359. And he went forth conquering, and to conquer. That this signifies the removal of evils and thence of falsities at the end of life, and afterwards to eternity, is manifest from the signification of conquering in the Word, as denoting to conquer spiritually, which is, to subjugate evils and falsities; but because these are conquered only as they are removed by the Lord, hence by conquering is signified the removal of evils and falsities. (That evils and falsities are removed and not obliterated, or that man is withheld from them, and kept in good and truth by the Lord, may be seen in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 166; and in the Arcana Coelestia 865, 868, 887, 894, 929, 1581, 2116, 2406, 4564, 8206, 8393, 8988, 9014, 9333-9338, 9446-9448, 9451, 10057, 10060.) It is said, He went forth conquering, and to conquer, and by, He went forth conquering, is signified the removal of evils and of the falsities thence to the end of life; and by to conquer, is signified, and afterwards to eternity; for he who combats against evils and falsities, and conquers them in the world even to the end of life, conquers them to eternity; for according to the character of a man at the end of his life in consequence of his past life, such he remains to eternity. The reason why to conquer signifies to conquer spiritually is, because the Word in its inmost is spiritual, or in its inmost treats of spiritual things, and not of earthly things; the earthly things which are in the sense of the letter, serve only its spiritual sense for a basis, in which spiritual things terminate and in which they are. The same is signified by conquering in the following passages:

[2] In the Revelation:

"To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God" (2:7). "He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death" (2:11). "He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations" (2:26). "I will make him that overcometh a pillar in the temple of God" (3:12). "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne" (3:21). "They overcame the dragon by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of the testimony" (12:11). "He that overcometh shall be master of all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son" (21:7).

And in John:

Jesus [said] to the disciples, These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation; but trust confidently, I have overcome the world (16:33).

By the Lord's overcoming the world, is meant that He subjugated all the hells; for the world here signifies all evils and falsities, which are from hell (as also in John 8:23; 12:31; 14:17, 19, 30; 15:18, 19; 16:8, 11; 17:9, 14, 16).

[3] The same is signified by conquering, where it is said of the Lord, in Isaiah:

"Who is this that cometh from Edom, sprinkled as to his garments from Bozrah? I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people not a man was with me; therefore have I trodden them in mine anger, and trampled them in my wrath; whence their victory is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have polluted all my raiment. But I have made their victory to descend into the earth" (63:1, 3, 6).

The Lord is here treated of, and His combats against the hells, and the subjugation of them. He Himself as to His Divine Human is here meant by "Edom, sprinkled as to his garments from Bozrah," and by His garments is signified the Word in the letter, for garments signify truths investing; and when said of the Lord, they signify Divine truths, consequently, the Word, for all Divine truths are therein (see above, n. 195). The Word in the sense of the letter is here also meant by garments, because therein are truths investing, for the sense of the letter serves for a garment to the spiritual sense; and because the Word, as to that sense, was torn asunder by the Jewish people, and thereby the Divine truth adulterated, it is said, "sprinkled as to his garments from Bozrah, their victory is sprinkled upon my garments, and I have polluted all my raiment." The garments from Bozrah signify the ultimate of the Word, which is the sense of its letter; their victory upon my garments, signifies the wrong interpretation and application of the truth by those who wrest the sense of the letter to favour their own loves, and the principles thence conceived, as was done by the Jews, and is also done at this day by many. This is meant by their victory upon my garments. That the Lord alone fought, is signified by, I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people there was not a man with me. The wine-press signifies combat from Divine truths against falsities, because in the wine-presses the wine is pressed out from the grapes; and by wine is signified Divine truth; hence to tread it alone, and of the people not a man was with me, signifies, alone, without the aid of any one. That the Lord subjugated the hells, is signified by, I have trodden them in mine anger, and trampled them in my wrath. It is said, I have trodden and I have trampled, because of the wine-press, and they signify that he destroyed; it is said anger and wrath, because they were destroyed, and they are attributed in the sense of the letter to the Lord, when, notwithstanding, there is nothing of anger and wrath in Him, but in those who are against Him; from the appearance it is so said here and in many places elsewhere. That they were subjugated, and condemned to hell, is signified by, I have made their victory to descend into the earth, into the earth denoting into damnation, thus into hell. That by the earth is also signified damnation, may be seen above (n. 304 at the end).

