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).

3142. 'And I have swept the house' means all things had been prepared and filled with goods. This is clear from the meaning of 'sweeping' as preparing and being filled, dealt with immediately below, and from the meaning of 'a house' as good, dealt with in 2233, 2234, 2559. And a person himself, from the good which governs him, is called a house, 3128. The reason why 'sweeping' means preparing and being filled is that nothing else is asked of anyone except to 'sweep his house', that is, to reject evil desires and resulting false persuasions. If he does this he is filled with all forms of good, for good from the Lord is constantly flowing in. It flows into 'the house', that is, into the person who has been cleansed of such things as hinder influx, that is, which turn away, or pervert, or stifle inflowing good. Hence the proverbial expression used by the ancients about sweeping or cleansing the house, and also about sweeping and preparing the way. 'Sweeping the house' was used to mean cleansing oneself of evils and thereby preparing oneself for goods to enter, while 'sweeping the way' was used to mean preparing oneself for the reception of truths; for 'a house' meant good, 3128, and 'the way' truth, 627, 2333.

[2] As in Isaiah,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Sweep (prepare) the way of Jehovah; make straight in the lonely place a highway for our God. Isaiah 40:3.

In the same prophet,

Level out, level out, sweep (prepare) the way; remove the stumbling block from My people's way. Isaiah 57:14.

In the same prophet,

Go through, go through into the gates; sweep (prepare) the way of the people. Level out, level out the way; gather out the stones. Isaiah 62:10.

In Malachi,

Behold, I am sending My angel, and he will sweep (prepare) the way before Me; and suddenly there will come to His temple the Lord whom you are seeking. Malachi 3:1.

In these places 'sweeping the way' stands for getting oneself ready and preparing to receive truth. They refer to the Lord's coming, for which people were to prepare themselves so as to receive the truth of faith, and through that the good of charity, and through this in turn eternal salvation.

[3] In David,

You caused a vine to journey out of Egypt. You cast out the nations, and You planted it, You swept before it and caused its root to be rooted, and it filled the land. Psalms 80:8-9.

This refers in the highest sense to the Lord. 'A vine out of Egypt' is truth based on facts, 'casting out the nations' cleansing from evils, 'sweeping before it' preparing for goods to fill it. 'Sweeping the house' also means in the contrary sense the person who dispossesses himself of all goods and truths and so is filled with evils and falsities, as in Luke,

If the unclean spirit finds no rest he says, I will return to my house out of which I came. And if when he comes he finds it swept and decorated, he goes away and brings seven other spirits more evil than himself, and they enter in and dwell there. Luke 11:24-26; Matthew 12:43-45.