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).

33. VI. 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.

There are many reasons why the Last Judgment takes place when a church comes to an end. The primary one is that the equilibrium between heaven and hell then begins to be destroyed, and together with it man's true freedom. When man's freedom is destroyed, he can no longer be saved. For then his loss of freedom carries him to hell, and he cannot be brought in freedom to heaven. No one can be reformed without freedom, and a person's freedom is wholly dependent upon the equilibrium between heaven and hell. This can be established from the two chapters in HEAVEN AND HELL, which deal with the equilibrium between heaven and hell (589-596) and man's freedom being maintained by this equilibrium (597-603). It is also shown there that no one can be reformed except in freedom.

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.