20. [Verse 6] 'And He makes us kings and priests' signifies Who grants that those who are born from Him, that is, regenerated, are in wisdom derived from Divine truths and in love derived from Divine goods. It is known that in the Word the Lord is termed 'King' and also 'Priest': 'King' is said on account of the Divine Wisdom and 'Priest' on account of the Divine Love. Those, therefore, who from the Lord are in wisdom are called 'the king's sons' and also 'kings', and those who are in love from Him are called 'ministers' and 'priests'; for the wisdom and love with them is not from them, thus it is not their's but the Lord's. Consequently such persons are understood in the Word by 'kings' and 'priests'; not that they are [kings and priests], but the Lord in them is such, and causes them to be so named. They are also called born of Him, sons of the kingdom, sons of the Father, and heirs: 'born of Him' (John i 12, 13), that is, born anew or regenerated (John iii 1 seq.); 'sons of the kingdom' (Matt. viii 12, xiii 38); 'sons of the Father in heaven' (Matt. v 45); 'heirs' (Ps. cxxvii 3, Sam. ii 8, Matt. xxv 34); and since they are said to be heirs, sons of the kingdom, and born of the Lord as a Father, they are therefore called 'kings and priests'. Then also it is said that they are 'going to sit with the Lord in His throne' (Rev. iii 21).
[2] There are two kingdoms into which the entire heaven is divided the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord's royalty, and since all who are there are in wisdom derived from truths, therefore they are understood by the 'kings', which the Lord will make those who are in wisdom from Him; and the celestial kingdom is what is called the Lord's priesthood, and since all who are there are in love derived from goods, therefore those are understood by the 'priests', which the Lord will make those who are in love from Him. In like manner the Lord's Church on earth (in terris) is divided into two kingdoms; concerning which two kingdoms [something] may be seen in the work on HEAVEN AND HELL, published at London in the year 1758 (n. 24, 226). [3] He who does not know the spiritual signification of 'kings and priests' can be deluded in regard to many things that are related about them in the Prophets and in the Apocalypse; as in these in the Prophets:-
The sons of the strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: thou shalt suck the breasts of kings, that thou mayest know that I Jehovah am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer Isa. lx 10, 16.
Kings shall be thy nursing fathers and their princesses thy nursing mothers Isa. xlix 23,
and elsewhere, as in Gen. xlix 20; Ps. ii 10; Isa. xiv 9, xxiv 21, lii 15; Jer. ii 26, iv 9, xlix 3; Lam. ii 6, 9; Ezek. vii 26, 27; Hosea iii 4; Zeph i 8. By 'kings' there, are understood not kings, but those who are in Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly the Divine Truths from which wisdom is derived. Nor are kings understood by 'the king of the south' and 'the king of the north' who waged war with each other (Dan. xi seq.), but by 'the king of the south' those are understood who are in truths, and by 'the king of the north' those who are in untruths.
[4] In like manner in the Apocalypse, where 'kings' are frequently named, as in these passages:-
The sixth angel poured out his phial upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared Rev. xvi 12.
The kings of the land have committed fornication with the great harlot sitting upon many waters Rev. xvii 2.
All the nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of the whoredom of Babylon, and the kings of the land have committed whoredom with her Rev. xviii 3.
And I saw the beast and the kings of the land, and their armies gathered together to make war with the One sitting upon the white horse Rev. xix 19.
And the nations that are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the land shall bring their glory and honour into the New Jerusalem Rev. xxi 24,
and elsewhere, as chaps. xvi 14; xvii 2, 9-14; xviii 9, 10. By the 'kings' there are understood those who are in truths and in the opposite sense those who are in untruths, and abstractly things true or false. By the whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the land the falsification of the truths of the Church is understood. It is an established fact that Babylon, or the woman who sat upon the scarlet coloured beast, has not committed whoredom with kings, but has falsified the truths of the Word. [5] It is plain from these [considerations] that by the 'kings' that the Lord is going to make those who are wise from Him, is not understood that they are going to be kings but that they will be wise. That this is so, even enlightened reason sees. Similarly in the following:-
Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests, that we may reign over the land Rev. v 10.
That the Lord understood the truth (veritas) by 'a king' is plain from His words to Pilate:-
Pilate said unto Him, Art thou a king then? Jesus answered, Thou hast said. Because I am the King, I was born for this, and came into the world for this, that I should bear witness to the truth (veritas). Everyone who is of the truth (veritas) hears My voice. Pilate said unto Him, What is the truth (veritas)? John xviii 37, 38.
To bear witness to the truth (veritas) is [equivalent to] Himself being the Truth (Veritas); and since He was calling Himself 'King' on account of that, Pilate said, 'What is the truth?', that is, Is the truth a king? That 'priests' signify those who are in the good of love, and abstractly the goods of love, will be seen in the things following.
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