1. And there was given me a reed like a staff, and the angel stood by, saying, Arise, and measure the temple of God and the altar and those adoring therein. 2. And the court that is outside the temple, exclude, and measure it not, for it has been given to the nations, and they shall trample upon the holy community forty-two months. 3. And I will give unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. 4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, which are standing before the God of the land. 5. And if any one wishes to hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies; and if any one wishes to do them an injury, he must in this manner be killed. 6. These have authority to shut heaven, so that it may rain no rain in the days of their prophecy; and they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the land with every plague, as often as they will. 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast coming up out of the deep shall make war with them, and overcome them, and kill them. 8. And their bodies [shall be] upon the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. 9. And they of peoples and tribes and tongues and nations shall see their bodies three days and a half and shall not allow their bodies to be put into tombs. 10. And those dwelling upon the land shall rejoice over them and be glad, and shall send gifts one to another, because those two prophets tormented those dwelling upon the land. 11. And after three days and a half, the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon those seeing them. 12. And they heard a great voice out of heaven saying to them, Come up hither, and they went up into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. 13. And in that hour a great earthquake was brought about, and a tenth part of the city fell, and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand names of men; and the rest became frightened, and gave glory to the God of heaven. 14. The second woe is past, behold the third woe is coming quickly. 15. And the seventh angel sounded, and great voices were produced in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world have become our Lord's and His Christ's, and He shall reign for ages of ages. 16. And the twenty-four elders, who are sitting before God upon their thrones, fell upon their faces, and adored God. 17. Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Who art and Who wast and Who art to come, that Thou hast attained Thy great power and taken over the kingdom. 18. And the nations were enraged; and Thy wrath is come, and the time of judging the dead, and of giving reward to Thy servants the prophets, and the saints, and to those fearing Thy Name, the small and the great; and of spoiling those spoiling the land. 19. And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple; and lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail, were produced.

THE SPIRITUAL SENSE

THE CONTENT OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER

It still treats of the state of the Church with the Reformed, as to the quality of those who are interiorly in faith alone contrary to the two Essentials of the New Church. These are that the Lord Only is the God of heaven and earth, and that His Human is Divine, and that men ought to live in accordance with the precepts of the Decalogue.

That these two Essentials have been preached in their presence (vers. 3-6).

But that they have been totally rejected (vers. 7-10).

That they have been raised up again by the Lord (vers. 55, 52).

That those who rejected them have perished (verse 53).

That out of the New Heaven the state of the New Church has been made manifest (vers. 15-19).

THE CONTENTS OF EACH OF THE VERSES

1. And there was given me a reed like a staff signifies that the capability and power of recognising and seeing the state of the Church in heaven and in the world was given. And the angel stood by saying, Arise and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and those adoring therein signifies the Lord's presence and His command, that He might see and get to know the state of the Church in the New Heaven. 2. And the court that is outside the temple, exclude and measure it not signifies that the state of the Church on earth, such as it is up till now, must be removed and not become known. For it has been given to the nations signifies because the state of that Church has been destroyed and desolated by evils. And they shall trample upon the holy community forty-two months signifies that it shall have dispersed every truth of the Word to such an extent that nothing is left. 3. And I will give unto my two witnesses signifies those who confess and acknowledge from the heart that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth and His Human is Divine, and who are conjoined to Him by means of a life in accordance with the precepts of the Decalogue. And they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred [and sixty] days signifies that these two, the acknowledgment of the Lord, and a life in accordance with the precepts of the Decalogue, being the two Essentials of the New Church, are to be taught even to the end and the beginning. Clothed in sackcloth signifies mourning in the meantime on account of there being no reception of truth. 4. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands, which are standing before the God of the land signifies the love and intelligence, or charity and faith, from the Lord with them. 5. And if any one wishes to hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies signifies that he who wishes to destroy these two Essentials of the New Church perishes as the result of infernal love. And if any one wishes to do them an injury, he must in this manner be killed signifies that he who condemns them shall likewise be condemned. 6. These have authority to shut heaven, so that it may rain no rain in the days of their prophecy signifies that those who turn away from these two Essentials cannot receive any truth out of heaven. And they have authority over the waters to turn them into blood signifies that those who turn away from them will falsify the truths of the Word. And to smite the land with every plague as often as they will signifies that those who wish to destroy them hurl themselves into evils and untruths of every kind, as often and as much as they do so. 7. And when they shall have finished [their] testimony signifies that after the Lord has taught these two Essentials of the New Church. The beast coming up out of the deep shall make war with them, and kill them signifies that those who are in the internal things of the doctrine concerning faith alone are going to reject these two. 8. Their bodies [shall be] upon the street of the great city signifies that these have been totally rejected. Which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt signifies the two infernal loves, which are the love of dominion derived from the love of self and the love of ruling derived from the pride of self-intelligence, which exist in the Church where there is not one God and the Lord is not being worshipped, and where [the life] is not being lived in accordance with the precepts of the Decalogue. Where also our Lord was crucified signifies no acknowledgment of the Lord's Divine Human and thus a state of rejection. 9. And they of peoples and tribes and tongues and nations shall see their bodies three days and a half signifies when all those who have been and shall be in untruths of doctrine and evils of life derived from faith alone, until the end of the present Church and the beginning of the New, shall have heard and are going to hear of these two Essentials. And shall not allow their bodies to be put into tombs signifies that they have damned and are going to damn them. 10. And those dwelling upon the land shall rejoice over them and be glad signifies the delight of the affection of the heart and soul in the Church with those who were in faith alone. And shall send gifts one to another signifies consociation through love and friendship. Because those two prophets tormented those dwelling upon the land signifies that these two Essentials of the New Church, by reason of their complete contrast with the two Essentials received in the Church of the Reformed, are held in contempt, dislike and aversion. 11. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them and they stood upon their feet signifies that these two Essentials, while the New Church is beginning and progressing, will be made living with those who receive. And great fear fell upon those seeing them signifies disturbance of mind and alarm at the Divine truths. 12. And they heard a great voice out of heaven saying to them, Come up hither signifies these two Essentials of the New Church taken up by the Lord into heaven, whence they exist and where they are, and the protection of them. And they went up into heaven in a cloud signifies the taking up into heaven, and conjunction with the Lord there by means of the Divine Truth of the Word in the sense of its letter. And their enemies saw them signifies that those who are in a faith separated from charity heard them but remained in their own untruths. 13. And in that hour a great earthquake was brought about, and a tenth part of the city fell signifies a noticeable change of state with those [in faith alone] effected then, and their being violently separated from heaven and sunk down into hell. And there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand names of men signifies that all those who confessed faith alone and therefore made the works of charity of no account perished. And the rest became frightened, and gave glory to the God of heaven signifies that those who saw their destruction acknowledged the Lord and were separated. 14. The second woe is past, behold the third woe is coming quickly signifies a lamentation over the perverted state of the Church, and finally the last lamentation, of which hereafter. 15. And the seventh angel sounded signifies the examination and making manifest of the state of the Church after the consummation, when there is the coming of the Lord, and His kingdom. And great voices were produced in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of the world have become our Lord's and His Christ's, and He shall reign for ages of ages signifies celebrations by the angels, that heaven and the Church have become the Lord's, as they were from the beginning, and that now also they have become [the heaven and Church] of His Divine Human, thus that the Lord as to both [the Divine and the Divine Human] is now going to reign over heaven and the Church to eternity. 16. And the twenty-four elders, who are sitting before God upon their thrones, fell upon their faces, and adored God signifies the acknowledgment by all the angels of heaven that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, also the highest adoration. 17. Saying, We give Thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, Who art and Who wast and Who art to come signifies confession and glorification by the angels of heaven that it is the Lord Who is, Who lives, and Who has power out of His Very Self, and rules all things, because He Only is Eternal and Infinite. That Thou hast attained Thy great power, and taken over the kingdom signifies the New Heaven and the New Church, where they acknowledge Him to be the Only God. 18. And the nations were enraged signifies those who are in faith alone and consequently in evils of life, that they were burning with anger and attacking those who are against their faith. And Thy wrath is come, and the time of judging the dead signifies their ruin, and the last judgment upon those not having any spiritual life. And of giving reward to Thy servants the prophets and the saints signifies the felicity of eternal life with those who are in the truths of a doctrine out of the Word, and in a life in accordance therewith. And to those fearing Thy Name the small and the great signifies who love the things that are the Lord's in a lesser or a greater degree. And of spoiling those spoiling the land signifies the casting down into hell of those who have destroyed the Church. 19. And the temple of God in heaven was opened, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple signifies the New Heaven, in which the Lord is worshipped in His Divine Human and there is living in accordance with the precepts of His Decalogue, these being the two Essentials of the New Church whereby conjunction [is effected]. And lightnings and voices and thunders and an earthquake and great hail were produced signifies the reasonings, the disturbances, and the falsifications of good and truth at that time in the lower regions.

