398. [verse 7] 'And the first angel sounded' signifies an examination and making manifest [to show] what the state of the Church is with those who are interiorly in that faith. By 'to sound' is signified to examine and make manifest (n. 397). The reason why by the sounding of this first angel is understood an examination and making manifest [to show] the state of the Church with those who are interiorly in that faith is because its operation took place upon the land, as it follows on; and the operation of the second angel's sounding was into the sea, and by 'land' and 'sea' everywhere in the Apocalypse, when the two are named together, the entire Church is understood; by LAND the Church [formed] out of those who are in its internal things, and by SEA the Church [formed] out of those who are in the external things thereof. For the Church is internal and external, internal with the 'clergy', external with the 'laity', or internal with those who have studied the doctrinal things thereof interiorly and have confirmed them out of the Word, and external with those who have not done so. [2] The latter and the former are those who are understood by 'land' and 'sea' in these places in the Apocalypse:-
So that the wind should not blow upon the land, nor upon the sea Rev. vii 1.
Do no harm to land or sea Rev. vii 3.
The angel coming down from heaven set his right foot upon the sea, and his left upon the land Rev. x 2, 8; also verse 6.
I saw a beast coming up Out of the sea, and another beast coming up out of the land Rev. xiii 1, 11.
Praise God Who made the heaven, the land and the sea Rev. xiv 7.
The first angel poured out his phial upon the land, and the second angel poured his upon the sea Rev. xvi 2, 3.
By 'land and sea' is signified the Church internal and external, thus the entire Church. This is because in the spiritual world those who are in the internal things of the Church appear upon the dry lands, and those who are in its external things are as it were in the seas, but the seas are appearances originating out of the general truths in which they are. That 'land' signifies the Church, may be seen (n. 285); and 'world' (orbis) does so also (n. 551).
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