AC 5360 - When Goods and Truths Fail

AC 5360

That a famine denotes such a lack, or desolation,
is because celestial and spiritual food
are nothing else than good and truth.
These are what angels and spirits are nourished by,
and what they hunger for when hungry,
and thirst for when thirsty;
and therefore material food also corresponds to them --
as bread to celestial love,
and wine to spiritual love,
as well as everything that pertains to bread or food,
and to wine or drink.
When therefore there is a lack of such things,
there is a "famine,"
and in the Word
this is called "desolation" and "vastation" -
"desolation" when truths fail,
and "vastation" when goods fail.

. . . That last state of a church
which precedes the state of a new church,
is properly meant and described in the Word
by "vastation" and "desolation."
By the same words is described also
the state that precedes a person's regeneration,
which state is here meant by the seven years of famine.