476. That there should be time no longer, signifies that there cannot be any state of the church, nor any church, unless one God be acknowledged, and that the Lord is He. By "time" is signified state; and, because the church is here treated of, the state of the church is signified. Therefore "there shall be time no longer," signifies that there will not be any state of the church. That it also means that there is not any church, unless one God be acknowledged, and that the Lord is He, follows as a consequence. But what is the case at this day? That there is one God is not denied, but that the Lord is He is denied; and yet there is not one God, in whom is the Trinity at the same time, but the Lord. That the church is from Him, who is the Savior and Redeemer, is not denied; but that He, as the Savior and Redeemer, ought to be approached immediately, is denied. Hence it is evident, that the church is about to expire, unless a new one comes into existence, which acknowledges the Lord alone to be the God of heaven and earth, and, for this reason, immediately approaches Him (see Matthew 28:18). Therefore these words, "there shall be time no longer," that is, there shall be no church, relate to what follows in this chapter (verse 7); and this again, to what is written in chapter 11 (verse 15); where it is said there will be a church which will be from the Lord alone.
[2] By "time" is signified state, because in the spiritual world time is not measured by days, weeks, months, and years, but by states, which are progressions of the life of those who are there, from which they remember things past; on which subject see the work on Heaven and Hell, published at London in the year 1758 (n. 162-169), where time in heaven is treated of. The reason why the state of the church is here meant by "time," is because day and night, morning and evening, summer and winter, constitute time in this world, and when understood in the spiritual sense, they constitute the states of the church; therefore when these states no longer exist, there is no church; and there is then no church, when there is no longer any good and truth, thus when the light of truth is thick darkness, and the heat of good is cold; this is what is meant by "there is time no longer." Something similar is meant by the following passages in the Word:
The fourth beast will think to change the times (Dan. 7:25).
But it shall be one day which is known to Jehovah, not day nor night (thus there would be no time) (Zech. 14:7).
I will cause the sun to set at noon, and I will darken the earth in the day of light (thus there would be no time) (Amos 8:9).
Behold, one evil is come, the end is come, the end is come, the morning is come upon thee, O thou that dwellest in the land, the time is come (Ezek. 7:5-7).
"The morning" is the beginning of a new church (n. 151), therefore it is said "the time is come."