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Daniel 12

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1 And at that time Michael will take up his place, the great angel, who is the supporter of the children of your people: and there will be a time of trouble, such as there never was from the time there was a nation even till that same time: and at that time your people will be kept safe, everyone who is recorded in the book.

2 And a number of those who are sleeping in the dust of the earth will come out of their sleep, some to eternal life and some to eternal shame.

3 And those who are wise will be shining like the light of the outstretched sky; and those by whom numbers have been turned to righteousness will be like the stars for ever and ever.

4 But as for you, O Daniel, let the words be kept secret and the book rolled up and kept shut till the time of the end: numbers will be going out of the way and troubles will be increased.

5 Then I, Daniel, looking, saw two others, one at the edge of the river on this side and one at the edge of the river on that side.

6 And I said to the man clothed in linen, who was over the waters of the river, How long will it be to the end of these wonders?

7 Then in my hearing the man clothed in linen, who was over the river, lifting up his right hand and his left hand to heaven, took an oath by him who is living for ever that it would be a time, times, and a half; and when the power of the crusher of the holy people comes to an end, all these things will be ended.

8 And the words came to my ears, but the sense of them was not clear to me: then I said, O my lord, what is the sense of these things?

9 And he said, Go on your way, Daniel: for the words are secret and shut up till the time of the end;

10 Till a number are tested and make themselves clean; and the evil-doers will do evil; for not one of the evil-doers will have knowledge; but all will be made clear to those who are wise.

11 And from the time when the regular burned offering is taken away, and an unclean thing causing fear is put up, there will be a thousand, two hundred and ninety days.

12 A blessing will be on the man who goes on waiting, and comes to the thousand, three hundred and thirty-five days.

13 But you, go on your way and take your rest: for you will be in your place at the end of the days.

   

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Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture # 61

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61. I have been granted to see many people after death who believed they would shine like stars in the sky, because, as they said, they had held the Word holy, read it often, took much from it, used it to affirm the dogmas of their faith, and because of that were celebrated in the world as learned. They believed that on that account they would be Michaels and Raphaels.

[2] But many of them were examined to discover what love prompted them to study the Word, and some were found to have done so out of a love of self, in order to appear great in the world and be worshiped as leaders of the church, and some out of a love of the world, in order to gain riches. When they were examined to discover what they knew from the Word, they were found to know nothing of any genuine truth from it, but only the kind of truth that we call truth falsified, which in itself is false. Moreover, they were told that this was the case with them because they had themselves and the world as their goals — in other words, what they loved — and not the Lord or heaven. And when self and the world are the goals, then when people read the Word, their minds remain fixed on themselves and the world, and as a consequence they think continually in terms of their own self-interest, which is in darkness as regards anything having to do with heaven. A person in this state cannot be withdrawn by the Lord from his self-interest and so be raised into the light of heaven, and so neither can he receive any influx from the Lord through heaven.

[3] I have also seen people like this admitted into heaven; but when they were found there to be without truths, they were cast down. Yet even so the conceit remained in them that they were deserving of heaven.

A different experience befell people who had studied the Word out of an affection to know the truth because it was true, and because it fostered useful life endeavors, not only their own, but also the neighbor’s. I have seen them raised into heaven and so into the light that surrounds Divine truth there, and they were raised at the same time into angelic wisdom, and into its felicity, which is eternal life.

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