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.

2130. As regards the second representation, that is to say, the idea of a Last Judgement which takes place before the eyes of the good when they are being admitted into heaven, let that too be described. In the Word it is said that the door was shut, so that they could no longer be admitted; and that they had no oil, arrived too late, and therefore were not admitted, statements which also mean a Last-Judgement state. The situation with these matters and how they are to be understood has been shown to me.

[2] I heard communities of spirits declaring in a clear voice, one community after another, that a wolf had wished to carry them off but that the Lord rescued them, and so they were restored to Him, and on that account rejoiced from the depths of their heart. Indeed they had been without hope, and so were afraid that the door had been shut, and that they had arrived too late to be admitted. Such thought had been instilled into them by those called wolves, but it vanished on their being admitted, that is, being received, by angelic communities. Being admitted into heaven is nothing else. The admission which I witnessed seemed to proceed continuously community by community, up to twelve of them, the admission, that is, the reception, of the twelfth being more difficult than that of the previous eleven. After that about eight more communities were also admitted, which, it was pointed out to me, were composed of females. Having witnessed all this I was told that this is how the process of admission, that is, of being received into heavenly communities is seen. They proceed in an orderly continuation from one place to another. I was also told that heaven can never be filled up, still less the door be shut, but that the more who enter, the more blessing and happiness there is for those in heaven, because their unanimity is made that much stronger.

[3] After these had been admitted it did at that point seem as though heaven was shut; for there were still more who wished after that to be admitted, that is, to be received. But they were told in reply that they could not yet be let in. This is meant by those arriving too late, by the door being shut, by their knocking, and by the statement about their having no oil in their lamps. The reason they were not admitted was that they were not yet ready to move among angelic communities where mutual love exists, for, as stated above towards the end of 2119, people who in the world have lived charitably disposed towards the neighbour are raised up by the Lord into heaven gradually.

[4] There were also other spirits who did not know what heaven is, namely mutual love, and who also at that time wished to be admitted. They imagined it was just a matter of being admitted. They received the reply however that it was not yet time for them, but that they would be admitted at another time when they were ready for it. The reason why twelve communities were seen was that 'twelve' means everything comprising faith, as stated above towards the end of 2129.

1295. That 'one man said to the next' means that this was started, that is, men started it, follows from the train of thought. This verse is dealing with the third state of the Church when falsities began to reign, in particular the falsities that arise from evil desires. There are two sources of falsities, the first being ignorance of the truth, the second evil desires. Falsity that arises from ignorance of the truth is not so harmful as falsity arising from evil desires, for the falsity of ignorance is the outcome either of having been so taught since early childhood, or of having been so preoccupied with various pursuits that one has never looked into whether something is true, or of not having been competent enough to judge what is true and what is false. Falsities that are the product of such ignorance do little harm provided that the person has not confirmed himself much in them, and so has not, on the instigation of some evil desire or other, persuaded himself to the point of defending those falsities. If he has he so intensifies the cloud of ignorance and converts it into darkness that he is incapable of seeing the truth.

[2] But falsity from evil desires comes into being when the origin of falsity is evil desire, that is, self-love and love of the world, as when somebody takes some point of doctrine, preaches it to captivate and take control of people's minds, and explains or twists that point of doctrine to his own advantage, and confirms it both by reasonings based on facts, and from the literal sense of the Word. The worship that results from this is unholy, however holy it may appear outwardly. For inwardly it is not worship of the Lord but worship of self. Nor does such a person acknowledge any truth, except insofar as he can explain it to his own advantage. Such worship is what is meant by 'Babel'. But the situation is different with people who, though born and brought up in such worship, do not know that it is falsity, and lead charitable lives. Their ignorance has innocence within it, and their worship has the good flowing from charity within it. The unholiness of worship is attributable not so much to the actual worship as to the nature of the worshipper.