931. During all the days of the earth. That this signifies all time, is evident from the signification of “day” as being a time (see n. 23, 487, 488, 493); wherefore “the days of the earth” here mean all time so long as there is earth [terra], or inhabitant upon the earth [tellure]. An inhabitant first ceases to be on the earth when there is no longer any church. For when there is no church, there is no longer any communication of man with heaven, and when this communication ceases, every inhabitant perishes. As we have seen before, it is with the church as with the heart and lungs in man: so long as the heart and lungs are sound, so long the man lives; and such also is the case with the Grand Man, which is the universal heaven, so long as the church lives; and therefore it is here said “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.” From this it also may appear that the earth will not endure to eternity, but that it too will have its end; for it is said, “during all the days of the earth” that is, as long as the earth endures.

[2] But as to believing that the end of the earth will be the same thing as the last judgment, foretold in the Word-where the consummation of the age, the day of visitation, and the last judgment are described-this is a mistake; for there is a last judgment of every church when it has been vastated, or when there is no longer in it any faith. The last judgment of the Most Ancient Church was when it perished, as in its last posterity just before the flood. The last judgment of the Jewish Church was when the Lord came into the world. There will also be a last judgment when the Lord shall come in glory; not that the earth and the world are then to perish, but that the church perishes; and then a new church is always raised up by the Lord; as at the time of the flood was the Ancient Church, and at the time of the coming of the Lord the primitive church of the Gentiles.

[3] So also will there be a new church when the Lord shall come in glory, which is also meant by the new heaven and new earth, in like manner as with every regenerate man, who becomes a man of the church, or a church, and whose internal man, when he has been created anew, is called a new heaven, and his external man a new earth. Moreover there is also a last judgment for every man when he dies, for then, according to what he has done in the body, he is adjudged either to death or to life. That nothing else is meant, consequently not the destruction of the world, by the consummation of the age, the end of days, or the last judgment, is clearly evident from the words of the Lord in Luke:

In that night there shall be two men in one bed; the one shall be taken and the other shall be left; there shall be two women grinding together, the one shall be taken, and the other shall be left (Luke 17:34-36), where the last time is called “night” because there is no faith, that is, no charity; and where by some being “left” it is clearly indicated that the world will not then perish.

488. That “days” signify states in general, and “years” states in special, appears from the Word, as in Ezekiel:

Thou hast caused thy days to draw near, and art come even unto thy years (Ezekiel 22:4),

speaking of those who commit abominations, and fill up the measure of their sins, of whose state in general are predicated “days” and in special “years.”

So in David:

Thou shalt add days to the days of the king, and his years as of generation and generation (Psalms 61:6),

speaking of the Lord and of His kingdom, where also “days” and “years” signify the state of His kingdom. Again:

I have considered the days of old, the years of the ages (Psalms 77:5),

where “days of old” signify states of the Most Ancient Church, and “years of the ages” states of the Ancient Church.

In Isaiah:

The day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed is come (Isaiah 63:4),

speaking of the last times, where the “day of vengeance” signifies a state of damnation, and the “year of the redeemed” a state of blessedness. Again:

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn (Isaiah 61:2),

where both “days” and “years” signify states.

In Jeremiah: Renew our days as of old (Lamentations 5:21),

where state is plainly meant.

[2] In Joel:

The day of Jehovah cometh, for it is nigh at hand, a day of darkness and of thick darkness, a day of cloud and of obscurity; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be after it, even to the years of generation and generation (Joel 2:1-2), where “day” signifies a state of darkness and of thick darkness, of cloud and of obscurity, with each one in particular, and with all in general.

In Zechariah: I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day; in that day shall ye cry a man to his companion under the vine, and under the fig tree (Zechariah 3:9-10).

And in another place:

It shall be one day which is known to Jehovah, not day nor night, and it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light (Zechariah 14:7),

where it is plain that state is meant, for it is said that there shall be a day that is “neither day nor night, at evening time it shall be light.” The same appears from expressions in the Decalogue:

Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may be well with thee upon the ground (Deuteronomy 5:16; 25:15),

where to have the “days prolonged” does not signify length of life, but a happy state.

[3] In the literal sense it must needs appear as if “day” signifies time, but in the internal sense it signifies state. The angels, who are in the internal sense, do not know what time is, for they have no sun and moon that distinguish times; consequently they do not know what days, and years are, but only what states are and the changes thereof; and therefore before the angels, who are in the internal sense, everything relating to matter, space, and time disappears, as in the literal sense of this passage in Ezekiel:

The day is near, even the day of Jehovah is near, a day of cloud; it shall be the time of the nations (Ezekiel 30:3),

and of this in Joel:

Alas for the day! for the day of Jehovah is at hand, and as vastation shall it come (Joel 1:15),

where a “day of cloud” signifies a cloud, or falsity; the “day of the nations” signifies the nations, or wickedness; the “day of Jehovah” signifies vastation. When the notion of time is removed, there remains the notion of the state of the things which existed at that time. The case is the same with regard to the “days” and “years” that are so often mentioned in this chapter.