Things Signified by 'The Last Judgment'

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

. . . that nation whom they shall serve will I judge (Genesis 15:14)

Will I judge.

That this signifies visitation and judgment, may be seen without explication. By "judging," or "judgment," there is not signified any last judgment, as people in general suppose, that is, that the heaven and the earth are to perish, and that so a new heaven and a new earth will be created, as spoken of in the Prophets and in Revelation; and thus that all things are to perish, which opinion has spread itself so widely that it has even taken possession of the minds of those who are best instructed; and this to such a degree that they do not believe that the dead are to rise except at that time. And therefore because this time was foretold, and still, after so many centuries have since passed by, they see that it has not come and is not at hand, feeling safe they confirm themselves in their assurance that there is no such thing, and therefore that they will not rise again.

But it is to be known that by the last judgment, or by the destruction of heaven and earth, no such thing is meant.

According to the sense of the letter it is so; but not at all according to the internal sense: in this sense the last judgment means the last time of the church — the heaven and earth that will perish, mean the church as to internal and external worship, which becomes NO church when there is NO charity.

There was a last judgment of the Most Ancient Church when all charity and faith had failed, and when there was no perception, as was the case just before the flood. The flood itself was the last judgment of that church; heaven and earth, that is, the church, then perished, and a new heaven and a new earth, that is, a new church, were created, which was called the Ancient Church. This church likewise had its last time, namely, when all charity grew cold and all faith was darkened, which was about the time of Eber. This time was the last judgment of that church; which was the heaven and earth that had perished.

The Hebrew Church was a new heaven and a new earth, and this too had its last time, or last judgment, when it became idolatrous; and then a new church was raised up among the descendants of Jacob, which was called the Jewish Church, and which was a church that was merely representative of charity and faith.

In this church, that is, among the descendants of Jacob, there was neither charity nor faith, and therefore NO church, but only the representative of a church, for the reason that it had become impossible for there to be immediate communication of the Lord's kingdom in the heavens with any true church on earth, and therefore a mediate communication was effected by means of representatives.

The last time of this SO-CALLED church, or its last judgment, was when the Lord came into the world; for the representatives then ceased, that is, the sacrifices and similar rites; and in order that these might cease, the Jews were cast out of the land of Canaan.

After this a new heaven and a new earth were created, that is, a new church, which is to be called the Primitive Church, which was commenced by the Lord, and afterwards gradually became stronger, and which at first was in charity and faith.

The destruction of this church is foretold by the Lord in the Gospels, and by John in Revelation; and this destruction is what is called the Last Judgment.

THE LAST JUDGMENT IN GENERAL

Not that heaven and earth are now to perish, but that in some quarter of the globe a new church will be raised up, the present one remaining in its external worship, as the Jews do in theirs, in whose worship it is well known that there is NOTHING of charity and faith, that is, NOTHING of the church. So far as regards the last judgment in general.

THE LAST JUDGMENT IN PARTICULAR

In particular, there is a last judgment for everyone immediately after he dies; for he then passes into the other life, in which, when he comes into the life that he had had in the body, he is adjudged either to death or to life.

THE LAST JUDGMENT IN SINGULAR

There is also a last judgment in the singular, for with a man who is adjudged to death, every single thing condemns him, for there is nothing in his thought and will, not even the least thing, that does not resemble his last judgment, and that does not drag him to death.

In like manner with the man who is adjudged to life: in him every single thing of his thought and of his will presents an image of his last judgment, and all carry him on to life. For such as is man in general, such is he in the singulars of his thought and of his affection. These are the things that are signified by the last judgment.

(Arcana Coelestia 1850)

How Long Halt Ye Between Two Opinions?

Portions from the Sacred Scriptures ~ 1 Kings

And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the LORD God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

...  And it came to pass after many days, that the Word of the LORD came to Elijah in the third year, saying, Go, shew thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth.

And Elijah went to shew himself unto Ahab.

And there was a sore famine in Samaria.

...  And it came to pass, when Ahab saw Elijah, that Ahab said unto him, Art thou he that troubleth Israel?

And he answered, I have not troubled Israel; but thou, and thy father's house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the LORD, and thou hast followed Baalim. Now therefore send, and gather to me all Israel unto Mount Carmel, and the prophets of Baal four hundred and fifty, and the prophets of the groves four hundred, which eat at Jezebel's table.

So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto Mount Carmel.

And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, —

How long halt [limp] ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him.

And the people answered him not a word.

Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the Name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God.

And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

And Elijah said unto the prophets of Baal, Choose you one bullock for yourselves, and dress it first; for ye are many; and call on the name of your gods, but put no fire under. And they took the bullock which was given them, and they dressed it, and called on the name of Baal from morning even until noon, saying, O Baal, hear us. But there was no voice, nor any that answered. And they leaped upon the altar which was made.

And it came to pass at noon, that Elijah mocked them, and said, Cry aloud: for he is a god; either he is talking, or he is pursuing, or he is in a journey, or peradventure he sleepeth, and must be awaked.

And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their manner with knives and lancets, till the blood gushed out upon them.

And it came to pass, when midday was past, and they prophesied until the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that there was neither voice, nor any to answer, nor any that regarded.

And Elijah said unto all the people, Come near unto me. And all the people came near unto him.

And he repaired the altar of the LORD that was broken down. And Elijah took twelve stones, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob, unto whom the Word of the LORD came, saying, Israel shall be thy name: and with the stones he built an altar in the Name of the LORD: and he made a trench about the altar, as great as would contain two measures of seed. And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood. And he said, Do it the second time. And they did it the second time. And he said, Do it the third time. And they did it the third time. And the water ran round about the altar; and he filled the trench also with water.

And it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice, that Elijah the prophet came near, and said, —

LORD God of Abraham, Isaac, and of Israel, let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these things at Thy Word. Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again.

Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench.

And when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces: and they said, The LORD, He is the God; the LORD, He is the God.

And Elijah said unto them, Take the prophets of Baal; let not one of them escape.

And they took them: and Elijah brought them down to the brook Kishon, and slew them there.

...  And Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and withal how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time

 And when he saw that, he arose, and went for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongeth to Judah, and left his servant there.

(portions from 1 Kings 17, 18, 19)

Is Not Religion a Matter of Life?

Selection from Conjugial Love ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
— THE DOCTRINALS OF THE CHURCH WHICH IS MEANT BY THE NEW JERUSALEM —

I. That there is one God, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and that He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

II. That saving faith is to believe in Him.

III. That evils are to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil.

IV. That goods are to be done because they are of God and from God.

V. That these are to be done by man as of himself, but that he must believe that they are done by the Lord with him and through him.

God is one, in whom is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ — Is not God one and indivisible? Is there not a Trinity? If God is one and indivisible, is He not one person? If one person, is not the Trinity in that person?

• He was conceived of God the Father (Luke 1:34, 35) so that as to the soul He is God, and hence, as He Himself says: The Father and He are one (John 10:30).

• He is in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:10, 11).

• He that seeth Him and knoweth Him, seeth and knoweth the Father (John 14:7, 9).

• No one seeth and knoweth the Father but He who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18).

• All things of the Father are His (John 3:35; 16:15).

• He is the way, the truth, and the life, and that no man cometh to the Father but by Him (John 14:6).

• He is from Him because He is in Him; and according to the teaching of Paul, that: — In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily (Col. 2:9).

And besides: —

• He hath power over all flesh (John 17:2)

• He hath all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18)

• He is the God of heaven and earth.

Saving faith is to believe in Him —

• This is the will of the Father, that all who believe in the Son shall have everlasting life (John 6:40).

• God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:16).

• He that believeth in the Son hath everlasting life; but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the anger of God abideth on him (John 3:36).

Evils ought to be shunned because they are of the devil and from the devil; goods ought to be done because they are of God and from God. And that these things ought to be done by man as if of himself, yet that he ought to believe that they are done from the Lord with him and through him.

(from Conjugial Love 82)

Three Proofs of True Faith

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

True faith is the ONE ONLY FAITH, which is a faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ, and this is held by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father.

True faith is the ONE ONLY FAITH, because faith is truth, and truth cannot be broken or cut into fragments, with one part tending to the left and another to the right, and the truth of it still remain. In a general sense, faith consists of innumerable truths, for it is the complex of them — but these innumerable truths constitute, as it were, a single body, and in that body there are truths that form its members, some forming the members that depend on the chest, as the arms and hands, and others those that depend on the loins, as the legs and feet; while interior truths form the head, and the truths first proceeding from them, form the sensories located in the face. Interior truths form the head because interior means the same as higher; for in the spiritual world whatever is interior is also higher. This is true of the three heavens there. Of that body and of all its members, the Lord God the Savior is the soul and life; and this is why the church was called by Paul "the body of Christ," the men of the church, according to their states of charity and faith, constituting its members. That the true faith is the ONE ONLY FAITH, Paul also teaches thus:

There is one body and one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God; and He gave some for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ; till we all come into the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, and into the perfect man, into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:4-13).

