584. And the rest of the men who were not killed in these plagues.- That this signifies those who have not perished from the disorderly desires above mentioned, is evident from the signification of the rest of the men who were not killed, as denoting all those who have not perished. That to be killed, in the Word, signifies to be spiritually killed, or to perish in eternal death (morte aeterna), may be seen above (n. 547, 572); and from the signification of "these plagues," as denoting the disorderly desires above mentioned, or, the disorderly desires springing from the love of evil, and the love of falsity, also the lust (concupiscentia) of destroying the truths and goods of the church by the falsities of evil; all these are signified by the fire, smoke, and brimstone, going forth out of the mouths of the horses, (see above, n. 578). These are called plagues, because by plagues in the Word, are signified such things as destroy spiritual life with men, and therefore the church; they also signify those things that cause death understood in a spiritual sense, and these refer mainly to the disorderly desires arising from the loves of self and of the world; for these loves are the roots from which evils and falsities of every class and species are born and spring up.

[2] Such things are also signified by plagues in the following passages in the Apocalypse:

The two witnesses "have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they desire" (11:6).

So again:

"Men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great" (16:21).

And again:

"In one day shall the plagues come to" Babylon, "death, and mourning, and famine" (18:8).

And again:

"I saw seven angels having the seven last plagues, through which must be consummated the wrath of God" (15:1, 6, 8).

By plagues are meant such things as bring spiritual death upon man, which, consequently, altogether destroy and devastate the church with men individually, and thus generally, as will be seen in the explanation of the passages that follow where plagues are mentioned, and especially where the seven last plagues are treated of.

[3] Similar things are understood by plagues in the following passages in the prophets.

Thus in Isaiah:

"The light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun shall be sevenfold, in the day that Jehovah shall bind up the breach of his people, and heal the wound of their plague" (30:26).

And in Jeremiah:

"Thy bruise is incurable, and thy plague is grievous. For I have smitten thee with the plague of an enemy. I will restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy plagues" (30:12, 14, 17).

Again, in the same prophet:

"Every one that goeth by" Edom, "shall hiss at all the plagues thereof" (49:17).

Again:

"Every one that goeth by Babylon shall hiss at all her plagues" (50:13).

And in Moses:

"If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of the law, Jehovah will make thy plagues wonderful, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and evil diseases, and of long continuance. Every disease, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, will Jehovah secretly bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed" (Deuteronomy 28:58, 59, 61).

Plagues here signify spiritual plagues, which do not destroy the body, but the soul, and which are also enumerated in that chapter in Deuteronomy (verses 20-68).

[4] What plagues signify in the spiritual sense, is described by correspondences in Zechariah:

"This shall be the plague, wherewith Jehovah shall smite all the people that shall fight against Jerusalem; the flesh of each one shall consume away so that he shall stand upon his feet, and his eyes shall consume away in their holes, and his tongue shall consume away in his mouth. And so shall be the plague of the horse, of the mule, of the camel, and of the ass, and of every beast that shall be in those camps, as this plague" (14:12, 15).

These things are said concerning those who endeavour to destroy the truths of the church by means of falsities. Jerusalem signifies the church as to the truths of doctrine, and to fight against her denotes to endeavour to destroy those truths by means of falsities. That the flesh of each one shall consume away so that he shall stand upon his feet, signifies that all the will of good will perish with those who attempt this, and that thus they will become merely corporeal-natural, for flesh signifies the will and its good or evil, while the feet signify those things that pertain to the natural man; therefore to stand upon the feet signifies to live from them alone. The eyes consuming away in their holes signifies that all understanding of truth shall perish, eyes signifying that understanding; and by the tongue consuming away in his mouth, is signified, that all perception of truth and affection for good shall perish. Concerning these things it may be seen above (n.455:8),where this prophecy also is explained. Almost similar things are signified by the plagues of the horse, the mule, the camel, the ass, and every beast; for by the plague of these is signified the loss of all understanding of truth, both spiritual and natural; and by the plague of the beast is signified the loss of all affection for good.

[5] In Luke it is said that in the same hour in which John sent, Jesus "cured many of their diseases and plagues of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight" (7:21). The plagues of evil spirits mean the obsessions, and calamitous states at that time brought upon men by evil spirits, all of which nevertheless signified corresponding spiritual states. For all the cures of diseases wrought by the Lord signified spiritual healings, and therefore the miracles of the Lord were Divine; as for example, that He gave sight to many that were blind, which signified to impart the understanding of the truths of doctrine to those who were in ignorance of truth. So again, by the wounds (plagas) which the thieves inflicted on the man who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho (Luke 10:30), are also signified spiritual plagues, which were the falsities and evils insinuated into sojourners and Gentiles by the Scribes and Pharisees, as may be seen above (n. 444:13), where the spiritual sense of this parable is explained.

