Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 347such it is therefore said that from them should be taken away thatwhich they have, according to what has been explained in thebeginning of this article.[11] This takes place with all in the other life who have acquiredfor themselves knowledges from the Word, and have notcommitted them to the life, but only to the memory. He who hisknowledges from the Word in the memory only, even if they werethousands, if he has not committed them to the life, remainsnatural as before. Committing knowledges from the Word to thelife is thinking from them, when one, left to himself, thinks fromhis spirit, and also willing them and doing them; for this is lovingtruths because they are truths; and those who do this are those whobecome spiritual by means of knowledges from the Word.194. And thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon thee,signifies ignorance of that time and of the state then. This isevident from the signification of “hour,” as being the time whenman is to die, and also his state then; and from the signification of“not knowing” it, as being ignorance. It is said “In what hour I willcome upon thee,” namely, “as a thief,” and this means, in the senseof the letter, that the Lord will so come; but in the spiritual sense, itmeans that evils and falsities will steal away the knowledges thatthey have from the Word. For in the sense of the letter of the Worddoing evil is attributed to Jehovah, or to the Lord, but in thespiritual sense the meaning is that He does evil to no one, but thatman does evil to himself (see Arcana Coelestia, n. 2447, 5798,6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7679, 7710, 7877, 7926,8227, 8228, 8284, 8483, 8632, 9010, 9128, 9306, 10431).[2] “Hour,” moreover signifies state, because all times in theWord, as a day, a week, a month, a year, an age, signify states oflife, so likewise “an hour” (the reason of this may be seen in thework on Heaven and Hell, n. 162–169, where Time in Heaven istreated of). But as “hour” means both time and state, where “hour”occurs in the Word it can scarcely be known that it signifiesanything except time. As in Matthew: