9042. 'And inflict a blow on a pregnant woman' means injuring the good that is being formed out of truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'inflicting a blow' as injuring; and from the meaning of 'a pregnant woman' as forming good out of truth. The reason why this is meant by 'a pregnant woman' is that a person's regeneration, which is the generation of spiritual life with him, is meant in the internal sense by the generation of his natural life received from his parents. When a person is born anew he is first conceived, then carried in the womb so to speak, and finally born. And since regeneration or the generation of spiritual life consists in the joining together of truth and good, that is, of faith and charity, 'carrying in the womb' means developing truth into good. From this one may see what 'a pregnant woman' means, namely a state in which good is being formed out of truths.

The womb means the place in which truth and good have been conceived and are lying, see 4918, 6433.

'Being in the womb, and 'going out of the womb' mean being regenerated, 4904, 8043.

'Generations and 'births' are those of faith and charity, 613, 1145, 1255, 2020, 2584, 6239.

[2] A state in which good is being formed out of truths is again meant by 'a pregnant woman', in Jeremiah,

Behold, I am bringing them from the north land, and I will gather them from the furthest parts of the earth, among them the blind one and the lame, the pregnant one and her who is giving birth, together. Jeremiah 31:8.

This refers in the internal sense to a new Church established by the Lord. In that sense 'bringing them from the north land' means bringing them away from obscurity of faith, 3708; 'the furthest parts of the earth' from which they will be gathered are the places where the Church's truth and good begin, 'the earth' being the Church, 566, 662, 1066, 1067, 1262, 1413, 1607, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 2928, 3355, 4535, 4447, 5577, 8011, 8732, and 'the furthest parts of it' being the places where its first and outermost boundaries are. 'The blind one' means those who have no knowledge of truth but accept the truth when taught it, 2383, 6990; 'the lame' means those who are governed by good, but not by genuine good because they have no knowledge of truth, 4302; 'the pregnant one' means those with whom good is being given form by means of truths; and 'her who is giving birth' means those leading a life of faith realized in action, 3905, 3915, 3919. It may be recognized that things of this nature are meant there from the further consideration that otherwise it would have been superfluous and pointless to mention 'the blind one and the lame, the pregnant one and her who is giving birth, together'.

2117. THE LAST JUDGEMENT

Few nowadays know what the Last Judgement is. They imagine that it is going to be accompanied by the destruction of the world; and this leads to conjectures that this earth, together with everything else in the visible world, is going to be destroyed by fire. They also conjecture that then for the first time the dead will rise again and appear for judgement, and the evil are to be cast into hell and the good to rise up to heaven. These conjectures are based on the prophetical parts of the Word where references are made to a new heaven and a new earth, and also to a New Jerusalem. Such people do not realize that the prophetical parts of the Word have a meaning altogether different in the internal sense from what appears in the sense of the letter, and that 'heaven' is not used to mean heaven, nor 'the earth' to mean the earth, but the Lord's Church in general, and as it exists with each individual in particular.