"And he doeth great wonders," signifies testifications and persuasions; "so that he maketh fire come down out of heaven on the earth before men," signifies the love of falsity from evil, arising from the conceit of man's own intelligence, as if it were the love of truth from good which is from the heavens in the church.

"And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast," signifies the persuasion of those who are in the church, by testifications from the Word joined to reasonings from the natural man; "saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast,"' signifies an ordinance appointed, that such things should be fully taught and believed by all in the church: "which hath the stroke of a sword, and did live," signifies the quality of those natural things which united those things that they took from the natural sense of the Word for the purpose of confirmation.