1. はじめに

主は、愛と信仰について、段階を追ってお話しになったあと、弟子たちをまえに、教会の末期でもある代の終わりについて、次のように言われました、

「その日々に起こる患難ののち、太陽はたちまち暗くなり、月はその光を放つことをやめ、星々は空から落ち、天体はゆり動かされる。そのとき、人の子のしるしが天に現れる。またそのとき、地のすべての民族はなげき、人の子が、力と大いなる栄光とをもって、天の雲に乗ってくるのを見る。かれは、大いなるラッパの音とともに、天使たちを遣わして、天の果てから果てにいたるまで、四方から、その選民を呼び集める」（マタイ24:29-31）と。

以上の〈みことば〉を文字通りにとれば、人は「最後の審判」と言われる末期に、万事が、記録されている通り、起こると信じるに違いありません。

太陽も月も暗くなり、星々は空から落ち、主のしるしが天空に現れ、主は雲に乗って来られ、ラッパをもった天使たちが見えるとのことです。また他の箇所にもあるように、見える世界がぜんぶ滅び、そのあと、新しい天と新しい地が、出現すると信じます。

現在、教会の中で、このように考えている人が、大勢います。そう信じるのは、〈みことば〉の一つ一つの言葉にかくされた秘義 arcanaに、気づいていないからです。〈みことば〉の一語一語には、内的意味 sensus internus があります。これは、文字だけが意味する自然的・地上的なものではなく、霊的・天上的です。それは複数の語句の中だけでなく、一つ一つの単語の中にもあります。

〈みことば〉の記述には、まぎれもない相応 correspondentiae があるため、一語一語に、内面の意味がふくまれます。内的意味とは何かは、そのため記された『天界の秘義 Arcana Caelestia』の内容からも、『黙示録 Apocalypsis』にある「白馬」を説明した小著『白馬De Equo Albo』からも、すべて明らかになります。

先に引用した「主が天の雲に乗ってくる」と言われたことも、同じように解釈する必要があります。「太陽は暗くなる」とありますが、その「太陽」は愛の面から見た主を、「月」は信仰の面から見た主を指します。「星々」は、善と真理の認識、あるいは愛と信仰の認識です。「天に現れる人の子のしるし」とは、〈神の真理〉の出現です。また、なげき悲しむ「地の民族」とは、真理と善、信仰と愛のすべてを指します。

「主が、力と栄光とをもって、天の雲に乗ってくる」とは、〈みことば〉の中に、主ご自身が現存しておられること、または啓示を意味します。「雲」は、〈みことば〉の文字上の意味です。「栄光」は、〈みことば〉の内的意味です。「大いなるラッパの音とともに来る天使たち」は、〈神の真理〉のでどころ,出所である天界を意味します。

上記の主の〈みことば〉から、愛も信仰も失った教会の末期に、主は〈みことば〉の内的意味をひらき、天界の秘義を啓示してくださることが、わかってきます。この秘義は、これから順を追って明らかにされます。それは、天界、地獄、人間の死後の〈いのち〉がテーマになります。

現在、教会に属している人は、〈みことば〉に全部記されているのに、天界や地獄についても、自分の死後の〈いのち〉についても、ほとんど何も知りません。教会の中で主を受けいれた人も、多くは、「あの世からやってきて、話してくれた人がいただろうか」と、心の中でつぶやいては、否定しています。

このような否定的態度は、この世の知識人をとりこにし、さらに純真な心と単純な信仰をもつ人を害し、堕落させる恐れがあります。そうならないため、わたしは天使たちと、人間同士のように話しあい、天界と地獄の様子を目撃する機会が与えられました。それがすでに十三年続いています。

わたしは、以上のような無知をはらいのけ、不信を消し去るため、見たこと聞いたことを、ここに書きしるします。現在このように、啓示が直接に与えられているのは、これが主の到来 adventus Domini を意味するからです。

26. The Lord is called the Son of Humanity when the subject is his Coming, as we can see from the following: the disciples said to Jesus, “What will be the sign of your Coming and of the close of the age?”; and then the Lord foretold the states of the church in succession all the way to the end, saying this about its end: “Then the sign of the Son of Humanity will appear, and they will see the Son of Humanity coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory” (Matthew 24:3, 30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27). The close of the age means the last time of the church; coming in the clouds of heaven with glory means opening the Word and making it clear that it was written about him alone. In Daniel:

