693. And the nations were angered.- That this signifies the contempt, enmity, and hatred of the evil against the Lord, and against the Divine things that are from Him, which are the holy things of heaven and of the church, is evident from the signification of nations, as denoting those who are in the goods of the church, and in the opposite sense those who are in evils, here those who are in evils, for it is said that they were angered, (That nations signify those who are in goods and those who are in evils, and in an abstract sense, the goods and evils of the church, and that peoples signify those who are in truths and those who are in falsities, and, in an abstract sense, the truths and falsities of the church, may be seen above (n. 175, 331, 625);

[2] and from the signification of being angered, when said of the evil, who are signified by nations, as denoting to be in contempt, enmity, and hatred against the Lord, and against the Divine things that are from Him, which are the holy things of heaven and of the church. These and many other similar things are signified by being angered, because every one burns with wrath, and is angry when his love and the delight of his love are attacked, this being the cause of all wrath and anger. The reason of this is, that every one's love is his life, therefore to do injury to the love is to do injury to the life, and when this is injured the mind is disturbed, and thus anger and wrath follow. It is similar with the good when their love is attacked, but with this difference, that they are filled not with wrath and anger, but with zeal. This zeal is indeed called anger in the Word, although it is not anger; it is called anger because in external form it appears like anger although it is interiorly nothing but charity, goodness and mercy; therefore zeal does not last like anger after the one against whom it was enkindled has come to himself and turned away from evil. Anger with the evil is of a different nature, for it interiorly conceals in itself hatred and revenge, which the evil love, it therefore persists and is rarely extinguished. It consequently follows that anger belongs to those who are in the loves of self and of the world, for such also are in evils of every kind, but zeal belongs to those who are in love to the Lord, and in love towards the neighbour. Zeal therefore looks to the salvation of man, but anger to his damnation; the latter is in the purpose of an evil man when angry, but salvation is in the purpose of a good man when zealous.

[3] The nations being angered here signifies the contempt, enmity, and hatred of the evil against the Lord, and against the Divine things that are from Him, thus against the holy things of heaven and of the church, because at the end of the church, a little before a last judgment, which is here treated of, a change takes place in the state of those who are in the former heaven and former earth, which is effected by the separation of the good from the evil. And when this is accomplished, the externals of the evil, by and from which they spoke truths and did goods from pretence and hypocrisy, are closed, and their interiors, which are infernal, are opened, and when these are opened, their contempt, hostility, and hatred openly burst forth with invectives against the Lord and against the holy things of heaven and of the church. For these things with such have lain interiorly stored up, but covered over by the loves of self and of the world; and these loves are of such a kind that they can do good and speak truths for the sake of self and of the world, because the holy things of heaven and of the church serve them as means to ends, which are reputation, glory, honour, and gain, in a word, self and the world, and the means are loved for the sake of the ends. But, because with such the end which is of man's love, and thence of his intention and will, is corporeal and worldly, and consequently infernal, therefore the goods and truths which pertain to heaven and the church remain with them only in their externals, and none in their internals, because evils and falsities are therein. For the goods and truths of heaven penetrate into the internals with those only who make the holy things of heaven and of the church their ends, that is, cause them to be of their love, and thus of their intention and will; and when these are the ends regarded then the spiritual mind is opened, and by means of this man is led by the Lord. But the contrary is the case when the goods and truths of heaven and of the church are not regarded as ends but as means; for, as said just above, ends pertain to man's ruling love, and when this is the love of self, it is also the love of his proprium, which, considered in itself, is nothing but evil, and so far as man acts from it he acts from hell, consequently also in opposition to the Divine.

[4] It must be moreover understood that in all evil there is anger against the Lord, and against the holy things of the church. That this is so has been made clearly evident to me from the hells, where all are in evils, and from which all evils are; for when those who are there merely hear the Lord named, they become inflamed with vehement anger, not only against Him, but also against all who confess Him. For this reason hell is the direct opposite of heaven, and is in the continual effort to destroy it, and to extinguish the Divine things therein, which are goods of love and truths of faith. It is evident from this that evils are angry with goods, and the falsities of evil with truths; and this is why anger, in the Word, signifies evil in its whole extent.

