413. Verse 17. For the great day of His anger is come, signifies the Last Judgment upon the evil. This is evident from the following passages from the Word. The Last Judgment, which is signified by "the great day," is upon the evil and also upon the good; the judgment upon the evil is called "a day of indignation," "of wrath," "of anger," and "of vengeance," while the judgment upon the good is called "the time of the Lord's coming," "the year of His good pleasure," "the year of the redeemed," "the year of salvation." Everyone, whether evil or good, is judged immediately after death, when he enters the spiritual world, where he is to live to eternity, for man is then immediately marked out either for heaven or for hell; he that is marked out for heaven is connected with some heavenly society into which he will afterwards come, and he that is marked out for hell is connected with the infernal society into which he will afterwards come. There is, however, an interval of time before they go thither, chiefly for the purpose of preparation; for the good, that the evils that adhere to them from the body in the world may be wiped away; and for the evil, that the goods that adhere to them outwardly from teachers and from religion may be taken away; according to the Lord's words in Matthew:

Whosoever hath, to him shall be given, that he may have more abundantly; whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that he hath (Matthew 13:32; 25:29).

This delay occurs for this reason also, that the affections, which are of many kinds, may be so arranged and reduced to the ruling love that the man-spirit may become wholly his own love. Yet many of them, both evil and good, were reserved for the Last Judgment; but only such of the evil as from habit acquired in the world had been able to lead a moral life in externals, and such of the good as from ignorance and from their religion had been imbued with falsities; but the rest, when their time had been fulfilled, were separated from these, the good were elevated into heaven, and the evil were cast into hell, and this before the Last Judgment.

[2] The Last Judgment is called "the great day of the anger of God" because to the evil who are cast down into hell it appears as if it were God who did this from anger and wrath, for the destruction that then comes upon them comes from above, and also from the east where the Lord is as a sun, and they are then in terrors, griefs, and also in torments. But the Lord has no anger whatever, for He is love and mercy itself and good itself; and pure love and good itself cannot be angry; for this is contrary to its essence. But it so appears for this reason: when the last state is reached, which is when evils on the earth and at the same time then in the spiritual world have so increased that the supremacy inclines to their side, and thereby the equilibrium between heaven and hell is perishing, and this perishing, the heavens where the angels dwell begin to labor, then the Lord from the sun directs His energy, that is His love, to protecting the angels and restoring the state which labors and begins to totter; and by this energy and power Divine truth united to Divine good, which in its essence is Divine love, penetrates through the heavens to the places below, where the evil have associated themselves together; and because they cannot endure such influx and presence of the Divine love they begin to tremble, and to be in anguish and torment; for thereby the goods and truths which they have learned to feign by speech and action merely in externals, are dispersed, and their internals, which are nothing but evils and falsities, are opened; and as these are in direct opposition to the goods and truths that flow in from within, although they have made evils and falsities their life, they experience such tremor, anguish and torment, that they can no longer maintain themselves, therefore they flee away and cast themselves into the hells which are under the mountains and rocks, where they can be in evils and in the falsities of their evils. This in particular is signified by the words explained above, "They said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the anger of the Lamb."

[3] From this it can be seen why the words "the anger of the Lamb" are used, and why the Last Judgment is called "the great day of His anger," although it is the Divine love that is meant, the operation of which viewed in itself is to save all, for it is a will to save, thus not anger at all, but love. The like is true when an evil spirit who can feign himself an angel of light ascends into heaven. When he comes thither, as he cannot endure the Divine good and the Divine truth that are there, he begins to feel anguish and torment to the extent even that he casts himself down with all his might, nor does he rest until he is in the hell corresponding to his evil.

It is from this appearance, and because when they do evils they are punished, that indignation, anger, wrath, and even fury and vengeance, are so often in the Word attributed to Jehovah, that is, the Lord; but a presentation of all the passages where these are attributed to Jehovah, that is, to the Lord, is here omitted because there are so many of them, and a few only will be cited, in which the Last Judgment is called "the day of the indignation," "of the anger," "of the wrath," and "of the vengeance" of Jehovah and God, as in the following.

[4] In Isaiah:

Behold the day of Jehovah cometh, cruel and of indignation and of the glowing of anger, to lay the land waste, and He shall destroy its sinners out of it. I will make heaven to tremble, the land shall quake out of its place, in the indignation of Jehovah of Hosts, and in the day of the glowing of His anger (Isaiah 13:9, 13).

