704. That perform signs to go away to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. This symbolizes assertions that their falsities are true, and efforts to stir up all those throughout the church who are caught up in the same falsities to attack the truths of the New Church.

To perform signs is to testify and also to assert that something is true, as may be seen in nos. 598, 599 above, here that their falsities are true. Kings of the earth and of the whole world symbolize people who are caught up primarily in falsities springing from evil, here all who are caught up in the same falsities throughout the church. For kings symbolize people impelled by truths that spring from goodness, and in an opposite sense people impelled by falsities springing from evil (no. 483). The earth symbolizes the church (no. 285), and so likewise does the world (no. 551). To go away to gather them to battle means, symbolically, to stir those people to fight or attack; for war symbolizes a spiritual war, which is one of falsity against truth and of truth against falsity (nos. 500, 586). It is to attack the truths of the New Church because it is called the battle of that great day of God Almighty, and that day symbolizes the Lord's advent and a new church then. That this is the symbolic meaning of the great day there will be seen below.

We are told that the spirits of demons would do this, because the spirits of demons symbolize lusts to falsify truths and to reason on the basis of falsities, as just said in no. 703 above.

It is apparent from this that spirits of demons performing signs to go away to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, symbolize assertions by the people meant by the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, as described in nos. 701, 702 above, that their falsities are true, and efforts to stir up all those throughout the church who are caught up in the same falsities to attack the truths of the New Church.

[2] That the great day of God Almighty symbolizes the Lord's advent and a new church then, is clear from many passages in the Word, as from the following:

Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. (Isaiah 2:11)

...in that day... Israel... will depend on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. (Isaiah 10:20)

In that day a Root of Jesse... shall the Gentiles seek, and His resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10-11)

In that day... eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 17:7, 9)

They will say in that day: "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, to set us free." (Isaiah 25:9)

...My people shall know My name...(and) in that day, I am He who speaks: "Behold, it is I." (Isaiah 52:6)

Alas! ...great is (the day of Jehovah, and) there is none like it. (Jeremiah 30:7)

Behold, the days are coming... when I will make a new covenant... and the city shall be built for Jehovah... (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 38)

In those days... I will cause to grow up to David a righteous Branch... (Jeremiah 33:15)

(They will not) stand in battle on the day of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 13:5)

In that day Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the children of your people... In that day... shall be delivered everyone who is found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)

...in that day... you will call Me "My Husband."... In that day I will make a covenant for them... ...in that day I will hear... (Hosea 2:16, 18, 21).

Behold, I am sending you Elijah... before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Malachi 4:5)

Jehovah... will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. (Zechariah 9:16)

In that day Jehovah will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:8)

Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming... It shall be one day which is known to Jehovah... In that day Jehovah shall be one and His name one... In that day there shall be a great tumult... In that day "Holiness to the Lord" shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. (Zechariah 14:1, 4, 6-9, 13, 20-21)

There are many other passages in addition to these in which "the day of Jehovah" means the Lord's advent and a new church from Him then, as in the following: Isaiah 4:2; 19:16, 18, 21, 24; 22:20; 28:5; 29:18; 30:25-26; 31:7; and elsewhere.

Since the end of an age or final period of a former church is the time when the Lord's advent takes place and a new church begins, therefore the day of Jehovah in many places symbolizes the end of a previous church, and we are told that then there will be rumors, tumult, and wars. ¹ See the passages collected in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 4, 5.

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5. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John. This symbolizes the things that have been revealed by the Lord through heaven to people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith.

"He sent and signified it by His angel" means, in the spiritual sense, things that have been revealed by the Lord from heaven or through heaven. For in the Word an angel frequently means the angelic heaven, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself. That is because no angel ever speaks with a person in dissociation from heaven, for each has such a conjunction with all the rest there that everyone speaks in accord with the communion, even though the angel is not conscious of it.

In the Lord's sight, in fact, heaven is as a single person, whose soul is the Lord Himself. Therefore the Lord speaks with a person through heaven, as a person does from his soul through his body in speaking with another. And this the person does in conjunction with each and every part of his mind, at whose center are the things that he is saying. But this secret cannot be explained in a few words. We have explained it in part in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.

In the highest sense the Lord is meant by an angel because heaven is not heaven in consequence of the angels' own qualities, but owing to the Lord's Divinity from which they have their love and wisdom, indeed their life. It is on this account that in the Word the Lord is Himself called an angel.

It is apparent from this that the angel did not of himself speak with John, but that the Lord did so by means of heaven through the angel.

[2] As for saying that this statement means that these things have been revealed to people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith, that is because it is they who are meant by John. For by the Lord's twelve disciples or apostles are meant all in the church who possess truths arising from goodness, and in an abstract sense, all constituents of the church. By Peter are meant all who are governed by faith, and abstractly, faith itself. By James are meant those who are impelled by charity, and abstractly, charity itself. And by John are meant those who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith, and abstractly, the resulting goodness of life itself. That these are what are meant by John, James and Peter in the Gospels may be seen in the short work The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (London, 1758), no. 122.

[3] Now because goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith is what forms the church, therefore it was through the apostle John that secrets were revealed concerning the state of the church, the secrets that are contained in his visions.

The fact that the names of persons and places in the Word all symbolize things having to do with heaven and the church is something we showed many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), also published in London.

It can be seen from this that the phrase, "He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John," means, in the spiritual sense, the things that have been revealed by the Lord through heaven to people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith. For charity produces goodness through faith, and not charity by itself or faith by itself.