61. The reason these facts about the Lord are now being made known for the first time is that in Revelation 21; 22 it was foretold that a new church would be established by the Lord at the close of the former one, a church in which this teaching would be first and foremost. This church is what is meant in Revelation by the New Jerusalem [Revelation 3:12; 21:2] into which only those who recognize the Lord alone as God of heaven and earth can enter. This I can proclaim: that the whole heaven acknowledges the Lord alone, and anyone who does not share in this acknowledgment is not allowed into heaven. The fact of the matter is that heaven is heaven because of the Lord. That very acknowledgment, made in the spirit of love and faith, causes the people there to be in the Lord and the Lord to be in them. This is what the Lord himself is telling us in John:

On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. (John 14:20)

And again,

Abide in me, and I [will abide] in you. I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and in whom I abide bear much fruit, because without me you cannot do anything. If any do not abide in me, they are cast out. (John 15:4-6; and 17:22-23)

[2] The reason this has not been seen in the Word before is that if it had been seen too early it would not have been accepted. That is, the Last Judgment had not been carried out yet, and before that happened the power of hell was stronger than the power of heaven. We are in between heaven and hell, so if this had been seen too early, the Devil (that is, hell) would have snatched it out of our hearts and then proceeded to profane it. This state of hell’s power was decisively broken by the Last Judgment that has now been carried out. Since then-now, that is-anyone who wants to be enlightened and wise can be: see what is written about this in Heaven and Hell 589-603 as well as the booklet Last Judgment 65-74.

65. X. ON THE FORMER HEAVEN AND ITS ABOLITION.

We read in the book of Revelation:

I saw a mighty throne, and one sitting upon it, from whose sight earth and heaven fled, and their place was not found. Revelation 20:11.

And later:

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Revelation 21:1.

I showed in the first chapter of this book and elsewhere in it that the new heaven and the new earth and the passing away of the former heaven and the former earth do not refer to the visible sky and the earth on which we live, but to the heaven of angels and the church. For the Word is in essence spiritual and therefore deals with spiritual matters, that is, those which have to do with heaven and the church. Natural things are used in the literal sense to stand for them, because what is natural serves what is spiritual for a base; and without such a base the Word would not be a work of God, because it would be incomplete. It is the natural, standing last in God's order, which completes and gives the interiors, which are spiritual and celestial, a base on which to rest, like a house on its foundations.

[2] Because people have thought about the contents of the Word from a natural instead of a spiritual point of view, they have taken heaven and earth in these and other passages to mean the sky in the natural world and the earth similarly. That is why everyone expects them to pass away and be destroyed, and new ones to be created. To prevent this expectation continuing for ever and being frustrated in each century, the spiritual sense of the Word has been opened up, so that the meaning of many expressions in the Word may be known, which cannot fall within our understanding as long as we think in a natural manner about them; and this includes the heaven and earth which will pass away.