35. Verses 7, 8. Behold He cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall lament over Him. Even so: Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. 7 "Behold He cometh with the clouds," signifies that the Lord is about to reveal Himself in the Word through the internal sense n. 36; "and every eye shall see Him," signifies that all will acknowledge Him who are in truths from good (n. 37); "and they who pierced Him," signifies that they also will see Him who are in falsities from evil (n. 38); "and all the tribes of the earth shall lament over Him," signifies that the falsities of the church will oppose n. 39; "even so: Amen," signifies Divine confirmation, that so it will be (n. 40).

8. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End," signifies that He governs all things from firsts through ultimates, and thus all things of heaven to eternity (n. 41); "saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come," signifies from Him who is the All in all things of heaven and of the church from eternity to eternity, and Jehovah (n. 42); "the Almighty," signifies from Himself (n. 43).

4056. The preliminary sections of Genesis 26-30 in Volume Three explained what the Lord has said and foretold in Matthew 24 about the Close of the Age, or the Last Judgement. Those sections covered verse 3 through to verse 28, and now the statements next in line come up for explanation. The preliminary section of this chapter deals with what is stated in verses 29-31 in the following words,

But immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory; and He will send out His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other end of them.