681. And it became blood as though of a dead man, and every living creature in the sea died. This symbolizes the infernal falsity in those people by which every truth in the Word was extinguished, and so also every truth in the church and in faith.

Blood as though of a dead man, or blood oozing and mixed with pus, symbolizes infernal falsity. For blood symbolizes Divine truth, and in an opposite sense, that truth falsified (no. 379). But blood as though of a dead man symbolizes infernal falsity, inasmuch as death symbolizes the extinction of spiritual life, and so a dead man symbolizes something infernal (nos. 321, 525). That every living creature died means symbolically that every truth in the Word, in the church, and in faith was extinguished. For a living creature symbolizes the truth of faith; accordingly a living creature that has died symbolizes the truth of faith extinguished.

A living creature in the Word, or a soul when referring to a human being, symbolizes his spiritual life, which is also the life of his intellect; and because the intellect is formed by truths, and truths have to do with faith, therefore a living creature or soul symbolizes the truth of faith. That this is the symbolic meaning of a living creature or soul can be seen from many passages in the Word, and also from those that mention both soul and heart. The soul and heart plainly mean a person's life, but it is his life in consequence of his will and intellect, or spiritually speaking, in consequence of his love and wisdom, or of his charity and faith; and the life of the will springing from the goodness of love is meant by heart, while the life of the intellect springing from truths of wisdom or of faith is meant by soul. These are meant by soul and heart in Matthew 22:37, Mark 12:30, 33, Luke 10:27; Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41; and elsewhere. Also in passages which mention heart by itself and soul by itself.

The reason these terms are used comes from the correspondence of the heart with the will and love, and of the soul's action in the lungs with the intellect and wisdom, as may be seem in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, Section Five, where this correspondence is discussed.

525. "And Your wrath has come, and the time to judge the dead." This symbolizes the destruction of and the last judgment on those people who were without any spiritual life.

Your wrath symbolizes a last judgment (no. 340), thus their destruction. This is the symbolic meaning of the Lord's wrath because it appears to people as though the Lord casts people into hell out of anger, when in fact an evil person casts himself into hell. Indeed, the case is similar to that of an evildoer who blames his punishment on the law, or on the fire that burns him if he sticks his hand into it, or on the sword held out in the hand of someone protecting himself if he is pierced through when he rushes upon the blade. Such is the case with everyone who sets himself against the Lord and out of anger rushes upon those whom the Lord protects.

The dead who were to be judged mean, in a universal sense, people who have died and departed from the world, but in a strict sense, they mean people who are without any spiritual life. It is the latter who are spoken of in terms of judgment (John 3:18; 5:24, 29). That is because people who possess spiritual life are called the living. Spiritual life is present only in people who turn to the Lord and at the same time refrain from evils as sins.

[2] People who are without any spiritual life are those meant in the following passages:

They joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. (Psalms 106:28)

...the enemy persecutes my soul...; he has made me dwell in darkness, like the world's dead. (Psalms 143:3)

To hear the groaning of the prisoner, (and) to release those appointed to die... (Psalms 102:20)

I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, when you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die... (Revelation 3:1-2)

These are the people meant by the dead because their death means spiritual death. Consequently, the slain also mean people who have died that same death (nos. 321, 325, and elsewhere).

Those who have died and departed from the world are meant by the dead in the following places:

The dead were judged according to... the things which were written in the books. (Revelation 20:12)

The rest of the dead did not live again... (Revelation 20:5)

That is because the first death there means the natural death that is a passing on from the world, while the second death means spiritual death, which is damnation.