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.

329. The Ten Commandments contain everything to do with love for God and everything to do with love towards the neighbour.

Eight of the Ten Commandments, the first, second, fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and tenth contain no mention of love for God and love towards the neighbour. They do not tell us that God is to be loved, nor that God's name is to be kept holy, nor that the neighbour is to be loved, nor that he should be treated honestly and uprightly; they merely say 'There is not to be any other God before my face; you are not to take the name of God in vain; you are not to commit murder; you are not to commit adultery; you are not to steal; you are not to bear false witness; you are not to covet what is your neighbour's.' In general, they prescribe that evil is not to be willed, thought or done, either against God or against the neighbour. The reason why we are not commanded to do what is directly the work of love and charity, but only to avoid doing their opposites, is that in so far as a person shuns evils as sins, so far does he will the good actions of love and charity. It will be seen in the chapter on charity [Chapter 7] that the first point of love for God and love towards the neighbour is not to do evil, and their second point is to do good.

[2] There are two contradictory loves, the love of willing and doing good, and the love of willing and doing evil. The latter love is the love of hell, the former the love of heaven. The whole of hell possesses the love of doing evil, the whole of heaven possesses the love of doing good. Now since human beings are by birth prone to evils of every kind, and from birth on they tend towards the pursuits of hell, being unable to enter heaven unless they are born again, that is, regenerated, the evils which belong to hell must first be removed, before a person can will the good deeds which belong to heaven. For no one can be adopted by the Lord, until he has parted with the devil. The manner in which evils are removed and a person is brought to do good will be demonstrated in two chapters, those on Repentance [Chapter 9] and Reformation and Regeneration [Chapter 10].

[3] The Lord teaches in Isaiah that evils must first be removed before the good deeds performed by a person become good in the sight of God:

Wash yourselves, purify yourselves, remove the wickedness of your works from before my eyes; [cease to do evil;] learn to do good. Then if your sins were as scarlet, they will become white as snow; if they were red like purple, they will be like wool, Isaiah 1:16-18.

There is another passage like this in Jeremiah:

Stand in the gate of Jehovah's house, and there proclaim this word.

Thus spoke Jehovah Zebaoth, the God of Israel: make your ways good, and your works also. Put not your trust in lying words, saying, This is Jehovah's temple, this is Jehovah's temple, this is Jehovah's temple (that is, His church). Will you, after stealing, murdering and committing adultery and swearing falsely, then come and stand in my presence in this house, upon which my name is written, and say, We were carried away, when you do all these abominations? Has this house become a robbers' cave? Behold, even I have seen it, this is the word of Jehovah, Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11.

[4] We are also taught in Isaiah that before washing or purification from evils, prayers addressed to God are not heard:

Jehovah says, Woe to the nation that sins, the people weighed down with iniquity. They have banished themselves back again; from which place when you spread out your hands, I hide my eyes from you. Even though you pray time and again, I do not hear, Isaiah 1:4, 15.

The person who keeps the Ten Commandments and shuns evils is attended by love and charity; this is proved by the Lord's words in John:

Jesus said, He who has my commandments and does them, he it is who loves me; and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I shall love him and show myself to him; and we shall make our dwelling with him, John 14:21, 23.

Commandments there mean especially the Ten Commandments, which state that evil actions are not to be done nor longed for, and that thus a person's love for God, and God's love for him, follow, just as good does when evil has been removed.