260. [verse 3] 'And no one in heaven, nor upon the land nor yet under the land' signifies that none in the higher heavens and in the lower heavens was able. By 'in heaven, upon the land, and under the land' is understood in the higher and lower heavens, as also below (verse 13) where there are these [words]:-
And every created thing that is in heaven, in the land, and under the hand, and such as are in the sea, and all [that are] in them, heard I saying.
Since he heard all those (hos et illos) 'saying', it is plain that they were angels and spirits who were speaking. Indeed John was in the spirit, as he himself says in the preceding chapter (iv 2), and in this state no land appeared to him other than the land of the spiritual world; for there are lands there just as in the natural world, as can be established from the description of that world in the work Concerning HEAVEN AND HELL, as well as in the CONTINUATION [CONCERNING THE LAST JUDGMENT AND] CONCERNING THE SPIRITUAL WORLD (n. 32-38). There, the higher heavens appear upon mountains and hills, the lower heavens upon the lands below, and the ultimate heavens as it were under the lands; for the heavens are expanses, one above the other, and each expanse is as the land under the feet of those who are there. The highest expanse is like a mountain top; the next expanse is below it, but extending itself more widely on all sides round about; while the lowest expanse extends itself still more widely, and because this is below that [middle expanse], those there are 'under the land'. The three heavens also appear in this manner to the angels who are in the higher heavens, because to them two [heavens] appear below them. They therefore appeared in like manner to John, since he was with them, for he had gone up to them, as is plain from chapter iv 1, where it is said, 'Come up hither, and I will show thee the things which must come to pass hereafter'. He who knows nothing about the spiritual world and the lands there is quite unable to know what is understood by 'under the land', likewise by 'lower lands' in the Word, as in Isaiah:-
Sing, O heavens; shout for joy, O lower lands; resound with a song, O mountains; for Jehovah has redeemed Jacob Isa. xliv 23;
and elsewhere. Who does not see that the lands of the spiritual world are understood there, for no one dwells under the lands in the natural world?
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