{"id":12880,"date":"2018-01-30T20:24:54","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T01:24:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordstudy.newchurch.org\/?page_id=12880"},"modified":"2018-01-30T20:24:54","modified_gmt":"2018-01-31T01:24:54","slug":"hour","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/societies.newchurch.org\/wordstudy\/bible-keywords\/hour\/","title":{"rendered":"Hour"},"content":{"rendered":"

Swedenborg<\/a> says that time and space are aspects of the physical<\/a> world, but do not exist as we know them in the spiritual<\/a> world. In the spiritual world, it says, people\u2019s sense of place and time are a matter of their spiritual states<\/a> \u2013 their thoughts<\/a> and affections<\/a>.<\/p>\n

So when the Bible<\/a> talks about hours \u2013 or any other measurement of time \u2013 it is referring to a specific spiritual state, with further definition depending on the context in which it is used.<\/p>\n

\n

Passages from Swedenborg<\/strong><\/p>\n

Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 194<\/strong>
\n194. And thou shalt not know what\u00a0hour\u00a0I will come upon thee. That this signifies man’s ignorance of that time, and of his state then, is evident from the signification of\u00a0hour, as being the time when man is to die, and also his state at the time; and from the signification of not knowing it, as being ignorant.<\/p>\n

It is said, what hour\u00a0I will come upon thee, namely, as a thief; and in the sense of the letter is hereby meant that the Lord would thus come, but in the spiritual sense it is meant that evils and falsities would steal the knowledges which they have from the Word; for, in the sense of the letter of the Word, it is attributed to Jehovah, or the Lord, that He does evil, but, in the spiritual sense it is meant that He does evil to no one, but that man does evil to himself (as may be seen, Arcana Coelestia, n. 2447, 5798, 6071, 6991, 6997, 7533, 7632, 7643, 7877, 7679, 7710, 7926, 8227, 8228, 8284, 8483, 8632, 9010, 9128, 9306, 10,431).<\/p>\n

[2] The reason why\u00a0hour\u00a0also signifies state is, because in the Word all times, as a day, a week, a month, a year, an age, signify states of life, and hence\u00a0hour\u00a0has a similar signification. (The cause of this may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell, n. 162-169, where time in heaven is treated of.)\u2028\u2028\u00a0But because\u00a0hour\u00a0signifies both time and state, therefore, where hour\u00a0is mentioned in the Word it may to some extent be known that something other than time is signified by it.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse Explained (Tansley) n. 875<\/strong><\/p>\n

The reason why it is called the\u00a0hour\u00a0of judgment is, that\u00a0hour signifies not only time but also state, like day, week, month, year, and time in general; as may be seen above (n. 571, 610, 664, 673, 747, 761). And concerning the signification of\u00a0hour\u00a0in particular, see above (n. 194, 488, 673).\u2028\u2028\u00a0Hour\u00a0and day are so often mentioned in the Word because of the spiritual sense which is in every part of it. For while man thinks of hour\u00a0and day, and thence of time, the angels, who are in the spiritual sense of the Word, think of state. The reason is, that angels have no idea of time, because they have no days, weeks, months, and years, such as are in the world; but they have changes of state, by which they measure things successive; concerning which see the work on Heaven and Hell (n. 162-169), where time in heaven is treated of.<\/p>\n

Apocalypse Revealed (Rogers) n. 389<\/strong>
\n389. There was silence in heaven for about half an\u00a0hour. This symbolically means that angels from the Lord’s spiritual kingdom were quite dumbfounded when they saw people who claimed to have faith to be in the state they were.\u2028The silence in heaven means nothing else than an astonishment there over people who claim to have faith and yet are in such a state. For their state is described in the following verses, and their character can be seen from the explanations given.\u2028 Half an\u00a0hour\u00a0means, symbolically, much or quite, because an\u00a0hour symbolizes a completed state.\u2028That time symbolizes state is something that will be seen below.<\/p>\n

Arcana Coelestia (Elliott) n. 4334<\/strong>
\n4334. But of that day and\u00a0hour\u00a0no one knows means that the state of the Church at that time so far as forms of good and truth are concerned is not going to be visible to anyone either on earth or in heaven, for ‘day’ and ‘hour’ in this case are not used to mean day and hour, that is, a period of time, but a state so far as good and truth are concerned. Periods of time in the Word mean states, see 2625, 2788, 2837, 3254, 3356, and ‘day’ also has the same meaning, 23, 487, 488, 493, 893, 2788, 3462, 3785. ‘Hour,’ too therefore is descriptive of state, but some specific aspect. The reason why state so far as good and truth are concerned is meant is that the subject is the Church, for good and truth constitute the Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Swedenborg says that time and space are aspects of the physical world, but do not exist as we know them in the spiritual world. In the spiritual world, it says, people\u2019s sense of place and time are a matter of their spiritual states \u2013 their thoughts and affections. So when the Bible talks about hours […]<\/p>\n

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