Selections from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters. (Revelation 14:6-7)Fear God and give glory to Him, signifies to worship the Lord from His Divine truth by a life according to it. This is evident from the signification of "fearing God," as being to revere and worship the Lord —
From the signification of "giving glory to Him," as being to live according to the Divine truth, that is, according to His commandments in the Word.And the nations were angry, and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. (Revelation 11:18)And to them that fear Thy name, the small and the great, signifies and to all of whatever religion who worship the Lord. This is evident from the signification of "fearing the name" of the Lord God, as being to worship the Lord (of which presently); also from the signification of "the small and the great," as being of whatever religion - for "the small" mean those who have but little knowledge of the truths and goods of the church, and "the great" those who know much, thus those who worship the Lord little and much - for in the measure that a man knows the truths of faith and lives according to them does he worship the Lord, for worship is not from man but from the truths from good that are with man, since these are from the Lord, and the Lord is in them.
"They that fear Thy name, the small and the great," mean all of whatever religion who worship the Lord, because just before "the servants, the prophets and the saints," are mentioned, meaning all within the church who are in the truths of doctrine and in a life according to them. Therefore "they that fear Thy name, the small and the great," mean all without the church who worship the Lord according to their religion, for those who are in the worship of the Lord, and live in any faith and charity, according to their religious principle, also fear God's name. In fact, this verse treats of the Last Judgment upon all, both the evil and the good. The Last Judgment is executed upon all, both those within the church and those outside of it, and then all are saved who fear God and live in mutual love, in uprightness of heart and in sincerity from a religious principle - for all such, by an intuitive faith in God and by a life of charity, are consociated as to their souls with the angels of heaven, and are thus conjoined to the Lord and saved. For after death everyone comes to his own in the spiritual world, with whom he was closely consociated as to his spirit while he was living in the natural world.
"The small and the great" signify less or more, that is, those who worship the Lord less or more, thus who are less or more in truths from good, because the spiritual sense of the Word is abstracted from all regard to persons, contemplating the thing nakedly. The expression "the small and the great" has regard to person, for it means men who worship God; for this reason instead of these less and more are meant in the spiritual sense, thus those who worship less or more from genuine truths and goods. It is similar with "the servants, the prophets and the saints," just above, by whom in the spiritual sense prophets and saints are not meant, but, apart from persons, the truths of doctrine and a life according to them. But while these are meant, all who are in the truths of doctrine and a life according to them are also included, for such truths and life are in subjects which are angels and men, but in such case - to think of angels and men only is natural, while to think of the truths of doctrine and life, which make angels and men, is spiritual. Thence it may be clear how the spiritual sense in which the angels are, differs from the natural sense in which men are, namely, that in every particular that a man thinks there inheres something of person, space, time and matter, while angels think things abstractly from all these. Thence it is that the speech of angels is incomprehensible to man, because it is from the intuition of the thing, and thus from a wisdom abstracted from things that are proper to the natural world, and therefore comparatively undetermined to such things.
"To fear Thy name" signifies to worship the Lord, because "to fear" signifies to worship, and "Thy name" signifies the Lord. In a preceding verse it is said that the twenty-four elders gave thanks to the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come;" wherefore "to fear Thy name" means to worship the Lord.
In the Word both of the Old and New Testaments, "the name of Jehovah," "the name of the Lord," "the name of God," and "the name of Jesus Christ" are mentioned, and "name" here means all things whereby He is worshipped, thus all things of love and faith, and in the highest sense the Lord Himself is meant, because where He is, there also are all things of love and faith. That such is the signification of "the name of Jehovah," "the Lord God," and "Jesus Christ," may be seen above and is also evident from these words of the Lord:If two of you shall agree on earth In My name respecting anything that they shall ask it shall be done for them by My Father who is in the heavens. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them (Matt. 18:19, 20).Here "to agree in the Lord's name" and "to be gathered together in His name" means not in mere name, but in those things that belong to the Lord, which are the truths of faith and the goods of love by which He is worshipped.
"To fear," in reference to the Lord, signifies to worship and reverence, because in worship and in all things of worship there is a holy and reverential fear, which is that the Lord is to be honored and in no way injured; for it is as with children towards parents and parents towards children, with wives towards husbands and husbands towards wives, also as with friends towards friends, in whom there is a fear of injuring and also respect; such a fear with respect is in all love and in all friendship, so that love and friendship without such a fear and respect is like food not salted, which is insipid. This is why "to fear the Lord" means to worship Him from such love.
It is said that "to fear Thy name" signifies to worship the Lord, and yet "those who fear Him" mean here all those who are outside of the church, to whom the Lord is unknown, because they do not have the Word, nevertheless, all such as in respect to God have an idea of the Human are still accepted by the Lord - for God under the Human form is the Lord.
