791. [verse 21] 'And one robust angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying, With such impetus shall Babylon be cast down, that great city, and shall not be found any more' signifies that by means of the Lord's strong influx out of heaven that form of religion with all its adulterated truths of the Word will be cast headlong into hell, and that it is never going to appear to the angels any more. By 'one robust angel took up' is signified the Lord's strong influx out of heaven, for by an' angel is signified the Lord, and His operation which is effected through heaven (n. 258, 415, 465, 649). Here, because he is called a 'robust angel' and 'he took up a stone [like] a great millstone', a strong operation is signified, which is a strong influx. By 'a stone like a great millstone' is signified the adulterated and profaned truths of the Word; for by 'a stone' is signified truths, and by 'a mill' is signified a search into, examination of, and confirmation of truth out of the Word, concerning which [see] n. 794. But here the adulteration and profanation of the truths of the Word is signified because it treats of Babylon. By 'to cast into the sea' is signified into hell. By 'with such impetus shall Babylon be cast down, that great city' is signified that thus will that form of religion be cast headlong into hell. By 'shall not be found any more is signified that it is never going to appear to the angels any more. [2] This is signified because all those of that form of religion who are in its evils and untruths indeed come into the world of spirits after death; for that world is like a forum in which all are first gathered together, and it is like the stomach into which all foods are first gathered together. Indeed, the stomach corresponds to that world. At this day, however, because it is after the last judgment, which took place in the year 1757, it is not as before allowed them to stay in that world and to form for themselves as it were heavens; but as soon as they arrive (illuc alluunt) they are transferred to the societies there that are in conjunction with the hells. Into these also they are cast from time to time; and thus care is taken by the Lord lest they ever again appear to the angels. This therefore is what is signified by 'that city', that is, that form of religion, 'shall not be found any more'. [3] Since by 'a millstone' is signified the truth of the Word adulterated, and by 'the sea' hell, therefore the Lord said:-
He who offends one of the little ones believing in Me, it is better for him to have an ass-millstone about his neck and be immersed in the depths of the sea Matt. xviii 6.
It is termed 'a stone for grinding' (Mark ix 42; Luke xvii 2). Almost the same thing is said of 'Babel' in Jeremiah:-
When thou hast finished reading this book thou shalt bind a stone upon it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates and shalt say, Thus shall Babel be submerged and shall not rise again Jer. li 63, 64.
By 'the midst of the Euphrates' a like thing is understood as by 'the sea', because the river Euphrates used to bound and separate Assyria, where Babel was, from the land of Canaan.
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