THE SECOND COMING HAS TAKEN PLACE THE SECOND COMING HAS TAKEN PLACESome of my readers may not know what is meant by the second coming. Others may know that very well, and they are actively looking for it. For the first group I would like to explain what the second coming is, and then both groups will be on an equal footing.
At Christmas the Lord (the Divine) was born into this natural world. This divine incarnation we call the first coming of the Lord. A great deal could be said about this coming, but not at this point. While the Lord was on earth He spoke of His second coming. This prophecy is recorded in the 24th and 25th chapter of Matthew (and other places).
Now there is a claim in the Theological Writings of Swedenborg that the Lord has made this second coming, not in person as He did at Christmas, but in divine revelation, and the Theological Writings of Swedenborg are that revelation. This is quite a claim! At least I thought so when I first heard of it.
The best way to approach this claim is with an open mind and a critical wait and see attitude. Perhaps you already have some good ideas from the Writings, then keep reading. You are at the computer and you can walk away any time you want. But suppose there were more good ideas there, then you would not want to miss them. You can even consciously postpone your dealing with the claim of divinity.
There have been others who have claimed to have brought a divine revelation, but no one has connected it with the second coming, and no one has shown how the prophecies of the second coming in Matthew have been fulfilled. When the Lord was on earth He referred to prophecies of His first coming and how they now were fulfilled. Showing that previous prophecies have been fulfilled and how, is making a very strong case for the reality of the second coming.
I have collected all the words about the fulfilment of the Matthew prophecies in one booklet which you can order and examine. But many have taken another route. They have kept reading in various parts of the Writings, whatever interested them, and somewhere along the road they agreed that the Writings had to be a divine revelation. They recognized divinity in them. It does not matter how you approach the Writings, just relax and do not rush.
But I hope you will not come with preconceived ideas either. Prophecies are always too vague to tell you what to expect beforehand. Prophecies can only be truly understood at the time of fulfilment. The Lord said He would come like a thief in the night.
The Lord always comes in two ways. He comes to mankind in an objective
way outside of ourselves, so we can see Him separately and objectively.
But He also comes in a very personal way into our mind, when we begin to
read His revelationm and absorb it into our mind.
