824. Verse 13. And he doeth great signs, signifies testifications and persuasions. This is evident from the signification of "signs," as being testifications and persuasions (See above, n. 706); and as "great" is predicated of good, and in the contrary sense of evil, therefore "great signs" signify testifications and persuasions of falsity from evil. It is here said that the beast "did great signs," because "the beast" signifies confirmations from the Word in favor of faith separated from good works; and when reasonings from the natural man, which are signified by "the first beast," are confirmed from the Word, they both testify and persuade that it is so, and this for the reason that those who make this separation are not willing that the intellectual sight should have any part in matters of faith, which they call mysteries; and when the intellectual sight is not present they can persuade anything they please, even that which from the mere light of nature, anyone may see to be false. Propose any falsity, and declare it to be true because it has been said by some leader who is believed by his followers to be enlightened or inspired, and take away the use of reason, and thus prevent the entrance of the understanding with any light, and you will see all things as true, and will be persuaded; and for the reason that the primary proposition is believed without first investigating whether it is a truth or a falsity.

[2] That it may be known, that a falsity may be confirmed as easily as a truth, take this most trifling example: Lay down the ridiculous proposition that a crow is white, and confirm it as follows: that a crow is not born wholly black, that as it grows old it grows white, that its feathers are white within, and also its skin is white, and thus its blackness is only a shade surrounding the white parts, and reason further that man may indeed speak according to the appearance, that is, may say that it is black, and yet, since he is a man, he ought to think from his understanding that it is white, because it is inwardly white; just as it is allowable to speak of the sun's progression around the earth from appearance, and as in the Word also the sun is said to rise and set; and yet from his understanding one's thought must be that the earth revolves and causes that appearance. Add to this reasonings from the nature of colors, that they are all white in their origin, because they are from the light of heaven, also because every color when it is ground to a powder, even a black crystal, becomes white; and cite on this point those who have written on optics; and besides take away the use of reason, declaring that some man of authority and learning has seen this, and fix the mind on the confirmations, and not on the primary proposition, and it is possible that someone may be persuaded. But all this is ridiculous, because it is silly to conclude about a bird from any other color than its own, in which it appears; for thus all things in the world might be said to be white.

[3] It is similar with the falsities of heresies, as with that greatest of all that existed in Babylon, of which it is said in Daniel that the king published an edict there that he should be worshiped as God. It is similar with the reasonings, which are from hell, of those who declare that all things belong to nature, and even that nature created herself, and was not created by God; and if I may venture to say it, it is the same with the faith that is called justifying without an actual cooperation of the life. Such are the things here meant by "the great signs that the beast that came up out of the earth did, and made fire to come down from heaven unto the earth before men, and seduced them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs that were given him to do before the beast," as is said in this and the following verse.

8. And signified, sending by His angel, to His servant John, signifies which are revealed out of heaven to those who are in the good of love. This is evident from the signification of "signified," as being the things in the sense of the letter that contain and thus signify those that are in the internal sense; for it is said, "the revelation which God gave to show, and signified;" and by the things that He signified are meant those that are in the sense of the letter, because all these signify, while the things that are signified are those that are contained in the internal sense. For all things in the Word are significative of spiritual things, which are in the internal sense. This is also evident from the signification of "sending by His angel," as meaning, which are revealed out of heaven; for "to send" is to reveal, and "by an angel" is out of heaven. "To send" is to reveal, because everything that is sent out of heaven is revelation; for that which is there is what is revealed; and this is the spiritual which relates to the church and its state; but with man this is changed into the natural, such as is expressed in the sense of the letter in Revelation and elsewhere in the Word. That which comes out of heaven can be presented to man in no other way; for the spiritual falls into its corresponding natural when it descends out of the spiritual world into the natural. This is why the prophetic Word in the sense of the letter is such as it is, and being such, is in its bosom spiritual and is Divine. By "angel" is meant "out of heaven," because that which an angel speaks is out of heaven; for when an angel communicates to man such things as pertain to heaven and the church, he does not speak as man speaks with man, who brings forth out of his memory what another has told him; but that which an angel speaks flows in continuously, not into his memory, but immediately into his understanding, and from that into words. From this it is that all things that the angels spoke to the prophets are Divine, and nothing at all from the angels. Whether it be said, that these revelations are out of heaven, or are from the Lord, it is the same; because the Divine of the Lord with the angels constitutes heaven, and nothing whatever from the angels' proprium [selfhood, or what is their own]. (But this may be better understood from what is said and shown in Heaven and Hell 2-12, 254).

[2] The things revealed out of heaven are said to be for those who are in the good of love, because it is said, "sending by His angel to His servant John," and by "John" those who are in the good of love are represented and meant. For by the twelve apostles are represented and signified all in the church who are in truths from good; consequently, all truths from good, from which is the church; and by each of the apostles in particular something special; thus by "Peter" faith; by "James" charity; and by "John" the good of charity or the good of love. Because John represented this good, the revelation was made to him; for revelation out of heaven, such as this, can be made only to those who are in the good of charity or of love. Others, indeed, can hear the things that are from heaven, but they cannot perceive them. Only those who are in the good of love have spiritual perception. This is because they receive heavenly things not only with the hearing, but also with the love; and to receive with the love is to receive fully, since the things so received are loved; moreover, those who thus receive, see these things in their understanding, where the sensation of their internal sight is. That this is so has been proven to me by much experience. It might also be elucidated by much rational argument; but the subject cannot just now be amplified so far.

It is here only necessary to say, that all names mentioned in the Word signify not persons but things; that "John," for instance, signifies such as are in the good of love, thus in the abstract the good of love itself. (That all names in the Word signify things may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia 768, 1888, 4310, 4442, 10329.

That the names of persons and places in the Word cannot enter heaven, but that they are changed into the things that they signify, n. 1876, 5225, 6516, 10216, 10282, 10432.

How exquisite the internal sense of the Word is, even where mere names are mentioned, illustrated by examples, n. 1224, 1264, 1888.

That the twelve disciples of the Lord represented, and thence signified, all things of faith and love in the complex, in like manner as the twelve tribes of Israel, n. 2129, 3354, 3488, 3858, 6397.

That "Peter," "James," and "John" represented, and thence signified, faith, charity, and the good of charity, in their order, see preface to Genesis 18 [in n. 2135] Genesis 22, in n. 2760, and in 3934, 8581, 10087)