1037. Verse 3. And he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness, signifies into a place appearing in vision that corresponded to the state of that religious persuasion. This is evident from the signification of "wilderness," as being a state of the church in which there is no longer any good or truth (see n. 730). But as a church in which there is no longer any good or truth is not a church, it is called a religious persuasion. Also from the signification of "in the spirit," as being in vision, for what John saw in the spirit he saw in vision. To see in vision is to see such things as exist with angels in heaven, which are representative and thus significative of things spiritual. When these appear to man they do not appear before the sight of his body, but before the sight of his spirit. For the spirit of man has eyes as well as his body; but the eyes of his spirit see the things that are in the spiritual world, because all things that appear there are from a spiritual origin, and the spiritual man sees spiritual things with the understanding, and with the eyes he sees the same in a form like the natural. But the eyes of the body see the things that are in the material world, because all things that appear there are from a natural origin; and with his understanding the material man sees natural things, while with his eyes he sees the same in a material form. So when the eyes of the spirit were opened with the prophets they saw such things as represented and thus signified the celestial Divine and spiritual Divine things of the church, and sometimes such things as represented and thus signified things that were to come to pass in the churches in the future; and such were the things that John saw. He now saw a wilderness, because a "wilderness" signifies a state of the church devastated of all good and truth; and this state corresponds to the church that had become Babylon. This is why Babylon is described in many passages of the Word as a wilderness, as in the following: