624. It is clear that a state which is not a state of the Church is the subject here from the fact that in this verse and those that follow in chapter the name God is used, whereas in previous verses it was Jehovah. When the Church does not exist the name God is used, but when it does exist, it is Jehovah; for example in Genesis 1, when the Church did not exist, He was called God, but in the next chapter when it did, He was called Jehovah God. 'Jehovah' is the holiest of names, and belongs to the Church alone. Not so 'God', for no nation was without gods. Consequently the same holiness was not attached to the name God. Nobody was allowed to utter the name Jehovah except him who had knowledge of the true faith; but anyone was allowed to utter the name God.

2120. Every single detail of what the Lord has said in Matthew 24:7, 29; Luke 21:25, about the last times - about the sea and the waves roaring then, about the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light, the stars falling from heaven, nation rising up against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and so on - means the future state of the Church, when its Last Judgement takes place. By 'the roaring of the sea and of the waves' is meant that nothing other than heresies and controversies within the Church in general and in the individual in particular will reverberate in this fashion. 'The sun' is used to mean nothing other than love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour; 'the moon' to mean faith; and 'the stars' cognitions of faith which in the last times will be so darkened; their 'not giving their light' and 'falling from heaven', that they will disappear. The Lord has also spoken in a similar way in Isaiah 13:10. Also, by 'nation rising up against nation and kingdom against kingdom' is meant nothing other than evils clashing with evils, and falsities with falsities. And so on. There were many hidden reasons why the Lord spoke in this fashion. That seas, sun, moon, stars, nations, and kingdoms have such meanings I know for certain, and have shown in Volume One.