SS112.由于经上已经预言，在当今教会的末期，黑暗会因缺乏对主是天地之神的认识和承认，以及信和仁的分离而出现。因此，为防止对圣言的纯正理解由此灭亡，如今主乐意揭开圣言的属灵意义，并清楚表明，圣言在属灵意义上，由此在属世意义上论述的是主与教会，事实上唯独论述这些主题。祂还揭示了其它许多事，这些事有助于恢复来自圣言的真理之光，这光如今几乎熄灭了。
启示录中的许多经文预言了在教会的末期，真理之光将几乎熄灭。这也是主在马太福音中所说这些话的意思：
那些日子的灾难一过去，日头就变黑了，月亮也不放光，众星要从天上坠落，天势都要震动。那时，他们要看见人子，有能力，有荣耀，驾着天上的云降临。（马太福音24:29-30）
此处“日头”表示爱方面的主；“月亮”表示信方面的主；“众星”表示良善和真理的知识方面的主；“人子”表示圣言方面的主；“云”表示圣言的字义；“荣耀”表示圣言的灵义，以及这灵义在字义中的闪耀。
112. It was foretold that at the end of the present church darkness would rear up out of the lack of recognition and acknowledgment of the fact that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth and out of the separation of faith from caring. Therefore, to prevent this from leading to the death of any real understanding of the Word, it has now pleased the Lord to unveil the spiritual meaning of the Word and to make it clear that in that meaning - and thereby in the earthly meaning - the Word is all about the Lord and the church. In fact, it is about those subjects alone. He has also unveiled many other things that may serve to restore a light of truth from the Word - a light that has almost been snuffed out.
[2] There are many passages in the Book of Revelation where it predicts that the light of truth would be almost snuffed out at the end of this church. This is also the meaning of these words of the Lord in Matthew:
Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then they will see the Son of Humanity coming in the clouds of heaven with glory and power. (Matthew 24:29-30)
The sun here means love for the Lord; the moon means faith in the Lord; the stars mean concepts from the Lord regarding what is good and true; the Son of Humanity means the Lord as the Word; the clouds mean the Word’s literal meaning, and the glory means its spiritual meaning and the way it shines through in the literal meaning.
112. Since it was foretold that at the end of the present church darkness would again arise, when the Lord was no longer known or acknowledged as the God of heaven and earth, and when faith was divorced from charity, therefore to keep a genuine understanding of the Word from perishing as a consequence, it has pleased the Lord to reveal now the spiritual sense of the Word and to show that the Word in that sense, and so in the natural sense, has the Lord and the church as its subject, and indeed these alone; and to do much else by which to restore the light of truth from the Word that has been almost extinguished.
[2] That the light of truth would be almost extinguished at the end of the present church is something foretold in many places in the book of Revelation. It is also meant by these words of the Lord in Matthew:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then...they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven with...glory and power. (Matthew 24:39, 30)
The sun there means the Lord in relation to love; the moon the Lord in relation to faith; the stars the Lord in relation to concepts of goodness and truth; the Son of man the Lord in relation to the Word; the clouds the literal sense of the Word; and glory the spiritual sense and its shining through in the literal sense.
112. It was foretold that, at the end of the present Church, darkness would arise from want of a rational conception and acknowledgement of the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and from the separation of faith from charity. Lest therefore the genuine understanding of the Word should perish, it has pleased the Lord now to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word, and to show that the Word in that sense and from that in the natural sense, treats of the Lord and of the Church, and indeed of these alone; and to make many other revelations by means of which the almost extinct light of truth from the Word may be restored. That the light of truth would be almost extinguished at the end of the present Church is foretold in many passages of the Revelation, and is also meant by these words of the Lord in Matthew:
Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then ... they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with glory and power. Matthew 24:29-30.
The sun there means the Lord as to love; the moon, the Lord as to faith; the stars, the Lord as to the cognitions of good and truth; the Son of Man, the Lord as to the Word; a cloud, the sense of the Letter of the Word; glory, the spiritual sense and its transparence in the sense of the Letter.
112. As it had been foretold that darkness would arise at the end of the present church in consequence of the lack of knowledge and acknowledgment of the Lord as being the God of heaven and earth, and also in consequence of the separation of faith from charity, therefore in order that by reason of this a genuine understanding of the Word might not perish, it has pleased the Lord at this present time to reveal the spiritual sense of the Word and make it plain that the Word in this sense, and from this in the natural sense, treats of the Lord and the church, and indeed of these alone, and to discover many other things besides, by means of which the light of truth from the Word, now almost extinguished, may be restored. That the light of truth would be almost extinguished at the end of the present church is foretold in many places in Revelation, and is also what is meant by the following words of the Lord in Matthew:
Immediately after the affliction of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with glory and power (Matthew 24:29-30
The "sun" here means the Lord in respect to love; the "moon," the Lord in respect to faith; the "stars," the Lord in respect to the knowledges of good and truth; the "Son of man," the Lord in respect to the Word; a "cloud," the sense of the letter of the Word; and "glory," its spiritual sense and the shining through of this in the sense of the letter.
112. Quoniam praedictum est, quod in fine hujus ecclesiae etiam oborirentur tenebrae ex non cognitione et agnitione Domini, quod sit Deus caeli et terrae, et ex fidei separatione a charitate, ne per id genuinus intellectus Verbi periret, ideo placuit Domino nunc revelare sensum spiritualem Verbi, et manifestare quod Verbum in illo sensu, et ex illo in sensu naturali, agat de Domino et de ecclesia, immo de illis solis; et plura alia, per quae lux veri ex Verbo, paene exstincta, restituatur. Quod lux veri in fine hujus ecclesiae paene exstincta esset, praedicitur multis in locis in Apocalypsi; et quoque intelligitur per haec Domini verba, apud Matthaeum:
"Statim post afflictionem dierum istorum sol obscurabitur, et luna non dabit lumen suum, et stellae cadent de caelo, et virtutes caelorum commovebuntur: et tunc... videbunt Filium hominis venientem in nubibus caeli cum gloria et virtute" (Matthaeus 24:29-30):
Per "solem" ibi intelligitur Dominus quoad amorem; per "lunam" Dominus quoad fidem; per "stellas" Dominus quoad cognitiones boni et veri; per "Filium hominis" Dominus quoad Verbum; per "nubem" sensus litterae Verbi, et per "gloriam" sensus spiritualis, ac transparentia ejus in sensu litterae.