Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 554varieties of the states of truth from good, and thence of intelligenceand wisdom, n. 4530, 4677, 4922, 9466; that rainbows are seen inheaven, and whence and what they are, n. 1042, 1043,1623–1625.)270. Verse 4. And around the throne were four and twentythrones, and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting,signifies all truths from good in the higher heavens, arranged by theLord before judgment. This is evident from the signification of“throne” on which was “One sitting,” as being the Lord in respectto the Last Judgment (on which see just above, n. 267; and that“throne” signifies judgment, see n. 253a). Also from thesignification of “the four and twenty thrones around it, and fourand twenty elders on them,” as being all the truths of heaven in thecomplex, arranged before judgment. “Four and twenty” signifiesall, “thrones” judgment, and “elders” those who are in truths fromgood, and abstractly truths from good. The higher heavens are heremeant, because all who are in them are in truths from the good oflove, and because the lower heavens are treated of in whatimmediately follows. (”Twenty-four” signifies all, because thatnumber signifies the like with the number “twelve,” and “twelve”signifies all, and is predicated of truths, see Arcana Coelestia, n. 577,2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913. The number “twenty-four”signifies the like with the number “twelve,” because it is the doublethereof, and the double of a number signifies something similar asthe number from which it arises by multiplication, as may be seen,n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973.)[2] The like is signified by “the thrones upon which the twelveapostles were to sit,” of which in Matthew:Ye who have followed Me in the regeneration, when the Son ofman shall sit on the throne of His glory, ye also shall sit upon thrones,judging the twelve tribes of Israel (19:28; Luke 22:30);the “twelve apostles” signifying all truths in the complex. Likewisein the following words in Revelation: