610. That time shall be no more, signifies that there shall be no longer any understanding of Divine truth, nor any state of the church therefrom. This is evident from the signification of "time," as being here the state of man in respect to the understanding of the Word, and thus the state of the church, because both the one and the other are treated of in this chapter. "Time" signifies state, because times in the spiritual world are determined and distinguished only by particular and general states of life. This is because the sun in that world, which is the Lord, does not move, but remains in the same place in heaven, and that place is the east; that sun does not there revolve through the heavens as the sun in the natural world appears to do. By the apparent revolution of the sun of the natural world times in general and in particular are determined, and thus have existence; in general, the year and its four seasons, called spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Moreover, these four seasons of the year are the four natural states of the natural world corresponding to the same number of states in the spiritual world, which are its general spiritual states. In particular, within these general states in the natural world, there are determined and fixed times, called months and weeks, but especially days, and days are divided into four natural states, which are called morning, noon, evening, and night, corresponding to which there are four states in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, because the sun, as has been said, does not revolve through the heavens but remains constant and fixed in its east, there are no years, months, weeks, days, or hours, consequently there are no determinations by times, but only determinations by states of life, general and particular. Therefore it is not known there what time is, but only what state is, for the determination of a thing is what gives the idea of it, and according to the idea is the thing named. This, then, is the reason that it is not known in the spiritual world what times are, although they succeed each other there the same as in the natural world, but instead of times there are states and their changes; this is the reason also that times, when mentioned in the Word, signify states. (But respecting time and times in the spiritual world, see in the work on Heaven and Hell 162-169; and on the Changes of States of the Angels, n.154-161. [Note from the Margin:] Notice where it is said, "it shall be when there shall be neither day nor night" [Jeremiah 33:20; Zechariah 14:7.)

[2] Since "time" means the things pertaining to time in the natural world, as those pertaining to the year and the day (those of the year are seedtime and harvest, and those of the day are morning and evening), by these things pertaining to time states of the church are described in the Word, "seedtime" describing and signifying the establishment of the church; "harvest" its fruit bearing; "morning" its first time, and "noon to evening" its progression. These natural states (or conditions) also correspond to spiritual states, which are states of heaven and the church. As concerns the church, the church in general passes through these states, so does each man of the church in particular. Moreover, each man of the church from his earliest age is also inaugurated into these states, but when the church is at its end he can no more be inaugurated, for he does not receive Divine truth, but either rejects or perverts it, therefore he has neither seedtime nor harvest, that is, no establishment and no fruit bearing, nor has he morning or evening, that is, neither beginning nor progression. These states are meant and signified by "times" in the Word; and as in the end of the church these states cease with men of the church, therefore it is here said that "time shall be no more;" and this signifies that there shall be no further understanding of Divine truth or the Word, consequently not any state of the church.

[3] The like is signified by "time" in Ezekiel:

The evil, behold one evil cometh; the end is come, the end is come, it hath awakened upon thee. Behold, the morning is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land, the time is come (Ezekiel 7:5-7).

This, too, was said of the state of the church. The end of the former church is first described, and the establishment of a new church afterwards, the end of the former church by this, "One evil, behold the evil cometh; the end is come, the end is come;" the establishment of a new church by this, "Behold, the morning is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land, the time is come," "morning" signifying the state of a new or commencing church, and "time" its progressive state; accordingly the meaning is similar as that of "seedtime and harvest" and "morning and evening," mentioned above, consequently it means the state of the church in respect to the understanding of truth and the will of good.

[4] In Daniel:

The fourth beast shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High, for he shall think to change times and the right; and they shall be given into his hand for a time and times and half a time (Daniel 7:25).

"The fourth beast" means the evil that was about to vastate the church completely; falsities destroying the truths of the church are meant by "the words that he shall speak against the Most High," and by "the saints of the Most High whom he will wear out," "the saints of the Most High" signifying in the abstract sense Divine truths. That the truths of the Word and its goods will then be turned into falsities and evils is signified by "he shall change the times and the right," "times" meaning the states of the church in respect to the understanding of truth. The duration of that state in relation to the end of the church is signified by "for a time and times and half a time," which means a full state of vastation.

[5] So, too, in the following words in Daniel:

And I heard the man clothed in linen, that he lifted up his right hand and his left hand unto the heavens, and sware by Him that liveth unto the ages of the ages that it shall be for a fixed time of fixed times, and a half, when they are to make an end of dispersing the people of holiness, all these things shall be finished (Daniel 12:7).

"Time" here signifies state; and "time, times and a half" signifies a full state of vastation; therefore it is said, "when they are to make a full end of dispersing the people of holiness," "the people of holiness" meaning those of the church who are in Divine truths; or in an abstract sense Divine truths. With a similar meaning it is said in Revelation:

That the woman should be nourished in the wilderness for a time and times and half a time (Revelation 12:14).

