672. 15:7 Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls. This symbolizes the truths and goods by which evils and falsities in the church are exposed, drawn from the literal sense of the Word.

The four living creatures, being cherubim, symbolize the Word in its outmost expressions, and protections to keep its genuine truths and goods from being violated, as may be seen in no. 239 above. And because the interior truths and goods in the Word are protected by its literal meaning, therefore that meaning of the Word is symbolized by one of the four living creatures.

The seven bowls have the same symbolic meaning as the seven plagues, for the bowls are vessels, and vessels in the Word have the same symbolic meaning as their contents. So for example, a cup has the same symbolic meaning as the wine in it, and a dish the same symbolic meaning as the food. That cups, goblets, bowls, plates and saucers have the same symbolic meaning as their contents may be seen from the passages that follow after this.

We have already said what the seven angels symbolize above.

The angels were given the bowls because the subject is the influx of truth and goodness into the church in order to expose its evils and falsities, and naked goods and truths cannot flow in, as they are not accepted, but truths clothed can, such as are found in the literal sense of the Word. Moreover, the Lord also operates always from inmost elements through outmost ones, or in fullness. This is the reason the angels were given bowls, which symbolize containing truths and goods such as constitute the Word's literal sense, by which falsities and evils are exposed.

That the literal sense of the Word is a containing vessel may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, 27-36nos. and 37-49.

[2] That bowls, saucers, cups and goblets, and also wineskins, have the same symbolic meaning as the things they contain can be seen from the following passages:

(Jehovah said,) "Take this... cup of wrath from My hand, and cause all the nations... to drink... ...when they refuse to take the cup..., then you shall say to them, '...You shall surely drink!'" (Jeremiah 25:15-16, 28)

Babylon was a golden cup in Jehovah's hand, that made all the earth drunk. (Jeremiah 51:7)

...I will put (your sister's) cup in your hand... You will be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of... devastation, the cup of your sister Samaria. (Ezekiel 23:31-34)

The cup of... Jehovah will come around to you, that there may be vomit on your glory. (Habakkuk 2:16)

...O daughter of Edom...; the cup shall also pass over to you; you shall be drunk and laid bare. (Lamentations 4:21)

Upon the wicked (Jehovah) will rain... stormy winds, the portion of their cup. (Psalms 11:6)

...in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup, and He has mixed it with wine; He has filled it with the mixed wine and poured it out; ...all the wicked of the earth shall drink... (Psalms 75:8)

(Those who worship the beast) shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed with pure wine in the cup of His indignation. (Revelation 14:10)

Awake...! Arise, O Jerusalem, who have drunk from the hand of Jehovah the cup of His wrath; You have drunk the dregs of the cup of trembling... (Isaiah 51:17)

The woman... having in her hand a golden chalice full of abominations and the filthiness of her licentiousness. (Revelation 17:4)

...repay her double...; in the cup in which she has mixed, mix double for her. (Revelation 18:6)

...I am making Jerusalem a cup of trembling to all the surrounding peoples... (Zechariah 12:2)

Blind Pharisee, first cleanse the inside of the cup..., that the outside of them may be clean also. (Matthew 23:25-26, cf. Luke 11:39)

Jesus... said (to the sons of Zebedee), ."..Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink....?" (Matthew 20:22-23)

...Jesus said to Peter, ."..Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?" (John 18:11)

(In Gethsemane Jesus said,) ."..if it be possible, let this cup pass from me." (Matthew 26:39, 42, 44)

(Jesus) taking the cup, ...gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. This is My blood, the blood of the new covenant...." (Matthew 26:27-28, Luke 22:17)

O Jehovah, You are... my cup, You uphold my lot. (Psalms 16:5)

You will prepare a table before me...; my cup shall overflow. (Psalms 23:5)

What shall I render to Jehovah...? I will take the cup of salvation... (Psalms 116:12-13)

...the cup of consolation to drink... (Jeremiah 16:7)

A bowl has the same symbolic meaning as a cup or chalice, and so also does a wineskin (Matthew 9:17; Luke 5:37-38; Jeremiah 13:12; 48:12; Habakkuk 2:15).

Bowls, censers and thuribles containing incense have the same symbolic meaning as incense. Vessels of every kind in general have the same symbolic meaning as the things they contain.

Stones in the Bible in general represent truths, or things we know concerning the Lord and what He wants from us and for us in life. This is why the people of Israel built altars of stone, and is also why stoning was a principal form of capital punishment (using truth to destroy falsity, or in the negative sense using falsity to destroy truth). It is also why precious stones are described in such detail on Aaron's breastplate and ephod, and also in the New Jerusalem in Revelation; precious stones represent true ideas directly from the Lord with the various colors showing various forms of love. Stones are not alone in representing truth, of course -- it sometimes seems that almost everything in the Bible represents either true ideas or desires for good. But that makes sense, since our thoughts and our desires together are everything we are in life, and the interplay between them is what life is all about. The many ways they are represented in the Bible reflect the incredible variety in our feelings and thoughts, though we can only distantly understand how those representations work. In the case of stones, in their weight, strength and permanence they tend to represent true ideas that come from a desire for good, the understanding we can have if we are truly good and loving -- and in the highest sense the exalted ideas that come from the Lord's love. Those ideas are ones that are not easily moved or changed, and make wonderful foundations for the things we want to build in our spiritual lives.