920. And cast into the great wine-press of the wrath of God. That this signifies the falsification of the Word as to all spiritual truth, and thence damnation, because there is no spiritual good, which is charity, is evident from the signification of wine-press, as denoting the production of truth from good. For by clusters and grapes, that were put into the wine-press, is signified spiritual good; and by the wine, which is produced, is signified truth from that good; see above (n. 219, 376). Because the production of truth from spiritual good is signified by a wine-press, therefore, in the opposite sense, the production of falsity from evil, is signified by it. For just as good produces truth, so evil, which is opposite to good, produces falsity.
The reason why wine-press here signifies the falsification of the Word as to all spiritual truth is, that it is called the great wine-press of the wrath of God; and by the wrath of God, is signified the contempt for and rejection of truth and good by man. And the chief form of rejection is the falsification of the sense of the letter of the Word even to the destruction of spiritual truth, or of the Divine truth in heaven. That this falsification closes heaven may be seen (n. 888). Those also who are in evil, as is the case with all those who are not in the good of charity, cannot do otherwise than produce falsities. For as good produces truths, so evil produces falsities. The reason why the great wine-press of the wrath of God also signifies damnation is, that this is a result, and because it is said the wrath of God, and a great wine-press. That the things now mentioned are signified by the wine-press, shall be proved from the Word in the next article.
[2] A few things shall be said here concerning the production of truth from good, and also of falsity from evil, which is signified by a wine-press in the spiritual sense. The origin and cause of such production is, that all good is of love; and what is loved, this is delightful; and because delight is grateful, and also cheers, therefore that which is from the love, a man thinks of from delight, and also confirms. Now since love and its delight constitute a man's life, therefore when man thinks from love and its delight, he thinks from himself and from his own life. That this is the case is quite clear from men after death, when they become spirits; for then, when they think [from themselves], they cannot but think from their own love, because their whole life is their love. Since, therefore, as good pertains to love, and truth to thought, it is evident how truth is produced from good.
[3] What has been said of good and truth may also be said of the will and understanding. For all good, because it is of the love belongs to the will; and all truth from good, because it is of the thought, belongs to the understanding; for the will loves, and the understanding thinks.
What has been said of good and truth may also be said of heat and light. For spiritual heat is love, which enkindles the will; and spiritual light is truth, which enlightens the understanding. For all love which belongs to the will presents an image of itself in the light of the understanding, where it knows itself; and because it loves itself, it desires to see itself; consequently it is that man thinks what he loves.
What has been said of the production of truth from good may also be said of the production of the falsity from evil. For all evil pertains to the love, and thence loves falsity; and evil therefrom belongs to the will, and falsity to thought.
These things are mentioned because wine-press, in the spiritual sense, signifies the production of truth from good, also the production of falsity from evil. The reason why, by the great wine-press of the wrath of God, is also signified the falsification of the Word is, that the falsification of the Word also produces falsity from evil. For evil falsifies, since evil loves the idea of itself in the thought; and the thought desires to have the same confirmed in the Word, for the purpose of persuasion.
