Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 21To do is to will, and to will is to do; because in deeds the will iseverything.16. For the time is near signifies such an interior state. This isevident from the signification of “time,” as meaning state (seeHeaven and Hell, n. 162–169, where time in heaven is treated of);and from the signification of “near,” as being the internal; thushere, because it refers to state, the interior state such as is describedabove is meant. By state is meant a state of affection and of thoughttherefrom. He who reads this, and knows nothing of the internalsense, supposes that by “the time being near” is meant that the timewas near when the things contained in Revelation would befulfilled. But that this is not meant can be seen from the fact thatseventeen centuries elapsed before they were fulfilled. But becausethe Word in the letter is natural and within is spiritual, it is saidthat “the time is near,” in order that in heaven the interior statemight be understood; for if the expression “the interior state,”which is the spiritual sense, had here been used, it would not havebeen understood by the angels; for they perceive all things of theWord according to correspondences. “Near” signifies interior,because distances in heaven are entirely in accord with thedifferences of the good of love; for which reason those who are inkindred good are also near one another; and it is from this that onearth kinships are called near relationships [propinquitates], becausethey relate to spiritual affinities, which in heaven are really such. Inheaven this is so because the good of love conjoins, and the moreinterior the good, the nearer is the conjunction. From this it is, thatheaven is nearer to man, the more interiorly he is in the good oflove; and the origin of this is that the Lord is nearer to an angel, toa spirit, and to man, the more interiorly they love him.To love him interiorly is to love his precepts interiorly; that is, toperceive, to will, and to do them from the delight of love. It is fromthis that “nearness,” in the Word signifies presence andconjunction (as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia, n. 5911, 9378,9997, 10001). This nearness is thus described in John: