9372. And He said unto Moses. That this signifies that which concerns the Word in general, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the Word (of which below); and from the signification of “He said,” as involving those things which follow in this chapter, thus those which concern the Word (see n. 9370). (That Moses represents the Word, can be seen from what has been often shown before about Moses, as from the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 4859, 5922, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382, 8601, 8760, 8787, 8805.) Here Moses represents the Word in general, because it is said of him in what follows, that he alone should come near unto Jehovah (verse 2); and also that, being called unto out of the midst of the cloud, he entered into it, and went up the mount (verses 16-18).

[2] In the Word there are many who represent the Lord in respect to truth Divine, or in respect to the Word; but chief among them are Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist. That Moses does so, can be seen in the explications just cited above; that so do Elijah and Elisha, can be seen in the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 2762, 5247; and that John the Baptist does so is evident from the fact that he was “Elias who was to come.” He who does not know that John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, cannot know what all those things infold and signify which are said about him in the New Testament; and therefore in order that this secret may stand open, and that at the same time it may appear that Elias, and also Moses, who were seen when the Lord was transfigured, signified the Word, some things may here be quoted which are spoken about John the Baptist; as in Matthew:

After the messengers of John had departed, Jesus began to speak concerning John, saying, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken by the wind? But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft things are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, even more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold I send Mine angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Verily I say unto you, Among those who are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye are willing to believe, he is Elias who was to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:7-15; and also Luke 7:24-28).

No one can know how these things are to be understood, unless he knows that this John represented the Lord as to the Word, and unless he also knows from the internal sense what is signified by “the wilderness” in which he was, also what by “a reed shaken by the wind,” and likewise by “soft raiment in kings’ houses;” and further what is signified by his being “more than a prophet,” and by “none among those who are born of women being greater than he, and nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he,” and lastly by his being “Elias.” For without a deeper sense, all these words are uttered merely from some comparison, and not from anything of weight.

[3] But it is very different when by John is understood the Lord as to the Word, or the Word representatively. Then by “the wilderness of Judea in which John was” is signified the state in which the Word was at the time when the Lord came into the world, namely, that it was “in the wilderness,” that is, it was in obscurity so great that the Lord was not at all acknowledged, neither was anything known about His heavenly kingdom; when yet all the prophets prophesied about Him, and about His kingdom, that it was to endure forever. (That “a wilderness” denotes such obscurity, see n. 2708, 4736, 7313.) For this reason the Word is compared to “a reed shaken by the wind” when it is explained at pleasure; for in the internal sense “a reed” denotes truth in the ultimate, such as is the Word in the letter.

[4] That the Word in the ultimate, or in the letter, is crude and obscure in the sight of men; but that in the internal sense it is soft and shining, is signified by their “not seeing a man clothed in soft raiment, for behold those who wear soft things are in kings’ houses.” That such things are signified by these words, is plain from the signification of “raiment,” or “garments,” as being truths (n. 2132, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 6914, 6918, 9093); and for this reason the angels appear clothed in garments soft and shining according to the truths from good with them (n. 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216). The same is evident from the signification of “kings’ houses,” as being the abodes of the angels, and in the universal sense, the heavens; for “houses” are so called from good (n. 2233, 2234, 3128, 3652, 3720, 4622, 4982, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997); and “kings,” from truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148). Therefore by virtue of their reception of truth from the Lord, the angels are called “sons of the kingdom,” “sons of the king,” and also “kings.”

[5] That the Word is more than any doctrine in the world, and more than any truth in the world, is signified by “what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet;” and by, “there hath not arisen among those who are born of women a greater than John the Baptist;” for in the internal sense “a prophet” denotes doctrine (n. 2534, 7269); and “those who are born,” or are the sons, “of women” denote truths (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3704, 4257).

[6] That in the internal sense, or such as it is in heaven, the Word is in a degree above the Word in the external sense, or such as it is in the world, and such as John the Baptist taught, is signified by, “he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he;” for as perceived in heaven the Word is of wisdom so great that it transcends all human apprehension. That the prophecies about the Lord and His coming, and that the representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, ceased when the Lord came into the world, is signified by, “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” That the Word was represented by John, as by Elijah, is signified by his being “Elias who is to come.”

[7] The same is signified by these words in Matthew:

The disciples asked Jesus, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? He answered and said, Elias must needs first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias hath come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them. And they understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist (Matthew 17:10-13).

