74. 17 The reference in Matthew 24:21 to “a great affliction such as has never existed since the world began and will never exist again” means an attack by falsities and the resulting end — the devastation — of all truth in the Christian denominations of today.
Survey of Teachings of the New Church #70
70. 16 The references in Matthew 24:3 to “the close of the age” and “the Coming of the Lord” that follows it mean the final state or the end of the church of today.