BELIEVE THE LORD TO BE THE SON OF GOD

That the true faith, which is the ONE ONLY FAITH, is a faith in the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. But those who believe the Lord to be the Son of God also have the true faith, because such believe Him to be God, and unless faith is faith in God it is no faith. That of all the truths that enter into faith and form it, this is the first, is evident from the Lord's words to Peter:

Peter said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God, and Jesus answered, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, and I say also unto thee, upon this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it (Matt. 16:16-18).

By "rock" here and elsewhere in the Word, the Lord in respect to Divine truth is meant, and also Divine truth from the Lord. That this truth is the first truth and is like a diadem on the head and a scepter in the hand of the body of Christ, is evident from the Lord's saying, that upon that rock He would build His church, and the gates of hell should not prevail against it. That this is the first thing in faith, is also evident from these words in John:

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God (1 John 4:15).

BELIEVE THE LORD IS THE GOD OF HEAVEN AND EARTH

Besides this characteristic of being in the true faith, which is the ONE ONLY FAITH, there is another, which is to believe that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth. This follows from the former, that He is the Son of God; also from the following:

That in Him dwelleth all the fullness of Divinity (Col. 2:9)

That He is the God of heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18)

That all that the Father hath is His (John 3:35; 16:15).

BELIEVE THE LORD TO BE ONE WITH GOD THE FATHER

A third proof that those who believe in the Lord are interiorly in faith in Him, thus in the true faith, which is the ONE ONLY FAITH, is their believing the Lord to be ONE with God the Father. That He is one with God the Father, and that He is the Father Himself in the Human is plainly evident from the words of the Lord Himself:

That the Father and He are one (John 10:30)

That the Father is in Him and He in the Father (John 10:38; 14:10, 11)

That He said to His disciples, that henceforth they had seen and known the Father; and He looked at Philip and said, that he then saw and knew the Father (John 14:7-10).

These three are distinguishing evidences that men have faith in the Lord, and thus the true faith, which is the ONE ONLY FAITH — for not all who approach the Lord have faith in Him.

For true faith is both internal and external, and those who possess these three precious things of faith are in both its internals and its externals so that it is not only a treasure in their hearts, but also a jewel in their mouths.

It is otherwise with those who do not acknowledge the Lord as the God of heaven and earth, and as one with the Father. Such look interiorly to other gods also who possess like power, although this power is to be exercised by the Son, either vicariously or as one who on account of redemption is worthy to reign over those whom He has redeemed. These break the true faith in pieces by dividing the unity of God, and when this is done, there is no longer any faith, but only the ghost of it, which when seen naturally looks like some image of it, but seen spiritually, becomes a chimera. Who can deny that the true faith is faith in one God, who is the God of heaven and earth, consequently, a faith in God the Father in a human form, that is, the Lord?

These three marks, testimonies, and indications, that faith in the Lord is faith itself, are like the touch-stones whereby gold and silver are known; or they are like stones or fingerposts by the wayside, pointing the way to the temple where the one and true God is worshiped; or they are like lights on rocks in the sea, whereby those who are sailing at night may know where they are, and to what quarter to direct their ships. The first characteristic of faith, which is that the Lord is the Son of the living God, is like the morning star to all who enter His church.

(from True Christian Religion 379)

Precepts of Regeneration

Selection from A Brief Exposition of
The Doctrine of The New Church ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Truly Saving Faith, which is Faith in One God, united, with good works — is in God the Savior Jesus Christ which in its simple form is as follows:

I. That there is One God in Whom is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ.

II. Saving Faith is to believe in Him.

III. Evils ought to be shunned, because they are of the devil, and from the devil.

IV. Goods ought to be done, because they are of God, and from God.

V. And they ought to be done by man as of himself, but it is to be believed that they are from the Lord, with him and through him.

THIS IS THE FAITH OF THE NEW CHURCH IN ITS SIMPLE FORM

It is necessary that this preliminary concerning that faith should here be briefly illustrated.

