829. 'And He Himself is treading the wine-press of the fury and wrath of Almighty God' signifies that the Lord alone has endured all the evils of the Church and all the violence inflicted on the Word, thus on Himself. By 'the wine of the fury and wrath of God' are signified the Church's goods and truths, which are derived from the Word, profaned and adulterated, thus the evils and untruths of the Church (n. 316, 632, 635, 758). By 'to tread the wine-press of that wine' is signified to endure them, to fight against them and condemn them, and thus to liberate the angels in the heavens and the men on earth from infestation thereby. For the Lord came into the world in order to subjugate the hells, which were then increasing from beneath so as to begin to infest the angels; and He subjugated them by combats against them, thus by temptations; for spiritual temptations are nothing else but fights against the hells. And because every man is in company with spirits as to his affections and the consequent thoughts, an evil man with spirits out of hell and a good man with angels out of heaven, therefore when the Lord subjugated the hells He not only liberated the angels of heaven from infestation but also the men of the earth. [2] This therefore is what is signified by these words in Isaiah:-
He has borne our diseases, and He has carried our woes; moreover He has been wounded for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities; and by His wound health has been given to us: Jehovah has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all; He sustained exaction, He was cut off out of the land of the living, for the transgression of My people, a stroke upon them, and He has laid guilt upon His soul Isa. liii 4-10.
These things are concerning the Lord and His temptations by the hells, and at lengths by the Jews, by whom He was crucified. The Lord's combats are also described in Isaiah lxiii 1-10, in the course of which there are these words:-
Thy garments as of one treading the wine-press; I have trodden the wine-press alone [Isa. lxiii 2, 3];
by which is signified that He Only endured the evils and untruths of the Church and all the violence inflicted on the Word, thus on Himself. It is said 'the violence inflicted on the Word, thus on Himself' because the Lord is the Word, and on the Word and on the Lord Himself has violence been inflicted by the Roman Catholic form of religion, also by the form of religion with the Reformed concerning faith alone. The Lord endured the evils and untruths of both of these when He effected the last judgment, by which He again subjugated the hells; and unless the hells had been subjugated again no flesh could have been saved, as He Himself says in Matthew (xxiv 21, 22).
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