7273. 'And multiply My signs and My wonders' means forewarnings of every kind, and that not a thing will be wanting. This is clear from the meaning of 'signs and wonders' as proofs of the truth, dealt with in 3900, 6870, 7012, and also as the means used by Divine power, 6910, here as forewarnings, for those signs and wonders let them see that they were immersed in falsities and also let them behold Divine power, as a result of which they were forewarned. The reason for saying that forewarnings of every kind are being presented to those steeped in falsities, and that not a thing will be wanting, is that the damnation of those governed by evils does not take place in a single moment when they enter the next life, only after they have first been visited, that is, been examined. Examinations are made to the end that those people may see for themselves that they are inescapably damned because they have led no other kind of life, and to the end also that spirits and angels may know what those people have been like. Thus they can no longer exonerate themselves or be exonerated by others.
[2] The order that governs the manner in which they are examined is the order involving God's truth; and the nature of this is such that nothing whatever is wanting. When this order involving God's truth is applied to the evil who are damned it is different from what it is when applied to the good who are saved. The difference is that when that order is applied to the evil who are damned God's truth is separated from Divine Good, that is, from mercy because those people have not accepted Divine Good, and so have refused mercy. But when that order is applied to the good who are saved God's truth is coupled with Divine Good, and so with mercy because they have accepted Divine Good, and so the Lord's mercy. Step by step as the evil undergo orderly examination they are also judged and condemned. From this one may see that forewarnings of every kind are presented, in order that not a thing may be wanting before they are condemned to hell. These are what is also meant by the signs and miracles performed in Egypt, before the firstborn were annihilated and the Egyptians were destroyed in the Sea Suph, the Sea Suph being hell.
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