1. True Christianity

Containing a Comprehensive Theology of the New Heaven and the New Church

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church

THE faith of the new heaven and the new church is stated here in both universal and specific forms to serve as the face of the work that follows, the doorway that allows entry into the temple, and the summary that in one way or another contains all the details to follow. I say "the faith of the new heaven and the new church" because heaven, where there are angels, and the church, in which there are people, act together like the inner and the outer levels in a human being. People in the church who love what is good because they believe what is true and who believe what is true because they love what is good are angels of heaven with regard to the inner levels of their minds. After death they come into heaven, and enjoy happiness there according to the relationship between their love and their faith. It is important to know that the new heaven that the Lord is establishing today has this faith as its face, doorway, and summary.

115. 1. Redemption was actually a matter of gaining control of the hells, restructuring the heavens, and by so doing preparing for a new spiritual church. I can say with absolute certainty that these three actions are redemption, because the Lord is bringing about redemption again today. This new redemption began in the year 1757 along with a Last Judgment that happened at that time. The redemption has continued from then until now. The reason is that today is the Second Coming of the Lord. A new church is being instituted that could not have been instituted unless first the hells were brought under control and the heavens were restructured.

Because I have been allowed to see it all I could describe how the hells were brought under control and how the new heaven was built and put into the divine design, but that would be the subject of a whole work. In a little work published in London in 1758 I did lay out how the Last Judgment was carried out.

Gaining control over the hells, restructuring the heavens, and establishing a new church was redemption because without those actions no human being could have been saved. In fact, they follow in a sequence. The hells had to be controlled first before a new angelic heaven could be formed, and that heaven had to be formed before the new church on earth could be instituted, because people in the world are so closely connected to angels from heaven and spirits from hell that at the level of the inner mind they are one. This point will be taken up in the last chapter of this book, which specifically covers the close of the age, the Coming of the Lord, and the New Church [753-791].

261. 11. While in the World, the Lord Fulfilled Everything in the Word; by Doing So He Became the Word or Divine Truth Even on the Last or Outermost Level

The fact that in the world the Lord fulfilled everything in the Word, and by doing so became divine truth or the Word even on the last or outermost level, is what the following words in John mean:

And the Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory, glory like that of the only begotten child of the Father. He was full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

"Becoming flesh" means becoming the Word on the last or outermost level.

When the Lord was transfigured, he showed his disciples his qualities as the Word on the last or outermost level (Matthew 17:2 and following; Mark 9:2 and following; Luke 9:28 and following). There it says that Moses and Elijah appeared in glory. "Moses" means the Word that was written by Moses, and the historical Word in general. "Elijah" means the prophetical Word. The Lord was represented as the Word on the last or outermost level to John as well (). All the details of that description of the Lord mean the last or outermost features of divine truth or the Word.

The Lord was of course the Word or divine truth before he came, but only on the first or inmost level. We read, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1:1-2). When the Word became flesh, however, the Lord became the Word even on the last or outermost level. This is why the Lord is called the First and the Last (Revelation 1:8, 11, 17; 2:8; 21:6; 22:12-13; Isaiah 44:6).