The World and the Church After the Last Judgment

Selection from The Last Judgment ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

The state of the world hereafter will be altogether similar to what it has been heretofore, for the great change which has taken place in the spiritual world, does not induce any change in the natural world as to the external form; so that after this there will be civil affairs as before, there will be peace, treaties, and wars as before, with all other things which belong to societies in general and in particular, The Lord said that:

In the last times there will be wars, and then nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in divers places (Matt. 24:6, 7).

This does not signify that such things will exist in the natural world, but that the things corresponding with them will exist in the spiritual world: for the Word in its prophecies does not treat of the kingdoms on earth, nor of the nations there, thus neither concerning their wars, nor of famines, pestilences, and earthquakes there, but of such things as correspond to them in the spiritual world; what these things are, is explained in the Arcana Coelestia, ...

But as for the state of the church, this it is which will be dissimilar hereafter; it will be similar indeed as to the external appearance, but dissimilar as to the internal. As to the external appearance divided churches will exist as heretofore, their doctrines will be taught as heretofore; and the same religions as now will exist among the Gentiles.

But henceforth the man of the church will be in a more free state of thinking on matters of faith, thus on the spiritual things which relate to heaven, because spiritual freedom has been restored to him. For all things in the heavens and in the hells are now reduced into order, and all thought concerning Divine things and against the Divine inflows from thence; from the heavens all thought which is in harmony with Divine things, and from the hells all which is against Divine things. But man does not observe this change of state in himself, because he does not reflect upon it, and because he knows nothing of spiritual freedom and of influx; nevertheless it is perceived in heaven, and also by man himself after his death. Because spiritual freedom has been restored to man, therefore the spiritual sense of the Word has now been disclosed, and by it interior Divine truths have been revealed; for man in his former state would not have understood them, and he who would have understood them, would have profaned them. That man has freedom by means of the equilibrium between heaven and hell, and, that man cannot be reformed except in freedom.

I have had various conversations with angels, concerning the state of the church hereafter. They said that they know not things to come, for the knowledge of things to come belongs to the Lord alone; but they know that the slavery and captivity in which the man of the church was formerly, has been taken away, and that now, from restored freedom, he can better perceive interior truths, if he wills to perceive them; and thus be made more internal, if he wills to become so; but that still they have slender hope of the men of the Christian church, but much of some nation far distant from the Christian world, and therefore removed from infesters, which nation is such that it is capable of receiving spiritual light, and of being made a celestial-spiritual man, and they said, that at this day interior Divine truths are revealed in that nation, and are also received in spiritual faith, that is, in life and heart, and that they adore the Lord.

(The Last Judgment 73 - 74)

The Fullness of the Time

Selection from Invitation To The New Church ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

... without the Lord's Advent, no man could have been regenerated, and hence saved; and that this is meant by "the Lamb taking away the sins of the world." This may be evident from the state of the spiritual world before the Lord's Coming; which was such that not a single truth of faith, nor any good of charity, could pass from the Lord to man. (from no. 5)

By the "fulness of time" is signified consummation and desolation; because "time" signifies the state of the church

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. (Rev. 10:5-6)

The word of the LORD came again unto me, saying, Son of man, prophesy and say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Howl ye, Woe worth the day! For the day is near, even the day of the LORD is near, a cloudy day; it shall be the time of the heathen. (Ezek. 30:1-3)

The same also is signified by "Time, times, and half a time"

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent. (Rev. 12:14)

And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of time. ...

And I heard the man clothed in linen, which was upon the waters of the river, when he held up his right hand and his left hand unto heaven, and sware by him that liveth for ever that it shall be for a time, times, and an half; and when he shall have accomplished to scatter the power of the holy people, all these things shall be finished. (Dan. 7:25; 12:7)

• The times in the world are spring, summer, autumn; the fullness of these times is winter.
• The times as to light are morning, noon, evening; and their fullness is the night, etc., etc.

