610.That there shall be time no longer.- That this signifies that there would be no longer any understanding of Divine Truth, nor any state of the church from it, is evident from the signification of time, as here denoting the state of man as to the understanding of the Word, and therefore the state of the church, because these are the subjects treated of in this chapter. The reason why time signifies state, is, that times in the spiritual world are determined and distinguished only by particular and general states of life. The cause of this is, that the Sun in that world, which is the Lord, is fixed and stationary in the same part of heaven, which is the east, nor is it carried round as the sun in the natural world appears to be. Times are determined by the apparent revolution of this sun, and so exist in general and in particular; in general, the year and its four seasons, which are called spring, summer, autumn, and winter. These four seasons of the year also are the four natural states thereof corresponding to as many states in the spiritual world, which are its general spiritual states. In particular, within those general states in the natural world, there are fixed and stated times, called months and weeks, but especially days, which are distinguished into four natural states, called morning, noon, evening, and night, to which also correspond four states in the spiritual world. Since the Sun, in the spiritual world, as was said above, is not carried round but remains fixed and stationary in the east, therefore there are neither years, months, weeks, days, nor hours, consequently neither are there any determinations by times, but only determinations by states of life, general and particular. For this reason it is not known in the spiritual world what time is, but only what state is; for the determination of a thing gives the idea of it, and the thing is named according to the notion. This then is the reason why it is not known, in the spiritual world, what times are, although they succeed each other there, as in the natural world, but instead of times there are states and their changes; times, therefore, when mentioned in the Word, signify states. Concerning time, and times, in the spiritual world, more, may be seen in Heaven and Hell 162-169); and concerning the changes of state with the angels (n. 154-161). ¹

[2] Since by time are meant those things that pertain to time in the natural world, as those of the year, and of the day, those of the year being seed time and harvest, and those of the day being morning and evening, the states of the church also are described in the Word by those things which belong to time. By seed time is described and signified the establishment of the church; by harvest, its fructification; by morning, the first time of the church; and by noon to evening, its progression. These natural states also correspond to spiritual states, which are states of heaven and the church. In regard to the church, it passes through those states in general, and so does every man of the church in particular. Every man of the church is also inaugurated into those states from his earliest days, but when the church is at its end, he can then no longer be inaugurated, for he does not receive Divine Truth, but either rejects or perverts it, consequently there can be to him neither seed time nor harvest, that is, neither establishment nor fructification, nor has he morning or evening, that is, neither beginning nor progression. These are the states meant and signified by times in the Word; and because in the end of the church those states cease with the men of the church, it is therefore said here that there shall be time no longer, by which therefore is signified, that there shall be no longer any understanding of Divine Truth or the Word, consequently not any state of the church.

[3] The same is signified by time in Ezekiel:

"The evil, one evil, behold, cometh. The end is come, the end is come; it hath watched over thee. Behold the morning cometh upon thee, O thou that dwellest in the land; the time is come" (7:5-7).

These things also are said concerning the state of the church. The end of the former church is first described, and afterwards the establishment of the new church. The end of the former church is described by these words, "The evil, one evil, behold, cometh, the end is come, the end is come;" the establishment of the new church by these words, "The morning cometh upon thee, O thou that dwellest in the land; the time is come." The morning signifies the state of a new church, or the commencement of a church, and time, its progressive state, consequently the same as seed time and harvest, and noon and evening, mentioned above, consequently the state of the church as to the understanding of truth and the will of good.

[4] So in Daniel:

The fourth beast "shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the highest ones, because he shall think to change times and the right (jus); and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times, and part of a time" (7:25).

By the fourth beast is meant the evil which was about fully to vastate the church. The falsities destroying the truths of the church are meant by the words which he shall speak against the Most High, and by the saints of the highest ones, whom he will wear out; the saints of the highest ones, in the abstract sense, signifying Divine truths. That the truths of the Word and the goods thereof, will then be changed into falsities and evils, is signified by his changing the times and the right; times denoting states of the church as to the understanding of truth. The duration of that state in regard to the end of the church is signified by, until a time, and times, and part of a time, which means a full state of vastation.

[5] The same is signified by the following words in Daniel:

"I heard the man clothed in linen when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, 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, and when they were about to make an end to disperse the people of holiness, all these things shall be consummated" (12:7).

Time here signifies state and by time, times, and a half, is signified a full state of vastation; it is therefore said, "when they were about to make an end to disperse the people of holiness," the people of holiness denoting those of the church who are in Divine truths, and, in the abstract, Divine truths. Similarly it is said in the Apocalypse that the woman should be nourished in the wilderness" for a time and times and half a time" (12:14).

