452. Verse 9. After these things I saw, and behold a great multitude, signifies all those who are in the good of life according to their religion, in which there are no genuine truths, as is evident from this, that "the twelve thousand sealed" out of each tribe meant those who are of the church in which there are genuine truths; for "the twelve tribes of Israel" mean those who are in genuine goods and truths, and in an abstract sense all goods and truths of the church; therefore these now treated of mean those who are in the good of life according to their religion, in which nevertheless there are no genuine truths. That this is the meaning of "a great multitude" can be seen also from what follows in this chapter, where it is said, "These are they who come out of the great tribulation" (verse 14), which means out of temptations, for those who are in the good of life according to their religion, in which there are no genuine truths, in the other life undergo temptations, by which the falsities of their religion are scattered, and genuine truths implanted in their place (on this more will be said in what follows). From this it can be seen who are meant by "a great multitude" (which is treated of in what follows to the end of the chapter). It is to be known that no one, either within the church where the Word is or outside of that church, is damned who lives a good life according to his religion, for it is not the fault of such that they are ignorant of genuine truths. Moreover, as the good of life holds deep within it the affection of knowing truths, when such come into the other life they easily receive truths and drink them in. It is altogether different with those who have lived an evil life and have made light of religion. (Those who are not in genuine truths, and thus are in falsities from ignorance, and yet in the good of life, have been treated of above, n. 107, 195, 356; and in the work on Heaven and Hell, where the peoples and nations outside of the church who are in heaven are treated of. Also in the Arcana Coelestia, as follows: There may be falsities of religion that agree with good, and falsities that disagree, n. 9258, 9259; falsities of religion, if they do not disagree with good, produce evil only with those who are in evil, n. 8311, 8318; falsities of religion are not imputed to those who are in good, but only to those who are in evil, n. 8051, 8149; truths not genuine, and also falsities, may be consociated with genuine truths with those who are in good, but not with those who are in evil, n. 3470, 3471, 4551, 4552, 7344, 8149, 9298; falsities and truths are consociated by appearances from the sense of the letter of the Word, n. 7344; falsities are made truthlike by good and become soft when they are applied to good and lead to good, and evil is removed, n. 8149; falsities of religion with those who are in good are received by the Lord as truths, n. 4736, 8149; a good that derives its quality from a falsity of religion is accepted by the Lord if there be ignorance, and if there be in it innocence and a good end, n. 7887; the truths that are with man are appearances of truth and good, tinctured with fallacies, and yet the Lord adapts them to genuine truths in the man who lives in good, n. 2053; there are falsities in which there is good with those who are outside of the church and thence in ignorance of truth, also with those within the church where there are falsities of doctrine, n. 2589-2604, 2861, 2863, 3263, 3778, 4189, 4190, 4197, 6700, 9256)

8054. 'And it shall be when Jehovah brings you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite' means into the region of heaven occupied by those steeped in evil and falsity. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite' as heaven, at this point the region of heaven occupied by those steeped in evil and falsity. 'The land of Canaan' is the Lord's kingdom in heaven, and His kingdom on earth, which is the Church, see 1413, 1437, 1585, 1607, 1866, 3038, 3481, 3686, 3705, 4116, 4240, 4447, 4454, 4516, 4517, 5136, 5757, 6516. Evils and falsities are meant by the nations mentioned here, evil begotten by falsity that springs from evil being meant by 'the Canaanite', 4818; falsity from which evil arises by 'the Hittite', 2913; evil and consequent falsity by 'the Amorite', 1857, 6306; that which is idolatrous but has some kind of goodness in it by 'the Hivite', 6860; and that which is idolatrous but has some kind of truth in it by 'the Jebusite', 6860. The region of heaven into which those belonging to the spiritual Church were to come was occupied by evils and falsities before the Lord's Coming, see above in 6858.

[2] To pursue this matter further, it should be recognized that before the Lord's Coming heaven was not divided into three separate heavens - the inmost or third, the middle or second, and the lowest or first - as it was after the Lord's Coming, but was a single heaven. The spiritual heaven did not yet exist. The region where the spiritual heaven was going to exist was occupied by those who were ruled by falsity and evil, yet could be kept in a state in which they felt encouraged by external means to adhere to some truth and good, especially by ideas of holding important positions and rank. It was just like what happens in the world. Here those ruled by evil, and by falsity, are nevertheless obliged by external means - by rank and position and by monetary gain - to look as if they are thinking and speaking things that are true, and willing and doing those that are good. The reason why that region of heaven was at that time occupied by such spirits was that there was a lack of good people, and those who belonged to the spiritual Church had not yet been made ready; yet every part of heaven needed to be filled with spirits to provide a continuous chain from the Lord at one end to mankind at the other. For had the chain been broken mankind would have perished. At the present day too there are some regions of heaven which are occupied by such spirits; but those who are in them are withheld by great force from doing evil. Directly overhead there are spirits who use innocence to deceive others and lead them astray; but above those spirits there are celestial ones belonging to the Most Ancient Church, who restrain them so forcibly that they cannot possibly inflict harm on anyone. At the back of the head there is also at the present day a region which was once part of heaven but is now occupied by evil spirits, as well as another region in front, over on the left.

[3] The evil also constantly endeavour to take over the places where the good are, and do in actual fact take them over as soon as they cease to be filled with the good. I have often been made aware of their endeavour. Those regions are occupied when the number of wicked people in the world increases and that of the good diminishes; for then evil spirits come nearer mankind and good spirits move away. And the more the good spirits move away, the more the regions nearest mankind come to be occupied by evil spirits. When this becomes the situation generally, the inhabitants of those regions are changed completely. The change takes place when the Church is near its end since evil and falsity reign then. But around the end of the Church those who have taken over are expelled, and the regions once occupied by them are given to the good, who have in the meantime been made ready for heaven. This is the meaning of the following words in John,

War took place in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and the dragon fought, and his angels, but they did not prevail, nor was their place found any longer in heaven. Revelation 12:7-8.

This state of heaven was represented by the land of Canaan, in that the nations occupied it, and by the children of Israel, in that they expelled the nations from there. For the land of Canaan means the Lord's kingdom, thus heaven and the Church, as may be seen from the places enumerated above.