THE SPIRITUAL SENSE.

THE CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER. The state of the church among the reformed is still treated of, as to the quality of those who are interiorly principled in faith alone, contrary to the two essentials of the New Church, which teach that the Lord is the only God of heaven and earth, that his Humanity is Divine; and that men ought to live according to the precepts of the decalogue. That these two essentials were declared to them, verses 3-6. But that they were totally rejected, verses 7-10. That they were raised up again by the Lord, verses 11, 12. That they who rejected them, perished, verse 13. That the state of the New Church was manifested from the new heaven, verses 15—19.

THE CONTENTS OF EACH VERSE. "And there was given me a reed like unto a rod," signifies, that the faculty and power of knowing and seeing the state of the church in heaven and in the world, was given: "And the angel stood by, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein," signifies, the Lord's presence and his command, that he should see and know the state of the church in the new heaven: "But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not," signifies, that the state of the church on earth, such as it is at present, is to be removed, and not known: "For it is given unto the Gentiles," signifies, because the state of that church is destroyed and laid waste by evils of life: "And the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months," signifies, that it would disperse every truth of the Word, even to nothing of the kind remaining: "And I will give unto my two witnesses," signifies, those who confess and acknowledge in their hearts that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that his Humanity is Divine, and who are conjoined to him by a life according to the precepts of the decalogue: "And they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days," signifies, that these two articles, the acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life according to the commandments of the decalogue, which are the two essentials of the New Church, are to be taught until the end and the beginning: "Clothed in sackcloth," signifies, lamentation in the mean time on account of the non-reception of truth: "These are the two olive-trees, and the two candlesticks, standing before the God of the earth," signifies, love and intelligence, or charity and faith, from the Lord with them: "And if any one desire to hurt them, fire shall proceed out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies," signifies, that they who desire to destroy these two essentials of the New Church, will perish by reason of infernal love: "And if any one desire to hurt them, he must thus be killed," signifies, that he who condemns them, shall in like manner be condemned: "These have power to shut heaven, that the rain fall not in the days of their prophecy," signifies, that they who reject

these two essentials, cannot receive any truth from heaven: "And have power over the waters to turn them into blood," signifies, that they who reject them, falsify the truths of the Word: "And to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they will,” signifies, that they who desire to destroy them, will plunge themselves into all kinds of evils and falses, as often as and in proportion as, they do so: "And when they shall have finished their testimony," signifies, that after the Lord taught these two essentials of the New Church: "The beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war with them, and shall overcome them, and kill them,” signifies, that they who are principled in the internals of the doctrine of faith alone will reject these two essentials: "And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city," signifies, that they are totally rejected: "Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt," signifies, two infernal loves, which are the love of dominion grounded in self-love, and the love of rule grounded in the pride of self-derived intelligence, which exist in the church where one God is not acknowledged, and the Lord not worshiped, and where they do not live according to the precepts of the decalogue: "Where also our Lord was crucified," signifies, non-acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine Humanity, and, consequently, a state of rejection: “And they of the peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead bodies three days and a half," signifies, when all they, who, until the end of the present church and the beginning of the New Church, have been and will be in falses of doctrine and evils of life from faith alone, have heard and shall hear of these two essentials: "And shall not suffer their dead bodies to be put into monuments," signifies, that they condemned and will condemn them: "And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them and be glad,” signifies, the delight of the affection of the heart and soul in the church among those who were in faith alone: " And shall send gifts one to another," signifies, consociation through love and friendship: "Because these two prophets tormented them that dwell upon the earth," signifies, that these two essentials of the New Church, by reason of their contrariety to the two essentials received in the Reformed Church, are held in contempt, dislike, and aversion: "And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet," signifies, that these two essentials, during the commencement and progress of the New Church, will, with those who receive them, be vivified by the Lord: "And great fear fell upon them that saw them," signifies, commotion of mind and consternation at divine truths: "And they heard a great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither," signifies, that these two essentials of the New Church were taken up by the Lord into heaven, from whence they came, and where they are, and the protection of them: “And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud," signifies, the taking them up into heaven, and conjunction there with the Lord by the divine truth of the

