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.

3488. The fact that these words spoken by the Lord and recorded in the gospel describe the second state of the perversion of the Church is evident from their internal sense, which is as follows,

All these are the beginning of sorrows means the things that have already happened, that is to say, the things that belong to the first state of the perversion of the Church, which, as has been stated, takes place when people cease to know any longer what goodness is and what truth is and start to argue with one another about them, with the result that falsities, and consequently heresies arise. The fact that such things perverted the Church before very many centuries had gone by is evident from the consideration that the Church in the Christian world became divided, and that its divisions were the result of opinions concerning goodness and truth; so that the Church began to be perverted a long way back in the past.

[2] At that time they will deliver you up to affliction, and will kill you means that goodness and truth will perish, at first through 'affliction'- that is, through perversion - and then through men 'killing' them, that is, through denial. For 'killing', when used in reference to goodness and truth, means that these are not being accepted, and thus that people deny them, see 3387, 3395. 'You' - the apostles - means all things of faith in their entirety, and so means the good of faith as well as the truth of faith; for the twelve apostles meant those things, see 577, 2089, 2129, 2130 (end), 3272, 3354. Here it is quite evident that they have that meaning, for the subject is not the preaching of the apostles but the close of the age.

[3] And you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake means contempt for and loathing of everything to do with goodness and truth. 'Hating' is holding in contempt and loathing, for these are manifestations of hatred. 'By all nations' means by persons under the influence of evil, for 'nations' refers to these, see 1259, 1260, 1849, 1868, 2588 (end). 'For My name's sake' is for the Lord's sake, and so for the sake of everything that comes from Him - 'the Lord's name' being everything in its entirety by which He is worshipped, and so everything belonging to His Church, see 2724, 3006.

[4] At that time many will stumble, and betray one another, and hate one another means hostility on account of those things. 'Many will stumble' means the hostility in itself - the Lord's Human being that against which the hostility is directed. That this will be a cause of offence or a stumbling-block is foretold in various places in the Word. 'Betray one another' is hostility towards one another arising out of falsity conflicting with truth. 'And hate one another' is hostility towards one another arising out of evil conflicting with good.

[5] And many false prophets will arise and will lead many astray means declarations of falsity - 'false prophets' meaning teachers of falsities, thus false doctrine, see 2534. 'And will lead many astray' means that there will be things that are the issue of that doctrine.

[6] And because iniquity is multiplied the charity of many will grow cold means charity together with faith breathing its last. 'Because iniquity is multiplied' means in keeping with falsities of faith. 'The charity of many will grow cold' means charity breathing its last; for the two - charity and faith - go together side by side. Where there is no faith there is no charity; and where there is no charity there is no faith. Charity however is that which receives faith, and the absence of charity is that which rejects faith. This is the origin of all falsity and of all evil.

[7] But he who endures to the end will be saved means the salvation of those who have charity. 'He who endures to the end' is the person who does not allow himself to be led astray, and so does not yield in times of temptation.

[8] And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole inhabited earth as a testimony to all nations means that the Christian world will be the first to come to know it. 'Will be preached' means that it will come to be known. 'This gospel of the kingdom' is this truth, that it really is so - 'gospel' being pronouncement, 'the kingdom' truth, for 'the kingdom' means truth, see 1672, 2547. 'In the whole inhabited earth' is the Christian world, 'the earth' being that region where the Church, and so the Christian world, is, see 662, 1066, 1068, 1262, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 2928, 3355. Here the Church is called 'the inhabited earth' from the life of faith, that is, from the good that dwells in truth, for 'inhabiting' in the internal sense is living, and 'inhabitants' are the goods that dwell in truth, 1293, 2268, 2451, 2712, 3384. 'As a testimony' means to ensure that they know, and to prevent them pretending that they do not know. 'To all nations' means to the evil, 1259, 1260, 1849, 1868, 2588. For when people are under the influence of falsity and evil they no longer know what truth is or what good is; indeed they believe that falsity is truth, that evil is good, and vice versa. When the Church reaches this state, at that point the end will come. The words that follow next, to be explained in the Lord's Divine mercy in the preliminary section of the next chapter of Genesis, deal with that state of the Church which is called 'the abomination of desolation', which is the third state.

1551. That 'silver' means truths is clear from the meaning of 'silver' as truth. The most ancient people compared the goods and truths present in man to metals. Innermost or celestial goods which flow from love to the Lord they compared to gold, truths deriving from these to silver. Goods of a lower or natural kind however they compared to bronze, and truths of a lower kind to iron. Nor did they just compare them; they also called them such. This was the origin of periods of time being likened to those same metals and being called the golden, silver, bronze, and iron ages, for these followed in that order one after another. The golden age was the time of the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial man. The silver age was the time of the Ancient Church, which was spiritual man. The bronze age was the time of the Church that followed, and the iron age came after that. Similar things were also meant by the statue which Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream, whose head was of fine gold, breast and arms of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, and shins of iron, Daniel 2:32-33. That periods of the Church were to follow one another in that order, and actually did so, is clear in that very chapter of the same prophet.