"A day cruel and of the glowing of Jehovah's anger" means the Last Judgment; and because it is evil that glows, and falsity that is angry, it is called "a day of the glowing of anger." "The land that shall be laid waste, and that shall quake out of its place," means the land that is in the spiritual world, for there are lands there the same as on our globe; and those lands, while the Last Judgment is going on, are "laid waste" and "quake out of their place," for the mountains and hills are then overturned, and the valleys sink down into marshes, and the face of all things there is changed. Nevertheless, "land" in the spiritual sense means the church everywhere, for in the spiritual world the face of the land is similar to the state of the church with those who dwell upon the land there, consequently when the church perishes the land also perishes, for they make one; and then in place of the former land a new one comes into existence; but these changes are unknown to us on our earth. Nevertheless they must be made known, in order that it may be understood what is meant by "the land shall be laid waste, and shall quake out of its place."

[5] In Zephaniah:

When the glowing of the anger of Jehovah hath not yet come upon you; when the day of the anger of Jehovah hath not yet come upon you, it may be ye shall be hid in the day of Jehovah's anger (Zephaniah 2:2-3).

Here, too, "the glowing of anger" and "the day of Jehovah's anger" mean the Last Judgment. In Lamentations:

He doth not remember the footstool of His feet in the day of His anger (Lamentations 2:1).

"The footstool of Jehovah's feet" means the worship of the Lord in the natural world, for the reason that the whole heaven, together with the church in the world, is before the Lord a semblance of one man (as may be seen in Heaven and Hell 78-86), the inmost heaven constituting the head, the other heavens the breast and legs, and the church on earth the feet; consequently the feet signify also the natural; moreover, the heavens rest upon the church which is with mankind as a man does upon his feet (as can be seen from what is shown in the same work, n. 87-102, also 291-302). Since the Last Judgment comes when there is no longer any faith because there is no charity, thus when the church is at an end, it is evident what is meant by "He doth not remember the footstool of His feet in the day of His anger." And elsewhere:

There was none that escaped nor any residue in the day of Jehovah's anger; those whom I brought up and nourished hath mine enemy consumed (Lamentations 2:22).

"The day of Jehovah's anger" is the Last Judgment; that there is then no longer any good of love nor any truth of faith in the church, but evil and falsity is signified by "there was none that escaped nor any residue; those whom I brought up and nourished hath mine enemy consumed;" "there was none that escaped nor any residue" signifying that there was no good nor truth; "whom I brought up and nourished" meaning those who are of the church, who have all spiritual food or the knowledge of good and truth from the Word; "the enemy that consumed them" meaning evil and falsity.

[6] In Revelation:

Thine anger came, the time of judging the dead, and of giving the reward to Thy servants, and to those that fear Thy name, and of destroying them that destroy the earth (Revelation 11:18).

This makes clear that "anger" or "the day of anger" means the Last Judgment, for it is said "Thine anger came, the time of judging the dead." In Isaiah:

The day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed hath come. I have trodden down the peoples in Mine anger, and made them drunk in My wrath (Isaiah 63:4, 6).

This treats of the combats of the Lord, by which He subjugated the hells, thus of a Last Judgment which was accomplished by Him when He was in the world; for by combats, which were temptations admitted into Himself, He subjugated the hells and wrought a Last Judgment. It is this judgment that is meant by "the day of Jehovah's anger and wrath" in the Word of the Old Testament; but the Last Judgment, which has at the present time been accomplished is meant by "the day of His anger" in Revelation. (That a Last Judgment was performed by the Lord when He was in the world, see Last Judgment 46.) The subjugation of the hells is here signified by "I have trodden them down in Mine anger, and have made them drunk in My wrath;" "the year of the redeemed" signifies the judgment upon the good who are saved.

[7] In the same:

The spirit of the Lord Jehovih is upon me, to proclaim the year of Jehovah's good pleasure, and the day of vengeance for our God; to comfort all that mourn (Isaiah 61:1, 2).

The day of vengeance of Jehovah, the year of retributions for the controversy of Zion (Isaiah 34:8).

"The day of vengeance of Jehovah," like "the day of His anger and wrath," signifies the Last Judgment. This is because vengeance is attributed to Jehovah or the Lord for the same reason anger and wrath are-namely, from the appearance that those who have denied the Divine and have been hostile in heart and mind to the goods and truths of the church, consequently hostile to the Lord who is the source of these, are cast down into hell (as are all who live wickedly). And because these are treated as enemies, vengeance, like anger, is attributed to the Lord (See above). "The year of retributions" signifies the like as "the day of vengeance," but it is predicated of falsities, while "the day of vengeance" is predicated of evils; "the controversy of Zion" signifies the rejection of the truth and good of the church; "Zion" meaning the church. In other places also, the time of the Last Judgment is called "the day of Jehovah," "the day of visitation," "the day of slaughter," and "the day of the coming":

The day of the Lord's coming (Malachi 3:2; Matthew 24:3, 27, 37, 39).

