APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED.

To love Him interiorly is to love His precepts interiorly; that is, to perceive, to will, and to do them from the delight of love. It is from this that "nearness," in the Word, signifies presence and conjunction (as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia original: "A.C." — Swedenborg’s multi-volume work Heavenly Secrets, which provides a verse-by-verse spiritual interpretation of Genesis and Exodus., numbers 5911, 9378, 9997, 10001). This nearness is thus described in John:

"Jesus said, He that loveth Me keepeth My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him" (xiv. 23);

and in the same:

"Ye know" the Comforter, the Spirit of truth; "for He abideth with you, and shall be in you" (xiv. 17);

"the Comforter, the Spirit of truth" is Divine truth The light or wisdom that emanates from God, which informs human understanding. going forth from the Lord; therefore it is said, "He shall be in you."

17. These approximate or general explanations of the preceding words, not being presented in a continuous series, will appear disconnected; and this must be the case when each word or phrase is expounded separately, and the internal sense The deeper spiritual meaning intended by God, hidden beneath the literal stories of the Bible. is immediately joined to the literal sense The surface-level meaning of the words as they are written., which is diverse from it, and each is viewed by itself. But with angels, who are in the internal sense, this is not so. They do not see the sense of the letter, nor do they know anything about it; they see only the internal sense; and because they see it in the light of heaven, they see it in such order and connection, and also in such richness, and in such wisdom therefrom, as cannot be expressed or described in human words. The ideas of angels, which are spiritual, also conjoin all things in a wonderful manner, and comprehend more than man can include or express in his ideas, which are natural, even as to a thousandth part thereof.

VERSES 4-6.

18. "John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace to you, and peace, from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come; and from the seven spirits which are in sight of His throne; and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the First-born of the dead, and the Prince of the kings of the earth. Unto Him that loveth us, and washeth us from our sins in His blood; and hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father: to Him be the glory and the might unto the ages of the ages. Amen."

4. "John" signifies the Lord in respect to doctrine [n. 19]; "to the seven churches" signifies to all who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity [n. 20]; "in Asia" signifies those who are in the light of intelligence In this spiritual context, "Asia" does not refer to the continent, but to a state of being where one is receptive to spiritual light and wisdom. [n. 21]; "Grace to you, and peace," signifies delight of truth and good [n. 22]; "from Him who is, and who was, and who is to come," signifies from Him who is the All in all things of heaven and of the