631. For it is given to the nations, signifies since it has been perverted by evils of life and falsities of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "the nations," as being those who are in evils in respect to life and thence in falsities in respect to doctrine, and in the abstract sense evils of life and falsities of doctrine. (That evils and falsities are signified by "nations" see above, n. 175, 331, 625.) The external of the Word and thence of the church and of worship is perverted by evils of life and falsities of doctrine, because the external of the Word, which is called the sense of its letter, is written according to appearances in the world, because it is for children and the simple-minded, who have no perception of anything contrary to appearances, therefore as these advance in age they are introduced by the sense of the letter, in which are appearances of truth, into interior truths, and thus appearances are put off by degrees, and in their place interior truths are implanted. This may be illustrated by numberless examples; as that we should pray to God not to lead us into temptations; this is said because it appears as if God so leads, and yet God leads no one into temptations; again, it is said that God is angry, punishes, casts into hell, brings evil upon the wicked, and many other like things, and yet God is never angry, never punishes or casts into hell, nor does He at all do evil to anyone, but the wrongdoer himself does this to himself by his evils, for in evils themselves are the evils of punishment. These things are nevertheless said in many passages in the Word, because it so appears. As another example, it is said that:

No one should call his father, Father; nor his master, Master (Matthew 23:8-10).

Yet they ought to be so called; but this is said because the "Father" means the Lord, who creates and begets us anew, and because He alone teaches and instructs; so when man is in a spiritual idea he will think of the Lord alone as the Father and Master; but it is otherwise when man is in a natural idea. Moreover, in the spiritual world or in heaven, no one knows any other father, teacher, or master than the Lord, because from Him is spiritual life. So in other instances.

[2] From this it can be seen that the external of the Word, and thence the external of the church and of worship, consists of apparent truths, therefore those who are in evils in respect to life apply it to favor their own loves and the principles conceived therefrom. This is why it is said that the "court," which signifies the external of the Word, "is given to the nations," and afterwards that "they shall trample down the holy city." This comes to pass in the end of the church, when men are so far worldly, natural, and corporeal that they are wholly unable to see interior truths, which are called spiritual truths; and from this it follows that they then wholly pervert the external of the Word, which is the sense of its letter. Such perversion of the sense of the letter of the Word took place also with the Jews at the end of the church with them, which is meant in the spiritual sense by:

The soldiers dividing the garments of the Lord, but not the tunic (John 19:23, 24),

which signifies that those who were of the church perverted all things of the Word in respect to the sense of its letter, but not the Word in respect to the spiritual sense, because this they did not know. (That this is what these things mean in the spiritual sense may be seen above, n. 64.) It is similar in the church at this day, because this is its end; for at this day the Word is not explained according to spiritual truths, but according to the appearances of the sense of the letter, which are applied to confirm both evils of life and falsities of doctrine; and because interior truths, which are spiritual truths, are unknown and are not received, it follows that the sense of the letter of the Word is perverted by evils of the will and falsities of thought therefrom. This, therefore, is what is meant by "the court is given to the nations."

550. Verse 6. And in those days shall the men seek death, and shall not find it, signifies that they then wish to destroy the faculty to understand truth, but still are not able. This is evident from the signification of "in those days," as being then, namely, when the man of the church from internal becomes external, or from rational becomes sensual; also from the signification of "to seek death," as being a wish to destroy the faculty to understand truth (of which presently); also from the signification of "not to find it," as being not to be able to destroy. That "to seek death" here signifies a wish to destroy the faculty to understand truth, is evident from what precedes, because it is consequent upon it; for it was said that "the locusts should hurt the men only that have not the seal of God on their foreheads," and afterwards, that "it was given to them that they should not kill them, but that they should torment them," which signifies that they should do harm to the understanding of truth and the perception of good in those only who are not in truths from good from the Lord, but yet that these should not be deprived of the faculty to understand truth and perceive good (as may be seen above, n. 546, 547). From this it now follows, that the "death" which they seek and which they desire signifies the deprivation of the faculty to understand truth and perceive good, for the destruction of these is the destruction of the life properly human; for man would then be no longer a man but a beast, as has been said above; evidently then it is the loss of this life that is signified by "death." Such wish to destroy the two faculties of the truly human life, because sensual men, from the persuasion of the falsities of evil in which they are, have no wish to understand truth or perceive good, for they find delight in their falsities of evil, and thus in thinking from the enjoyment of falsity, and willing from the enjoyment of evil, and consequently they turn themselves away from truth and good because these are the opposites; by these some are made sad, some are made sick, and some reject them with anger, each according to the quality and amount of falsity of which he has persuaded himself; in a word, ¹ such a sensual man does not admit reasons from the understanding against the falsities of evil in which he is, thus he has no wish to understand and become rational, although he can become so because he is a man. This, therefore, is what is signified by "they shall seek death and shall not find it."

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