4229. 第32章

最后的审判 (续)

我们从第三卷 (系指拉丁文的第3卷) 开始解释主在马太福音 24章关于最后审判的预言. 这些解释被放在了那一卷最后几章的开头部分, 目前已解释到31节 (参看3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3897-3901, 4056-4060节).

概括地说, 主的这些预言的内义从所给出的解释很清楚看出来, 即祂预言了教会的逐渐毁灭和最终一个新教会的建立, 其次序如下:

⑴教会成员不再知道何为良善与真理, 反而开始彼此争论它们.

⑵他们蔑视它们.

⑶他们从心里不承认它们.

⑷他们亵渎它们.

⑸由于信之真理和爱之良善仍存留在某些被称为 “选民” 的人当中, 故经上描述了那时信之真理所具有的状态.

⑹然后描述了仁的状态.

⑺最后论述了一个新教会的开始, 由最后所解释的那些话来表示, 即:

祂要差遣祂的使者, 用号筒的大声, 将祂的选民从四风, 从天这边到天那边, 都招聚了来. (马太福音 24:31)

这些话表示一个新教会的开始 (参看4060末尾节).

6947. 'What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod' means the power of the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'hand' as power, dealt with in 878, 3387, 4931-4937, 5327, 5328, 5544; and from the meaning of 'a rod' too as power, dealt with in 4013, 4876, 4936. The reason why it is the power of the Lord's Divine Human is that 'Moses' represents the Lord in respect of the law of God, which is the Word, and this is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord's Divine Human, 6752. The power meant by 'hand' is the power emanating from the Lord's Divine Rational, whereas the power meant by 'the rod' is the power emanating from the Lord's Divine Natural. The reason why 'a rod' is the power emanating from the Lord's Divine Natural is that a rod is like a foot in that it supports the body, and by 'the foot' is meant the natural, 2161, 3147, 3761, 3986, 4280, 4938-4952; and 'lifting up the hand' is power in the spiritual, while 'lifting up the foot' is power in the natural, see 5727, 5328. And since 'hand' and 'rod' have these meanings, then depending on how high the things described in the internal sense rise Moses was sometimes told, when he was to work miracles, to lift up his hand, at other times his rod.