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.

3355. In the internal sense 'an earthquake' is an alteration of the state of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'the earth' as the Church, dealt with in 566, 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, and from the meaning of 'a quake' as an alteration of state, here an alteration as regards the things that constitute the Church, namely good and truth. This is also evident from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

It will happen, that he who is fleeing from the sound of the terror will fall into the pit, and he who is climbing out of the middle of the pit will be caught in the snare, for the floodgates from on high have been opened and the foundations of the earth have been made to tremble, the earth has been utterly shattered. The earth has been made to quake thoroughly, the earth staggers like a drunken man, it sways to and fro like a hut, and heavy upon it is its transgression, and it will fall and not rise again. And it will be on that day, that Jehovah will visit the host of the height on high and the kings of the ground on the ground. Isaiah 24:18-21.

Here it is quite evident that 'the earth' is the Church, for the subject is a Church whose 'foundations' are said to 'have been made to tremble', while the Church itself, having been 'shattered' and 'made to quake', 'staggers' and 'sways to and fro' when good and truth are not known any longer. 'The kings of the ground' are truths, in this case falsities, upon which visitation will take place. As regards 'kings' meaning truths and in the contrary sense falsities, see 1672, 2015, and as regards 'the ground' being similar in meaning to 'the earth', namely the Church, though there is a difference, see 566, 1068.

[2] In the same prophet,

I will make a man (homo) more rare than pure gold, and a man (homo) than the gold of Ophir. Therefore I will make heaven quake and the earth will quake out of its place, at the wrath of Jehovah Zebaoth and in the day of His fierce anger. Isaiah 13:12-13.

Here also, the subject being Judgement Day, 'the earth' plainly stands for the Church which is said to 'quake out of its place' when it undergoes a change of state - 'place' meaning state, see 1273-1275, 1377, 2625, 2837. In the same prophet,

Is this the man who, making the earth quake, making the kingdoms quake, makes the world into a wilderness and destroys its cities? Isaiah 14:16-17.

This refers to Lucifer. 'The earth' stands for the Church, which is said 'to quake' when it lays claim to all things as its own. For 'kingdoms' means the truths accepted by the Church, see 1672, 2547.

[3] In Ezekiel,

It will be on that day, that Gog will come over the land of Israel. My wrath will come up in My anger and in My zeal. In the fire of My wrath I will say, Surely on that day there will be a great earthquake on Israel's ground. Ezekiel 38:18-20.

'Gog' stands for external worship that has been separated from internal and so made idolatrous, 1151. 'Israel's land' or 'ground' stands for the spiritual Church, 'an earthquake' for an alteration of its state. In Joel,

The earth quaked before Him, the heavens trembled. The sun and the moon were darkened, and the stars withdrew their shining. Joel 2:10.

This also refers to Judgement Day. 'The earth quaked' stands for an altered state of the Church, 'the sun and moon' for the good of love and the truth of faith, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, which are said to be 'darkened' when goods and truths are not acknowledged any longer. 'The stars' stands for cognitions of good and truth, 2495, 2849. In David,

The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook and trembled because He was angered. Psalms 18:6-7.

'The earth trembled and quaked' stands for the Church when its state has become perverted.

[4] In John,

When he opened the sixth seal I looked again, and behold, a great earthquake took place, and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the full moon became like blood, and the stars in the sky fell to the earth. Revelation 6:12-13.

Here 'an earthquake', 'the sun', 'the moon', and 'the stars' have a similar meaning to that which they have above in Joel. In the same book,

At that hour a great earthquake took place, and a tenth part of the city fell, and there were killed in the earthquake seven thousand people. ¹ Revelation 11:13.

From all these places it is evident that 'an earthquake' means nothing other than an alteration of the state of the Church, and that 'the earth' has no other meaning in the internal sense than the Church. And since 'the earth' is the Church it is clear that 'the new heaven and the new earth' which are to take the place of the previous heaven and earth, Isaiah 65:17; 66:22; Revelation 21:1, means nothing other than a new Church, internal and external, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end).

Bilješke:

2276. 'Perhaps thirty will be found [there]' means some existence of conflict. This is clear from the meaning of the number 'thirty'. The reason 'thirty' means some existence of conflict, thus a small amount of conflict, is that this number is the product of 'five', meaning that which is small, times 'six', meaning toil or conflict, as shown in Volume One, in 649, 720, 737, 900, 1709.

[2] Hence also that number, wherever one reads it in the Word, means something relatively small, as in Zechariah,

I said to them, If it is good in your eyes, give me my wages; and if not, withhold them. And they weighed out my wages, thirty pieces of silver. And Jehovah said to me, Throw it to the potter, the magnificent price I was valued at among them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw it into the house of Jehovah, to the potter. Zechariah 11:12-13.

This stands for how small a value those people placed on the Lord's merit, and on redemption and salvation from Him. 'The poster' stands for reformation and regeneration.

[3] This explains the reference to the same thirty pieces of silver in Matthew,

They took the thirty pieces of silver, the price set on him whom they had bought from the children of Israel, and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me. Matthew 27:9-10.

From these words it is quite clear that 'thirty' here stands for the small price set on him. A slave, who was not considered to be worth much, was valued at thirty shekels, as is clear in Moses,

If the ox gores a slave or a servant-girl, the owner shall give to his master thirty shekels of silver; and the ox shall be stoned. Exodus 21:32.

How little a slave was considered to be worth is clear from verses 20-21, of that same chapter. In the internal sense 'a slave' stands for toil.

[4] The reason Levites were called upon for ministerial duty - which is described as one 'coming to perform military service and to do the work in the tent [of meeting] - from thirty up to fifty years of age', Numbers 4:3, 23, 30, 35, 39, 43, was that 'thirty' means those who were beginners, thus those who as yet could perform little of what was meant in the spiritual sense by 'military service'.

[5] There are other places in the Word besides these where 'thirty' is mentioned, such as in the requirement that with a young bull a minchah of three tenths [of fine flour] was to be offered by them, Numbers 15:9. Such was required because the sacrifice of an ox represented natural good, as shown above in 2180, and natural good is small in comparison with spiritual good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a ram, and smaller still in comparison with celestial good, which was represented by the sacrifice of a lamb, with which sacrifices a different number of tenths to the minchah were required, as is clear in verses 4-6 of that chapter, and also in Numbers 28:12-13, 20-21, 28-29; 29:3-4, 9-10, 14-15. These differing numbers of tenths, or proportions, would never have been commanded if they had not embodied heavenly arcana within them.

[6] 'Thirty' again stands for that which is small in Mark,

The seed which fell into good ground yielded fruit, growing up and increasing. One bore thirty-fold, and another sixty, and another a hundred. Mark 4:8.

'Thirty' stands for a small yield and for that which has laboured to only a small extent. Those numbers would not have been specified unless they had embodied the things meant by them.