290. (v. 10) The four-and-twenty elders fell down before him who sitteth upon the throne. That this signifies humiliation, and acknowledgment at the time, by those who are in truth from good, that all things of heaven and of the church are from the Lord is evident from the signification of falling down, as being humiliation, and acknowledgment in heart at the time, and from the signification of four-and-twenty elders, as being those who are in truths from good (concerning which see above, n. 270); and from the signification of him that sitteth on the throne, as being the Lord, from whom are all things of heaven and of the church (concerning which see just above, n. 289). In this verse and in the following verses of this chapter, the subject treated of is the reception of Divine truth and Divine good by the angels of heaven and by the members of the church; whereas, in the verse immediately preceding, the subject treated of is, that from the Lord proceed Divine good and Divine truth; this is signified by the animals giving glory and honour and thanks, to Him that sitteth on the throne, and that liveth unto the ages of the ages (as may be seen above, n. 288). And reception and acknowledgment are signified by the elders falling down before Him that sat on the throne, and worshipping Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages; for by falling down are signified humiliation, reception and acknowledgment, and by the four-and-twenty elders are signified all those who are in truth from good, both in the heavens and on earth.
[2] It is to be noted that the reception of Divine truth and Divine good, and acknowledgment in heart that all things of heaven and of the church, and also life eternal, are from the Lord, are only granted to those who are in truth from good; the reason of this is that they alone are in love and faith; and those who are in love and faith are conjoined as to soul and heart to the Lord. The Lord flows into the soul and heart, and not into those things that are only from the memory and thence from the speech. For the memory is only the entrance to the man, and as a court by which he is entered; it is as the ruminatory stomach of birds and beasts, to which also the memory of man corresponds. Those things alone are in man that are in his will and thence in his understanding, or, what is the same, which are in his love and thence in his faith. Whether it be said of man that he is in good and truth, or in love and faith, it amounts to the same, because all good relates to love and all truth to faith.
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