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Genesis 15

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1 After these things the word of Jehovah came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, [and] thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, O Lord Jehovah, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, This man shall not be thine heir; But he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and number the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

6 And he believed in Jehovah; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

7 And he said unto him, I am Jehovah that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give thee this land to inherit it.

8 And he said, O Lord Jehovah, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it?

9 And he said unto him, Take me a heifer three years old, and a she-goat three years old, and a ram three years old, and a turtle-dove, and a young pigeon.

10 And he took him all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each half over against the other: but the birds divided he not.

11 And the birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, a horror of great darkness fell upon him.

13 And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety that thy seed shall be sojourners in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years;

14 and also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance.

15 But thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace; thou shalt be buried in a good old age.

16 And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again; for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.

17 And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch that passed between these pieces.

18 In that day Jehovah made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 the Kenite, and the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,

20 and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,

21 and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

   

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True Christianity # 755

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755. The fact that the "close of the age" means when the church comes to an end can be seen from passages in the Word that contain phrases like this. For example,

I have heard from Jehovah about the end and the cutting down that will fall upon the entire land. (Isaiah 28:22)

The end has been established, and justice has been submerged, because the Lord Jehovih Sabaoth is bringing the end and the cutting down upon the whole land. (Isaiah 10:22-23)

The whole land will be consumed in the fire of Jehovah's passion, because he will quickly bring an end to all those who dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:18)

In these passages the land means the church, because it refers to the land of Canaan, where the church was. (For further confirmation, from a great abundance of scriptural passages, that the land means the church, see Revelation Unveiled 285, 902.)

In the end desolation [will fly in] on a bird of abominations; even to the close and the cutting down, it will drip steadily upon the devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

For evidence that the material just quoted from Daniel is actually about the end of the Christian church, which is happening now, see Matthew 24:15.

There will be devastation in all the land, but I will not bring on the end. (Jeremiah 4:27)

The wickedness of the Amorites has not yet come to a close. (Genesis 15:16)

Jehovah said, "I will go down and see whether they are making an end, as the cry that has come to me indicates. " (Genesis 18:21, on the subject of Sodom)

[2] In the following passages, the Lord himself uses the phrase "the close of the age" to mean the time when the Christian church of today is at an end:

The disciples asked Jesus, "What will a sign of your Coming and of the close of the age be?" (Matthew 24:3)

At the time of harvest, I will say to the harvesters, "First gather the weeds to be burned; then gather the wheat into the barn. So it will be at the close of the age. " (Matthew 13:[30,] 40)

At the close of the age, angels will go forth and separate the evil from among the just. (Matthew 13:49)

Jesus said to his disciples, "Behold, I am with you even until the close of the age. " (Matthew 28:20)

It is important to realize that devastation, desolation, and the cutting down have much the same meaning as the close of the age. Desolation specifically means the end of truth; devastation means the end of goodness; and the cutting down means the complete end of both. The fullness of time, when the Lord came into the world [Galatians 4:4] and when he will come [Ephesians 1:10], has the same meaning as the end in this sense.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

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Apocalypse Revealed # 285

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285. We are told they "will reign upon the earth" because the earth here and elsewhere means the Lord's church in heaven and on earth. The church in both worlds is the Lord's kingdom. Therefore, lest anyone suppose that people who are redeemed by the Lord all become kings and priests who will reign upon the earth, it is important that we demonstrate from the Word that the earth or land symbolizes the church. This can be seen from the following passages:

Behold, the Lord makes the earth empty and makes (the earth) waste, and will overturn its surface... The land shall be entirely emptied... The (habitable) earth will mourn and... be turned upside down... The earth will be profaned under its inhabitants... Therefore a curse shall devour the earth... and... the inhabitants of the earth shall be burned, and few men will be left... ...in the midst of the land... it shall be like the stripping of an olive tree... ...the cataracts on high are opened, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is utterly split open, the earth is shaken exceedingly. The earth reels to and fro like a drunkard... (Isaiah 24:1-23.)

[2] The lion has come up from his thicket... to make your land desolate... I beheld the earth (when) lo, it was empty and void... ...Jehovah has said, "The whole land shall be desolate... For this shall the earth mourn... (Jeremiah 4:7, 23-28)

How long will the land mourn...? The whole land is made desolate, because no one lays it to heart. (Jeremiah 12:4, 11-13)

The earth mourns and languishes, Lebanon is shamed and withered away. (Isaiah 33:9)

Its land shall become burning pitch...(and) it shall lie waste. (Isaiah 34:9-10)

...I have heard from the Lord... a destruction decreed upon the whole earth. (Isaiah 28:22)

Behold, the day of Jehovah comes... to lay the land desolate..., and the earth will be shaken out of its place... (Isaiah 13:9-13)

The earth shook and trembled, and the foundations of the mountains quaked... (Psalms 18:7)

...we will not fear when the earth is transformed... When He uttered His voice, the earth melted. (Psalms 46:2-3, 6, 8)

Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)

O God, You have forsaken us... You have made the earth tremble...; heal its breaches, for it is shaken. (Psalms 60:1-2)

[3] The earth and all its inhabitants will melt away; I will firm up its pillars. (Psalms 75:3)

Woe to a land overshadowed by wings... Go, ...messengers, to... a nation... trodden down, whose land rivers have despoiled. (Isaiah 18:1-2)

By the wrath of Jehovah of Hosts the land is darkened... (Isaiah 9:19)

...you will be a delightful land... (Malachi 3:12)

...I have given You as a covenant of the people to restore the earth... Sing, O heavens! And exult, O earth! (Isaiah 49:8, 13)

I shall not see Yah... in the land of the living. (Isaiah 38:11)

...who caused terror in the land of the living. (Ezekiel 32:23-27)

I would not have believed I would see the goodness... in the land of life. (Psalms 27:13)

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5)

I am Jehovah, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens alone, who spreads out the earth by Myself. (Isaiah 44,24, cf. Zechariah 12:1, Jeremiah 10:11-13; 51:15, Psalm. 136:6)

Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation... ...thus said Jehovah, who created the heavens..., who formed the earth... (Isaiah 45:8, 12, 18-19)

...behold, I create new heavens and a new earth... (Isaiah 65:17, cf. 66:22)

And in many other places as well, which, if I were to cite them, would fill a page.

[4] The earth or land symbolizes the church for the reason that it very often means the land of Canaan, which is where the church was. That is the heavenly Canaan. Moreover, when the earth or land is mentioned, angels, being spiritual, do not think of the earth or land, but of the human race dwelling upon it and its spiritual state; and its spiritual state is the state of the church.

The earth or land also has an opposite meaning, and in that sense it symbolizes damnation, since when the church is not present in a person, damnation is. The earth or land is mentioned in that sense in Isaiah 14:12; 21:9; 26:19, 21; 29:4; 47:1; 63:6, Lamentations 2:2, 10, Ezekiel 26:20; 32:24, Numbers 16:29-33; 26:10, and elsewhere.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.