658. For in them the wrath of God is complete. This symbolizes the destruction of the church and its end then.

Its being complete symbolizes the destruction of the church and its end then, as explained below. The wrath of God symbolizes the evil in people, which, because it is in opposition to God, is called the wrath of God. Not that God is angry at people, but that people's evil causes them to be angry at God. Moreover, because, when a person is punished or tormented on account of his evil - as happens in hell after death - it seems to him that it is God's doing, therefore in the Word we find anger and wrath, even evil, attributed to God. But that is the case only in the literal sense, because that sense has been written in terms of appearances and correspondences; but not so in the spiritual sense, for that sense contains no appearance or correspondent imagery, but truth in its own light. For more on the wrath of God, see nos. 525, 635 above.

This verse says that in the seven last plagues the wrath of God is complete, and we say that this symbolizes the destruction of the church and its end then. We need to explain why. The reason is that every church declines in the process of time as it turns away from the goodness of love and from truths of faith, until nothing is left of them, which is occasioned by gradually increasing evil and falsity. And then, when there is no longer any goodness of love and faith, there remains only evil and falsity, and when this is the case, the church is at an end. In this final state a person knows no better than to think that evil is good and that falsity is truth; for the delight he finds in them causes him to love evil and falsity and therefore to defend them.

This is the final state symbolized by an end, consummation or completion called a destruction in the following passages:

...I have heard from... Jehovah... a consummation and destruction upon the whole earth. (Isaiah 28:22)

A consummation is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord, Jehovih of hosts, is making an end and destruction throughout the land. (Isaiah 10:22-23)

The whole land shall be devoured by the fire of (Jehovah's) zeal, for He will make speedy end of all those who dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:18)

(At length) on the bird of abominations shall be desolation, even until the consummation and destruction shall it drop upon the devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

The whole land shall be a wasteland, yet I will not make an end. (Jeremiah 4:27)

(Jehovah said,) "I will go down... and see whether they have come to an end according to the outcry... that has come to Me." (Genesis 18:21)

The last said in regard to Sodom.

...the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. (Genesis 15:16)

The church's end is also meant by the end of the age spoken of by the Lord in the following passages:

(The disciples asked Jesus,) "What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3)

...at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares... to burn them. Gather the wheat into my barn. ...so it will be at the end of the age. (Matthew 13:30, 40)

...at the end of the age... the angels will come forth and separate the wicked from among the just... (Matthew 13:49)

(Jesus said to His disciples,) "Lo, I am with you... even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

Even to the end of the age means to the end of the church, when there will be a new church with which the Lord will then be present.

525. "And Your wrath has come, and the time to judge the dead." This symbolizes the destruction of and the last judgment on those people who were without any spiritual life.

Your wrath symbolizes a last judgment (no. 340), thus their destruction. This is the symbolic meaning of the Lord's wrath because it appears to people as though the Lord casts people into hell out of anger, when in fact an evil person casts himself into hell. Indeed, the case is similar to that of an evildoer who blames his punishment on the law, or on the fire that burns him if he sticks his hand into it, or on the sword held out in the hand of someone protecting himself if he is pierced through when he rushes upon the blade. Such is the case with everyone who sets himself against the Lord and out of anger rushes upon those whom the Lord protects.

The dead who were to be judged mean, in a universal sense, people who have died and departed from the world, but in a strict sense, they mean people who are without any spiritual life. It is the latter who are spoken of in terms of judgment (John 3:18; 5:24, 29). That is because people who possess spiritual life are called the living. Spiritual life is present only in people who turn to the Lord and at the same time refrain from evils as sins.

[2] People who are without any spiritual life are those meant in the following passages:

They joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead. (Psalms 106:28)

...the enemy persecutes my soul...; he has made me dwell in darkness, like the world's dead. (Psalms 143:3)

To hear the groaning of the prisoner, (and) to release those appointed to die... (Psalms 102:20)

I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, when you are dead. Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die... (Revelation 3:1-2)

These are the people meant by the dead because their death means spiritual death. Consequently, the slain also mean people who have died that same death (nos. 321, 325, and elsewhere).

Those who have died and departed from the world are meant by the dead in the following places:

The dead were judged according to... the things which were written in the books. (Revelation 20:12)

The rest of the dead did not live again... (Revelation 20:5)

That is because the first death there means the natural death that is a passing on from the world, while the second death means spiritual death, which is damnation.