Spiritual Meaning of REVELATION 1:2
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AR 6. Verse 2. Who testified the Word of God, and the testimony of Jesus Christ, signifies who, from the heart, and thus in the light, receive the Divine truth from the Word, and acknowledge the Lord’s Human to be Divine. It is said of John that "he testified the Word of God," but as by John are meant all who are in the good of life from charity and its faith, as was said in (n. 5), therefore in the spiritual sense all these are meant. The angels, who are in the spiritual sense of the Word, never know any name of a person mentioned in the Word, but only that which the person represents and thence signifies, which, instead of John, is the good of life, or good in act; consequently all in the aggregate who are in that good. These "testify," that is, see, acknowledge, receive from the heart in the light, and confess the truths of the Word, especially that truth therein that the Lord‘s Human is Divine; which may be evident from the passages quoted from the Word in great abundance in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord. By "Jesus Christ" and by "the Lamb" in the Apocalypse is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human, and by "God," the Lord as to His Divine, from which are all things. With regard to the spiritual signification of "testifying," this is predicated of truth, because in the world the truth is to be testified, and when it is testified, it is acknowledged. But in heaven truth testifies of itself because it is itself the light of heaven. For when the angels hear the truth, they immediately know and acknowledge it; and because the Lord is the truth itself, as He Himself teaches in (John 14:6), He is in heaven the testimony of Himself. Hence it may appear what is meant by "the testimony of Jesus Christ"; wherefore the Lord says:--

And in another place:--

And in another place:--

By the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, is meant the truth itself proceeding from the Lord, wherefore it is said of it that it will not speak from itself, but from the Lord (John 16:13, 14, 15).

AR 7. Whatsoever he saw, signifies their enlightenment in all things which are in this Revelation. By "whatsoever he saw," in the spiritual sense, are not meant what John saw, for they were only visions, but the things which they see who are meant by John, who are those who are in the good of life from charity and its faith, as was said above. These see in the visions of John, the arcana concerning the state of the church, not so much when they read them, but when they see them revealed. Moreover to see signifies to understand; on this account in common discourse it is said, that one sees a thing, and he sees that it is the truth; for man has sight as to his spirit as well as to his body. But man with his spirit sees spiritual things, because from the light of heaven, but with his body he sees natural things; because this sees from the light of the world, and spiritual things are real, but natural things are their forms. It is the spiritual sight of man which is called the understanding. From these things it is evident what is meant, in the spiritual sense, by "whatsoever things he saw;" in like manner in what follows, where it is said that he saw.

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

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