1332. 'A hundred years' means the state of this Church in general. This is clear from what has been stated and shown already in 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648, 755, 813, 893, about numbers and years in general meaning periods of time and states. But which states and what kinds are meant by the number 'a hundred years', and also by the numbers of years mentioned in later verses of this chapter, would take too long to explain here. And what is more, it is a complicated subject.

647. It is bound to seem strange and very far-fetched to everybody that these details have this meaning, that is to say, that the numbers three hundred, fifty, and thirty mean remnants, and in particular that they were few; also that 'length, breadth, and height' means holiness, truth, and good. But in addition to what has been stated and shown above about numbers at verse 3 of this chapter, where a hundred and twenty means the remnants of faith, this matter may also become clear to anybody from the fact that people who possess the internal sense, as good spirits and angels do, are beyond anything earthly, bodily, or purely worldly, and so beyond anything involving numbers and measurements. Yet the Lord enables them to perceive the Word fully, and to do so quite independently from such concepts. This being so, it becomes quite clear that numbers and measurements embody celestial and spiritual things. The latter however are so remote from the sense of the letter that such things cannot possibly be seen. This applies to every single celestial or spiritual thing. From this also anyone may recognize how insane it is to desire to inquire into matters of faith through sensory evidence and factual knowledge and to refuse to believe unless one grasps them by that method.