The Ends for which the Lord Came

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THE LORD'S COMING IS NOT HIS COMING TO DESTROY THE VISIBLE HEAVEN AND THE HABITABLE EARTH
AND TO CREATE A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH, AS MANY, FROM NOT UNDERSTANDING THE SPIRITUAL SENSE OF THE WORD, HAVE HITHERTO SUPPOSED

The prevailing opinion in the churches at the present day is, that when the Lord shall come for the last judgment, He will appear in the clouds of heaven with angels and the sound of trumpets; will gather together all who still dwell on the earth, together with all who have died; will separate the wicked from the good, as a shepherd separates the goats from the sheep; will then cast the wicked or the goats into hell, and will raise the good or the sheep into heaven; and at the same time will create a new visible heaven and a new habitable earth, and will send down upon that earth the city called the New Jerusalem, built according to the description of it in the Apocalypse (chap. 21), that is, of jasper and gold, and the foundations of its wall of every precious stone, while its height, breadth, and length will be equal, each twelve thousand furlongs; also that into that city will be gathered all the elect, both those who are still alive and those who have died since the beginning of the world; that these will then return into their bodies, and in that magnificent city, as their heaven, will enjoy eternal blessedness. This is the prevailing opinion in the Christian churches of today respecting the Lord's coming and the last judgment. ...

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The Word in the letter was written by appearances and correspondences, consequently in all its particulars there is a spiritual sense, and in that sense the truth is in its own light while the sense of the letter is in shade.

In order therefore that the man of the New Church may not wander about, like the man of the old, in the shade that obscures the sense of the letter of the Word, especially in respect to heaven and hell and man's life after death, and here in respect to the Lord's coming, it has pleased the Lord to open the sight of my spirit, and thus introduce me into the spiritual world, and permit me not only to talk with spirits and angels, relatives and friends, and even with kings and princes who have finished their course in the natural world, but also to see the wonders of heaven and the miseries of hell, and thus to learn that man does not abide in some indefinite place in the earth, nor fly about blind and dumb in the air or in vacancy, but lives as a man in a substantial body in a much more perfect state (if he is among the blessed), than that in which he formerly lived when in the material body. In order therefore, that man from ignorance may not immerse himself still more deeply in this opinion respecting the destruction of the visible heaven and habitable earth, and in respect also to the spiritual world (because of which ignorance naturalism together with atheism, which among the learned has begun to take root in the interior rational mind, is spreading more widely, like mortification in the flesh, even extending to the external mind from which man speaks), I have been commanded by the Lord to make known various things that I have seen and heard respecting Heaven and Hell and respecting the Last judgment, and also to explain the Apocalypse, which treats of the Lord's coming the former heaven, the new heaven, and the holy Jerusalem. From these, when they have been read and understood, anyone can see what is meant by the Lord's coming, the new heaven, and the New Jerusalem.

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THIS COMING OF THE LORD WHICH IS HIS SECOND COMING, IS TAKING PLACE IN ORDER THAT THE EVIL MAY BE SEPARATED FROM THE GOOD, AND THAT THOSE WHO HAVE BELIEVED AND DO BELIEVE IN HIM, MAY BE SAVED, AND THAT FROM THEM A NEW ANGELIC HEAVEN AND A NEW CHURCH ON EARTH MAY BE FORMED
AND WITHOUT THIS, NO FLESH COULD BE SAVED

And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect's sake those days shall be shortened. Matthew 24:22

That this second coming of the Lord does not take place for the purpose of destroying the visible heaven and habitable earth, has been shown in the preceding section. That it is not for the purpose of destroying anything, but to build up, consequently not to condemn but to save those who since His first coming have believed in Him and also those who may hereafter believe in Him, is evident from these words of the Lord:

God sent not His Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world through Him might be saved; he that believeth on Him is not judged, but he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God (John 3:17, 18).

And elsewhere:

If any man hear My words and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world but to save the world: He that despiseth Me and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him; the Word that I have spoken shall judge him in the last day (John 12:47-48).

That the last judgment took place in the spiritual world in the year 1757 has been shown in the little work on The Last Judgment (London, 1758); and further in a Continuation on the Last Judgment, (Amsterdam, 1763). To all this I can testify, because I saw it with my own eyes in a state of full wakefulness.

The Lord's coming is for the purpose of forming a new heaven of those who have believed in Him, and for the purpose of establishing a new church of those who shall hereafter believe in Him, inasmuch as these two are the ends for which He came. The very end for which the universe was created was no other than the formation from men of an angelic heaven, where all who believe in God shall live forever in eternal blessedness; for the Divine love which is in God and essentially is God, can intend nothing else, and the Divine wisdom which is also in God and is God, can effect nothing else. As the end for which the universe was created was an angelic heaven from the human race, and at the same time a church on earth (for man enters heaven through the church); and as the salvation of men (which is to be effected in men who are to be born in the world), is thus the continuation of creation, so throughout the Word the term "to create," which is frequently used, means to form for heaven, as in the following passages:

Create for me a clean heart, O God, and renew a firm spirit in the midst of me (Ps. 51:10).