[5] Similarly in the following passages.

In Luke:

Jesus said, "Woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck in those days, for there shall be great distress upon the land, and anger in the people" (Luke 21:23).

This is said of the consummation of the age, which is the last time of the church. That then good and truth cannot be received is signified by, woe to them that are with child and to them that give suck. The rejection of good because of the evil which will then rule in the church, and the rejection of truth because of falsity, is signified by, for there shall be great distress upon the land, and anger in the people, distress here denoting the dominating evil, and anger the dominating falsity from evil; for at the end of the church the evil feel anguish at the presence of good, and are rendered angry by truth.

[6] In Isaiah:

"Only in Jehovah is justice and strength, unto him shall [men] come, and all that are incensed against him shall be ashamed" (45:24).

All that are incensed against Jehovah shall be ashamed, signifies that all who are in evils and falsities will desist from them; to be incensed against Jehovah signifies to be in falsities from evil.

[7] In Moses:

"Simeon and Levi are brethren; in their anger they slew a man, and in their good pleasure they unstrung an ox; cursed be their anger for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was hard; I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel" (Genesis 49:5-7).

Reuben, Simeon, and Levi signify faith, charity, and the works of charity, but here Reuben signifies faith separated from charity, from which there is neither charity nor any work of charity, since these three cohere together; for as is faith, so is charity, and as is charity so are the works of charity; they are therefore inseparable, the one belongs to the other, and thus the one is as the other. And because Reuben, on account of his adultery with the handmaid, his father's concubine, was accursed, therefore Simeon and Levi were also rejected; their rejection is signified by being divided in Jacob and scattered in Israel. Now because faith, which was represented by Reuben, was not to be accepted as the first thing of the church, but spiritual good, which is truth in the understanding and will, therefore Joseph was accepted as the first-begotten of the church in the place of Reuben, for Joseph represented spiritual good, which in its essence is truth in the understanding and will. It is therefore evident what is signified by the anger of Simeon and Levi which is fierce, and by their wrath which is hard, namely, a turning away from good and truth, thus evil and falsity in their whole extent; for when charity departs from faith, then there is no longer any good, or any truth. But these things may be seen explained more fully in the Arcana Coelestia 6351-6361).

[8] In Matthew:

Jesus said, "It was said to them of old, Whosoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment, but I say unto you, Whosoever is angry with his brother rashly shall be liable to the judgment" (5:21, 22).

To be angry with his brother rashly here also signifies enmity and hatred against good and truth. Those also who have such enmity and hatred do continually kill in mind, intention, and will, and they would actually kill, if they were free to do so, that is, if they were not restrained by the laws and a consequent fear of punishment and of losing life, reputation, honour or gain; for what a man cherishes in his mind, this he carries out when the opportunity arises. He who is angry with his brother rashly is liable to the judgment, equally as he who kills, because to be angry signifies to think, intend, and wish evil to another, and all evil of the will is in the life of man's spirit, and returns after death, and this is why he is then liable to the judgment; for what is of the intention and will is considered in judgment as if actually done. But it is not necessary to cite further passages to shew the signification of anger and wrath with those who are in evil, for it is self-evident that all evil conceals in itself anger against good, since it desires to extinguish it, and even to kill him in whom good is, if not as to the body, yet [as] to the soul; this proceeds altogether from anger and is accompanied by anger.