8988. '[His] master shall bring him to God' means the state he then enters in keeping with Divine order. This is clear from the meaning of 'bringing to God', when the subject is those who are imbued with truths and cannot be imbued with good, as causing them to enter a state in keeping with Divine order; for 'bringing to' means entering, and 'God' means Divine order, which is dealt with below. The fact that these things are meant is evident from the details contained in the rest of this verse. These describe the state of those imbued with truths and not with complementary good, that is to say, a state of everlasting obedience. For those living in this condition are in servitude compared with those imbued with good complementing truths. For being governed by good the latter's actions spring from affection; and those who act from affection do so from the will, thus from themselves since whatever forms part of a person's will is part of his true self; for indeed the essence (esse) of a person's life is his will. But those whose actions spring from obedience act not from their own will, but from their master's, thus not from themselves, but from another; therefore in comparison they are in servitude. Actions that spring from truths and not from good spring solely from the understanding, for truths have connection with the understanding and forms of good with the will; and actions that spring from the understanding and not from the will spring from that which stands outside and serves. The understanding has been given to a person in order that he may receive truths and introduce them into his will to become forms of good; for when truths become part of the will they are called forms of good.

[2] The condition however of one who serves the Lord by doing according to His commandments, and by being obedient in that kind of way, is not that of a slave; rather, it is that of one who is free. For perfect freedom consists for a person in being led by the Lord, 892, 905, 2870, 2872. The Lord breathes the good into the person's will from which his actions spring; and although that good comes from the Lord, the person nevertheless has the feeling that his actions are from himself, that is, he does them in freedom. This freedom exists with all who abide in the Lord; and coupled with it there is indescribable happiness.

[3] The reason why 'God' here means Divine order is that in the Word the name 'God' is used where truth is referred to, and 'Jehovah' where good is referred to, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4402, 7010, 7268, 8867. Therefore Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Good is meant in the highest sense by 'God', and His Divine Good from which Divine Truth emanates is meant by 'Jehovah'. The reason for this is that Divine Good is Essential Being (Esse), and Divine Truth is the Coming-into-Being (Existere) from it, since what emanates from something comes into being from it. The situation with good and truth in heaven or among angels is similar, and that in the Church among men is similar. Good there is the essential being, and truth is the coming-into-being from it. Or what amounts to the same thing love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour is the essential being of heaven and the Church, while faith is the coming-into-being from it. All this makes plain why it is that 'God' can also mean Divine order; for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is what constitutes order in heaven, so completely that it is order itself. For more about Divine Truth's being order, see 1728, 1919, 7995, 8700.

Therefore when man or angel receives Divine Truth from the Lord within good, there resides with him that order which exists in the heavens. As a consequence he is a heaven or kingdom of the Lord in particular; he is such in the measure that he is imbued with good from truths, and after this in the measure that he is endowed with truths from good. And - what is an arcanum - angels themselves appear in heaven in a human form that accords exactly with the truths present with them within good, together with beauty and brilliance which accord with the character of the good from truths. The souls of members of the Church present a similar appearance in heaven. The Divine Truth itself emanating from the Lord brings this about, as may be recognized from what has been shown at the ends of a number of chapters regarding heaven as the Grand Man, and its correspondence with individual aspects of a human being.

[4] This arcanum is what the following words are used to mean in John, in the Book of Revelation,

He measured the wall of the holy Jerusalem, a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is the measure of a man (homo), that is, of an angel. Revelation 21:17.

Will anyone ever understand these words if he does not know what the holy Jerusalem, its wall, measure, the number 144, and so 'a man, that is, an angel' all mean? By the new or holy Jerusalem is meant the Lord's New Church, which is going to take the place of the Christian Church existing at the present time, 2117; by 'the wall' is meant the truths of faith which will defend that Church, 6419; by 'measuring' and 'the measure' is meant its state in respect of truth, 3104; by the number 144 is meant much the same as by 12, since 144 is the number that is the product of 12 multiplied by itself, and by these numbers all truths in their entirety are meant, see 7973. These meanings make plain what is meant by 'the measure of a man, that is, of an angel', namely actual truth emanating from the Lord in the form it assumes, which is that of a man-angel in heaven, as stated above. All this reveals the arcanum which the words quoted above embody; it reveals that they describe the truths of that Church which is going to take the place of the Christian Church existing at the present time.

[5] The fact that they are truths from good is described in the very next verse, in these words,

The construction of its wall was jasper, but the city was pure gold, like pure glass. Revelation 21:18.

'Jasper' means truth such as that Church's will be, for truths are meant by 'stones' generally, 1298, 3720, 6426, and truths that come from the Lord by 'precious stones', 643; and 'gold' means the good of love and wisdom, 113, 1551, 1552, 5658. Would anyone ever discern that such meanings are embodied in those words? Yet who can fail to see from them that countless arcana lie concealed in the Word, which are not at all made apparent to anyone except by means of the internal sense, and that this sense, like a key, is the means of opening up God's truths as they exist in heaven, and therefore heaven and the Lord Himself, who is the All in all of the Word in its inmost sense?