Like other common verbs, the meaning Swedenborg attributes to “standing” in the Bible is highly dependent on context. Who is standing? Where are they standing? Are they standing with anyone? These things have a great impact on the specific meaning.
In a very general sense, though, “standing” represents being in the presence of the Lord and receiving life and truth from the Lord. This makes sense: standing is a more active, powerful state than sitting, but is more receptive and available than walking or moving in some other way.
Passages from Swedenborg
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3065
3065. ‘Behold, I am standing beside a spring of water’ means a state when within the Human conjunction takes place involving Divine truth. This is clear from the meaning of ‘a spring’ as truth, dealt with in 2702, here Divine truth since the subject is the Lord. The state itself in which the conjunction takes place is meant by ‘standing beside the spring’; and the fact that it was effected within the Human is evident from the train of thought.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 3136
3136. ‘And behold, he was standing with the camels’ means presence in general facts. This is clear from the meaning of ‘standing with’ as being present, and from the meaning of ‘the camels’ as general facts, dealt with in 3048, 3071.
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4926
I sought from among them a man making a hedge and standing in the breach before Me for the land, that I should not destroy it; but I found none. Ezek. 22:30.
‘Standing in the breach’ stands for defending and guarding against the intrusion of falsities. In David,
Jehovah said He would destroy the people, unless Moses His chosen had stood in the breach before Him. Ps 106:23.
‘Standing in the breach’ again means guarding against the intrusion of falsities; ‘Moses’ here meaning the Word – see Preface to Chapter 18 of Genesis, and 4859 (end).
Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 5336
5336. ‘When he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt’ means the presence of the celestial of the spiritual in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of ‘standing before someone’ as the presence, and from the representation of ‘Pharaoh king of Egypt’ as a new state in the natural or a new natural man, dealt with in 5079, 5080, and so the natural which now had the celestial of the spiritual within it and which the celestial of the spiritual now made its own – which is also the meaning of the words that immediately follow, ‘And Joseph came out from before Pharaoh’.
Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 366
366. Standing before the throne and before the Lamb. This symbolically means, listening to the Lord and doing what He commands.
To stand before the Lord means, symbolically, to hear and do what He commands, like one who stands before a king.
This is also the symbolic meaning of standing before God, or in the presence of God, elsewhere in the Word, as when the angel said to Zacharias,
I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God…. (Luke 1:19)
A man who stands before Me shall not be cut off forever. (Jeremiah 35:19)
These are the two offspring of the olive tree, who stand before the Lord of the whole earth. (Zechariah 4:14)
(He) separated the tribe of Levi…to stand before Jehovah…. (Deuteronomy 10:8)
And so on elsewhere.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 414
414. And who is able to stand? That this signifies, who shall bear and live? is plain from the signification of standing, when it is before the Lord, as denoting to bear [His presence] and live; here, that they are not able to bear it and live; for, as said above, the wicked not only come into trembling for fear, from the influx and consequent presence of the Lord, that is, of the Divine good and the Divine truth strongly and powerfully going forth and proceeding from Him, but also into torments from interior conflict, therefore, unless they fled thence and cast themselves down, they could not live; for from fear and torment death as it were befalls them; for the presence of the Divine mortifies evil as it vivifies good; from this state of such it is then said, “who is able to stand?” As also in Malachi:
“Who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?” (iii. 2).
In Nahum:
“Who can stand up before his indignation? and who can stand in the fierceness of his anger?” (i. 6).
And in Joel:
“The day of Jehovah is great and very terrible; and who shall bear it?” (ii. 11).
Moreover, the expression, to stand, like [the expressions] to walk and to sit, in the Word, signifies, to be, and, to live; and, to stand, the same as to consist and subsist. As in Luke:
“The angel answered Zachariah, I am Gabriel, that stand in the presence of God” (i. 19).
And in the same:
“Watch all the time, that ye may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man” (xxi. 36).
And because to stand also signifies to be, it is also said of Jehovah, in Isaiah,
“Jehovah standeth up to plead, and standeth to judge” (iii. 13, 14).
And in David:
“God hath stood in the assembly of God; he shall judge in the midst of the gods” (Ps. lxxxii. 1).