[6] As by "time" things pertaining to time are meant, such as spring, summer, autumn, and winter, these signifying the states of one who is to be regenerated, or is regenerated, also the things pertaining to these times, such as seedtime and harvest, these signifying the state of the church in respect to the implantation of truth and the fructification of good therefrom, and as like things are signified by the times of the day, which are morning, noon, evening, and night, so these times have this signification in the following passages. In Genesis:

During all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease (Genesis 8:22).

This may be seen explained in Arcana Coelestia 930-937). In David:

The day is Thine, the night also is Thine; thou hast prepared the light and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth; summer and winter hast Thou formed (Psalms 74:16, 17).

In Jeremiah:

Jehovah giveth the sun for a light of the day, and the statutes of the moon and stars for a light of the night. If these statutes shall depart from before Me, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before Me all the days (Jeremiah 31:35, 36).

In the same:

Jehovah said, If I shall not have set My covenant of day and night, the statutes of heaven and earth, I will reject also the seed of Jacob and of David ¹ My servant (Jeremiah 33:25, 26).

"The statutes of the sun, moon, and stars," also "the covenant of day and night," and "the statutes of heaven and earth," have a similar signification as "times," since "times" exist from those statutes. That "seedtime and harvest, summer and winter," also "day and night," have a similar signification as "times" has been said above.

[7] It follows that "times" have the same signification in these words in Genesis:

God said, Let there be luminaries in the expanse of the heavens, to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and for years (Genesis 1:14-19).

The two "luminaries," the sun and moon, signify love and faith; for that chapter treats in the spiritual sense of the new creation, or the regeneration of the man of the church, and the things said respecting the sun and moon signify the things that chiefly regenerate man and make the church; therefore these words and those that follow describe the process by which regeneration is effected, and afterwards it describes their states. This makes evident what is signified by "time shall be no more."

Footnotes:

35. We have two abilities, one called will and the other called understanding: 35, 641, 3539, 3623, 10122. It is these two abilities that make us truly human: 10076, 10109, 10110, 10264, 10284. Our nature depends on the nature of these two abilities of ours: 7342, 8885, 9282, 10264, 10284. These two abilities are also what distinguishes us from animals, because our understanding can be lifted up by the Lord and see divine truths, and our will, too, can be lifted up and perceive divine goodness. And so our partnership with the Lord is made possible by these two abilities that make us who we are-which is not the case with animals: 4525, 5302, 5114, 6323, 9231. And since we can form a partnership with the Lord in this way, we cannot die with respect to our deeper levels-the levels that constitute our spirit; rather, we live to eternity: 5302. We are human not because of our shape but because of what is good and what is true, which are matters of our will and understanding: 4051, 5302.

[2] Just as everything in the universe goes back to goodness and truth, so everything in us goes back to our will and our understanding (803, 10122), because our will is the part of us that receives goodness and our understanding is the part of us that receives truth (3332, 3623, 5835, 6065, 6125, 7503, 9300, 9930). Whether you say "truth" or "faith" it amounts to the same thing, because faith and truth are mutually dependent; and whether you say "goodness" or "love" it amounts to the same thing, because love and goodness are mutually dependent; whatever we believe we call true, and whatever we love we call good: 4997, 7178, 10122, 10367. It therefore follows that our understanding is the part of us that can have faith and our will is the part of us that can have love, and that faith and love are in us when they are in our will and understanding because there and nowhere else is where our life is: 7178, 10122, 10367. And since our understanding can accept faith in the Lord and our will can accept love for the Lord, we are capable of being joined to the Lord by faith and love; and anyone who can be joined to the Lord by faith and love cannot die to all eternity: 4525, 6323, 9231. In the spiritual world, love is a joining together: 1594, 2057, 3939, 4018, 5807, 6195, 6196, 7081-7086, 7501, 10130.

[3] Our will is the true underlying reality of our life because it is the part of us that receives what is good, while our understanding is the consequent manifestation of our life because it is the part of us that receives what is true: 3619, 5002, 9282. So the life of our will is our primary life, and the life of our understanding emerges from it (585, 590, 3619, 7342, 8885, 9282, 10076, 10109, 10110) the way light comes from fire or a flame (6032, 6314). Whatever enters our understanding and our will together becomes part of us, but what enters only our understanding does not: 9009, 9069, 9071, 9182, 9386, 9393, 10076, 10109, 10110. Whatever is accepted by our will becomes part of our life: [ 3161, 9386, 9393. It follows then that we are human because of our will] ¹ and our consequent understanding: 8911, 9069, 9071, 10076, 10109, 10110. We are all loved and valued by others according to how good our will is and only secondarily how good our understanding is. We are loved and valued if both our intentions and our understanding are good; we are rejected and considered worthless if our understanding is good but our intentions are not: 8911, 10076. Even after death we retain the nature of our will and our consequent understanding: 9069, 9386, 10153. Those things that are in our understanding but not in our will then vanish because they are not in our spirit: 9282. Or to put it another way, after death we retain the nature of our love and the faith that comes from that love-the nature of our goodness and the truth that comes from that goodness-and then anything that is a matter of our faith but not of our love (or of truth in us but not of goodness) vanishes because it is not within us and therefore does not belong to us: 553, 2364, 10153. We are capable of grasping intellectually things that we would not do willingly; that is, we can understand things that run counter to our love and we have no will to do: 3539.

