726. Eternal life and salvation are not possible without a partnership with the Lord, because he himself is eternal life and salvation. The following statement in John, as well as other passages in the Word, make it very clear that he is eternal life: "Jesus Christ is the true God and eternal life" (1 John 5:20). He is also salvation, because this is the same thing as eternal life. In fact his name, Jesus, means salvation; therefore throughout the entire Christian world he is known as the Savior.

Nevertheless, the only people who come forward worthily to take the Holy Supper are people who have an inward partnership with the Lord; and the only people who have an inward partnership with him are the people who have been regenerated. (Who the "regenerated" are has been shown in the chapter on reformation and regeneration [571-625].)

[2] Now, there are of course many people who confess the Lord and do good things for their neighbor. If they do not do these things out of love for their neighbor and faith in the Lord, however, they have not been regenerated. Such people do good things for their neighbor solely for reasons that focus on the world and themselves, and not on their neighbor as their neighbor. The things that such people do are merely earthly and do not conceal anything spiritual inside them. The people who do them confess the Lord, but only with their mouth and lips, while their heart is far away.

Genuine love for our neighbor and genuine faith come solely from the Lord. Both of these qualities are granted to us when we use our free choice to do good things for our neighbor in an earthly way, believe truths in a rational way, and turn to the Lord, doing all three because we have been commanded to in the Word. Then the Lord plants goodwill and faith in our core, and makes them both spiritual. In this way, the Lord unites himself to us and we unite ourselves to the Lord - there is no partnership if it is not reciprocal. But these points have been more fully demonstrated in the chapters on goodwill [392-462], faith [336-391], free choice [463-508], and regeneration [571-625].

841. Jews in the Spiritual World

Before the Last Judgment, which took place in the year 1757, Jews appeared to the left side of the Christian center in a valley there. After the Last Judgment, however, they were transferred to the north and forbidden to interact with Christians unless those Christians were traveling and were not in their own cities.

In that area there are two large cities to which Jews are brought after they die. Before the Last Judgment both of these cities were referred to as Jerusalem, but after it they were given new names, since Jerusalem now refers to the teachings of the church that regards the Lord as the sole object of worship.

The governors overseeing these cities are converted Jews who warn the local populations not to say harsh and insulting things about Christ. The governors punish people who violate this rule.

The streets of these cities are ankle-deep in filth. The houses have so much foul-smelling garbage everywhere that it is difficult to get near them.

Later on, though, I did find out that many from these Jewish populations have been given places to stay in the southern region. When I asked what type of people were relocating, I was told that they were Jews who had found little value in the worship practices followed by other Jews, and who had come to question whether the Messiah would ever come. There were also Jews there who had given rational thought to a variety of topics while they were in the world and who had lived rational lives as well; a majority of this last group were so-called Portuguese Jews.