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.

339. The reason why we must believe, that is, have faith in God the Saviour Jesus Christ is that it is faith in a visible God, in whom there is an invisible God; and faith in a visible God, who is man and at the same time God, enters into a person. For faith is in its essence spiritual, but in its form natural. With a person therefore faith becomes spiritual-natural, for everything spiritual must be accepted in the natural, in order to be of any value to a person. The bare spiritual does in fact enter into a person, but is not accepted. It is like the ether which flows in and out again without producing any effect; for an effect to be produced, it must be perceived and so accepted, both of these being processes in the human mind, and this cannot happen in a person except at the natural level.

On the other hand a purely natural faith, one, that is, devoid of spiritual essence, is no faith, merely a firm conviction or knowledge. A firm conviction mimics faith externally, but, lacking any inward spirituality, cannot therefore contribute anything to salvation. Such is faith in the case of all who deny the divinity of the Lord's Human; such too was the faith of the Arians and also the Socinians ¹ , both of whom rejected the Lord's divinity. What is faith without a goal towards which it is directed? Is it not like a look directed towards the universe, a look which falls as if on empty space and thus comes to naught? It is also like a bird soaring above the atmosphere into the ether, where it dies, as if in a vacuum. The time this faith resides in the human mind can be compared with that of the winds in the halls of Aeolus ² , or that of light in a shooting star. It arises like a comet with a long tail, but, like a comet, it passes and disappears.

[2] In brief, faith in an invisible God is in fact blind faith, since the human mind cannot see its God; and the light of this faith, not being spiritual-natural, is a false light. This light resembles that of a glowworm, or the light seen at night on marshes or sulphurous ground, or that from rotting wood. Nothing can come of such light but pure imagination, which make appearances seem real when they are not. Faith in an invisible God sheds only this kind of light; especially so, when one reflects that God is a spirit, and thinks of spirit as the ether. What result can this have except to make a person look on God as he does the ether? So he looks for God in the universe, and not finding Him there, believes that Nature is God. This is the source of the nature-worship which is prevalent at the present time. Did not the Lord say that no one has ever heard the Father's voice or seen His appearance (John 5:37)? And also that no one has ever seen God, and that the only-begotten Son, who is in the Father's bosom, has revealed Him (John 1:18)? No one has seen the Father except Him who is with the Father; He has seen the Father (John 6:46). And that no one comes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6). Further we read that a person who sees and knows Him sees and knows the Father (John 14:7ff).

[3] It is, however, different with faith in the Lord God the Saviour. Since He is God and man, and can be approached and seen in the mind's eye, this faith is not without a goal, but has a goal from which it proceeds and to which it is directed; and once accepted, it remains. It is as when one has seen an emperor or king; whenever one recalls them, their likeness recurs to the mind. The vision that faith gives is like looking at a shining cloud, with an angel in its midst, calling the person to himself so that he can be raised to heaven. That is how the Lord appears to those who have faith in Him, and He comes near to each individual, to the extent that he knows and acknowledges Him. This happens in so far as he knows and does His commandments, that is, to shun evils and do good deeds; and finally He comes to his house and makes His dwelling with him together with the Father, who is in Him, as this passage of John promises:

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 come to him and make our dwelling with him, John 14:21, 23.

This was written in the presence of the Lord's twelve Apostles, who were sent to me by the Lord while I was writing this.

Footnotes: