According to Swedenborg, death in the Bible represents spiritual death, or the destruction of everything that is good and all true beliefs in someone. This happens when people confirm themselves in evil loves, making evil their own, making it their identity. Such people are, whether they know it or not, choosing hell for themselves — a place where they can continue to be evil.
There is also a sort of spiritual death in the opposite sense: To go to heaven, we must let go of our desire to live from and for ourselves, must let that aspect of ourselves die. This is referred to less frequently in the Bible, but does appear.
The natural physical death of the body, meanwhile, is really just a passage into spiritual life, and is, for those who love the Lord and their fellow people, a rebirth into the true life of heaven.
There are also a few cases in the Bible where it is said that “nothing will die” or that things will “never die.” Swedenborg says this means that love and truth will not die even if people do, because love and truth come from the Lord and are connected to him.
Passages from Swedenborg
Apocalypse Explained 899
[4] Moreover, in the spiritual sense, by dying, resurrection is meant; because the angels, who are in the spiritual sense of the Word, know nothing of the natural death which takes place with men who die, but only of spiritual death which takes place with those who, by means of temptations, are being regenerated by the Lord, and with whom evils and the falsities therefrom, are subdued and put to death.
Natural death, also, is nothing else but resurrection; for when the body dies, a man rises as to his spirit; and thus death is only a continuation of his life. For by death man passes from a life in the natural world to a life in the spiritual world, with this difference only, that the life in the natural world is an exterior and somewhat imperfect life, whereas life in the spiritual world is an interior and more perfect life; but still both are to appearance alike, as is evident from the things heard and seen that are related in the work concerning Heaven and Hell.
[5] From all this it is evident, that by death is signified both spiritual death, which is damnation, and also resurrection to life, which is salvation. That by death is signified damnation, may be seen above (n. 186, 383, 427, 694). That by death is signified resurrection to life everlasting and also salvation, is evident from the following passages. Thus in John:
“Jesus said, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die” (xi. 25, 26).
I am the resurrection and the life, signifies that both resurrection and life are from Him, and no other. He that believeth in me, signifies, he that believes in His Divine, and that He is the very omnipotent and only God. And because no one can believe this but him who lives a life of charity, therefore this also is meant by believing in Him. Though he die, yet shall he live, signifies that though he dies naturally, still he shall rise again to life. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall never die, signifies that he who has been reformed, shall not die spiritually, that is, be damned, but shall rise again to life everlasting. It is evident, therefore, that by dying is not meant to die, but to rise again to life.
[6] In the same:
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that anyone may eat thereof, and not die (vi. 49, 50, 58).
By the manna which the sons of Jacob ate in the wilderness is meant, with respect to them, natural food, because they were natural. And by the bread which cometh down from heaven, is meant spiritual food, because from the Lord alone. And because it is from Him alone, by bread, in the highest sense, is meant Himself. Therefore He also says, “I am the Bread of life.” For it is Divine good united with Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, from which the angels derive spiritual life, and also men. Wherefore by these words, in the spiritual sense, is meant, that those who nourish themselves only in a natural manner from the Word, are dead, that is damned, as were the sons of Jacob; this was also signified by their all dying in the wilderness. But that those who nourish themselves in a spiritual manner from the Word will not be subject to damnation, is meant by their not dying. It is evident, therefore, that dying is not meant, but resurrection to life; for death, if it is not death, is life.
[7] In the same:
“If anyone keep my Word, he shall never see death” (viii. 51).
By keeping the Lord’s words, is signified to live according to the Lord’s precepts. Not to see death, signifies not [to receive] damnation, but the life into which a man rises again, and enters, by death.
In the same:
Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, that he who heareth my Word, and believeth him who sent me, hath life eternal, and cometh not into judgment, but passeth from death unto life” (v. 24).
By hearing the Word of the Lord, and believing Him who sent Him, are meant things similar to those above; for by the Father the Lord meant the Divine which was in Him from conception; thus, Himself. Not to come into judgment, signifies not to be condemned. To pass from death unto life signifies resurrection, and life in heaven. From death, signifies, not only from natural death into life everlasting, thus resurrection, but also from spiritual death – which is damnation – into life eternal; thus also resurrection; for the Word contains both a natural sense and a spiritual sense.
[8] In the same:
Jesus said, “As the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will” (v. 21).
By raising the dead and quickening them, is not only meant resurrection to life by natural death, but also by spiritual death. Resurrection to life takes place by reformation and regeneration, and these are effected by the removal and separation of evils, which condemn man, and which constitute spiritual death.
In the same:
Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, that the hour cometh when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear shall live” (v. 25).
By the dead here are signified those who have been in evils and the falsities therefrom, but have been freed from them by reformation. That these shall rise again, is meant by those words; for these are then no longer dead but alive, being those who hear the voice of the Son of God, thus who live according to His precepts.
Similarly in Luke:
That they shall be recompensed in the resurrection of the dead (xiv. 14).
By the resurrection of the dead is meant, not only the resurrection of those who die naturally – for these rise again immediately after death – but also of those who die spiritually and are made alive by the Lord.
[9] In John:
Jesus said, “The hour cometh, in which all who are in the sepulchres, shall hear the voice” of the Son of God; “and shall go forth, they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (v. 28, 29).
These words do not mean that the sepulchres shall be opened, and all shall go forth at the day of the Last Judgment; but by the sepulchres which shall be opened, are meant the places in the lower earth, where those were reserved, and guarded by the Lord, who had previously lived a life of charity, and acknowledged the Lord’s Divine, and who at the day of the Last Judgment, and after it, were raised up into heaven, according to what was shown above. These places are signified, in the spiritual sense, by sepulchres. That it is not meant that the graves in the earth are to be opened, and that they shall come forth from them at the day of the Last Judgment, is quite evident from this fact, that all men come into the spiritual world immediately after death, and there live in a human form as in the natural world; thus, that resurrection takes place with every one immediately after death – resurrection to life with those who have done goods, and resurrection to judgment with those who have done evils; as is evident from the things heard and seen, which are related in the work concerning Heaven and Hell.
[10] These things were represented by,
The sepulchres were opened, and many bodies of the saints that slept, were raised, and going forth from their sepulchres, after the Lord’s resurrection, entered into the holy city, and appeared unto many (Matt. xxvii. 52, 53).
The sepulchres being then opened, and the saints who before were dead, going forth and entering into the holy city, and appearing to many, represented the resurrection of those who were reserved by the Lord in places under heaven until His coming into the world, and who, after His resurrection, were taken thence, and raised up into heaven. These things also took place and were seen by those who were in Jerusalem; but still they were representative of the resurrection of those of whom we are now, and have been speaking above. For as everything connected with the Lord’s passion was representative – as the veil of the temple being rent in twain, the earth quaking, and the rocks being rent (Matt. xxvii. 51) – so also is this, that they went forth from the opened graves. Therefore it is also said, that they entered into the holy city, and appeared there. For Zion, which is here meant by the holy city, still represented the heaven where the Lord reigns by means of His Divine truth (concerning this signification of Zion, see above, n. 850). Whereas that city, together with Jerusalem, was at that time rather profane than holy, therefore it is also called Egypt and Sodom in the Apocalypse (xi. 8). But it is also called holy on account of its representation, and consequent signification, in the Word.
[11] Resurrection from the dead, both in the natural and spiritual senses, was represented, and thence also signified, by the dead whom the Lord raised.
As by the resurrection of Lazarus (John x. 11-44);
By the raising of the young man of Nain (Luke vii. 11-18);
And by the raising of the daughter of the ruler of the synagogue (Mark v. 21 to end).
For all the miracles performed by the Lord, and also all the miracles described in the Word, involved the holy things of heaven and the church, and thence signified them. Hence those miracles were Divine, and were distinguished from miracles not Divine.
[12] Similar things are signified
By its being granted to the disciples to raise the dead (Matt. x. 8).
Regeneration, which also is resurrection from the dead, was represented by the vivification of the bones in Ezekiel (xxxvii. 1-14). That by it regeneration was represented, is plainly evident from verses 11-14, where it is said,
“These bones are the whole house of Israel, wherefore prophesy and say unto them, Behold I am about to open your sepulchres, O my people, and I will bring you upon the land of Israel, that ye may know that I will put my spirit in you, that ye may live.”
Here also it is said that the sepulchres shall be opened, by which also is signified resurrection to life. That to be buried, and burial signify resurrection, also regeneration, being the rejection of things unclean, may be seen above (n. 659).
[13] That natural death, which is a rejection of the unclean things of the body; and spiritual death, which is a removal of the unclean things of the spirit, signify resurrection, is evident also from the following passages in the Apocalypse, where the first and second death are treated of; these also are called the first resurrection and the second resurrection (ii. 11; xxi. 8).
So also in David:
“Precious in the eyes of Jehovah is the death of his saints” (Psalm cxvi. 15).
That the death of the saints does not signify damnation, but the separation and removal of the unclean things of their spirit, thus regeneration and resurrection, is evident. As also in John:
Jesus said, “Except a grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it remaineth alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit” (xii. 24).
The case is the same with a man, who must die as to the body in order that he may rise again, and as to his proprium, which is in itself infernal. For unless a man dies as to both of these he cannot have the life of heaven.
