194. And thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. That this signifies man's ignorance of that time, and of his state then, is evident from the signification of hour, as being the time when man is to die, and also his state at the time; and from the signification of not knowing it, as being ignorant. It is said, what hour I will come upon thee, namely, as a thief; and in the sense of the letter is hereby meant that the Lord would thus come, but in the spiritual sense it is meant that evils and falsities would steal the knowledges which they have from the Word; for, in the sense of the letter of the Word, it is attributed to Jehovah, or the Lord, that He does evil, but, in the spiritual sense it is meant that He does evil to no one, but that man does evil to himself (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2447, 5798, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7877, 7679, 7710, 7926, 8227, 8228, 8284, 8483, 8632, 9010, 9128, 9306, 10431).

[2] The reason why hour also signifies state is, because in the Word all times, as a day, a week, a month, a year, an age, signify states of life, and hence hour has a similar signification. (The cause of this may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 162-169, where time in heaven is treated of.)

But because hour signifies both time and state, therefore, where hour is mentioned in the Word it may to some extent be known that something other than time is signified by it.

In Matthew:

A householder hired labourers into his vineyard, who, laboured from the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh, and received an equal reward (Matthew 20:1-17).

By these hours in the world are meant times, but in heaven states of the life, because there are no hours in heaven, as times there are not measurable, and divided into days, and these into hours, as in the world, therefore instead of these they there perceive the states of the life of those who die, whether old, young, youths or children, who have alike procured to themselves spiritual life. To labour in the vineyard, denotes the procuring of spiritual life by means of knowledges of good and truth from the Word applied to the uses of life. (That a vineyard in the Word signifies the spiritual church, and spiritual life pertaining to man, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3220, 9139.) By the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours similar states of life are signified; for all numbers in the Word are significative, and those numbers have a similar signification. Three signifies a full state, or what is complete even to the end (see n. 2788, 4495, 7715, 8347, 9825). The like is signified by six and nine; but the number eleven signifies a state not yet full, but yet a state of reception, such as that of well-disposed children and infants. The twelfth hour up to which they all laboured, signifies truths and goods in their fulness (see n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913. That all numbers in the Word are significative, see n. 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253; and that multiplied numbers have a similar signification to the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication, hence three, six, and nine have a similar signification, see n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973).

[3] Since twelve signifies truths and goods in their fulness, and thus a state of light or of man's intelligence therefrom, the Lord says,

"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walk in the day, he stumbleth not" (John 11:9).

In other places, also by hours are signified states of life, as in the Apocalypse:

"The four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men" (9:15).

By the times here mentioned are meant states of evil in men, as will be seen when we come to the explanation of those words.

From these considerations it is now evident that by, Thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee, is meant man's ignorance not only of the time of his death, but also of the state of his life at that time, which state remains to eternity; for according to the quality of the state of man's past life even to the end of it, such he remains to eternity.

[4] Similar things are frequently said by the Lord in the Evangelists, as in Matthew:

"Ye know not in what hour your Lord doth come; be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man shall come" (24:42, 44).

Again:

"The lord of the servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of" (24:50).

And again:

"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man shall come" (25:13).

It must be known that a man remains to eternity such as the quality of his whole life has been to the end, and not at all such as he is at the hour of death; for repentance then in the case of the evil is of no avail, but with the good it confirms the state.

4060. Therefore the words quoted above [in 4056] mean the state of the Church at that time as regards good, that is, as regards charity towards the neighbour and love to the Lord. This is clear from the internal sense of these words, which is as follows:

But immediately after the affliction of those days means the state of the Church as regards the truth of faith, which is dealt with in the verses immediately before this. In the Word desolation of truth is called 'affliction' in various places - 'days' being states, see 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785. From this it is evident that these words mean that once faith no longer exists neither will any charity exist. For faith leads to charity because it teaches what charity is, and charity acquires its particular character from the truths of faith. The truths of faith however receive their essence and life from charity, as has been shown many times in previous volumes.

[2] The sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light means love to the Lord, which is 'the sun', and charity towards the neighbour, which is 'the moon'. 'Being darkened' and 'not giving light' mean that that love and charity will not be in evidence and so will disappear. For 'the sun' means the celestial kind of love and 'the moon' the spiritual kind; that is, 'the sun' means love to the Lord, and 'the moon' charity towards the neighbour which comes through faith, see 1053, 1529, 1530, 2120, 2441, 2495. The reason why the sun and the moon have these meanings is that the Lord is seen in the next life as a sun by those in heaven who are governed by love to Him and are called celestial, and as a moon by those who are governed by charity towards the neighbour and are referred to as spiritual, see 1053, 1521, 1529-1531, 3636, 3643.

