5461. 'One brother among you is to be in bonds in the house of your custody' means that faith in the will must be separated. This is clear from the representation of Simeon - who is the 'one brother who is to be in bonds', named in verse 24 - as faith in the will, dealt with in 3869-3872, 4497, 4502, 4503; and from the meaning of 'being in bonds in the house of custody' as being separated, dealt with in 5083, 5101, 5452, 5456. The implications of this are that when faith in the will - that is, when the will which desires to put the truth of faith into practice - is separated from people with whom the truths known to the Church are present, the link with the Divine is in that case so slender that it is little more than an awareness.

[2] In the case of someone who has been regenerated the Divine flows from the Lord into good, and from this into truth; or what amounts to the same, it flows into his will, and from there into his understanding. To the extent therefore that someone with whom the truths of faith are present receives good from the Lord, the Lord forms for him a new will within the understanding part of his mind (why in the understanding part, see 927, 1023, 1043, 1044, 2256, 4328, 4493, 5113), and the Lord enters in there and creates an affection to do good, that is, to exercise charity towards the neighbour. From this one may see what is meant by the explanation that faith in the will must be separated, which faith is represented by 'Simeon', before the intermediary, which is 'Benjamin', comes to be present.

2130. As regards the second representation, that is to say, the idea of a Last Judgement which takes place before the eyes of the good when they are being admitted into heaven, let that too be described. In the Word it is said that the door was shut, so that they could no longer be admitted; and that they had no oil, arrived too late, and therefore were not admitted, statements which also mean a Last-Judgement state. The situation with these matters and how they are to be understood has been shown to me.

[2] I heard communities of spirits declaring in a clear voice, one community after another, that a wolf had wished to carry them off but that the Lord rescued them, and so they were restored to Him, and on that account rejoiced from the depths of their heart. Indeed they had been without hope, and so were afraid that the door had been shut, and that they had arrived too late to be admitted. Such thought had been instilled into them by those called wolves, but it vanished on their being admitted, that is, being received, by angelic communities. Being admitted into heaven is nothing else. The admission which I witnessed seemed to proceed continuously community by community, up to twelve of them, the admission, that is, the reception, of the twelfth being more difficult than that of the previous eleven. After that about eight more communities were also admitted, which, it was pointed out to me, were composed of females. Having witnessed all this I was told that this is how the process of admission, that is, of being received into heavenly communities is seen. They proceed in an orderly continuation from one place to another. I was also told that heaven can never be filled up, still less the door be shut, but that the more who enter, the more blessing and happiness there is for those in heaven, because their unanimity is made that much stronger.

[3] After these had been admitted it did at that point seem as though heaven was shut; for there were still more who wished after that to be admitted, that is, to be received. But they were told in reply that they could not yet be let in. This is meant by those arriving too late, by the door being shut, by their knocking, and by the statement about their having no oil in their lamps. The reason they were not admitted was that they were not yet ready to move among angelic communities where mutual love exists, for, as stated above towards the end of 2119, people who in the world have lived charitably disposed towards the neighbour are raised up by the Lord into heaven gradually.

[4] There were also other spirits who did not know what heaven is, namely mutual love, and who also at that time wished to be admitted. They imagined it was just a matter of being admitted. They received the reply however that it was not yet time for them, but that they would be admitted at another time when they were ready for it. The reason why twelve communities were seen was that 'twelve' means everything comprising faith, as stated above towards the end of 2129.