1. Prefazione dell’Autore

Il Signore parlando ai suoi discepoli della fine dei tempi, cioè nell’ultimo periodo della chiesa, ¹ dice, all’avvicinarsi della predetta fine, in merito al successivo stato di amore e fede: ²

Subito dopo l’afflizione di quei giorni il sole si oscurerà e la luna non darà il suo splendore, e le stelle cadranno dal cielo, e le potenze dei cieli saranno scosse. Ed allora apparirà nel cielo il segno del Figlio dell’uomo; ed allora tutte le tribù della terra faranno cordoglio, e vedranno il Figliuolo dell’uomo venire sulle nuvole del cielo con gran potenza e gloria. E manderà i suoi angeli con gran suono di tromba a radunare i suoi eletti dai quattro venti, da un capo all’altro dei cieli. (Matteo 24:29-31)

Coloro che si soffermano sul mero significato letterale di queste parole, hanno la convinzione che alla fine dei tempi, quando vi sarà il giudizio universale, tutte queste cose avranno luogo, così come sono descritte nel senso letterale, cioè che il sole e la luna si oscureranno e le stelle cadranno dal cielo, e che il segno del Signore apparirà nel cielo, ed egli stesso sarà visto sulle nubi, con gli angeli e con le trombe al seguito; inoltre è predetto in altri passi che l’intero universo sarà distrutto, e poi sorgerà un nuovo cielo e una nuova terra. Tale è la convinzione della maggior parte degli uomini nella chiesa, nel presente. Ma coloro che sono in questa fede ignorano i segreti che sono nascosti in ogni minimo dettaglio della Parola; in realtà in ogni singolo vocabolo della Parola vi è un significato interiore che concerne le cose spirituali e celesti anziché le cose naturali e mondane, così come appaiono nel senso letterale. E questo è vero non solo per il significato di gruppi di parole, ma per ciascuna parola. ³ Perché la Parola è scritta esclusivamente per corrispondenze ⁴ , affinché vi possa essere un significato interiore in ogni singolo particolare di essa. Quale sia questo significato lo si può vedere da tutto ciò che è stato scritto al riguardo in Arcana Coelestia [pubblicato nel 1749-1756]; e dalle citazioni attinte da quell’opera, nell’illustrazione del Cavallo Bianco [dell’Apocalisse, pubblicato nel 1758] cui si fa riferimento nell’Apocalisse.

È in conformità di quel significato spirituale, che deve essere inteso l’avvento del Signore dal cielo, sulle nuvole, di cui al passo sopra citato. Ivi il sole che si oscura significa il Signore quanto all’amore; ⁵ la “luna” si riferisce alla fede; ⁶ le stelle indicano la conoscenza del bene e della verità, o dell’amore e della fede; ⁷ il “segno del Figlio dell’uomo nel cielo” indica la manifestazione della Divina verità; le “tribù della terra” significano tutte le cose concernenti la verità ed il bene, o la fede e l’amore; ⁸ “l’avvento del Signore sulle nuvole del cielo, in gloria e potenza,” significa la sua presenza nella Parola e la sua rivelazione; ⁹ le “nuvole” significano il senso letterale della Parola, ¹⁰ e la “gloria” il senso interiore della Parola; ¹¹ gli “angeli con gran suono di tromba” indicano il cielo quale sorgente della Divina verità. ¹² Tutto questo chiarisce cosa deve intendersi con queste parole del Signore, vale a dire che alla fine della chiesa, quando non vi sarà più alcun amore, e quindi alcuna fede, il Signore svelerà il significato interiore della Parola e rivelerà i segreti del cielo. I segreti rivelati nelle seguenti pagine riguardano il cielo e l’inferno, nonché la vita dell’uomo dopo la morte. L’uomo della chiesa attualmente ha una scarsa conoscenza del cielo e dell’inferno, o della sua vita dopo la morte, sebbene questi argomenti siano contemplati e descritti nella Parola; ciò nondimeno molti di quelli nati in seno alla chiesa, negano queste cose, dicendo nel loro intimo, “Chi mai è venuto da quel mondo e ha confermato queste cose?” Per evitare che questo atteggiamento negazionista, invalso specialmente presso quelli pervasi dalla saggezza mondana, possa contaminare e traviare le persone semplici nel cuore e nella fede, mi è stato concesso di essere associato agli angeli e di parlare con loro, come tra uomo e uomo, e anche di vedere come sono i cieli e gli inferni, e questo da tredici anni, ormai; quindi, adesso posso descrivere ciò che ho visto è udito, nell’auspicio che l’ignoranza possa essere illuminata, e l’incredulità, dissipata. Le presenti rivelazioni sono estese ora perché questo deve intendersi per la venuta del Signore.

