Swedenborg says the word “great” is used in the Bible to represent a state with a strong degree of love and affection, of the desire for good; the Bible uses terms like “many” or “multitude” to represent thoughts, ideas, matters of the intellect.
This makes sense if you think about it. “Great” generally refers to the volume of one thing, while “many” refers to the number of different things, and the relationship of affections and ideas is similar. Say you want to help your child with her school work. That’s one good desire. To put it into action, you might want to know what her grades are in different subjects, what it is she’s struggling with in certain subjects, whether you understand the subject well enough to help, who else might help if you can’t, when a good time to work together would be, whether you have a good work space and so forth. Those are all separate thoughts, strung together by the one desire for good.
Passages from Swedenborg
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 682
682. And there followed great voices in the heavens.- That this signifies enlightenment and joy in the higher heavens, is evident from the signification of great voices, in the heavens, as denoting enlightenment, wisdom, and joy, in the higher heavens; for voices in the Word, signify various things, as Divine Truth, revelation, the Word itself with us, also every precept and command of the Word; these, however, are signified by “voices out of heaven,” but voices in heaven signify enlightenment from which the angels have wisdom and thence joy. For when the angels are in enlightenment, they are also in wisdom, and then they have great voices, by which they express the interior things (arcana) of wisdom; and there is consequent joy because the angels have joy from wisdom, therefore the voices are also called great, for great is said of the affection for good and truth, which is the source of joy in the heavens.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 704
704. And great hail.- That this signifies infernal falsity destroying the truths and goods of the church, is evident from the signification of hail, as denoting infernal falsity destroying the truths of the church (concerning which see above, n. 503), and because it is called great hail, and great is spoken of good, and much of truth (concerning which see above, n. 655, 696), therefore also great hail signifies infernal falsity destroying the goods of the church. Beside lightnings, thunders, and an earthquake, great hail also was seen, because in the spiritual world there are all the phenomena that are in the natural world, as mists, clouds, rain, snow, and hail, and these are indeed appearances, but real, arising from correspondences.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 424
424. And he cried with a great voice.- That this signifies Divine command, is evident from the signification of “a great voice,” which, when from the Lord, denotes a Divine command. The very command that was given also follows, that the four angels should not hurt the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till the servants of God were sealed in their foreheads. It is said “a great voice,” and that “he cried,” because the expressions “great” and “a cry” are used in the Word of the good of love. That “great” is spoken of the good of love, and “much” of truths from good, may be seen above (n. 336:1, 337); and that “cry” is spoken of the affections that pertain to love, may be seen above (n. 393). Because this command was from the Divine Love, and the Divine Will, it is therefore said here, “he cried with a great voice.”
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 927
927. Great and wonderful. That this signifies from Divine Omnipotence and Providence, is evident from the signification ofgreat, when said of the Lord, as denoting His Divine Omnipotence; and from the signification of wonderful, when said of the Lord, as denoting His Divine Providence. For man, when he thinks of what is great in the Lord, thinks of His Divine Omnipotence; and when he thinks of what is wonderful in the Lord, he thinks of His Divine Providence. The things also that follow, concerning the salvation of the good and the damnation of the evil, all pertain to the Divine Omnipotence and Providence.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 896
896. 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. This symbolizes John’s being transported into the third heaven and his sight opened there, and the Lord’s New Church in respect to its doctrine being presented to him in the form of a city.
John’s being carried away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain means, symbolically, that he was transported into the third heaven, where those people dwell who are impelled by love from the Lord and possess a doctrine of genuine truth from Him.Greatness is also predicated of goodness, and height of truths.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 663
663. Saying: “Great and marvelous are Your works, Lord God Almighty!” This symbolically means that everything in the world, in heaven and in the church was created and formed by the Lord out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom.
The Lord’s works symbolize everything created and formed by Him, which in general is everything in the world, everything in heaven, and everything in the church, which could not possibly be enumerated in particular. These works are called great and marvelous because greatness is predicated of love, and marvelousness of wisdom, as in no. 656 above.
AR 656
15:1 Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous. This symbolizes a revelation from the Lord regarding the state of the church on earth and its character with respect to love and faith.
This is the subject of the present chapter and the next, and it is symbolically meant, therefore, by a sign in heaven, great and marvelous. That a sign in heaven symbolizes a revelation from the Lord regarding heaven and the church and their state, may be seen in nos. 532, 536 above. That it has to do with love and faith is because it is called great and marvelous, and greatness in the Word is predicated of things having to do with affection and love, while marvelousness is predicated of things having to do with thought and faith.