#95 Waiting in the Grave for Jesus? Really? (Ecclesiastes 9)
By Jonathan S. Rose
Title: Waiting in the Grave for Jesus
Topic: Second Coming
Summary: We explore passages in Ecclesiastes and the rebellion of Korah in Numbers, and reflect on mortality and immortality, the Second Coming and life after death, and the spiritual and holographic nature of Scripture.
Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.
References:
Ecclesiastes 9:4; 1:1-2; 2:11; 12:8-14; 3:17; 11:9, 1-3; 7:19-20
James 4:13-16
John 9:4
Genesis 1:1
Jeremiah 4:22-23
Job 10:18-22; 14:1-end
Numbers 16
Isaiah 30:26
Hosea 6:1-2
Psalms 17
Arcana Coelestia #8814
8814. 'And a heavy cloud on the mountain' means the Divine state in relation to those about to receive. This is clear from the meaning of 'a cloud' as truth adjusted for those about to receive, that is, the Word in the letter, dealt with in 8443, 8781, at this point God's truth adjusted for the people descended from Jacob. Because they were in great darkness so far as God's truths were concerned, 'a heavy cloud' is spoken of here, 'in the thickness of a cloud' above in verse 9, and the smoke of the fire 'like the smoke of a furnace' in verse 18 below. How much darkness they were in may be recognized from what has been mentioned above regarding that nation in 8788, and also from the consideration that things involving the internal man were not revealed to them, only those involving the external. For they did not apprehend or have any wish to apprehend internal things, because these were contrary to their kinds of love, which were that they should be highest of all in the world and also richest of all, and that all nations elsewhere should be as nothing in comparison with themselves. Where these kinds of love prevail heavenly kinds cannot be received, for the former snuff out and smother the latter. This is the reason why Jehovah, that is, the Lord, appeared to them in a dense and heavy cloud. A similar situation exists in the next life, where those steeped in falsities arising from evil are surrounded by a dense, black cloud, how dense and black being determined by the nature and amount of the falsities. This sight appears before the eyes of everyone there; even so, the sun there is shining constantly. Regarding these matters, see what has been stated already in 6832, 8137, 8138. Ordinarily the Divine appears in the next life to everyone according to the nature of their faith and love.