[6] Because time signifies those things which pertain to time, as spring, summer, autumn, and winter, by which are signified the states of one who is being regenerated, and of one who is regenerated; also such things as pertain to those times, namely, seed time and harvest, which signify the state of the church in regard to the implantation of truth, and the fructification of good thence; therefore similar things are also signified by the times of the day, morning, noon, evening and night, as in the following passages.

Thus in Genesis:

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

These words are explained in the Arcana Coelestia 930-937).

So 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; thou hast made summer and winter" (Psalm 74:16, 17).

And in Jeremiah:

"Jehovah, giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, If those ordinances depart from before me, the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me all the days" (31:35, 36).

And again, in the same prophet:

"Jehovah said, if I have not appointed my covenant of day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth, I will also refuse the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant" (33:25, 26).

Here the ordinances of the sun, of the moon, and of the stars, also the covenant of the day and of the night, and the ordinances of heaven and of the earth, have a signification similar to times, since times have their existence from those ordinances. That seed time and harvest, summer and winter, also day and night, have a similar signification to times, was shown above.

[7] It follows therefore that the same things are signified by times in these words in Genesis:

"God said, Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and they shall be for signs and for seasons, and for days, and for years" (Genesis 1:14).

The two luminaries, the sun and the moon, signify love and faith; for in the spiritual sense of that chapter the new creation or regeneration of the man of the church is treated of, and those things that chiefly regenerate man, and make the church are signified by what is said of the sun and moon. The above and following words therefore describe the process by which regeneration is accomplished and afterwards the states of regeneration are described. The signification of there being time no longer is therefore now evident from these things.

Footnotes:

10438. 'For evil He led them out, to kill them in the mountains' means that those with whom good exists will be destroyed. This is clear from the meaning of 'leading out to kill' as destroying, though when such words are used in reference to Jehovah, who never destroys anyone, being destroyed by their own evil is meant; and from the meaning of 'the mountains' as heaven, consequently the good of love. The origin of the meaning of 'the mountains' as heaven lies in representatives in the next life. Mountains, hills, rocks, valleys, and many more objects appear there, as on earth; and on the mountains there are those who abide in celestial love, on the hills those who abide in spiritual love, on the rocks those who abide in faith, and in the valleys those who have not as yet been raised up to the good of love and faith.

[2] Consequently by 'mountains' those in whom the good of celestial love exists, and so who inhabit the inmost heaven, are meant, and in the abstract sense forms of the good of celestial love, and so the heaven which abides in that love; by 'hills' those in whom the good of spiritual love exists, and so who inhabit the middle heaven, are meant, and in the abstract sense the good of that love and the heaven which abides in it; by 'rocks' those in whom the good of faith exists, and who consequently inhabit the lowest heaven, are meant, and in the abstract sense that good and that heaven; and by 'valleys' those who have not as yet been raised up to those kinds of good and so to heaven are meant. Because such objects appear in the next life and such realities are consequently meant by them, those objects have a like meaning in the Word, as do the mountains, hills, rocks, and valleys in the land of Canaan, by which heaven in its entirety was therefore represented.

[3] The fact that the heaven where the good of celestial love exists is meant by 'mountains' is evident from a large number of places in the Word, such as the following: In Isaiah,

In the latter days it will be, that the mountain of Jehovah will be on the top of the mountains, and raised above the hills. Isaiah 2:2; Micah 4:1.

In David,

The mountains will bring peace, and the hills, in righteousness. Psalms 72:3.

In the same author,

Praise Jehovah, mountains and all hills. Psalms 148:7, 9.

In the same author,

A mountain of God is the mountain of Bashan; a mountain of hills is the mountain of Bashan. Why do you leap up, O mountains, hills of mountains? God desires to inhabit it; yes, Jehovah will inhabit it perpetually. Psalms 68:15-16.

In Moses,

... in regard to the firstfruits of the mountains of the east, and to the precious things of the everlasting hills ¹ ... Let them come upon the head of Joseph. Deuteronomy 33:15-16.

Other places besides these contain the same meaning, see 795, 6435, 8327, 8658, 8758, 9422, 9434. All this explains why the Lord came down onto Mount Sinai; why the city of David was built on a mountain, and that mountain, which was called Mount Zion, means the inmost heaven; and also why the ancients performed holy acts of worship on mountains and hills, 2722.

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