Apocalypse Explained # 649
649. Verse 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, signifies in the end of the church, when the Divine of the Lord is no longer acknowledged, and thence there is no longer any good of love or truth of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "testimony," as being the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, and thence of the good of love and truth of doctrine (of which presently), and from the signification of "to finish it," as being to bring to an end; and as this comes to an end at the end of the church; "to finish" here signifies the end of the church; and as there is then no longer any acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, there is therefore no good of love or truth of doctrine.
[2] That this is the signification of "testimony," can be seen from what has been thus far said about "the two witnesses," namely, that by them the good of love and charity and the truth of doctrine and faith are meant, because these are what especially testify concerning the Lord, for they are from the Lord, and are His with man; therefore "their testimony" signifies preaching concerning these. That "testimony" here signifies the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord is evident from what follows in Revelation:
That the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).
For unless a man acknowledges this from the heart, and believes it from spiritual faith, he can have no ability to receive the good of love or the truth of doctrine.
[3] At the end of the church indeed the Lord is preached, and from doctrine a Divine is also attributed to Him like the Divine of the Father; yet scarcely anyone thinks of His Divine, for the reason that they place it above or outside of His Human; therefore they do not look to the Lord when they look to His Divine, but to the Father as to another, and yet the Divine that is called the Father is in the Lord, as He Himself teaches in John 10:30, 38; 14:7. For this reason men think of the Lord in the same way as they think of a common man, and from that thought their faith flows, however much they may say with the lips that they believe in His Divine. Let anyone explore, if he can, the idea of his thought about the Lord, whether it be not such. But when it is such man cannot be conjoined to the Lord by faith and love, nor through conjunction receive any good of love or truth of faith. This, then, is why there is at the end of the church no acknowledgment of the Lord, that is, of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord. It is believed that there is an acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, because such is the doctrine of the church; but so long as His Divine is separated from His Human, His Divine is yet not acknowledged interiorly but only exteriorly, and to acknowledge exteriorly is to acknowledge with the mouth only and not with the heart, or in speech only and not in faith.
[4] That this is so can be seen from Christians in the other life, where the thoughts of the heart are manifested. When they are permitted to speak from doctrine and from what they have heard from preaching they attribute a Divine to the Lord, and call it their belief; but when their interior thought and faith are explored they have no other idea of the Lord than as of a common man who has no Divine. It is man's interior thought that is the source of his faith; and as such is the thought and consequent faith of man's spirit, there is plainly no acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord in the Christian world at the end of the church. In other words, there is an external acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, but no internal, and an external acknowledgment is of the natural man alone, while internal acknowledgment is of his very spirit; and after death the external acknowledgment is put to sleep, while the internal is the acknowledgment of his spirit. From this it can in some measure be seen how what follows is to be understood, namely, "the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall overcome and kill the two witnesses," and their "bodies shall be seen upon the street of the city that is called Sodom and Egypt," and afterwards that "the spirit of life entered into them."
Leviticus 11
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Yahweh spoke to Moses and to Aaron, saying to them,
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"Speak to the children of Israel, saying, 'These are the living things which you may eat among all the animals that are on the earth.
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Whatever parts the hoof, and is cloven-footed, and chews the cud among the animals, that you may eat.
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"'Nevertheless these you shall not eat of those that chew the cud, or of those who part the hoof: the camel, because he chews the cud but doesn't have a parted hoof, he is unclean to you.
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The coney, because he chews the cud but doesn't have a parted hoof, he is unclean to you.
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The hare, because she chews the cud but doesn't part the hoof, she is unclean to you.
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The pig, because he has a split hoof, and is cloven-footed, but doesn't chew the cud, he is unclean to you.
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Of their flesh you shall not eat, and their carcasses you shall not touch; they are unclean to you.
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"'These you may eat of all that are in the waters: whatever has fins and scales in the waters, in the seas, and in the rivers, that you may eat.
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All that don't have fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of all the living creatures that are in the waters, they are an abomination to you,
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and you detest them. You shall not eat of their flesh, and you shall detest their carcasses.
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Whatever has no fins nor scales in the waters, that is an abomination to you.
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"'These you shall detest among the birds; they shall not be eaten, they are an abomination: the eagle, and the vulture, and the black vulture,
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and the red kite, any kind of black kite,
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the horned owl, the screech owl, and the gull, any kind of hawk,
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the little owl, the cormorant, the great owl,
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the white owl, the desert owl, the osprey,
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the stork, any kind of heron, the hoopoe, and the bat.
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"'All flying insects that walk on all fours are an abomination to you.
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Yet you may eat these: of all winged creeping things that go on all fours, which have legs above their feet, with which to hop on the earth.
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Even of these you may eat: any kind of locust, any kind of katydid, any kind of cricket, and any kind of grasshopper.
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But all winged creeping things which have four feet, are an abomination to you.
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"'By these you will become unclean: whoever touches the carcass of them shall be unclean until the evening.
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Whoever carries any part of their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
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"'Every animal which parts the hoof, and is not cloven-footed, nor chews the cud, is unclean to you. Everyone who touches them shall be unclean.
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Whatever goes on its paws, among all animals that go on all fours, they are unclean to you. Whoever touches their carcass shall be unclean until the evening.
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He who carries their carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. They are unclean to you.
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"'These are they which are unclean to you among the creeping things that creep on the earth: the weasel, the rat, any kind of great lizard,
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the gecko, and the monitor lizard, the wall lizard, the skink, and the chameleon.
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These are they which are unclean to you among all that creep. Whoever touches them when they are dead, shall be unclean until the evening.
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On whatever any of them falls when they are dead, it shall be unclean; whether it is any vessel of wood, or clothing, or skin, or sack, whatever vessel it is, with which any work is done, it must be put into water, and it shall be unclean until the evening; then it will be clean.
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Every earthen vessel, into which any of them falls, all that is in it shall be unclean, and you shall break it.
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All food which may be eaten, that on which water comes, shall be unclean; and all drink that may be drunk in every such vessel shall be unclean.
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Everything whereupon part of their carcass falls shall be unclean; whether oven, or range for pots, it shall be broken in pieces: they are unclean, and shall be unclean to you.
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Nevertheless a spring or a cistern in which water is a gathered shall be clean: but that which touches their carcass shall be unclean.
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If part of their carcass falls on any sowing seed which is to be sown, it is clean.
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But if water is put on the seed, and part of their carcass falls on it, it is unclean to you.
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"'If any animal, of which you may eat, dies; he who touches its carcass shall be unclean until the evening.
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He who eats of its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening. He also who carries its carcass shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the evening.
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"'Every creeping thing that creeps on the earth is an abomination. It shall not be eaten.
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Whatever goes on its belly, and whatever goes on all fours, or whatever has many feet, even all creeping things that creep on the earth, them you shall not eat; for they are an abomination.
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You shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creeps, neither shall you make yourselves unclean with them, that you should be defiled thereby.
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For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy: neither shall you defile yourselves with any kind of creeping thing that moves on the earth.
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For I am Yahweh who brought you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.
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"'This is the law of the animal, and of the bird, and of every living creature that moves in the waters, and of every creature that creeps on the earth,
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to make a distinction between the unclean and the clean, and between the living thing that may be eaten and the living thing that may not be eaten.'"
