Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 737

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737. It is said in the third verse that the dragon was seen in heaven, and now, that war was made with him in heaven; and afterwards, that the place of him and his angels was not found any more in heaven; and yet in verse nine he is called the old serpent, also the devil and Satan. It may be a matter of wonder to some how the dragon, who is the devil, could be in heaven, and have a place there before he was cast down, when in fact the devil could never have a place in heaven but in hell only. But the case is as follows: by the dragon are not meant those who have denied God and the Lord, rejected the Word, and made no account of the church and its doctrine, for those who do this are cast into hell immediately after death and never appear in heaven, much less have they any place there. Therefore the dragon and his angels mean those who acknowledge God and the Lord, declare the Word to be holy, and uphold the church and its doctrine, but with the lips only and not with the heart. They do not do this with the heart, because they make no account of life, and those who make no account of life are interiorly devils, however much they may outwardly appear like angels. Thus it is evident that through the acknowledgment of God and the Lord, and by the reading and preaching of the Word, they were exteriorly conjoined with heaven, but because they lived in no way in accord with anything of the Lord in the Word, they were interiorly conjoined with hell. Such are called the devil and Satan, because they defiled the truths of the Word by a life of the love of self and of the love of the world, and by the evils which flow from those loves, like streams from their fountains, and because they applied the literal sense of the Word to confirm such a life. Those who are of such a character are serpents more than others, being more hurtful than others, for they have the power to draw over the simple-good, who are in the lowest heaven, to their side, especially by means of those things that they take out from the sense of the letter of the Word, and pervert. It is said that they were seen in heaven, and there fought with Michael and his angels, because they were conjoined with the heavens by means of the Word - for men are conjoined with the heavens by means of the Word; but when it was ascertained that they were in other than heavenly affections, they were cast down out of heaven. Nevertheless, since the completion of the Last Judgment, it has been provided and ordained by the Lord that hereafter only those who are in spiritual faith shall have conjunction with heaven; and spiritual faith is acquired by a life according to the truths of the Word, and such life is called charity. This then is what is signified by The dragon with his angels was cast out unto the earth, and their place was not found any more in heaven.


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