757. II. THE PRESENT DAY IS THE LAST PHASE OF THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH, WHICH THE LORD FORETOLD AND DESCRIBED IN THE GOSPELS AND IN THE REVELATION.
It was shown in the preceding article that the consummation of the age signifies the last phase of the Church; from which it is evident what is meant by the consummation of the age spoken of by the Lord in the Gospels,
for it is written,
"As Jesus sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto Him privately, saying... What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the age (A.V., the end of the world)?" Matthew 24:3.
Then the Lord proceeded to foretell and describe what the nature of the consummation would be in its successive stages even to His coming. He said that He would come in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, and would gather together His elect, with many other particulars, verses 30-31, which did not at all come to pass at the destruction of Jerusalem. In this passage the Lord described these things in prophetic language, every word of which has a wealth of meaning. What is involved in each of them is explained in the Arcana Caelestia 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424.
