275. (Verse 6) And before the throne there was a glassy sea like unto crystal. That this signifies the appearance of truth in ultimates, in which are the general things thereof, translucent from the influx of Divine truth united to Divine good in primaries, is evident from the signification of before the throne, as being appearance; and from the signification of the sea as being the general things of truth, which will be explained in what follows; also from the signification of a sea of glass, as being translucence. It is said like unto crystal, in order to express translucence from the influx of Divine truth united to Divine good in primaries, which is signified by the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, as shown just above (n. 274). In the preceding passages, and in this passage, the state of the whole heaven arranged in order for judgment, and its ultimate, is described by a glassy sea like unto crystal. The reason why the truth of the ultimate heaven is signified by a glassy sea is that sea signifies the general things of truth, such as truth is in the ultimates of heaven and pertaining to man in his natural state, which is called scientific truth (verum scientificum.)

[2] The reason why sea has such a signification is that in the sea there is a gathering together of waters; and waters signify truths, as may be seen above (n. 71).

That the sea has such a signification is evident from many passages in the Word, of which some shall be here adduced. In Isaiah:

"I will shut up the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them; then the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up" (19:4, 5).

By the Egyptians are signified the knowledges (scientiae) belonging to the natural man; by the cruel lord into whose hands they should be shut up is signified the evil of the love of self; by a fierce king is signified the falsity therefrom; by the waters of the sea failing is signified that notwithstanding the abundance of knowledges, there were no truths therefrom; and by the river being wasted and dried up, is signified that there was no doctrine of truth and consequently no intelligence.

[3] Again:

"Jehovah will visit with his sword, hard, great and strong, upon leviathan, the stretched out serpent, and upon leviathan the crooked serpent, and will slay the whales which are in the sea" (27:1).

These things also are said concerning Egypt, by which are signified the knowledges (scientiae) of the natural man; by leviathan the stretched out serpent are signified those who reject every thing which they do not see with their natural eyes; thus the merely sensual, who are without faith, because they do not comprehend. By leviathan the crooked serpent are signified those who, for the same reason, do not believe, and yet say that they do believe. By a sword, hard, great and strong, with which they shall be visited, is signified the extinction of all truth; for sword signifies falsity destroying truth. By the whales in the sea which shall be slain, are signified scientifics (scientifica) in general. (That a whale has such a signification may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 7293.)

[4] In the same:

"The inhabitants of the isles are silent; the merchant of Zidon passing over the sea, they have filled thee. Blush O Zidon, because the sea hath said, The fortification of the sea, saying, I have not travailed, and I have not brought forth; I have not brought up young men, nor made the virgins to grow up; as with the report of Egypt, they shall be seized with pains at the report of Tyre" (23:2-5).

By Zidon and Tyre are signified the knowledges (cognitiones) of good and truth, therefore reference is made to the merchant of Zidon passing over the sea, a merchant denoting one who procures to himself those knowledges, and imparts them. That they procured to themselves nothing of good and truth thereby, is signified by the sea, saying, "I have not travailed and brought forth, I have not brought up young men, nor made the virgins to grow up." To travail, and to bring forth, is to produce something from knowledges; young men signify truths, and virgins goods. That consequently the use of knowledges and of sciences (scientiae) would perish, is signified by, as with the report of Egypt, they shall be seized with pains at the report of Tyre.

[5] In Ezekiel:

"All the princes of the sea shall descend from upon their thrones, and shall cast away their robes, and put off their vestments of embroidery; they shall be clothed with terrors. They shall take up a lamentation over thee, and shall say, How hast thou perished, thou that wast inhabited by seas, the renowned city which was strong in the sea; wherefore the islands in the sea shall be troubled at thy destruction" (Ezekiel 26:16-18).

These things are said of Tyre, by which are signified the knowledges of truth, the neglect and loss of which are thus described. By the princes of the sea who shall come down from their thrones, are meant primary knowledges (cognitiones); that they shall be left together with scientifics is signified by their casting away their robes, and putting off their vestments of embroidery; the embroidery is the Scientific (Scientificum); the renowned city strong in the sea signifies the full power of knowing; the seas signify collections of scientifics (scientifica); the islands in the sea signify the nations more remote from truths which desire knowledges, concerning which it is said, "the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy destruction."

