Read What the Word Says about the Woman Clothed with the Sun
and the Birth of the New Church
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Signs in Heaven
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Daniel 4:3
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How great are His signs,
And how mighty His wonders!
His kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And His dominion is from generation to generation.
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| Matthew 24:3 |
Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, "Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?" |
Luke 21:25,28
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And there will be…great signs from heaven….There will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars….Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near." |
| Revelation 1:9 |
I, John, both your brother and companion in the tribulation and kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was on the island that is called Patmos for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. |
| Revelation 4:1 |
…I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." |
| Revelation 12: 1-10 |
Now a great sign appeared in heaven… |
| Apocalypse Explained 260:1,2 |
And behold a door opened in heaven, signifies the arcana of heaven revealed…[T]he sight is admitted into heaven where the sight of the bodily eyes is dimmed, and at the same time the sight of the spirit's eyes is enlightened. By this sight all things seen by the prophets were seen.…[W]hatever is said by the Lord and is perceived by angels, in coming down is changed into representatives, and is so made to appear before the eyes of angels in the ultimate heavens and before prophetic men when the eyes of their spirit have been opened. |
| Apocalypse Revealed 532 |
"And a great sign was seen in heaven" signifies a revelation by the Lord concerning His New Church in the heavens and on earth….[B]y "a great sign seen in heaven' is understood revelation concerning the New Church…In the Word a 'sign' is said of things to come, and then there is a revelation… |
| Printable Version: SignsInHeaven.pdf (35Kb) |
The Woman Clothed with the Sun
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| Revelation 12:1,2 |
Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. |
| Apocalypse Revealed 532 |
A woman encompassed 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 on earth, which is the New Jerusalem. And upon [her] head a crown of twelve stars signifies its wisdom and intelligence derived from concepts of Divine Good and Divine Truth out of the Word. |
| Apocalypse Revealed 533. |
The reason why she was seen "clothed with the sun," is because the church is in love to the Lord, for it acknowledges Him and does His commandments, and this is to love Him (John 14:21-24). That "the sun" signifies love (see n. 53). |
| Apocalypse Explained 707 |
A woman arrayed with the sun, signifies the church with those who are in love to the Lord, and thence in love towards the neighbor.
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The Great Red Dragon
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| Revelation 12:3,4 |
And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. |
| Apocalypse Explained 712 |
"And behold, a great red dragon" signifies all who are merely natural and sensual from the love of self and of the world, and yet have more or less knowledge from the Word, from doctrine, and from preaching, and think to be saved by knowledge alone apart from life. |
| The Doctrine of Faith 59 |
"And the dragon stood before the woman that was ready to be delivered, that when she was delivered, he might devour her child," signifies their hatred, and their intention to destroy the doctrine of the church at its birth. |
| Divine Providence 310:6 |
By the seven heads is signified craftiness, by the ten horns the power of persuading by means of fallacies, and by the seven crowns the holy things of the Word and of the Church when these are profaned. |
Her Male Child
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| Revelation 12:5,6 |
She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. |
| Apocalypse Explained 711 |
…"[T]he male" which the woman brought forth means the doctrine of the New Jerusalem which has been given by the Lord out of heaven.
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| Apocalypse Explained 728 |
And her child was caught up unto God and His throne…signifies the protection of the doctrine by the Lord, because it is for the New Church…. It is said, "Caught up unto God and His throne," God meaning the Lord, and His throne heaven; it is caught up unto the Lord and to heaven, because that doctrine is from the Lord, and heaven is in that doctrine. |
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Apocalypse Revealed 532
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"And she brought forth a son, a male," signifies the doctrine of the New Church…."And her offspring was caught up unto God and His throne," signifies the protection of the doctrine by the Lord, and its being guarded by the angels of heaven.
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Michael and His Angels
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| Revelation 12:7-10 |
And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, "Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come…. |
| Apocalypse Explained 735:2,3 |
"Michael" means…the defense of…the doctrine from the Word that teaches that the Lord's Human is Divine, and that a person must live a life of love to the Lord and of charity towards the neighbor that he may receive salvation from the Lord.
The name Michael, from its derivation in the Hebrew, means "who is like God," therefore Michael signifies the Lord as to the Divine Truth that the Lord is God even as to the Human, and that people must live from Him, that is, in love to Him from Him, and in love towards the neighbor….Michael means those who will be in favor of the doctrine of the New Jerusalem, the two essentials of which doctrine are, that the Human of the Lord is Divine, and that a life of love and charity must be lived.
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| Apocalypse Explained 733 |
"And there was war in heaven," signifies the combat of falsity against truth, and of truth against falsity. "Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels," signifies the combat between those who are for the life of love and charity and for the Divine of the Lord in His Human against those who are for faith alone or faith separate [from charity], and are against the Divine of the Lord in His Human (n. 735)
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| Spiritual Experiences 5747 |
Those are all called Michael, who fought for the Lord's Divinity, and [for the truth] that He and the Father were one, and thus that God is one, and who fought on behalf of the life which is called the life of faith or charity…Those who were Michael were chiefly from the ancient heavens, who all remained steadfast; also of those who were among them from the gentiles, and from infants everywhere at that time grown up. |
The Woman Given Wings of an Eagle
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| Revelation 12: 13, 14 |
Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, he persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child. But the woman was given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she is nourished for a time and times and half a time… |
| Apocalypse Revealed 561 |
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 among a few. By "the woman" is signified the New Church; by "wings" is signified power and protection; by "an eagle" is signified intellectual sight, and thought thence; by "flying" is signified seeing and circumspection… |
| Apocalypse Explained 756 |
"And there were given to the woman two wings of a great eagle," signifies the spiritual intelligence and circumspection which the Lord gives to those who are of that church; "that she might fly into the wilderness into her place," signifies as yet among a few, because it is among those who are not in the life of charity, and thence not in truths; "where she is nourished a time and times and half a time from the face of the serpent," signifies until the church grows and comes to its fullness. |
The Birth of the New Church
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| Apocalypse Revealed 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….[T]he church in the heavens cannot subsist, except there be also a church on earth, which is in concordant love and wisdom, and as this was about to be, therefore "the moon was seen under the feet of the woman,"….The reason why the church cannot subsist in the heavens unless there is a church on earth in conjunction with it, is because heaven where the angels are, and the church where people are, act as one, like the internal and the external with a person…[A]n internal without an external is like a house without a foundation, or like seed upon the ground and not in the ground, thus like anything without a root; in a word, like a cause without an effect in which it may exist. From these things, it may be seen how absolutely necessary it is that there should be a church somewhere in the world, where the Word is, and where by it the Lord is known. |
| True Christian Religion 787 |
The New Church "is to worship one visible God in whom is the invisible like the soul in the body." |
| True Christian Religion 791 |
After the completion of the book [True Christian Religion], the Lord called together His twelve disciples, who had followed Him in the world; and a day later He sent them all forth throughout the spiritual world to preach the Gospel, that the Lord God Jesus Christ is king, and His kingdom shall be for ever and ever….This happened on the nineteenth of June in the year 1770. |
| Coronis 0 |
This New Church, truly Christian, which at this day is being established by the Lord, will endure to eternity….In this New Church there will be spiritual peace, glory, and internal blessedness of life. |
What Is the Church?
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| Arcana Coelestia 10761. |
The term 'Church' is appropriate wherever the Lord is acknowledged and the Word exists.
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| Apocalypse Explained 388 |
It is believed that the church is where the Word is, and where the Lord is known; but still the church consists of those only who from the heart acknowledge the Divine of the Lord, and who learn truths from the Lord by the Word and do them; others do not constitute the church. |
| Apocalypse Revealed 923 |
…[T]he church is one thing and religion is another. The church is called a church from doctrine, and religion is called religion from a life according to doctrine. |
| Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture 79:1,8 |
…[T]he Church exists only where the Word is rightly understood; and that the nature of the Church is according to the understanding of the Word with those who are in the Church… |
The Lord's Second Coming
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| True Christian Religion 116:4 |
…[T]he whole of Revelation from beginning to end describes the present state of the Christian church, and prophesies the Lord's second coming, His conquest of the hells, the creation of a new heaven of angels and then the establishment of a new church on earth. All these things were there foretold, but they have not been revealed before the present time. The reason is that Revelation, like all the prophetical parts of the Word, was written purely in correspondences, and if these had not been revealed by the Lord, hardly anyone could have correctly understood a single verse. |
| See Coronis 0 |
The New Christian Church is not being established through miracles such as the Lord's birth on earth, but through revelation of the spiritual sense of the Word and teachings about life after death, and these surpass all miracles. |
| True Christian Religion 776 |
The Lord's second coming, is not in person, but in the Word, which is from Him and which He is. |
| True Christian Religion 779 |
This, the Lord's second coming, is taking place by means of a man, to whom He has shown Himself in person, and whom He has filled with His spirit, so that he may teach the doctrines of the new church which come from the Lord through the Word. I bear true witness that the Lord has shown Himself in the presence of me, His servant, and sent me to perform this function….Equally, I assert that from the first day of my calling I have not received any instruction concerning the doctrines of that church from any angel, but only from the Lord, while I was reading the Word.
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| Printable Version: SignsInHeaven.pdf (35Kb) |
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