Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 1127

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1127. For strong is the Lord God that judgeth them (illos).- That this signifies, by means of the Last Judgment, is evident from the signification of the Lord God being strong who judgeth her, which denotes the Last Judgment upon them. That by these words is meant the Last Judgment follows from what precedes, for it is said that in one day her plagues shall come, death, mourning, and famine, and that she shall be burned with fire; this signifies that when it is their last state - which is the case when there is no longer any good or any truth, but only evil and falsity from their diabolical love - they will then perish by the Last Judgment. That these also perished by the Last Judgment, may be seen in the small work, The Last Judgment and Babylon Destroyed.

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed, and concerning the Lord-That all things are from Life itself which is God, and which is Man, may be illustrated from created man, he being a man as to ultimate, middle, and inmost things. For a man who, in the world, had been merely corporeal in his life, thus of dull perceptions, still appears in the spiritual world, after the rejection of the material body, as a man. A man, who in the world has been merely sensual or natural in his life, that is to say, has known little about heaven, although much about the world, still appears as a man after death. A man, who in the world has been rational in his life, that is, has thought well from natural light (lumen), when he becomes a spirit after death, appears as a man. A man, who in the world has been spiritual in his life, when he becomes an angel after death, appears as a man, perfect according to the reception of life from the Lord. A man, in whom the third degree of life has been opened, that is, who as to life in the world, has been celestial, when he becomes an angel after death, appears as a man in complete perfection.

[3] The very life belonging to him is a man,-the sensual and natural, as well as the rational, the spiritual, and the celestial, the degrees of life being thus designated; but man in whom those degrees exist, is only a recipient. As it is in the smallest types, so it is in the greatest. The whole angelic heaven in its whole extent is a man; each heaven by itself, the first, the second, and the third, is a man; every society in time heavens, greater or less, is a man; in fact, the church in the world in general is a man; all congregations also, which are called churches, are by themselves men. It is said the church, and by this are meant all with whom the church is in its entirety. The church in the world appears thus to the angels of heaven; the ground of this appearance is, that the life which is from the Lord is Man. Life from the Lord is love and wisdom, such therefore as is the reception of love and wisdom from the Lord, such is the man. These things primarily testify, that all things were created from life, which is God, and which is Man.


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