Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 597The inhabitants of the earth shall be burnt up, and few men shallbe left (24:6).The “inhabitants of the earth” signify the goods of the church, andthese are said “to be burnt up” when the loves of self and of theworld begin to rule; that the spiritual affection of truth and wisdomtherefrom will then be at an end is signified by “few men will beleft.”[5] In the same:The highways have been laid waste; he that passeth through theway hath ceased; he hath made void the covenant, he hath rejected thecities, he regardeth not man (33:8).This treats of the devastation of the church; “the highways that arelaid waste” and “he that passeth through the way who hath ceased”signify that the goods and truths which lead to heaven are no more;“he hath made void the covenant” signifies no conjunction thenwith the Lord; “he hath rejected the cities” signifies that they spurndoctrine; “he regardeth not man” signifies that he maketh noaccount of wisdom.[6] In Jeremiah:I saw the earth, when lo, it was void and empty; and towards theheavens, and their light was not. I saw, when lo there was no man, andall the fowl of the heavens were fled away (4:23, 25).This evidently does not mean the earth, that it was void and empty,nor the heavens that there was no light thence nor that there wasnot a man on the earth, nor that all the fowl of heaven were fled;what is really meant can be seen only from the spiritual sense of theWord. In that sense “earth” signifies the church; that it was “voidand empty” signifies that there is no good and truth in the church;the “heavens,” where there is no light, signify the interiors of man’smind which are the receptacles of the light of heaven; (the “light”that is not there is Divine truth and wisdom therefrom); therefore