THE LAST JUDGMENT

Preliminary to the foregoing chapters, from chapter 26, an explication has been given of what the Lord foretold about His advent, or the CONSUMMATION OF THE AGE; and it has been repeatedly shown that by His advent or the consummation of the age is signified the last time of the church, which is called in the Word the Last Judgment. They who do not see beyond the literal sense must suppose that the Last Judgment is the destruction of the world, and this especially from the Revelation, where it is said:

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21:1-2). And also from the prophecies of Isaiah, where are similar words:

Behold I create new heavens and a new earth; therefore the former things shall not be remembered, nor come up upon the heart; but be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create, for behold I create Jerusalem an exultation, and her people a gladness (Isa. 65:17, 18; 66:22). [2] They who do not see beyond the literal sense must infer that the universal heaven together with this earth will be annihilated, and that the dead will then for the first time rise again, and dwell in a new heaven and upon a new earth. But that the Word is not to be so understood may be seen from many other passages where the heavens and the earth are mentioned. They who have any faith in an internal sense can plainly see that by "a new heaven and a new earth" is meant a new church, which shall succeed when the former church passes away (see n. 1733, 1850, 3355); and that the "heaven" is its internal and the "earth" its external. [3] This last time of a former church and first time of a new church are what is called the "consummation of the age" of which the Lord spoke in Matthew 24, and also are His advent, for the Lord then leaves the former church and comes to the new church. That this is the "consummation of the age" may be seen also from other passages in the Word, as in Isaiah:

In that day the remains shall return, the remains of Jacob, unto the mighty God; for although Thy people Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, remains of it shall return; a consummation is determined, inundated is righteousness; for a consummation and a determination doth the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth make in the whole earth (Isa. 10:21-23). In the same:

Now be ye not scorners, lest your punishments be strengthened; for a consummation and a decision have I heard from-with the Lord Jehovih Zebaoth upon the whole earth (Isa. 28:22). In Jeremiah:

Thus said Jehovah, The whole earth shall be a waste, yet will I not make a consummation (Jer. 4:27). In Zephaniah:

I will bring men into distresses, and they shall go like the blind, because they have sinned against Jehovah; and their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like dung, for Jehovah shall make a consummation, yea, a speedy one, with all them that dwell in the land (Zeph. 1:17-18). That the "consummation" here mentioned is the last time of the church, and that the "earth" is the church, is manifest from the particulars. [4] That "earth" or "land" denotes the church, comes from the fact that the land of Canaan was the land where the church had been from the most ancient times, and where afterwards there was the representative of a church among the descendants of Jacob. When this land is said to be "consummated," it is not the nation in it that is meant, but it is the holy of worship that exists with the nation where the church is. For the Word is spiritual, and the land itself is not spiritual, nor the nation therein, but that which is of the church. (That the land of Canaan was the land where the church had been from the most ancient times, may be seen above, n. 567, 3686, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517; and that for this reason by "land" in the Word is signified the church, n. 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 3355, 4447.) From this it is manifest what is meant in Isaiah by "making a consummation in the whole land," or "earth," and in Zephaniah by the "speedy consummation of all that dwell in the land." That the Jewish nation which dwelt in that land was not consummated, but the holy of worship with them, is well known. [5] That this is the "consummation" appears still more plainly in Daniel:

Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people, and upon thy city of holiness, to consummate the transgression, and to seal up sins, and to expiate iniquity, and to bring in the righteousness of an age, and to seal up vision and prophet, and to anoint the holy of holies; in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease; at last upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation; and even to the consummation and the determination shall it drop upon the devastation (Dan. 9:24, 27). [6] From all this it may now be seen that by the "consummation of the age," respecting which the disciples said to the Lord, "What shall be the sign of Thy coming and of the consummation of the age?" (Matt. 24:3) nothing else is signified than the last time of the church; and also by these words of the Lord, which are the last in the same evangelist: "Jesus said to the disciples, Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you all the days even unto the consummation of the age" (Matt. 28:20). It was said by the Lord that He would be with the disciples even to the consummation of the age, because by the Lord's twelve disciples the like is signified as by the twelve tribes of Israel, namely, all things of love and faith, consequently all things of the church (see n. 3354, 3488, 3858); which is the same as is meant by the twelve tribes (n. 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060). That it is the consummation of the church when there is no longer any charity and therefore no faith, has been repeatedly shown above. That in this church which is called Christian scarcely anything of charity and its derivative faith survives, thus that the consummation of its age is now at hand, will of the Lord's Divine mercy be shown in the following pages. GENESIS 35

1. And God said unto Jacob, Arise, go up to Bethel, and abide there; and make there an altar unto God who appeared unto thee when thou fleddest from before Esau thy brother. 2. And Jacob said unto his household, and to all that were with him, Put away the gods of the stranger which are in the midst of you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments:

3. And let us arise, and go up to Bethel, and I will make there an altar unto God who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I walked. 4. And they gave unto Jacob all the gods of the stranger which were in their hand, and the earrings which were in their ears; and Jacob hid them under the oak which was by Shechem. 5. And they journeyed; and a terror of God was upon the cities that were round about them, and they did not pursue after the sons of Jacob. 6. And Jacob came to Luz, which is in the land of Canaan, this is Bethel, he and all the people that were with him. 7. And he built there an altar, and called the place El-Bethel; because there the gods were revealed unto him when he fled from before his brother. 8. And Deborah, Rebekah's nurse, died, and she was buried from under Bethel under the oak; and he called the name of it Allon-bacuth. 9. And God was seen by Jacob again when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. 10. And God said to him, Thy name is Jacob; thy name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name; and He called his name Israel. 11. And God said to him, I am God Shaddai; be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be from thee, and kings shall go forth from thy loins. 12. And the land which I gave to Abraham and to Isaac, to thee I will give it, and to thy seed after thee will I give the land. 13. And God went up from upon him in the place in which He spoke with him. 14. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place in which He spoke with him, a pillar of stone; and he poured out a drink-offering thereon, and poured oil thereon. 15. And Jacob called the name of the place where God spoke with him, Bethel. 16. And they journeyed from Bethel; and there was still a tract of land to come to Ephrath; and Rachel brought forth, and suffered hard things in her bringing forth. 17. And it came to pass in her suffering hard things in her bringing forth that the midwife said unto her, Fear not, for this also is to thee a son. 18. And it came to pass as her soul was going forth that she was about to die; and she called his name Benoni; and his father called him Benjamin. 19. And Rachel died, and was buried in the way to Ephrath, this is Bethlehem. 20. And Jacob set up a pillar upon her grave; this is the pillar of Rachel's grave even to this day. 21. And Israel journeyed, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. 22. And it came to pass, while Israel abode in this land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father's concubine, and Israel heard. And the sons of Jacob were twelve. 23. The sons of Leah, Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, and Simeon and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Zebulun. 24. The sons of Rachel, Joseph and Benjamin. 25. And the sons of Bilhah Rachel's handmaid, Dan and Naphtali. 26. And the sons of Zilpah Leah's handmaid, Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan-aram. 27. And Jacob came unto Isaac his father to Mamre Kiriath-arba, this is Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac sojourned. 28. And the days of Isaac were a hundred years and eighty years. 29. And Isaac expired and died, and was gathered unto his people, old and sated of days; and Esau and Jacob his sons buried him.