Psalms 115
1
Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.
2
Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God?
3
But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.
4
Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands.
5
They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not:
6
They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not:
7
They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat.
8
They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.
9
O Israel, trust thou in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
10
O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
11
Ye that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: he is their help and their shield.
12
The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us; he will bless the house of Israel; he will bless the house of Aaron.
13
He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.
14
The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your children.
15
Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth.
16
The heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD's: but the earth hath he given to the children of men.
17
The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence.
18
But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and for evermore. Praise the LORD.
Arcana Coelestia #482
482. Until now nobody has known what the years and the numbers of years occurring in this chapter mean in the internal sense. People who stay within the sense of the letter imagine that they are no more than chronological years. But none of the content from here down to Chapter 12 is history as it seems to be in the sense of the letter, for every single detail contains something of a different nature. What applies to names applies to numbers as well. In the Word the number three occurs frequently, and so does the number seven; and in every instance they mean something holy or inviolable as regards those states which the periods of time or whatever else that is mentioned embody or represent. This applies as much to the shortest as to the longest time-intervals; for just as parts makeup the whole, so do the shortest make up the longest. For a similarity must exist in order that a whole may emerge satisfactorily out of the parts, or that which is largest out of that which is smallest.
[2] As in Isaiah,
Jehovah has now spoken, saying, In three years, according to the years of a hireling, the glory of Moab will be rendered worthless. Isaiah 16:14.
In the same prophet,
The Lord said to me, Within yet a year, according to the years of a hireling, and all the glory of Kedar will be brought to an end. Isaiah 21:6.
Here both the shortest as well as the longest time-intervals are meant. In Habakkuk,
O Jehovah, I have heard Your fame; I was afraid. O Jehovah, revive Your work in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years do You make it known. Habakkuk 3:2.
Here 'the midst of the years' stands for the Lord's Coming. If the intervals are shorter this stands for every coming of the Lord, as when a person is being regenerated; but if longer it stands for the rising anew of the Lord's Church. It is also called in Isaiah 'the year of the redeemed', The day of vengeance was in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come. Isaiah 63:4.
So too 'the thousand years' for which Satan is to be bound, Revelation 20:2-3, 7, and 'the thousand years' associated with the first resurrection, Revelation 20:4-6. These in no way mean a thousand years but the states associated with them. For just as 'days, as shown 'already, are interpreted as a state, so too are 'years', and the states are described by the number of the years. From this it becomes clear that periods of time in this chapter also embody states, for every Church experienced a different state of perception from the next, according to differences of disposition resulting from inherited and acquired characteristics.
