912. Verse 16. And He that sat upon the cloud cast the sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped, signifies the collection of the good and their separation from the evil, and that thus the church was laid waste. This is evident from the signification of "Him who sat upon the cloud," as being the Lord as to the Word, which is the Divine truth; from which and according to the reception of which judgment is effected; also from the signification of "the earth," as being the church (See above, n. 29, 304, 417, 697, 741, 752, 876); also from the signification of "the earth was reaped," as being that the church was laid waste. For "harvest" signifies the last state of the church, as has been shown above n. 911, therefore "the earth was reaped" signifies that there is no church, or that it has been laid waste, because there is no longer any good or any truth therefrom, which are signified by the grain of the harvest. It is here said that "the earth was reaped" by Him who sat upon the cloud, but the meaning is that this is done by man; as in many other passages where devastation is attributed to the Lord, when yet it is wrought by man; for man from his first idea can see it in no other way, and the Word in the sense of the letter is written according to that idea.

[2] That the separation of the good and the evil was thus effected when the Last Judgment was at hand can be seen from what has been said above on this subject, namely, that when the good were separated from those who were inwardly evil, but had been able to live outwardly a moral life like the Christian life, and had therefore made for themselves seeming heavens in the world of spirits, these, as soon as the bond that held them to the good was broken, came into their own evils which deeply concealed they had inwardly cherished; and thus the church, which was merely maintained in externals, was laid waste with them; for they had been able to live a moral life like the Christian life in externals, solely because of their conjunction with the good and the closing up for the time of their interiors which are of their will. But on this subject see what has been said in the work on The Last Judgment, as well as in several passages above, and what will be said specifically in the appendix to this work; for unless these things were explained in their series they could not fall into the understanding except in an obscure way.

70. There are many reasons why such communities, or such heavens, were tolerated. The chief is that by means of outward holiness and outward honesty and fairness they were linked with the simple good people in the lowest heaven, and with those who were still in the world of spirits and not yet admitted to heaven. In the spiritual world all are in touch with and so linked with similar spirits. The simple good people in the lowest heaven and those in the world of spirits pay attention mainly to externals, yet without being inwardly wicked. If therefore they were torn apart before the appointed time, heaven would suffer at its lowest level; yet the lowest level is the basis on which the higher levels of heaven rest.

[2] The Lord teaches in this passage that this was why they were tolerated until the final period:

The servants of the head of the household came to him and said, Was it not good seed you sowed in your field? Where then do the weeds come from? And they said, Do you want us then to go and gather them? But he said, No, for fear that in gathering the weeds you uproot the wheat together with them. So let them both grow together until the harvest; and at harvest-time I shall say to the reapers, Gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles for burning; but gather the wheat into the barns. He who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world; the good seed is the children of the kingdom, the weeds the children of evil; the harvest is the ending of the age. As therefore the weeds are gathered and burnt with fire, so shall it be at the ending of this age. Matthew 13:27-30, 37-42.

The ending of this age is the final period of the church; the weeds are those who are inwardly wicked; the wheat those who are inwardly good; their gathering and tying in bundles for burning is the Last Judgment. ¹

[3] A similar meaning is conveyed by the Lord's parable in the same chapter about the gathering of fish of every kind, when the good were put into vessels and the bad thrown out; of these too it is said:

So shall it be at the ending of the age; the angels will go out and separate the wicked from among the righteous. Matthew 13:47-49.

They are compared to fish, because in the spiritual sense of the Word fish mean those who are natural and external, good as well as wicked; on the meaning of the righteous see at the end of the chapter. ²

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