530. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and an earthquake, and great hail, signifies that then below there were reasonings, commotions, and falsifications of good and truth. By "lightnings, voices, and thunders," are signified reasonings (n. 396); by "earthquakes" are signified changes of the state of the church (n. 331), here commotions; by "great hail" are signified falsifications of truth and good (n. 399). These things took place in the parts below, where the evil still abode, before the Last Judgment was executed upon them; for it is said in the preceding verse (18), "And the time is come of judging the dead, and of destroying them which destroy the earth." Such things exist in the world of spirits, from the presence and influx of heaven which is above them.
