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).

32. I should like to add to this chapter a secret of heaven which was mentioned in HEAVEN AND HELL, but not before this described. Each person is after death attached to a community, and this happens as soon as he reaches the spiritual world (see 427-497). But while he is in his first state he is unaware of this, for he is then still occupied with his external concerns and has not yet become aware of his internal ones. While he is in this state, he wanders here and there, wherever the desires of his character take him. But he is still really where his love is, that is to say, in the community of those who share his love.

[2] While a spirit is in such a state, he is to be seen in many different places, apparently present in each in bodily form; but this is no more than an appearance. As soon therefore as he is brought by the Lord into his dominant love, he vanishes at once from the eyes of others, and finds himself in the community to which he is attached. This is a special feature of the spiritual world and surprises those who are unaware of the reason. This then is why, as soon as spirits are collected together and separated from others, they are also judged, and each immediately finds his own place, the good in heaven and in company with their own people there, the wicked in hell and in company with their own people there.

[3] This is another proof that the Last Judgment can only take place in the spiritual world, both because each person there is a likeness of the way he has lived, and because he is associated with those who share a similar way of life, so he is with his own people. The case is different in the natural world; there the good and the wicked can be together without one knowing what the other is like, nor are they mutually separated depending upon the love that governs their lives. Nor indeed can anyone with a natural body be in heaven or in hell. So to reach either destination he must shed his natural body, and after this be judged in his spiritual body. This is why, as was said before, it is the spiritual, not the natural man who is judged.

597. IT IS BY MEANS OF THE EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN HEAVEN AND HELL THAT MAN IS IN FREEDOM

The equilibrium between heaven and hell has been described above, and it has been shown that it is an equilibrium between the good that is from heaven and the evil that is from hell, thus that it is a spiritual equilibrium, which in its essence is freedom. A spiritual equilibrium in its essence is freedom because it is an equilibrium between good and evil, and between truth and falsity, and these are spiritual. Therefore to be able to will either what is good or what is evil and to think either what is true or what is false, and to choose one in preference to the other, is the freedom which is here treated of. This freedom is given to every man by the Lord, and is never taken away; in fact, by virtue of its origin it is not man's but the Lord's, since it is from the Lord. Nevertheless, it is given to man with his life as if it were his; and this is done that man may be reformed and saved; for without freedom there can be no reformation or salvation. With any rational intuition anyone can see that it is a part of man's freedom to be able to think wrongly or rightly, honestly or dishonestly, justly or unjustly; also that he is able to speak and act rightly, honestly, and justly; but not to speak and act wrongly, dishonestly, and unjustly, because of the spiritual, moral, and civil laws whereby his external is held in bonds. From these things it is clear that it is man's spirit, which thinks and wills, that is in freedom, and not his external which speaks and acts, except in agreement with the above-mentioned laws.