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).

3898. 若不藉着内义, 没有人知道这些话是什么意思. 如假先知将要起来, 显大神迹, 大奇事; 若有人说, 基督在旷野, 不可以出去; 若他们说, 祂在内屋中, 不可以信; 人子来临如闪电从东边发出, 直照到西边; 以及尸首在哪里, 鹰也必聚在那里. 从字义上看, 这些话和本章前, 后的话一样, 似乎彼此没什么关联. 然而, 从内义上看, 它们处在最优美的次序中, 当理解了 “假基督”, “神迹和奇事”, “旷野”, “内屋”, “人子来临”, 以及最后 “尸首” 和 “鹰” 的含义时, 这优美次序就开始变得明显了. 主以这种方式说话, 是叫人们不能理解圣言, 免得他们亵渎之. 因为一旦教会荒废了, 如那时它在犹太人当中的情形, 人们若理解圣言, 就会亵渎之. 这也是为何主以比喻说话, 如祂自己在马太福音 (13:13-15), 马可福音 (4:11, 12), 路加福音 (8:10) 中的教导. 因为那些不知道圣言秘密的人无法亵渎圣言, 唯有那些知道的人才能亵渎 (参看301-303, 593, 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 3398, 3402节); 那些自认为有学问的人比那些自认为没有学问的人更能亵渎之.

圣言的内层现在之所以正在揭开, 是因为除了少数过着良善生活, 被称为选民的人外, 如今教会已经如此荒凉, 即如此缺乏信与爱, 以至于人们虽知道并理解, 却仍不承认, 更不相信 (参看3398, 3399节). 新教会要建立在如今能被教导的这少数人当中. 不过, 唯独主知道这少数人在哪里. 过去, 新教会总是建立在外邦人当中 (参看2986节).

649. Verse 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, signifies in the end of the church, when the Divine of the Lord is no longer acknowledged, and thence there is no longer any good of love or truth of doctrine. This is evident from the signification of "testimony," as being the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, and thence of the good of love and truth of doctrine (of which presently), and from the signification of "to finish it," as being to bring to an end; and as this comes to an end at the end of the church; "to finish" here signifies the end of the church; and as there is then no longer any acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord, there is therefore no good of love or truth of doctrine.

[2] That this is the signification of "testimony," can be seen from what has been thus far said about "the two witnesses," namely, that by them the good of love and charity and the truth of doctrine and faith are meant, because these are what especially testify concerning the Lord, for they are from the Lord, and are His with man; therefore "their testimony" signifies preaching concerning these. That "testimony" here signifies the acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord is evident from what follows in Revelation:

That the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Revelation 19:10).

For unless a man acknowledges this from the heart, and believes it from spiritual faith, he can have no ability to receive the good of love or the truth of doctrine.

[3] At the end of the church indeed the Lord is preached, and from doctrine a Divine is also attributed to Him like the Divine of the Father; yet scarcely anyone thinks of His Divine, for the reason that they place it above or outside of His Human; therefore they do not look to the Lord when they look to His Divine, but to the Father as to another, and yet the Divine that is called the Father is in the Lord, as He Himself teaches in John 10:30, 38; 14:7. For this reason men think of the Lord in the same way as they think of a common man, and from that thought their faith flows, however much they may say with the lips that they believe in His Divine. Let anyone explore, if he can, the idea of his thought about the Lord, whether it be not such. But when it is such man cannot be conjoined to the Lord by faith and love, nor through conjunction receive any good of love or truth of faith. This, then, is why there is at the end of the church no acknowledgment of the Lord, that is, of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord. It is believed that there is an acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, because such is the doctrine of the church; but so long as His Divine is separated from His Human, His Divine is yet not acknowledged interiorly but only exteriorly, and to acknowledge exteriorly is to acknowledge with the mouth only and not with the heart, or in speech only and not in faith.

[4] That this is so can be seen from Christians in the other life, where the thoughts of the heart are manifested. When they are permitted to speak from doctrine and from what they have heard from preaching they attribute a Divine to the Lord, and call it their belief; but when their interior thought and faith are explored they have no other idea of the Lord than as of a common man who has no Divine. It is man's interior thought that is the source of his faith; and as such is the thought and consequent faith of man's spirit, there is plainly no acknowledgment of the Divine in the Lord and from the Lord in the Christian world at the end of the church. In other words, there is an external acknowledgment of the Divine of the Lord, but no internal, and an external acknowledgment is of the natural man alone, while internal acknowledgment is of his very spirit; and after death the external acknowledgment is put to sleep, while the internal is the acknowledgment of his spirit. From this it can in some measure be seen how what follows is to be understood, namely, "the beast that cometh up out of the abyss shall overcome and kill the two witnesses," and their "bodies shall be seen upon the street of the city that is called Sodom and Egypt," and afterwards that "the spirit of life entered into them."