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.

2715. Two arcana exist here, the first being that, compared with the good of the celestial man, that of the spiritual man is obscure, the second that this obscurity is brightened by light from the Lord's Divine Human. As regards the first of these - that the good residing with the spiritual man is obscure compared with the celestial man's - this may be seen from what has been stated above in 2708 about the state of the spiritual man in comparison with that of the celestial man. From a comparison of the two states the fact of that obscurity is quite evident. With those who are celestial good itself exists implanted in the will part of their mind, and from there light enters the understanding part. But with those who are spiritual the whole of the will part is corrupted, so that they have no good at all from there, and therefore the Lord implants good in the understanding part of their mind, see 863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2124, 2256. The will part is, in the main, the part of man's mind that possesses life, whereas the understanding part receives life from the will. Since therefore the will part in the case of the spiritual man is so corrupted as to be nothing but evil, and yet evil is flowing in from there unceasingly and constantly into the understanding part, that is, into his thought, it is clear that the good there is obscure compared with the celestial man's good.

[2] As a consequence those who are spiritual do not have love to the Lord, as those who are celestial do; nor therefore does that humility exist with them which is essential in all worship and by means of which good can flow in from the Lord; for a heart that is haughty is not at all receptive, only one that is humble. Nor do those who are spiritual have love towards the neighbour, as those who are celestial do, because self-love and love of the world are constantly flowing in from the will part of their mind, bringing obscurity into the good that goes with that love towards the neighbour. This may also become clear to one who reflects from the fact that when he helps another he does so for worldly reasons; thus though he may not consciously have it in mind he is nevertheless thinking about what he will get in return either from those he helps or in the next life from the Lord, which being so his good is still defiled with merit-seeking. It may also become clear to him from the fact that when he has done anything good and is able to speak about it to others and so set himself up above others, he is in his element. But those who are celestial love the neighbour more than they love themselves, and do not ever think about repayment or in any way set themselves up above others.

[3] The good residing with those who are spiritual is in addition made obscure by persuasive beliefs that are the product of various assumptions, which likewise have their origin in self-love and love of the world. For the nature of their persuasive beliefs even in matters of faith, see 2682, 2689 (end). This too is a product of the influx of evil from the will part of their mind.

[4] It may in addition become clear that the good residing with the spiritual man is obscure compared with the celestial man's, from the fact that he does not know what truth is, as those who are celestial do, from any perception. Instead he knows what truth is from what he has learned from parents and teachers, and also from the doctrine into which he was born. And when he adds to this anything from himself and from his own thinking, it is for the most part the senses and the illusions of the senses, also the rational and the appearances present within the rational, that predominate, and these make it barely possible for him to acknowledge any pure truth like that acknowledged by those who are celestial. But in spite of this, within things that are seemingly true the Lord implants good, even though these truths are mere illusions or else appearances of truth. But this good is made obscure by such truths, for it derives its specific nature from the truths to which it is joined. It is like the light of the sun falling upon objects. The nature of the objects receiving the light causes the light to be seen within those objects in the form of colours, which are beautiful if the nature of the recipient form and the manner of its receiving are fitting and correspondent, hideous if the nature of the recipient form and the manner of its receiving are not fitting and so not correspondent. In the same way good itself acquires a specific nature from the truth [to which it is joined].

[5] The same arcanum is also evident from the fact that the spiritual man does not know what evil is. He scarcely believes that any other evils exist than actions contrary to the Ten Commandments. Of evils present in affection and thought, which are countless, he has no knowledge nor does he reflect on them or call them evils. All delights whatever that go with evil desires and pleasures he does not regard as other than good; and the actual delights that are part of self-love he both pursues, approves of, and excuses, without knowing that such things have an effect on his spirit and that he becomes altogether such in the next life.

[6] From this it is in a similar way clear that although the whole of the Word deals with scarcely any other matter than the good which goes with love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, the spiritual man does not know that that good is the sum and substance of faith, nor even what the essential nature of love and charity is. It is also clear that though something which is a matter of faith may be known to him - faith being considered by him to be essential in itself - he nevertheless discusses whether it is true, unless he has been confirmed by much experience of life. Those who are celestial do not discuss the same because they know and have a perception that it is true hence the Lord's statement in Matthew,

Let your words be, Yes, yes; No, no; anything beyond this is from evil. ¹ Matthew 5:37.

For those who are celestial are immersed in the truth itself about which those who are spiritual dispute. Consequently because those who are celestial are immersed in the truth itself, they are able to see from it numberless facets of that truth, and so from light to see so to speak heaven in its entirety. But those who are spiritual, because they dispute whether it is true, cannot - so long as they do so - arrive at the remotest boundary of the light existing with those who are celestial, let alone behold anything from their light.

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