[2] That 'silver' in the internal sense of the Word wherever it is mentioned means truth, or in the contrary sense falsity, is clear from the following places: In Isaiah,

Instead of bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver, and instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. And I will make peace your assessment, and righteousness your tax-collectors. Isaiah 60:17.

Here it is evident what each metal means. The subject is the Lord's Coming, His kingdom, and the celestial Church. 'Instead of bronze, gold' is celestial good in place of natural good; 'instead of iron, silver' is spiritual truth in place of natural truth; 'instead of wood, bronze' is natural good in place of bodily good; 'instead of stone, iron' is natural truth in place of truth acquired through the senses. In the same prophet,

Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the water, and he who has no money, ¹ come, buy and eat! Isaiah 55:1.

'He who has no money' ¹ is the person who does not know the truth but who nevertheless possesses the good that stems from charity, as is the case with many people inside the Church, and with gentiles outside it.

[3] In the same prophet,

The islands will wait for Me, the ships of Tarshish at their head, to bring your sons from afar, their silver and their gold with them, to the name of Jehovah your God, and to the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 60:9.

This refers specifically to a new Church, or a Church among gentiles, and in general to the Lord's kingdom. 'Ships from Tarshish' stands for cognitions, 'silver' for truths, and 'gold' for goods, which are those things they 'will bring to the name of Jehovah'. In Ezekiel,

For your adornment you took vessels made of My gold and of My silver, which I had given you, and you made for yourselves figures of the male. Ezekiel 16:17.

Here 'gold' stands for cognitions of celestial things, 'silver' of spiritual things. In the same prophet,

You were adorned with gold and silver, and your raiment was fine linen and silk, and embroidered cloth. Ezekiel 16:13.

This refers to Jerusalem, by which the Lord's Church is meant, whose adornment is being described in this manner. In the same prophet,

Behold, you who are wise, there is no secret they have hidden from you; by your wisdom and by your intelligence you have acquired riches for yourself, and you have acquired gold and silver in your treasuries. Ezekiel 28:3-4.

Here, in what is said in reference to Tyre, 'gold' is plainly identified with the riches of wisdom, and 'silver' with the riches of intelligence.

[4] In Joel,

You have taken My silver and My gold, and My good and desirable treasures you have carried into your temples. Joel 3:5.

This refers to Tyre, Sidon, and Philistia, which mean cognitions, and these are 'the silver and the gold they took into their temples'. In Haggai,

The elect of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory. Mine is the silver, and Mine is the gold. The glory of this latter house will be greater than that of the former. Haggai 2:7-9.

This refers to the Lord's Church to which 'gold and silver' have reference. In Malachi,

He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and He will purify the sons of Levi. Malachi 3:3.

This refers to the Coming of the Lord. In David,

The words of Jehovah are pure words, silver refined in an earthen crucible, poured seven times. Psalms 12:6.

'Silver purified seven times' stands for Divine truth. At the time of their exodus out of Egypt the children of Israel were commanded that every woman should ask of her neighbour, and of her who sojourned in her house, vessels of silver and vessels of gold and garments, and that they should put them on their sons and on their daughters, and so despoil the Egyptians, Exodus 3:22; 11:2-3; 12:35-36. Anyone may see from this that the children of Israel would never have been ordered to steal and despoil the Egyptians of those possessions in that way if these did not represent some arcana. But what those arcana are may become clear from the meaning of 'silver and gold, garments, and Egypt', and from the fact that what these possessions represented is similar to the words here 'rich in the silver and gold from Egypt', used in reference to Abram.

[5] Just as 'silver' means truth so in a contrary sense it means falsity, for people under the influence of falsity imagine falsity to be the truth, as is also clear in the Prophets. In Moses,

You shall not covet the silver and the gold of the nations, nor take it for yourself, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to Jehovah your God. You shall utterly detest it. Deuteronomy 7:25-26.

'The gold of the nations' stands for evils, and 'their silver' for falsities. In the same author,

You shall not make gods of silver to be with Me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. Exodus 20:23.

In the internal sense these words mean nothing other than falsities and evil desires, falsities being meant by 'gods of silver', and evil desires by 'gods of gold'. In Isaiah,

On that day everyone will spurn his idols of silver, and his idols of gold, which your hands have made for you - a sin. Isaiah 31:7.

'Idols of silver and idols of gold' stands for similar things that are false and evil 'Which your hands have made' stands for what is a product of the proprium. In Jeremiah,

They are foolish and stupid; that wood is a way of learning vanities! Beaten silver is brought from Tarshish, and gold from Uphaz, the work of the smith and of the hands of the moulder. Their clothing is violet and purple These are all the work of the wise. Jeremiah 10:8-9.

Here 'silver' and 'gold' quite clearly stand for similar things that are false and evil.

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