103. And hast not failed, signifies so far as they could. This is evident from the signification of "not failing," in reference to those who are eager for the knowledges of truth and good, as being so far as they could; for in what now follows, a life according to these knowledges is treated of. Those who are in a life according to these go forward and do not fail; but those who are as yet in knowledges alone, go forward as far as they can, but do not yet have the light of life, from which is vigor.

94. EXPOSITION.

Verses 1-7. To the angel of the Ephesian church write: These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand; He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands; I know thy works and thy toil, and thy endurance, and that thou canst not bear the evil, and hast tried them that say, that they are apostles and they are not, and hast found them liars: and hast borne and hast endurance, and for My name's sake hast toiled, and hast not failed. But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first charity. Be mindful therefore of whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works; but if not I will come unto thee quickly, and will move thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that hath an ear let him hear what the spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life which is in the midst of the paradise of God.

1. "To the angel of the Ephesian church write," signifies for remembrance to those within the church who are in the knowledges of truth and good from the Word (n. 95); "these things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand," signifies from whom are all the knowledges of good and truth (n. 96); "He that walketh in the midst of the seven golden lampstands," signifies from whom is life to all in the new heaven and the new church (n. 97 [1-2]).

2. "I know thy works, and thy toil, and thy endurance," signifies all things that they think, will, and do, thus all things of love and faith in the spiritual and in the natural man n. 98; ["and that thou canst not bear the evil," signifies that they reject evils (n. 99)] and hast tried them that say they are apostles and they are not, and hast found them liars," signifies also falsities, so far as they are able to search them out n. 100.

3. "And hast borne, and hast endurance," signifies resistance against those who assail the truths of faith, and diligence in instructing (n. 101); "and for My name's sake hast toiled," signifies acknowledgment of the Lord and of the knowledges of truth that have respect to Him n. 102; "and hast not failed," signifies so far as they could (n. 103).

4. "But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first charity," signifies that they do not make such a life as those lived who were in the church at its beginning the essential of knowledges (n. 104).

5. "Be mindful therefore of whence thou hast fallen, and repent, and do the first works," signifies the remembrance of former things, and thus the remembrance of having deviated from the truth, and this in order that the good of life of the church at its beginning may come into mind n. 105; "but if not I will come unto thee quickly, and will move thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent," signifies that if not, it is certain that heaven cannot be given (n. 106).

6. "But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate," signifies an aversion, derived from the Divine, towards those who separate good from truth, or charity from faith, from which separation there is no life n. 107.

7. "He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches," signifies that he who understands should hearken to what Divine truth proceeding from the Lord teaches and says to those who are of His church n. 108; "To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life," signifies that he who receives in the heart shall be filled with the good of love, and with heavenly joy therefrom n. 109; "which is in the midst of the paradise of God," signifies that all knowledges of good and truth in heaven and in the church look thereto and proceed therefrom n. 110.

96. These things saith He that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, signifies from whom are all the knowledges of good and truth. This is evident from the signification of "seven stars," as meaning all the knowledges of good and truth (See above, n. 72); and from the signification of "right hand," as being, in reference to the Lord, what is from Him (See above, n. 72, 79); therefore by these words, "that holdeth the seven stars in His right hand," is signified that from the Lord are all the knowledges of good and truth. It is said that He saith this "who holdeth the seven stars in His right hand, and walketh in the midst of the [seven] golden lampstands," because by "stars" are signified the knowledges of good and truth, and by "golden lampstands" the new heaven and the new church. There is thus prefixed to each description of a church a Divine characteristic that indicates the subject treated of (as to the descriptions of the churches that follow, verses 8, 12, 18; chap. Revelation 3:1, 7, 14). It is so prefixed because everything of the church is from the Lord. From this it is clear also why the Lord, in respect to His Divine Human, is described in the first chapter by the representatives that were seen by John, namely, that from these might be taken what was to be prefixed to the description of each church, for a testimony and a memorial that everything of the church is from the Lord, and indeed from His Divine Human; for from this all the good of love proceeds and every truth of faith, and these constitute the church. What immediately proceeds from His Divine Itself does not reach man, because His Divine Itself is invisible and therefore does not fall within the thought, and what does not fall within the thought does not fall within the faith; for everything that is of faith must be thought. That the Son of man, who is described (in chap. Revelation 1) by the representatives seen by John, is the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, and Divine truth proceeding therefrom, see above n. 63. The knowledges of truth and good are here treated of first, because they are the first things of the church; for no one can be initiated into faith and charity, which constitute the church, except by means of knowledges from the Word that pertain to the church (See what is appended to n. 356 of the work on Heaven and Hell from the Arcana Coelestia).