645. 'Crying with a great voice to the One sitting upon the cloud, Put forth Thy sickle and reap, for the hour of reaping has come to Thee, because the harvest of the land has dried up' signifies the supplication of the angels of heaven to the Lord, that He may make an end and execute judgment because it is now the last state of the Church. By 'to cry with a great voice to the One sitting upon the cloud' is signified the supplication of the angels of heaven to the Lord by reason of there not being anything corresponding on earth. For the Church on earth exists for the angelic heaven, as the foundation upon which a house stands firm, or as the feet upon which a man stands and by means of which he walks. And therefore when the Church on earth has been destroyed the angels lament and make supplication to the Lord. They supplicate that He may make an end of the Church and awaken a new one. Consequently, by 'the angel cried with a great voice to the One sitting upon the cloud' is signified the supplication of the angels of heaven to the Lord. That by 'the One sitting upon the cloud' is signified the Lord as to the Word, may be seen just above (n. 642); that by 'to put forth the sickle and reap' is signified to make an end and execute judgment, also above (n. 642, 643). By 'for the hour of reaping has come' is signified that it is the end of the Church. By 'because the harvest has dried up' is signified that it is the last state of the Church. By 'the harvest is signified the state of the Church as to Divine Truth. This is because it is the grain derived from the harvest out of which bread [is made], and by 'corn' and 'bread' is signified the good of the Church, this being procured by means of truths. [2] That these things are signified by those [words] can be seen more clearly from the passages out of the Word where 'harvest', 'reaping' and 'sickle' are mentioned, as in the following:-
I will be seated for judging all the nations; put forth the sickle, for the harvest has ripened, for their wickedness is great Joel iii 12, 13 [H.B. iv 12, 13].
Cut off the sower and the handler of the sickle in the time of harvest Jer. l 16.
The daughter of Babel is like a threshing-floor, yet a little while, and the time of harvest shall come Jer. li 33.
It shall come to pass when the standing corn of the harvest is being gathered, and his arm reaps the ears; in the morning thy seed flourishes, the harvest is a heap in the day of possession, and desperate, sorrow Isa. xvii 5, 6, 11.
The farmers were ashamed, because the harvest of the field perished Joel i 11.
Jesus said to the disciples, There are yet four months until the harvest comes, lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are white for the harvest already. I have sent you to reap John iv 35-38.
Jesus said to the disciples, The harvest is plenteous, but the labourers are few, ask the Lord of the harvest that He may send forth labourers into His harvest Matt. ix 37, 38; Luke x 2.
In these passages, and also Isa. xvi 9; Jer. v 17; viii 20, by 'the harvest' is signified the Church as to Divine Truth. [3] But all the things that are contained in these verses in this chapter, and also in the two chapters that follow, were foretold by the Lord in the parable about the sower and the gathering of the harvest, which will be quoted because it teaches and illustrates what they signify:-
Jesus said, The kingdom of the heavens is like unto a man sowing good seed in his field, but an enemy came and sowed tares; when the blade sprouted, the tares appeared also. The servants said, Dost thou wish us to gather them? but he said, No, lest while gathering the tares you uproot the wheat at the same time. Let them grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather first the tares and bind them into bundles for burning, but gather the wheat into my barn. And the disciples approached Jesus, saying, Explain the parable to us. Jesus said, He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (or the Lord), the field is the world (the Church), the seed are the sons of the kingdom (truths of the Church), the tares are the sons of the evil one (untruths from hell), the enemy who sows them is the devil, the harvest is the consummation of the age (end of the Church), the reapers are angels (Divine Truths). In the same manner, therefore, as the tares are gathered and burnt with fire, so shall it be in the consummation of the age (at the end of the Church) Matt. xiii 24-30; 36-43.
This page is part of 
© 2000-2001 The Academy of the New Church