912. (Verse 16) And he that sat on the cloud thrust in the sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped. That this signifies the collection of the good and their separation from the evil, and that the church was by this means devastated, is evident from the signification of Him who sat on the cloud, as denoting the Lord as to the Word, which is Divine truth; from which, and according to the reception of which, judgment is effected. And from the signification of the earth, as denoting the church (concerning which see above, n. 29, 304, 417, 697, 741, 752, 876). And from the signification of the earth being reaped, as denoting that the church was devastated. For by harvest is signified the last state of the church, as was shown above (n. 911). Therefore by the earth being reaped is signified that the church is no more, or that it was devastated, because there were no longer any good and the truth therefrom, these being signified by the corn of the harvest. It is here said, that the earth was reaped by Him who sat on the cloud, but it is by man; as in many other passages, where devastation is attributed to the Lord, although it proceeds from man. For man, according to his first idea, according to which the Word exists in the sense of the letter, sees no otherwise.

That the separation of the good and the evil, when the Last Judgment was at hand, was thus accomplished, is evident from what has been said above upon this subject, namely, that when the good were separated from those who were inwardly evil, but could outwardly live a moral life like the Christian [life], and had therefore made to themselves heavens, as it were, in the world of spirits; then, the bond being broken with the good, they came into their own evils, which they had inwardly cherished. This is why the church, which appeared to be such only in externals, was devastated with them. For their being able to live a moral life, in externals, like the Christian, was solely from their conjunction with the good, and from the closing of the interiors which are of the will meanwhile.

But upon this subject see what is said in the small work concerning the Last Judgment; also in several passages above, and also in the Appendix to that work, in which it will be further treated of. For unless these things were expounded in their series, they could be understood only obscurely.