642. Fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies.- That this signifies that those who should inflict injury upon them would fall into evils and falsities which are from hell, and which destroy them, is evident from the signification of fire, as denoting love in both senses, in this case, the love of self and of the world, and thence the love of evil and of falsity of every kind. Concerning this see above (n. 68, 504, 539). It therefore follows that by fire going forth out of their mouth is signified that those who desire to hurt or to inflict injury upon them, fall into evils and falsities of every kind, which are from hell; and from the signification of devouring their enemies, as denoting that they would perish by means of the falsities of evil. For by enemies in the Word are signified falsities of evil, and by foes, evils; the love of evil and falsity is that which destroys.
[2] The words "fire shall go forth out of their mouth" are said according to appearance, and for the same reason it is also said that fire and a flame goeth forth out of the mouth of God, and that anger and wrath go forth from His nostril, although no fire, anger, or wrath proceed from Him, for He is Good itself, Love itself, and Mercy itself, and no fire, anger, or wrath can go forth from these, but still it is said to be so, because such is the appearance. The reason for this appearance is, that when an evil and infernal spirit assails any thing Divine, with the intention of doing injury to it, as when he blasphemes the Lord or the Word, or any good and truth of doctrine, or any good spirit or angel whom the Lord protects, then that evil spirit immediately deprives himself of the protection of the Lord. For every spirit, as well evil as good, is under the protection of the Lord, and when he is deprived of this he falls into evils and falsities of every kind from hell; and then at the same time he falls into the hands of those who are thence, and are called punishers; these then punish and torment him according to the evil which he has attempted to do or has done. It is evident from this that the Lord does not do any evil to them, but that an evil spirit himself brings evil upon himself, that is to say, the evil itself that is in him does this. It is plain from these things what is meant by the words, "if any one desire to hurt the two witnesses, fire shall go forth out of their mouth and shall devour them" - the two witnesses are the good of love and of charity, and the truth of doctrine and of faith, and these are Divine, because they are from the Lord with angels and with men namely, that fire will not go forth from them, but from the evil itself, which endeavours to injure them, as just stated, and that this must be understood in a similar way to the statement that fire, anger, and wrath proceed from Jehovah. But these things are more fully illustrated in Heaven and Hell (545-550), where the subject is, that the Lord casts no one into hell, but that the spirit himself casts himself in.
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