35. Verses 7, 8. Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they who pierced him; and all the tribes of the earth shall wail over him. Even so, Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. "Behold, he cometh with clouds," signifies, that the Lord is about to reveal himself in the Word by means of the internal sense; "And every eye shall see him," signifies, that all who are in truths from good will acknowledge Him; "And they who pierced him," signifies, that they also will see Him who are in falsities from evil; "And all the tribes of the earth shall wail over him," signifies, that the falsities of the church will be in opposition; "Even so, Amen," signifies, Divine confirmation, that it will so come to pass.

"I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end," signifies, that He rules all things from primaries by means of ultimates, and therefore all things of heaven to eternity; "Saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come," signifies, from Him who is the All in all of heaven and of the church, from eternity to eternity, and Jehovah; "the Almighty," signifies, from Himself.

8781. 'Behold, I am coming to you in the thickness of a cloud' means that it will be made in a form utterly natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'coming to you' - when said by Jehovah to Moses, who represents the truth from God which the spiritual Church possesses, 8760 - as revelation; and from the meaning of 'the thickness of a cloud' as in a form utterly natural, like that in which the Old Testament Word exists in the letter. For the meaning of 'a cloud' as the Word in the letter, see preface to Genesis 18, and 4060, 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, 8443. 'Thickness' means dimness, such as that of a person's thought when it is lit solely by the inferior light of the senses, that is, by wholly natural light. It was in dimness such as this that the descendants of Jacob at that time thought about the Divine, and also that the Jews at the present day think about Him; for the Divine cannot be seen by anyone except in ways that are in keeping with his state of life and consequent discernment. So it is that heavenly light cannot be seen by those ruled by self-love and love of the world, which that nation more than others was ruled by, except as 'the thickness of a cloud'. The letter of the Word, especially the prophetical part, is nothing else in contrast to its internal sense. In its internal sense light exists such as may be compared to the light of the sun on top of clouds, the light which in the Word is called 'the glory'. This also explains why the Word says that Jehovah is carried on top of the clouds, rides above the clouds, flies above them, has His triclinium ¹ above them, that the Lord is going to come in the clouds of heaven, and many more statements like these, which would never have been made to describe Jehovah, that is, the Lord, unless they had meant the bright light of truth in which He is present in heaven, and 'clouds' had meant a shadowy light of truth in which those below heaven see.

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