646. 14:16 So He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped. This symbolizes the end of the church, because it no longer had any Divine truth in it.

This is the symbolic meaning, because He who sat on the cloud symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word (no. 642). To thrust in the sickle and reap means, symbolically, to put an end to something and execute judgment (no. 643). The harvest symbolizes the state of the church, here its last state (nos. 643, 645). And the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285).

When these symbolic meanings are combined into one, it is apparent from them that "He who sat on the cloud thrust in His sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped" symbolizes the end of the church, because it no longer had any Divine truth in it.

'The plagues of Egypt' signify the falsities and lust which cause the church to perish.

In Revelation 16, 'the plagues were poured out upon men by angels from heaven' when they were truths and goods sent down by the Lord which were turned into evils and falsities by the people who were below. 'Plagues' signify evils of love, and falsities of faith.

(Riferimenti: Apocalypse Revealed 656)