40.没有人能知道启示录这本书都表示并涉及什么，除非他知道圣言的内义或灵义。整本书的内容都是以类似于旧约先知书的风格写成的，其中每个字都表示在字义上看不出来的某种属灵事物。此外，只有那些了解教会，直至它的末期是何情形的人才能按灵义来解释启示录的内容；这一切只能在天堂得知。这是启示录的主题，因为圣言的灵义处处都论述灵界，也就是天上和地上教会的状态。这就是为何圣言是属灵的，是神性。启示录按顺序详述了教会的状态。由此清楚可知，只有领受了关于天上教会的相继状态的启示之人才能解释启示录的内容。天上同样有一个教会，和地上一样；接下来有必要说一说这一点。
40. Everything That Was Foretold in the Book of Revelation Has Been Fulfilled at the Present Time
No one can know the meaning and implications of everything contained in the Book of Revelation who does not know about the inner or spiritual meaning of the Word. This is because everything that is written there is written in the same style as that of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, in which every word means something spiritual that is not visible in the literal sense. Then too, the contents of the Book of Revelation cannot be explained in their spiritual meaning except by someone who knows what actually happened to the church, including how it came to an end. This can be known only in heaven, and this is what the Book of Revelation contains. The spiritual meaning throughout the Word concerns the spiritual world-that is, the state of the church both in the heavens and on earth. That is what makes the Word spiritual and divine. That state is what is set forth in the Book of Revelation in its own order. This shows that there is no way the contents of the Book of Revelation can be explained except by someone to whom the sequential states of the church in heaven have been revealed. (There is in fact a church in the heavens just as there is on earth, and we will be talking about that some more in what follows.)
40. VII. ALL THE PREDICTIONS IN THE BOOK OF REVELATION ARE TO-DAY FULFILLED.
No one can know what is meant by and involved in the book of Revelation without knowing the internal or spiritual sense of the Word. The whole of its contents is written in a style similar to that of the prophetic books of the Old Testament, in which every expression has a spiritual meaning not to be seen in the literal sense. Moreover, the contents of Revelation can only be explained in their spiritual sense by those who know what happened to the church up to its end; and only in heaven can this be known. This is the subject of Revelation, for the spiritual sense of the Word everywhere deals with the spiritual world, that is, the state of the church both in the heavens and upon earth. That is why the Word is spiritual and Divine. The state of the church is there expounded in due sequence. This can serve to establish that the contents of Revelation could not be explained except by someone who had received a revelation of the successive states of the church in the heavens. There is equally a church in the heavens as on earth, and some remarks on it will follow.
40. VII. ALL THE THINGS WHICH ARE PREDICTED IN THE APOCALYPSE, ARE AT THIS DAY FULFILLED.
No one can know what all the things which are contained in the Apocalypse signify and involve, unless he knows the internal or spiritual sense of the Word; for everything there is written in a style similar to that of the prophecies of the Old Testament, in which each Word signifies some spiritual thing, which does not appear in the sense of the letter. Besides, the contents of the Apocalypse cannot be explained as to their spiritual sense, except by one who also knows how it went with the church, even to its end, which can only be known in heaven, and is the thing contained in the Apocalypse. For the spiritual sense of the Word treats everywhere of the spiritual world, that is, of the state of the church in the heavens, as well as in the earth; hence the Word is spiritual and Divine. It is this state which is there expounded in its own order. Hence it may appear, that the things contained in the Apocalypse can never be explained by any one but him to whom a revelation has been made concerning the successive states of the church in the heavens; for there is a church in the heavens as well as on the earth, of which something shall be said in the following articles.
40. (VII.) QUOD OMNIA, QUAE IN APOCALYPSI PRAEDICTA SUNT, HODIE IMPLETA SINT.
Nemo scire potest quid significant et involvunt omnia illa quae in Apocalypsi continentur, nisi sciat sensum internum seu spiritualem Verbi; nam quicquid ibi est, simili stilo conscriptum est quo sunt prophetica Veteris Testamenti, in quibus unaquaevis vox significat spirituale, quod non apparet in sensu litterae: praeterea illa, quae in Apocalypsi sunt, nec possunt explicari quoad sensum spiritualem nisi ab illo qui scit quomodo, cum ecclesia transactum est usque ad finem ejus, et hoc sciri non potest quam in caelo, et id est quod in Apocalypsi continetur: agitur enim in sensu spirituali Verbi ubivis de spirituali mundo, hoc est, de statu ecclesiae tam in caelis quam in terris; Inde est Verbum spirituale et Divinum: ille status est qui in suo ordine ibi exponitur. Inde constare potest quod illa, quae in Apocalypsi continentur, nusquam ab aliquo explicari queant, nisi cui revelatum est de successivis statibus ecclesiae in caelis: est enim ecclesia in caelis aeque ac in terris, de qua in sequentibus aliqua dicentur.