This is meant by the Lord's coming in "the fullness of the time," or of "times"; that is, when there is no longer any truth of faith, and good of charity left.

THE FULLNESS OF THE TIME

Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? ...

For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. (Rom. 11:12, 25)

Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. (Gal. 4:3-5)

... having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him (Eph. 1:9, 10)

But in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. ( Gen. 15:16)

The desolation of the truth of the church may be compared with consummations on the earth;

• heat, namely, and all the above [times or seasons] are consummated by winter and then spring comes
• light on earth is consummated by the night, when the morning comes.

Wherefore, the Lord in Revelation said to those under the altar

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: and they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled. (Rev. 6:9-11)

A number of passages are to be quoted from Revelation, showing that the church has been laid waste, even to its ultimate.

(from Invitation To The New Church 10; 12)

... And Now Again

Selections from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? ...

... Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun 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 in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. ...

... But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. ... (Matthew 24:3, 29, 30, 37)

WHEN THE END OF A CHURCH IS AT HAND

When the end of a church is at hand, then the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are revealed and taught. This is done that the good may be separated from the evil. There is a separation because the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, which are celestial and spiritual, are received by the good, but are rejected by the evil.

Moreover, the interior things of the Word, which are revealed at the end of the church, are serviceable for doctrine and life to the New Church that is also then established. That this is so is evident from this, — that when the end of the Jewish Church was at hand the Lord Himself opened and taught the interior things of the Word, and especially revealed those things in the Word that had been foretold of Himself — and when these had been opened and revealed, the externals of the church were abrogated, which consisted chiefly of sacrifices and rituals and statutes which shadowed forth the Lord, and represented and thence signified the interior things of the church which He was revealing. That this would be done was predicted in various passages in the prophets.

The like has been done at the present time; for it has now pleased the Lord to reveal many arcana of heaven, especially the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, which has heretofore been wholly unknown, and with that He has taught the genuine truths of doctrine. This revelation is meant by "the coming of the Lord" in Matthew 24:3, 30, 37.

A revelation is necessary at the end of the church in order, as has been said, that by means of it the good may become separated from the evil, and a New Church established, and this not only in the natural world where men are, but also in the spiritual world where spirits and angels are — for in both worlds there is a church, and revelation takes place in both, and thereby separation, as also the establishment of a New Church. ...

As regards the successive states of the churches on our globe, they have evidently been similar to the successive states of a man who is being reformed and regenerated, namely, that to become a spiritual man, he is first conceived, next is born, then grows up, and is afterwards led on further and further into intelligence and wisdom. The church, from the most ancient times to the end of the Jewish Church, progressed like a man who is conceived, born, and grows up, and is then instructed and taught; but the successive states of the church after the end of the Jewish Church, or from the time of the Lord even to the present day, have been like a man increasing in intelligence and wisdom, or becoming regenerate. For this end the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, were revealed by the Lord when He was in the world; and now again, things still more interior are revealed; and in the measure that things interior are revealed can man become wiser; for to become interior is to become wiser, and to become wiser is to become interior. (from Apocalypse Explained 641)

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THE TWO WITNESSES THAT WERE SLAIN AND LIVED AGAIN

At the end of the church, when there is no faith because there is no charity, the interior things of the Word which are to serve the New Church for doctrine and life are disclosed. This was done by the Lord Himself, when the end of the Jewish Church was at hand; for the Lord Himself then came into the world and opened the interiors of the Word, especially those relating to Himself, love to Him and love towards the neighbor, and faith in Him, which before lay hidden in the interiors of the Word, since they were in its representatives, and thence in the particular things of the church and of worship. These truths, therefore, that were disclosed by the Lord were interior truths, and in themselves spiritual; and these afterwards served the New Church for doctrine and life, as has been said just above. These truths, however, were not immediately received, nor until after a considerable lapse of time, as is well known from ecclesiastical history; and for the reason that they could not be received until all things in the spiritual world had been reduced to order — for as the spiritual world is conjoined to the natural world with men, so unless that world had been first reduced to order, men in the natural world could not have understood or perceived the goods of love and the truths of doctrine; this is why so long a time intervened before the Christian Church was universally established in the European world; for all effects that exist in the natural world derive their origin from causes in the spiritual world, especially those that relate to the things of the church. These things have been said to make known what is signified in particular by the command to the two witnesses "to go up into heaven," namely, that no harm be done by the evil to the goods of love and the truths of doctrine that are disclosed in the last time of the church.

