749. And by the word of their testimony.- That this signifies, and, by the confession and acknowledgment of the Divine in His Human, is clear from the signification of the word of testimony, as denoting the confession of the Lord, and the acknowledgment of the Divine in His Human (concerning which see above, n. 392, 635, 649). That this is the word of testimony is plain from the following passages in the Apocalypse:

The angel said unto John, "I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (19:10).

And after the angel had thus spoken, a white horse appeared, and one sitting thereon, who was called "the Word of God," also "King of kings and Lord of lords" (verses 13, 16). From this it is evident that the word of their testimony signifies the confession and acknowledgment of the Divine in the Human of the Lord. Those who are in this acknowledgment are also in the acknowledgment that the Human of the Lord is Divine, for the Divine itself cannot dwell elsewhere than in what is Divine from itself. But because the learned among us cannot easily comprehend this, therefore in their thought they separate the Divine from the Human of the Lord, and place the Divine without or above it, nevertheless this is contrary to the Christian doctrine of the trinity, called the Athanasian or Nicene confession, which teaches that the Divine took to itself a Human, and that they are not two but a united Person, just as are soul and body.

9389. 'And twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel' means a representative sign of the Lord's Divine Human in respect of God's truth which springs wholly and completely from Him. This is clear from the meaning of 'a pillar' as a representative sign of the Lord's Divine Human in respect of truth, the reason why 'a pillar' has this meaning being that 'an altar' means a representative sign of the Lord's Divine Human in respect of good, and 'a pillar' in the representative sense means the holiness of truth that comes from the Lord, 4580, 4582; and from the meaning of 'twelve' and 'the twelve tribes' as all truths and forms of good in their entirety, dealt with in 577, 2089, 3858, 3913, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337, 6397, 6640, 7973, thus those which spring from the Lord. The reason why the Lord's Divine Human is meant by 'an altar' and by 'pillars' is that all the Church's representative signs which are spoken of in the Word have regard in the highest sense to the Lord Himself. This being so, the subject of the Word in its inmost or highest sense is solely the Lord, in particular the glorification of His Human. This is what gives the Word all its holiness. But that sense presents itself chiefly in the inmost or third heaven, where those are who are governed by love to the Lord, and consequently possess wisdom more than all others.