401. And all green grass was burnt up, signifies, thus every living thing of faith. By "being burnt up" is signified to perish, as just above (n. 400); by "green grass," in the Word, is signified that good and truth of the church or of faith, which first springs up in the natural man; the same also is signified by "the herb of the field"; and because faith lives from good and truth, therefore by "all green grass was burnt up," is signified that every living thing of faith perished; and every living thing of faith perishes when there is no affection of good and perception of truth, of which just above. That "grass" signifies this is also from correspondence; wherefore they who separate faith from charity, not only in doctrine but also in life, in the spiritual world pass the time in a desert, where there is not even grass. As "a fruit tree" signifies man as to the affections of good and the perceptions of truth, so "green grass" signifies man as to that of the church which is first conceived and also born in him, and "grass not green" signifies the same destroyed. In general all things which are in gardens, woods, fields, and plains, signify man as to something of the church, or what is the same, something of the church with him; the reason is, because they correspond. That "grass" has this signification, may appear from these passages:
The voice said, Cry; and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, the grass withereth, and the flower fadeth, because the wind hath breathed upon it; truly the people is grass. The grass withereth and the flower fadeth, but the Word of our God shall stand for ever (Isa. 40:5-8). The inhabitants were as the herb of the field, and as the green grass, as the grass of the roofs, and a field burned before the corn (Isa. 37:27; 2 Kings 19:26). I will pour out My blessing upon those born of thee, and they shall spring up in the midst of the grass (Isa. 44:3-4; and in other places; as in Isa. 51:12; Ps. 37:2; 103:15; 129:6; Deut. 32:2). That by "green" or "growing green," is signified what is living or alive, is evident in Jeremiah 11:16; 17:8; Ezekiel 17:24; 20:47; Hosea 14:8; Psalms 37:35; 52:8; 92:10, 14. The same as what is here described in Revelation came to pass in Egypt, namely:
By hail and fire mingled, every tree and every herb of the field was burnt up (Exod. 9:29-35; Ps. 78:47-49; 105:32-33).
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