884. [verse 4] 'And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor labour shall be any more, for the former things have passed away' signifies that the Lord will take from them all grief of mind, fear of damnation, of evils and untruths out of hell, and of the temptations resulting from them, and they shall not remember them, because the dragon who afflicted them has been cast out. By 'God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes' is signified that the Lord will take from them all grief of mind, for shedding tears is the result of grief of mind. By the 'death' that shall be no more is signified damnation (as n. 325, 765, 853, 873), here fear of it. By the 'sorrow' that shall be no more is signified fear of evils from hell, for 'sorrow' signifies various things, being in every instance on account of some thing that is treated of. Here it is the fear of evils out of hell, because what goes before [treats of the fear] of damnation, and it follows on [to treat of the fear] of untruths out of hell, and of the temptations resulting from them. By 'crying' is signified fear of untruths out of hell, treated of in the following paragraph. By the 'labour' that shall be no more are signified temptations (n. 640). By 'shall not be any more, for the former things have passed away' is signified that they shall not remember them, because the dragon who had inflicted them has been cast out, for these are 'the former things' which 'have passed away'. [2] But these things must be illustrated. Every man after death first comes into the world of spirits which is midway between heaven and hell, and is there prepared, a good man for heaven and an evil man for hell. Concerning this world [something] may be seen above (n. 784, 791, 843, 850, 866, 869); and because the companionships (consortia) there are just as in the natural world, it could not be otherwise before the last judgment than that those who were civil and moral in external things but evil in internal things should mix and converse with those who likewise in external things were civil and moral but in internal things were good. And because there is continually inherent in the evil the lust of leading astray, therefore the good who were in companionship with them were infested in various ways. But those who were in sorrow through the infestations originating from them, and came into the fears of damnation, and of the evils and untruths out of hell and of grievous temptation, were taken away from their company and sent to a certain land below that, where there are also societies, and were guarded there; and this was done until all the evil were separated from the good. This separation was effected by the last judgment; and then those who had been guarded in the lower land were taken up by the Lord into heaven. [3] These infestations were chiefly brought about by those who are understood by 'the dragon' and his 'beasts'. And then when the dragon and his two beasts were cast into the lake of fire and sulphur, because all the infestation and consequent sorrow and fear of damnation and of hell ceased, it is said to those who had been infested that God would 'wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor labour shall be any more, for the former things have passed away', by which is signified that the Lord will take from them all grief of mind, fear of damnation and of the evils and untruths out of hell, and of the grievous temptation originating from them, and that they shall not remember them, because the dragon who had inflicted them has been cast out. That the dragon with his two beasts was cast Out and cast into the lake of fire and sulphur may be seen above (xix 20; xx 10); and that the dragon infested is plain from many passages; for he fought with Michael and wanted to devour the offspring which the woman brought forth, and he persecuted the woman and went away to wage war with the remnant of her seed (xii 4, 5, 7-9, 13-18*; also xvi 13-16, and elsewhere). That many who were interiorly good were guarded by the Lord lest they should be infested by the dragon and his beasts is plain from chap. vi 9-11; and that they were infested (vii 13-17), and that they were afterwards taken up into heaven (xx 4, 5, and elsewhere). The same are also understood by 'the captives' and 'those bound in the pit', and liberated by the Lord (Isa. xxiv 22; lxi 1; Luke iv 18, 19; Zech. ix 11; Ps. lxxix 11). This is also signified in the Word where it is said that the graves were opened, also where it is said that souls shall watt for the last judgment and a resurrection then. * AV Chapt. xiii 1.