179. (vii) THIS IS THE SOURCE OF THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION AND THE AFFLICTION SUCH AS HAS NEVER BEEN NOR SHALL BE, BOTH OF WHICH THE LORD PREDICTED IN DANIEL, THE GOSPELS AND REVELATION.

We read in Daniel:

Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off, shall be poured drop by drop upon devastation, Daniel 9:27.

In Matthew's gospel the Lord says:

Then many false prophets shall arise and lead many astray. When therefore you see the abomination of desolation predicted by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let him who reads take due notice, Matthew 24:11, 15.

Later in the same chapter:

Then there shall be great affliction, such as never was from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be, Matthew 24:21.

This affliction and the abomination are dealt with in seven chapters of Revelation. These are what is meant by the black horse and the pale horse which came out of the book, when the Lamb opened its seals (Revelation 6:5-8); and by the beast coming up out of the abyss, which made war on the two witnesses, and killed them (Revelation 11:7ff.); as by the dragon which stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, to devour her child, and pursued her into the desert, and there ejected water from its mouth like a river, to drown her (chapter 12); also by the beasts of the dragon, one from the sea, the other from the land (chapter 13); also by the three spirits like frogs, who came out of the mouth of the dragon and the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet (Revelation 16:13); moreover by the fact that after the seven angels had poured out the bowls of the wrath of God, in which were the seven last plagues, upon the earth, the sea, the springs and streams, the sun, the throne of the beast, the Euphrates and finally the air, a great earthquake took place such as had never occurred since the creation of man (chapter 16). The earthquake means the overthrow of the church, the result of falsities and falsifications of truth, much as is meant by the great affliction such as never has been since the beginning of the world (Matthew 24:21). The following passage has a similar meaning:

The angel put in his sickle and reaped the grape-harvest of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God; and the winepress was trodden, and blood came out up to the bridles of the horses at a distance of one thousand six hundred stades ¹ . Revelation 14:19-20.

Blood means falsified truth. There are many more such passages in those seven chapters.

Footnotes:

196. (ii) THE SPIRITUAL SENSE IS PRESENT IN EVERY PART AND DETAIL OF THE WORD.

This can be seen by examples, such as the following. John says in Revelation:

I saw heaven open, and there was a white horse; and he who sat on it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and fights. And his eyes were a flame of fire; and on his head were many diadems. He had a name written, which no one but he knows. And he was clothed in a garment dyed in blood; and his name is called The Word of God. His armies in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, clean linen. He has written on his garment and on his thigh his name: King of kings and Lord of lords. I saw further an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice, Come and gather for the great feast, to eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of strong men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all free men and slaves, both small and great, Revelation 19:11-18.

No one can see what all this means except from the spiritual sense of the Word; and no one can see this except by knowing the correspondences. For every word corresponds to something and not one is without meaning. A knowledge of correspondences shows the meaning of 'a white horse', 'him who sat on it', 'eyes like a flame of fire', the 'diadems' on his head, 'the garment dyed in blood', 'the white linen' worn by His army in heaven, 'the angel standing in the sun', 'the great feast' to which they were to come and gather, as well as 'the flesh of kings and captains' and many more, which they were to eat.

[2] The meaning in the spiritual sense of all these details has been expounded in My Apocalypse Revealed (820-838), and my short work THE WHITE HORSE, so it would be superfluous to expound them further. It was shown there that this is a description of the Lord as the Word. His eyes like a flame of fire mean the Divine wisdom of His Divine love. The diadems on His head and the name which no one but He knows mean the Divine truths in the Word which come from Him, and that no one sees what the Word is like in its spiritual sense except the Lord and those to whom He reveals it. A garment dyed in blood means the natural sense of the Word, that is, the literal sense, to which violence was done. It is quite plain that it is the Word which is so described, for it says 'His name is called The Word of God.' It is also quite plain that it is the Lord who is meant, for it says that the name of him who sat on the white horse was 'King of kings and Lord of lords', much as in Revelation 17:14, where it says: 'And the Lamb shall overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings'.

[3] The spiritual sense of the Word being laid bare at the end of the church is what is meant not only by what is said about the white horse and him who sat on it, but also by the great feast, to which the angel standing in the sun invited all to come, and to eat the flesh of kings and captains, etc.; this means making one's own all the kinds of good given by the Lord. All the expressions used there would be meaningless, devoid of life and spirit, if they did not inwardly contain a spiritual sense, just as the body contains a soul.