The Bible

 

Daniel 9

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1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans,

2 in the first year of his reign, I Daniel understood by the books that the number of the years, whereof the word of Jehovah came to Jeremiah the prophet, for the accomplishment of the desolations of Jerusalem, was seventy years.

3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes;

4 and I prayed unto Jehovah my God, and made my confession, and said, Alas Lord! the great and terrible ùGod, keeping covenant and loving-kindness with them that love him, and that keep his commandments:

5 we have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even turning aside from thy commandments and from thine ordinances.

6 And we have not hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, who spoke in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.

7 Thine, O Lord, is the righteousness, but unto us confusion of face, as at this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, in all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their unfaithfulness in which they have been unfaithful against thee.

8 O Lord, unto us is confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

9 With the Lord our God are mercies and pardons, for we have rebelled against him;

10 and we have not hearkened unto the voice of Jehovah our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us through his servants the prophets.

11 And all Israel have transgressed thy law, even turning aside so as not to listen unto thy voice. And the curse hath been poured out upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God: for we have sinned against him.

12 And he hath performed his words, which he spoke against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil; so that there hath not been done under the whole heaven as hath been done upon Jerusalem.

13 As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us; yet we besought not Jehovah our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

14 And Jehovah hath watched over the evil, and brought it upon us; for Jehovah our God is righteous in all his works which he hath done; and we have not hearkened unto his voice.

15 -- And now, O Lord our God, who broughtest thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a strong hand, and hast made thee a name, as it is this day, -- we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

16 Lord, according to all thy righteousnesses, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain; for because of our sins, and because of the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people [are become] a reproach to all round about us.

17 And now, our God, hearken to the prayer of thy servant, and to his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.

18 Incline thine ear, O my God, and hear; open thine eyes and behold our desolations, and the city that is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee because of our righteousnesses, but because of thy manifold mercies.

19 Lord, hear! Lord, forgive! Lord, hearken and do! defer not, for thine own sake, O my God! for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.

20 And whilst I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before Jehovah my God for the holy mountain of my God;

21 whilst I was yet speaking in prayer, the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, flying swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.

22 And he informed [me], and talked with me, and said, Daniel, I am now come forth to make thee skilful of understanding.

23 At the beginning of thy supplications the word went forth, and I am come to declare [it]; for thou art one greatly beloved. Therefore consider the word, and have understanding in the vision:

24 Seventy weeks are apportioned out upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to close the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make expiation for iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of the ages, and to seal the vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies.

25 Know therefore and understand: From the going forth of the word to restore and to build Jerusalem unto Messiah, the Prince, are seven weeks, and sixty-two weeks. The street and the moat shall be built again, even in troublous times.

26 And after the sixty-two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, and shall have nothing; and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with an overflow, and unto the end, war, -- the desolations determined.

27 And he shall confirm a covenant with the many [for] one week; and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and because of the protection of abominations [there shall be] a desolator, even until that the consumption and what is determined shall be poured out upon the desolate.

   

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.