Thou openest Thine hand, they are satisfied with good; Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created (Ps. 104:28, 30).

A people that shall be created shall praise Jah (Ps. 102:18).

Thus hath said Jehovah thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Former, O Israel; I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name, thou art Mine. Everyone that is called by My name into My glory have I created him (Isa. 43:1, 7).

In the day that thou wast created they were prepared. Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee (Ezek. 28:13, 15).

This is said of the king of Tyre:

That they may see, know, consider and understand that the hand of Jehovah hath done it, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (Isa. 41:20).

From all this the meaning of the term "to create" in the following passages can be seen:

Jehovah creating the heavens, spreading forth the earth, giving breath unto the people upon it, and spirit to them that walk in it (Isa. 42:5; 45:12, 18).

Behold I create a new heaven and a new earth; be ye glad forever in that which I create; for behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing (Isa. 65:17, 18).

The Lord's presence is unceasing with every man, both the evil and the good, for without His presence no man lives; but His Coming is only to those who receive Him, who are such as believe on Him and keep His commandments. The Lord's unceasing presence causes man to become rational, and gives him the ability to become spiritual. This is effected by the light that goes forth from the Lord as the sun in the spiritual world, and that man receives in his understanding; that light is truth, and by means of it man has rationality. But the Lord's coming is to him who joins heat with that light, that is, love with truth; for the heat that goes forth from that same sun is love to God and love toward the neighbor. The mere presence of the Lord, and the consequent enlightenment of the understanding, may be likened to presence of solar light in the world; unless this light is joined with heat all things on earth become desolate. But the coming of the Lord may be likened to the coming of heat, which takes place in spring; because heat then joins itself with light, the earth is softened, and seeds sprout and bring forth fruit. Such is the parallelism between the spiritual things which are the environment of man's spirit, and the natural things which are the environment of his body.

The same is true of the man of the church in the composite or collective sense as of the individual or single man. Man in the collective or composite sense is the church among many, while the individual or single man is the church in anyone of those many. It is according to Divine order that there should be what is general and what is particular, and that both should be together in every single thing, and that otherwise particulars cannot have existence and permanence; just as there are no particulars within man without generals by which they are surrounded. The particulars in man are the viscera and their parts, and the generals are the coverings which surround not only the whole man, but also everyone of the viscera, and every single part thereof.

The same is true of every beast, bird, and worm; also every tree, shrub, and seed; nor can a tone be produced by a stringed instrument or the breath, unless there is a most general from which each least particular of the modulation derives its general, in order to exist. The same is true of every bodily sense, as sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch; and also of all the internal senses, which belong to the mind. All this has been said by way of illustration, to make clear that in the church also there is what is general and what is particular, also what is most general; and that this is why there have been four preceding churches in order, from which progression what is most general in the church has arisen, and in succession the general and the particular of each church. In man also there are two most general things from which all the generals and the several particulars derive their existence. In his body these two most general things are the heart and lungs; in his spirit they are the will and understanding. On these four depend all things pertaining to his life, both in general and in particular, all of which without them would fall asunder and die. And so would it be with the whole angelic heaven, and with the whole human race, and even with the whole created universe, if they did not all in general, and each in particular depend on God, on His love and His wisdom.

(True Christian Religion 768; 772-775)

The Night Followed by a Morning

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THE NIGHT IS FOLLOWED BY A MORNING
WHICH IS
THE COMING OF THE LORD

As the successive states of the church in general and in particular are described in the Word by the four seasons of the year, spring, summer, autumn, and winter, and by the four divisions of the day, morning, noon, evening, and night; and as the present church in Christendom is the night, it follows that the morning, that is, the beginning of a new church, is now at hand. That the successive states of the church are described in the Word by the four states of the light of day, can be seen from the following passages:

Unto evening and morning two thousand and three hundred; then the holy one shall be justified. The vision of the evening and the morning is truth (Dan. 8:14, 26).

Crying to me from Seir, Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh and also the night (Isa. 21:11-12).

The end is come; the morning is come upon thee, O inhabitant of the land; behold the day cometh; the morning is gone forth (Ezek. 7:6-7, 10).

Jehovah in the morning shall bring His judgment to light; nor shall He fail (Zeph. 3:5).

God is in the midst of her; God shall help her at the return of the morning (Ps. 46:5).

I have waited for Jehovah; my soul looketh for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, I say, more than watchmen for the morning; for with Him is plenteous redemption, and He will redeem Israel (Ps. 130:5-8).

