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Daniel 8

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1 In the third year of the reign of king Belshazzar a vision appeared to me, even to me, Daniel, after that which appeared to me at the first.

2 I saw in the vision; now it was so, that when I saw, I was in the citadel of Susa, which is in the province of Elam; and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai.

3 Then I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns: and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last.

4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward, and southward; and no animals could stand before him, neither was there any who could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself.

5 As I was considering, behold, a male goat came from the west over the surface of the whole earth, and didn't touch the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes.

6 He came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran on him in the fury of his power.

7 I saw him come close to the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and struck the ram, and broke his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled on him; and there was none who could deliver the ram out of his hand.

8 The male goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and instead of it there came up four notable [horns] toward the four winds of the sky.

9 Out of one of them came forth a little horn, which grew exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious [land].

10 It grew great, even to the army of the sky; and some of the army and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled on them.

11 Yes, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the army; and it took away from him the continual [burnt offering], and the place of his sanctuary was cast down.

12 The army was given over [to it] together with the continual [burnt offering] through disobedience; and it cast down truth to the ground, and it did [its pleasure] and prospered.

13 Then I heard a holy one speaking; and another holy one said to that certain one who spoke, How long shall be the vision [concerning] the continual [burnt offering], and the disobedience that makes desolate, to give both the sanctuary and the army to be trodden under foot?

14 He said to me, To two thousand and three hundred evenings [and] mornings; then shall the sanctuary be cleansed.

15 It happened, when I, even I Daniel, had seen the vision, that I sought to understand it; and behold, there stood before me as the appearance of a man.

16 I heard a man's voice between [the banks of] the Ulai, which called, and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision.

17 So he came near where I stood; and when he came, I was frightened, and fell on my face: but he said to me, Understand, son of man; for the vision belongs to the time of the end.

18 Now as he was speaking with me, I fell into a deep sleep with my face toward the ground; but he touched me, and set me upright.

19 He said, Behold, I will make you know what shall be in the latter time of the indignation; for it belongs to the appointed time of the end.

20 The ram which you saw, that had the two horns, they are the kings of Media and Persia.

21 The rough male goat is the king of Greece: and the great horn that is between his eyes is the first king.

22 As for that which was broken, in the place where four stood up, four kingdoms shall stand up out of the nation, but not with his power.

23 In the latter time of their kingdom, when the transgressors are come to the full, a king of fierce face, and understanding dark sentences, shall stand up.

24 His power shall be mighty, but not by his own power; and he shall destroy wonderfully, and shall prosper and do [his pleasure]; and he shall destroy the mighty ones and the holy people.

25 Through his policy he shall cause craft to prosper in his hand; and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and in [their] security shall he destroy many: he shall also stand up against the prince of princes; but he shall be broken without hand.

26 The vision of the evenings and mornings which has been told is true: but seal up the vision; for it belongs to many days [to come].

27 I, Daniel, fainted, and was sick certain days; then I rose up, and did the king's business: and I wondered at the vision, but none understood it.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #5

  
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5. II. THERE HAVE BEEN FOUR SUCCESSIVE STATES, OR PERIODS, OF EACH CHURCH, WHICH IN THE WORD ARE MEANT BY "MORNING, "DAY," "EVENING," AND "NIGHT." That there have been four successive states, or periods, of every one of these Churches above-named, will be illustrated in the following pages, wherein each will be dealt with in its turn. They are described by those alternations of time, because every man who is born in the Church, or in whom the Church has commenced, first comes into its light such as that is in the dawn and morning; afterwards, he advances to its day, and, he who loves its truths, right on to its mid-day; if he then stops in the way, and does not advance into the heat of spring and summer, his day declines towards evening, till at length, like the light at night-time, it grows dark; and then his intelligence in the spiritual things of the Church becomes a cold light, like the light of the days in winter, when he indeed sees the trees standing beside his house, or in his gardens, but stripped of leaves and destitute of fruits-thus, like bare trunks. For, the man of the Church advances from morning to day, to the end that he may be reformed and regenerated by means of the light of reason, which only takes place by a life according to the Commandments of the Lord in the Word. If this does not take place, his light becomes darkness, and the darkness, thick darkness; that is, the truths of light with him are turned into falsities, and the falsities into unseen evils. It is otherwise with the man who suffers himself to be regenerated: night does not overtake him, for he walks in God, and hence is continually in the day; into which, also, he fully enters after death, when he is associated with angels in heaven. This is understood by the following words in the Apocalypse, concerning the New Jerusalem, which is the New Church, truly Christian:

That city shall have no need of the sun and of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof. And the nations which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and there shall be no night there (Rev. 21:23-24, 25; Ezek. 32:8; Amos 5:20; 8:9).

That the successive states of the Church are understood by "morning," "day," "evening," and "night," in the Word, is evident from the following passages therein:

Watch, for ye know not when the Lord of the house will come, at even, or at mid-night, or at cock-crowing, or in the morning (Mark 13:35; Matt. 25:13).

The subject there treated of is the Consummation of the Age, and the coming of the Lord at that time.

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me: He is as the morning light, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3-4).

I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star (Rev. 22:16).

God shall help her, when the morning appeareth (Psalm 46:5).

He is calling to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night (Isa. 21:11-12).

An evil, one evil, behold, is come. The end is come [The morning is come] upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; the time is come, the day is near. Behold the day, behold, it is come; the morning hath gone forth (Ezek. 7:5, 6, 7, 10).

There shall be a day... which shall be known to Jehovah; not day nor night; for about the time of evening there shall be light (Zech. 14:7).

About the time of evening, behold, terror; before the morning, he is not (Isa. 17:14).

In the evening; weeping will endure all night, but singing in the morning (Psalm 30:5).

Even to the evening and the morning, 1 two thousand three hundred; then shall the holy place be justified:... the vision of the evening and the morning is true (Dan. 8:14, 26).

Jehovah in the morning will bring His judgment to light; He will not fail (Zeph. 3:5).

Thus said Jehovah, If ye have made void My covenant of the day and My covenant of the night, so that there be not day and night in their season, My covenant also shall be made void with David My servant (Jer. 33:20-21, 25).

Jesus said, I must work the works of God while it is day; the night cometh when no one can work (John 9:4).

In this night there shall be two men on one bed; one shall be taken, but the other shall be left (Luke 17:34).

In these passages, the Consummation of the Age and the Coming of the Lord are treated of. Hence it may be evident what is meant by there being

Time no longer (Rev. 10:6),

namely, that there would be no morning, day, or evening in the Church, but night; likewise what is meant by

Time, times, and half a time (Rev. 12:14; Dan. 12:7); as also what is meant by the

Fulness of time (Ephes. 1:10; Gal. 4:4).

Footnotes:

1. For the occurrence of the terms "evening and morning" in this verse, see R.V.; also margin of A.V.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.