48. Because a person’s life varies in accordance with his state, therefore by spirit is meant the varying life’s affection in a person. For example:

1. The life of wisdom:

(Bezalel was filled) with the spirit of wisdom, understanding, and knowledge.... (Exodus 31:3).

You shall speak to all the wise of heart, whom I have filled with the spirit of wisdom.... (Exodus 28:3)

Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom (Deuteronomy 34:9).

Nebuchadnezzar said of Daniel that an excellent spirit, of knowledge, understanding and wisdom was found in him (Daniel 5:12, 14).

The erring in spirit will know understanding.... (Isaiah 29:24)

[2] 2. The arousal of life:

Jehovah has stirred up the spirit of the kings of the Medes. (Jeremiah 51:11)

Jehovah stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel...and the spirit of all the remnant of the people. (Haggai 1:14)

...I am putting (into the king of Assyria) a spirit..., that he may hear a rumor and return to his own land. (Isaiah 37:7)

...Jehovah...hardened (the) spirit (of the king of Sihon).... (Deuteronomy 2:30)

What has come up upon your spirit shall never be.... (Ezekiel 20:32)

[3] 3. Liberty of life: The four creatures, which were cherubim, seen by the prophet went “wherever they had a spirit to go” (Ezekiel 1:12, 20).

[4] 4. Life in a state of fear, distress, and anger:

...that every heart may melt, and all hands be feeble, and every spirit shrink.... (Ezekiel 21:7)

...my spirit was faint within me, my heart within me is stunned.... (Psalms 143:4, cf. 142:3)

My spirit has been consumed! (Psalms 143:7)

As for me, Daniel, my spirit grieved.... (Daniel 7:15)

(Pharaoh’s) spirit was troubled. (Genesis 41:8)

(Nebuchadnezzar said,) “...my spirit is troubled....” (Daniel 2:3)

I went bitterly in the wrath of my spirit. (Ezekiel 3:14)

[5] 5. Life in a state of various evil affections:

“...provided there is no deceit in his spirit.” (Psalms 32:2)

Jehovah has mingled a spirit of perversity in her midst. (Isaiah 19:14)

...said (He)...to the foolish prophets, who follow their own spirit.... (Ezekiel 13:3)

The prophet is a fool, the man of the spirit is insane. (Hosea 9:7)

Be observant by your spirit, and do not deal treacherously. (Malachi 2:16)

...the spirit of harlotry has caused them to stray.... (Hosea 4:12)

...a spirit of harlotry is in their midst.... (Hosea 5:4)

When a spirit of jealousy comes upon him.... (Numbers 5:14)

...a man who is a wanderer in spirit, and he prattles falsehood.... (Micah 2:11)

...a generation...whose spirit was not steadfast with God. (Psalms 78:8)

...poured out on (them) a spirit of drowsiness.... (Isaiah 29:10)

Conceive chaff, bring forth stubble; as for your spirit, fire shall shall devour you. (Isaiah 33:11)

[6] 6. Hellish life:

I will...cause...the unclean spirit to depart from the land. (Zechariah 13:2)

When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places.... And then he...attaches to himself seven worse spirits than himself, and they enter and dwell there. (Matthew 12:43-45)

...Babylon...has become a dwelling place of...a foul spirit.... (Revelation 18:2)

[7] 7. In addition, the spirits of hell themselves who torment mankind: Matthew 8:16, 10:1, 12:43-45; Mark 1:23-27, 9:17-29; Luke 4:33, 36, 6:17-18, 7:21, 8:2, 29, 9:39, 42, 55, 11:24-26, 13:11; Revelation 13:15, 16:13-14.

846. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God. This symbolically means, who had been rejected by those caught up in falsities hatched out of their own intelligence, because they worshiped the Lord and lived in accordance with the truths in His Word.

The souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the Word of God mean people after death, who are then called spirits, people clothed in a spiritual body, who were hidden away by the Lord in the lower earth until the evil had been removed by the Last Judgment. They are said to have been beheaded because they were rejected by people caught up in falsities hatched out of their own intelligence, who are all those caught up in evils and so in falsities, or in falsities and as a result of these in evils, and yet in outward appearances are worshipers of God.

That an axe symbolizes such falsity will be seen in the following number. The testimony of Jesus and the Word of God symbolize an acknowledgment of the Lord's Divinity in His humanity, the same as these words earlier:

(John) bore witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ... (Revelation 1:2)

(Michael and his angels) overcame (the dragon) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony... (Revelation 12:11)

(The dragon) went off to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. (Revelation 12:17)

I am your fellow servant and of your brethren who have the testimony of Jesus... ...the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. (Revelation 19:10)

That these declarations symbolize an acknowledgment of the Lord's Divinity in His humanity and a life in accordance with the truths in His Word, especially the Ten Commandments, may be seen in the earlier explanations of those verses.

These souls are the same ones of whom the following is said above:

...I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, "How long, O Lord, who are holy and true, will You not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?" Then white robes were given to each of them; and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer, until the number of both their fellow servants and their brethren, who would be killed as they were, was complete. (Revelation 6:9-11)

These verses may be seen explained in nos. 325-329.