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).

66. But before revealing what is meant by the first heaven and the first earth I must make it known that the first heaven does not mean the heaven composed of those who have become angels from the time this world was first created down to the present, for this is a constant heaven which will last for ever. All who reach heaven are under the Lord's protection, and once accepted no one can be torn away from the Lord. Rather the first heaven means the collection of those who have not become angels, and for the most part could not become angels. Who they were and what they were like will be related in the following pages. That is the heaven which is said to have passed away. It is called a heaven because those who were in it lived in communities on rocks and mountains and enjoyed pleasures similar to natural ones, but no spiritual pleasures. Most people who come from earth into the spiritual world think they are in heaven when they are high up and enjoying the same kind of pleasures as they did in the world. That is why it was called a heaven, but the first heaven which passed away.