545. The Lord Does Not Cast Anyone into Hell: Spirits Cast Themselves In

Some people cherish the notion that God turns his face away from people, spurns them, and casts them into hell, and is angry against them because of their evil. Some people even go so far as to think that God punishes people and does them harm. They support this notion from the literal meaning of the Word where things like this are said, not realizing that the spiritual meaning of the Word, which makes sense of the letter, is wholly different. So the real doctrine of the church, which is from the spiritual meaning of the Word, teaches something else. It teaches that the Lord never turns his face away from anyone or spurns anyone, never casts anyone into hell or is angry. ¹

Anyone whose mind is enlightened perceives this while reading the Word simply from the fact that the Lord is goodness itself, love itself, and mercy itself. Good itself cannot do harm to anyone. Love itself and mercy itself cannot spurn anyone, because this is contrary to mercy and love and is therefore contrary to the divine nature itself. So people who are thinking with an enlightened mind when they read the Word perceive clearly that God never turns away from us, and that because he does not turn away from us, he behaves toward us out of goodness and love and mercy. That is, he wills well toward us, loves us, and has compassion on us.

Enlightened minds also see from this that the literal meaning of the Word where things like this are said has a spiritual meaning concealed within it, a meaning needed to explain expressions that in the letter are adapted to human comprehension, things said in accord with our primary and general conceptions.

Footnotes:

647. As often as they will, signifies as often as a man assaults the goods of love and the truths of doctrine that bear witness of the Lord, and from which man acknowledges and confesses the Lord, that he may inflict evil upon them. This is evident from the signification of "as often as they will," when it is said of "the two witnesses" (by whom are meant those who acknowledge and confess the Lord), for these do not will and do the evils that have been mentioned heretofore, but the evil inflict these evils upon themselves when they assault the goods and truths that proceed from the Lord that they may inflict injury upon them. In the sense of the letter of the Word it is indeed said of Jehovah God, that is, the Lord, that He is angry, and wrathful, that He is furious against the good, ¹ and that He does evil to them, yea, that He wills to do so; and yet the Lord is never angry or wrathful, nor does He will or do evil to anyone; for into every man the Lord flows in from good with good, and from truth with truths from good; for He wills to bring all to Himself and to save them. This makes clear that "as often as the witnesses will" does not mean as often as they will, but as often as the evil will, that is, from willing do evil, in other words, assault the goods and truths of heaven and the church that are from the Lord that they may inflict injury upon them.

[2] That the Lord, and thus the good of love and the truth of faith that are of the Lord with man and angel, will no evil to anyone can be seen from this, that the Lord God is not the cause of evil with anyone, and he who is not the cause of evil is not the cause of punishment, but the evil itself that is with man is the cause. In the spiritual world where heaven and hell are, all things are so arranged that the Lord never casts anyone down into hell, but the evil spirit casts himself down (See in the work on Heaven and Hell 545-550); and this because the Lord is not the cause of evil, and he who is not the cause of evil cannot be the cause of any effect that springs from evil. From this it is clear that the contents of this verse, namely, that the two witnesses "have power to shut heaven that it rain no rain," and that "they have power over the waters to turn them into blood, and to smite the earth with every plague as often as they will," are not to be understood according to the sense of the letter, but according to the spiritual sense, which is, that those who do evil to the "two witnesses" bring such things upon themselves; for so far as anyone does evil to them so far he shuts heaven against himself, and turns truths with himself into falsities, and destroys himself by the lusts of evil.

Footnotes:

2446. 'Brimstone' means the hell of the evils of self-love, and 'fire' the hell of falsities deriving from these. This is clear from the meaning in the Word of 'brimstone' and of 'fire' produced by it as self-love together with its evil desires and derivative falsities, and so as hell, for hell consists of such. That 'brimstone' and 'fire' have these meanings is clear in David,

Jehovah will rain on the wicked, snares, fire and brimstone. Psalms 11:6.

The fact that it is not fire or brimstone but something else that is meant here by 'fire and brimstone' becomes clear also from its being said that 'Jehovah will rain snares'. In Ezekiel,

I will dispute with him with pestilence and blood; and deluging rain and hailstones, fire and brimstone will I rain on him and on his hordes, and on the many peoples that are with him. Ezekiel 38:22.

This refers to Gog who lays waste the land of Israel, that is, the Church. What Gog is, see 1151. 'Fire' stands for falsities, 'brimstone' for derivative evils, and at the same time for the hells of those who lay waste. In John,

Those who worshipped the beast were thrown into the lake burning with brimstone. Revelation 19:20.

Here they stand for hell. In the same book,

The devil was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever. Revelation 20:10.

Here they plainly stand for hell. In the same book,

As for abominable people, and murderers, and adulterers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their lot will be in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. Revelation 21:8.

Here also 'fire and brimstone' plainly stands for hell.

[2] That these two stand for the evils of self-love and for falsities deriving from these, in which the hells have their origin, is seen in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah's vengeance - the year of retributions in the controversy of Zion - and her streams will be turned into pitch, and her dust into brimstone, and her land will become burning pitch. Isaiah 34:8-9.

Here 'burning pitch', mentioned instead of fire, stands for dense and dreadful falsities, 'brimstone' for evils which are the product of self-love. In the same prophet,

Its pyre is fire and much wood; the breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone in it. Isaiah 30:33.

In this reference to Tophet, 'a stream of burning brimstone' stands for falsities which are the product of the evils of self-love. In Luke,

On the day Lot went out of Sodom fire and brimstone rained from heaven and destroyed them all - so will it be on the day when the Son of Man is revealed. Luke 17:29-30.

[3] Anyone may see that it is not fire and brimstone that will rain down at that time but that the falsities and desires of self-love, which are meant by 'fire and brimstone' and which make up hell, will be predominant. 'Fire' in the Word means evil desires and at the same time the hells, in which case the smoke from the fire means falsity which arises from and exists in those hells, see 1861. And in John,

I saw horses in the vision, and those seated on them had breastplates of fire and of brimstone. And the heads of the horses were like lions' heads, and out of their mouths there went forth fire, smoke, and brimstone. By these three a third part of mankind was killed - by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone. Revelation 9:17-18.

'Fire, smoke, and brimstone' stands for evils and falsities of every kind, in which, as stated, the hells have their origin.