874. 20:15 And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. This symbolically means that those who had not lived in accordance with the Lord's commandments in the Word and did not believe in the Lord were condemned.

That the Book of Life symbolizes the Word, and to be judged on the basis of that book means, symbolically, to be judged in accordance with the Word's truths, may be seen in nos. 256, 259, 295, 302, 309, 317, 324, 330 above. Moreover, no one is found written in the Book of Life but someone who has lived in accordance with the Lord's commandments in the Word, and who believed in the Lord. This, therefore, is what is meant.

That someone who does not live in accordance with the Lord's commandments in the Word is condemned, is something that the Lord teaches in John:

If anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him... (He) has that which judges him: the Word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. (John 12:47-48)

And that someone who does not believe in the Lord is condemned, also in John:

He who believes in the Son has eternal life, while he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. (John 3:36)

324. When He opened the fifth seal. (6:9) This symbolizes an examination by the Lord of the states of life of people who would be saved on the day of the Last Judgment, and who in the meantime were sequestered.

That these people are the subject here is apparent from what now follows. But it should be known that these and others like them are the subject throughout chapter 20ff., an explanation of which chapter may be seen in nos. 840-874, which makes apparent just who they were and why they were sequestered.

330. Then I looked when He opened the sixth seal. (6:12) This symbolizes an examination by the Lord of the states of life of people who were inwardly evil, on whom the Last Judgment would fall.

That these people are the subject is apparent from what now follows. But for those things to be understood, two secrets need to be revealed:

First, that the Last Judgment was not executed on any but people who in outward appearance seemed to be Christians, professing with their mouth matters having to do with the church, but who in their inner makeup or heart were in opposition to them. And because they were of such a character, therefore as to their outward lives they were conjoined with the lowest heaven, and as to their inner ones, with hell.

Second, that as long as they were conjoined with the lowest heaven, the inner qualities of their will and love were kept closed off, so that they did not appear evil to others. But when they were separated from the lowest heaven, then their inner qualities were disclosed, which were in total opposition to their outer qualities, qualities by which they had pretended and feigned themselves to be angels of heaven and the places where they dwelled to be heavens. These so-called heavens were the ones that passed away at the time of the Last Judgment (Revelation 21:1).

More on this subject, however, may be seen in the short work, The Last Judgment, nos. 70, 71, and in A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment, no. 10.