In these passages "evening" and "night" mean the last time of the church, and "morning" the first. The Lord Himself is also called the morning in the following passages:

The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to Me. He shall be as the light of the morning, a morning without clouds (2 Sam. 23:3-4).

I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning Star (Rev. 22:16).

From the womb of the morning Thou hast the dew of Thy youth (Ps. 110:3).

These passages refer to the Lord. Because the Lord is the morning, He arose from the sepulchre early in the morning, being about to begin a new church (Mark 16:2, 9).

That it is the Lord's coming that is to be waited for can be clearly seen from His prediction respecting it in Matthew:

As Jesus was sitting upon the Mount of Olives the disciples drew near unto Him privately, saying, Tell us, what shall be the sign of Thy coming, and of the consummation of the age? (Matt. 24:3).

After the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory (Matt. 24:29, 30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27).

As were the days of Noah, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. Therefore be ye also ready; for in an hour that ye think not, shall the Son of man come (Matt. 24:37, 39, 44, 46).

In Luke:

When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8).

In John:

Jesus said of John, If I will that he tarry till I come (John 21:22-23).

In the Acts of the Apostles:

When they saw Jesus taken up into heaven, two men stood by them in white apparel, who said, Jesus, who is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have see Him go into heaven (Acts 1:9-11).

In the Apocalypse:

The Lord God of the holy prophets sent His angel to show unto His servants the things which must shortly be done. Behold I come quickly; blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book. Behold I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to his work (Rev. 22:6-7, 12).

And again:

I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, the bright and morning Star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come; and he that heareth, let him say, Come; and he that is athirst, let him come; and he that wisheth, let him take the water of life freely (Rev. 22:16-17).

He that testifieth these things saith, Yea, I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen (Rev. 22:20-21).

The Lord is present with every man, urging and pressing to be received.

His first coming, which is called the dawn, is when man receives Him, which he does when he acknowledges Him as his God, Creator, Redeemer, and Savior.

From this time man's understanding begins to be enlightened in spiritual things, and to advance into a more and more interior wisdom.

As he receives this wisdom from the Lord, he advances through morning into day, and this day lasts with him into old age, even to death

After death he passes into heaven to the Lord Himself; and there, although he died an old man, he is restored to the morning of his life, and the rudiments of the wisdom implanted in him in the natural world grow to eternity.

The man who has faith in the Lord and charity toward the neighbor is a church in particular; and the church in general is composed of such. It is wonderful that every angel, in whatever direction he turns his body and face, sees the Lord in front of him; the Lord being the sun of the angelic heaven; and this appears before their eyes when they are engaged in spiritual meditation.

The same is true, in respect to the sight of his spirit, of any man in the world in whom the church is; but because this sight is veiled over by the natural sight, to which the other senses add their allurements, and because the objects of these senses are such things as pertain to the body and the world, this state of the man's spirit is unknown. This seeing the Lord in front, however one may turn, originates in this —

That all truth (which is the source of wisdom and faith), and all good (through which love and charity exist), are from the Lord, and are the Lord's in man; consequently every truth of wisdom is like a mirror in which the Lord is seen, and every good of love is an image of the Lord.

This is the cause of this wonderful appearance.

But an evil spirit constantly turns away from the Lord, and looks continually to his own love, and this he does in whatever direction he turns his body and face. The cause of this is the same, but reversed; for every evil is an image, in a sort of form, of a man's ruling love, and falsity therefrom presents that image as in a mirror.

That some such thing is also implanted in nature may be inferred from certain plants, in their striving to rise above the herbage that surrounds them, to look at the sun; and again from the fact that some of them turn towards the sun from his rising to the end of the day that they may ripen under his auspices. Nor do I doubt that there is a like endeavor and effort in all the twigs and branches of every tree; but not being elastic enough to bend and turn, the act is checked. Moreover, it is clear to anyone investigating the matter, that all the whirlpools either of inland or ocean waters spontaneously follow in their motion the general course of the sun.

Why, then, should not man, who was created in the image of God, so turn, unless by means of his gift of freedom of choice he turns that endeavor and effort, implanted in him by the Creator, in another direction? This may also be likened to a bride's constantly keeping before the sight of her spirit something of the image of her betrothed, and seeing him in his gifts as in mirrors, longing for his coming, and when he comes receiving him with the joy in which her bosom's love finds its delight.

(True Christian Religion 764-767)

An Appetite for Goods and Truths

Selections from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

— THE STATE OF LIFE OF SPIRITS AND ANGELS IN THE HEAVENS —

In heaven this state is that spirits and angels have their morning, midday, and evening, also twilight, and again morning, and so on. It is their morning when the Lord is present and blesses them with manifest happiness: they are then in the perception of good. It is their midday when they are in the light of truths; and it is their evening when they are removed therefrom, and then it appears to them that the Lord is more remote and is hidden from them. All who are in heaven undergo and pass through these alternations, and cannot otherwise be continually perfected, for thereby they have relatives, and from the relatives a more perfect conception, since they thereby know what is not happy, because they thereby know what is not good and what is not true.

