363. Verse 9. After this I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no one could number, signifies all the rest who are not of those enumerated, and yet are in the Lord's New Heaven and New Church, being those who make the ultimate heaven and the external church, whose quality no one knows but the Lord alone. That by "a great multitude" are signified the rest who are not enumerated above, and yet are in the Lord's Heaven and Church, is plain from verses 9-10, 13-17, where it is said, that "they stood before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, and palms in their hands;" and that "they serve Him in His temple; and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them;" besides many other things. By "numbering," in the spiritual sense, is signified to know what or of what quality they are; that such is the signification of numbering, will be seen in the next paragraph. But who they are in particular, who are meant by those who are called "a great multitude," cannot be known without first revealing an arcanum. The arcanum is this:
[2] The whole heaven, together with the church on the earth, before the Lord, is as one Man; and because it is as one Man, there are those there who make the head, and thus the face with all its organs of the senses; and there are those who make the body with all its members. Those who are enumerated above make the face with all its organs of the senses; but these now mentioned, are those who make the body with all its members. That this is the case has been revealed to me; as also, that they who make the first class of the tribes (verse 5), are those who correspond to the forehead down to the eyes; that they who are of the second class (verse 6) are those who correspond to the eyes, together with the nose; the third class (verse 7), those who correspond to the ears and cheeks; and the fourth class (verse 8), those who correspond to the mouth and tongue. [3] The Lord's church is also internal and external; those who are meant by "the twelve tribes of Israel" are those who make the Lord's internal church, but they who are now mentioned are those who make the external church, and cohere as one with those enumerated above, as lower things with higher, thus as the body does with the head; therefore the twelve tribes of Israel signify the higher heavens and also the internal church, but these signify the lower heavens and the external church. That elsewhere these are also called "a great multitude," see below (n. 803, etc., and 811).
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