Spiritual Meaning of REVELATION 12:11
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AR 555. Verse 11. And they overcame him through the blood of the Lamb, and through the word of their testimony, signifies victory by the Divine truth of the Word, and thence by the acknowledgment that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that the precepts of the Decalogue are precepts of life according to which one must live. That "the blood of the Lamb" is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the Divine truth of the Word, may be seen in (n. 379); that "the testimony" is the Divine truth, in (n. 6, 16), and that it specifically consists in these two things, that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that the commandments of the Decalogue are precepts of life (n. 490, 506); for which reason, the Decalogue is also called "the testimony" (Exod. 25:22; 31:7, 18; 32:15; Lev. 16:13; Num. 17:4; Ps. 78:5; 132:12). Those at the present day, that are in faith alone, believe that, by "the blood of the Lamb," is here meant the Lord’s passion of the cross, and this because they make the Lord‘s passion of the cross the principal one of their dogmas, saying, that thereby He transferred to Himself the condemnation of the law, made satisfaction to the Father, and reconciled the human race to Him; besides many other things. That this, however, is not the case, but that the Lord came into the world to subdue the hells and glorify His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last combat, by which He fully conquered the hells and fully glorified His Human, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (L n. 12-14). Hence it may be seen, that by "the blood of the Lamb" is not here meant the passion of the cross according to the modern dogma. That by "the blood of the Lamb" is meant the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the Divine truth of the Word, may appear from this consideration, that the Lord is the Word; and because He is the Word, the Divine truth therein is His blood, and the Divine good therein, His body. This may be made manifest in this manner: Is not every man his own good and his own truth? And, since good is of the will, and truth of the understanding, every man is has own will and his own understanding. What else constitutes a man? Is not man, as to his essence, these two? But the Lord is good itself and truth itself, that is Divine good and Divine truth, which two are also the Word.

AR 556. And they loved not their soul unto death, signifies who loved not themselves more than the Lord. By "loving their soul" is signified to love themselves and the world, for by the soul is signified man’s own life, which everyone has by birth, which is to love himself and the world above all things; therefore by "not loving his soul" is signified not to love himself and the world more than the Lord and the things which are of the Lord; "unto death," signifies to be willing to die rather; consequently it is to love the Lord above all things, and the neighbor as one‘s self (Matt. 22:35-39); and to be willing to die rather than recede from those two loves. The same is signified by these words of the Lord:--

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

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