4229. 第32章

最后的审判 (续)

我们从第三卷 (系指拉丁文的第3卷) 开始解释主在马太福音 24章关于最后审判的预言. 这些解释被放在了那一卷最后几章的开头部分, 目前已解释到31节 (参看3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3897-3901, 4056-4060节).

概括地说, 主的这些预言的内义从所给出的解释很清楚看出来, 即祂预言了教会的逐渐毁灭和最终一个新教会的建立, 其次序如下:

⑴教会成员不再知道何为良善与真理, 反而开始彼此争论它们.

⑵他们蔑视它们.

⑶他们从心里不承认它们.

⑷他们亵渎它们.

⑸由于信之真理和爱之良善仍存留在某些被称为 “选民” 的人当中, 故经上描述了那时信之真理所具有的状态.

⑹然后描述了仁的状态.

⑺最后论述了一个新教会的开始, 由最后所解释的那些话来表示, 即:

祂要差遣祂的使者, 用号筒的大声, 将祂的选民从四风, 从天这边到天那边, 都招聚了来. (马太福音 24:31)

这些话表示一个新教会的开始 (参看4060末尾节).

2850. 'And like the sand which is on the seashore' means a whole multitude of correspondent facts. This is clear from the meaning of 'the sea' as facts in general or a gathering together of them, dealt with in 28, 2120, and from the meaning of 'the sand' as facts individually and separately. Facts are compared to 'the sand' because in the internal sense the particles of stone from which the sand is formed mean facts, 643, 1298. Both comparisons are made here - that they will be multiplied 'as the stars of the heavens' and 'as the sand on the seashore 'because 'stars', or cognitions, are related to the rational, whereas 'the sand of the seashore', or facts, are related to the natural. When the things that belong to the rational man, namely the goods and truths present in cognitions, so exist in accordance with the things that belong to the natural man, that is to say, with facts, that they make one or mutually support each other, they in that case correspond. The Lord brings man's rational concepts and his natural images into this state of correspondence when He regenerates him, that is, makes him spiritual. It is for this reason that both the stars of the heavens and the sand on the seashore are mentioned here. Otherwise one phrase would have been sufficient.