The Swedenborg Library Vol 1/Chapter 23

by Emanuel Swedenborg

XXIII.

STATE OF MANKIND BEFORE AND AFTER THE LAST JUDGMENT.

N order to know anything of the state of the world and the church before and after the last judgment, a thorough knowledge of the following subjects is necessary:

I. What is understood by the former heaven and the former earth which passed away. (Apoc. xxi. 1.)

II. Who and what manner of men those were in the former heaven and the former earth.

III. Before the last judgment was effected upon them, much of the communication between heaven and the world, therefore also between the Lord and the church, was intercepted.

IV. After the last judgment the communication was restored.

V. Hence it is, that after the last judgment and not before, revelations were made for the New Church.

VI. The state of the world and of the church before the last judgment was as evening and night; but after it, as morning and day.

I. The former heaven and the former earth mentioned (Apoc. xxi. 1), neither mean a heaven visible to the eyes of men in the world, and an earth inhabited by men; nor the former heaven which is the abode of all those since the first creation, who have lived well. But congregations of spirits are meant, who had made seeming [or imaginary] heavens for themselves between heaven and hell. And since all spirits and angels, as well as men, inhabit earths, therefore, by the former heaven and the former earth, these seeming heavens are meant. The passing away of that heaven and that land was a thing seen, and has been described from sight in the work On the Last Judgment.

II. All those who gathered themselves together underneath heaven, and in various places formed seeming heavens for themselves, and also called them heavens, were conjoined with the angels of the lowest heaven, but only as to externals, not as to internals. For the most part they were the goats and those akin to them named in Matthew xxv. 41-46; who, indeed, had not done evil in the world, for they had lived well morally; but they had not done good from a good motive, for they had separated faith from charity, and hence had not regarded evils as sins. Now, because they had lived like Christians in externals, they were conjoined with the angels of the lowest heaven, who were like them in externals but unlike them in internals,—they being the sheep and in faith, yet in the faith of charity. On account of this conjunction they were necessarily tolerated; for the act of separating them before the last judgment, would have brought ruin upon those who were in the ultimate heaven, who would have been drawn to destruction with them. This is what the Lord foretold in Matthew xiii. 24-30, 37-40. The consummation of the Age [there mentioned] is the last time of the church; the tares are those who are inwardly evil; the wheat are those who are inwardly good; the gathering the tares together to burn, is the last judgment upon the evil; the care lest a separation before the last judgment should bring ruin upon the good, is meant by "lest in collecting the tares you root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together till the harvest."

ENLIGHTENMENT BEFORE AND AFTER.

III. All enlightenment comes to man from the Lord through heaven, and enters by an internal way. So long as there were congregations of such spirits between heaven and the world, or between the Lord and the church, man could not be enlightened. It was as when a sunbeam is cut off by a black interposing cloud, or as when the sun is eclipsed and its light arrested by the interjacent moon. Therefore if anything had been then revealed by the Lord, either it would not have been understood, or if understood, it would not have been received; or if received, still it would afterwards have been suffocated. Now since all these interposing congregations were dissipated by the last judgment, it is plain (IV.), That the communication between heaven and the world, or between the Lord and the church, has been restored.

V. Since communication has been restored by the last judgment, man is able to be enlightened and reformed; that is, to understand the divine truth of the Word, to receive it when understood, and to retain it when received; for the interposing obstacles are removed. Therefore after the former heaven and the former earth passed away, John said that he "saw a new heaven and a new earth; and then the holy city Jerusalem descending from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; and heard One sitting upon the throne say, Behold I make all things new" (Apoc. xxi. 1, 2, 5).

VI. The state of the world and of the church before the last judgment was as evening and night; but after it, as morning and day. When the light of truth does not appear, there is a state of the church in the world like evening and night; but when the light of truth appears, and the truth is received, there is a state of the church in the world like morning and day. Hence it is, that these two states of the church are called evening and morning, and night and day, in the Word; as in Dan. viii. 14; Dan. viii. 26; Zech. xiv. 7; Isaiah xxi. 11, 12; Mark xiii. 35; John ix. 4; and elsewhere, as in Isaiah xvii. 14; Jer. vi. 4, 5; Psalm xxx. 6; Psalm lxv. 9; Psalm xc. 6. Since such things are understood by evening and morning, therefore the Lord, in order to fulfil the Word, was also buried in the evening and rose again in the morning.

The last judgment upon the Reformed shall be described in the following order:

UPON WHOM EXECUTED.

I. The last judgment was executed upon those only of the Reformed who professed a belief in God, read the Word, heard sermons, partook of the sacrament of the Supper, and did not neglect the solemnities of church-worship in the world; and who yet thought that adulteries, various kinds of theft, lying, revenge, hatred and the like, were allowable. These, although they professed a belief in God, still made no account of sins against Him. Though they read the Word, they made no account of the precepts of life in it. Though they heard sermons, they paid no attention to them. Though they partook of the sacrament of the Supper, they desisted not from the evils of their former lives. And though they did not neglect the solemnities of worship, they amended their lives in nothing. Thus they lived in their externals as if from religion, yet were totally destitute of it in their internals.