Notas de rodapé:

5113. Behold, a vine was before me. That this signifies the intellectual part, is evident from the signification of a “vine,” as being the intellectual part in the spiritual church, of which hereafter. As by the “butler” is signified the sensuous subject to the intellectual part, and as the influx of the intellectual into the sensuous subordinate thereto is here treated of, therefore in the dream there appeared a vine with shoots, blossom, clusters, and grapes, by which is described influx and the rebirth of this sensuous. As regards the intellectual of the spiritual church, be it known that where this church is described in the Word, its intellectual part is everywhere treated of, for the reason that it is the intellectual part which in the man of this church is regenerated and becomes a church.

[2] For there are in general two churches, the celestial and the spiritual. The celestial church is with the man who can be regenerated or become a church as to the will part; and the spiritual church is with the man who, as just said, can be regenerated only as to the intellectual part. The Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, was celestial, because with those who belonged to it there was some wholeness in the will part; but the Ancient Church, which was after the flood, was spiritual, because with those who belonged to it there was not anything whole in the will part, but only in the intellectual part. For this reason where the spiritual church is treated of in the Word, its intellectual part is chiefly treated of (on which subject see above, n. 640, 641, 765, 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2124, 2256, 2669, 4328, 4493). That with those who are of the spiritual church it is the intellectual part that is regenerated, may be seen also from the fact that the man of this church has no perception of truth from good, as had they who were of the celestial church; but must first learn the truth which is of faith, and become imbued with what is intellectual, and thus from truth learn what is good; and after he has thus learned it, he is able to think it, and then to will it, and at last to do it; and then a new will is formed in him by the Lord in the intellectual part. By this new will the spiritual man is elevated by the Lord into heaven, evil still remaining in the will that is proper to him; which will is then miraculously separated, and this by a higher force, whereby he is withheld from evil and kept in good.

[3] But the man of the celestial church was regenerated as to the will part, by being imbued from infancy with the good of charity; and when he had attained to a perception of this, he was led into the perception of love to the Lord, whereby all the truths of faith appeared to him in the intellect as in a mirror. The understanding and the will made in him a mind wholly one; for by the things in the understanding it was perceived what was in the will. In this consisted the wholeness of that first “man” by whom the celestial church is signified.

[4] That a “vine” is the intellectual part of the spiritual church is evident from many other passages in the Word; as in Jeremiah:

What hast thou to do with the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Shihor? Or what hast thou to do with the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river? And yet I had planted thee a wholly noble vine, a seed of truth; how then art thou turned to Me into the degenerate shoots of a strange vine? (Jeremiah 2:18, 21);

speaking of Israel, by whom is signified the spiritual church (n. 3654, 4286). “Egypt” and “the waters of Shihor” denote memory-knowledges which pervert (n. 1164, 1165, 1186, 1462); “Assyria” and “the waters of the river” denote reasoning from these knowledges against the good of life and the truth of faith (n. 119, 1186); a “noble vine” denotes the man of the spiritual church, who is called a “vine” from the intellectual part; the “degenerate shoots of a strange vine” denote the man of the perverted church.

[5] In Ezekiel:

A riddle and a parable concerning the house of Israel. A great eagle took of the seed of the land, and placed it in a field of sowing; it budded and became a luxuriant vine of low stature, so that its shoots looked back toward her, and the roots thereof were under her; so it became a vine that made shoots, and sent forth sprigs to the eagle. This vine applied its roots, and sent its shoots toward her, in a good field by many waters. It was planted that it might make a branch, that it might be for a vine of magnificence (Ezekiel 17:2-3, 5-8).

The “eagle” denotes the rational (n. 3901); the “seed of the land” denotes the truth of the church (n. 1025, 1447, 1610, 1940, 2848, 3038, 3310, 3373); its “becoming a luxuriant vine” and a “vine of magnificence” denotes becoming a spiritual church, which is called a “vine” from the wine thence produced, which signifies spiritual good or the good of charity from whence comes the truth of faith, implanted in the intellectual part.

