Sacred Scripture #14
14. When the Lord speaks to his disciples about the close of the age, which is the last time of the church, at the end of his predictions about the sequence of changes of state he says,
Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Humanity will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will wail; and they will see the Son of Humanity coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send out his angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they will gather his chosen people from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other. (Matthew 24:29-31)
[2] Spiritually understood, this does not mean that the sun and moon will be darkened, that the stars will fall from heaven, and that a sign of the Lord will appear in heaven and he will be seen in the clouds accompanied by angels with trumpets. Rather, the particular words are here used to mean spiritual events that have to do with the church, spiritual events about its state at its end. The underlying reason is that in the spiritual meaning the sun that will be darkened is the Lord as an object of love; the moon that will not give its light is the Lord as an object of faith; the stars that will fall from heaven are the knowledge of what is good and what is true that will come to an end; the sign of the Son of Humanity in heaven is the manifestation of divine truth; the tribes of the earth that will wail are a complete lack of true belief and of good actions that come from love; the coming of the Son of Humanity in the clouds of heaven with power and glory is the Lord’s presence in the Word, and a revelation - the clouds being the literal meaning of the Word and the glory being the spiritual meaning of the Word. The angels with a trumpet and a loud voice mean heaven as our source of divine truth; and the gathering of the chosen people from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other, means a new kind of church, specifically its love and faith.
[3] It is obvious from the prophets that this does not mean the darkening of the sun and the moon and the falling of the stars to earth, because things like this are said there about the state of the church when the Lord will come into the world. It says in Isaiah, for example:
Behold, the fierce day of Jehovah is coming, a day of blazing wrath. The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not shine their light. The sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not make its light shine. I will execute judgment upon the world for its malice. (Isaiah 13:9-11; 24:21, 23)
In Joel,
The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and gloom; the sun and the moon will be darkened and the stars will withhold their light. (Joel 2:1-2, 10; 3:15)
In Ezekiel,
I will cover the heavens and darken the stars. I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. I will darken all the bright lights and bring darkness upon the land. (Ezekiel 32:7-8)
The day of Jehovah means the Coming of the Lord, which happened when there was no longer anything good or true left in the church, and there was no knowledge of the Lord.
Ezekiel 48
1
Now these are the names of the tribes: From the north end, beside the way of Hethlon to the entrance of Hamath, Hazar Enan at the border of Damascus, northward beside Hamath, (and they shall have their sides east [and] west), Dan, one [portion].
2
By the border of Dan, from the east side to the west side, Asher, one [portion].
3
By the border of Asher, from the east side even to the west side, Naphtali, one [portion].
4
By the border of Naphtali, from the east side to the west side, Manasseh, one [portion].
5
By the border of Manasseh, from the east side to the west side, Ephraim, one [portion].
6
By the border of Ephraim, from the east side even to the west side, Reuben, one [portion].
7
By the border of Reuben, from the east side to the west side, Judah, one [portion].
8
By the border of Judah, from the east side to the west side, shall be the offering which you shall offer, twenty-five thousand [reeds] in breadth, and in length as one of the portions, from the east side to the west side: and the sanctuary shall be in its midst.
9
The offering that you shall offer to Yahweh shall be twenty-five thousand [reeds] in length, and ten thousand in breadth.
10
For these, even for the priests, shall be the holy offering: toward the north twenty-five thousand [in length], and toward the west ten thousand in breadth, and toward the east ten thousand in breadth, and toward the south twenty-five thousand in length: and the sanctuary of Yahweh shall be in its midst.
11
[It shall be] for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept my instruction, who didn't go astray when the children of Israel went astray, as the Levites went astray.
12
It shall be to them an offering from the offering of the land, a thing most holy, by the border of the Levites.
13
Answerable to the border of the priests, the Levites shall have twenty-five thousand in length, and ten thousand in breadth: all the length shall be twenty-five thousand, and the breadth ten thousand.
14
They shall sell none of it, nor exchange it, nor shall the first fruits of the land be alienated; for it is holy to Yahweh.
15
The five thousand that are left in the breadth, in front of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for dwelling and for suburbs; and the city shall be in its midst.
16
These shall be its measures: the north side four thousand and five hundred, and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and on the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred.
17
The city shall have suburbs: toward the north two hundred fifty, and toward the south two hundred fifty, and toward the east two hundred fifty, and toward the west two hundred fifty.
18
The remainder in the length, answerable to the holy offering, shall be ten thousand eastward, and ten thousand westward; and it shall be answerable to the holy offering; and its increase shall be for food to those who labor in the city.
19
Those who labor in the city, out of all the tribes of Israel, shall cultivate it.
20
All the offering shall be twenty-five thousand by twenty-five thousand: you shall offer the holy offering foursquare, with the possession of the city.
21
The residue shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy offering and of the possession of the city; in front of the twenty-five thousand of the offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the twenty-five thousand toward the west border, answerable to the portions, it shall be for the prince: and the holy offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in its midst.
22
Moreover from the possession of the Levites, and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which is the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, it shall be for the prince.
23
As for the rest of the tribes: from the east side to the west side, Benjamin, one [portion].
24
By the border of Benjamin, from the east side to the west side, Simeon, one [portion].
25
By the border of Simeon, from the east side to the west side, Issachar, one [portion].
26
By the border of Issachar, from the east side to the west side, Zebulun, one [portion].
27
By the border of Zebulun, from the east side to the west side, Gad, one [portion].
28
By the border of Gad, at the south side southward, the border shall be even from Tamar to the waters of Meribath Kadesh, to the brook [of Egypt], to the great sea.
29
This is the land which you shall divide by lot to the tribes of Israel for inheritance, and these are their several portions, says the Lord Yahweh.
30
These are the exits of the city: On the north side four thousand and five hundred [reeds] by measure;
31
and the gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel, three gates northward: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one.
32
At the east side four thousand and five hundred [reeds], and three gates: even the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one.
33
At the south side four thousand and five hundred [reeds] by measure, and three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one.
34
At the west side four thousand and five hundred [reeds], with their three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one.
35
It shall be eighteen thousand [reeds] around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, Yahweh is there.