[3] The sun and the moon in heaven, or the Lord, are never darkened, nor do they lose their light but are shining unceasingly. Thus in heaven there is no darkening or loss of light in the love which celestial angels have for the Lord or in the charity which spiritual angels show towards the neighbour. Nor on earth is there any in people with whom angels are present, that is, in people who are governed by love and charity. But those who are not governed by any love or charity, only by self-love and love of the world, and consequently by feelings of hatred and revenge, bring that kind of obscurity to themselves. It is like the sun of this world which is shining constantly; yet when clouds intervene the sun is not visible, see 2441.

[4] And the stars will fall from heaven means that cognitions of good and truth will perish. When mentioned in the Word 'stars' have no other meaning than those cognitions, 1808, 2849.

And the powers of the heavens will be shaken means the foundations of the Church which are said to be shaken and jolted when those cognitions perish. This is because the Church on earth is heaven's foundation; for the influx of good and truth from the Lord through the heavens culminates ultimately in the goods and truths present with the member of the Church. Consequently when the state of the member of the Church is so perverse that he no longer allows good or truth to flow into him 'the powers of the heavens' are in that case said 'to be shaken'. That being so, the Lord always provides for some vestige of the Church to be left. And when the old Church perishes a new one is established.

[5] And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven means the manifestation of Divine truth - 'sign' meaning a manifestation, 'the Son of Man' the Lord as regards Divine truth, see 2803, 2813, 3704. This manifestation, or this 'sign', is what the disciples asked for when they said to the Lord,

Tell us, when will those things take place; what especially will be the sign of Your coming and of the close of the age? Matthew 24:3.

For they knew from the Word that when the age drew to a close the Lord would come, and they knew from the Lord that He would be coming again, by which they understood the Lord's coming a second time into the world since they were not yet aware of the fact that the Lord had come as often as the Church had been brought to ruin. Not that any of these comings had been a coming in person, as was the case when, through birth in the world, He took on the Human and made this Divine. Rather, those comings had been made through appearances or manifestations of Himself, such as when He appeared in Mamre to Abraham, in the bush to Moses, on Mount Sinai to the Israelites, and to Joshua when he entered the land of Canaan. There were other comings of a less visible nature, such as those at times when inspiration was received and the Word was given by means of it, and later on through the Word itself. For the Word has the Lord present within it; every detail there comes from Him and has reference to Him, as may be recognized from what has been shown many times up to now. This is the kind of appearance that is meant here by 'the sign of the Son of Man' and is the subject in the present verse under consideration.

[6] And then all the tribes of the earth will mourn means that all in whom the good of love and the truth of faith dwell will experience grief. This is what is meant by 'mourning', see Zechariah 12:10-14; and 'the tribes' means all aspects of good and truth, that is, of love and faith, 3858, 3926, and so consequently those in whom these things dwell. The phrase 'the tribes of the earth' is used because those inside the Church are meant - 'the earth' being the Church, see 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2928,

[7] And they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory means that at that time a revelation of the internal sense of the Word - the sense in which the Lord is present - will take place. 'The Son of Man' means Divine truth within the Word, 2803, 2813, 3704, 'the clouds' the literal sense. 'Power' has reference to the good and 'glory' to the truth present there. For this meaning of 'seeing the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven', see Preface to Genesis 18. This is the kind of coming of the Lord that is meant here, not a literal manifestation of Him in clouds. Next follows a reference to the establishment of a new Church, which takes place once the old has been brought to ruin and cast aside.

[8] He will send out His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice means election - not by visible angels, still less by trumpets and by loud voices, but by an influx of holy good and of holy truth from the Lord through angels, so that the expression 'angels' in the Word means something essentially the Lord's, 1925, 2821, 3039. In this instance it means things which come from the Lord and have reference to the Lord. 'A trumpet and a loud voice' means the proclamation of the Gospel, as in other places in the Word.

[9] And they will gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other end of them means the establishment of a new Church, 'the elect' being people in whom the good of love and faith dwell, 3755 (end), 3900, 'the four winds' from which they will be gathered being all states of good and truth, 3708, and 'one end of the heavens to the other' the internal and the external features of the Church. These are the considerations that are meant by these words spoken by the Lord.