[6] In the same:

Thy mother was like a vine, in thy likeness, planted by the waters; a fruitful one, and made full of branches by reason of many waters; whence she had rods of strength for the scepter of them that bear rule; and its stature lifted itself above among the tangled boughs, and appeared in its height in the multitude of shoots (Ezekiel 19:10-11);

also said of Israel, by whom is signified the spiritual church, which is compared to a “vine” for a reason like that mentioned just above. In this passage are described its derivations in the natural man even to the last, namely, to memory-knowledges from the senses, which are the “tangled boughs” (n. 2831).

[7] In Hosea:

I will be as the dew to Israel; his branches shall go, and his honor shall be as the olive’s, and his odor as Lebanon’s. They that dwell in his shadow shall return; they shall vivify the corn, and blossom as the vine; his memory shall be as the wine of Lebanon. O Ephraim, what have I to do any more with idols? (Hos. 14:5-8);

“Israel” denotes the spiritual church, whose blossoming is compared to a “vine,” and its memory to the “wine of Lebanon,” from the good of faith implanted in the intellectual part; “Ephraim” is the intellectual part in the spiritual church (n. 3969).

[8] In Zechariah:

The remains of the people; the seed of peace; the vine shall give her fruit, and the earth shall give her increase, and the heavens shall give their dew (Zech. 8:11-12).

The “remains of the people” denote truths stored up by the Lord in the interior man (see n. 468, 530, 560, 561, 660, 798, 1050, 1738, 1906, 2284); the “seed of peace” denotes good there; the “vine,” the intellectual part.

[9] In Malachi:

I will rebuke for you him that consumeth, that he corrupt not for you the fruit of the land; neither shall the vine be bereaved for you in the field (Malachi 3:11).

The “vine” denotes the intellectual part; the vine is said “not to be bereaved” when the intellectual part is not deprived of the truths and goods of faith; on the other hand it is said to be “empty” when there are falsities therein and consequent evils; as in Hosea:

Israel is an empty vine, he maketh fruit like himself (Hos. 10:1).

[10] In Moses:

He shall bind his ass’s colt unto the vine, and the son of his ass unto the choice vine, after he hath washed his clothing in wine, and his covering in the blood of grapes (Genesis 49:11);

from the prophecy of Jacob, then Israel, about his twelve sons, here about Judah, by whom is represented the the Lord, (n. 3881). The “vine” here denotes the intellectual part in the spiritual church, and the “choice vine,” the intellectual part in the celestial church.

[11] In David:

Jehovah, Thou hast made to come forth a vine out of Egypt; Thou didst drive out the nations, and plantedst it. Thou didst cleanse before it, and didst cause its roots to be rooted so that it filled the land. The mountains were covered with the shadow of it, and the cedars of God with the boughs. Thou hast sent forth the shoots thereof even to the sea, and the little branches thereof to the Euphrates. The boar out of the forest trampleth it, and the wild beast of the field grazeth it down (Psalms 80:8-11, 13).

The “vine out of Egypt” in the supreme sense denotes the Lord, the glorification of His Human being described by it and its shoots. In the internal sense the “vine” here is the spiritual church, and also the man of this church, such as he is when made new or regenerated by the Lord as to the intellectual and will parts. The “boar in the forest” is the falsity, and the “wild beast of the fields” the evil, which destroy the church as to faith in the Lord.

[12] In Revelation:

The angel thrust his sickle into the earth, and vintaged the vine of the earth; and cast it into the great winepress of the anger of God; the winepress was trodden outside the city, and there came forth blood out of the winepress even to the horses’ bridles (Revelation 14:19-20);

“to vintage the vine of the earth” denotes to destroy the intellectual part in the church; and because this is signified by the “vine,” it is also said that “there came forth blood out of the winepress even to the horses’ bridles;” for by “horses” are signified intellectual things (n. 2761, 2762, 3217).

In Isaiah:

It shall come to pass in that day, that every place where there were a thousand vines for a thousand of silver, shall be for briars and brambles (Isaiah 7:23).

Again:

The inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and man shall be left rare; the new wine shall mourn, the vine shall languish (Isaiah 24:6-7).

Again:

They shall beat themselves upon the paps for the fields of unmixed wine, for the fruitful vine. Upon the land of My people come up thorn and briar (Isaiah 32:12-13).

In these passages the subject treated of is the vastation of the spiritual church as to the good and truth of faith, thus as to the intellectual part; for as before said the truth and good of faith are in the intellectual part of the man of this church. Everyone can see that by a “vine” here is not meant a vine, nor by the “earth” the earth; but that they mean something of the church.

