1. True Christianity

Containing a Comprehensive Theology of the New Heaven and the New Church

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church

THE faith of the new heaven and the new church is stated here in both universal and specific forms to serve as the face of the work that follows, the doorway that allows entry into the temple, and the summary that in one way or another contains all the details to follow. I say "the faith of the new heaven and the new church" because heaven, where there are angels, and the church, in which there are people, act together like the inner and the outer levels in a human being. People in the church who love what is good because they believe what is true and who believe what is true because they love what is good are angels of heaven with regard to the inner levels of their minds. After death they come into heaven, and enjoy happiness there according to the relationship between their love and their faith. It is important to know that the new heaven that the Lord is establishing today has this faith as its face, doorway, and summary.

772. The Purpose of This Coming of the Lord - His Second Coming - Is to Separate the Evil from the Good, to Save Those Both Past and Present Who Believe in Him, and to Form Them into a New Angelic Heaven and a New Church on Earth; If He Did Not Do This, "No Flesh Would Be Saved" (Matthew 24:22)

The purpose of the Lord's Second Coming is not to destroy the visible heaven and the inhabitable earth, as the sections under the previous heading have shown [768-771]. The Lord's own words make it clear that the purpose of the new church is not to destroy anything but to build something; therefore it is not to condemn anyone but to save those people ever since his First Coming who have believed in him, and those in the future who are going to believe in him.

God did not send his Son into the world to judge the world but to save the world through him. Those who believe in him are not judged; but those who do not believe have already been judged because they have not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:17-18)

If any hear my words but do not believe, I do not judge them. I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. Those who despise me and do not accept my words already have something that judges them. The Word that I have spoken - that will judge them. (John 12:47-48)

The Last Judgment occurred in the spiritual world in 1757. The small work titled Last Judgment (published in London in 1758) and Supplement to the Last Judgment (published in Amsterdam in 1763) made this information public. I testify that it is the truth. I saw it with my own eyes in a state of full wakefulness.

497. Although Our Will and Intellect Exist in This State of Free Choice, the Doing of Evil Is Forbidden by Law in Both Worlds, the Spiritual and the Earthly, Since Otherwise Society in Both Realms Would Perish

The fact that everyone has free choice in spiritual matters is something that any of us can know just by observing our own thoughts. Who is not free to think about God, the Trinity, goodwill and the neighbor, faith and its activity, the Word and all that comes from it, and the fine points of theology (once one has learned what they are)? Who is unable to think, draw conclusions, teach, or write either for or against them? If this freedom of ours were to be taken away from us for one moment, our thought would stop, our tongue would become silent, and our hand would seize up. Therefore, my friend, just from observing your own thoughts you are in a position (if you so desire) to reject and condemn [the current view] as an absurd and damaging heresy in Christianity today, a heresy that has put the heavenly teaching on goodwill and faith, on salvation and eternal life, into a coma.

[2] The following are reasons why the will and the intellect are where this free choice dwells in us: (1) Because these two faculties must be instructed and reformed first; and then through them, the two faculties of the outer self that make us speak and act are to be instructed and reformed. (2) Because these two faculties of our inner self constitute the spirit within us that lives on after death. Our spirit lives under a form of law that is entirely divine, whose primary principle is that we think of the law, do the law, and obey the law [as if we did so] on our own, although we actually do so from the Lord.

[3] (3) Because our spirit is midway between heaven and hell, and therefore midway between good and evil. As a result we are in equilibrium. This is what gives us free choice in spiritual matters. (On this type of equilibrium, see 475-478.) Nevertheless, as long as we are alive in this world, our spirit is in an equilibrium between heaven and the world. At this point we scarcely realize that the more we turn away from heaven toward the world, the closer we move toward hell. The reason we are partly aware and partly unaware of this is so that in this regard as well we may be free and may be reformed.

[4] (4) Because these two faculties, the will and the intellect, are two vessels for the Lord. The will is a vessel to receive love and goodwill, and the intellect is a vessel to receive wisdom and faith; as the Lord brings each of these qualities about in us we are in a state of complete freedom, which allows us a partnership with him that is mutual and reciprocal and results in our salvation. (5) Because the entire judgment we undergo after death hinges on the use we made of free choice in spiritual matters.