808. 19:4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, "Amen! Alleluia!" This symbolizes an adoration of the Lord as God of heaven and earth and judge of the universe by angels of the higher heavens, and an affirmation by them of the thanksgiving, confession and celebration of the Lord made by angels of the lower heavens.

To fall down and worship symbolizes humility, and worship as a result of that humility, as in no. 370 above. The twenty-four elders and four living creatures symbolize the higher heavens (no. 369). He who sat on the throne means the Lord as God of heaven and judge of the universe, since the throne symbolizes heaven and the government there (nos. 14, 221, 222), and also judgment - in this case judgment, because it refers to the judgment on the Roman Catholic religion, which is the subject of the preceding chapter. That He who sat on the throne is the Lord will be seen below. "Amen! Alleluia!" symbolizes an affirmation of the thanksgiving, confession and celebration of the Lord by angels of the lower heavens. "Amen" symbolizes an affirmation and agreement in response to truth (nos. 23, 28, 61, 371, 375), and "alleluia" symbolizes a thanksgiving, confession and celebration of the Lord (no. 803). These were made by angels of the lower heavens, because they spoke first and celebrated the Lord as God of heaven, and as judge and avenger, saying "Alleluia!" as is apparent from the first two verses of this chapter and the exposition in nos. 803-806 above. Affirmation of these by angels of the higher heavens is symbolized here by "Amen! Alleluia!"

[2] That He who sat on the throne is the Lord is apparent from Revelation 1:4; 3:21; 4:2-6, 9; 5:13; 6:16; 7:9-11; 22:1, 3. These verses tell us that God and the Lamb were on the throne. God there means the underlying Divinity of the Lord called the Father, and the Lamb the Divine humanity called the Son (nos. 269, 291). Thus it is the Lord alone. This, too, is apparent from chapter 7 where it says, "the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them" (Revelation 7:17). And in Matthew:

...when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory (i.e., ready to judge).... (Matthew 19:28)

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the... angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. (Matthew 25:31)

222. "'As I also overcame and sit with My Father on His throne.'" This symbolically means, as He and the Father are one and constitute heaven.

That the Father and the Lord are one is something we showed fully in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord. And elsewhere we have shown that heaven is not heaven in consequence of the angels' own qualities, but owing to the Lord's Divinity that is present in the angels and among them. Therefore the statement, "as I sit with My Father on His throne," symbolically means, as He and the Father are one and constitute heaven. The throne is heaven (nos. 14, 221).

"As I also overcame" means, symbolically, that through the temptations or trials that His human nature suffered, and through the last of them which was His suffering of the cross, as well as by His fulfilling all things of the Word, the Lord overcame the hells and glorified His humanity, which is to say that He united it to His Divinity that He had within Him from conception, which is called Jehovah, the Father. (Concerning this, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 8-11 12-14, 29-36, and also no. 67 above.)

[2] The Lord says, "To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sit with My Father on His throne," and He says this because the Lord's union with the Father, that is to say, with His Divinity within Him, had as a goal to make it possible for a person to be conjoined with the Divinity in the Lord called the Father. That is because it is impossible for a person to be conjoined with the Divinity of the Father directly, but is possible indirectly through His Divine humanity, which is Divinely natural. Therefore the Lord says,

No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has exhibited Him. (John 1:18)

And in another place,

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. (John 14:6)

The Lord's conjunction with a person takes place through His Divine truth, and this truth is the Lord's in the person, thus the Lord, and is not at all the person's, thus is not the person. The person indeed feels it to be his own, and yet it is not his, for it does not become one with him, but is only an adjunct to him. It is otherwise with the Divinity of the Father. This is not an adjunct to the Lord's humanity but united with it, as the soul is with its body.

Whoever understands this can understand the following declarations by the Lord:

He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

And this:

Sanctify them in Your truth. Your word is truth... For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth..., that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us..., I in them, and You in Me. (John 17:17, 19, 21, 23)