THE EXPOSITION

[verse 1] 'And there was given me a reed like a staff' signifies that the capability and power of recognising and seeing the state of the Church in heaven and in the world was given him by the Lord. By 'a reed' is signified ineffectual power such as a man has from himself, and by 'a staff' is signified effective power such as a man has from the Lord. Therefore by its being said 'was given a reed like a staff' is signified power from the Lord. That it is the capability and power of recognising and seeing the state of the Church in heaven and in the world is plain from the things following in this chapter up to the end. [2] That by 'a reed' or cane is signified ineffectual power such as a man has from himself is plain from these passages:-

Lo, thou hast trusted upon the staff of a bruised reed, upon Egypt, whereon when a man leans it will go into his hand, and pierce it Isa. xxxvi 6.

So that all the inhabitants of Egypt may recognise that I am Jehovah, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel; when they held thee by the hand, thou didst break, and didst pierce through every shoulder with them Ezek. xxix 6, 7.

By 'Egypt' is signified the natural man who trusts in his own strength, and therefore he is called 'the staff of a bruised reed'. Ineffectual power is signified by 'a reed' in Isaiah:-

A bruised reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench Isa. xlii 3.

[3] By 'a staff', however, is signified the effective power that is from the Lord, here [the power] of recognising the state of the Church, because the temple and the altar were being measured by the staff, and by 'to measure' is signified to recognise, and by 'the temple' and 'the altar' is signified the Church, concerning which it follows on. Power is signified by 'a staff' because the wood out of which the staves were made with the aged in the Church signifies good, and also because it is in place of the right hand and supports it, and by the 'right hand' is signified power. In consequence of this a sceptre is a short staff, and by 'a sceptre' is signified the power of a king. Indeed 'sceptre' and 'staff' are the same word in the Hebrew language. [4] That 'a staff' signifies power is plain from these passages:-

Say, How is the strong staff broken, the staff of ornament; come down from glory, and sit in thirst Jer. xlviii 17, 18.

Jehovah shall send the staff of thy strength out of Zion Ps. cx 2.

Thou didst strike through with staves the head of the unfaithful Hab. iii 14.

Israel the staff of Jehovah's inheritance Jer. x 16; li 19.

Thy rod and Thy staff shall comfort me Ps. xxiii 4, 5.

Jehovah has broken the staff of the wicked Isa. ix 4 [H.B. 3]; xiv 5; Ps. cxxv 3.

My people asks of wood, and his staff answers them Hosea iv 12.

Jehovah removing out of Jerusalem the whole staff of bread, and the whole staff of water Isa. iii 1, 2; Ezek. iv 16; v 16; xiv 13; Ps. cv 16; Lev. xxvi 26.

By 'the staff of bread and water' is signified the power of good and truth, and by 'Jerusalem' the Church. By:-

The staff of Levi, upon which Aaron's name was, which blossomed with almonds in the tent Num. xvii 2-10 [H.B. 17-25],

nothing else is signified in the spiritual sense than the power of good and truth, because the truth and good of the Church was signified by 'Levi and Aaron'. [5] That power is signified by 'a staff' is plain from the power of Moses' staff:-

That by the stretching out of the staff the waters were turned into blood Exod. vii 20.

That by means of it frogs came up upon the land of Egypt Exod. viii 4 seq. [H.B. 1 seq.].

That by means of it lice were produced Exod. viii 16 seq. [H.B. 12 seq.].

That by means of it thunders and hail were produced Exod. ix 23 seq.

That by means of it locusts went forth Exod. x 12 seq.

That by means of it the Red Sea (Mare Suph) was divided and turned back Exod. xiv 16, 21, 26.

That by means of it waters gushed forth out of the rock out of Horeb Exod. xvii 5 seq.; Num. xx 7-13.

That by means of it with Moses Joshua prevailed over the Amalekites Exod. xvii 9-12.

That fire went forth out of the rock by means of the angel's staff Judg. vi 21.

From these passages it is plain that by 'a staff' power is signified; and also elsewhere, as Isa. x 5, 24, 26; xi 4; xiv 29; xxx 31, 32; Ezek. xix 10-14; Lam. iii 1, 2; Micah vii 14; Zech. x 11; Num. xxi 18.