[13] As in the genuine sense a “vine” signifies the good of the intellectual part; and a “fig tree” the good of the natural man, or what is the same, that a “vine” signifies the good of the interior man, and a “fig tree” the good of the exterior man, therefore a “fig tree” is often mentioned in the Word at the same time as a “vine”; as in the following passages:

Consuming I will consume them; no grapes on the vine nor figs on the fig tree, and the leaf is fallen (Jeremiah 8:13).

I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, which shall eat up thy vine and thy fig tree (Jeremiah 5:15, 17).

In Hosea:

I will lay waste her vine and her fig tree (Hos. 2:12).

In Joel:

A nation is come up upon My land, it hath reduced My vine into a waste, and My fig tree into froth, stripping it hath stripped it, and cast it forth, the shoots thereof are made white; the vine is withered, and the fig tree languisheth (Joel 1:6-7, 12).

Be not afraid, ye beasts of My fields; for the dwelling places of the wilderness are become grassy; because the tree hath made its fruit, and the fig tree and the vine shall yield their strength (Joel 2:22).

In David:

He smote their vine and their fig tree, and brake the tree of their border (Psalms 105:33).

In Habakkuk:

The fig tree shall not blossom, and no produce is in the vines (Hab. 3:17).

In Micah:

Out of Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem; they shall sit everyone under his vine and under his fig tree, and none maketh afraid (Micah 4:2, 4).

In Zechariah:

In that day shall ye call a man to his fellow, under the vine and under the fig tree (Zech. 3:10).

In the first book of Kings:

In the time of Solomon there was peace from all the passes round about; and Judah and Israel dwelt in confidence, everyone under his vine and under his fig tree (1 Kings 4:24-25).

That a “fig tree” is the good of the natural or exterior man, may be seen above (n. 217).

[14] That a “vine” is the intellectual part made new or regenerated by good from truth and by truth from good, is evident from the Lord’s words to the disciples, after he had instituted the holy supper:

I say to you, I will not drink henceforth of this product of the vine, until that day when I shall drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom (Matthew 26:29);

good from truth and truth from good, by which the intellectual part is made new, or man is made spiritual, are signified by the “product of the vine” and the appropriation thereof by “drinking.” (That “to drink” is to appropriate, and that it is predicated of truth, may be seen above, n. 3168.) That this is not done fully except in the other life is signified by “until that day when I shall drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” That by the “product of the vine” is not meant must or wine, but something heavenly of the Lord’s kingdom is very manifest.

[15] As the intellectual part in the spiritual man is made new and regenerated by truth which is from the Lord alone, therefore the Lord compares Himself to a “vine” and those who are implanted in the truth which is from Him, and consequently in Him, He compares to the “shoots” and the good therefrom to the “fruit” in John:

I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine dresser; every shoot in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away; but every shoot that beareth fruit, He pruneth it, that it may bear more fruit. Abide in Me, and I in you. As the shoot cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in Me. I am the vine, ye are the shoots; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit; for without Me ye can do nothing. This is My commandment, that ye love one another as I have loved you (John 15:1-2, 4-15:4-5, 12).

[16] As in the supreme sense a “vine” signifies the Lord as to Divine truth, and hence in the internal sense the man of the spiritual church, therefore a “vineyard” signifies the spiritual church itself (n. 1069, 3220). As the Nazirite represented the celestial man, who is regenerated through the good of love, and not through the truth of faith like the spiritual man, and who consequently is not regenerated as to the intellectual part, but as to the will part (as may be seen above), therefore the Nazirite was forbidden to eat anything which came forth from the vine, thus was not to drink wine (Numbers 6:3-4; Judges 13:14); from this also it is evident that by the “vine” is signified the intellectual part that belongs to the spiritual man, as already shown.

[17] (That the Nazirite represented the celestial man may be seen above, n. 3301.) Hence also it may be seen that it cannot possibly be known why the Nazirite was forbidden whatever came forth from the vine (not to mention many other things regarding him), unless it is known what the “vine” signifies in its own sense, and also unless it is known that there is a celestial church and a spiritual church, and that the man of the celestial church is regenerated in a manner different from the man of the spiritual church-the former by means of seed implanted in the will part, the latter by means of seed implanted in the intellectual part. Such are the arcana stored up in the internal sense of the Word.