578. And out of their mouths went forth fire, and smoke, and brimstone.- That this signifies thought and reasonings therefrom springing from the love of evil, and from the love of falsity, and from the lust (concupiscentia) of destroying truths and goods by means of the falsities of evil, is evident from the signification of the mouth as denoting thought and reasoning therefrom of which we shall speak in the explanation of the 19th verse; and from the signification of fire, as denoting the love of self, and the love of evil thence (see above, n. 504, 539); and from the signification of smoke, as denoting the dense falsity springing from the love of evil (see above, n. 494, 539); and from the signification of brimstone, as denoting the lust of destroying the truths and goods of the church by means of the falsities of evil.

[2] That this is the signification of brimstone, is evident from the Word where it is mentioned, as in Moses:

"Jehovah rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire" (Genesis 19:24).

And in Luke:

"On the day that Lot went out of Sodom, it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed" (17:29, 30).

The inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, mean those who are in the falsities of evil from the love of self; and since the falsities of evil from that love destroyed them, therefore it rained brimstone and fire, brimstone, from the lust (concupiscentia) of destroying the church by means of the falsities of evil, and fire because that lust burst forth from the love of self. That this would be the case when the Son of man should be revealed, signifies, that then also the falsities of evil from the love of self would destroy the church. Rain of such a kind also appears in the spiritual world, when the evil, who are in falsities from that love, are cast down into hell.

[3] So again, in Moses:

What shall your sons "and the stranger say when they shall see the plagues of this land and its sicknesses? The whole land is brimstone, salt, and burning; it is not sown, nor germinates, nor doth any grass grow thereon, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboim" (Deuteronomy 29:22, 23).

These are the curses with which the sons of Israel were threatened if they did not keep the precepts and statutes, and if they worshipped other gods; and because then the church would become vastated and destroyed by the falsities of evil, and the evils of falsity, hence it is said that then the whole land [should be] brimstone, salt, burning, the land denoting the church. By its not being sown, nor germinating, nor any grass growing thereon, is signified, that there should be no more any reception or production of truth from good.

[4] Again, in Isaiah:

"For Tophet is prepared from yesterday; yea, for the king it is prepared; he shall descend into a deep and wide [place]; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it" (30:33).

Tophet here signifies the hell where the direful and cruel love of destroying all the truths and goods of the church reigns, especially the savage desire of destroying the goods of innocence. That dreadful hell originates in the falsities of evil, and is signified by, he shall descend into a deep and wide [place]. The king, for whom it is prepared, signifies the infernal falsity itself. The pile thereof is fire and much wood signifies evils of every kind which pertain to that love. And because that hell burns from the lust of destroying, it is said that "the breath of Jehovah, like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it." For there, as soon as they hear the truths of the church from any one, and perceive its goods, they are inflamed with the frenzy of destroying and annihilating them.

[5] Again, in the same prophet:

"The day of the vengeance of Jehovah, the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion. And the torrents thereof shall be turned into pitch, and the dust thereof into brimstone, and the land thereof shall become burning pitch; It shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall ascend for ever" (34:8, 10).

The day of the vengeance of Jehovah, and the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion, signifies the coming of the Lord, and the last judgment then wrought by Him. By the torrents turned into pitch, and the dust into brimstone, is signified the hell into which those, who are in the falsities of evil, and in the evils of falsity, are cast. The evil of infernal love, and its punishment, are signified by the pitch burning night and day, and not quenched; and the dire falsity from that evil is signified by the smoke ascending for ever.

[6] Again, in Ezekiel:

"I will contend with" Gog "with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire and brimstone" (38:22).

Gog means those who place all worship in a holy and pious external, and not in that which is internal, when yet external is according to the quality of internal worship; and it is said that "Jehovah shall rain upon them an overflowing rain, and hailstones, fire, and brimstone," which signifies falsities and evils destroying all the truths and goods of the church; fire and brimstone denote the evils of falsity, and the falsities of evil, both being diabolical.

[7] Again in David:

"Upon the wicked" Jehovah "shall rain snares, fire and brimstone; and the wind of storms shall be the portion of their cup" (Psalm 11:6).

These words signify, that the impious are destroyed by their own evils of falsity, and by their own falsities of evil, which destroy in them all the truths of the church. Snares, fire, and brimstone, denote the evils of falsity, and the falsities of evil; and the wind of storms which shall be the portion of their cup, signifies the destruction of all truth. That it does not mean that [Jehovah], shall rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked is clear, for it is also said that snares shall rain upon them; fire and brimstone therefore must mean such things as are wholly destructive of the truths and goods of the church.

[8] Similarly in Job:

"Brimstone shall be scattered upon the habitation of the wicked" (18:15);

for brimstone means such falsity of evil as destroys every thing of the church in man; this is falsity from the evil of the love of self such as prevailed with those who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah. It is said of the brimstone, not only that it destroyed the cities and the inhabitants, but also the plain and that which springeth up in the field. That which sprouteth in the field signifies the truth of the church springing up (Genesis 19:25). The signification of fire and brimstone in the following passages in the Apocalypse is similar:

"If any man worship the beast and his image, he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone" (14:9, 10).

Again:

"The beast, and the false prophet were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (19:20).

"The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are" (20:10).

"Murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" (21:8).