565. [verse 17] 'And the dragon was in a rage against the woman, and went away to wage war with the remnant of her seed, keeping the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus Christ' signifies the hatred kindled in those who believe themselves to be wise by virtue of confirmations in favour of a mystical union of the Divine and the Human in the Lord, and in favour of justification by faith alone, against those who acknowledge the Only Lord as the God of heaven and earth and that the Decalogue is the law of life, while they [the dragonists] are attacking novitiates with the intention of leading them astray. All these things are contained in these few words because they follow in a series resulting from the preceding things, where it is said that 'the land helped the woman and opened its mouth and swallowed up the river that the dragon had cast forth out of his mouth', by which is signified that their reasonings derived from untruths have fallen to nothing (n. 564); consequently that they have endeavoured in vain to destroy the New Church. Therefore by 'the dragon' being 'in a rage against the woman' is signified a kindling of hatred and breathing of revenge against the Church. By 'the wrath of the dragon' is signified hatred (n. 558); by 'to wage war' is signified to approach and attack by means of reasonings derived from untruths (n. son) By 'the remnant of her seed keeping the commandments of God and having the testimony of Jesus Christ' are understood novitiates who are receiving the doctrine concerning the Lord and concerning the Decalogue; what 'the testimony of Jesus Christ' is may be seen above (n. 6, 490). [2] The reason why by 'the dragon' here are understood those who believe themselves to be wise by virtue of confirmations in favour of a mystical union of the Lord's Divine and Human, and in favour of justification by faith alone, is because these are in the pride of wisdom and are skilled in reasoning; and out of the pride proceeds a hatred, and out of the hatred anger and vindictiveness against those who do not believe likewise. By the 'mystical union', which is also called a 'hypostatic union', are understood their fabrications concerning the influx and operation of the Divinity in the Lord's Humanity as if in another they being ignorant that God and Man, or the Divine and the Human in the Lord, are not two, but are one person united as soul and body, in accordance with the doctrine received throughout Christendom which has its name from Athanasius. But there is not room to quote the fabrications of their 'mystical union', because they are incompatible. [3] That here by 'the seed of the woman' are understood those who belong to the New Church and are in the truths of its doctrine can be established from the signification of 'seed' in the following passages:-
Their seed shall become known in the nations, and their descendants in the midst of the people, all seeing shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which Jehovah has blessed Isa. lxi 9.
They are the seed of the blessed of Jehovah Isa. lxv 23.
As the new heavens and the new hand that I am going to make shall stand before Me, so shall your seed stand Isa. lxvi 22.
The seed that shall serve Him, it shall be accounted to the Lord for the generation Ps. xxii 30 [H.B. 31].
I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and the seed of the woman Gen. iii 15.
Does one seek a seed of God? Mal. ii 15.
Behold the days shall come in which I will sow the house of Israel and the house of Judah with the seed of man Jer. xxxi 27.
If he has made his soul guilty, he shall see seed Isa. liii 10.
Fear not, for I am with thee; from the east I will bring thy seed Isa. xliii 5, 6.
Thou shalt break forth to right and left, and thy seed shall inherit the nations Isa. liv 3.
I had planted thee a noble vine, a seed of the troth (veritas); how hast thou turned into the shoots of a strange vine unto Me? Jer. ii 21.
Thou wilt destroy their fruit from the land, and their seed from the sons of man Ps. xxi 10 [H.B. 11].
The seed are the sons of the kingdom Matt. xiii 38.
The like is signified by the seed of Israel, because 'Israel' is the Church (Isa. xli 8, 9; xliv 3; Jer. xxiii 8; xxxi 35, 36; likewise also by the seed of David, because 'David' is the Lord (Jer. xxx 10; xxxiii 22, 25, 26; Ps. lxxxix 3, 4, 29 [H.B. 4, 5, 30]. The like also by seed of the held, Because 'a field' signifies the Church, in many places. But the opposite is signified by the seed of the evil (Isa. i 4; xiv 20; lvii 3, 4), and by the seed of the serpent (Gen. iii 15).
565 1/2. [verse 18] 'And I stood upon the sand of the sea' signifies his state now spiritual natural such as it is with those who are in the first or ultimate heaven. That state is signified by 'the sand of the sea' because by 'the sea' the external of the Church is signified. This state is called spiritual natural because it is with those who are in the first or ultimate heaven. Previously he [John] had been above in heaven, where he saw 'the dragon', his fight with Michael, that he was cast down, and that he was pursuing the woman. But now when 'the dragon' has been cast down, and there is a continuation concerning him in the things following, John in the spirit has been let down for the purpose of seeing more things concerning 'the dragon' beneath the heavens and describing them. In this state he saw the two 'beasts' coming up, one out of 'the sea' and the other out of 'the land'. He could not see these out of heaven, since it is not granted to any angel to look out of heaven into lower regions, but if he chooses he is allowed to go down. It should be known that in the spiritual world place corresponds to state, for no one can be anywhere else than where his state of life is, and because John now 'stood upon the sand of the sea' it follows that his state was now spiritual natural.
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