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of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Alleluia! for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth," signifies, the joy of the angels of the lowest heaven, of the angels of the middle heaven, and of the angels of the highest heaven, because the Lord alone reigns in the church which is now about to come: "Let us be glad, and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come," signifies joy of soul and heart, and consequent glorification of the Lord, because from henceforth a full marriage of him with the church is effected: "And his wife hath made herself ready,” signifies, that they who are to be of this church, which is the New Jerusalem, will be collected, initiated, and instructed:" And to her it was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and shining," signifies, that they will be instructed in genuine and pure truths through the Word from the Lord: "For fine linen is the righteousness of the saints," signifies, that by truths from the Word, they who are of the Lord's church acquire the goods of life: "And he saith unto ine, Write, Blessed are they that are called unto the marriagesupper of the Lamb," signifies, a single angel sent from heaven to John, and talking with him concerning the Lord's New Church, and saying that it would be given to know upon earth, that they have eternal life, who receive the things which are of that church: "And he saith unto me, These are the true words of God,” signifies, that this is to be believed because it is from the Lord: "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not. I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy brethren who have the testimony of Jesus; worship God," signifies, that the angels of heaven are not to be worshiped and invoked, because they have nothing divine in them, but that they are associated with men, as brethren with brethren, with such as worship the Lord, and therefore that the Lord alone is to be worshiped in consociation by both: "For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," signifies, that the acknowledgment, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time a life according to his precepts, is, in an universal sense, the all of the Word and of doctrine derived from it: "And I saw heaven opened; and behold, a white horse," signifies, the revealing of the spiritual sense of the Word by the Lord, and thereby the discovery of the interior meaning of the Word, which is the coming of the Lord: "And he that sat upon him is called Faithful and True: and in righteousness he doth judge and make war," signifies, the Lord as to the Word, that he is the divine good and divine truth itself, from both which he executes judgment: "And his eyes were as a flame of fire," signifies, the divine wisdom of the Lord's divine love: "And on his head were many diadems," signifies, the divine truths of the Word from him: "And he had a name written, that no one knew but he himself," signifies, that what the Word is in its spiritual and celestial sense, no one sees but the Lord, and they to whom he reveals it: "And he was clothed with a vesture stained with blood: and his name is called the

Word of God," signifies, the divine truth in its ultimate sense, or the Word in the letter, to which violence has been offered: "And the armies in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean," signifies, the angels in the new christian heaven, who were in conjunction with the Lord, in the interior understanding of the Word, and thus in pure and genuine truths: "And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword," signifies, the dispersion of falses by doctrine thence derived froin the Lord: "That with it he should smite the nations; and he shall rule them with a rod of iron," signifies, that he will convince all who are in a dead faith, by the truths of the literal sense of the Word, and by rational arguments: "And he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God," signifies, that the Lord alone sustained all the evils of the church, and all the violence offered to the Word, thus to himself: "And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords," signifies, that the Lord teaches in the Word what he is, that he is the divine truth of divine wisdom, and the divine good of divine love, thus that he is the God of the universe: “And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a great voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come, and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God," signifies, the Lord from divine love, and thence from divine zeal, calling and inviting all, who are in the spiritual affection of truth, and think of heaven, to the New Church, and to conjunction with himself, thus to life eternal: "That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men both free and bond, both small and great," signifies, the appropriation of good things from the Lord by the truths of the Word and of doctrine derived from it, in every sense, degree, and kind: "And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with him that sat on the horse, and with his army," signifies, that all the interiorly wicked, who have made profession of faith alone, with their leading men and their adherents, will impugn the divine truths of the Lord in his Word, and infest those who are to be of the Lord's New Church: "And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet, that wrought signs before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image," signifies, all those who professed faith alone, and were interiorly evil, as well the laity and common people as the clergy and the learned, who by ratiocinations and attestations, that faith alone is the sole medium of salvation, have induced others to receive that faith, and to live according to it: "These two were east alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone," signifies, that all these, as they were, were cast into hell, where are the loves of falsity, and at the same time the lusts of evil: "And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which

proceedeth out of his mouth,” signifies, that all of various heresies among the Reformed, who have not lived according to the Lord's commandments in the Word which they knew, being judged according to the Word, perish: "And all the fowls were filled with their flesh," signifies, that the infernal genii feed as it were upon their lusts of evil, these constituting their very selfhood.

803.

THE EXPLANATION.

