Apocalypse Explained, Vol. 6

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The successive states of this church even to the last are depicted by the head, breast, arms, belly, thighs, legs, and feet of that statue, likewise by the gold, silver, brass, iron, and clay, of which the statue consisted from top to bottom. All this makes clear that this church in its beginning was full of wisdom from good of love to the Lord. For its “head,” which is the highest part, signifies wisdom, and “gold” signifies good of love to the Lord. That the toes of its feet were “part of iron and part of clay” signifies that the last state of that church would be destitute of all good of love and of all wisdom; for this is thus interpreted by Daniel:

“Whereas thou sawest iron mixed with miry clay, they shall mingle themselves with the seed of man; but they shall not cohere one with the other, even as iron doth not mingle with clay” (verse 43).

“The seed of man” signifies Divine truth, thus the truth of the Word; and by this no coherence is effected, because at the end of the church it is falsified by adaptation to the worship of men. The destruction of this church is depicted by “the stone’s breaking in pieces all parts of the statue.” “Stone” signifies Divine truth; and the “rock” which the stone became signifies the Lord in relation to Divine truth. Its destruction is the last judgment. The new church that will then be established by the Lord is described by these words:

“The God of the heavens shall make a kingdom to arise which shall not perish for ages, and His sovereignty shall not be committed to another people. It shall break in pieces and consume all those kingdoms, but itself shall stand for ages” (verse 44).

Here and elsewhere in the Word “kingdom” signifies the church; so, too, does a “man,” in the form of which the statue was. [6.] The church that afterwards became Babylon is also depicted by the “tree” seen by king Nebuchadnezzar in a dream, in Daniel:

“I was looking, when behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great; the tree grew and became strong, and the height thereof reached even unto heaven, and the sight thereof even unto the end of all the earth; the leaf thereof was fair, and the fruit thereof much; . . . the beast of the field had shadow under it, and the birds of heaven dwelt in the branches of it, and all flesh was nourished by it. . . . But behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven, crying with all might, saying thus, Hew down the tree and cut off his branches . . . and scatter his fruit, let the beast flee from under him, and the birds from his branches; but leave the stump of his root in the earth, even with a band of iron and brass, in the tender grass of the field, and let him be wet with the dew of the heavens, and let his portion be with the beast”