Spiritual Meaning of REVELATION 14:3
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AR 617. Verse 3. And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four animals and the elders, signifies the celebration and glorification of the Lord before Him and before the angels of the higher heavens. By "they sung a new song" is signified the acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord, that He alone is Judge, Redeemer, and Saviour, thus the God of heaven and earth, see above (n. 279). "Before the throne" is before the Lord, because He alone sits upon the throne; that "before the four animals and the elders" is before the angels of the higher heavens (n. 369); by "as it were a new song," is signified the celebration and glorification of the Lord in the New Christian Heaven, here in particular that He is acknowledged as the God of heaven and earth, in like manner as in the ancient heavens. This is implied in the expression "as it were," for "as it were a new song," signifies as though it were new, when nevertheless it is not new. That the New Heaven mentioned in (Apoc. 21:1), is a New Heaven from Christians, and that the former heavens are from the ancient and most ancient people, also that the Lord is acknowledged in these heavens as the God of heaven and earth, has been said before.

AR 618. And no one was able to learn the song but the hundred forty-four thousand, signifies that no others from Christians could understand, and thus from love and faith acknowledge, that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, but those who were received by the Lord into this New Heaven. By this "song’ is signified the acknowledgment and glorification of the Lord, that He is the God of heaven and earth (n. 279, 617); by "learning‘ is signified to perceive interiorly in one’s self that it is so, which is to understand, and so to receive and acknowledge; he who learns otherwise, learns and does not learn, because he does not retain. By the hundred forty-four thousand are meant they who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth (n. 612). The reason why no others from Christians could learn this song, that is, acknowledge that the Lord alone is the God of heaven and earth, is because they have imbibed from infancy the idea that there are three Persons of the Divinity distinct from each other; for it is said in the doctrine of the Trinity, "There is one Person of the Father, another of the Son, and another of the Holy Spirit;" likewise, "the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God;" and although it is there added, that these three are one, yet in their thought they have divided the Divine essence into three, which nevertheless cannot be divided; and for that reason they approach the Father, because He is first in order. And besides, the leaders in the church have taught, that they should pray to the Father to send the Holy Spirit for the sake of the Son; by this their idea of three has been confirmed, so that they cannot think of the Son as God, equal with the Father, and one with the Father, but of the Son as equal with any other man, although He alone as to His Human is justice, and is called "Jehovah our justice" (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). From this idea of their thought it has come to pass, that they are not able to comprehend how the Lord, as born in the world, can be the God of heaven and earth, and still less, that He is God alone notwithstanding they have heard and read all the passages cited above (n. 613), and also these:--

and consequently, the Divine essence itself was His; besides many other like things in other places. That they were said of the Lord who was born in the world, anyone may see; as also that:--

Although they may have heard and read these things, yet they cannot give up the idea which was conceived in boyhood and confirmed in them afterwards by their teachers, and which has so closed up their rational faculty that they are incapable of seeing, that is, of understanding these words of the Lord:-

Also that the Lord glorified His Human, that is, united it to the Divine of the Father, that is, to the Divine which was in Him from conception, for the sake of rendering it possible for the human race to be united to God the Father in Him and through Him. That this was the reason of the Lord‘s coming into the world, and of the glorification of His Human, He fully teaches in John: for he says:--

From which it clearly appears, that the Lord’s coming into the world, and the glorification of His Human, had for its end the conjunction of men with God the Father in Him and through Him, thus that He is to be approached. This is also confirmed by the Lord‘s so often saying, that they must believe in Him, that they might have eternal life (n. 553). Who cannot see that all this is said by the Lord concerning Himself in His Human and that He never would have said, nor could say, that He was in men and men in Him, and that it was necessary to believe in Him, that they might have eternal life, if His Human was not Divine? "To ask the Father in His name," does not mean to approach God the Father immediately, nor to ask for His sake, but to approach the Lord, and the Father through Him, because the Father is in the Son, and they are One, as He Himself teaches. This is what is signified by asking " in His name"; as may appear also from these passages:--

Besides other places, in which the expression "in the name of the Lord" occurs (Matt. 7:22; 18:5, 20; 19:29; 23:39; Mark 9:37; 16:17; Luke 13:35; 19:38; 24:47; John 1:12; 2:23; 5:43; 12:13; 15:16; 16:23, 24, 26, 27; 17:6). What is meant by "the name of God," and that " the name of the Father" is the Lord as to the Divine Human, may be seen above (n. 81, 165, 584).

AR 619. Bought from the earth, signifies that they are such as can be regenerated by the Lord and thus redeemed in the world. By "bought from the earth," is signified redeemed in the world; that redemption is deliverance from hell, and salvation by conjunction with the Lord, may be seen (n. 281); and since this is effected by regeneration, therefore by "those bought" are signified they who are regenerated and thus redeemed by the Lord; and since all may be regenerated and thus redeemed, if they will, and few are willing, therefore by "those bought from the earth" is signified that they are those who could be regenerated by the Lord, and thus redeemed; who these are, is now described (verses 4 and 5).

Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.

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