663. Verses 11, 12. And after three days and a half the spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet; and great fear fell upon them that saw them. And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither; and they ascended into heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them.

"And after three, days and a half," signifies, when completed, thus the end of the old church, and the beginning of a new church; "the spirit of life from God entered into them," signifies enlightenment and the reception in some of the influx of Divine Truth from the Lord for the beginning of a new church; "and they stood upon their feet," signifies a new life such as the regenerated man of the church has; "and great fear fell upon them that saw them," signifies a state of anxiety with those who did not receive and acknowledge. "And they heard a great voice out of heaven, saying unto them," signifies the Lord's Divine Providence; "Come up hither," signifies separation and thence protection; "and they ascended into heaven in a cloud," signifies separation as to things internal, and their protection; "and their enemies saw them," signifies cognition and acknowledgment with those who are interiorly opposed to the goods and truths of the Word and of the church.

2117. THE LAST JUDGEMENT

Few nowadays know what the Last Judgement is. They imagine that it is going to be accompanied by the destruction of the world; and this leads to conjectures that this earth, together with everything else in the visible world, is going to be destroyed by fire. They also conjecture that then for the first time the dead will rise again and appear for judgement, and the evil are to be cast into hell and the good to rise up to heaven. These conjectures are based on the prophetical parts of the Word where references are made to a new heaven and a new earth, and also to a New Jerusalem. Such people do not realize that the prophetical parts of the Word have a meaning altogether different in the internal sense from what appears in the sense of the letter, and that 'heaven' is not used to mean heaven, nor 'the earth' to mean the earth, but the Lord's Church in general, and as it exists with each individual in particular.