Apocalypse Explained #83
83. And I became dead, signifies that He was rejected. This is evident from this, that the Lord is said to be "dead" when faith in Him and love towards Him are no more; for with those who are in love towards Him and faith in Him the Lord lives, but with those who are not in love and in faith toward Him He does not live. With such He is said to be "dead" because He is rejected. This is what is here meant in the internal sense by the words "I became dead;" but in the sense of the letter it is meant that He was crucified. The Lord's being crucified has a like signification in the internal sense, namely, that He was rejected and treated thus by the Jews; for the Lord, when He was in the world, was Divine truth itself, and as Divine truth was altogether rejected by the Jews, therefore the Lord, who was Divine truth, suffered Himself to be crucified. Such things are signified by all that is related in the Evangelists concerning the Lord's passion; the particulars, even to every minutest particular, involve this. Whenever, therefore, the Lord speaks of His passion He calls Himself the Son of man, that is, Divine truth (See above, n. 63). That Divine truth was altogether rejected by the Jews is well known; for they accepted nothing that the Lord said, and not even that He was the Son of God. From this it may be known how those things that the Lord said to the disciples about the Jews' rejection of Him are to be understood. Thus in Luke:
The Son of man must suffer many things, and be repudiated by the elders and chief priests and scribes (Luke 9:22).
In the same:
The Son of man must suffer many things, and be repudiated by this generation (Luke 17:25).
In Mark:
It is written of the Son of man, that He should suffer many things and be set at naught (Mark 9:12).
In Luke:
Jesus took unto Him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all the things that are foretold through the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For He shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and shamefully entreated, and spit upon; and after they have scourged Him, they shall put Him to death; but the third day He shall rise again (Luke 18:31-33).
The way in which the Jews treated Divine truth, which was from the Word, is signified by these particulars. "Jerusalem" here is the Jewish Church; "to be delivered unto the Gentiles, to be mocked, to be shamefully entreated, to be spit upon, to be scourged, to be put to death," are the wicked ways in which the Jews treated Divine truth; and as the Lord was Divine truth itself, because He was the Word (John 1:14), and as it was foretold in the prophets that Divine truth would be so dealt with in the end of the church, therefore it is said, "that all things may be accomplished that have been foretold through the prophets concerning the Son of man." So elsewhere in the same Gospel:
These are the words which I spoke unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled which are written in the law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms, concerning Me (Luke 24:44).
That all things were accomplished when Jesus was crucified He Himself said, when He was upon the cross:
Jesus, knowing that all things were accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, I thirst (John 19:28).
He then said, "I thirst," because He longed for a new church that would acknowledge Him. (That to "thirst," in the spiritual sense, signifies to long for, and that it is predicated of the truths of the church, see Arcana Coelestia 4958, 4976, 8568.) These are also the things that were predicted by Daniel concerning vastation and desolation:
After sixty and two weeks shall the Messiah be cut off, but not for Himself; then the people of the Prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary, so that its end shall be with a flood. At last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even to the consummation and decision it shall drop upon the devastation (Daniel 9:26-27).
"Desolation" and "vastation" signify repudiation and rejection of Divine truth with those that are of the church (See Arcana Coelestia 5360, 5376). That Divine truth, which is the Word, was so repudiated by the Jews, is also meant by these words in Matthew:
I say unto you that Elias is come already, and they have not acknowledged him, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Even so shall the Son of man suffer of them (Matthew 17:12).
By "Elias" the Word is signified (See Arcana Coelestia, preface to chapter 18 of Genesis, and in n. 2762, 5247), and also by "John the Baptist;" therefore he was called "Elias" (n. 7643, 9372). From this it can be seen what is signified by "Elias has come," and that "they have done to him whatsoever they listed," and that "the Son of man is to suffer of them." How the Jews explained and thus rejected the Word is clear from many passages in the Gospels, where the Lord makes this manifest. From this it can now be seen that "I became dead," signifies that He was rejected. Moreover, that the Lord, by the passion of the cross, also glorified His Human, that is, made it Divine, see New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, n. 294-295, 302, 305.
Daniel 9
1
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;
2
In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of the LORD came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
3
And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplication, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
4
And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;
5
We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy judgments:
6
Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land.
7
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.
8
O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
9
To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have rebelled against him;
10
Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.
11
Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God, because we have sinned against him.
12
And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil: for under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon Jerusalem.
13
As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer before the LORD our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
14
Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us: for the LORD our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for we obeyed not his voice.
15
And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly.
16
O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us.
17
Now therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, for the Lord's sake.
18
O my God, incline thine ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies.
19
O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy name.
20
And whiles I was speaking, and praying, and confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel, and presenting my supplication before the LORD my God for the holy mountain of my God;
21
Yea, whiles I was speaking in prayer, even the man Gabriel, whom I had seen in the vision at the beginning, being caused to fly swiftly, touched me about the time of the evening oblation.
22
And he informed me, and talked with me, and said, O Daniel, I am now come forth to give thee skill and understanding.
23
At the beginning of thy supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to shew thee; for thou art greatly beloved: therefore understand the matter, and consider the vision.
24
Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.
25
Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times.
26
And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.
27
And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.
