Here are some excerpts from Swedenborg's "Arcana Coelestia" that help explain the inner meaning of this chapter:

AC 4811. The subject treated of in this chapter, in the internal Sense, is the Jewish Church and the genuine church; the Jewish Church is described by Judah, and the genuine church by Tamar.

AC 4812. The sons by Tamar signify the two essentials of the church, namely, faith and love--Perez faith, and Zerah love. Their birth represents that love is actually the firstborn of the church, and faith only apparently so.

4810. From this one may see what these words spoken by the Lord imply and that they must not be understood literally. That is to say, they must not be taken to mean that the Lord is going at some last phase to come in glory and all the holy angels with Him, that He is going to sit on a throne of glory, and that He is going to judge all nations gathered together before Him. Rather, the meaning is that each person will be judged according to what his life is, when he passes over from life in the world to eternal life.