Spiritual Meaning of REVELATION 1:15
I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, behold a man clothed in linen, whose loins were girded with gold of Uphaz; His body was like the beryl, and His eyes as torches of fire, His arms and His feet like the splendor of polished brass (Daniel 10:5, 6).
In the Apocalypse:--
I saw an angel come down from heaven, his feet as pillars of fire (Apoc. 10:1).
And in Ezekiel:--
The feet of the cherubs were sparkling like the splendor of polished brass (Ezekiel 1:7).
The reason why the angels and cherubs were seen thus, was because the Divine of the Lord was represented in them. The Lord’s church being under the heavens, thus under the Lord‘s feet, it is therefore called "the footstool of His feet" in the following places:--
The glory of Lebanon shall come "unto thee, to decorate the place of My sanctuary; and I will render the place of My feet honorable; and they shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet (Isa. 60:13, 14).
The heaven is My throne, and the earth is the footstool of My feet (Isa. 66:1).
God remembereth not the footstool of His feet in the day of anger (Lam. 2:1).
Adore Jehovah at the footstool of His feet (Ps. 99:5).
Lo, we heard of Him in Ephratah (Bethlehem). We will go into His habitations; we will bow ourselves down at the footstool of His feet (Ps. 132:6, 7).
Thence it is that:--
They fell down at the Lord’s feet adoring (Matt. 28:9; Mark 5:22; Luke 8:41; John 11:32).
Also that:--
They kissed His feet and wiped them with their hairs (Luke 7:37, 38, 44-46; John 11:2; 12:3).
As by "feet" is signified the natural, therefore the Lord said to Peter, when He washed his feet:--
He that is washed, needeth not save to wash his feet, and the whole is clean (John 13:10).
"To wash the feet" is to purify the natural man; and when this is purified, the whole man is also purified; as is shown in many passages in The Arcana Coelestia and in The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. The natural man, which is also the external man, is purified, when he shuns the evils which the spiritual or internal man sees to be evils and that they ought to be shunned. Now since the natural of man is meant by "feet," and this perverts all things if it be not washed or purified; therefore the Lord says:--
And if thy foot offend thee cut it off; it is better for thee to enter into life halt, than having two feet to be cast into Gehenna, into the unquenchable fire (Mark 9:45).
Here the foot is not meant, but the natural man. The same is meant by "trampling under foot the good pasture," and by "troubling the waters with their feet" (Ezek. 32:2; 34:18, 19; Dan. 7:7, 19). Since by the Son of man is meant the Lord as to the Word, it is evident, that by His "feet" is also meant the Word in its natural sense; which is much treated of in The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem concerning the Sacred Scripture; as also that the Lord came into the world, that He might fulfil all things of the Word, and thereby be made the Word also in ultimates (Sacred n. 98-100). But this arcanum is for those who will be in the New Jerusalem. The Lord‘s Divine natural is also signified by:--
The brazen serpent, which was set up by the command of Moses in the wilderness; by looking upon which, all who had been bitten by serpents were healed (Num. 21:6, 8, 9).
This signified the Lord’s Divine natural, and that they are saved who look to it, the Lord Himself teaches in John:--
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:14, 15).
The reason why the serpent was made of brass, is because brass, as also fine brass, signifies the natural as to good, see below (n. 775).
. And His voice as the voice of many waters, signifies the Divine truth natural. That a "voice" when from the Lord, signifies the Divine truth, may be seen in (n. 37); that "waters" signify truths, and, specifically, natural truths, which are knowledges from the Word, is evident from many passages in the Word; of which only the following are adduced:--The earth is full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea (Isa. 11:9).
Therefore, with joy shall ye draw waters out of the fountains of salvation (Isa. 12:3).
He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightness bread shall be given him, and water shall be sure (Isa. 33:15, 16).
The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue faileth for thirst; I will open rivers on the hillsides, and I will put fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry land springs of waters, that they may see, acknowledge, attend and understand (Isa. 41:17, 18, 20).
I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, I will pour out My Spirit (Isa. 44:3).
Thy light shall rise in darkness and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of waters whose waters fail not (Isa. 58:10, 11).
My people have committed two evils; they have deserted Me, the fountain of living waters, to cut out for themselves pits, that can hold no waters (Jer. 2:13).
And their great men sent their little ones for the waters, they came to the pits and found no waters, they returned with their vessels empty (Jer. 14:3).
They have deserted Jehovah, the fountain of living waters (Jer. 17:13).
They shall come with weeping; and with weeping will I lead them, I will lead them to the fountain of waters in a straight way (Jer. 31:9).
I will break the staff of bread; and they shall drink waters by measure and with astonishment, that they may consume away for their iniquities (Ezek. 4:16, 17; 12:18, 19; Isa. 51:14).
Behold the days shall come, in which I will send a famine in the land, not a famine for bread, nor a thirst for waters, but for hearing the words of Jehovah; and they shall wander from sea to sea; they shall run to and fro to hear the Word of Jehovah, and shall not find it. In that day shall the virgins and youths fail for thirst (Amos 8:11-13).
And it shall be in that day that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem (Zech. 14:8).
Jehovah is my shepherd, He will lead me to the waters of quietness (Ps. 23:1, 2).
They shall not thirst, He will make waters to flow out of the rock for them, He will cleave the rock that the waters may flow forth (Isa. 48:21).
O God, I seek thee in the morning, my soul thirsteth, I am weary without waters (Ps. 63:1).
Jehovah sendeth the Word, He causeth the wind to blow, that the waters may flow (Ps. 147:18).
Praise Jehovah, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters above the heavens (Ps. 148:4).
Jesus, sitting at the fountain of Jacob, said unto the woman, Whosoever drinketh of this water, shall thirst again; but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give, shall not thirst to eternity; and the water that I shall give, shall be in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life (John 4:7-15).
Jesus said, If anyone thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow streams of living water (John 7:37, 38).
I will give unto him that thirsteth of the fountain of the water of life freely (Apoc. 21:6).
He showed me a river of water of life, going out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb (Apoc. 22:1).
The Spirit and the Bride say, Come; and let him that heareth say, Come; and let him that thirsteth come, and whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely (Apoc. 22:17).
By "waters," in these passages, are meant truths; hence it is evident, that by "the voice of many waters," is meant the Divine truth of the Lord in the Word; as, also, in these places:--
Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the voice of many waters; and the earth was lighted by His glory (Ezek. 43:2).
I heard a voice from heaven as the voice of many waters (Apoc. 14:2).
The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters, Jehovah is upon many waters (Ps. 29:3).
When it is known, that by "waters" in the Word, are meant truths in the natural man, it may appear what was signified by washings, in the Israelitish church; and also what is signified by baptism; and likewise by these words of the Lord, in John:--
Except a man be born of water, and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God (John 3:5).
To be born "of water," signifies to be born by truths; and "of the spirit," signifies by a life according to them. That "waters" in the opposite sense signify falsities, will be seen in what follows.
REVELATION 1:15 previous - next - text - summary - Revelation - Full Page
| Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). | Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002. | www.BibleMeanings.info |