115. (1) REDEMPTION ITSELF WAS THE SUBJUGATION OF THE HELLS, THE ORDERLY ARRANGEMENT OF THE HEAVENS, AND THUS THE PREPARATION FOR A NEW SPIRITUAL CHURCH.
That redemption consists in these three things I can declare with the utmost certainty, for the Lord also at this day is accomplishing a redemption, which began in the year 1757, together with the Last Judgment, which was then completed. From that time right up to the present this redemption has continued, because now is the time of the Lord's Second Advent, and a New Church is to be established, which would be impossible unless the hells were first reduced to subjection and the heavens restored to order. As it was granted me to see all this, I can describe how the hells were subdued, and how the founding of the new heaven and its orderly arrangement were effected; but the description would require an entire volume. However, in a little work, published in London, in 1758, I have shown how the Last Judgment took place. The subjugation of the hells, the orderly arrangement of the heavens, and the establishment of a New Church constituted redemption, because without these operations no man could have been saved. Moreover, they follow in order; for the hells had first to be subdued before a new angelic heaven could be formed; and this had to be formed before a New Church could be established on earth; because men in the world are so connected with the spiritual world that their minds are in unison with angels in heaven or with spirits in hell. But this subject will be dealt with in the last chapter of this work where the Consummation of the Age, the Coming of the Lord, and the New Church are specifically treated.
