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.

302. (5:2) And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice. That this signifies exploration from the influx of the Lord into heaven, is evident from the signification of a strong angel, as denoting heaven (concerning which in what follows) and from the signification of proclaiming with a great voice, as denoting exploration from the influx of the Lord, - exploration that is, as to whether any one can know the states of the life of all in heaven and on the earth in general and in particular, for this is the subject here treated of. This exploration is signified by proclaiming, and the influx of the Lord is signified by a great voice. For voice, when said of the Lord, signifies all the truth of the Word, of doctrine and of faith from Him; and when said of heaven and the church, all the thought and affection thence. And because everything true and good, that angels in heaven, and men in whom the church is, think, and by which they are affected, is from the influx of the Lord, therefore this is here signified by a great voice; for it is well known, that no one can be affected with good from the love of good, and think truth from the love of truth, of himself, but that it flows in from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; and because this is the case, by a great voice is signified the influx of the Lord; that voice in the Word signifies the truth of the Word, of doctrine and of faith, as well as everything announced from the Word, may be seen above, n. 261, and in the Arcana Coelestia 3563, 6971, 8813, 9926; and that it signifies the interior affection of truth and good, and the thought thence, n. 10454. The reason why a strong angel signifies heaven, is, because the whole angelic heaven before the Lord is as one man, or as one angel; in like manner each society of heaven; therefore by an angel in the Word is not meant an angel, but an entire angelic society, as by Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. Here, therefore, by a strong angel proclaiming with a great voice, is signified the influx of the Lord into the whole heaven; that it is into the whole heaven, is also evident from what follows, for it is said, "And no one in heaven neither upon the earth, nor under the earth, was able to open the book, or to look thereon." (That by the angels in the Word are meant entire societies of heaven, and, in the highest sense, the Lord as to the proceeding Divine truth, may be seen above, n.90, 130, 200; and that all heaven before the Lord is as one man, or as one angel, and also every society of heaven, in the work concerning Heaven and Hell 59-87.)