That “Elias hath come, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished” signifies that the Word has indeed taught them that the Lord is to come, but that still they did not wish to comprehend, interpreting it in favor of the rule of self, and thus extinguishing what is Divine in it. That they would do the same with the truth Divine itself, is signified by “even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.” (That “the Son of man” denotes the Lord as to truth Divine, see n. 2803, 2813, 3704)

[8] From all this it is now evident what is meant by the prophecy about John in Malachi:

Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh (Malachi 4:5).

Moreover, the Word in the ultimate, or such as it is in the external form in which it appears before man in the world, is described by the “clothing” and “food” of John the Baptist, in Matthew:

John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, had His clothing of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:1, 4).

In like manner it is described by Elijah in the second book of Kings:

He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins (2 Kings 1:8).

By “clothing,” or a “garment,” when said of the Word, is signified truth Divine there in the ultimate form; by “camel’s hair” are signified memory-truths such as appear there before a man in the world; by the “leathern girdle” is signified the external bond connecting and keeping in order all the interior things; by “food” is signified spiritual nourishment from the knowledges of truth and of good out of the Word; by “locusts” are signified ultimate or most general truths; and by “wild honey” their pleasantness.

[9] That such things are signified by “clothing” and “food” has its origin in the representatives of the other life, where all appear clothed according to truths from good, and where food also is represented according to the desires of acquiring knowledge and growing wise. From this it is that “clothing,” or a “garment,” denotes truth (as may be seen from the citations above; and that “food” or “meat” denotes spiritual nourishment, n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562, 9003; that “a girdle” denotes a bond which gathers up and holds together interior things, n. 9341; that “leather” denotes what is external, n. 3540; and thus “a leathern girdle” denotes an external bond; that “hairs” denote ultimate or most general truths, n. 3301, 5569-5573; that “a camel” denotes memory-knowledge in general, n. 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145, 4156; that “a locust” denotes nourishing truth in the extremes, n. 7643; and that “honey” denotes the pleasantness thereof, n. 5620, 6857, 8056). It is called “wild honey,” or “honey of the field,” because by “a field” is signified the church (n. 2971, 3317, 3766, 7502, 7571, 9139, 9295). He who does not know that such things are signified, cannot possibly know why Elijah and John were so clothed. And yet that these things signified something peculiar to these prophets, can be thought by everyone who thinks well about the Word.

[10] Because John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, therefore also when he spoke of the Lord, who was the Word itself, he said of himself that he was “not Elias, nor the prophet,” and that he was “not worthy to loose the latchet of the Lord’s shoe,” as in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The Jews from Jerusalem, priests and Levites, asked John who he was. And he confessed, and denied not, I am not the Christ. Therefore they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? But he said, I am not. Art thou the prophet? He answered, No. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. They said therefore, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet? He answered, I baptize with water; in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not; He it is who is to come after me, who was before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. When he saw Jesus, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was before me; for he was before me (John 1:1, 14, 19-30).

From these words it is plain that when John spoke about the Lord Himself, who was Truth Divine itself, or the Word, he said that he himself was not anything, because the shadow disappears when the light itself appears, that is, the representative disappears when the original itself makes its appearance. (That the representatives had in view holy things, and the Lord Himself, and not at all the person that represented, see n. 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.) One who does not know that representatives vanish like shadows at the presence of light, cannot know why John denied that he was Elias and the prophet.

[11] From all this it can now be seen what is signified by Moses and Elias, who were seen in glory, and who spoke with the Lord when transfigured, of His departure which He should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:29-31); namely, that they signified the Word (“Moses” the historic Word, and “Elias” the prophetic Word), which in the internal sense throughout treats of the Lord, of His coming into the world, and of His departure out of the world; and therefore it is said that “Moses and Elias were seen in glory,” for “glory” denotes the internal sense of the Word, and the “cloud” its external sense (see the preface to Genesis 18, and n. 5922, 8427).

500. The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. This symbolically means that those people who are caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will oppose these two essential elements of the New Church, attack them, and reject them, in themselves and, as far as they are able, in others.

The beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit means the people who ascended out of the bottomless pit having the appearance of locusts in Revelation 9:1-12. That they were people caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone may be seen in the exposition there. To make war means, symbolically, to oppose and attack these two essential elements of the church, as we shall see next. To overcome them and kill them means, symbolically, to reject them and root them out, in themselves and, as far as they are able, in others.

