The Four Ages The Four Ages- from the theological writings of Emanuel Swedenborg
Four Successive Periods - continued
It is otherwise with the man who suffers himself to be regenerated: night does not
overtake him, for he walks in God, and hence is continually in the day; into which, also,
he fully enters after death, when he is associated with angels in heaven. This is meant by
these things in the Apocalypse, concerning the New Jerusalem, which is the New Church,
truly Christian:
That city shall have no need of the sun and moon to shine in it; for the glory of God
shall lighten it, and the Lamb is the lamp thereof; and the nations which are saved shall
walk in the light of it and there shall be no night there (Apoc. 21:23-25; Ezek. 32:8;
Amos 5:20; 8:9). That the successive states of the church are meant by "morning,"
"day," "evening," and "night," in the Word, is evident from
the following passages therein: Watch; for ye know not when the Lord of the house will come, at even, or at midnight,
or at cock-crowing, or in the morning (Mark 13:35; Matt. 25:13).
The subject there treated of is the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord
at that time:
The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spake to me; he is as the light of the
morning, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3, 4). I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning Star (Apoc. 22:16). God shall help her, when He shall look to the morning (Ps. 46:5). He is calling to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the
night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night (Isa. 21:11, 12). The end is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; the time is come, the day is near.
Behold the day, behold, it is come; the morning hath gone forth (Ezek. 7:5-7, 10). There shall be a day which shall be known to Jehovah; not day nor night; for about the
time of evening there shall be light (Zech. 14:7). About the time of evening, behold, terror; before the morning, he is not (Isa. 17:14). In the evening, weeping will tarry all night, but there will be singing in the morning
(Ps. 30:5). Even to the evening and the morning, two thousand three hundred; then shall the holy
place be justified: the vision of the evening and morning is truth (Dan. 8:14, 26). Jehovah in the morning will give His judgement in the light; He will not fail (Zeph.
3:5). Thus said Jehovah, If ye have made void My covenant of the day and My covenant of the
night, so that there be not day and night in their season, My covenant also shall be made
void with David My servant (Jer. 33:20, 21, 25). Jesus said, I must work the works of God while it is day; the night cometh when no one
can work (John 9:4). In this night there shall be two on one bed; one shall be taken, but the other shall be
left (Luke 17:34).
In these passages, it treats of the consummation of the age and the Coming of the Lord. Hence it may be evident what is meant by "There shall be time no longer" (Apoc. 10:6); namely, that there would not be morning, day, or evening in the church, but night; likewise what is meant by "time, times, and half a time" (Apoc. 12:14; Dan. 12:7); as also what is meant by the "fulness of time" (Eph. 1:10; Gal. 4:4).
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