3147. 'And water to wash his feet' means purification there. This is clear from the meaning of 'water to wash' or 'washing with water' as purifying, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'feet' as natural things, or what amounts to the same, those things that are in the natural man, dealt with in 2162. In the representative Church washing feet with water was a ceremonial act which meant washing away the filth of the natural man. The filth of the natural man is composed of all the things that belong to self-love and love of the world, and when such filth has been washed away goods and truths flow in, for that filth alone is what hinders the influx of good and truth from the Lord.

[2] For good is flowing in constantly from the Lord, but when by way of the internal or spiritual man it reaches the external or natural man it is either perverted there, or turned away, or stifled. But when indeed the things that belong to self-love and love of the world are removed, good is received there, and bears fruit there, since the person now performs the works of charity. This may become clear from many considerations, such as this: When the things that belong to the external or natural man are quiescent - as they are in times of ill-fortune, wretchedness, and sickness - a person instantly starts to become spiritually-minded and to will what is good, and also to perform acts of devotion insofar as he is able. But when that state alters, these things are altered too.

[3] In the Ancient Church 'washings' were signs meaning these things, and in the Jewish Church the same were representations. The reason why in the Ancient Church they were meaningful signs but in the Jewish Church representations was that members of the Ancient Church regarded that custom as some external act of worship. Nor did they believe that they were purified by that kind of washing but by a washing away of the filth of the natural man, which, as has been stated, is composed of the things that belong to self-love and love of the world. But the member of the Jewish Church did believe that he was purified by such washing, for he did not know, and did not wish to know, that the purifying of a person's interior self was meant.

[4] That 'washing' means the washing away of that filth is clear in Isaiah,

Wash yourselves; purify yourselves; remove the evil of your doings from before My eyes; cease to do evil. Isaiah 1:16.

Here it is evident that 'washing themselves' means purifying themselves and removing evils. In the same prophet,

When the Lord will have washed the excrement of the daughters of Zion and washed away the blood of Jerusalem from its midst in a spirit of judgement and in a spirit of purging. Isaiah 4:4.

Here 'washing the excrement of the daughters of Zion and washing away the blood of Jerusalem' stands for purifying from evils and falsities. In Jeremiah,

Wash your heart from wickedness, O Jerusalem, that you may be saved. How long will your iniquitous thoughts lodge within you? Jeremiah 4:14.

[5] In Ezekiel,

I washed you with water, and washed away the blood from upon you, and anointed you with oil. Ezekiel 16:9.

This refers to Jerusalem, which is used here to mean the Ancient Church. 'Washing with water' stands for purifying from falsities, 'washing away the blood' for purging from evils, 'anointing with oil' for filling with good at that time. In David,

Wash me from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. You will purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean; You will wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Psalms 51:2, 7.

'Being washed' plainly stands for being purified from evils and derivative falsities.

[6] These were the things that were meant by 'washing' in the Representative Church. For the sake of the representation, when they had been made unclean and needed to be cleansed, people were commanded in that Church to wash the skin, hands, feet, and also their garments. All these meant things that belong to the natural man. Also for the sake of the representation, lavers made of bronze were placed outside the Temple - that is to say, 'the bronze sea and the ten bronze lavers' mentioned in 1 Kings 7:23-29; there was also the bronze laver from which Aaron and his sons were to wash themselves, placed between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar, and so outside the Tent of Meeting, Exodus 30:18-19, 21 - the meaning of which was that only external or natural things needed to be purified. And unless they have been purified, that is, unless things belonging to self-love and love of the world have been removed from them, internal things which belong to love to the Lord and towards the neighbour cannot possibly flow in, as stated above.

[7] To enable these matters to be understood more easily, that is to say, regarding the need for external things to be purified, let good works - or what amounts to the same, the goods of charity, which are at the present day called the fruits of faith, and which, since they are actions, are external - serve to exemplify and illustrate the point: Good works are bad works unless the things belonging to self-love and love of the world are removed. For until these have been removed works, when performed, are good to outward appearance but are inwardly bad. They are inwardly bad because they are done either for the sake of reputation, or for financial gain, or for improvement of one's position, or for reward. They are accordingly either merit-seeking or hypocritical, for the things that belong to self-love and love of the world cause those works to be such. But when indeed these evils are removed, works become good, and are the goods of charity. That is to say, they are done regardless of self, the world, reputation, or reward, and so are not merit-seeking or hypocritical, because in that case celestial love and spiritual love flow from the Lord into those works and cause them to be love and charity in action. And at the same time the Lord also purifies the natural or external man by means of those things and orders it so that that man receives correspondingly the celestial and spiritual things that flow in.

