2243. 'Whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me; and if not, I will know' means whether evil has reached its peak. This is clear from the meaning of 'cry' as falsity, dealt with just above in 2240. There are two kinds of falsity, as was mentioned at the end of that paragraph, namely falsity which comes from evil, and falsity which produces evil. Falsity coming from evil consists in everything a person thinks while he is subject to evil, that is to say, everything which supports evil. For example, when a person is subject to adultery he thinks that adultery is permissible, that it is right and proper, that it is the delight of life, that the birth of offspring is promoted by it, and many other ideas such as these. These are all falsities coming from evil.

[2] Falsity which produces evil however comes about when a person holds to some tenet of the religion he belongs to and as a consequence believes that it is good or holy, when in fact in itself it is evil. For example, a person who believes from his religion that some human being is able to save, and who therefore worships and venerates that human being, creates evil out of that falsity. The same applies to any other religious persuasion which in itself is false. Since falsity therefore both derives from evil and produces evil the word 'cry' occurs here and means, as a kind of general term, that which is implied by it, namely evil. This is also evident from the fact that the words 'whether they have brought it to a close according to the cry of it which has come to Me' include both 'the cry of it' in the singular, and 'they have brought it to a close' in the plural.

[3] What a close is has been shown in Volume One, in 1857. What more is implied by a close may be ascertained from the history of the Churches. The Most Ancient Church, which was called Man, was the most celestial of all, yet that Church in course of time so declined from the good that flows from love that at length nothing celestial was left. At this point it came to its close which is described by the state of those people prior to the Flood.

[4] The Ancient Church, which came after the Flood, and was called Noah, and was less celestial, also in course of time so fell away from the good flowing from charity that no charity at all was left; for it was changed partly into magic, partly into idolatry, and partly into a system of doctrine separate from charity. At that point it reached its close.

[5] Another Church then followed which was called the Hebrew Church and was less celestial and spiritual still, making a certain kind of holy worship consist in external religious observances. This Church as well was in course of time perverted in varying ways, and that sort of external worship was turned into idolatrous worship. At that point it reached its close.

[6] A fourth Church was established after that among the descendants of Jacob, which did not possess anything celestial or spiritual, only that which was the representative of such. Consequently that Church was a Church representative of celestial and spiritual things, for what their religious observances actually represented and meant they did not know. But that Church was established in order that some link might nevertheless exist between man and heaven, like that which exists between the representatives of good and truth, and good and truth themselves. This Church so went off in the end into falsities and evils that every religious observance became idolatrous, at which point it reached its close.

[7] Therefore once those consecutive Churches, each declining as indicated, had come and gone - and in the last of them the link between the human race and heaven had become severed so completely that the human race would have perished because no Church existed to provide such a link and a bond, see 468, 637, 931, 2054 - the Lord came into the world; and through the Divine Essence united to the Human Essence within Himself, He joined heaven and earth together. At the same time He established a new Church, called the Christian Church, in which, to begin with, good that is the fruit of faith was present, and people lived together in charity as brethren. But with the passage of time it departed in different directions, and today has become such that people do not even know that faith is grounded in love to the Lord and charity towards the neighbour. And although they assert from doctrine that the Lord is the Saviour of the human race, that they will rise again after death, and that there is a heaven and a hell, few nevertheless believe these things. Since this Church has become such, its close is not far away.

[8] These considerations show what the close is, namely that it is the time when evil has reached its peak. The situation is similar in particular, that is, with each individual; but how the close or climax comes about in the case of the individual will in the Lord's Divine mercy be discussed later on. Various places in the Word refer to the close and describe the state which comes before it as vastation and desolation, which is followed by visitation.

931. That 'during all the days of the earth' means the whole of time is clear from the meaning of 'day' as a period of time, see 23, 487, 488, 493. Here therefore 'days of the earth' is the whole time the earth remains, or is inhabited. The earth ceases to be inhabited the moment the Church is no more. For when the Church is no more, no communication of man with heaven exists any longer, and when this communication comes to an end every inhabitant perishes. As stated already, the Church is like the heart and lungs in the individual. As long as the heart is sound, and also the lungs, the individual is alive; and the same applies to the Church and its relationship to the Grand Man, which is heaven in its entirety. This is the reason for the statement here 'during all the days of the earth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night will not cease'. From this it also becomes clear that the earth is not going to last for ever, but that it too will come to an end, for the reference is 'all the days of the earth', that is, as long as the earth remains.

[2] People are however mistaken in their belief that the end of the earth will be one and the same event as the Last Judgement referred to in the Word, that is to say, where the close of the age, the day of visitation, and the Last Judgement, are described. For a last judgement befalls every Church when it has been vastated, that is, when no faith exists there any longer. A last judgement on the Most Ancient Church took Place when it perished, as it did among its final descendants who lived immediately prior to the Flood. A last judgement on the Jewish Church took place when the Lord came into the world. And a further last judgement will take place when the Lord comes in glory. This does not mean that at that time the earth and the world are going to be destroyed, but that the Church is destroyed and, as always happens, a new Church is raised up by the Lord at that time. At the time of the Flood the Ancient Church was raised up, at the time of the Lord's Coming the primitive Church among gentiles; and the same will happen when the Lord comes in glory. It is also what 'a new heaven and a new earth' are used to mean.

[3] It is similar with everyone who has been regenerated and becomes a member of the Church, that is, becomes the Church. When he has been created anew his internal man is called 'a new heaven' and his external 'a new earth'. In addition a last judgement awaits everybody when he dies, for at that point, according to how he has acted during his lifetime, his judgement points either to death or to life. The fact that the close of the age, the end of days, or the Last Judgement have no other meaning, and do not therefore mean the destruction of the world, is quite clear from the Lord's words in Luke,

In that night there will be two in one bed, one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding together, one will be taken and the other left. Two will be in the field, one will be taken and the other left. Luke 17:34-36.

Here the last times are called 'night' because no faith, that is, no charity exists. The fact that some will be 'left' however is a clear indication that the world is not going to be destroyed at that time.