• That there is one God, in whom there is the Divine Trinity, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ, is summarily illustrated in the following manner. —

It is a certain and established truth, that God is one, and His essence is indivisible, and that there is a Trinity; since, therefore, God is One, and His essence is indivisible, it follows, that God is one Person, and when He is one Person, that the Trinity is in that Person. That this is the Lord Jesus Christ, appears from this, that He was conceived from God the Father (Luke 1:34, 35); and thus as to His soul and life itself He is God; and therefore, as He Himself said, that:

The Father and He are One (John 10:30).

He is in the Father, and the Father in Him (John 14:10, 11).

He who seeth Him and knoweth Him, seeth and knoweth the Father (John 14:7, 9).

No one seeth and knoweth the Father, but He who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1:18).

All things of the Father are His (John 3:35; 16:15).

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one cometh unto the Father but by Him (John 14:6);

thus from Him, because He is in Him, and thus is He Himself; and according to Paul that:

All the fulness of the Divinity dwells in Him bodily (Col. 2:9).

And according to Isaiah:

Unto us a Boy is born, unto us a Son is given, whose name is God, Father of Eternity (9:5).

And again, that:

He hath power over all flesh (John 17:2).

And:

He hath all power in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18).

Thence it follows that He is the God of heaven and earth.

• Saving faith is to believe in Him

Jesus said, he that believeth in Me, shall not die to eternity, but shall live (John 11:25, 26).

This is the will of the Father, that everyone who believeth in the Son may have eternal life (John 6:40).

God so loved the world, that He gave His Only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish, but have eternal life (John 3:15, 16).

He that believeth in the Son, hath eternal life, but he that believeth not the Son, shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him (John 3:36).

The three remaining propositions, namely, —

• That evils ought to be shunned, because they are of the devil and from the devil;
• That goods ought to be done, because they are of God and from God;
• but that it is to be believed that they are from the Lord, with him and through him.

There is no need to illustrate and demonstrate these; for the whole Sacred Scripture, from beginning to end, proves them, and, in short, teaches nothing else but to shun evils, and do goods, and to believe in the Lord God. Besides, without these three there is not any religion, for religion is of the life; and life is to shun evils and do goods, and man cannot do goods and shun evils except as of himself. Wherefore if these three are removed from the church, the Sacred Scripture, together with religion, is likewise removed at the same time: which being removed the church is not a church.

(from Brief Exposition 43-44)

Freedom of Choice in Spiritual Things

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

IF MEN HAD NOT FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS,
ALL THE INHABITANTS OF THE WORLD MIGHT IN ONE DAY BE LED TO BELIEVE IN THE LORD;

BUT THIS CANNOT BE DONE,

BECAUSE THAT WHICH IS NOT RECEIVED BY MAN WITH FREEDOM OF CHOICE
DOES NOT REMAIN.

That God could, in one day, if freedom of choice in spiritual things had not been given to man, lead all the inhabitants of the world to believe in Him, follows as a true conclusion from the Divine omnipotence when not rightly understood.

Those who do not understand the Divine omnipotence, may suppose either that there is no such thing as order, or that God can act contrary to order as well as according to it; when yet, without order, no creation was possible.

The primary thing of order is for man to be an image of God, consequently, that he be continually perfecting in love and wisdom, and thus becoming that image more and more. To this end God is working continually in man; but this would be in vain, for it would be impossible, if man were destitute of freedom of choice in spiritual things, whereby he could turn to God and reciprocally conjoin himself with God. For there is an order from which and according to which the whole universe, with each and all things in it, was created; and because all creation was effected from that order and according to it God is called order itself. Thus it is the same whether we say, acting contrary to order, or acting contrary to God.

God Himself, even, cannot act contrary to His own Divine order, since this would be to act contrary to His very Self; and therefore He leads every man according to that order which is Himself, guiding the wandering and the fallen into it, and the resisting toward it.

If man could have been created without freedom of choice in spiritual things, what would have been more easy for an omnipotent God than to lead all the inhabitants of the world to believe in the Lord?

Could He not have implanted this faith in everyone, both without means and by means,

• without means by His absolute power and its irresistible operation, which is unceasing in its efforts to save man;
• by means, through torments brought upon man's conscience, or through mortal convulsions of the body and awful threats of death, if he did not receive that faith;

or still further,

• by the opening of hell and the presence of devils therefrom holding frightful torches in their hands, or by calling forth therefrom the dead whom they had known, in the forms of fearful specters? But to all this there is a reply in the words of Abraham to the rich man in hell,

If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead (Luke 16:31).

NO MIRACLES TODAY

It is asked at the present day, why miracles do not take place as formerly; for it is believed that if they were to occur, there would come from everyone a hearty acknowledgment. But miracles are not now wrought as formerly because they compel [belief] and take away man's freedom of choice in spiritual things, and make man natural instead of spiritual.

Everyone in the Christian world, since the Lord's coming, has the ability to become spiritual, and he becomes spiritual solely from the Lord through the Word; but the capacity to become so would perish if man were led to believe through miracles, because, as just said, miracles compel and deprive man of freedom of choice in spiritual things; and everything that is compulsory in such matters betakes itself to the natural man, and closes the door, as it were, to the spiritual man, which is the truly internal man, depriving it of all power to see any truth in clear light, with the result that man then reasons about spiritual things from the natural man alone, which sees everything truly spiritual inversely.

But before the Lord's coming miracles were wrought because the men of the church were then natural men, to whom spiritual things, which belong to an internal church, could not be disclosed; for if these had been disclosed they would have been profaned. Therefore all their worship consisted in rituals which represented and signified the internal things of the church; and they could be led to observe these rituals only by means of miracles; and not even, indeed, by means of miracles, because those representatives had in them a spiritual internal, as is evident from the children of Israel in the desert, who, although they had seen so many miracles in Egypt, and afterward that greatest of miracles upon Mount Sinai, still, after Moses' absence for a month, danced around a golden calf, and shouted that it had led them out of Egypt. In the land of Canaan they acted in a like manner, although they witnessed the great miracles wrought by Elijah and Elisha, and finally the truly Divine miracles by the Lord.

Miracles are not wrought at the present day, especially for the reason that the church has deprived man of all freedom of choice. This it has done by decreeing that man is unable to contribute anything whatever toward the acquisition of faith or toward conversion, or in general toward salvation. The man who accepts this belief becomes more and more natural; and the natural man, as said above, looks at everything spiritual inversely, and consequently thinks in opposition to it. In this case the higher region of the man's mind, where freedom of choice in spiritual things has its primary seat, is thereby closed up, and the spiritual things which miracles seemingly confirm occupy the lower region of the mind, which is merely natural, and the falsities respecting faith, conversion, and salvation, thus remain above this region, and in consequence it comes to pass that satans have their abode above and angels below, like hawks above chickens. Then after a little while the satans break down their bars, and rush forth with fury upon the spiritual things which hold a place below them, not only denying these, but also blaspheming and profaning them; and the result is that the latter state of man becomes worse than the former.

The man who by means of falsities respecting the spiritual things of the church has become natural, must needs think of the Divine omnipotence as superior to order, and thus of a Divine omnipotence without order, in consequence of which he would fall into the following insane thoughts:

• Why the Lord's advent into the world, and why was redemption effected in that way, when by His omnipotence God could have accomplished the same thing out of heaven as well as upon the earth?
• Why might He not by redemption have saved the whole human race without an exception?
• How is it that the devil has since been able to prevail over the Redeemer in man?
• Why is there a hell?
• Could not God have blotted out hell by His omnipotence, and cannot He now do so, or else deliver all men from it, and make them angels of heaven?
• Why a last judgment?
• Cannot God transfer all the goats from His left to His right, and make them sheep?
• Why did He cast down the angels of the dragon and the dragon himself from heaven, instead of changing them into angels of Michael?
• Why does He not to all of these impart faith and impute His Son's righteousness, and thus forgive their sins, and justify, and sanctify them?
• Why does He not cause the beasts of the field, the birds of the air, and the fishes of the sea to talk, give them intelligence, and introduce them along with men into heaven?
• Why did He not, or does He not, make the whole world a paradise, with no tree of the knowledge of good and evil and no serpent in it; and where all the hills would flow with generous wine and produce gold and silver naturally, so that all might live therein with jubilee and song, and thus in perpetual festivity and joy, as images of God?

Would not such things be worthy of an omnipotent God? Besides other like questions.  But, my friend, this is all idle talk.

The Divine omnipotence is not without order; God is Himself Order; and all things were created from order, in order, and for order, because they were created from God. There is an order into which man was created, namely, —

THAT BLESSING OR CURSE DEPENDS FOR HIM
UPON HIS FREEDOM OF CHOICE IN SPIRITUAL THINGS

for, as said above, it is impossible to create a man without freedom of choice, nor even a beast, a bird, or a fish. But beasts have only a natural freedom of choice, while man has not only natural freedom of choice but also spiritual freedom of choice.

(True Christian Religion 500-503)

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)