1. I. THE LAST JUDGMENT HAS BEEN COMPLETED

My earlier work on THE LAST JUDGMENT dealt with the following subjects:

The day of the Last Judgment does not mean the destruction of the world (The Last Judgment 1-5).

The reproduction of the human race will never cease (6-13).

Heaven and Hell are from the human race (14-22).

All people who have ever been born since the beginning of creation and have died are in heaven or in hell (23-27).

The Last Judgment is to be where all are together, and so in the spiritual world, not on earth (28-32).

The Last Judgment takes place when a church comes to an end; and this happens when there is no faith because there is no charity (33-39).

All the predictions made in the Book of Revelation are today fulfilled (40-44).

The Last Judgment has taken place (45-52).

On Babylon and its destruction (53-64);

on the former heaven and its abolition (65-72);

on the future state of the world and the church (73-74).

53. IX. BABYLON AND ITS DESTRUCTION.

All the predictions made in the book of Revelation have to-day been fulfilled (see above 40-44). The last chapter demonstrated that the Last Judgment has already taken place, and showed how it took place on the Mohammedans and the heathen. The next subject is how it took place on the Roman Catholics, who are what is meant by Babylon as mentioned in many passages of Revelation, and in particular its destruction in chapter 18. This is described thus:

The angel cried out in a loud voice, Fallen, fallen is Babylon and become the dwelling of demons, and the prison of every impure ¹ spirit, and the prison of every unclean and hateful bird. Revelation 18:2.

But before the story of how the destruction happened some preliminary remarks are needed:

(i) What is meant by Babylon and what it is like.

(ii) What the people from Babylon are like in the other life.

(iii) Where their dwellings have been up to now.

(iv) Why their presence there was tolerated up to the day of the Last Judgment.

(v) How they were destroyed and their dwellings turned into a desert.

(vi) Those of them who had an affection for truth arising from good were preserved.

(vii) The future state of those who come from earth from that source.

Footnotes:

1672. 'And the kings who were with him' means the apparent truth that goes with that good. This is clear from the meaning of 'kings' in the Word. Kings, kingdoms, and peoples in the historical and prophetical sections of the Word mean truths and the things that belong to truths, as may be confirmed from many places. In the Word a careful distinction is made between people and nation, 'people' meaning truths, 'nation' goods, as shown already in 1259, 1260. Kings have reference to peoples, and not so much to nations. The children of Israel, before they sought to have kings, were 'a nation' and represented good, or that which is celestial; but after they desired a king and received one, they became 'a people' and represented not good or that which is celestial, but truth or that which is spiritual, and this was the reason why this was ascribed to them as a fault in 1 Samuel 8:7-end. This, in the Lord's Divine mercy, will be explained elsewhere. In the present verse, since 'Chedorlaomer' is referred to, and then the phrase 'the kings who were with him' is added, both good and truth are meant - good by 'Chedorlaomer' and truth by 'the kings'. But what kind of good and truth it was when the Lord's temptations first began has been stated above.