These are they who are understood by the Dragon in the Apocalypse xii. For it is there said of the Dragon, that it was seen in heaven, that it fought with Michael in heaven, and that it drew down the third part of the stars from heaven; which things are said, because these spirits, by means of the profession of a belief in God, by reading the Word and by outward worship, communicated with heaven. These same spirits are understood by the goats in Matthew xxiv.; to whom it is not said that they did evils, but that they omitted to do goods. And all such omit to do goods which are goods, because they do not shun evils as sins; and because, although they do not commit them, they think them allowable, and therefore commit them in spirit,—and in body, too, when they can.

Upon all such among the Reformed the last judgment was executed, but not upon those who did not believe in God, who contemned the Word and rejected from their hearts the holy things of the church; for all these, so soon as they went from the natural into the spiritual world, were cast into hell.

All who lived like Christians in externals, and made no account of a Christian life, were outwardly in union with the heavens, but inwardly with the hells. And since they could not be instantaneously torn away from their union with heaven, they were detained in the world of spirits which is mediate between heaven and hell; and it was there permitted them to form societies, and to live together as in the world; and by arts unknown in the world, to cause splendid appearances, and by this means to persuade themselves and others that they were in heaven. From the outward appearance, therefore, they called their societies heavens. The heaven and the earth in which they dwelt, are understood by the former heaven, and the former earth which passed away. (Apoc. xxi. 1.)

In the meantime so long as they remained there, the interiors of their minds were closed and the exteriors were opened; by which means their evils which united them with the hells, were not apparent. But on the approach of the last judgment their interiors were opened, and then they appeared before all such as they really were. And since they then acted in unity with the hells, they were no longer able to simulate Christian lives, but rushed with delight into evils and crimes of every description, and were turned into devils; and moreover appeared as such,—some black, some fiery, and some livid like corpses; those who were in the pride of self-intelligence, appearing black; those who were in the furious love of ruling over all, appearing fiery; and those who were in the neglect and contempt of truth, appearing livid like corpses. Thus were the scenes of those theatres changed.

The Reformed constitute the inmost portion of the world of spirits, which is mediate between heaven and hell, and are there arranged according to countries. In the centre of this middle region are the English; toward the south and the east of it are the Dutch; toward the north, the Germans; toward the west and north, the Swedes; and toward the west, the Danes. But those only who have led lives of charity and its faith, are in that middle region; many societies of them dwell there. Surrounding them are those of the Reformed who have not led lives of faith and charity. These are they who made seeming heavens to themselves. But there is a different arrangement of all in heaven, as well as of all in hell. The reason why the Reformed constitute the middle, is because the Word is read, and the Lord is worshiped among them; in consequence of which, the light is greatest where they are; and thence, as from a centre, this light is propagated to, and enlightens, all the circumferences. For the light in which spirits and angels are, proceeds from the Lord as a Sun; and this Sun in its essence is Divine Love, and the light which proceeds from it in its essence is Divine Wisdom. All the spirituality of that world is derived from it.

Every arrangement of the societies in that world, is an arrangement according to the differences of love; the reason of which is, that love is the life of man, and the Lord who is Divine Love Itself arranges them according to their reception of it; and the differences of loves are innumerable, and known to no one but the Lord alone. He so conjoins the societies that they all lead, as it were, one man's life; the societies of the heavens, one life of celestial and spiritual love; the societies of the hells, one life of diabolical and infernal love; the heavens and the hells, He conjoins by oppositions.

On account of this arrangement, every man after death goes into the society of his own love; and he cannot go into any other, for his love opposes it. Hence it is that they who are in spiritual love are in heaven, but they who are in mere natural love are in hell. Spiritual love is only implanted by a life of charity, and natural love remains natural if a life of charity is omitted; and natural love if it is not subjected to spiritual love, is opposed to it.

From these particulars it maybe seen upon whom of the Reformed the last judgment was executed;—not upon those who were in the centre, but upon those who were around it: whose external morality, as said above, gave them the outward appearance of Christians, while inwardly they were not Christians, because they were destitute of spiritual life.

PRECEDING SIGNS AND VISITATIONS.

II. There was seen, as it were, a stormy cloud upon those who had formed to themselves seeming heavens; which appearance resulted from the presence of the Lord in the angelic heavens above them, especially from his presence in the lowest heaven, lest any of the angels of that heaven, in consequence of conjunction with these spirits, should be carried away and perish with them. The superior heavens moreover were brought down nearer to them, by means of which the interiors of those upon whom the judgment was about to come, were disclosed; on which disclosure, they appeared no longer like moral Christians, as before, but like demons; in tumults, and mutual strife about God, the Lord, the Word, faith and the church; and because their inclinations to evil were then let loose, they rejected all these subjects with contempt and ridicule, and rushed into every kind of enormity.

