the Lord in the clouds of heaven with power and glory” His presence in the Word, and revelation,{9} “clouds” signifying the sense of the letter of the Word,{10} and “glory” the internal sense of the Word;{11} “the angels with a trumpet and great voice” signify heaven as a source of Divine truth.{12} All this makes clear that these words of the Lord mean that at the end of the church, when there is no longer any love, and consequently no faith, the Lord will open the internal meaning of the Word and reveal arcana of heaven.  The arcana revealed in the following pages relate to heaven and hell, and also to the life of man after death.  The man of the church at this date knows scarcely anything about heaven and hell or about his life after death, although all these matters are set forth and described in the Word; and yet many of those born within the church refuse to believe in them, saying in their hearts, “Who has come from that world and told us?” Lest, therefore, such a spirit of denial, which especially prevails with those who have much worldly wisdom, should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and the simple in faith, it has been granted me to associate with angels and to talk with them as man with man, also to see what is in the heavens and what is in the hells, and this for thirteen years; so now from what I have seen and heard it has been granted me to describe these, in the hope that ignorance may thus be enlightened and unbelief dissipated.  Such immediate revelation is granted at this day because this is what is meant by the Coming of the Lord.

[References to the author’s arcana Coelestia.]

  {Footnote 1} The consummation of the age is the final period of
  the church (n. 4535, 10622).

{Footnote 2} The Lord’s predictions in Matthew (24 and 25), respecting the consummation of the age and His coming, and the consequent successive vastation of the church and the final judgment, are explained in the prefaces to chapters 26-40 of Genesis (n. 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3751-3757, 3897-3901, 4056-4060, 4229-4231, 4332-4335, 4422-4424, 4635- 4638, 4661-4664, 4807-4810, 4954-4959, 5063-5071).

  {Footnote 3} Both in the wholes and in the particulars of the
  Word there is an internal or spiritual sense (n. 1143, 1984,
  2135, 2333, 2395, 2495, 4442, 9048, 9063, 9086).

{Footnote 4} The Word is written solely by correspondences, and for this reason each thing and all things in it have a spiritual meaning (n. 1404, 1408, 1409, 1540, 1619, 1659, 1709, 1783, 2900, 9086).

  {Footnote 5} In the Word the “sun” signifies the Lord in respect
  to love, and in consequence love to the Lord (n. 1529, 1837,
  2441, 2495, 4060, 4696, 7083, 10809).

  {Footnote 6} In the Word the “moon” signifies the Lord in
  respect to faith, and in consequence faith in the Lord (n.
  1529, 1530, 2495, 4060, 4696, 7083).