664. And after three days and a half.- That this signifies when completed, thus the end of the old church, and the beginning of a new church, is evident from the signification of three days and a half, as denoting fulness or completion at the end of the old church, when there is the beginning of a new church, concerning which see above (n. 658). The reason why it is said, after three days and a half, is, that days, in the Word, signify states, here, the last state of the church. For all times, in the Word, as hours, days, weeks, months, years, and ages, signify states in the Word, as in this case, the last state of the church, when there is no longer any good of love or truth of faith remaining. Because days signify states, and since in the first chapter of Genesis the establishment of the Most Ancient Church is treated of which was accomplished successively from one state to another, therefore it is said there that there was evening and there was morning the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth, and sixth days, unto the seventh, when it was completed (Genesis 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31), and the days there do not mean days, but the successive states of the regeneration of men at that time, and the consequent establishment of the church with them. So also elsewhere in the Word.

48. In the kingdom. That this signifies, in the church where truths are, is evident from the signification of kingdom in the Word, as denoting heaven and the church. The reason why it denotes the church as to truth, or where truths are, is, because by the royalty of the Lord is signified the Divine truth proceeding from Him, and hence by kings are signified truths. (See above, n. 31.) It is said the church as to truth, by which is meant the church as to truths from good; the reason is, that truths are not possible without good, for truths have life from good; the truths which a man has who is not in good, are indeed actually in themselves truths, but they are not truths in him (as may be seen fully proved in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 11-27).

[2] That kingdom in the Word signifies heaven and the church as to truths, is evident from many passages in the Word, of which I will adduce some. Thus in Matthew:

"The sons of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness" (8:12).

The sons of the kingdom there mentioned, are those who are of the church where truths do not reign, but falsities. And in the same:

"He who heareth the Word of the kingdom, and giveth no heed to it, the wicked one cometh, and taketh away that which was sown in his heart; this is that which was sown by the way-side. The field is the world; the [good] seed are the sons of the kingdom" (13:19, 38).

To hear the Word of the kingdom is to hear the truths of the church; and because seed signifies truths, therefore those who receive truths are called sons of the kingdom. (That seed signifies the truth of the church see Arcana Coelestia 3038, 3373, 3671, 10248, 10249.) In the same:

"Therefore the kingdom of God shall be taken from you and given to a nation bringing forth fruit" (21:43).

That the kingdom of God there signifies the church as to truths, thus also the truths of the church, is clear from its being said that it should be taken from them, and given to a nation bringing forth fruit; and fruit signifies good. Again, in the same:

In the consummation of the age, "nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom" (24:7).

The consummation of the age is the last time of the church; nation against nation denotes evil against good, and kingdom against kingdom denotes falsity against truth. (That nation signifies the good of the church, and in an opposite sense, the evil thereof, see Arcana Coelestia 1059, 1159, 1258, 1260, 1416, 1849, 6005.)

[3] It is evident from these things what is meant by kingdom in the Lord's prayer,

"Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so also on the earth. Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory" (Matthew 6:10, 13).

Thy kingdom come, signifies, that truth may be received; thy will be done, signifies, that it may be received by those who do the will of God; thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, signifies, Divine truth from God alone; it is also said power and glory, because to Divine truth belong all power and glory (as may be seen above, n.33). From these considerations it may be seen that the kingdom of God signifies, in many other passages of the Word, the church as to truths, also heaven, and, in the highest sense, the Lord as to the Divine Human. The reason why kingdom, in the highest sense, signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human is, that all Divine truth proceeds from Him; and the reason why kingdom signifies heaven is, that heaven, with the angels, is from no other source than the Divine truth which proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human (see in the work, Heaven and Hell 7-12, 78-86, 126-140).