[14] Because men rise again after death, therefore the Lord was willing to suffer death and to rise again the third day; but for this reason, that He might put off everything human which He derived from the mother, and put on a Divine Human. For the whole human which the Lord took from the mother He rejected from Himself by temptations, and lastly by death; and by the putting on of a Human from the Divine itself, which was in Him, He glorified Himself, that is, made His Human Divine. This is why, in heaven, by His death and burial, are not meant death and burial, but the purification of His Human, and glorification. That this is the case, the Lord taught by the comparison with wheat falling into the earth, which must die, in order that it may bear fruit. The same is also involved in what the Lord said to Mary Magdalene:
“Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father” (John xx. 17).
By ascending to His Father, is meant the unition of His Human with His Divine, the human from the mother being completely rejected.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 9017
9017. Verses 16, 17 And anyone stealing a man and selling him – and he is found in his hand – shall surely die. And anyone cursing his father and his mother shall surely die.
‘And anyone stealing a man and selling him’ means applying the truth of faith to evil, and alienating it. ‘And he is found in his hand’ means though there is still an acknowledgement of it. ‘Shall surelydie’ means damnation. ‘And anyone cursing his father and his mother’ means complete rejection of the Lord and of His kingdom by those belonging to the Church, and so profanation of the Church’s goodness and truth. ‘Shall surely die’ means damnation.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 7507
7507. ‘And nothing will die of all that belongs to the children of Israel’ means that they will not be annihilated. This is clear from the meaning of ‘nothing dying’ as not being annihilated; from the meaning of the livestock, in reference to which it is said that ‘[nothing] will die’, as the truth and good of faith, dealt with above in 7502; and from the representation of ‘the children of Israel’ as those who belong to the spiritual Church. The reason why the forms of the good of faith and the truths of faith residing with those who belong to the Church cannot die is that they have been linked through charity to the Divine, and the Divine is life itself and He is eternal. Anything linked to life itself and to what is eternal cannotdie or be annihilated. It remains for evermore, constantly being made more perfect. But because matters of faith residing with those who belong to the Church and are damned are not linked to the Divine, and do not consequently have life within them, they die; for they are like lifeless statues. And being lifeless those things are annihilated in the next life, that is, they are taken away.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 6136
6136. ‘Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our ground?’ means that if they have been made desolate, there is no longer any spiritual life beneath the internal. This is clear from the meaning of ‘before your eyes’ as beneath the internal, for ‘Joseph’, to whom these words are addressed, represents the internal; and from the meaning of ‘both we and our ground’ as the receptacles of goodness and truth, as immediately above in 6135, and so the receptacles of spiritual life. Those receptacles are said ‘to die’ when they do not have any spiritual life at all within them; for ‘to die’ means desolation, that is, the deprivation of goodness and truth, the components of spiritual life.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5465
5465. ‘And you will not die’ means that the truths will thereby possess life, that is to say, when the truths will be as they have been declared to be. This is clear from the meaning of ‘you will not die’ as that you may live, thus that the truths represented by those men will possess life.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 853
853. Over such the second death has no power. This symbolically means that the people described do not suffer damnation.
The second death has no other symbolic meaning than spiritualdeath, which is damnation. For the first death is natural death, which is a death of the body. But the second death is spiritualdeath, which is a death of the soul, and this is damnation, as people know. Moreover, because the second death is damnation, and the first death is a transition, a death that is not a spiritual one, therefore nowhere in the book of Revelation is the first deathmentioned, but only the second death, which is mentioned here and in verse 14 in this chapter, and in the following chapter 21, verse 8, and also earlier in chapter 2, verse 11.
Someone who does not notice this may easily believe that there are two spiritual deaths, because reference is made to a second death, even though there is only one spiritual death, which is here meant by the second death. He may likewise believe that there are two resurrections, because reference is made to a first resurrection, even though there is only one resurrection, as may be seen in no. 851 above, which is why a second resurrection is nowhere mentioned.
It is apparent from this that “over such the second death has no power” symbolically means that the people described do not suffer damnation.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 387
387. And with death. That this signifies the consequent extinction of spiritual life, is plain from the signification of death, as denoting the extinction of spiritual life (concerning which see above, n. 78, 186). That this is here signified by death is plain from the series of things in the internal sense; for it is said that power was given unto them to kill with the sword, with famine, and with death: and by the sword is signified falsity destroying truth; by famine, the deprivation of the knowledges of truth and good; whence by deathis signified the extinction of spiritual life, for where falsity reigns, and where there are no knowledges of truth and good, there is no spiritual life; for it is acquired by the knowledges of truth and good applied to the uses of life.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 102
102. “‘Be faithful until death.'” This symbolizes their reception and acknowledgment of truths until their falsities are removed and seemingly eradicated.
“Be faithful until death” means, in the natural sense, that they are not to turn away from their faithfulness until the end of their life, but in the spiritual sense it means that they will receive and acknowledge truths until the truths remove their falsities and seemingly eradicate them. For the spiritual sense is rightly for people in the spiritual world, for whom there is no death. Consequently death here means the end of their temptation or trial.