Apocalypse Revealed # 704
704. That perform signs to go away to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. This symbolizes assertions that their falsities are true, and efforts to stir up all those throughout the church who are caught up in the same falsities to attack the truths of the New Church.
To perform signs is to testify and also to assert that something is true, as may be seen in nos. 598, 599 above, here that their falsities are true. Kings of the earth and of the whole world symbolize people who are caught up primarily in falsities springing from evil, here all who are caught up in the same falsities throughout the church. For kings symbolize people impelled by truths that spring from goodness, and in an opposite sense people impelled by falsities springing from evil (no. 483). The earth symbolizes the church (no. 285), and so likewise does the world (no. 551). To go away to gather them to battle means, symbolically, to stir those people to fight or attack; for war symbolizes a spiritual war, which is one of falsity against truth and of truth against falsity (nos. 500, 586). It is to attack the truths of the New Church because it is called the battle of that great day of God Almighty, and that day symbolizes the Lord's advent and a new church then. That this is the symbolic meaning of the great day there will be seen below.
We are told that the spirits of demons would do this, because the spirits of demons symbolize lusts to falsify truths and to reason on the basis of falsities, as just said in no. 703 above.
It is apparent from this that spirits of demons performing signs to go away to the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty, symbolize assertions by the people meant by the dragon, the beast and the false prophet, as described in nos. 701, 702 above, that their falsities are true, and efforts to stir up all those throughout the church who are caught up in the same falsities to attack the truths of the New Church.
[2] That the great day of God Almighty symbolizes the Lord's advent and a new church then, is clear from many passages in the Word, as from the following:
Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day. (Isaiah 2:11)
...in that day... Israel... will depend on Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. (Isaiah 10:20)
In that day a Root of Jesse... shall the Gentiles seek, and His resting place shall be glorious. (Isaiah 11:10-11)
In that day... eyes will look to the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 17:7, 9)
They will say in that day: "Behold, this is our God; we have waited for Him, to set us free." (Isaiah 25:9)
...My people shall know My name...(and) in that day, I am He who speaks: "Behold, it is I." (Isaiah 52:6)
Alas! ...great is (the day of Jehovah, and) there is none like it. (Jeremiah 30:7)
Behold, the days are coming... when I will make a new covenant... and the city shall be built for Jehovah... (Jeremiah 31:27, 31, 38)
In those days... I will cause to grow up to David a righteous Branch... (Jeremiah 33:15)
(They will not) stand in battle on the day of Jehovah. (Ezekiel 13:5)
In that day Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the children of your people... In that day... shall be delivered everyone who is found written in the book. (Daniel 12:1)
...in that day... you will call Me "My Husband."... In that day I will make a covenant for them... ...in that day I will hear... (Hosea 2:16, 18, 21).
Behold, I am sending you Elijah... before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Malachi 4:5)
Jehovah... will save them in that day, as the flock of His people. (Zechariah 9:16)
In that day Jehovah will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (Zechariah 12:8)
Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming... It shall be one day which is known to Jehovah... In that day Jehovah shall be one and His name one... In that day there shall be a great tumult... In that day "Holiness to the Lord" shall be engraved on the bells of the horses. (Zechariah 14:1, 4, 6-9, 13, 20-21)
There are many other passages in addition to these in which "the day of Jehovah" means the Lord's advent and a new church from Him then, as in the following: Isaiah 4:2; 19:16, 18, 21, 24; 22:20; 28:5; 29:18; 30:25-26; 31:7; and elsewhere.
Since the end of an age or final period of a former church is the time when the Lord's advent takes place and a new church begins, therefore the day of Jehovah in many places symbolizes the end of a previous church, and we are told that then there will be rumors, tumult, and wars. 1 See the passages collected in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 4, 5.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. E.g., Matthew 24:6
Isaiah 22
1
The burden of the valley of vision. What ails you now, that you have all gone up to the housetops?
2
You that are full of shouting, a tumultuous city, a joyous town; your slain are not slain with the sword, neither are they dead in battle.
3
All your rulers fled away together. They were bound by the archers. All who were found by you were bound together. They fled far away.
4
Therefore I said, "Look away from me. I will weep bitterly. Don't labor to comfort me for the destruction of the daughter of my people.
5
For it is a day of confusion, and of treading down, and of perplexity, from the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, in the valley of vision; a breaking down of the walls, and a crying to the mountains."
6
Elam carried his quiver, with chariots of men and horsemen; and Kir uncovered the shield.
7
It happened that your choicest valleys were full of chariots, and the horsemen set themselves in array at the gate.
8
He took away the covering of Judah; and you looked in that day to the armor in the house of the forest.
9
You saw the breaches of the city of David, that they were many; and you gathered together the waters of the lower pool.
10
You numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and you broke down the houses to fortify the wall.
11
You also made a reservoir between the two walls for the water of the old pool. But you didn't look to him who had done this, neither did you have respect for him who purposed it long ago.
12
In that day, the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, called to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to dressing in sackcloth:
13
and behold, joy and gladness, killing cattle and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we will die."
14
Yahweh of Armies revealed himself in my ears, "Surely this iniquity will not be forgiven you until you die," says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies.
15
Thus says the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, "Go, get yourself to this treasurer, even to Shebna, who is over the house, and say,
16
'What are you doing here? Who has you here, that you have dug out a tomb here?' Cutting himself out a tomb on high, chiseling a habitation for himself in the rock!"
17
Behold, Yahweh will overcome you and hurl you away violently. Yes, he will grasp you firmly.
18
He will surely wind you around and around, and throw you like a ball into a large country. There you will die, and there the chariots of your glory will be, you shame of your lord's house.
19
I will thrust you from your office. You will be pulled down from your station.
20
It will happen in that day that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah,
21
and I will clothe him with your robe, and strengthen him with your belt. I will commit your government into his hand; and he will be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
22
I will lay the key of the house of David on his shoulder. He will open, and no one will shut. He will shut, and no one will open.
23
I will fasten him like a nail in a sure place. He will be for a throne of glory to his father's house.
24
They will hang on him all the glory of his father's house, the offspring and the issue, every small vessel, from the cups even to all the pitchers.
25
"In that day," says Yahweh of Armies, "the nail that was fastened in a sure place will give way. It will be cut down, and fall. The burden that was on it will be cut off, for Yahweh has spoken it."
