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Genesis 15

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1 After these things the word of Yahweh came to Abram in a vision, saying, "Don't be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward."

2 Abram said, "Lord Yahweh, what will you give me, since I go childless, and he who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?"

3 Abram said, "Behold, to me you have given no seed: and, behold, one born in my house is my heir."

4 Behold, the word of Yahweh came to him, saying, "This man will not be your heir, but he who will come forth out of your own body will be your heir."

5 Yahweh brought him outside, and said, "Look now toward the sky, and count the stars, if you are able to count them." He said to Abram, "So shall your seed be."

6 He believed in Yahweh; and he reckoned it to him for righteousness.

7 He said to him, "I am Yahweh who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land to inherit it."

8 He said, "Lord Yahweh, how will I know that I will inherit it?"

9 He said to him, "Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon."

10 He brought him all of these, and divided them in the middle, and laid each half opposite the other; but he didn't divide the birds.

11 The birds of prey came down on the carcasses, and Abram drove them away.

12 When the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell on Abram. Now terror and great darkness fell on him.

13 He said to Abram, "Know for sure that your seed will live as foreigners in a land that is not theirs, and will serve them. They will afflict them four hundred years.

14 I will also judge that nation, whom they will serve. Afterward they will come out with great wealth,

15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried in a good old age.

16 In the fourth generation they will come here again, for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full."

17 It came to pass that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold, a smoking furnace, and a flaming torch passed between these pieces.

18 In that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your seed I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites,

20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim,

21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites, and the Jebusites."

   

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True Christianity # 755

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755. The fact that the "close of the age" means when the church comes to an end can be seen from passages in the Word that contain phrases like this. For example,

I have heard from Jehovah about the end and the cutting down that will fall upon the entire land. (Isaiah 28:22)

The end has been established, and justice has been submerged, because the Lord Jehovih Sabaoth is bringing the end and the cutting down upon the whole land. (Isaiah 10:22-23)

The whole land will be consumed in the fire of Jehovah's passion, because he will quickly bring an end to all those who dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:18)

In these passages the land means the church, because it refers to the land of Canaan, where the church was. (For further confirmation, from a great abundance of scriptural passages, that the land means the church, see Revelation Unveiled 285, 902.)

In the end desolation [will fly in] on a bird of abominations; even to the close and the cutting down, it will drip steadily upon the devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

For evidence that the material just quoted from Daniel is actually about the end of the Christian church, which is happening now, see Matthew 24:15.

There will be devastation in all the land, but I will not bring on the end. (Jeremiah 4:27)

The wickedness of the Amorites has not yet come to a close. (Genesis 15:16)

Jehovah said, "I will go down and see whether they are making an end, as the cry that has come to me indicates. " (Genesis 18:21, on the subject of Sodom)

[2] In the following passages, the Lord himself uses the phrase "the close of the age" to mean the time when the Christian church of today is at an end:

The disciples asked Jesus, "What will a sign of your Coming and of the close of the age be?" (Matthew 24:3)

At the time of harvest, I will say to the harvesters, "First gather the weeds to be burned; then gather the wheat into the barn. So it will be at the close of the age. " (Matthew 13:[30,] 40)

At the close of the age, angels will go forth and separate the evil from among the just. (Matthew 13:49)

Jesus said to his disciples, "Behold, I am with you even until the close of the age. " (Matthew 28:20)

It is important to realize that devastation, desolation, and the cutting down have much the same meaning as the close of the age. Desolation specifically means the end of truth; devastation means the end of goodness; and the cutting down means the complete end of both. The fullness of time, when the Lord came into the world [Galatians 4:4] and when he will come [Ephesians 1:10], has the same meaning as the end in this sense.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.