738. "Five have fallen, one is, and the other has not yet come. And when he comes, he must remain a short time." This symbolically means that the Word's Divine truths have all been destroyed but this one, that the Lord was given all authority in heaven and on earth, and a second one, which has not yet been called into question, and when it is, will not survive, namely, that the Lord's humanity is Divine.
The number five means, symbolically, not five, but all the others, here all the other Divine truths in the Word, those symbolized by kings. For numbers in the book of Revelation, and in the Word in general, symbolize the character of the things to which they are attached. They are like other adjectives attached to substantives, or like predicate adjectives appended to subjects, as may be seen from the numbers two, three, four, six, seven, ten, twelve, and one hundred and forty-four, explained previously. Here, therefore, the number five symbolizes all the others, because the number seven symbolizes all the sanctities of the Word, and we are told next that one is, and the other has not yet come, thus that out of all there are two that remain.
It is apparent from this that five's having fallen means symbolically that all the rest have been destroyed. They are said to have fallen, because the reference is to kings, who fall by the sword. "One is" symbolizes just this Divine truth, that the Lord has been given all authority in heaven and on earth, in accordance with the Lord's own words in Matthew 28:18, cf. John 13:3; 17:2-3, 10 (see no. 618 above). This one has not been destroyed, because Roman Catholics could not otherwise claim for themselves dominion over everything connected with the church and the Word and over heaven.
[2] The second king that has not yet come, and who, when he comes, must remain a short time, symbolizes a Divine truth which has not yet come into question, and which, when it does, will not survive among Roman Catholics, namely, that the Lord's humanity is Divine. We are told that it must remain a short time, because it is Divinely provided so, regarding which something has been said in nos. 686-687 above.
To be shown that it is a Divine truth that the Lord's humanity is Divine, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord from beginning to end.
This truth has not yet come into question, however, because after Roman Catholics transferred all of the Lord's authority to themselves, they could not acknowledge the Lord's humanity as Divine, for then the laity and common people would say that they had transferred to themselves a Divine authority, and thus that the Pope was God and his ministers gods. But that it still will come into question can be seen from its being so foretold here in the book of Revelation.
[3] That Roman Catholics see this second truth, namely that the Lord's humanity is Divine - even though with eyes as though closed - is apparent from the following tenets among them: that they say that not only is the Lord's body and blood present in the Eucharist, but also His soul and Divinity, thus that in it is an omnipresence of both His Humanity and His Divinity, and His humanity could not be omnipresent in it unless it were Divine. They also say that through the Eucharist Christ is present in them, and they in Him, with respect to both His body and blood and also His soul and Divinity, and they say this in speaking of His humanity. They could not say this, because it would be not be possible, unless the Lord's humanity were Divine.
In addition to this, they say also that the saints will reign with Christ, and that Christ is to be worshiped and the saints invoked and venerated. They say, too, that Christ is the true light, and that in Him they live and are worthy of His merit, and other like things which involve the Divinity of His humanity.
These observations come from the proceedings of the Council of Trent and the bull confirming them. Thus Roman Catholics see this truth, as we said, but as though with eyes closed.
