8856. When a person is being regenerated charity is implanted in him by means of faith until it becomes dominant; and when charity has become dominant he has new life since it is unceasingly present in his thought and unceasingly present in his will. Indeed it is present in every aspect of them, even when his mind is on other things or he is involved in dealings with others.
Apocalypse Explained #903
903. Verses 14-16. And I saw, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sitting like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel went out from the temple, crying out with a great voice to Him that sat upon the cloud, Send Thy sickle and reap, for the hour for Thee to reap is come, for the harvest of the earth is dried up. And He that sat upon the cloud cast His sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped.
14. "And I saw," signifies prediction respecting the separation of the good from the evil (n. 904); "and behold a white cloud," signifies Divine truth in ultimates, such as the Word is in the sense of the letter, within which is the spiritual sense (n. 905); "and upon the cloud One sitting like unto the Son of man," signifies the Lord in the heavens in the Divine truth or the Word which is from Him n. 906; "having upon His head a golden crown," signifies the Divine good girded for judgment n. 907; "and in His hand a sharp sickle," signifies the Divine truth accurately exploring and separating n. 908.
15. "And another angel went out from the temple," signifies exploration by the Lord of the state of the church in general (n. 909); "crying out with a great voice to Him that sat upon the cloud," signifies announcement after exploration or visitation (n. 910); "send Thy sickle and reap, for the hour for Thee to reap is come, for the harvest of the earth is dried up," signifies that it is the time for gathering up the good and separating them from the evil, because this is the end of the church n. 911.
16. "And He that sat upon the cloud cast the sickle upon the earth, and the earth was reaped," signifies the gathering out of the good from the evil, and that thus the church was laid waste n. 912.
