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).

73. XI. THE FUTURE STATE OF THE WORLD AND THE CHURCH.

The future state of the world will be exactly the same as it has been up to now; for the mighty change which has taken place in the spiritual world does not cause any change in the external appearance of the natural world. So just as before there will be politics, peace-treaties, alliances and wars, and all the other general and particular features of society. When the Lord said:

There will be wars, and then nation will rise up against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be famines, plagues and earthquakes in various places. Matthew 24:6-7.

He did not mean such events in the natural world, but corresponding ones in the spiritual world. For the Word in its prophecies is not concerned with kingdoms on earth or the peoples on it, so not with their wars either; nor is it concerned with famine, plague and earthquakes on earth, but with the events in the spiritual world which correspond to them. The nature of these has been explained in ARCANA CAELESTIA, a collection of references to which may by seen at the end of the chapter. ¹

[2] The future state of the church, however, will not be the same. It may seem much the same in outward appearance, but inwardly it will be different. In outward appearance the churches will be divided from one another as before, their teachings will differ as before, and so will the religious systems of the heathen. But people in the church will henceforward have more freedom in thinking about matters of faith, and so about the spiritual matters which have to do with heaven, because of the restoration of spiritual freedom. For now everything in the heavens and the hells has been restored to order, and it is from there that all thought is influenced about Divine matters or against them; from the heavens when thought favours what is Divine, from the hells when it opposes it. But people will be unaware of this change of state, since they do not reflect on it, nor indeed do they know anything about spiritual freedom or influence from the spiritual world. However, in heaven this is perceived, and people after their deaths can do so too. It is because people have had their spiritual freedom restored that the spiritual sense of the Word has now been disclosed, and by this means Divine truths of a more inward kind have been revealed. For in their previous state people would not have understood them, and if anyone did so, he would have profaned them. It may be seen in HEAVEN AND HELL 597-603) that people's freedom depends upon an equilibrium between heaven and hell; and that people can only be reformed, if they enjoy freedom.

Voetnoten:

5893. 'There have been two years of famine in the midst of the land' means states ¹ when there is a lack of good in the natural mind. This is clear from the meaning of 'years' as states, dealt with in 487, 488, 493, 893; from the meaning of 'famine' as a lack of good (for 'bread' in the spiritual sense is the good of love, and 'food' is the good of truth, so that 'famine' or 'hunger' is a lack of good, while 'thirst' is a lack of truth); and from the meaning of 'in the midst of the land' - the land of Egypt - as the natural mind, dealt with in 5276, 5278, 5280, 5288, 5301. The expression 'in the midst' is used because the midst or middle is the inmost part, 1074, 2940, 2973. Where good resides. 'Two years' are states when good and truth exist joined together, since 'two' means a joining together, 5194; but in the present use of the expression a joining together that has not yet been effected is meant since they are 'two years of famine'.

[2] The implications of this are as follows: Truths must be present in the natural mind if good is to do its work, and those truths must be brought into it through an affection belonging to genuine love. Everything without exception in a person's memory has been brought into it through some love, and having become joined to that love remains in the memory. This also applies to the truths of faith; if they have been brought in through a love of truth, those truths become joined to and remain there with that love. Once they have become joined to it the following is then the situation: If the affection is evoked again, the truths that have been joined to it reappear at the same time; and if the truths are evoked again, the affection to which they have been joined reappears at the same time. This being so, when a person is being regenerated - which happens in adult life because he is unable before this to think for himself about the truths of faith - he is governed by angels sent by the Lord. They govern him by maintaining in him the truths which he has become convinced are truths, and by maintaining in him through those truths the affection to which they have been joined. And because that affection - an affection for truth - has its origin in good, he is then led step by step towards good.

[3] A considerable amount of experience has proved the truth of this to me. For I have noticed that when evil spirits have thrust evils and falsities at me, the angels from the Lord present at the time have maintained in me the truths implanted in me previously and have thereby withheld me from those evils and falsities. From this it has also been evident that the truths of faith which, through an affection for truth, have become rooted in me serve as a level into which angels can operate, so that people who do not have this level laid down in them cannot be led by angels but allow themselves to be led by hell. For without it the operation of the angels cannot become established anywhere and so passes away from them. That level for angels to operate into cannot however be acquired unless the truths of faith have been put into service and thus have been implanted in the person's will and through this in his life. It is also worth mentioning that when the operation of the angels into the truths of faith present with a person takes place, it is rarely plain to see, that is to say, so plain that thought about the truth operated into is aroused. Rather, a general notion of things in keeping with that truth, and the affection that goes with it, is produced. For that operation by the angels is effected by means of an imperceptible inflowing which, when a visual presentation of it is made, looks like an inflowing beam of light. That light is made up of countless truths present within good which focus on one particular truth known by a person and which, while they sustain the truth in him, also sustain the love that belongs to that truth. This is the way the angels raise a person's mind above falsities and protect it from evils. Yet the person is totally unaware of any of this.

Voetnoten: