608. Verse 6 (Revelation 10:6). And he sware by Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages, signifies the verity from His own Divine. This is evident from the signification of "to swear," as being a strong assertion and confirmation, and in reference to the Lord the verity (of which presently); also from the signification of "Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages," as being the Divine from eternity, which alone lives, and which is the source of life to all in the universe, both angels and men. (That this is signified by "Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages" may be seen above, n. 289, 291, 349.) That "to swear" signifies asseveration and confirmation, but here verity (since it is the Lord that is meant by the angel that swears), can be seen from this, that "to swear" means to asseverate and confirm that a thing is so, and when done by the Lord means Divine verity; for oaths are made only by those who are not interiorly in truth itself, that is, by those who are not interior but only exterior men; consequently they are never made by angels, still less by the Lord; but He is said in the Word to swear, and the Israelites were allowed to swear by God, because they were only exterior men, and because the asseveration and confirmation of the internal man, when it comes into the external, falls into the form of an oath. In the Israelitish Church all things were external, representing and signifying things internal. The Word in the sense of the letter is similar. From this it can be seen that "the angel sware by Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages" cannot mean that he thus sware, but that he said in himself that this is verity, and that when this came down into the natural sphere it was changed, according to correspondences, into the form of an oath.

[2] Now as "to swear" is only an external corresponding to the confirmation that belongs to the mind of the internal man, and is therefore significative of that, so in the Word of the Old Testament it is said to be lawful to swear by God, yea, that God Himself is said to swear. That this signifies confirmation, asseveration and simply verity, or that it is true, can be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:

Jehovah hath sworn by His right hand and by the arm of His strength (Isaiah 62:8).

In Jeremiah:

Jehovah of Hosts hath sworn by His soul (Jeremiah 51:14; Amos 6:8).

In Amos:

The Lord Jehovih hath sworn by His holiness (Amos 4:2).

In the same:

Jehovah hath sworn by the excellency of Jacob (Amos 8:7).

In Jeremiah:

Behold, I have sworn by My great name (Jeremiah 44:26).

Jehovah is said "to have sworn by His right hand," "by His soul," "by His holiness," and "by His name," to signify by Divine verity; for "the right hand of Jehovah," "the arm of His strength," "His holiness," "His name," and "His soul," mean the Lord in relation to Divine truth, thus Divine truth proceeding from the Lord; the like is meant by "the excellency of Jacob," for "the mighty One of Jacob" means the Lord in relation to Divine truth.

[3] That "to swear," in reference to Jehovah, signifies confirmation by Himself, that is, from His Divine, is evident in Isaiah:

By Myself have I sworn, the word has gone forth from My mouth, and shall not be recalled (Isaiah 45:23).

In Jeremiah:

By Myself I have sworn that this house shall become a desolation (Jeremiah 22:5).

Because "to swear" in reference to Jehovah signifies Divine verity it is said in David:

Jehovah hath sworn truth unto David, He turneth ¹ not from it (Psalms 132:11).

[4] Jehovah God, or the Lord, never swears, for to swear is not becoming to God Himself, or the Divine verity; but when God, or the Divine verity, wills to have anything confirmed before men, then that confirmation in its descent into the natural sphere falls into the form or formula of an oath, such as is used in the world. This shows why it is said in the sense of the letter of the Word, which is the natural sense, that God swears, although He never swears. This, then, is the signification of "to swear" in reference to Jehovah or the Lord in the preceding passages, and also in the following. In Isaiah:

Jehovah of Hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass (Isaiah 14:24).

In David:

I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn unto David My servant. Lord, Thou hast sworn unto David in verity (Psalms 89:3, 35, 49).

In the same:

Jehovah hath sworn and will not repent (Psalms 110:4).

In Ezekiel:

I have sworn unto thee, and have entered into a covenant with thee, that thou mightest become Mine (Ezekiel 16:8).

In David:

Unto whom I have sworn in Mine anger (Psalms 95:11).

In Isaiah:

I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more pass over the earth (Isaiah 54:9).

In Luke:

To remember His holy covenant, the oath which He sware to Abraham our father (Luke 1:72, 73).

In David:

He hath remembered His covenant which He made with Abraham, and His oath with Isaac (Psalms 105:8, 9).

In Jeremiah:

That I may establish the oath which I have sworn unto your fathers (Jeremiah 11:5; 32:22).

In Moses:

The land which I have sworn to give unto your fathers (Deuteronomy 1:35; 10:11; 11:9, 21; 26:3, 15; 31:20; 34:4).

[5] From this it can be seen what is meant by "the angel lifted up his hand to heaven, and sware by Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages," as it is likewise said in Daniel:

And I heard the man clothed in linen, that he held up his right hand and his left hand unto the heavens, and sware by Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages (Daniel 12:7);

as meaning to bear witness before the angels respecting the state of the church, that what follows is Divine verity.

[6] Because the church that was instituted with the sons of Israel was a representative church, in which all things that were commanded were natural things representing and signifying spiritual things, the sons of Israel, with whom that church existed, were permitted to swear by Jehovah, and by His name, likewise by the holy things of the church; and this represented and thus signified internal confirmation, and also verity, as can be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:

He that blesseth himself in the earth let him bless himself in the God of truth, and he that sweareth in the earth let him swear in the God of truth (Isaiah 65:16).

In Jeremiah:

Swear by the living Jehovah, in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness (Jeremiah 4:2).

In Moses:

Thou shalt fear Jehovah thy God, Him shalt thou serve, and shalt swear in His name (Deuteronomy 6:13; 10:20).

In Isaiah:

In that day there shall be five cities in the land of Egypt that swear to Jehovah of Hosts (Isaiah 19:18).

In Jeremiah:

If in learning they will learn the ways of My people, to swear by My name, Jehovah liveth! (Jeremiah 12:16).

In David:

Everyone that sweareth by God shall glory, but the mouth of them that speak a lie shall be stopped (Psalms 63:11).

"To swear by God" here signifies to speak the truth, for it is added, "the mouth of them that speak a lie shall be stopped." (That they swore by God see also Genesis 21:23, 24, 31; Joshua 2:12; 9:20; Judges 21:7; 1 Kings 1:17.)

[7] As the ancients were allowed to swear by Jehovah God, it follows that it was an enormous evil to swear falsely or to swear to a lie, as is evident from these passages. In Malachi:

I will be a witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those that swear to a lie (Malachi 3:5).

In Moses:

Thou shalt not swear to a lie by My name, so that thou profane the name of thy God; also, Thou shalt not take the name of thy God in vain (Leviticus 19:12; Deuteronomy 5:11; Exodus 20:7; Zechariah 5:4).

In Jeremiah:

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, and see whether there be any who say, By the living Jehovah; surely they swear by a lie. Thy sons have destroyed ² Me, and sworn by one not God (Jeremiah 5:1, 2, 7).

In Hosea:

Israel, ye shall not swear, Jehovah liveth (Hosea 4:15).

In Zephaniah:

I will cut off them that swear by Jehovah, and that swear by their king, and them that are turned back from following Jehovah (Zephaniah 1:4-6).

In Zechariah:

Love not the oath of a lie (Zechariah 8:17).

In Isaiah:

Hear ye, O house of Jacob, who swear by the name of Jehovah, not in truth nor in righteousness (Isaiah 48:1).

In David:

The clean in hands and the pure in heart doth not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor swear with deceit (Psalms 24:4).

[8] From this it can be seen that the ancients, who were in the representatives and the significatives of the church, were permitted to swear by Jehovah God in order to bear witness to the truth, and by that oath it was signified that they thought what is true and willed what is good. Especially was this granted to the sons of Jacob, because they were wholly external and natural men, and not internal and spiritual; and merely external or natural men wish to have the truth confirmed and witnessed to by oaths; but internal or spiritual men do not wish this; indeed, they turn away from oaths and shudder at them, especially those in which God and the holy things of heaven and the church are appealed to, and are content with saying and with having it said that a thing is true, or that it is so.