[2] People caught up in the interior tenets of the doctrine regarding faith alone will attack and reject these two essential elements because they have established in themselves two ideas contrary to them, first, that it is not the Lord but God the Father to whom they should turn; and secondly, that a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments is not a spiritual life, but simply a moral and civic life, and they maintain this to keep anyone from believing that he is saved by works rather than by their faith alone.

All those people who in schools and universities have deeply impressed these dogmas on their minds do not afterward turn away from them. There are three reasons for this, hitherto unknown. First, they have introduced themselves as to their spirit into association with people in the spiritual world like themselves, where there are many satanic spirits who find delight only in falsities, and from these spirits they cannot possibly be set free unless they reject those falsities. Nor can they do that unless they turn to God the Savior directly and begin to live a Christian life in accordance with the Ten Commandments.

[3] The second reason is their belief that they are granted instant forgiveness for their sins and thus salvation in the act of faith, and afterward in the state or progression of it through the same act continued, preserved and retained by the Holy Spirit, apart from any exercises of charity. After that, then, once people have imbibed these ideas, they regard their sins as of no account in the sight of God, and so continue in their impure lives.

Moreover, because they know how to cleverly defend such ideas with falsifications of the Word in the presence of uneducated listeners, and with fallacious arguments in the presence of learned ones, we are told here that the beast from the bottomless pit overcame and killed the two witnesses. But this is the case only with people who love to live self-indulgently and are carried away by the delights of their appetites. Whenever these people think about salvation, they harbor at heart their lusts, and with both hands embrace that faith of theirs, because then they can be saved by uttering certain words in a confident tone and do not have to attend to anything having to do with their life for God's sake, but only for the sake of the world.

[4] The third reason is that people who in their youth have imbibed the interior tenets of that faith, called the mysteries of justification, when afterward promoted to a respectable ministry, do not think to themselves about God and heaven, but about themselves and the world, retaining the mysteries of their faith only for the sake of their reputation so as to be respected as wise, and because of their wisdom, accounted worthy to be rewarded with riches.

Such is the case as a result of that faith because it has nothing of religion in it. The reality of this may be seen in the third narrative account above, in no. 484.

[5] That wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, which are attacks on truth and are waged by reasonings based on falsities, is clear from the following passages:

...spirits of demons... go out... to gather them for war on the great day of God Almighty. (Revelation 16:14)

...the dragon was angry with the woman, and it went away to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

It was granted to (the dragon's beast) to make war with the saints... (Revelation 13:7)

Prepare holy war against (the daughter of Zion)..., and let us go up at noon. (Jeremiah 6:4)

You have not gone up into the breaches... to stand in battle on the day of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 13:5)

In Salem is (God's) tabernacle, and His dwelling place in Zion, where He broke the flaming arrows, the bow... and... war. (Psalms 76:2-3)

Jehovah shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up zeal like a man of war. (Isaiah 42:13, cf. Psalms 24:8)

In that day Jehovah... will be... for a spirit of justice to him who sits in judgment, ...to those who turn back the battle at the gate. (Isaiah 28:5-6)

Deliver me... from the evil man; preserve me from the violent man... All day they gather for war. They sharpen their tongues like serpents. (Psalms 140:1-3)

...many will come in My name, saying, "I am the Christ," and will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not troubled. (Matthew 24:5-7, cf. Mark 13:6-8, Luke 21:8-10)

The wars of the kings of the north and south and other wars in Daniel 10, 11, and 12 symbolize no other than spiritual wars. And so, too, the wars in other places, as in Isaiah 2:3-5, 13:4, 21:14-15, 31:4; Jeremiah 49:25-26; Hosea 2:18; Zechariah 10:5, 14:3; Psalm 18:35 ¹ , 46:8-9.

[6] As wars in the Word symbolize spiritual wars, therefore the ministry of the Levites was called military service, as is apparent from the following, that the command was given for the Levites to be numbered, to "perform military service, to do the work in the tabernacle of meeting" (Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43, 47).

This is the service of the Levites: ...to perform military service in the ministry of the tabernacle of meeting; but at the age of fifty years he must cease the military service, and shall minister no more. (Numbers 8:24-25)

See also no. 447 above, where we established from the Word that armies symbolize the church's goods and truths, and in an opposite sense, its evils and falsities.

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