[8] This becomes quite clear from what the Lord taught when He washed the disciples' feet: In John,

He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, Lord, do You wash my feet? Jesus answered and said to him, What I am doing you do not know now, but you will know afterwards. Peter said to Him, You will never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. Simon Peter said to Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and head! Jesus said to him, He who is washed has no need except that his feet be washed, but is clean all over. Now you are clean, but not all of you. John 13:4-17.

'He who is washed has no need except that his feet be washed' means that anyone who has been reformed needs to be cleansed only in regard to natural things, that is, to have evils and falsities removed from them. For when that happens all is ordered by the influx of spiritual things from the Lord. Furthermore 'feet-washing' was an act of charity, meaning that one ought not to dwell on the evils of another person. It was also an act of humility, meaning the cleansing of another from evils, like filth from the body, as also becomes clear from the Lord's words in verses 12-17 of that chapter in John, and also in Luke 7:37-38, 44, 46; John 11:2; 1 Samuel 25:41.

[9] Anyone may see that washing himself does not purify a person from evils and falsities, only from the filth that clings to him. Yet because it belonged among the religious observances commanded in the Church it follows that it embodies some special idea, namely spiritual washing, which is purification from the filth that clings to man inwardly. Members of that Church therefore who knew these things and thought of purification of the heart, that is, the removal of the evils of self-love and love of the world from the natural man, and tried to achieve it with utmost zeal, practiced ritual washing as an external act of worship, as commanded. But among those who did not know and did not wish to know those things but who supposed that the mere ritual act of washing garments, skin, hands, and feet would purify them, and who supposed that provided they performed such rituals they would be allowed to continue leading lives of avarice, hatred, revenge, mercilessness, and cruelty - all of which constitute spiritual filth - the performance of the ritual was idolatrous. Nevertheless by means of that ritual they were still able to represent, and by means of the representation to display, some vestige of a Church, by means of which heaven was in a way joined to mankind prior to the Lord's Coming. But that conjunction was such that heaven had little or no influence at all on the member of that Church.

[10] The Jews and Israelites were such that they did not think at all of the internal man, nor did they wish to know anything about the same. Thus they knew absolutely nothing about the celestial and spiritual things which belong to the life after death. Nevertheless to prevent the end of all communication with heaven and so with the Lord, they were bound to the performance of external observances by which internal things were meant. All their captivities and plagues were in general to the end that external observances might be duly carried out for the sake of the representation. It was for this reason that the following laws were given:

Moses was to wash Aaron and his sons with water at the tent door, to sanctify them. Exodus 29:4; 40:12; Leviticus 8:6.

Aaron and his sons were to wash their hands and feet before entering the Tent of Meeting and approaching the Altar to minister, lest they died. This was to them a statute for ever. Exodus 30:18-21; 40:30-31.

Before putting on his vestments Aaron was to wash his flesh. Leviticus 16:4, 24.

Levites were to be purified by sprinkling the water of expiation over them, passing a razor over their flesh, and washing their clothes - then they were pure. Numbers 8:6-7.

Anyone who ate the carcass of a clean animal, ¹ or that which had been torn to pieces, was to wash his clothes and bathe himself with water, and if he did not wash himself and bathe his flesh he would bear his iniquity. Leviticus 17:15-16.

Anyone who touched the bed of a person who had a discharge, or sat on a vessel on which that person had sat, and anyone who touched that person's flesh was to wash his clothes and to bathe himself with water, and be unclean until the evening. Leviticus 15:5-7, 10-12 and following verses.

The person who sent the goat away to Azazel was to wash his flesh. Leviticus 16:26.

When a leper was to be cleansed he was to wash his clothes, shave off all his hair, wash himself in water, and then he would be clean. Leviticus 14:8-9.

Even vessels themselves which had become unclean through contact with unclean persons were made to go through water and be unclean until the evening. Leviticus 11:32.

From all these laws it may be seen that nobody was made clean or pure internally through ritual washing, but that such a person merely represented him who was pure or spiritually clean, for the reason stated above. The Lord teaches the same quite explicitly in Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:1-23.

Фусноте: