35. Verses 7, 8. Behold He cometh with the clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and they who pierced Him; and all the tribes of the earth shall lament over Him. Even so: Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty. 7 "Behold He cometh with the clouds," signifies that the Lord is about to reveal Himself in the Word through the internal sense n. 36; "and every eye shall see Him," signifies that all will acknowledge Him who are in truths from good (n. 37); "and they who pierced Him," signifies that they also will see Him who are in falsities from evil (n. 38); "and all the tribes of the earth shall lament over Him," signifies that the falsities of the church will oppose n. 39; "even so: Amen," signifies Divine confirmation, that so it will be (n. 40).

8. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End," signifies that He governs all things from firsts through ultimates, and thus all things of heaven to eternity (n. 41); "saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come," signifies from Him who is the All in all things of heaven and of the church from eternity to eternity, and Jehovah (n. 42); "the Almighty," signifies from Himself (n. 43).

249. Sacred Scripture, or the Word

Without revelation from the Divine, we cannot know anything about eternal life or even about God, and even less about love for God and faith in God. This is because we are born into utter ignorance and have to learn from worldly sources everything that gives form to our understanding. It is also because by heredity we are born with evils of every kind, which come from love for ourselves and for the world. These loves give rise to pleasures that retain constant control over us and prompt us to think things that are diametrically opposed to the Divine. This, then, is why we know nothing about eternal life; so there must of necessity be some revelation that makes it possible for us to know.