Apocalypse Explained #649
649. And when they shall have finished their testimony.- That this signifies in the end of the church, when the Divine of the Lord is no longer acknowledged, and thence when there is no longer the good of love and the truth of doctrine, is evident from the signification of testimony, as denoting the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, and thence the good of love and truth of doctrine, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of finishing, as denoting to end; and because this ending takes place in the end of the church, therefore the end of the church is here signified by finishing. And because there is then no longer any acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, therefore there is not any good of love and truth of doctrine.
[2] That this is signified by testimony, is evident from what has been thus far said concerning the two witnesses, namely, that by them is meant the good of love and of charity and the truth of doctrine and of faith, because these principally bear witness concerning the Lord, for they are from Him, and are of Him with man, therefore their testimony signifies preaching concerning them. That the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord is here signified by testimony, is evident from the statement in the Apocalypse:
"That the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy" (19:10).
For unless man acknowledges this from the heart, and believes it from spiritual faith, he cannot be in any power of receiving the good of love and the truth of doctrine.
[3] At the end of the church the Lord is, indeed, preached, and also, from doctrine, a Divine similar to the Divine of the Father is attributed to Him; but nevertheless scarcely any one thinks of His Divine, because it is placed above or outside of His Human, therefore when they look to His Divine they do not look to the Lord, but to the Father as to another, when yet the Divine, which is called the Father, is in the Lord, as He Himself teaches in John (10:30, 38; 14:7). Hence it is that man does not think of the Lord otherwise than as of an ordinary man, and his faith flows from that thought, although he may say with his lips that he believes in His Divine. Let any one examine, if he can, the idea of his thought concerning the Lord, whether it be not of this character, and if this is the case, he cannot be conjoined to Him in faith and love, nor by conjunction receive any good of love and truth of faith. It is for these reasons that at the end of the church there is not any acknowledgment of the Lord, that is, of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord. There is a kind of belief as though the Divine of the Lord were acknowledged, because it is affirmed in the doctrine of the church. But when the Divine is separated from His Human, so far His Divine is not acknowledged inwardly, but only outwardly, and to acknowledge it outwardly is to acknowledge it with the mouth only and not in the heart, or in speech only and not in faith.
[4] That this is so is evident from the case of Christians in the other life, where the thoughts of the heart are made manifest. When they are permitted to speak from doctrine, and from what they have heard from preaching, then they attribute a Divine to the Lord, and call it their faith; but when their interior thought and faith are examined, then [it is found] that they have no other idea concerning the Lord than as it were of an ordinary man in whom there is nothing Divine. The interior thought of man is the ground of his faith, and because such is the thought and thence the faith of his spirit, it is evident that there is not any acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord in the Christian world at the end of the church. In a word, there is, indeed, an external, but no internal acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord; and external acknowledgment belongs to the natural man alone, but internal acknowledgment belongs to his spirit itself; and the external is laid asleep after death, and the internal belongs to his spirit. From these considerations it may in some degree be evident what is meant by the beast coming up out of the abyss shall overcome and kill the two witnesses, and by their bodies being seen on the street of the city which is called Sodom and Egypt, and by the spirit of life afterwards entering into them.
2 Kings 17
1
In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah began Hoshea the son of Elah to reign in Samaria over Israel, [and reigned] nine years.
2
He did that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.
3
Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria; and Hoshea became his servant, and brought him tribute.
4
The king of Assyria found conspiracy in Hoshea; for he had sent messengers to So king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year: therefore the king of Assyria shut him up, and bound him in prison.
5
Then the king of Assyria came up throughout all the land, and went up to Samaria, and besieged it three years.
6
In the ninth year of Hoshea the king of Assyria took Samaria, and carried Israel away to Assyria, and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes.
7
It was so, because the children of Israel had sinned against Yahweh their God, who brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods,
8
and walked in the statutes of the nations, whom Yahweh cast out from before the children of Israel, and of the kings of Israel, which they made.
