Spiritual Meaning of REVELATION 6:6
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AR 314. Verse 6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four animals, saying, signifies the Divine guard of the Word by the Lord. That "the four animals" or cherubs signify the Word from firsts to ultimates, and guards lest its interior truths and goods should be violated, may be seen in (n. 239); and because these guards are from the Lord, the voice was therefore heard in the midst of the four animals. By "in the midst" of them is meant the Word as to its internal spiritual sense, which the Lord guards. That a guard is signified, is manifest from the things that it said:--A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and hurt not the oil and the wine; by which is signified that because the estimation of good and truth is so trifling that it is scarcely anything, it must be provided that the holy goods and truths, which lie hid interiorly in the Word, should not be violated and profaned; and this is provided by the Lord by this means, that they at length do not know any good, and thence neither any truth, but mere evil and falsity: for they who know goods and truths can violate, yea, they can profane them, but not so they who do not know them. That such is the operation of the Divine providence in guarding the Word, may be seen in The Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence (DP n. 221-233, 257, 258).

AR 315. A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny, signifies because the estimation of good and truth is so small as to be scarcely anything. These are signified because by "a measure (choenix)" which was the measure and the quantity measured, is signified quality, as in (n. 314); by "wheat" and "barley" is signified good and truth; and by a penny (denarius) which is a very small coin, that they are held in little or no estimation. It is said "three" measures of barley, because "three" signify all, and are predicated of truths (n. 515). The reason why "wheat" and "barley" signify good and truth, here the good and truth of the church from the Word, is, because all things which belong to the field and the vineyard, signify such things as are of the church, because "a field" signifies the church as to good and truth thence, and "a vineyard," the church as to truth and good therefrom; therefore where these are mentioned in the Word, the angels, who perceive all things spiritually, understand nothing else; as in Joel:--

The field is wasted, the land mourneth; for the corn is wasted; the must is dried up, the oil languisheth. Be ye ashamed, O ye husbandmen; howl, O ye vine dressers, for the wheat and the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished (Joel 1:10-12).

All these things signify such things as are of the church. That "wheat" and "barley" signify the good and truth of the church, may be seen from these passages:--

John saith concerning Jesus, that He will gather the wheat into the barn, and burn up the chaff with fire (Matt. 3:11, 12).

Jesus said, Let the tares and the wheat grow together, and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, to burn, but gather the wheat into My barn (Matt. 13:24-30).

I have heard the consummation and decision from Jehovah God; he layeth up the measured wheat, and the appointed barley; for his God doth instruct him to judgment, and doth teach him (Isa. 28:22, 25, 26).

Jehovah shall lead thee to a land of wheat and barley (Deut. 8:7, 8).

"A land of wheat and barley" here is the land of Canaan, by which the church is signified.

They shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of Jehovah, for wheat and must (Jer. 31:12).

Jehovah shall satiate thee with the fat of wheat (Deut. 32:13, 14; Ps. 81:16; 147:14).

Jehovah said to the prophet Ezekiel, that:--

He should make himself cakes of barley mixed with dung, and eat them (Ezek. 4:12, 15).

And to the prophet Hosea that:--

He should take a woman an adulteress; whom be bought for a homer of barley, and half a homer of barley (Hosea 3:1, 2).

Which things were done by those prophets, that they might represent the falsifications of truth in the church, for "barley" signifies truths, and "barley mixed with dung" truths falsified and profaned; "a woman an adulteress" also signifies truth falsified (n. 134).

AR 316. And hurt not the oil and the wine, signifies that it is provided by the Lord that the holy goods and truths, which lie interiorly concealed in the Word, shall not be violated and profaned. "Oil" signifies the good of love, and "wine" truth from that good, therefore "oil" signifies holy good, and "wine" holy truth; "hurt them not," signifies that it is provided by the Lord that they shall not be violated and profaned; for this was heard "from the midst of the four animals," thus from the Lord (n. 314); what is said by the Lord the same is also provided for by Him; that it is provided, may be seen in (n. 314, 255). That "oil" signifies the good of love, will be seen below (n. 778, 779); but that "wine" signifies truth from that good, is evident from the following passages:--

Everyone that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no silver, come ye, buy and eat, yea come, buy wine and milk without silver (Isa. 55:1).

And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down must, and the hills shall flow with milk (Joel 3:18; Amos 9:13, 14).

And joy is taken away from Carmel, and in the vineyards there shall be no singing; wine shall not be trodden in the wine-press, I have made their shouting to cease (Isa. 16:10; Jer. 48:32, 33).

By "Carmel" is signified the spiritual church, because vineyards were there.

Howl, all ye drinkers of wine, because of the must; for it is cut off from your mouth; howl, O ye vine dressers (Joel 1:5, 10, 11).