I was watching, and behold, the Son of Humanity was coming in the clouds of the heavens! (Daniel 7:13)

In Revelation:

Behold, he is coming with clouds, and every eye will see him. (Revelation 1:7)

This too is about the Son of Humanity, as we can see from 13 in the same chapter. Again in Revelation:

I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and on the cloud sat someone like the Son of Humanity. (Revelation 14:14)

[2] In his own mind, the Lord understood “the Son of God” and “the Son of Humanity” to mean different things, as we can see from his response to the high priest:

The high priest said to Jesus, “I put you under oath by the living God: tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God.” Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. I am. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Humanity sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven.” (Matthew 26:63-64; [Mark 14:61-62])

Here he first declares that he is the Son of God, and then says that they are going to see the Son of Humanity sitting at the right hand of power and coming in the clouds of heaven. This means that after suffering on the cross he would have access to the divine power to open the Word and establish a church, things that he could not do before because he had not yet overcome the hells and glorified his human nature.

The meaning of coming in the clouds of heaven and coming with glory has been explained in 1 of Heaven and Hell.

1. The Lord, speaking in the presence of His disciples of the consummation of the age, which is the final period of the church, ¹ says, near the end of what He foretells about its successive states in respect to love and faith: ²

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven; and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He shall send forth His angels with a trumpet and a great sound; and they shall gather together His elect from the four winds, from the end to end of the heavens (Matthew 24:29-31).

Those who understood these words according to the sense of the letter have no other belief than that during that latest period, which is called the final judgment, all these things are to come to pass just as they are described in the literal sense, that is, that the sun and moon will be darkened and the stars will fall from the sky, that the sign of the Lord will appear in the sky, and He Himself will be seen in the clouds, attended by angels with trumpets; and furthermore, as is foretold elsewhere, that the whole visible universe will be destroyed, and afterwards a new heaven with a new earth will come into being. Such is the opinion of most men in the church at the present day. But those who so believe are ignorant of the arcana that lie hid in every particular of the Word. For in every particular of the Word there is an internal sense which treats of things spiritual and heavenly, not of things natural and worldly, such as are treated of in the sense of the letter. And this is true not only of the meaning of groups of words, it is true of each particular word. ³ For the Word is written solely by correspondences, ⁴ to the end that there may be an internal sense in every least particular of it. What that sense is can be seen from all that has been said and shown about it in the Arcana Coelestia; also from quotations gathered from that work in the explanation of The White Horse spoken of in the Apocalypse. It is according to that sense that what the Lord says in the passage quoted above respecting His coming in the clouds of heaven is to be understood. The "sun" there that is to be darkened signifies the Lord in respect to love; ⁵ the "moon" the Lord in respect to faith; ⁶ "stars" knowledges of good and truth, or of love and faith; ⁷ "the sign of the Son of man in heaven" the manifestation of Divine truth; "the tribes of the earth" that shall mourn, all things relating to truth and good or to faith and love; ⁸ "the coming of the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and glory" His presence in the Word, and revelation, ⁹ "clouds" signifying the sense of the letter of the Word, ¹⁰ and "glory" the internal sense of the Word; ¹¹ " the angels with a trumpet and great voice" signify heaven as a source of Divine truth. ¹² All this makes clear that these words of the Lord mean that at the end of the church, when there is no longer any love, and consequently no faith, the Lord will open the internal meaning of the Word and reveal arcana of heaven. The arcana revealed in the following pages relate to heaven and hell, and also to the life of man after death. The man of the church at this date knows scarcely anything about heaven and hell or about his life after death, although all these matters are set forth and described in the Word; and yet many of those born within the church refuse to believe in them, saying in their hearts, "Who has come from that world and told us?" Lest, therefore, such a spirit of denial, which especially prevails with those who have much worldly wisdom, should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and the simple in faith, it has been granted me to associate with angels and to talk with them as man with man, also to see what is in the heavens and what is in the hells, and this for thirteen years; so now from what I have seen and heard it has been granted me to describe these, in the hope that ignorance may thus be enlightened and unbelief dissipated. Such immediate revelation is granted at this day because this is what is meant by the Coming of the Lord.

[REFERENCES TO THE AUTHOR'S ARCANA COELESTIA.]

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