Apocalypse Revealed (Coulsons): AR 642

Apocalypse Revealed (Coulsons) n. 642

642. [verse 14] 'And I saw and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sitting like the Son of Man' signifies the Lord as to the Word. By 'a cloud' is signified the Word in the sense of the letter, and by 'a white cloud' the Word in the sense of the letter such as it is interiorly; and by 'the Son of Man' is understood the Lord as to the Word; and therefore it is said 'upon the cloud One sitting like the Son of Man'. That by 'a cloud' is signified the Word as to the sense of the letter may be seen above (n. 24, 513). The reason why by 'a white cloud' is signified the sense of the letter of the Word such as it is interiorly is because 'white' is predicated of truths in the light (n. 167, 367), and interiorly in the sense of the letter there are spiritual truths that are in the light of heaven. That by 'the Son of Man' is understood the Lord as to the Word may be seen above (n. 44), and it may be seen in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD* (n. 19-28) confirmed by many things. [2] The Lord often said that 'they were going to see the Son of Man cowling in the clouds of heaven'; He said this (Matt. xvii 5; xxiv 30; xxvi 64; Mark xiv 61, 62; Luke ix 34, 35; xxi 27); and no one knows that by this anything else is signified than that when He comes to the judgment, He is going to appear in the clouds of the sky. Yet this is not understood [in the spiritual sense], but it is understood that when He comes to the judgment He will appear in the sense of the letter of the Word. And because He has now come, therefore He has appeared in the Word by this means, that He has revealed that the spiritual sense was in the details (singulis) of the sense of the letter of the Word, and that in it [the Word] treats of Him Only, and that He Only is the God of heaven and earth. These are the things that are understood by His coming in the clouds of heaven. That the spiritual sense is in the details of the sense of the letter of the Word, and that in that sense it treats of the Only Lord, and that He Only is the God of heaven and earth, has been shown in two DOCTRINES OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, one CONCERNING THE LORD and the other concerning SACRED SCRIPTURE. [3] Since by 'the Lord's coming in the clouds of heaven' is understood His coming in His Word, and this at the time when He is going to execute judgment, and the Apocalypse treats of this, it is therefore said there:-

Behold, He comes with clouds Rev. i 7;

and here:-

I saw and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud One sitting like the Son of Man.

Also in the Acts of the Apostles:-

While they beheld, Jesus was taken up into heaven, and a cloud caught Him up from their eyes; and two men in white raiment said, This Jesus Who has been taken into heaven shall so come in like manner as you have seen Him going into heaven Acts i 9, 11.

By 'a cloud' is signified the sense of the letter of the Word, because that sense is natural, and Divine Truth in natural light appears as a cloud before the eyes of the angels, who are in spiritual light; as a white cloud with those who are in genuine truths out of the sense of the letter of the Word, as a dark cloud with those who are not in genuine truths, as a black cloud with those who are in untruths, and as a black cloud mingled with fire in the case of those who are in faith separated from charity because in evils of life. I have seen. * Original Edition has SACRED SCRIPTURE, but the references show that THE DOCTRINE OF THE LORD was intended.

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