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).

6. II. THE REPRODUCTION OF THE HUMAN RACE ON EARTH WILL NEVER CEASE.

Those who have made it their belief that at the time of the Last Judgment everything both in the heavens and upon the earth will be destroyed, and their place will be taken by a new heaven and a new earth, are bound as a consequence to believe that new generations and the reproduction of the human race will cease after this. They think that this marks the completion of history and that people will change their state from what it was. But since the day of the Last Judgment does not mean the destruction of the world as was demonstrated in the last chapter, it also follows that the human race will continue in existence, and reproduction will not cease.

27. Since all who will be born hereafter will come into the spiritual world, that world must be of such size and nature that the natural world inhabited by people on earth cannot be compared with it. This is evident from the countless multitude of people who since the beginning of creation have passed into the spiritual world and are gathered there. It is also to be deduced from the constant future increase of the human race which will add to them; and there will be no end to this, as was shown in an earlier chapter (nos. 6-13) since the reproduction of the human race on earth will not come to an end.

[2] I have several times seen, when my eyes were opened, what a countless multitude of people there is there already. It was so great it could hardly be counted, for there were tens of thousands in only one place and one district. So how many must there be in the rest? All there are gathered into communities, which are very numerous, and each community in its own position forms three heavens with three hells beneath. So there are some who are high up, some mid-way, some beneath them, and there are some in the lowest regions or hells under them. Those in the upper levels live like people in cities with populations as large as some hundreds of thousands. From this it is plain that the natural world, inhabited by people on earth, cannot be compared to that world in point of the numbers of people there. So when a person passes from the natural world into the spiritual, it is like going from a village to a large city.

[3] Neither can the natural world be compared with the spiritual in terms of its character. A further proof of that is that not only do all the things appear there which exist in the natural world, but countless more in addition, never seen in this world nor capable of being seen. For there spiritual things are expressed each according to its own model, looking like natural things and with infinite variety between them. The spiritual surpasses the natural in quality to such an extent that there are few things which can be perceived by natural senses; for these do not grasp a thousandth part of what the spiritual mind can. All the activity of the spiritual mind is expressed in forms visible to people there. This is why the magnificent and astonishing sights of the spiritual world are indescribable. These too are increasing as the numbers of the human race in the heavens multiply. For everything there takes on the appearance of forms corresponding to each person's state in respect of love and faith, and hence of intelligence and wisdom. Thus as the numbers increase, so continually does their variety. That is why people who have been raised up into heaven have said that they saw and heard there what no eye has ever seen and no ear has ever heard.

[4] These proofs are enough to establish that the spiritual world is such that the natural world cannot be compared with it. See further on what it is like in HEAVEN AND HELL, in the sections on the two kingdoms of heaven (20-28); the communities of heaven (41-50); representations and appearances in heaven (170-176); and the wisdom of the angels of heaven (265-275) But the descriptions there are only a small selection.