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.
Survey of Teachings of the New Church #87
87. 20 Adamant devotees of the modern-day view that faith is what justifies us are depicted in the Book of Revelation as the dragon, its two beasts, and the locusts. This belief (when strongly held) is depicted there as the great city that is spiritually called Sodom and Egypt, where the two witnesses were killed, and as the pit of the abyss from which the locusts came forth.
