791. NOTE

After the completion of this book, the Lord called together His twelve disciples, who had followed Him in the world; and a day later He sent them all forth throughout the spiritual world to preach the Gospel, that the Lord God Jesus Christ is king, and His kingdom shall be for ever and ever, as foretold by Daniel (Daniel 7:13-14) and in Revelation (Revelation 11:15):

Blessed are they who come to the wedding supper of the Lamb, Revelation 19:9.

This happened on the nineteenth of June in the year 1770. This was meant by the Lord's saying:

He will send his angels, and they will gather together His chosen people from the bounds of the heavens on one side as far as the bounds of the heavens on the other, Matthew 24:31.

"Age" is used in slightly different ways depending on the context, and those differences are reflected in the word’s spiritual meanings. All variations, though, reflect the fact that in there is no time in spiritual reality, and what we experience as time in the physical world reflects changes in the states of life and love in the spiritual world. People’s ages, when mentioned in the Bible, represent the spiritual states those people were in, and also spiritual states we go through in our development. An "age" as a measurement of time represents the duration of a particular spiritual state, which could be temporary or eternal. When referring to the "consummation of the age," "age" represents the pre-eminence of a particular church or belief system, which has turned to evil and must be destroyed to make way for the next. When used as "this age" – some translations of the Bible talk about "sons of this age" – it represents physical life as opposed to life in heaven. Finally, when used as "ages of ages" it represents a permanent spiritual state which is unchanging.

In Genesis 15:15; Exodus 30:21, to be buried in a good old age signifies to pass from an obscure life to a clear one. (Arcana Coelestia 1854, 10248, Arcana Coelestia 10248, Arcana Coelestia 1854)