Title: Final Gathering, Attack, and Collapse (Rev. 19-20)

Topic: Second Coming

Summary: Final Gathering, Attack, and Collapse (Rev. 19-20)

Use the reference links below to follow along in the Bible as you watch.

References:
Revelation 19; 20:1-14; 6:9
Hebrews 9:27
Exodus 15:6, 8-10
Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43
Ezekiel 38:8-13, 20-23; 39:1, 4-7, 17-29

1203. Verse 3. And a second time they said, Alleluia, signifies the joy and gladness of the angels of the lower heavens, and the glorification of the Lord because of their deliverance from those signified by "Babylon" and by "the beasts of the dragon." This is evident from what has been explained above (n. 1195-1196). Joy, gladness, and glorification of the Lord by the angels of the lower heavens is what is here meant, because it is said "a second time," and because it is added that "their smoke goeth up unto the ages of the ages," also because glorifications of the Lord are begun by angels of the higher heavens and proceed to angels of the lower heavens. That "Alleluia" signifies praise and glorification may be seen above (n. 1197).

(Continuation)

[2] Something shall now be said about the vegetable kingdom, and its soul, which is called the plant soul. That this, too, is spiritual is not known in the world. By the plant soul is meant the tendency and effort to produce a plant from its seed progressively even to new seeds, and thereby to multiply itself to infinity, and to propagate itself to eternity; for there is as it were in every plant an idea of what is infinite and eternal; for a single seed can be so multiplied during a certain number of years as to fill the whole earth, and can also be propagated from seed to seed without end. This, with the wonderful process of growth from the root into a sprout, then into a stalk, also into branches, leaves, flowers, fruits, even into new seeds, is not a natural but a spiritual power. Likewise, plants have in many respects a relation to such things as belong to the animal kingdom, as that they exist from seed, in which there is as it were a prolific power, they produce a sprout like an infant, a stalk like a body, branches like arms, a top like a head, barks like skins, leaves like lungs, they grow in years, and afterwards blossom like maidens before their nuptials, and after these they expand like wombs or eggs, and bring forth fruit like offspring, in which are contained new seeds, from which, as in the animal kingdom, spring new prolifications or fructifications of the same kind or stock. These and many other things that are observed by those skilled in the art of botany who have traced a parallel between the two kingdoms, indicate that the tendency and effort to such things are not from the natural world but from the spiritual. That the living force as the principal cause is the spiritual, and that the dead force as the instrumental cause is the natural, will be seen in what follows.