9
The children of Israel did secretly things that were not right against Yahweh their God: and they built them high places in all their cities, from the tower of the watchmen to the fortified city;
10
and they set them up pillars and Asherim on every high hill, and under every green tree;
11
and there they burnt incense in all the high places, as did the nations whom Yahweh carried away before them; and they worked wicked things to provoke Yahweh to anger;
12
and they served idols, of which Yahweh had said to them, "You shall not do this thing."
13
Yet Yahweh testified to Israel, and to Judah, by every prophet, and every seer, saying, "Turn from your evil ways, and keep my commandments and my statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by my servants the prophets."
14
Notwithstanding, they would not listen, but hardened their neck, like the neck of their fathers, who didn't believe in Yahweh their God.
15
They rejected his statutes, and his covenant that he made with their fathers, and his testimonies which he testified to them; and they followed vanity, and became vain, and [went] after the nations that were around them, concerning whom Yahweh had commanded them that they should not do like them.
16
They forsook all the commandments of Yahweh their God, and made them molten images, even two calves, and made an Asherah, and worshiped all the army of the sky, and served Baal.
17
They caused their sons and their daughters to pass through the fire, and used divination and enchantments, and sold themselves to do that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger.
18
Therefore Yahweh was very angry with Israel, and removed them out of his sight: there was none left but the tribe of Judah only.
19
Also Judah didn't keep the commandments of Yahweh their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.
20
Yahweh rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
21
For he tore Israel from the house of David; and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king: and Jeroboam drove Israel from following Yahweh, and made them sin a great sin.
22
The children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they didn't depart from them;
23
until Yahweh removed Israel out of his sight, as he spoke by all his servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away out of their own land to Assyria to this day.
24
The king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, and from Cuthah, and from Avva, and from Hamath and Sepharvaim, and placed them in the cities of Samaria instead of the children of Israel; and they possessed Samaria, and lived in the cities of it.
25
So it was, at the beginning of their dwelling there, that they didn't fear Yahweh: therefore Yahweh sent lions among them, which killed some of them.
26
Therefore they spoke to the king of Assyria, saying, "The nations which you have carried away, and placed in the cities of Samaria, don't know the law of the god of the land. Therefore he has sent lions among them, and behold, they kill them, because they don't know the law of the god of the land."
27
Then the king of Assyria commanded, saying, "Carry there one of the priests whom you brought from there; and let them go and dwell there, and let him teach them the law of the god of the land."
28
So one of the priests whom they had carried away from Samaria came and lived in Bethel, and taught them how they should fear Yahweh.
29
However every nation made gods of their own, and put them in the houses of the high places which the Samaritans had made, every nation in their cities in which they lived.
30
The men of Babylon made Succoth Benoth, and the men of Cuth made Nergal, and the men of Hamath made Ashima,
31
and the Avvites made Nibhaz and Tartak; and the Sepharvites burnt their children in the fire to Adrammelech and Anammelech, the gods of Sepharvaim.
32
So they feared Yahweh, and made to them from among themselves priests of the high places, who sacrificed for them in the houses of the high places.
33
They feared Yahweh, and served their own gods, after the ways of the nations from among whom they had been carried away.
34
To this day they do what they did before: they don't fear Yahweh, neither do they follow their statutes, or their ordinances, or the law or the commandment which Yahweh commanded the children of Jacob, whom he named Israel;
35
with whom Yahweh had made a covenant, and commanded them, saying, "You shall not fear other gods, nor bow yourselves to them, nor serve them, nor sacrifice to them;
36
but you shall fear Yahweh, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt with great power and with an outstretched arm, and you shall bow yourselves to him, and you shall sacrifice to him.
37
The statutes and the ordinances, and the law and the commandment, which he wrote for you, you shall observe to do forevermore. You shall not fear other gods.
38
You shall not forget the covenant that I have made with you; neither shall you fear other gods.
39
But you shall fear Yahweh your God; and he will deliver you out of the hand of all your enemies."
40
However they did not listen, but they did what they did before.
41
So these nations feared Yahweh, and served their engraved images. Their children likewise, and their children's children, as their fathers did, so they do to this day.
