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As "harvest" signifies all things that spiritually nourish a person, and these have reference to the truths of doctrine and the goods of life, so "harvest" signifies the church in general and in particular; in general, in these words in the Gospels:

Jesus said to His disciples, The harvest is plenteous but the laborers are few; pray therefore the Lord of the harvest that He send laborers into His harvest (Matthew 9:37, 38; Luke 10:2). The "harvest" here means all with whom the church was to be established by the Lord, thus also the church in general; and "laborers" mean all who will teach from the Lord.

[16] Likewise in John:

Jesus said to the disciples, Say ye not there are yet four months and then cometh the harvest? Behold I say unto you, Lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white already for harvest. And he that reaps receives reward and gathers fruit unto life eternal. For herein is the saying true, that there is one who sows and another who reaps. I sent you to reap that for which you have not labored; others have labored, but you have entered into their labor (4:35-38).

This was said by the Lord of a New Church to be established by Him. That the establishment of that church was then at hand is meant by "Lift up your eyes and look on the fields that they are white already for harvest." To teach those who were to be of that church, or as the Lord says elsewhere, "to collect and gather into the barn," is signified by "reaping." That it is the Lord who teaches, thus who collects and gathers, and not themselves (for it was the Lord, by means of the angels, that is, by means of Divine truths from the Word, who prepared for reception those whom the disciples converted to the church), is meant by "there is one who sows and another who reaps; I sent you to reap that whereon ye have not labored; others have labored, but ye have entered into their labor."

[17] The increase of the church with man in particular, and with men in general by the Lord, is also described by "harvest" in Mark:

Jesus said, So is the kingdom of God as if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and should then sleep and rise night and day, and the seed should spring up and grow up he knows not how. For the earth bears fruit of herself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. But when the fruit has come forth straightway he puts forth the sickle, because the harvest is ready (4:26-29).

"The kingdom of God" means the church of the Lord in the heavens and on the earth; and the implantation of it with all who receive truths and goods from the Lord, not from self, is described by these words, every particular of which corresponds to spiritual things and signifies them; as that "a man casts seed upon the earth, that he then sleeps, and rises night and day, that the seed springs up and grows up he knows not how;" for "seed" signifies the Divine truth, "to cast seed into the earth" signifies the work of man, "to rise day and night" and finally "to put in the sickle" signifies in every state. The rest signifies the Lord's work; and the "harvest" the implantation of the church in particular and in general. For it is to be known, that, although the Lord works all things, and man nothing from self, yet He wills that man should work as if from self in all that comes to his perception. For without man's cooperation as if from self there can be no reception of truth and good, thus no implantation and regeneration. For to will is the Lord's gift to man; and because the appearance to man is that this is from self, He gives him to will as if from self. (Apocalypse Explained 911:15-17)

NOTE

After the completion of this book, the Lord called together His twelve disciples, who had followed Him in the world; and a day later He sent them all forth throughout the spiritual world to preach the Gospel, that the Lord God Jesus Christ is king, and His kingdom shall be for ever and ever, as foretold by Daniel (7:13, 14) and in Revelation (11:15):

Blessed are they who come to the wedding supper of the Lamb Revelation 19:9.

This happened on the nineteenth of June in the year 1770. This was meant by the Lord's saying:

He will send his angels, and they will gather together His chosen people from the bounds of the heavens on one side as far as the bounds of the heavens on the other. Matthew 24:31. (True Christian Religion 791)

Ho! Everyone who thirsts, Come to the waters; And you who have no money, Come, buy and eat. Yes, come, buy wine and milk Without money and without price.

Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance. Incline your ear, and come to Me. Hear, and your soul shall live; And I will make an everlasting covenant with you; The sure mercies of David. Indeed I have given him as a witness to the people, A leader and commander for the people.

Surely you shall call a nation you do not know, And nations who do not know you shall run to you, Because of Jehovah your God, And the Holy One of Israel; For He has glorified you.

Seek Jehovah while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to Jehovah, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.

For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways, says Jehovah. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts. For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, And do not return there, But water the earth, And make it bring forth and bud, That it may give seed to the sower And bread to the eater, So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

For you shall go out with joy, And be led out with peace; The mountains and the hills Shall break forth into singing before you, And all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress tree, And instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle tree; And it shall be to Jehovah for a name, For an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. (Isaiah 55)

And they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory means that at that time a revelation of the internal sense of the Word - the sense in which the Lord is present - will take place. 'The Son of Man' means Divine truth within the Word, 2803, 2813, 3704, 'the clouds' the literal sense. 'Power' has reference to the good and 'glory' to the truth present there. For this meaning of 'seeing the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven', see Preface to Gen. 18. This is the kind of coming of the Lord that is meant here, not a literal manifestation of Him in clouds. Next follows a reference to the establishment of a new Church, which takes place once the old has been brought to ruin and cast aside.

[8] He will send out His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice means election - not by visible angels, still less by trumpets and by loud voices, but by an influx of holy good and of holy truth from the Lord through angels, so that the expression 'angels' in the Word means something essentially the Lord's, 1925, 2821, 3039. In this instance it means things which come from the Lord and have reference to the Lord. 'A trumpet and a loud voice' means the proclamation of the Gospel, as in other places in the Word.

[9] And they will gather the elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other end of them means the establishment of a new Church, 'the elect' being people in whom the good of love and faith dwell, 3755 (end), 3900, 'the four winds' from which they will be gathered being all states of good and truth, 3708, and 'one end of the heavens to the other' the internal and the external features of the Church. These are the considerations that are meant by these words spoken by the Lord. (Arcana Coelestia 4060:7-9)

And I saw another angel flying in the midst of heaven, having the eternal gospel to proclaim unto them that dwell on the earth, signifies the annunciation of the Lord's advent, and of the New Church about to come down out of heaven from Him. By "an angel," in the highest sense, is meant the Lord, and thence also heaven (n. 5, 344, 465). By "another angel" is signified something new from the Lord; by "flying in the midst of heaven" is signified to look down on, to observe, and to provide for (n. 415), here something new out of heaven from the Lord in the church. By the "eternal gospel" is signified the annunciation of the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom (n. 478, 553). By "them that dwell on the earth," are signified the men of the church to whom the annunciation will be made. The reason why it also means to announce that the New Church is now about to descend out of heaven from Him, is, because the Lord's coming involves two things, the Last Judgment, and after it the New Church. The Last Judgment is treated of in chapters 19, 20, and the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, in chapters 21-22. That by "the gospel" and "proclaiming" is signified the annunciation of the coming of the Lord and of His kingdom, appears evidently from the passages cited in n. 478, which may there be seen. (Apocalypse Revealed 626)