It was similar when the Most Ancient Church, which was before the flood, came to its end, for then the representatives of celestial things, which existed among the most ancient people, were gathered up into one body by those who were called "Enoch," and were preserved for the use of the New Church after the flood; and this was called a representative church, because its laws and statutes, and in general its worship, consisted of representatives, or of such things in the natural world as corresponded to spiritual things in the spiritual world. The like was done with these, that is, they were separated from the evil by being taken into heaven and thus protected, and this till the old church came to its end, when a New Church was to be established. This is described by these words in Genesis:

And Enoch walked with God and he was no more, for God took him (Gen. 5:24).

That such is the signification of "Enoch, and his walking before God, and being taken by God" may be seen in Arcana Coelestia (n. 518-523), where this is explained.

The like is done at the present day. This church, which is called Christian, has at this day come to its end, therefore the arcana of heaven and the church have now been revealed by the Lord, to serve as the doctrine of life and faith for the New Church, which is meant by "the New Jerusalem" in Revelation. This doctrine, too, has been taken up into heaven lest harm be done to it by the evil before the establishment of the New Church. Such, therefore, is the signification of this respecting the two witnesses, that "they went up into heaven;" also of what follows in the next chapter, where it treats of "the woman about to bring forth a child," before whom stood the dragon:

That the child was caught up to God and to His throne (Rev. 12:5).

What is there meant in particular by the "woman" and the "child" will be told in the explanation of the next chapter. From this it can now be seen what arcanum is involved in what is here said of the two witnesses that by command "they went up into heaven in the cloud." (from Apocalypse Explained 670)

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BEFORE THE CHURCH HAS BEEN FULLY DEVASTATED

The Word is revealed interiorly, that is, as to the spiritual sense, before the church has been fully devastated, because then the New Church will be established into which those who are of the former church are invited; and for the New Church interior Divine truth is revealed; and this could not have been revealed before for reasons that will be given in what follows. A like thing is now done as was done at the end of the Jewish Church; for at its end, which was when the Lord came into the world, the Word was opened interiorly; for when the Lord was in the world He revealed interior Divine truths that were to be for the use of a New Church about to be established by Him and that did serve that church. For like reasons the Word has been opened interiorly at this day, and still more interior Divine truths have been revealed therefrom for the use of the New Church, that will be called the New Jerusalem.

What the Divine providence of the Lord was in revealing Divine truths can be seen from the successive establishment of churches. There have been several churches on our globe one after another. There was the Most Ancient, that was before the flood; there was the Ancient, that was after the flood; then the Hebrew; and then the Israelitish; after this the Christian; and now the New Church is beginning. Inmost Divine truths were revealed to those who were of the Most Ancient Church; more external Divine truths were revealed to those of the Ancient Church; and most external or ultimate Divine truths to the Hebrew Church, and afterwards to the Israelitish, with which church all Divine truth finally perished, for at last there was nothing in the Word that had not been adulterated. But after the end of the Israelitish Church interior Divine truths were revealed by the Lord for the Christian Church, and now still more interior truths for the church that is to come. These interior truths are such as are in the internal or spiritual sense of the Word. All this makes clear that there has been a progression of Divine truth from inmosts to ultimates, thus from wisdom to mere ignorance; and that now there is a progression of it from ultimates to interiors, thus from ignorance again to wisdom. (from no. 948)

(from Apocalypse Explained 641; 670; 948)