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).

28. V. THE LAST JUDGMENT IS TO BE WHERE ALL ARE TOGETHER, AND SO IN THE SPIRITUAL WORLD, NOT ON EARTH.

The general belief about the Last Judgment is that the Lord accompanied by angels will appear in glory in the clouds of heaven, and He will then raise up from their graves all who have ever lived from the beginning of creation, clothe their souls with a body, and, when they have been summoned to meet, judge them, sending those who have lived good lives to everlasting life or heaven, and those who lived wicked lives to everlasting death or hell.

[2] The churches have taken this belief from the literal sense of the Word, and there was no possibility of removing it so long as it remained unknown that everything mentioned in the Word has a spiritual sense; and this sense is the real Word, the literal sense serving as its basis or foundation. Without this kind of literal sense the Word could not have been Divine, and have served both heaven and the world as a means of instruction on how to live and what to believe, and as a means of linking. So if anyone knows the spiritual facts corresponding to natural ones in the Word, he can know that the Lord's coming in the clouds of heaven does not mean His appearance there, but His appearance in the Word. The Lord is the Word, because He is Divine truth. The clouds of heaven in which He is to come are the literal sense of the Word, and the glory is its spiritual sense. The angels are heaven, from which He appears, and they are also the Lord as regards Divine truths. ¹ This makes plain the meaning of these words, namely, that when the church comes to an end the Lord will open up the spiritual sense of the Word, and thus reveal the essential nature of Divine truth. This will be a sign that the Last Judgment is at hand.

[3] For a demonstration that everything said in the Word, even every expression, contains a spiritual sense, and what this is like, see ARCANA CAELESTIA. This book expounds in full detail the contents of Genesis and Exodus in accordance with their spiritual sense. Some selected passages dealing with the Word and its spiritual sense may be found in my small work ON THE WHITE HORSE described in Revelation.

Footnotes:

2533. That 'now return the man's wife' means that the spiritual truth of doctrine was by him to be brought back untouched from the rational is clear from the meaning of 'a wife' as spiritual truth, dealt with in 2507, 2510, and from the meaning of 'a man' as doctrine itself. Actually when Abraham who represents the Lord in that state is called 'a man' he means celestial truth, which is the same as doctrine from a celestial origin; for 'man' in the internal sense means the understanding part of the mind, see 158, 265, 749, 915, 1007, 2517. From this it is evident that 'resuming the man's wife' means bringing back the spiritual truth of doctrine untouched. Its being brought back untouched from the rational is meant because 'Abimelech' who was required to return her means doctrine that has regard to rational things, or what amounts to the same, means the rational things comprising doctrine, 2510.

[2] It has been stated above that although the doctrine of faith is in itself Divine and so stands above all human, even angelic, range of understanding, it has nevertheless been expressed in the Word in a rational manner in accordance with man's range of understanding. It is like a parent who is teaching small boys and girls. When teaching them he explains every single thing in accordance with their own mentality, even though he himself thinks from what is more interior or higher. Otherwise he would be teaching without their learning, or it would be like casting seed on bare rock. The same applies also to the angels who in the next life instruct the simple in heart. Although the angels possess celestial and spiritual wisdom they nevertheless do not go above the heads of those they are teaching but use simple ideas to talk to them, yet advance by degrees to higher ideas as the instruction advances. For if they were to speak from angelic wisdom the simple would not grasp anything at all and so would not be led on to the truths and goods of faith. Much the same would happen if in the Word the Lord had not taught in a rational manner in accordance with man's range of understanding. Nevertheless in its internal sense the Word is raised up to angelic understanding. But even so, that highest level of meaning on which the Word exists with angels is infinitely lower than the Divine. This shows what the Word is like in origin, and so what it is in itself, and thus that at every point it embodies more than the whole of heaven is capable of comprehending, even as to one small part, though in the letter it seems so ordinary and so crude.

[3] The fact that the Lord is the Word, because the Word derives from Him and He is in the Word, is clear in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:1, 4, 14.

See also Revelation 19:11, 13, 16. And because the Lord is the Word, He is doctrine also, for no other doctrine exists which is itself Divine.