Apocalypse Revealed # 380
380. "Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. (7:15) And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them." This symbolically means that they are in the Lord's presence, and live constantly and faithfully in His church in accordance with the truths that they receive from Him, and that the Lord continually implants goodness in their truths.
Their being therefore before the throne of God means, symbolically, that they are in the Lord's presence; and their serving Him day and night means, symbolically, that they constantly and faithfully live in accordance with the truths they receive from Him, which is to say, His commandments. Serving the Lord has no other symbolic meaning. To be in His temple means, symbolically, to be in His church (no. 191). "He who sits on the throne will dwell among them" means, symbolically, that the Lord continually implants goodness in the truths that they receive from Him. Dwelling among them has this symbolic meaning because in the Word, dwelling is predicated of goodness, and serving of truth.
At this point I must now disclose the following secret, that the marriage of the Lord and the church consists in the Lord's flowing into angels and people with the goodness of love, and in the angels' and peoples' reception of Him, or of the goodness of His love, in truths. By this means a marriage of goodness and truth is formed, a marriage that is the essence of the church, and one that becomes heaven in the recipients.
Because such is the nature of the Lord's inflowing and people's reception of Him, therefore the Lord looks upon angels and people by looking at their foreheads, and people look back at the Lord through their eyes. For the forehead corresponds to the goodness of love, and the eyes correspond to truths springing from that goodness - truths which, as a result of that conjunction, thus become truths belonging to goodness.
The Lord's flowing into angels and people with truths, on the other hand, is not like the flowing in of goodness in them, for it is a mediated one emanating from goodness, as light does from fire, and they receive it intellectually, and in the will only in so far as they practice the truths.
This, then, is the marriage of love and wisdom, or of goodness and truth, from the Lord, among those who receive it in heaven and on earth.
I have disclosed this secret to make known how the statement is to be understood, that the Lord continually implants goodness in their truths.
Revelation 7
1
After this, I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, so that no wind would blow on the earth, or on the sea, or on any tree.
2
I saw another angel ascend from the sunrise, having the seal of the living God. He cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to harm the earth and the sea,
3
saying, "Don't harm the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, until we have sealed the bondservants of our God on their foreheads!"
4
I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel:
5
of the tribe of Judah were sealed twelve thousand, of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand,
6
of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand,
7
of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand,
8
of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, of the tribe of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand.
9
After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of all tribes, peoples, and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.
10
They cried with a loud voice, saying, "Salvation be to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!"
11
All the angels were standing around the throne, the elders, and the four living creatures; and they fell on their faces before his throne, and worshiped God,
12
saying, "Amen! Blessing, glory, wisdom, thanksgiving, honor, power, and might, be to our God forever and ever! Amen."
13
One of the elders answered, saying to me, "These who are arrayed in white robes, who are they, and from where did they come?"
14
I told him, "My lord, you know." He said to me, "These are those who came out of the great tribulation. They washed their robes, and made them white in the Lamb's blood.
15
Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his tabernacle over them.
16
They will never be hungry, neither thirsty any more; neither will the sun beat on them, nor any heat;
17
for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shepherds them, and leads them to springs of waters of life. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
