see angels with trumpets. Instead, the individual words there have spiri-
tual meanings that relate to the church. The details that are mentioned
relate to the church’s state at its end.
In the spiritual meaning, the sun that will be darkened means love for
the Lord. The moon that will not give its light means faith in him. The stars
that will fall from heaven mean concepts of goodness and truth. The sign of
the Son of Humankind in heaven means the divine truth from him in the
Word that will become apparent. The tribes of the earth that will wail mean
the loss of all true belief and all good love. The Son of Humankind coming
in the clouds of heaven with power and glory means the Lord’s presence in
the Word and his ability to give revelations through it. The clouds of
heaven mean the Word’s literal meaning; the glory means the Word’s spiri-
tual meaning. The angels sent out with a great sound of a trumpet mean
heaven as a source of divine truth. Gathering the chosen people from the
four winds from one end of the heavens to the other means building a new
heaven and a new church that consists of people who have faith in the Lord
and who live by his commandments.
It does not mean a darkening of the sun and moon and a falling of
stars to earth. This is obvious from the prophets, who have similar things
to say about the state of the church when the Lord would come into the
world. For example in Isaiah,
Behold the savage day of Jehovah will come, a day of the rage of his
anger. The stars of the heavens and their constellations will not shed
their light. The sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will
not let its light shine. I will visit malice upon the globe. (Isaiah 13 : 9 – 11 )In Joel,
The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and blackness. The
sun and the moon will be blackened, and the stars will withdraw their
splendor. (Joel 2 : 1 , 2 , 10 ; 3 : 15 )In Ezekiel,
I will cover the heavens and blacken the stars. I will cover the sun with
a cloud, and the moon will not make its light shine. All sources of light
I will cover, and I will bring darkness on the earth. (Ezekiel 32 : 7 , 8 )“The day of Jehovah” means the Lord’s coming that was going to take
place when there was no longer any good love or any true belief left in