Apocalypse Explained (Whitehead) n. 882

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882. Verses 9-12. And a third angel followed them, saying with a great voice, If anyone hath adored the beast and his image, and hath received the mark on his forehead or on his hand, even he shall drink of the wine of the anger of God, mixed with unmixed wine of the cup of His wrath; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment shall go up unto the ages of the ages: and they shall have no rest day and night, that adore the beast and his image, and if anyone hath received the mark of his name. Here is the patience of the saints; here are they that keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus. 9. "And a third angel followed them," signifies further manifestation by the Lord (n. 883); "saying with a great voice" signifies earnest exhortation and denunciation (n. 884); "if anyone hath adored the beast and his image," signifies lest they acknowledge the religion of faith separated from life, and its doctrine (n. 885); "and hath received the mark on his forehead or on his hand," signifies acceptance and acknowledgment of these as goods of the church or as truths of the church (n. 886). 10. "Even he shall drink of the wine of the anger of God, mixed with unmixed wine in the cup of his wrath," signifies appropriation of falsity and its evil, conjoined with falsified truths from the sense of the letter of the Word (n. 887); "and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone before the holy angels and before the Lamb," signifies that their hell is from the love of evil and falsity that is direful according to the falsification and consequent rejection of the divine truth and the Divine good, thus of the Word (n. 888). 11. "And the smoke of their torment shall go up unto the ages of the ages," signifies the dense falsity encompassing them and flowing forth from their loves continuously (n. 889); "and they shall have no rest day and night," signifies continual infestation by evils and their falsities (n. 890); "that adore the beast and his image," signifies who acknowledge the religion of faith separated from the life, and its doctrine (n. 891); "and if anyone hath received the mark of his name," signifies acceptance and acknowledgment of its quality according to the description above (n. 892). 12. "Here is the patience of the saints," signifies the persecutions and temptations of those who are not in that faith, but in charity (n. 893); "here are they that keep the commandments of God," signifies that these are such as live according to the commandments of the Lord in the Word (n. 894); "and the faith of Jesus," signifies the implantation of truth by the Lord (n. 895).


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