551. That seduceth the whole world, signifies that they pervert all things of the church. By "to seduce" is signified to pervert, and by "the world" is signified the church; the same as by "earth" (n. 285). By "the world" is not signified the world of the earth, but the church therein, in the following passages:
The earth shall mourn and be confounded, the world shall languish and be confounded (Isa. 24:4). The earth shall learn Thy judgments, and the inhabitants of the world Thy justice (Isa. 26:9). The Maker of the earth by Thy* power, preparing the world by Thy* wisdom (Jer. 10:12; 51:15). The foundations of the world were revealed at the blast of Thy breath (Ps. 17:15). The earth is Jehovah's and the fullness thereof, the world and they that dwell therein; He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the rivers (Ps. 24:1-2). The heavens are Thine, the earth, the world and the fullness thereof Thou hast founded (Ps. 89:11). He will make us inherit the throne of glory, for the bases of the earth are Jehovah's, and He hath set the world upon them (1 Sam. 2:8). Thou, O Babylon, hast made the world a wilderness, thou hast destroyed thy land, and slain thy people (Isa. 14:17, 20). Besides other passages; as in Isa. 18:3; 26:18; 27:6; 34:1; Nahum 1:5; Ps. 9:8; 77:18; 98:9; Lam. 4:12; Job 18:18; Matt. 24:14; Luke 21:26; Rev. 16:14. But it is to be known, that when "the world" and "the earth" are mentioned together, "the world" signifies the church as to good, and "the earth" signifies the church as to truth. * The Hebrew has "his."
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