194. And thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. That this signifies man's ignorance of that time, and of his state then, is evident from the signification of hour, as being the time when man is to die, and also his state at the time; and from the signification of not knowing it, as being ignorant. It is said, what hour I will come upon thee, namely, as a thief; and in the sense of the letter is hereby meant that the Lord would thus come, but in the spiritual sense it is meant that evils and falsities would steal the knowledges which they have from the Word; for, in the sense of the letter of the Word, it is attributed to Jehovah, or the Lord, that He does evil, but, in the spiritual sense it is meant that He does evil to no one, but that man does evil to himself (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 2447, 5798, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7877, 7679, 7710, 7926, 8227, 8228, 8284, 8483, 8632, 9010, 9128, 9306, 10431).

[2] The reason why hour also signifies state is, because in the Word all times, as a day, a week, a month, a year, an age, signify states of life, and hence hour has a similar signification. (The cause of this may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 162-169, where time in heaven is treated of.)

But because hour signifies both time and state, therefore, where hour is mentioned in the Word it may to some extent be known that something other than time is signified by it.

In Matthew:

A householder hired labourers into his vineyard, who, laboured from the third hour, the sixth, the ninth, and the eleventh, and received an equal reward (Matthew 20:1-17).

By these hours in the world are meant times, but in heaven states of the life, because there are no hours in heaven, as times there are not measurable, and divided into days, and these into hours, as in the world, therefore instead of these they there perceive the states of the life of those who die, whether old, young, youths or children, who have alike procured to themselves spiritual life. To labour in the vineyard, denotes the procuring of spiritual life by means of knowledges of good and truth from the Word applied to the uses of life. (That a vineyard in the Word signifies the spiritual church, and spiritual life pertaining to man, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 3220, 9139.) By the third, the sixth, and the ninth hours similar states of life are signified; for all numbers in the Word are significative, and those numbers have a similar signification. Three signifies a full state, or what is complete even to the end (see n. 2788, 4495, 7715, 8347, 9825). The like is signified by six and nine; but the number eleven signifies a state not yet full, but yet a state of reception, such as that of well-disposed children and infants. The twelfth hour up to which they all laboured, signifies truths and goods in their fulness (see n. 577, 2089, 2129, 2130, 3272, 3858, 3913. That all numbers in the Word are significative, see n. 4495, 4670, 5265, 6175, 9488, 9659, 10217, 10253; and that multiplied numbers have a similar signification to the simple numbers from which they arise by multiplication, hence three, six, and nine have a similar signification, see n. 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973).

[3] Since twelve signifies truths and goods in their fulness, and thus a state of light or of man's intelligence therefrom, the Lord says,

"Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any one walk in the day, he stumbleth not" (John 11:9).

In other places, also by hours are signified states of life, as in the Apocalypse:

"The four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, to slay the third part of men" (9:15).

By the times here mentioned are meant states of evil in men, as will be seen when we come to the explanation of those words.

From these considerations it is now evident that by, Thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee, is meant man's ignorance not only of the time of his death, but also of the state of his life at that time, which state remains to eternity; for according to the quality of the state of man's past life even to the end of it, such he remains to eternity.

[4] Similar things are frequently said by the Lord in the Evangelists, as in Matthew:

"Ye know not in what hour your Lord doth come; be ye also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man shall come" (24:42, 44).

Again:

"The lord of the servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of" (24:50).

And again:

"Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man shall come" (25:13).

It must be known that a man remains to eternity such as the quality of his whole life has been to the end, and not at all such as he is at the hour of death; for repentance then in the case of the evil is of no avail, but with the good it confirms the state.

7877. 'And I will see the blood' means the discernment of that truth by those who inflict damnation. This is clear from the meaning of 'seeing' as understanding and discerning, dealt with in 2150, 2325, 2807, 3764, 4403-4421, 4567, 4723, 5400 (its being the discernment by those who inflict damnation is shown in what follows); and from the meaning of 'the blood' as truth that belongs to the good of innocence, as above in 7846.

[2] What truth belonging to the good of innocence is must be stated. The good of innocence is the good of love to the Lord; for those governed by this love have innocence within them. This explains why those who are in the inmost or third heaven, being governed by love to the Lord, possess more innocence than all others. Because of their innocence those who are there look to others like young children, and yet they are the wisest of all in heaven, see 2306; for innocence resides within wisdom, 2305, 3495, 4797. The truth belonging to the good of innocence which exists with them is not the truth of faith but the good of charity. Those in the third heaven do not know what faith is, nor consequently what the truth of faith is; for they perceive intuitively the truth that composes faith, and in perceiving it intuitively know immediately that it is indeed the truth. They never engage in reasoning about whether it is such, let alone argue with one another about it. What is perceived in that intuitive way does not then come to be acquired knowledge. It is different with spiritual angels in the second heaven. The truth of faith leads them to the good of charity. They do therefore engage in reasoning about whether it is the truth or not, since they have no intuitive perception of whether it is or not. Truths then become knowledge they have acquired and are called matters of doctrine composing faith.

[3] For more about those in the inmost or third heaven, about their state being such that they perceive intuitively what the truth of faith is and do not therefore add it to their acquired knowledge, see 202, 337, 2715, 2718, 3246, 4448.

Why it is that Jehovah's words 'I will see', thus something said about Himself, mean discernment by those who inflict damnation, that is, by spirits from hell, may become evident from what has been shown before about the attribution of evil to Jehovah or the Lord, though in fact no evil at all comes from Him but from hell, see 2447, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643. Evil which is permitted to exist seems to come from Him who permits it, since He is able to remove it. That is how it is here when it says that the firstborn of the Egyptians were put to death. It is attributed to Jehovah, for it says in verses 12 and 29,

I will go through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt.

And it happened at midnight, that Jehovah struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from Pharaoh's firstborn who was to sit on his throne, even to the firstborn of the prisoner who was in the dungeon.

Yet in the present verse the one to do this is called 'the destroyer',

The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and I will see the blood and will pass you by, and the plague will not be on you for the destroyer.

[4] It is similar with the vastation undergone by the evil in the next life, their damnation, and their being cast into hell, which are meant in the internal sense by the plagues, the death of the firstborn, and their being drowned in the Sea Suph. Jehovah or the Lord does not subject anyone to vastation, still less damn or cast into hell. Rather an evil spirit himself is the one who does it to himself, that is, the evil within him does it. This then is why 'I will see the blood' means a discernment by those who inflict damnation.

[5] As regards permission, it is impossible to state briefly the nature of it since a very large number of arcana are involved in it. When the wicked suffer damnation and torment the Lord's permission is not like that of one who desires what happens to them. It is like that of one who does not desire it yet cannot help them because His end in view, which is the salvation of the entire human race, is urgent and prevents Him from helping. For if He were to help them, that would be doing ill, which is completely contrary to the Divine. But more on these matters will in the Lord's Divine mercy be stated elsewhere.