33. 'In affliction, and in the kingdom, and in the patient expectation of Jesus Christ' signifies those things in the Church which have been infested by evils and untruths, but that those [evils and untruths] are to be removed by the Lord when He comes. By 'affliction' is understood the state of the Church when there are no longer any goods of charity and truths of faith, but in place of them evils and untruths. By 'the kingdom' is understood the Church; and by 'the patient expectation of Jesus Christ' is understood the coming of the Lord. Therefore these words, 'In affliction, and in the kingdom, and in the patient expectation of Jesus Christ', when gathered together into a single meaning, signify when the good and true things of the Church have been infested by evils and untruths, which however are to be removed by the Lord when He comes. That by 'affliction' is understood the state of the Church when it has been infested by evils and untruths is plain from these [words]:-
In the consummation of the age they shall deliver you up into affliction, and shall kill you. There shall be great affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the world, nor shall be. After the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall down from heaven Matt. xxiv 9, 21, 29; Mark xlii 19, 24.
That 'the kingdom' signifies the Church, will be seen in the things following.
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