arranged into societies according to the cupidities of the love of evil, which are opposite to the affections of the love of good.

[3] Man's love is comparatively like fire, and his thoughts are like rays of light therefrom. If the love is good, the thoughts, which are like rays, are truths. If the love is evil, the thoughts, which are like rays, are falsities. Thoughts from a good love, which are truths, tend towards heaven; while thoughts from an evil love, which are falsities, tend towards hell and conjoin themselves with homogeneous societies, that is, with societies of like love, and adapt themselves to them, and ingraft themselves into them, and so intimately that the man is wholly one with them.

[4] Through love to the Lord man is an image of the Lord. The Lord is the Divine love; and in heaven before the angels He appears as a sun. From that sun light and heat proceed; the light is the Divine truth and the heat is the Divine good. From these two is the whole heaven, and from them are all the societies of heaven. The Lord's love in a man who is an image of Him is like the fire from that sun, from which fire also light and heat proceed; the light is the truth of faith and the heat is the good of love; both of these are from the Lord, and both are implanted in the societies with which the man's love acts as one. That man from creation is an image and likeness of God is evident from Genesis (Genesis 1:26); and he is an image and likeness of the Lord by means of love, because by means of love he is in the Lord and the Lord is in him (John 14:20, 21). In a word, not the least thought can exist unless it finds reception in some society, not in the individuals or angels of the society, but in the affection of love from which and in which that society is; and for this reason the angels are not aware of the influx at all, and such influx in no way disturbs the society.

[5] From all this the truth is clear that while man is living in the world he is in conjunction with heaven and also in consociation with angels, although both men and angels are unconscious of it. They are unconscious of it because man's thought is natural and an angel's thought is spiritual, and these make one only by correspondence. Because man is inaugurated into societies either of heaven or hell by means of the thoughts of his love, so when he comes into the spiritual world, as he does immediately after death, his character is known merely by the extensions of his thoughts into societies; and thus everyone is explored; and he is reformed by the admissions of his thoughts into the societies of heaven, and is condemned by the immersions of his thoughts in the societies of hell.