But whence it is that to stand signifies to be, shall be told elsewhere.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 462
462. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and the elders and the four animals.- That this signifies the conjunction of the Lord with the whole heaven, is plain from the signification of standing round about the throne, as denoting conjunction with the Lord, for by Him Who sitteth on the throne and the Lamb, is meant the Lord alone, as stated just above (n. 460:1). And by standing round about is signified conjunction; for in the spiritual world those with whom there is conjunction appear as present, and with whom there is not conjunction as absent:
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 639
639. Which stand before the God of the earth.- This signifies the things that are Divine which proceed from the Lord, and which are of Him in heaven and in the church, as is evident from the signification of the God of the earth, as denoting the Lord, who is the God of heaven and earth, and, specifically, the God of the church in heaven and in the world; for earth (terra) in the Word signifies the church, and the church is in heaven as well as in the world. The reason why heaven and the church also are there understood by earth, is, that there are lands (terroe,) in the spiritual world just as in the natural world, and in external appearance they are very similar in that world to what they are in this. For this reason the God of the earth means the God of heaven and earth, and, specifically, the God of the church in heaven and in the world. That the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, He Himself teaches in Matthew:
Jesus said,” All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth” (xxviii. 18).
And from the signification of standing before Him, as denoting to be from Him, thus what is of Him in heaven and in the church.
[2] In various places in the Word it is said of angels and of men of the church that they stand, before God, also that they walk before Him, and in the spiritual sense, by standing before God is signified life (esse) from Him, and by walking before God is signified to live according to life (esse) from Him. For all the life (esse) of heaven and the world proceeds from the Lord, being the proceeding Divine which created and formed every thing in heaven and in the world; this is called the Word in John (i. 1-3); and the Word there mentioned is the proceeding Divine, which is called the Divine Truth, from which all things were made and created. Since this extends itself in every direction around the Lord as the Sun, it is properly said to stand before Him, for from every quarter and direction it looks to the Lord as its common centre; and this in its essence is the Lord in heaven, because it is the proceeding Divine, and that which proceeds is of Him from whom it proceeds, in fact, it is He Himself; just as the heat and light proceeding from the sun is of the sun. Therefore all the angels, being recipients of this proceeding Divine, which is called the Divine Truth, turn themselves to the Lord, and hence are continually in His presence. For, as stated, the proceeding Divine looks to the Lord as its centre from which it proceeds and to which [it returns]; consequently the angels also, who are the recipients of Divine Truth, and are Divine truths as it were in form. It is from this fact that the angels are said to stand before the Lord, for “to stand” is properly used in reference to Divine Truth, because it surrounds the Lord as a Sun.
[3] To stand before God signifies also in the following passages to be in the Divine Truth, consequently with the Lord.
In Luke:
“The angel said, I am Gabriel, that standeth before God” (i. 19).
In the First Book of Kings:
“I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne, and all the host of the heavens standing near him, on his right hand and on his left” (xxii. 19).
In Jeremiah:
“There shall not be cut off from Jonadab a man to stand before me all the days” (xxxv. 19).
In David:
“At thy right hand standeth the queen in best gold of Ophir” (Psalm xlv. 9).
In Luke:
“Watch at all times, that ye may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man” (xxi. 36).
In the Apocalypse:
“The great day of his anger cometh, and who can stand?” (vi. 17);
“All the angels stood around the throne, and the elders and the four animals” (vii. 11).
“I saw seven angels who stood before God” (viii. 2).
In Zechariah:
Two olive trees, and two berries of olives, which are “the two sons of the olive tree, standing near the Lord of the whole earth” (iv. [11], 12, 14); and in other places.
It is also said concerning the Lord Himself that “He stood to judge,” because it is said of the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which is called Divine Truth, since judgment is from it.
Thus in Isaiah:
“Jehovah stood up to plead, and standeth to judge” (iii. 13);
and in David:
“God stood in the assembly of God, in the midst of the gods He will judge” (Psalm lxxxii. 1).
By the assembly of God, and by the gods in the midst of whom Jehovah stood, are meant the angels, who, in the spiritual sense, signify Divine truths; and because the Lord in heaven is the Divine Truth, therefore the term to stand is used in reference to Him. From these considerations it is now evident that to stand before the God of the earth signifies the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which is of Him in heaven and in the church. That those who are in this are meant, is clear also from this fact, that “to stand before the God of the earth” is stated of the two olive trees and the two lampstands, which signify good and truth, consequently the proceeding Divine. See also the preceding article (n. 638).