[4] Will and understanding together make one mind: 35, 3623, 5835, 10122. These two life abilities need to act as one if we are to be truly human: 3623, 5835, 5969, 9300. How distorted our state is when our understanding and our will are not acting as one: 9075. This is the kind of state we find among hypocrites, con artists, flatterers, and imposters: 3527, 3573, 4799, 8250. In the other life our will and our understanding are brought back into unison, and we are not allowed to have a divided mind there: 8250.

[5] Every religious teaching [that we have in our minds] is dependent on concepts [we have gained before]; it is possible [for others in the spiritual world] to perceive how we hold that teaching from seeing the nature of the concepts [that go with it in our minds]: 5510. These concepts of ours determine how we understand a given teaching; without some concept that makes it understandable, the teaching is held in our minds in the form of words alone without substance: 3825. The thoughts in the mind reach out widely all around to communities of spirits and angels: 6599, 6600-6605, 6609, 6613. In the other life the concepts of our understanding are laid open so that their nature is vividly clear: 1869, 3310, 5510. What some people's concepts look like: 6201, 8885.

[6] Every act of will to do what is good and every consequent understanding of what is true comes from the Lord, but this is not the case for an understanding of what is true divorced from any act of will to do what is good: 1831, 3514, 5482, 5649, 6027, 8685, 8701, 10153. Our understanding is what is enlightened by the Lord: 6222, 6608, 10659. When we are receptive to enlightenment the Lord makes us able to see and understand what is true: 9382, 10659. The enlightenment of our understanding varies depending on the state of our life: 5221, 7012, 7233. Our understanding is enlightened to the extent that our will accepts truth-that is, to the extent that we will ourselves to act in accord with it: 3619. Our understanding is enlightened if we read the Word out of a love of truth and a love for living a useful life, but not if we read out of a love for our own reputation, status, or profit: 9382, 10548, 10549, 10550. Enlightenment is effectively a raising of the mind into heaven's light (10330); see also 1526, 6608, which include evidence from personal experience. Light from heaven gives enlightenment to our understanding just the way light from this world does to our eyesight: 1524, 5114, 6608, 9128. The light of heaven is divine truth, which is the source of all intelligence and wisdom: 3195, 3222, 5400, 8644, 9399, 9548, 9684. It is our understanding that is enlightened by this light: 1524, 3138, 3167, 4408, 6608, 8707, 9128, 9399, 10569.

[7] The nature of our understanding depends on the nature of the love-based truths from which it is formed: 10064. Understanding results from truths that arise from living a good life, not from falsities that arise from living an evil life: 10675. Understanding is seeing, on the basis of our experience and information, things that are true, the causes of events, their connections, and how they follow from each other: 6125. The faculty of understanding is seeing and perceiving that something is true before we convince ourselves of it; it is not the ability to prove anything we choose: 4741, 7012, 7680, 7950, 8521, 8780. When the light that comes from corroboration strikes someone with no preexisting ability to perceive truth, it becomes an earthly light, available even to people who are not wise: 8780. Seeing and perceiving whether something is true before considering it proven is possible for us only when we love truth for its own sake-that is, when we are in spiritual light: 8521. Any dogma, even a false one, can be supported in such a way that it seems to be true: 2385, 2477, 5033, 6865, 7950.

[8] How rationality is conceived and born in us: 2093, 2524, 2557, 3030, 5126. It comes from an inflow of heaven's light from the Lord through our inner self into the spiritual and worldly knowledge in our outer self, lifting us up as a result: 1895, 1899, 1900, 1901, 1902. Our rationality is born by means of truths and not by means of falsities, so the nature of the truths determines the nature of our rationality: 2093, 2524, 2557. Our rationality is opened and given form by truths that arise from living a good life; it is closed and destroyed by falsities that arise from living an evil life: 3108, 5126. If we are full of false thoughts from evil intent we are not rational; our being able to argue that this or that is true does not mean we are rational: 1944.

[9] It is hard for us to know the difference between our understanding and our will because it is hard for us to know the difference between thinking and willing: 9995.

[10] You can learn more and draw more conclusions about will and understanding from what was cited just above on goodness and truth [§§11-27]: just take goodness to refer to will and truth to refer to understanding, since goodness resides in the will and truth resides in the understanding.

Footnotes: