651. And shall overcome them, and kill them.- That this signifies the destruction thence of all the good and truth of the church, is evident from the signification of overcome and killing the two witnesses, as denoting to destroy those things which the two witnesses signify, which are the good of love and of charity, and the truth of doctrine and of faith. That the affections of the natural man separated from the affections of the spiritual man, which are evil desires of every kind arising from infernal loves, will destroy those things, is signified by the beast coming up out of the abyss; that it was predicted that this will come to pass at the end of the church, when the Last Judgment takes place, has been stated above. To kill, in the Word, signifies to kill spiritually, which is here to destroy the good of love and truth of doctrine, as may be seen above (n. 315).

10372. 'This is a sign between Me and the children of Israel into an age' means that this is the means by which those who belong to the Church are distinguished from those who do not belong to the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'a sign' as the means by which they are recognized, dealt with above in 10357, and so also by which they are distinguished; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as the Church, dealt with in the places referred to in 9340, so that 'a sign between Jehovah and the children of Israel' means that it is the means by which those who belong to the Church are distinguished from those who do not, that is to say, they are distinguished by their acknowledgement of the union of the Divine within the Lord's Human, dealt with above in 10370. The truth that the Church does not exist where the Lord is not acknowledged is also the teaching of the Church itself; and the further truth that within His Human there is the Divine itself is the Lord's own teaching in John,

I and the Father ¹ are one. ... you may believe that the Father is in Me, and I am in the Father. John 10:30, 38.

In the same gospel,

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me? John 14:6-11.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said, The hour has come. Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You. All Mine are Yours, and all Yours are Mine. John 17:1, 10.

In the same gospel,

Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. And God will glorify Him in Himself. John 13:31-32.

And in the same gospel,

If you know Me you know My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him. He who has seen Me has seen the Father. John 14:6-11.

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