2. Before treating of the New Jerusalem and its doctrine, something shall be said of the New Heaven and the New Earth. In the small work on The Last Judgment and the Destruction of Babylon it was shown what is meant by the "first heaven and the first earth" which had passed away. After they had passed away, and thus after the Last Judgment had been accomplished, the new heaven was created, that is, formed by the Lord. This heaven was formed of all those who after the Lord's advent even to the present time, had lived a life of faith and charity; since they alone were forms of heaven. For the form of heaven, according to which all consociations and communications are there effected, is the form of Divine Truth from the Divine Good which proceeds from the Lord; and this form a man puts on as to his spirit by a life according to Divine Truth.

That the form of heaven is from this source, may be seen in the work Heaven and Hell 200-212; and that all angels are forms of heaven, in Heaven and Hell 51-58, 73-77. From this it may be known, of whom the new heaven was composed, and hence also what its quality is; namely, that it is altogether of one mind; for he, who lives a life of faith and charity, loves another as himself, and through love conjoins him to himself, and thus reciprocally and mutually, because love in the spiritual world is conjunction. When, therefore, all act alike, then from many, yea, from countless numbers consociated according to the form of heaven, there arises one mind, and there results, as it were, a one; for there is nothing which separates and divides, but everything conjoins and unites.

1413. 'To the land which I will cause you to see' means the spiritual and celestial things that were to be brought to view. This is clear from the meaning of 'a land', 662, 1066, and indeed from the meaning here of 'the land of Canaan' which represents the Lord's kingdom, as becomes clear from many places in the Word. For this reason the land of Canaan is called the Holy Land, and also the heavenly Canaan. And since it represented the Lord's kingdom, it also represented and meant the celestial and spiritual things that belong to the Lord's kingdom, and here those that belong to the Lord Himself.

3439. 'I am the God of Abraham your father; do not fear, for I am with you' means that the Divine also was present there, that is to say, in the literal sense of the Word. This is clear from the representation of 'Abraham' as the Lord's Divine, dealt with in 2833, 2836, 3251, 3305 (end). Consequently 'Jehovah the God of Abraham' means the Lord's Divine, which 'Abraham' represents. And as the subject is the Word, which also is the Lord since the whole Word comes from Him and the whole of the Word has reference to Him, 'I am the God of Abraham; do not fear, for I am with you' therefore means that the Divine also was present there. With regard to the Divine presence in the Word the position is that the Divine itself is present in the highest sense of the Word because that is where the Lord is. The Divine is also present in the internal sense because that is where the Lord's kingdom in heaven is, and therefore that sense is called the celestial and spiritual. The Divine is also present in the literal sense of the Word because that is where the Lord's kingdom on earth is, and therefore that sense is called the external and also the natural, for this sense contains crude appearances that are quite remote from the Divine, though every single thing there is nevertheless Divine. Those three senses are related to one another as parts of the tabernacle are related. Its inmost part, or that inside the veil where the ark containing the testimony stood, was the most holy place or the holy of holies; the internal part, or that directly outside the veil where the golden table and the lampstand stood, was the holy place; while the external part, where the court was situated, was also a holy place. This was where all the people met, and therefore it was called 'the Tent of Meeting'.