But all, whether within or without the church, who do not think of God as Man, when they come into their own spiritual life, which takes place after their departure out of this world, are not accepted by the Lord, because they have no determinate idea of God, but only an indeterminate idea, which is no idea at all, or if it be any is nevertheless dissipated. This is why all who come from the earths into the spiritual world are first explored, as to what idea of God they have had and have brought with them. If they have no idea of Him as Man they are sent to places of instruction, where they are taught that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that when they think of God they must think of the Lord, and that otherwise there can be no conjunction with God, and thus no consociation with angels. Then all who have lived a life of charity receive instruction and worship the Lord. But all those who say that they have had faith, but have not been in the life of faith, which is charity, do not accept instruction; consequently they are separated and sent away into places below the heavens, some into the hells, some into the earth that is called in the Word "the lower earth," where they suffer hard things. Still the Gentiles who have made the laws of religion laws of life receive the doctrine respecting the Lord more readily than Christians, and this especially because they had no other idea of God than that of the Divine Man. This has been said that it may be known why it is that "to fear Thy name" means to worship the Lord.
In many passages in the Word the expression "to fear Jehovah God" is used, and this means to worship Him, therefore it shall be told in a few words what worship in particular is meant by "fearing God." —
All worship of Jehovah God must be from the good of love by means of truths.
Worship that is from the good of love alone is not worship, neither is worship that is from truths alone, without the good of love, worship; there must be both, since the good of love is the essential of worship, but good has its existence and form by means of truths, therefore all worship must be from good by means of truths.
For this reason, in many passages in the Word where the expression "to fear Jehovah God" is used it is added, "to keep and to do His words and commandments;" consequently in these places "to fear" signifies worship by means of truths, and "to keep and do" signifies worship from the good of love, for doing is of the will, thus of the love and of good, but "fearing" is of the understanding, thus of faith and of truth, since every truth that is of faith belongs properly to the understanding, and every good that is of love belongs properly to the will.
From this it can be seen that "the fear of Jehovah God" is predicated of worship by means of the truths of doctrine, which are also called truths of faith. Such worship is meant by "the fear of Jehovah God," because Divine truth causes fear in that it condemns the evil to hell; but Divine good does not, since so far as it is received through truths by man and angel it takes away condemnation. Thence it may be seen that so far as man is in the good of love there is fear of God; also that dread and terror disappear and become a holy fear attended with reverence so far as man is in the good of love and in truths therefrom, that is, so far as there is good in his truths.
From this it follows that fear in worship varies with each one according to the state of his life; and also that the sanctity attended with reverence that there is in fear with those that are in good, varies also according to the reception of good in the will and according to the reception of truth in the understanding, that is, according to the reception of good in the heart and the reception of truth in the soul. (Apocalypse Explained 696:1-6)
"Glory" in reference to the Lord signifies the Divine truth proceeding from Him, thus the Word such as it is in heaven - for that is light to the angels, and by that light the Lord manifests His glory; for by that light He gives intelligence and wisdom, and also presents before the eyes of angels magnificent objects that glow with most precious things. This is the signification of the Lord's "glory" in the sense nearest to the letter. But all these magnificent things, which glow as if from gold and precious stones in wonderful forms, are given by the Lord according to the reception of Divine truth proceeding from Him, consequently they appear to the angels in the exact measure of the wisdom that is with them, for they are correspondences. But since angels have wisdom according to their reception of Divine truth not only in doctrine but also in life, "to give glory to Him," signifies to live according to Divine truth.
It is believed in the world that those have wisdom, and thus heaven, who know Divine truths and talk about them from knowledge, although they do not live according to them. But I can testify that such have no wisdom. They appear to have wisdom when they speak; but as soon as they are in their own spirit or think with themselves they are not at all wise, sometimes they are even demented like fools, thinking in opposition to the Divine truths which they have spoken.
But it is otherwise with those who live according to Divine truths; such think wisely with themselves, and speak wisely with others. This it has been given me to know from a thousand examples of experience in the spiritual world; for there such things are manifest that are wholly unknown to men in the natural world. I have heard many there speak so wisely that I could have believed them to be interior angels of heaven, and yet they became devils, for they had filled their memory with such things from the love of glory, but had not lived according to them; consequently as soon as they returned to themselves and the love of their life they spoke in opposition to these things, and were as insane as if they had known nothing at all about them. This made clear to me that almost everyone has the ability to understand, in order that he may be reformed, but he who does not live the life of truth does not wish to be reformed, and he who does not wish to be reformed gradually rejects from himself everything pertaining to that intelligence and wisdom, and lives his own love which is contrary to these, and finally he draws near to those who are in hell, and is in a love like theirs.
From all this it can be seen that "to give glory to God" signifies to live according to Divine truth; as the Lord has taught in these words in John:
Herein is My Father glorified, that ye may bear much fruit, and may become My disciples. Abide ye in My love. If ye keep My commandments ye shall abide in My love. Ye are My friends if ye do whatsoever I command you (15:8-10, 14).
(Apocalypse Explained 874)