Heavenly Marriage, Prophetic Cycle: Analogies and Rubrics for Reference

These are the healthy and unhealthy states and interrelations of the heart and mind, will and understanding, platter and cup.
 
righteousness : understanding :: sin : error ::: bread : wine :: bread of wickedness : wine of violence ::: sun shining sevenfold : moon shining as the sun :: sun black as sackcloth of hair : moon turned to blood

gold : silver :: spiritual good : spiritual truth ::: brass : iron :: natural good : natural truth

(marriages/conjunctions) Bread : wine :: love : wisdom :: honour : glory :: bride and bridegroom sounding joyously ::: (adulteries/disjunctions) bread of wickedness / bread of mourning : wine of violence/ wine of the wrath :: sin : error :: shame : contempt :: bride and bridegroom sounding no longer

These are the two faculties of the human, the two candlesticks and two olive trees and two witnesses that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. These are the platter and cup which are to be clean on the inside not just the outside. 

When the will is in a good state of love to God and the neighbor and the understanding is in a knowing state of ideation supportive of love to God and the neighbor then there is a Heavenly marriage in the hearts and minds of individuals and Churches known as conjunction. It is then that the bride and bridegroom sound joyously and the sound of the millstone is heard. 

When the will is in an evil state of love of self and the world and the understanding is in an endarkened state of ideation supportive of love of self and the world then there is an infernal adultery in the hearts and minds of individuals and Whores known as disjunction. It is then that the bride and bridegroom sound no longer, neither is sound of millstone heard.

1 morning : spring : head of gold : white horse

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2 midday : summer : breast and arms of silver : red horse

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3 evening : autumn : belly and thighs of brass : black horse

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4 night : winter : feet of iron and clay : pale horse

These are the quarters of the charity or prophetic life cycle of the Church, the morning and the evening, the crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground of the New Church and the drowning therein of the Old Church.

"The watchman said: 'The morning cometh, and also the night-- If ye will inquire, inquire ye; return, come" (Isaiah 21:12).

"And the vision of the evening and the morning which was told is true: wherefore shut thou up the vision; for it shall be for many days" (Daniel 8:26). 

"In the Word throughout mention is made of “evening”, and by it is signified the last time of the church, and also the first time; the last with those among whom the church is ceasing, and the first with those among whom it is beginning" (AC7844).

Thus, the morning of the Christian Church is the night of the Jewish Church, and the night of the Christian Church is the morning of the New Church. This has been explicitly explained by the Lord:

"Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it" (Matthew 21:43).

For there to be fruit, there must be a branch. For there to be a branch, there must be a root. That root is charity. That branch is truth. That fruit is abundance.

"For, behold, the day cometh, that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the LORD of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch" (Malachi 4:1).

For there to be no root is for there to be no charity, no doing good from the Lord for its own sake. For there to be no branch is for there to be no understanding, no delighting in divine truth from the Lord for its own sake. And when good or truth are not practiced and understood for their own sakes, then they are practiced for what are called gifts or rewards. That is why it says these things about gifts and rewards: 

"Thy princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves: every one loveth gifts, and followeth after rewards: they judge not the fatherless, neither doth the cause of the widow come unto them" (Isaiah 1:23). 

"And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth" (Revelation 11:10).

What do those who have no root, having burned it up, do? They make the Word of God of none effect through their tradition, like the Pharisees (Mark 7:13). What do those who have no branch, having burned it up, understand? They understand neither the scriptures nor the power of God, like the Sadducees (Matthew 22:29).

It is evident that there can be no fruit if the inverted root and branch of sin and error have burnt up the goods and truths of the Church of God. So He gives that Church to another nation to bring forth the fruits thereof. Why does He give it to another nation? Why does He not reform the rotten nation? The Lord has explicitly explained: 

"16 No man putteth a piece of new cloth unto an old garment, for that which is put in to fill it up taketh from the garment, and the rent is made worse.

17 Neither do men put new wine into old bottles: else the bottles break, and the wine runneth out, and the bottles perish: but they put new wine into new bottles, and both are preserved" (Matthew 9:16-17).

That is why the Christian Church, not the Jewish Church, carried out the task of spreading the Gospel in Acts. For the Lord did not put a new cloth unto an old garment, did not put new wine into old bottles. The Lord well knows exactly how to orchestrate the morning and the night. 

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