Nearly the same words occur in (Hosea 9:2, 3; Zephaniah 1:13; Lamentations 2:11, 12; Micah 6:15; Amos 5:11; Isaiah 24:6, 7, 9, 11.

He washeth his garments in wine and his covering in the blood of grapes; his eyes are red from wine (Gen. 49:11, 12).

These things are concerning the Lord; "wine" signifies Divine truth. This is the reason why the Holy Supper was instituted by the Lord, in which the bread signifies the Lord as to the Divine good, and the wine the Lord as to the Divine truth, and with the recipients the bread signifies holy good, and the wine, holy truth, from the Lord; therefore He said:--

I say unto you, I will not drink henceforth of this product of the vine, until the day when I shall drink it with you in My Father’s kingdom (Matt. 26:29; Luke 22:18).

Because "bread and wine" had this signification, therefore, also:--

Melchizedek, going to meet Abram, brought forth bread and wine, and he was the priest of the most high God, and he blessed Abram (Gen. 14:18, 19).

Similar is the signification of the meal-offering and drink-offering, in the sacrifices, concerning which see (Exodus 29:40; Leviticus 23:12, 13, 18, 19; Numbers 15:2-15; 28:6, 7, 18; 29:1-7). The meal-offering was of fine Sour of wheat, and was therefore instead of bread, and the drink-offering was of wine. From which it may appear what is signified by these words of the Lord:--

Neither do men put new wine into old bottles, but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved (Matt. 9:17; Luke 5:37).

"New wine" is the Divine truth of the New Testament, thus of the new church, and "old wine" is the Divine truth of the Old Testament, thus of the old church. Similar is the signification of these words of the Lord at the marriage in Cana of Galilee:--

Every man at first setteth forth good wine, and when men have had enough, the worse; thou hast kept the good wine until now (John 2:1-10).

The like is also signified by "wine" in the Lord‘s parable of the man that was wounded by robbers, that:--

The Samaritan poured oil and wine into his wounds (Luke 10:33, 34).

For by him that was "wounded by robbers," are meant they who are spiritually wounded by the Jews by evils and falsities, to whom the Samaritan gave assistance "by pouring in oil and wine" into his wounds, that is, by teaching good and truth, and, so far as he was able, by healing. Holy truth is also signified by "must" and "wine" in other parts of the Word (Isaiah 1:21, 22; 25:6; 36:17; Hosea 7:4, 5, 14; 14:6-8; Amos 2:8; Zechariah 9:15, 17; Psalms 104:14, 15). Hence it is that "a vineyard," in the Word, signifies a church that is in truths from the Lord. That "wine" signifies holy truth, may also appear from its opposite sense, in which it signifies truth falsied and profaned; as in these passages:--

Whoredom, and wine, and must, occupy the heart. Their wise has failed, they have committed whoredom continually (Hos. 4:11, 17, 18).

"Whoredom" signifies the falsification of truth, as do "wine and must" here.

In the hand of Jehovah is a cup, and He hath mixed it with wine; He hath filled it with mixture, and poureth it out, and the dregs of it all the wicked of the earth suck out and drink (Ps. 75:8).

Babylon is a cup of gold in the hand of Jehovah that maketh all the earth drunken; the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore they are insane (Jer. 2:7).

Babylon hath fallen, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the anger of her whoredom. If anyone adore the beast, he shall drink of the wine of the anger of God, which is prepared unmixed in the cup of the anger of God (Apoc. 14:8-10).

Babylon hath made all nations drink of the wine of her whoredom (Apoc. 18:3).

Great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fury of the anger of God (Apoc. 16:19).

The inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her whoredom (Apoc. 17:1, 2).

By the wine which Belshazzar, king of Babylon, and his magnates, and wives, and concubines, drank out of the vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, and at the same time:--

They praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone (Dan. 5:2-4),

nothing else is meant than the holy truth of the Word and of the church profaned. Wherefore the writing then appeared upon the wall, and the king was slain that night (Dan. 5:25, 30). "Wine" signifies truth falsified also in (Isaiah 5:11, 12, 21, 22; 28:1, 3, 7; 29:9; 56:11, 12; Jeremiah 13:12; 23:9, 10). The same is signified by the drink-offering which they offered to idols (Isaiah 65:11; 57:6; Jeremiah 7:18; 44:17-19; Ezekiel 20:28; Deuteronomy 32:38). That "wine" signifies holy truth, and, in the opposite sense, truth profaned, is from correspondence; for the angels, who perceive all things spiritually, understand nothing else, when man reads "wine" in the Word; such a correspondence is there between the natural thoughts of men and the spiritual thoughts of angels. It is similar with the wine in the Holy Supper, and hence it is, that introduction into heaven is effected by the Holy Supper (n. 224).

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Author:  E. Swedenborg (1688-1772). Design:  I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002. www.BibleMeanings.info