Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 125signified, because all evils are from hell. Whatever man thinks andwills is either from hell or from heaven. If he thinks and wills evil itis from hell, but if he thinks and wills good it is from heaven. Thereis no thought and will in man from any other source. The manwho supposes that he thinks and wills from himself is not aware ofthis; but I can assert from all experience on this subject that everything that a man thinks and wills is either from one or the other ofthese sources. For this reason, moreover, the man who thinks andwills evil is actually in hell; and where one actually is while he livesin the world thither will he come after death.He can come into no other place because man’s spirit is formedand composed of those things that he thinks and wills. When,therefore, he thinks and wills evil, the whole man is formed andcomposed of evil, so that he is his own evil in form. From this it isthat infernal spirits are altogether images of their own evil, and aremonstrosities, horrible according to the kind of evil. Furthermore,the only means whereby a spirit can be formed and constituted forheaven is receiving the Lord in faith and love; for the Lord alone,by his presence in faith and love with man, removes evils, andforms man into an image of heaven, which is an angel. From this itcan be seen what is signified by “having the keys of hell and ofdeath.” The word “keys” is used because all the hells are closed up,and are opened only when evil spirits are cast into them, and whenany are taken out of them, which occurs when evils increase withmen. The openings that are then made are called “gates,” and asthey are called “gates,” so also “keys” are mentioned, and thesesignify the power to open and to shut, since the opening andshutting of gates is effected by means of keys.The keys given to Peter (Matthew 16:18, 19) have a likesignification; for by “Peter” is there signified truth from the goodwhich is from the Lord, thus it is meant that the Lord alone, fromwhom is all the truth of faith and the good of love, has that power(see Last Judgment, n. 57).87. Verse 19. Write the things which thou sawest, and the thingswhich are, and the things which are to be hereafter signifies that all