8210. 'All Pharaoh's horses, his chariots, and his horsemen - into the middle of the sea' means factual knowledge belonging to a perverted understanding, doctrinal teachings upholding falsity, and reasonings - that they filled hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'Pharaoh's horses' as factual knowledge belonging to a perverted understanding, from the meaning of 'Pharaoh's chariots' as doctrinal teachings upholding falsity, and from the meaning of 'Pharaoh's horsemen' as reasonings based on these, all dealt with above in 8146, 8148; and from the meaning of 'into the middle of the sea' as filling hell.

[2] The reason why these three that were constituents of Pharaoh's army - horses, chariots, and horsemen - are now mentioned again here is that the final state in the vastation of those belonging to the Church who have championed faith separated from charity and led a life of evil is now at hand. This state is one of being cast into hell; and being cast into hell is being crowded around by falsities arising from evil. For when all the truth and goodness residing with the evil have been laid waste and those people have been abandoned to the evil and the falsity arising from it that have ruled their lives, the hells with which they have been in contact through the evils ruling their lives are opened. From there all the evils which they have made their own rapidly converge on them, and the falsities which well out of the evils constitute then the sphere surrounding them, a sphere which looks like a thick cloud, or like water. Once all this has taken place they are in hell, for now they have been shut off from all contact with heaven, and also have been separated from other hells.

[3] The expression 'being cast into hell' is used to mean this. This is the reason why the horses, chariots, and horsemen are mentioned now, when they went into the middle of the sea; for as has been stated, 'the Sea Suph' means hell, and 'horses, chariots, and horsemen' all the falsities and everything constituting falsity arising from evil which were loosed onto those people, in order that the falsity arising from evil, by its very nature, might separate them from all other hells. These are the matters which are dealt with specifically in verses 24-28 that immediately follow.

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.