[6] In Isaiah:

"They shall not do evil, nor corrupt themselves, in all the mountain of my holiness; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea" (11:9).

Here the subject treated of is a new heaven and a new church, which are meant by the mountain of holiness in which they shall not do evil nor corrupt themselves; their understanding of truth from the Lord is described by the earth being full of the knowledge (scientia) of Jehovah; and because waters signify truths, and the sea fulness of them, it is therefore said, "as the waters cover the sea."

[7] In the same:

"At my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness; their fish shall be putrid, because there is no water, and shall die of thirst" (50:2).

To dry up the sea signifies an entire lack of the general knowledges (cognitiones) of truth; to make the rivers a wilderness signifies the deprivation of all truth, and consequently of intelligence; the fish becoming putrid signifies that the scientifics of the natural man shall be without any spiritual life, which takes place when they are applied to confirm falsities against the truths of the church; because there is no water signifies because there is not any truth; to die of thirst signifies the extinction of truth. (That rivers signify those things that pertain to intelligence may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 108, 2702, 3051: that desert signifies where there is no good because no truth, n. 2708, 4736, 7055; that fish signifies the Scientific of the natural man, n. 40, 991; that water signifies truth, n. 2702, 3424, 5668, 8568, and that to die of thirst signifies the deprivation of spiritual life from defect of truth, n. 8568, end.)

[8] In David:

"Jehovah, thou rulest the raging of the sea, when the waves thereof arise" (Psalms 89:9).

By sea is here signified the natural man, because in the natural man are the general things of truth; by the rising of its waves is signified its exalting itself against the Divine, denying the things of the church.

[9] Again:

"Jehovah hath founded" the world upon the seas, "and established it upon the rivers" (Psalms 24:2).

By the world is signified the church; by the seas the knowledges (cognitiones) in general which are in the natural man; and by rivers the truths of faith: upon both these the church is founded.

[10] In Amos:

Jehovah "who buildeth his steps in the heavens, and calleth the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon the faces of the earth" (9:6).

By the steps which Jehovah buildeth in the heavens are signified interior truths, which are called spiritual; by the waters of the sea are signified exterior truths, which are natural because they are in the natural man; by pouring them out upon the faces of the earth, is signified upon the men of the church, for earth denotes the church.

[11] In David:

"By the Word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap; he giveth the depths for treasures" (Psalms 33:6, 7).

The Word of Jehovah by which the heavens were made, and the breath of His mouth by which all the host of them is made, signifies the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord; the host of the heavens denoting all things of love and faith. The waters of the sea which He gathered together as an heap signify the knowledges of truth, and truths in general, which are together in the natural man; the depths which He gives for treasures signify sensual scientifics (scientifica sensualia), which are the most general, and the ultimate of the natural man, and in which at the same time are interior or higher truths, whence they are called treasures.

[12] Again:

Jehovah "hath founded the earth upon its foundations that it be not removed to eternity and for ever. Thou hast covered it with the deep as with a garment" (Psalms 104:5, 6).

By earth is here signified the church; the foundations on which Jehovah founded it for ever, are the knowledges (cognitiones) of truth and good. The deep which covered it as with a garment signifies the sensual Scientific, which is the ultimate of the natural man, and because it is such, Jehovah is said to have covered it as with a garment.

[13] Again:

Jehovah "thy way is in the sea, and thy path in many waters, yet thy footsteps are not known" (Psalms 77:19).

In Isaiah:

"Thus saith Jehovah, I have made a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters" (43:16).

That by sea in this passage is not meant the sea, nor by waters are meant waters is evident, because it is said that therein are the way and the path of Jehovah. Therefore, by the sea and by waters are meant those things in which Jehovah or the Lord is, these being the knowledges of truth in general from the Word, and truths therein. The sea denotes those knowledges, and the waters truths. Knowledges (cognitiones) and truths differ in this, that the former are of the natural man, and the latter of the spiritual man.

[14] In Jeremiah:

"I will plead thy cause, and will avenge thy avenging: and I will dry up the sea" of Babel, "and will make dry the springs thereof; the sea shall come up upon Babel, she shall be covered with the multitude of its waves" (51:36, 42).

By Babel are meant those who profane goods; the sea of Babel signifies their traditions, which are adulterations of good from the Word; the waves are the falsities thereof; their destruction at the Last Judgment is described by these things.

[15] In the same:

"A people coming from the north, and a great nation, and many kings shall be stirred up from the sides of the earth. Their voice maketh a tumult like the sea, and they ride upon horses" (50:41, 42).

The people coming from the north denote those who are falsities from evil; the great nation denotes evils, and many kings denote falsities; the sides of the earth denote the things of the church, and also those not of the church, for the earth denotes the church; their voice making a tumult like the sea, denotes falsity from the natural man exalting itself against the truth of the church; the horses upon which they ride, are reasonings from the fallacies of the senses.

[16] Again:

"Jehovah, who giveth the sun for a light of the day, the statutes of the moon and of the stars for a light of the night, stirring up the sea so that the waves thereof are tumultuous" (31:35).

By the sun from which is the light of the day, is signified the good of celestial love, from which comes the perception of truth; by the ordinances of the moon and the stars, from which comes the light of the night, are signified truths from spiritual good and from knowledges, from which comes intelligence; by the sea which is stirred up, and by the waves which are tumultuous, are signified the generals of truth in the natural man, and scientifics.

[17] In Isaiah.

"The wicked are like the troubled sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt" (57:20).

By the troubled sea, which is said of the wicked, are signified reasonings from falsities; by the waters which cast up mire and dirt are signified the falsities themselves, from which come evils of life and falsities of doctrine.

[18] In Ezekiel:

"I will stretch out mine hand upon the Philistines, and I will cut off the Cherethites, and destroy the remnant of the sea coasts" (25:16).

By the Philistines are signified those who are in the doctrine of faith alone; and by the remnant of the sea coasts, which shall be destroyed, are signified all things pertaining to truth.

[19] In Hosea:

"I will not return to destroy Ephraim. They shall go after Jehovah; and with honour the sons shall draw near from the sea, with honour shall they come as a bird out of Egypt, and as a dove out of the land of Assyria" (Hosea 11:9-11).

By Ephraim is here signified the church as to the understanding of truth; by the sons from the sea who shall draw near are signified truths from their common fount, which is the Word; by a bird out of Egypt is signified the Scientific in agreement therewith; and by a dove out of the land of Assyria is signified the Rational.

[20] In Zechariah:

"In that day living waters shall go out from Jerusalem, part of them to the eastern sea, and part of them to the hinder sea" (14:8).

By living waters going out from Jerusalem are signified truths from a spiritual origin in the church, which are the truths received by man when he is enlightened from the Lord while reading the Word; Jerusalem signifies the church as to doctrine. By the sea is signified the natural man into which those things descend that are in the spiritual man; by the eastern sea is signified the natural man as to good, and by the hinder sea the same as to truth; and because the natural man is in the general things of truth, therefore by sea are also signified things of truth.

[21] Those who are ignorant of what is meant by the spiritual man, and by the truths and goods therein, may suppose that the truths that are in the natural man, and are called knowledges and scientifics, are not merely the generals of truth, but that they are all things of truth pertaining to man. But be it known that the truths that are in the spiritual man, and from which those that are in the natural are derived, exceed them enormously. Those, however, that are in the spiritual man do not come within the perception of the natural man until he enters the spiritual world, which is after death; for then man puts off the natural, and puts on the spiritual. That this is the case is evident from this fact only, that the angels are in intelligence and wisdom ineffable in comparison with man, and yet the angels are all from the human race. (That the angels are from the human race may be seen in the small work, The Last Judgment 14-22, and 23-27.) Because the sea signifies the generals of truth, therefore the great vessel, which was for washing in common, was called the brazen sea (1 Kings 7:23-26). For washing represented purifications from falsities and evils, and waters signify truths, by which purifications are effected. And because all truths are from good, therefore the whole vessel was made of brass; therefore it was called the brazen sea, for brass signifies good. Spiritual purification, which is purification from falsities and evils, is there fully described by the measurements of that vessel, and by the bases thereof, understood in the spiritual sense. From the considerations now adduced, it is evident that by sea are signified the generals of truth, or the knowledges of truth together and collectively. But what is further signified by the sea will be shown in the explanation of the following part of this book. For the sea is mentioned in various senses; as in chap. 5:13; 7:1-3; 8:8, 9; 10:2, 8; 12:12; 13:1; 14:7; 15:2; 16:3; 18:17, 19, 21; 20:13; 21:1.

6971. 'And do not hear the voice of the former sign' means that if they did not obey what was declared by the Word, then instead of being spiritual and rational they would become people who were not spiritual or rational. This is clear from the meaning of 'hearing' as obeying, dealt with in 2542, 3869, 5017; from the meaning of 'the voice' as what is declared by the Word, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'the former sign' as an indication that instead of being spiritual and rational they would become people who were not spiritual or rational. The truth of this may be seen from the meaning of 'the serpent' that was made out of Moses' rod when it was thrown onto the earth - the event to which 'the first sign' refers here - as a person who thinks on a sensory and bodily level, 6949, and so is not spiritual or rational. For a person who is sensory- and bodily-minded is not rational, and so is not spiritual either, because he thinks things that are false and desires those that are evil. One who behaves like this is not rational, still less spiritual, for an acceptance of and belief in what is true, together with a life of goodness, since these two come from the Divine, constitute true spirituality within rationality, whereas an acceptance of and belief in what is false, together with a life of evil, are the opposite. For the fact that wholly sensory- and bodily-minded people are like this, see 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949.

[2] Those people become wholly sensory- and bodily-minded who have first had a knowledge of things that belong to the spiritual world but after that have rejected them, and then have adopted fundamental ideas of falsity that are contrary to truths and focused their lives solely on worldly, bodily, and earthly values. They have consequently come to believe that life is meant to be filled with pleasures of every kind, saying, 'What more does a person have while he is alive? When we die, we die; as for the possibility of life after death, has anyone ever come back to talk about it? We have no knowledge of anything that will go on living when the life goes out of a person.' If anyone using rational arguments induces those people to give any thought to eternal life, they think that nothing worse will happen to them than to anyone else, and they immediately go back to living in the way they had done previously. With such people the passageway for the light of heaven to flow in is closed, and at the natural level of their minds the light of heaven is turned into thick darkness, while the light of the world there becomes brightness, 6907, a brightness that shines ever more brilliantly, the more that the light of heaven is darkened. This is why such people do not see the evil in their lives as anything other than goodness, or consequently the false ideas as anything other than true. Here then is the reason why a person becomes sensory- and bodily-minded. In short, once the way is opened for the light of heaven to flow in and then closed, a person is impelled to look downwards, and not upwards. This is done in keeping with Divine order so as to prevent truths once accepted and remaining in a person's inner self from being contaminated by falsities and thereby rendered profane.

[3] The same applies to gentiles who fall away from their religion, though their lot is better than that of people within the Church since what they possess are not truths from the Word, not genuine truths therefore but truths coupled with many misconceptions, which cannot be profaned in the way genuine ones can.

As regards the meaning of 'the voice' as that which is declared by the Word, it should be recognized that frequent use is made of the expression 'the voice'. It is also linked to other things that have nothing to do with a voice, such as the linking of it here to 'the sign' - 'If they do not hear the voice of the former sign they will believe the voice of the latter sign' - and also elsewhere, for example in Nahum,

The voice of the whip and the voice of the sound of the wheel. Nahum 3:2.

And in David,

The rivers have lifted up their voice, more than the voices of many mighty waters. Psalms 93:3-4.

[4] The fact that 'the voice' means a declaration, in the good sense a declaration by the Word, when it is called 'the voice of Jehovah', is clear in David,

The voice of Jehovah is powerful; the voice of Jehovah is glorious; the voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars; the voice of Jehovah flashes forth flames of fire; the voice of Jehovah causes the wilderness to shake; the voice of Jehovah causes the hinds to calve, and strips the forests bare. Psalms 29:3-5; Psalms 7-9.

And elsewhere in the same author,

. . . to Him who rides above the heavens of heavens of old. Behold, He will put forth His voice, a mighty voice. Psalms 68:33.

Here 'voice' stands for Divine Truth, and so for the Word and a declaration made by it. For what more is meant by 'voice', see 219; and for its use in reference to truth, 3563.