Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 285here also the Lord is treated of, and those who shall worship andadore him. To “lift up his hand toward the nations and his ensigntoward the peoples” 18 is to join to himself all who are in the goodsof love and in truths therefrom; of these it is said that “they shallbring thy sons in the bosom, and carry thy daughters upon theshoulder”; “sons” are the affections of truth, and “daughters” theaffections of good (see above, n. 166). And of these it is said thattheir “kings shall be thy nourishers, and the chief women thysucklers.” “Kings” are truths themselves, “chief women” are thegoods thereof; and as man is regenerated by both of these, and alsonourished, it is said that they shall be “nourishers” and “sucklers.”(That man is regenerated by means of truths and a life according tothem, see Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 23, 24, 27, 186.) This isthe internal sense of these words; without that sense who couldunderstand them?[5] In the same:Jehovah said, Behold I spread out upon Jerusalem peace as a river,and as a torrent the glory of the nations, that ye may suck. He will cometo gather all nations and tongues, that they may come and see my glory.They shall declare my glory among the nations; then shall they bringyour brethren out of all nations, as a gift to Jehovah, upon horses andupon the chariot, to the mountain of my holiness (Isa. 66:12, 18–20).Here “Jerusalem” is the Lord’s church in the heavens and on theearth; it is said the church in the heavens, for the church is therealso (see Heaven and Hell, n. 221–227). By “nations and tongues”all who are in the goods of love and in truths therefrom are meant.It is said that “they shall bring out of all nations a gift to Jehovah,upon horses and upon the chariot”; “a gift to Jehovah” is worshipfrom the good of love; “horses and chariots” are intellectuals anddoctrinals, for these are the source and foundation of worship.(That this is what “horses and chariots” signify, see White Horse, n.1–5.)[6] In the same:It shall be in that day that a root of Jesse, which shall stand for asign of the people, the nations shall seek (Isa. 11:10).