It is worthy of admiration that to eternity one state is never exactly like another, and also that one spirit and angel does not pass through the like changes of state as another, for the reason that one is not exactly like another in respect to good and truth; just as neither is one man exactly like another in the face. Nevertheless out of these varieties the Lord makes a one.

It is a general canon that everyone that has any quality comes forth from various things which are reduced into such unanimity that by agreement of harmony they all appear as a one. In the heavens the unity thus formed, or union, is effected through love and charity.

[I]n the Word "evening," occurs with the angels at the times when they do not perceive the Lord to be present; for there is in heaven a continual perception of the Lord. When they are in a state of non-perception they are not then affected with good, neither do they see truth, as before; this troubles them, but shortly afterward the dawn comes, and so the morning.

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ENLIGHTENMENTS IN THE OTHER LIFE

[T]he times of day, as morning, noon, and evening, correspond to the enlightenments in the other life, and the enlightenments there are those of intelligence and wisdom, for in the light of heaven there is intelligence and wisdom. There are alternations of enlightenment there, like morning, noon, and evening on earth. The states of shade, like those of evening, do not arise from the sun there, that is, the Lord, who is always giving light, but from the angels' own, for insofar as they are let into their own they come into a state of shade or evening, and insofar as they are lifted out of their own into a heavenly own, they come into a state of light.

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WITH REGARD TO DESOLATION OR FAMINE BEING VERY GRIEVOUS

[B]e it known that truths and goods and the knowledges thereof make the spiritual life of those who are in heaven, for these are the celestial and spiritual foods with which they are nourished. These foods are given them daily by the Lord. When it is morning with them, goods are supplied; when it is noon, truths are supplied; but when it is evening, goods and truths are lacking, and this even unto twilight and the return of morning. The angels are then kept in a state of appetite, which is of such a nature that they long for these things more than those who are hungry on earth long for food. This state is signified by "famine," and it is a kind of desolation, but not such as exists with those who are in the lower earth.

Scarcely anyone in this world can believe that the angelic heaven has such an appetite for truths and goods and the knowledges of these; for they who are intent on nothing else than gain and glory and indulgence in pleasures, will wonder that such things are a matter of life to the angels, and will say, What are knowledges of good and of truth to me? what have these to do with life? The things which give life and the delight of life are riches, honors, and pleasures. But be it known to them that the life which is from these things is the life of the body, and not the life of the soul, and that the former life perishes with the body, but the latter remains to eternity; and that they consult their own evil who during their abode in this world think nothing about the spiritual life.

As further regards desolation, it is for the sake of inducing appetite, for goods and truths are received in accordance with this; and when the desires excited by appetite are obtained, they cause satisfaction and happiness. Wherefore in the other life they who are in desolation are soon afterward refreshed, and attain their desires. By means of such alternations are all made perfect. It is worthy of note that the alternations of the day in the natural world — morning, midday, evening, night, and again morning — perfectly represent the alternations in the spiritual world, with only this difference: that the alternations of the spiritual world flow into the understanding and the will, and sustain those things which are of the life; while the alternations in the natural world flow into those things which are of the body, and sustain them.

What is still more worthy of note is that the shades of evening and the darkness of night do not come from the Lord, but from things that belong to angels, spirits, and men. For the Lord as a Sun is continually shining and flowing in, but evils and falsities from what is one's own, being in men, spirits, and angels, turn and convert them from the Lord, and thus lead them into the shades of evening, and those who are evil into the darkness of night; in like manner as the sun of our world is continually shining and inflowing, but the earth by its rotation turns itself away from it, and brings itself into shade and darkness.

The reason why these alternations take place in the natural world is that the natural world comes forth from the spiritual world, and therefore also subsists from it; and hence it is that universal nature is a theater representative of the Lord's kingdom. The reason why these alternations exist in the spiritual world is that all who are in heaven may be continually perfected. From this there are such alternations also in the natural world, for otherwise all things therein would perish with drought.

Yet be it known that in heaven there is no night, but only evening, which is succeeded by the twilight that precedes the morning. But in hell there is night. There are alternations there also, but these are opposite to the alternations in heaven; for in hell morning is the heat of cupidities, noon is the itching of falsities, evening is anxiety, and night is torment. Yet through all these alternations the night dominates, and it is only the variations of shade and of the darkness of night that present these alternations.

Be it further known that in the spiritual world the alternations with one person are not like those with another; and also that the alternations there are not distinguished into stated times, because it is the variations of state that present them to view; for in place of times in the natural world there are states in the spiritual world.

(from Arcana Coelestia 5962; 5672; 6110)