[9] As swearing does not belong to the internal or spiritual man, and as the Lord, when He came into the world, taught men to be internal or spiritual, and to that end abrogated the externals of the church, and opened its internals, therefore He forbade swearing by God and by the holy things of heaven and the church. This is evident from these words of the Lord in Matthew:

Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt not swear [falsely], but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oath; but I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by the heaven, for it is the throne of God; neither by the earth, for it is the footstool of His feet; neither by Jerusalem, for it is a city of the great King. Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, for thou canst not make one hair white or black (Matthew 5:33-37).

Here the holy things by which one must not swear are mentioned, namely, "heaven," "earth," "Jerusalem," and the "head;" and "heaven" means the angelic heaven, wherefore it is called "the throne of God" (that "the throne of God" means that heaven, see above, n. 253, 462, 477); "the earth" means the church (See above, n. 29, 304, 413, 417), which is called therefore "the footstool of God's feet" (that "the footstool of God's feet" also means the church, see above, n. 606; "Jerusalem" means the doctrine of the church, wherefore it is called "the city of the great king" (that "city" means doctrine, see above, n. 223; and the "head" means intelligence therefrom (See above, n. 553, 577), therefore it is said "thou canst not make one hair white or black," which signifies that man of himself can understand nothing.

[10] Again, in the same:

Woe unto you, ye blind guides, for ye say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind; for whether is greater, the gold or the temple that sanctifieth the gold? And whosoever shall swear by the altar it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it he is a debtor. Ye fools and blind; whether is greater, the gift or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? But whosoever sweareth by the altar sweareth by it and by everything thereon. And whosoever sweareth by the temple sweareth by it and by Him that dwelleth therein. And he that sweareth by heaven sweareth by the throne of God and by Him that sitteth thereon (Matthew 23:16-22).

One must not swear "by the temple and by the altar," because to swear by these was to swear by the Lord, by heaven, and by the church; for the "temple" in the highest sense means the Lord in relation to Divine truth, and in a relative sense heaven and the church in respect to truth, likewise all worship from Divine truth (See above, n. 220); and the "altar" signifies the Lord in relation to Divine good, and in a relative sense heaven and the church in respect to that good, likewise all worship from Divine good (See above, n. 391); and because by the Lord all Divine things that proceed from Him are meant, for He is in them and they are His, so he who swears by Him swears by all things that are His; likewise he who swears by heaven and by the church, swears by all the holy things that belong to heaven and the church, for heaven is the complex and containant of these things; so, in like manner, is the church; therefore it is said that the temple is greater than the gold of the temple, because the temple sanctifies the gold, and that the altar is greater than the gift which is upon it, because the altar sanctifies the gift.

Imibhalo yaphansi:

578. Out of their mouths went out fire, and smoke, and brimstone, signifies thoughts and consequent reasonings springing from the love of evil and from the love of falsity, and from the lust for destroying truths and goods by the falsities of evil. This is evident from the signification of the "mouth," as being thought and consequent reasoning respecting which see in the explanation of verse 19); from the signification of "fire," as being the love of self and the love of evil therefrom (See above, n. 504, 539); from the signification of "smoke," as being the dense falsity springing from the love of evil (See also above, n. 494, 539); and from the signification of "brimstone," as being the lust of destroying the truths and goods of the church by the falsities of evil.

[2] That this is the signification of "brimstone" can be seen from passages of the Word where it is mentioned. Thus in Moses:

Jehovah made brimstone and fire to rain upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah (Genesis 19:24).

In Luke:

In the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. After the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed (Luke 17:29, 30).

Those who were in Sodom and Gomorrah mean those who are in the falsities of evil from the love of self; and since the falsities of evil from that love destroyed them, it rained brimstone and fire, "brimstone" because of the lust of destroying the church by the falsities of evil, and "fire" because that lust burst forth from the love of self. That it should be thus "when the Son of man should be revealed," signifies that then, too, falsities of evil from the love of self will destroy the church. Such rain appears in the spiritual world when the evil who are in falsities from that love are cast down into hell.

