649. And when they shall have finished their testimony.- That this signifies in the end of the church, when the Divine of the Lord is no longer acknowledged, and thence when there is no longer the good of love and the truth of doctrine, is evident from the signification of testimony, as denoting the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, and thence the good of love and truth of doctrine, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of finishing, as denoting to end; and because this ending takes place in the end of the church, therefore the end of the church is here signified by finishing. And because there is then no longer any acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, therefore there is not any good of love and truth of doctrine.

[2] That this is signified by testimony, is evident from what has been thus far said concerning the two witnesses, namely, that by them is meant the good of love and of charity and the truth of doctrine and of faith, because these principally bear witness concerning the Lord, for they are from Him, and are of Him with man, therefore their testimony signifies preaching concerning them. That the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord is here signified by testimony, is evident from the statement in the Apocalypse:

"That the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (19:10).

For unless man acknowledges this from the heart, and believes it from spiritual faith, he cannot be in any power of receiving the good of love and the truth of doctrine.

[3] At the end of the church the Lord is, indeed, preached, and also, from doctrine, a Divine similar to the Divine of the Father is attributed to Him; but nevertheless scarcely any one thinks of His Divine, because it is placed above or outside of His Human, therefore when they look to His Divine they do not look to the Lord, but to the Father as to another, when yet the Divine, which is called the Father, is in the Lord, as He Himself teaches in John (10:30, 38; 14:7). Hence it is that man does not think of the Lord otherwise than as of an ordinary man, and his faith flows from that thought, although he may say with his lips that he believes in His Divine. Let any one examine, if he can, the idea of his thought concerning the Lord, whether it be not of this character, and if this is the case, he cannot be conjoined to Him in faith and love, nor by conjunction receive any good of love and truth of faith. It is for these reasons that at the end of the church there is not any acknowledgment of the Lord, that is, of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord. There is a kind of belief as though the Divine of the Lord were acknowledged, because it is affirmed in the doctrine of the church. But when the Divine is separated from His Human, so far His Divine is not acknowledged inwardly, but only outwardly, and to acknowledge it outwardly is to acknowledge it with the mouth only and not in the heart, or in speech only and not in faith.

[4] That this is so is evident from the case of Christians in the other life, where the thoughts of the heart are made manifest. When they are permitted to speak from doctrine, and from what they have heard from preaching, then they attribute a Divine to the Lord, and call it their faith; but when their interior thought and faith are examined, then [it is found] that they have no other idea concerning the Lord than as it were of an ordinary man in whom there is nothing Divine. The interior thought of man is the ground of his faith, and because such is the thought and thence the faith of his spirit, it is evident that there is not any acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord in the Christian world at the end of the church. In a word, there is, indeed, an external, but no internal acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord; and external acknowledgment belongs to the natural man alone, but internal acknowledgment belongs to his spirit itself; and the external is laid asleep after death, and the internal belongs to his spirit. From these considerations it may in some degree be evident what is meant by the beast coming up out of the abyss shall overcome and kill the two witnesses, and by their bodies being seen on the street of the city which is called Sodom and Egypt, and by the spirit of life afterwards entering into them.

593. And I saw another strong angel coming down out of heaven.- That this signifies the Lord as to the Word, in this case, as to its ultimate sense, which is called the sense of the letter, is evident from the signification of a strong angel, as denoting the Lord as to the Word, of which we shall speak presently. The reason why it denotes the Lord as to the Word in its ultimate sense, called the sense of the letter, is, that from that sense the Lord is called strong, for all the strength, and all the power of Divine Truth, exist and consist in its ultimate, consequently in the sense of the letter of the Word, of which also we shall speak presently.

[2] Because the sense of the letter of the Word is here meant, therefore it is said of the angel that he was seen coming down out of heaven, the same being said of the Word, which is Divine Truth; for this descends from the Lord through the heavens into the world, on which account it is adapted to the wisdom of the angels in the three heavens, and also to men in the natural world. For this reason the Word in the first origin of all is wholly Divine, afterwards celestial, then spiritual, and lastly natural. It is celestial for the angels of the inmost or third heaven, who are called celestial angels, spiritual for the angels of the second or middle heaven, who are called spiritual angels, and celestial-natural and spiritual-natural for the angels of the ultimate or first heaven, who are called celestial-natural and spiritual-natural angels, and natural for men in the world; for men, while they live in the material body, think and speak naturally.

This is the reason why the angels of each heaven possess the Word, but with a difference according to the degree of their wisdom, intelligence, and knowledge (scientia); and although it differs as to its sense in each heaven, still it is the same Word. For when the Divine itself, which is in the Word from the Lord, descends to the inmost or third heaven, it becomes celestial Divine; when it descends from this to the middle or second heaven, it becomes spiritual Divine; and when from this heaven it descends to the ultimate or first, it becomes celestial-natural or spiritual-natural Divine; and when it descends thence into the world, it becomes the natural Divine Word, such as it is with us in the letter. These successive derivations of the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord Himself, exist from correspondences established from creation itself between things higher and lower, on which subject, the Lord willing, more will be said elsewhere.

[3] The reason why all strength and all power are in the ultimates of Divine Truth, that is in the natural sense of the Word, which is the sense of the letter, is, that this sense is the containant of all the interior senses, namely, of the spiritual and celestial, spoken of above; and since it is the containant, it is also the base, and all strength is in the base; for if things higher do not rest upon their base, they fall down and are scattered. Such would be the case with spiritual and celestial things if they did not rest upon the natural or literal sense of the Word, for this not only sustains the interior senses, but also contains them, therefore the Word or Divine Truth, in this sense, is not only in its power, but also in its fulness. But upon this subject more may be seen above; namely, that strength is in the ultimate, because the Divine there is in its fulness (n. 346, 567). It is also further explained in the Arcana Coelestia that interior things successively flow into exterior, even into the extreme or ultimate, and that therein they co-exist (n. 634, 6239, 6465, 9215, 9216); that they not only flow in successively, but also form in their ultimate what is simultaneous; in what order (n. 5897, 6451, 8603, 10099); that therefore strength and power are in the ultimates (n. 9836); that consequently responses and revelations are given in ultimates (n. 9905, 10548); that therefore the ultimate is more holy than the interiors (n. 9824).

[4] From these things, it also follows, that everything of the doctrine of the church ought to be formed and confirmed from the sense of the letter of the Word, and that all the power of doctrine is therefrom (see above, n. 356); this is the reason why the angel coming down out of heaven is called strong. That an angel in the Word, in the highest sense, means the Lord, in the respective sense (sensu respectivo), every recipient of Divine Truth from the Lord, and in an abstract sense, Divine Truth itself, may be seen above (n. 130, 302); here therefore the angel means the Lord as to the Word, because the Word is the Divine Truth itself. That the Lord Himself is here meant by the angel, is evident from a similar representation of Him as to His face, and feet, in the first chapter of this book, where it is said of the Son of man, who is the Lord, that "his countenance shone as the sun in his strength, and that his feet were like unto burnished brass, as if they burned in a furnace" (ver. 15, 16).