Word in its literal sense: "And their enemies beheld them," signifies, that they who are in faith separated from charity heard them, but remained in their own falsities: "And the same hour there was a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell," signifies, a remarkable change of state which then took place with them, and their separation from heaven, followed by a sinking down into hell: "And in the earthquake were slain names of men seven thousand," signifies, that all those who were in the confession of faith alone, and therefore made no account of works of charity, perished: "And the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of heaven," signifies, that they who saw their destruction, acknowledged the Lord, and were separated: "The second woe is past; behold, the third woe cometh quickly," signifies, lamentation over the perverted state of the church, and then the last lamentation, to be treated of presently: "And the seventh angel sounded," signifies, the exploration and manifestation of the state of the church after the consummation, at the coming of the Lord and of his kingdom: “And there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever," signifies, celebrations by the angels, because heaven and the church are become the Lord's, as they were from the beginning, and because now they are in subjection also to his Divine Humanity, consequently, that now, both as to his Humanity and his Divinity, the Lord will reign over heaven and the church to eternity: "And the four-and-twenty elders, that sat before God on their thrones, fell upon their faces, and worshiped God," signifies, an acknowledgment by all the angels of heaven, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and supreme adoration: "Saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who art, and who wast, and who art to come," signifies, a confession and glorification by the angels of heaven, that it is the Lord who is, who has life and power from himself, and who rules all things, because he alone is eternal and infinite: "Because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast begun to reign," signifies, the new heaven and the New Church, where they acknowledge him to be the only God: “And the nations were angry," signifies, those who are in faith alone, and thence in evils of life, that they were enraged, and infested those who are against their faith: "And thy wrath is come, and the time of judging the dead," signifies, their destruction, and the execution of the last judgment upon those who have not any spiritual life: "And of giving reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints," signifies, the felicity of life eternal to those who are in truths of doctrine from the Word, and in a life according to them: "And to them that fear thy naine, both small and great," signifies, who love the things which relate to the Lord in a lesser or greater degree: "And of destroying them that destroy the earth," signifies, the casting of those into hell who have destroyed the church: "And the temple of God was opened in heaven: and there was

seen in his temple the ark of his covenant," signifies, the new heaven, in which the Lord in his Divine Humanity is worshiped ; and where they live according to the precepts of his decalogue, these constituting the two essentials of the New Church, whereby conjunction is effected: "And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail," signifies, the ratiocinations, commotions, and falsifications of good and truth, that ensued in the spheres beneath (in inferioribus).

THE EXPLANATION.

485. "AND there was given me a reed like unto a rod,” signifies, that the faculty and power of knowing and seeing the state of the church in heaven and in the world was given by the Lord. By a reed, is signified feeble power, such as man has from himself; and by a rod, or staff, is signified great power, such as man has from the Lord; therefore by a reed being given him like unto a rod, is signified power from the Lord. That it means the faculty and power of knowing and seeing the state of the church in heaven and in the world, is plain from what follows in this chapter to the end. That by a reed, or cane, is signified feeble power, such as man has from himself, is evident from these passages: "Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon when if a man lean it will go into his hand, and pierce it," Isaiah xxxvi. 6. "And all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel; when they took hold of thee by thy hand, thou didst break, and rend all their shoulder," Ezek. xxix. 6, 7. By Egypt, is signified the natural man who trusts in his own strength, therefore he is called the staff of a bruised reed. By reed, is signified feeble power, in Isaiah: "A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench," Isaiah xlii. 3. But by a rod, or a staff, is signified strong power, which is from the Lord; in the present instance, power to know the state of the church, because the temple and altar was measured with a rod; and by measuring is signified to know, and by the temple

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and altar is signified the church; as will be seen presently. A rod signifies power, because wood, of which walkingstaves were made among those of the ancient church, signifies good; and because a staff is instead of the right hand, and supports it, and by the right hand is signified power; hence it is, that a sceptre is a short staff, and by a sceptre is signified regal power; and a sceptre and staff are expressed by one and the same word in the Hebrew language. That a staff signifies power is evident from these places: "Say, How is the strong staff broken, and the beautiful rod-come down from thy glory and sit in thirst," Jerem. xlviii. 17, 18. "Jehovah shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion," Psalm cx. 2. “Thou didst strike through with his staves the head of his villages," Habak. iii. 14. "Israel is the rod of Jehovah's inheritance," Jerem. x. 16, li. 19. "Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," Psalm xxiii. 4. Jehovah bath "broken the staff of his shoulder," Isaiah ix. 4, xiv. 5, Psalm CXXV. 3. My people ask counsel at their stocks, and their staff declareth unto them," Hosea iv. 12. "Jehovah doth take away from Jerusalem-the staff of bread, and all the staff of water," Isaiah iii. 1, 2, Ezek. iv. 16, v. 16, xiv. 13, Psalm cv. 16, Levit. xxvi. 26. By the staff of bread and water, is signified the power of goodness and truth; and by Jerusalem, the church. By the rod of Levi, upon which was the name of Aaron, which blossomed in the tabernacle and yielded almonds, Numb. xvii. 2, 3, 7, 8, in a spiritual sense, nothing else is signified but the power of truth and good, because by Levi and Aaron was signified the truth and good of the church. That power is signified by a staff, is evident from the power of the staff or rod of Moses, in that by stretching forth his rod the waters were turned into blood, Exod. vii. 20. That frogs were made to come up over the land of Egypt, Exod. viii. 1, and following verses. That lice were caused to be produced, Exod. viii. 12, and following verses. That by the rod were caused thunderings and hail, Exod. ix. 23, and following verses. That locusts were made to come forth, Exod. x. 12, and following verses, That waters were made to gush out of the rock