CHAPTER XII. 1. AND there appeared a great sign in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. 2. And she being with child, cried, travailing in birth and pained to be delivered. 3. And there appeared another sign in heaven; and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads. 4. And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born. 5. And she brought forth a male child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God and to his throne. 6. And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days. 7. And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels. 8. And prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9. And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 10. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and power, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. 11. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death. 12. Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea, for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time. 13. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the male child. 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. 15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. 16. And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth. 17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ. 18. And I stood upon the sand of the sea.* THE SPIRITUAL SENSE. THE CONTENTS OF THE WHOLE CHAPTER. The subject here treated of, is concerning the New Church and its doctrine: by the woman is here meant the New Church, and by the child which she brought forth, its doctrine: and, also, concerning those in the present church, who from doctrine believe in a trinity of persons, and in a duality of the person of Christ, likewise, and in justification by faith alone; these latter being meant by the dragon. Then follows the persecution of the New Church by these, on account of its doctrine, and its protection by the Lord, until, from being confined to a few, its reception, at length, extends to many. THE CONTENTS OF EACH VERSE. "And there appeared a great sign in heaven," signifies, revelation from the Lord concerning the New Church in the heavens and on earth, and concerning the difficult reception and resistance which its doctrine meets with: "A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet," signifies, the Lord's New Church in the heavens, which is the new heaven, and the Lord's New Church, about to be upon earth, which is the New Jerusalem: "And upon her head a crown of twelve stars," signifies, its wisdom and intelligence from knowledges of divine good and divine truth derived from the Word: "And she, being with child, cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered," signifies, the doctrine of the New Church about to come forth, and its difficult reception in consequence of the resistance it meets with from those who are understood by the dragon: "And there appeared another sign in heaven," signifies, revelation from the Lord concerning those who are against the New Church and its doctrine: "And behold, a great red dragon," signifies, those in the Reformed Church, who make God three and the Lord two, and who separate charity from faith, and insist on the latter being competent to salvation without the former: "Having seven heads," signifies, insanity from the falsification and profanation of the truths of the Word: "And ten horns," signifies, much power: "And seven diadems upon his heads," signifies, all * This verse, in the English translation, is the first clause of the first verse of the 13th chapter; but in the Greek Testament it is the last of the 12th chapter. the truths of the Word falsified and profaned: “And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and cast them to the earth," signifies, that by falsifications of the truths of the Word they have alienated all spiritual knowledges of good and truth from the church, and by applications to falses have entirely destroyed them: "And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born," signifies, that they who are meant by the dragon will endeavor to extinguish the doctrine of the New Church at its birth: "And she brought forth a male child," signifies, the doctrine of the New Church: "Who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron," signifies, which, by truths from the literal sense of the Word, and, at the same time, by rational arguments drawn from the light of nature, will convince all who are in dead worship through being principled in faith separated from charity, that are willing to be convinced: "And her child was caught up unto God and to his throne," signifies, the protection of the doctrine by the Lord, and its being guarded by the angels of heaven: "And the woman fled into the wilderness," signifies, the church at first confined to a few: "Where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and sixty days," signifies, the state of the church at that time, while provision is making for its increase among many until it arrives at maturity: "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels," signifies, the falses of the former church fighting against the truths of the New Church: "And prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven," signifies, that they were convicted of being in falses and evils, but still remained in them, and that therefore they were torn from conjunction with heaven and cast down: "And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan," signifies, this turning from the Lord to themselves, and from heaven to the world, and thence coming into the evils of their lusts and into falses: "Which deceiveth the whole world," signifies, that they pervert all things of the church: "He was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him," signifies, into the world of spirits, which is intermediate between heaven and hell, from whence there is immediate conjunction with men upon earth: "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and power, and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ," signifies, the joy of the angels of heaven, because the Lord alone now reigns in heaven and in the church, and because they are saved who believe in him: "For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night," signifies, that by the last judgment they are removed who opposed the doctrine of the New Church: "And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony," signifies, victory by the divine truth of the Word, and by the acknowledgment of the Lord: "And they loved not their lives unto the death,” signifies, who loved not themselves more than the Lord: "Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them," signifies, a new state of heaven, in that they are in the Lord and the Lord in them: "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath," signifies, lamentations over those in the church, who are in the falses of faith and thence in evils of life, because they are in conjunction with the dragon: "Because he knoweth that he hath but a short time," signifies, because he knows that a new heaven is formed, and that thus there is about to be a New Church upon earth, and that then he with his like will be cast into hell: "And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman who brought forth the man child,” signifies, that the dragonists, in the world of spirits, immediately upon their being thrust down, began to infest the New Church on account of its doctrine: "And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place," signifies, the divine circumspection over that church, and its protection, while as yet confined to a few: "Where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent," signifies, that by reason of the craftiness of seducers, provision is made with circumspection that its numbers may increase until it comes to maturity: "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood," signifies, ratiocinations from falses in abundance, with a view to destroy the church: "And the earth helped the woman; and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth," signifies, that those ratiocinations, in all their abundance, fall to nothing before the spiritual truths rationally understood, which the Michaels, of whom the New Church consists, can bring forward: "And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ," signifies, hatred kindled in those who think themselves wise from their confirmations of the mystical union of Divinity and Humanity in the Lord, and of justification by faith alone, against those who acknowledge the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, and that the decalogue is the law of life; and their attempts on novitiates with intent to seduce them: "And I stood upon the sand of the sea," signifies, his spiritual-natural state. THE EXPLANATION. 532. "AND there appeared a great sign in heaven," signifies, revelation from the Lord concerning his New Church in the heavens and on earth, and concerning the difficult reception and resistance which its doctrine meets with. By a sign in heaven, is here meant a revelation concerning things to come; and by a great sign appearing in heaven, is meant a revelation concerning the New Church, for the woman clothed with the sun, which is the subject treated of in this chapter, signifies that church; the male child which she brought forth, signifies its doctrine; her being pained to be delivered, signifies its difficult reception; the dragon's desiring to devour the male child, and his persecuting the woman afterwards, signifies the resistance it meets with. This is what is to be understood by a great sign appearing in heaven. A sign is mentioned in reference to things to come, and then constitutes revelation; it refers also to truth, when it constitutes testification; and it also refers to the quality of any state and thing, when it constitutes manifestation. A sign refers to things to come, and then constitutes revelation, in the following passages: "They shall show us what shall happen, that we may know their latter end, or declare us things for to come, show us signs of the future," Isaiah xli. 22, 23. "The disciples said unto Jesus, What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. xxiv. 3, Mark xiii. 4, Luke xxi. 7. "There shall be signs from heaven, and signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars," Luke xxi. 11, 25. "And then shall the sign of the Son of Man appear," Matt. xxiv. 3. It was said unto King Hezekiah, "This shall be a sign unto thee that Jehovah will do this thing, the shadow of the degrees in the sun-dial shall be brought back." Afterwards Hezekiah said, "What is the sign that I shall go up into the house of Jehovah," Isaiah xxxviii. 7, 8, 22; and in other places. That a sign refers to truth, and then constitutes testification, and also to the quality of any state, when it constitutes manifestation, is evident from other passages in the Word. 533. "A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet," signifies, the Lord's New Church in the heavens, which is the new heaven, and the Lord's New Church about to be upon earth, which is the New Jerusalem. That the Lord's New Church is signified by this |