290. [verse 13] 'And every created thing that is in heaven and in the land, and under the land, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying' signifies a confession and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lowest heavens. It is plain from the series that this confession and glorification of the Lord is by the angels of the lowest heavens, because the confessions and glorifications that precede were made by the angels of the higher and the lower heavens (n. 275 seq., 286 seq.); for there are three heavens and innumerable communities in each, any of which is called a heaven. That by 'every created thing, that is in heaven, and in and under the land, and in the sea' angels are understood is plain, for it says, 'heard I saying', and they said, 'To the One sitting upon the throne and to the Lamb, blessing and honour and glory and strength for ages of ages.' [2] That they are said to be 'created' is in accordance with the style of the Word, in which, by all the things created, both those that are of the animal kingdom and those that are of the vegetable kingdom, are signified the various things with a man, in general those that are of the will or affection, and those that are of the understanding or thought. They signify because they correspond. And because the Word has been composed by means of pure correspondences similar things are said there of the angels of heaven and the men of the Church. To confirm this, a few passages only shall be adduced, and these are:-
Jesus said to the disciples, Going into all the world, preach the gospel to every creature Mark xvi 15.
Pray ask the beasts, and they shall teach; and the birds of heaven, and they shall make known to thee; or the shrub of the land, and it shall teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall tell unto thee. Who does not know from all these, that the hand of Jehovah has done this? Job xii 7-10.
Let heaven and the land praise Jehovah, the seas and everything that creeps therein, for God will save Zion Ps. lxix 34, 35 [H.B. 35, 36].
Praise Jehovah from the land, O whales and all deeps Ps. cxlviii 7.
Consuming, I will consume all things from upon the faces of the land, I will consume man and beast, I will consume the birds of the heavens and the fishes of the sea Zeph. 2, 3 (likewise Isa. i 2, 3; Ezek. xxxviii 19, 20; Hos. iv 2, 3; Rev. viii 7-9).
The heavens shall rejoice, the land shall be glad, the sea shall shake itself and the fullness thereof, the field shall exult and everything that is therein, then shall all the trees of the wood sing before Jehovah; for He is coming, for He is coming to judge the land Ps. xcvi 11-13;
and in many other places. [3] It is said 'every created thing', and by this is understood every reformed thing, or all the reformed, for by 'to create' is signified to reform and regenerate (n. 254). What is understood by 'in heaven', 'upon the land', and 'under the land', may be seen above (n. 260); and what by 'sea' (n. 238); from which it is plain what is signified by 'such as are in the sea and all that are in them'. These are the things that are understood in the Word by 'the fishes of the sea', which are the sensual affections that are the lowest of the natural man; for the affections of such people appear in the spiritual world from afar off as fishes, and as if in the sea, because the atmospheres in which they are appear as watery, and consequently as a sea in the eyes of those who are in the heavens and upon the lands there, [as] may be seen above (n. 238), and concerning fishes (n. 405).
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