[3] In Moses:

What shall your sons say, and the alien, when they shall see the plagues of that land, and its sicknesses. The whole land is brimstone and salt, and a conflagration; it is not sown, it doth not spring up, nor doth any herb grow upon it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim (Deuteronomy 29:22, 23).

These were the curses with which the sons of Israel were threatened if they did not keep the commandments and statutes, and if they worshiped other gods; and because the church is thus laid waste and destroyed by the falsities of evil and the evils of falsity it is said that "the whole land is then brimstone, and salt, and conflagration," the "land" signifying the church; and "it will not be sown, nor spring up, nor any herb grow upon it," signifies that no longer will any truth from good be received or brought forth.

[4] In Isaiah:

Topheth is prepared of old; yea, for the king it is prepared; he shall go down into a deep and wide place; the pile thereof is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it (Isaiah 30:33).

"Topheth" signifies the hell in which the direful and cruel love of destroying all the truths and goods of the church reigns, especially the cruel lust for destroying the goods of innocence; that this direful hell is from the falsities of evil is signified by "he shall go down into a deep and wide place;" the "king for whom it is prepared" signifies infernal falsity itself; "the pile thereof is fire and wood," signifies evils of every kind belonging to that love; and because that hell burns with a lust for destroying, it is said, "the breath of Jehovah like a stream of brimstone doth kindle it;" for there, as soon as they hear from anyone the truths of the church and perceive its goods, they are inflamed with a frenzy for destroying and extinguishing them.

[5] In Isaiah:

The day of Jehovah's vengeance, and the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion, and the brooks thereof shall be turned into pitch, and its dust into brimstone, and its land shall become burning pitch; it shall not be quenched night or day, the smoke thereof shall go up forever (Isaiah 34:8-10).

"The day of Jehovah's vengeance, and the year of retribution for the controversy of Zion" signifies the Lord's coming, and the Last Judgment then accomplished by Him; "the brooks shall be turned into pitch, and the dust into brimstone," signifies the hell into which those are cast, who are in the falsities of evil, and in the evils of falsity; the evil of infernal love and its punishment are signified by "the burning pitch shall not be quenched night or day;" and the direful falsity from that evil is signified by "the smoke shall go up forever."

[6] In Ezekiel:

And I will plead with Gog with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him an overflowing rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone (Ezekiel 38:22).

By "Gog" is meant those who place all worship in a holy and pious external, and not in what is internal, and yet the quality of external worship is the same as the quality of its internal. It is said, "Jehovah shall rain upon them an overflowing rain, hailstones, fire, and brimstone," which signifies falsities and evils destroying all the truths and goods of the church; "fire and brimstone" mean the evils of falsity and the falsities of evil, both of which are diabolical.

[7] In David:

Jehovah shall rain upon the wicked snares, fire, and brimstone; and a wind of storms shall be the portion of their cup (Psalms 11:6).

This signifies that the wicked will be destroyed by their own evils of falsity and their own falsities of evil, which will destroy with them all truths of the church; "snares, fire, and brimstone," mean the evils of falsity and the falsities of evil; "the wind of storms which shall be the portion of their cup," signifies the destruction of all truth. Evidently it is not meant that Jehovah will rain fire and brimstone upon the wicked, for it is also said that "He will rain snares" upon them; therefore "fire and brimstone" signify such things as totally destroy the truths and goods of the church.

[8] Likewise in Job:

Brimstone shall be scattered upon the habitation of the wicked one (Acts of the Apostles 18:15).

"Brimstone" means such falsity of evil as destroys everything of the church with man; this is falsity from the evil of the love of self, such as those were in who dwelt in Sodom and Gomorrah, respecting which is said:

That it overthrew not only the cities and inhabitants, but also the plain and that which springeth up in the field (Genesis 19:25);

"that which springeth up in the field" signifies the truths of the church springing up. "Fire and brimstone" have a like signification in the following passages in Revelation:

If anyone worship the beast and his image he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone (Revelation 14:9, 10).

The beast and the false prophet were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20).

The devil was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where are the beast and the false prophet (Revelation 20:10).

The murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone (Revelation 21:8).