625. Over peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings.- That this signifies with all those who are in truths and goods as to life, and at the same time in goods and truths as to doctrine according to every one's religion, consequently that the Word may be taught as to goods of life and as to truths of doctrine, is evident from the signification of peoples and nations, as denoting those who are of the spiritual church, and those who are of the celestial church. Those who are of the spiritual church are called in the Word peoples, but those who are of the celestial church are called nations. Those who are of the spiritual church, and are called peoples, are in truths as to doctrine and life; and those who are of the celestial church, and are called nations, are in the good of love to the Lord, and thence in good as to life (concerning this signification of people and nations in the Word, see above, n. 175, 331); and from the signification of tongues, and many kings, as denoting those who are in goods and truths as to life and doctrine, but according to each one's religion. For tongues signify the goods of truth, and confession thereof according to each one's religion (see above, n. 330, 455); and kings signify truths which are from good, and many kings, various truths which are from good, but according to each one's religion (concerning this signification of kings, see above, n. 31, 553).

[2] Various truths from good are signified by "many kings," because the peoples and nations out of the church were for the most part in falsities as to doctrine, but still, because they lived a life of love to God and of charity towards the neighbour, the falsities of their religion were accepted by the Lord as truths, because the good of love was interiorly in their falsities, and the good of love qualifies all truth, and in such case qualifies the falsity that is believed by such to be truth; the good also, which lies concealed within, causes such, when they come into the other life, to perceive genuine truths, and receive them. Moreover there are truths that are only appearances of truth, such as are those contained in the sense of the letter of the Word; these appearances of truth are also accepted by the Lord as genuine truths when the good of love to the Lord, and the good of charity towards the neighbour are in them; in the other life also the good that lies hidden within dissipates appearances, and lays bare spiritual truths, that are genuine truths. From these things the meaning of "many kings" is evident. But concerning falsities with the Gentiles in which there is good, see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 21).

[3] From what has been said and shown in this and the preceding article, it is plain, that the command to John that he must prophesy again over peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings, signifies that the Word must as yet be taught to those who are in goods and truths as to doctrine, and thence as to life. But because it is said, "over peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings," also these words signify, that the Word must be taught as to goods of life and as to truths of doctrine, for the Word in its whole extent contains these two.

[4] This is the sense of those words apart from persons, which is the truly spiritual sense. The sense of the letter in most places is concerned with persons, and it also names them, but the truly spiritual sense is entirely apart from persons. For the angels, who are in the spiritual sense of the Word, in everything which they think and speak, have no idea of person or place, because the idea of person and place limits and confines the thoughts, and consequently renders them natural. But it is different when the idea is abstracted from persons and places; and this is the reason why they have intelligence and wisdom, and why angelic intelligence and wisdom are inexpressible. For while man lives in the world, he is in natural thought; and natural thought derives its ideas from persons, places, and times, and from material things, and, if these were taken away from man, his thought which comes to perception would perish, for he comprehends nothing without such things. But angelic thought is without ideas derived from persons, places, times, and material things; for this reason angelic thought and speech therefrom are inexpressible, and are also incomprehensible to man.

[5] The man, however, who has in the world lived a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards his neighbour, comes into that inexpressible intelligence and wisdom after his departure out of the world; for his interior mind, which is the very mind of his spirit, is then opened, and the man, when he becomes an angel, then thinks and speaks from it, and therefore thinks and speaks such things as he could neither utter nor comprehend in the world. Every man possesses such a spiritual mind, which is like the angelic mind; but because, in the world, he speaks, sees, hears, and feels, by means of the material body, it lies hid within the natural mind, or lives above it, and he is then altogether ignorant of what he is thinking in the spiritual mind; for the thought of that mind then flows into the natural mind, and is there limited, bounded, and so presented as to be seen and perceived. A man does not know so long as he lives in the body in the world that he interiorly possesses such a mind, and therein angelic wisdom and intelligence, because, as stated, all things that concern that mind flow into the natural mind, and thus become natural according to correspondences. These things are said in order that the quality of the Word in the spiritual sense may be known, when that sense is regarded altogether apart from persons and places, that is apart from those things that take their quality from the material things pertaining to the body and the world.