27. CHAPTER IV. THE PROGRESSION OF A CHURCH TOWARDS ITS END, AND THE END ITSELF, ARE DESCRIBED IN VERY MANY PLACES IN THE WORD

1. A successive decreasing of good and truth and increasing of evil and falsity in a Church is termed in the Word its "being laid waste" and "becoming desolate".

2. Its final state, when there is nothing of good or truth remaining, is there termed "consummation" and "being cut off".

3. The end itself of a Church is the "fullness [of time]".

4. The same things also are meant in the Word by "evening" and "night".

5. And also by these things in the Prophets and in the Gospels: then shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. ¹

6. Then the Church exists no longer except in name; nevertheless, there is this "remnant" in it, that a man, if he wishes, can know and understand truths, and can do goods. ²

Poznámky pod čarou:

'The former heavens, which passed away,' as mentioned in Revelation 21:1, signify the societies of people in the spiritual world who were only in external or apparent good. (Apocalypse Explained 675) Heavens are celestial and spiritual things. Consequently, they are inmost things, both of the Lord's kingdom in heaven and in the earth. This also refers to the church, and every individual, who is a kingdom of the Lord, or a 'church.' Consequently, heavens denote all things pertaining to love and charity, and faith grounded in them, as well as all things pertaining to internal worship. In like manner they denote all things pertaining to the internal sense of the Word. All these things are heavens, and are called, 'the throne of the Lord.' (Arcana Coelestia 2162)

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Explained 21)