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 666
666. And they stood upon their feet.- That this signifies a new life such as the regenerated man of the church has, is evident from the signification of standing, as denoting to be and to live, and also to sustain (concerning which see above 414); and from the signification of feet, as denoting the Natural, which is the ultimate of Divine order, and the basis upon which things prior or higher rest and upon which they subsist (concerning which also, see above 69, 600:1, 606). Standing upon the feet therefore signifies life in fulness, because in the ultimate; new life is signified, because the witnesses, who are here treated of, were slain and lived again. Standing upon the feet signifies here such life as pertains to the regenerated man of the church, because these things are said of the two witnesses, by whom are meant all who are in the goods of love by means of truths of doctrine, and who are such as have been regenerated; also, because when the Natural signified by the feet, is regenerated, then the whole man has life, such as pertains to a regenerated man, according to the words of the Lord in John:
[2] Jesus said to Peter,
“He that is washed, needeth not save to be washed as to the feet, and he is wholly clean” (xiii. 10).
To be washed signifies to be purified from evils and falsities, which is to be regenerated, therefore he that is washed signifies he who is purified, that is, regenerated, as to what is spiritual, which is the good of love and the truth of doctrine; and these are first to be received in the memory and understanding, that is, to be known and acknowledged. Needeth not save to be washed as to the feet signifies that the natural or external man is then to be purified or regenerated, which is done by a life according to the precepts of love and faith, that is, according to the goods and truths of doctrine from the Word; when this takes place, the man himself is purified or regenerated. For to live according to the goods and truths of doctrine from the Word, is to will them, and thus to do them, which is the same thing as to be affected with them, and to love them; for what is done from the will, is done from affection and love, consequently from the man himself, the will being the man himself, because a man is his own love and his own affection; it is therefore said that then the whole man is clean.
[3] From these considerations it is evident why it is, that to stand upon the feet denotes life such as pertains to a regenerated man. Also of the dry bones seen by the prophet on the face of the valley, after they were covered with sinews, flesh, and skin it is said, “When I prophesied” concerning the spirit, “the spirit entered into them, and they lived again, and stood upon their feet” (Ezek. xxxvii. 10). Here also by standing upon the feet is signified new life, such as pertains to a regenerated man. For the dry bones to which the house of Israel is likened signify the state of the church with them, namely, that it was without the goods of love and truths of doctrine; and by being clothed with sinews, flesh, and skin, is signified regeneration, and by the spirit which entered, new life by the influx and reception of Divine Truth; it is therefore then said, that they lived again and stood upon their feet. The signification of standing upon the feet elsewhere in the same prophet is similar.
A voice speaking to me said “Son of Man, stand upon thy feet, that I may speak to thee; then the spirit entered into me, when he spake unto me, and set me upon my feet, and I heard him speaking to me” (Ezek. ii. 1, 2).
And again:
“I fell upon my faces, but the spirit entered into me, and raised me upon my feet” (Ezek. iii. 23, 24).
These things happened, because life itself, when it is in its fulness, is signified by standing upon the feet, and it is in its fulness when the Natural lives from the Spiritual. For the ultimate of man’s life is in his Natural, this ultimate being a base as it were for his interior and higher [things], for these terminate in the ultimate and subsist there. Unless therefore life be in the ultimate, it is not full, thus not perfect; and moreover, all the interior or higher co-exist in the ultimate, as in their simultaneity; thus interior or higher things are according to the quality of the ultimate, for these accommodate themselves to the ultimate, because it receives them.
[4] The signification of standing upon the feet in David is similar:
“Thou hast made my feet to stand in a broad place” (Psalm xxxi. 8).
A broad place signifies the truth of doctrine from the Word, therefore to make my feet to stand in a broad place signifies to cause him to live according to Divine truths.
Again in the same:
“He made me to come up out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock” (Psalm xl. 2).
The pit of destruction signifies falsity of doctrine, and the miry clay, evil of life; the signification of setting his feet upon a rock is similar to that of making his feet stand in a broad place, for a rock signifies the truth of doctrine from the Word, and, in the highest sense, the Lord as to Divine truth.
[5] It is therefore evident, what is signified in the spiritual sense by Jehovah “will not suffer my foot to totter” (Psalm cxxi. 3), namely, that He will not suffer the Natural to go astray from truths; for in proportion as the natural goes astray, the interiors which belong to the understanding and will also go astray.
Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 687
[6] What sitting moreover signifies, in the spiritual sense, is evident from the following passages.
In David:
“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked, and standeth not in the way of sinners, and sitteth not in the seat of the scornful” (Psalm i. 1).
Here it is said, to walk, to stand, and to sit, because these follow one another, for to walk pertains to the life of thought from intention, to stand pertains to the life of intention from the will, and to sit to the life of the will, thus to the esse of the life. Counsel also, of which to walk is said, regards the thought; way, in which one is said to stand, regards intention, while to sit in a seat refers to the will, which is the esse of a man’s life.