1086. And to give their kingdom unto the beast, signifies acknowledgment that the Word is Divine, and the founding of the church upon it. This is evident from the signification of "giving a kingdom," as being the church; for "kingdom" signifies in the Word the church as to truth, and "dominion" the church as to good. Also from the signification of "the beast," as being the Word (see above, n. 1038). Therefore "to give a kingdom to the beast" signifies to give the church to the Word, or what is the same, to acknowledge the Word, and to establish and found the church upon it. From what is related in this verse, also in verses 11, 12, 13, 16 above respecting the beast, and which is there explained, it is clearly evident that "the beast" signifies the Word received by those who are meant by "the harlot," and yet rejected, and nevertheless defended by others both within Babylon and without it. [2] The Word can be meant by a "beast," for a lion and a lamb are beasts, and yet by them the Lord is meant throughout the Word; also sheep, kids, rams, goats, and heifers are beasts, and yet by them the holy things of heaven and the church are signified throughout the Word; and again, "the beast out of the earth," mentioned above, signified confirmations from the Word in favor of faith separated (see n. 815). That nothing else can be signified by this beast is clearly evident from what is said about it (verse 13), that "the ten kings would give their power and authority unto the beast;" also in verses 16 and 17, that "they would give their kingdom to the beast;" although they were those who "made the harlot desolate, ate her flesh, and burnt her up with fire." [3] The harlot was seen sitting upon the beast because Babylon has founded her dominion upon certain passages in the Word; as upon those things which were said by the Lord to Peter. That the harlot would sit "upon many waters," and elsewhere "upon treasures," also that she was seen "arrayed in purple and scarlet, and inwrought with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup" (verses 1-4 of this chapter, and Jer. 51:13), has a like signification.
(Continuation respecting the Word)
[4] There is successive order and there is simultaneous order. In successive order things pure and perfect appear above, and those less pure and perfect appear below. The three heavens are in successive order, one above another; and in the higher heavens all things are pure and perfect, while in the lower they are less pure and perfect. Simultaneous order exists in lower things, and fully in the lowest; for higher things let themselves down and place themselves in the order that is called simultaneous, in which the pure and perfect things, which were the higher, are in the middle or center, and the less pure and perfect, which were the lower, are in the circumferences. Therefore all things that have existed in successive order are together in ultimates in their order. [5] And as all higher things place themselves in what is lowest in simultaneous order, it follows that in the ultimates of the Word, which constitute the sense of its letter, are all things of the Divine truth and of the Divine good, even from their firsts. And as all things of the Divine truth and the Divine good are together in their ultimate, which is the sense of the letter of the Word, there evidently is the power of Divine truth, yea, the omnipotence of the Lord in saving man. For when the Lord operates He operates not from first things through mediates into ultimates, but from first things through ultimates and thus into mediates. This is why the Lord is called in the Word the First and the Last; and this is why the Lord assumed the Human, which in the world was the Divine truth or the Word, and glorified it even to the ultimates, which are the bones and the flesh, in order that He might operate from first things through ultimates, and not as before from man, but from Himself. This power in ultimates was represented by the hair with the Nazirites, as with Samson, for the hair corresponds to the ultimates of the Divine truth. And for this reason, to produce baldness was regarded in ancient times as disgraceful. [6] The boys who called Elisha "bald head" were torn in pieces by bears, because Elisha and Elijah represented the Word; and the Word without the sense of the letter, which is like a head without hair, is without any power, and thus is no longer the Word. "Bears" signify those that have strength from the ultimates of truth. The power of the Word in the sense of the letter is the power to open heaven, whereby communication and conjunction are effected, and also the power to fight against falsities and evils, thus against the hells. A man who is in genuine truths from the sense of the letter of the Word can disperse and scatter the whole diabolical crew and their devices in which they place their power, which are innumerable, and this in a moment, merely by a look and by an effort of the will. In brief, in the spiritual world nothing can resist genuine truths confirmed by the sense of the letter of the Word.
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