"AND after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia," signifies, thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens, on account of the removal of the Babylonians. By much people in heaven, are signified the angels of the lower heavens; by the great voice thereof, saying, Alleluia, is signified thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord by them; by Alleluia, in the Hebrew language, is signified, praise ye God, therefore it was an expression of thanksgiving, confession, and celebration of the Lord from joy of heart, as appears from these passages: "Bless thou Jehovah, O my soul, Alleluia," Psalm civ. 35. "Blessed be Jehovah the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting: and let all the people say, Amen, Alleluia," Psalm cvi. 48. "But we will bless Jehovah from this time forth and for evermore, Alleluia," Psalm cxv. 18. every thing that hath breath praise Jehovah, Alleluia," Psalm cl. 6; besides other places, as Psalm cv. 45, Psalm cvi. 1, Psalm cxi. 1, Psalm cxii. 1, Psalm cxiii. 1, 9, Psalm cxvi. 19, Psalm cxvii. 2, Psalm cxxxv. 3, Psalm cxlviii. 1, 14, Psalm cxlix. 1, 9, Psalm cl. 1. That it is on account of the rejection of the Babylonians, is evident from the preceding chapter which treats of the Babylonians, for which reason it is said "After these things," and also from what follows in verses 2 and 3 in this chapter. That the angels of the lower heavens are meant by much people in heaven, is plain from verse 4 of this chapter, where it is said, that the four-and-twenty elders and the four animals worshiped him that sat on the

"Let

throne, saying, Amen, Alleluia, by whom the angels of the superior heavens are meant.

804. "Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the Lord our God," signifies, that now there is salvation from the Lord, because now there is a reception of divine truth and divine good by virtue of his divine power. By salvation to the Lord our God, is signified an acknowledgment and confession that there is salvation from the Lord; by glory and honor to the Lord our God, is signified acknowledgment and confession, that there is divine truth and divine good from the Lord, thus the reception thereof, n. 249, 629, 693. By power unto the Lord our God, is signified acknowledgment and confession that the Lord has power. To say that salvation, glory, honor, and power belong unto the Lord our God, is according to the sense of the letter: as also in other places, that to the Lord belongeth blessing, but this, when considered in a spiritual sense, means, that these things, being in the Lord, proceed also from the Lord, in the present case that now they are communicated by him to angels and men in consequence of the Babylonians being removed and rejected, who intercepted, weakened, and prevented the influx of those things from the Lord, in like manner as black clouds in this world, when they come between the sun and men; for as the light of the sun of this world is intercepted, weakened, and obstructed by the interposition of black clouds, so is the light of the sun of heaven, which is the Lord, by the interposition of black falsities from the Babylonians. The case is altogether similar, except that the one is natural and the other spiritual ; falsities also in the spiritual world appear like clouds, obscure and black according to their quality; this also is the reason why the spiritual sense of the Word, and that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, were not revealed till after the last judgment; for by the last judgment the Babylonians were removed, and likewise such of the Reformed as acknowledged justification by faith alone, whose falsities were like black clouds interposed between the Lord and men upon earth; they were also like things that are cold, that extinguish spiritual heat, which is the love of goodness and truth.

805. "For true and righteous are his judgments; for he hath judged the great harlot, who corrupted the earth with her whoredom," signifies, because in justice the profane Babylonian religion is condemned for destroying the Lord's church by foul adulterations of the Word. By true and righteous are thy judgments, are signified the divine truths and goods of the Word, according to which judgment is exercised by the Lord, n. 668, 689, which taken in the aggregate are called righteousness, for by righteousness, when said of the Lord, nothing else is signified, as below, verse 11; also in Isaiah Ixiii. 1, Jerem. xxiii. 5, 6, xxxiii. 15, 16; for he hath judged the great harlot, signifies, because the profane Babylonian religion, as treated of in the foregoing chapter, is condemned; the harlot is called great from her adulteration and profanation of the Word; which did corrupt the earth by her whoredom, signifies, which, by foul adulterations of the Word, destroyed the Lord's church; by her whoredom is signified the adulteration of the Word, n. 134; and by earth, the church, n. 285, 721.

806. "And hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand," signifies, retribution for the mischief and violence offered to the souls of them who worship the Lord. To avenge the blood of his servants at her hand, signifies retribution for the mischiefs and violence offered to the souls of them who worship the Lord; the reason is, because to avenge signifies retribution. To shed blood signifies to offer violence to the Lord's divinity and to the Word, n. 327, 684, in the present case to the worshipers of the Lord, who are meant by his servants; they did mischief and violence to the souls of these, by transferring the divine worship of the Lord to themselves, and by preventing them from reading the Word. It is said of the Lord, that he avenged the blood of his servants, as if he had done this from resentment or revenge, but yet he does not act from resentment or revenge, any more than from wrath and anger, which nevertheless are ascribed to the Lord in many parts of the Word, see above, n. 525, 635, 658, 673. Wrath and revenge are attributed to the Lord, when the wicked, being separated from the good,

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