The Bible

 

Genesis 15

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1 After these things, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision, saying, Have no fear, Abram: I will keep you safe, and great will be your reward.

2 And Abram said, What will you give me? for I have no child and this Eliezer of Damascus will have all my wealth after me.

3 And Abram said, You have given me no child, and a servant in my house will get the heritage.

4 Then said the Lord, This man will not get the heritage, but a son of your body will have your property after you.

5 And he took him out into the open air, and said to him, Let your eyes be lifted to heaven, and see if the stars may be numbered; even so will your seed be.

6 And he had faith in the Lord, and it was put to his account as righteousness.

7 And he said to him, I am the Lord, who took you from Ur of the Chaldees, to give you this land for your heritage.

8 And he said, O Lord God, how may I be certain that it will be mine?

9 And he said, Take a young cow of three years old, and a she-goat of three years old, and a sheep of three years old, and a dove and a young pigeon.

10 All these he took, cutting them in two and putting one half opposite the other, but not cutting the birds in two.

11 And evil birds came down on the bodies, but Abram sent them away.

12 Now when the sun was going down, a deep sleep came on Abram, and a dark cloud of fear.

13 And he said to Abram, Truly, your seed will be living in a land which is not theirs, as servants to a people who will be cruel to them for four hundred years;

14 But I will be the judge of that nation whose servants they are, and they will come out from among them with great wealth.

15 As for you, you will go to your fathers in peace; at the end of a long life you will be put in your last resting-place.

16 And in the fourth generation they will come back here; for at present the sin of the Amorite is not full.

17 Then when the sun went down and it was dark, he saw a smoking fire and a flaming light which went between the parts of the bodies.

18 In that day the Lord made an agreement with Abram, and said, To your seed have I given this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates:

19 The Kenite, the Kenizzite, and the Kadmonite,

20 And the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Rephaim,

21 And the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Girgashite, and the Jebusite.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #658

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658. For in them the wrath of God is complete. This symbolizes the destruction of the church and its end then.

Its being complete symbolizes the destruction of the church and its end then, as explained below. The wrath of God symbolizes the evil in people, which, because it is in opposition to God, is called the wrath of God. Not that God is angry at people, but that people's evil causes them to be angry at God. Moreover, because, when a person is punished or tormented on account of his evil - as happens in hell after death - it seems to him that it is God's doing, therefore in the Word we find anger and wrath, even evil, attributed to God. But that is the case only in the literal sense, because that sense has been written in terms of appearances and correspondences; but not so in the spiritual sense, for that sense contains no appearance or correspondent imagery, but truth in its own light. For more on the wrath of God, see nos. 525, 635 above.

This verse says that in the seven last plagues the wrath of God is complete, and we say that this symbolizes the destruction of the church and its end then. We need to explain why. The reason is that every church declines in the process of time as it turns away from the goodness of love and from truths of faith, until nothing is left of them, which is occasioned by gradually increasing evil and falsity. And then, when there is no longer any goodness of love and faith, there remains only evil and falsity, and when this is the case, the church is at an end. In this final state a person knows no better than to think that evil is good and that falsity is truth; for the delight he finds in them causes him to love evil and falsity and therefore to defend them.

This is the final state symbolized by an end, consummation or completion called a destruction in the following passages:

...I have heard from... Jehovah... a consummation and destruction upon the whole earth. (Isaiah 28:22)

A consummation is decreed, overflowing with righteousness. For the Lord, Jehovih of hosts, is making an end and destruction throughout the land. (Isaiah 10:22-23)

The whole land shall be devoured by the fire of (Jehovah's) zeal, for He will make speedy end of all those who dwell in the land. (Zephaniah 1:18)

(At length) on the bird of abominations shall be desolation, even until the consummation and destruction shall it drop upon the devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

The whole land shall be a wasteland, yet I will not make an end. (Jeremiah 4:27)

(Jehovah said,) "I will go down... and see whether they have come to an end according to the outcry... that has come to Me." (Genesis 18:21)

The last said in regard to Sodom.

...the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. (Genesis 15:16)

The church's end is also meant by the end of the age spoken of by the Lord in the following passages:

(The disciples asked Jesus,) "What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" (Matthew 24:3)

...at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares... to burn them. Gather the wheat into my barn. ...so it will be at the end of the age. (Matthew 13:30, 40)

...at the end of the age... the angels will come forth and separate the wicked from among the just... (Matthew 13:49)

(Jesus said to His disciples,) "Lo, I am with you... even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:20)

Even to the end of the age means to the end of the church, when there will be a new church with which the Lord will then be present.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.