Selection from Invitation To The New Church ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
... without the Lord's Advent, no man could have been regenerated, and hence saved; and that this is meant by "the Lamb taking away the sins of the world." This may be evident from the state of the spiritual world before the Lord's Coming; which was such that not a single truth of faith, nor any good of charity, could pass from the Lord to man. (from no. 5)By the "fulness of time" is signified consummation and desolation; because "time" signifies the state of the church
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. (Rev. 10:5-6)
The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. (Ezek. 30:1-3)The same also is signified by "Time, times, and half a time"
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Rev. 12:14)
And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. ...• The times in the world are spring, summer, autumn; the fullness of these times is winter.
And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Dan. 7:25; 12:7)
• The times as to light are morning, noon, evening; and their fullness is the night, etc., etc.
This is meant by the Lord's coming in "the fullness of the time," or of "times"; that is, when there is no longer any truth of faith, and good of charity left.
THE FULLNESS OF THE TIME
Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? ...
For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Rom. 11:12, 25)
Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal. 4:3-5)
... having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him (Eph. 1:9, 10)
But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. ( Gen. 15:16)The desolation of the truth of the church may be compared with consummations on the earth;
• heat, namely, and all the above [times or seasons] are consummated by winter and then spring comes
• light on earth is consummated by the night, when the morning comes.
Wherefore, the Lord in Revelation said to those under the altar
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Rev. 6:9-11)A number of passages are to be quoted from Revelation, showing that the church has been laid waste, even to its ultimate.
(from Invitation To The New Church 10; 12)