Thus the state of those heavenly inhabitants was changed. Then at the same time all their splendid appearances which they had made for themselves by arts unknown in the world, vanished away; their palaces were turned into vile huts; their gardens into stagnant pools; their temples into heaps of rubbish; and the very hills they inhabited into mounds of gravel, and into other similar things which corresponded to their depraved inclinations and lusts. For all the visible things of the spiritual world are the correspondences of the affections of spirits and angels. These were the signs of the coming judgment.

As the disclosure of their interiors increased, so the order among the inhabitants was changed and inverted. Those who were most powerful in reasonings against the holy things of the church, rushed into the middle and assumed the control. And the rest who were less able in reasonings, receded to the circumferences, and acknowledged those who were in the middle as their tutor-angels. Thus they banded themselves into the form of hell.

These changes of their state were accompanied by various concussions of their dwellings and lands; which were followed by earthquakes, mighty according to their perversities. Here and there, too, gaps were made toward the hells which were under them, and a communication was thus opened with these hells. There were then seen exhalations ascending, as of smoke mingled with sparks of fire. These also were signs which, preceded, and they are understood by the Lord's words on the consummation of the Age, and afterwards on the last judgment, in the Evangelists: "Nation shall be stirred up against nation; there shall be great earthquakes in divers places; signs also from heaven, terrible and great. And there shall be distress of nations, the sea and the salt water roaring."

Visitations also were made by angels; for before any ill-constituted society perishes, visitation always precedes. The angels exhorted them to desist, and denounced destruction upon them if they did not. At the same time they sought out and separated any good spirits who were intermingled with them. But the multitude, excited by their leaders, reviled the angels, and rushed in upon them for the purpose of dragging them into some public place, and treating them in an abominable manner; just indeed as was done in Sodom. The most of these spirits were professors of faith separated from charity: and there were even some among them, who professed charity, yet led wicked lives.

HOW EFFECTED.

III. The universal judgment was effected in this manner:—The Lord was seen in a bright cloud with angels; and a sound as of trumpets was heard from it. This was a sign representative of the protection of the angels of heaven by the Lord, and of the gathering of the good from every quarter. For the Lord does not bring destruction upon any, but only protects his own, and draws them away from communication with the wicked; whereupon the wicked come into their own lusts, by which they are impelled into every kind of abomination. Then all who were about to perish were seen together in the likeness of a great dragon, with its tail extended in a curve and elevated toward heaven, bending itself about on high in various directions, as though it would destroy heaven and draw it down. But the attempt was vain; for the tail was cast down, and the dragon which also appeared elevated, sank beneath.

It was granted me to see this representation, that I might know and make known who are meant by the dragon in the Apocalypse; namely, that the dragon means all who read the Word, hear sermons, and perform the rites of the church, making no account of the lusts of evil which beset them, and inwardly meditating thefts and frauds, adulteries and obscenities, hatred and revenge, lies and blasphemies; who thus live like devils in spirit, and like angels in body. These constituted the body of the dragon; but the tail was composed of those who, when in the world, lived in faith separated from charity, and were like the former in regard to thoughts and intentions.

Then I saw some of the rocks they inhabited sink down to the lowest depths; some transported to a great distance; some cleft in the middle, and those who were on them cast down through the openings; and others inundated as with a deluge. And I saw many spirits collected into companies, as into bundles, according to the genera and species of evil, and cast hither and thither into whirlpools, marshes, stagnant waters and deserts which were so many hells. The rest who were not on rocks, but scattered here and there, and yet were in similar evils, fled affrighted to the Papists, Mahometans and Gentiles, and professed their religions; which they could do without any disturbance of mind, inasmuch as they themselves had no religion at all; but still, lest they should seduce these spirits also, they were driven away and thrust down to their own companions in the hells. This is a general description of their destruction. The particulars I saw, are too numerous to be described here.

 

SALVATION OF THE SHEEP.

IV. After the last judgment was accomplished, there was joy in heaven and also light in the world of spirits such as was not before. The kind of joy there was in heaven after the dragon was cast down, is described in the Apocalypse xii. 10, 11, 12; and there was light in the world of spirits, because the infernal societies which were removed, had been interposed like clouds which darken the earth. A similar light also then arose in men in the world, giving them new enlightenment.

I then saw angelic spirits in great numbers rising from below, and elevated into heaven. They were the sheep reserved there and guarded by the Lord for ages back, lest they should come into the malignant sphere of the influence of the dragonists, and their charity be suffocated. These are they who are meant in the Word by those who went forth from the sepulchres; also by the souls of those slain for the testimony of Jesus, who were watching; and by those who are of the first resurrection. (Con. L. J. n. 8-31.)