The Last Judgment
Emanuel Swedenborg

All Things that have been foretold in the Apocalypse have at this Day been fulfilled
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(40) No one can know what all the things which are contained in the Apocalypse signify and involve, unless he knows the internal or spiritual sense of the Word; for everything there is written in a style similar to that of the prophecies of the Old Testament, in which each Word signifies some spiritual thing, which does not appear in the sense of the letter. Besides, the contents of the Apocalypse cannot be explained as to their spiritual sense, except by one who also knows how it went with the church, even to its end, which can only be known in heaven, and is the thing contained in the Apocalypse.

For the spiritual sense of the Word treats everywhere of the spiritual world, that is, of the state of the church in the heavens, as well as in the earth; hence the Word is spiritual and Divine. It is this state which is there expounded in its own order. Hence it may appear, that the things contained in the Apocalypse can never be explained by anyone but him to whom a revelation has been made concerning the successive states of the church in the heavens; for there is a church in the heavens as well as on the earth, of which something shall be said in the following articles.

(41) The quality of the Lord's church on earth, cannot be seen by any man, so long as he lives in the world, still less how the church in process of time has turned aside from good to evil. The reason is, that man whilst he is living in the world, is in externals, and only sees those things which appear before his natural man; but the quality of the church as to spiritual things, which are its internals, does not appear in the world. Yet it does appear in heaven as in clear day, for the angels are in spiritual thought, and also in spiritual sight, and hence see nothing but spiritual things.

Furthermore, all the men who have been born in this world from the beginning of creation are together in the spiritual world, as shown above, and are all there distinguished into societies according to the goods of love and faith, as may be seen in the work on Heaven and Hell (HH n. 41-50); whence it is that the state of the church, and its progressions, are manifest in heaven before the angels.

Now since the state of the church as to love and faith is described in the spiritual sense of the Apocalypse, therefore no one can know what all the things in its series involve, but he to whom it has been revealed from heaven, and to whom at the same time it has been granted to know the internal or spiritual sense of the Word. This I can assert, that each thing there, nay, that every word, contains within it a spiritual sense, and all things of the church, as to its spiritual state, from the beginning to the end, are fully described in that sense; and because every word there signifies some spiritual thing, therefore not a word can be wanting without the series of things in the internal sense thereby suffering a change; on which account, at the end of that book, it is said:

It is the same with the books of the Old Testament; in them also every thing, and every word, contains an internal or spiritual sense, wherefore not one word can be taken away from them either. Hence it is that, of the Lord's Divine providence, those books have been preserved entire to an iota since the time in which they were written, and by the care of many who have enumerated their minutest particulars; this was provided by the Lord on account of the sanctity which is within each iota, letter, word, and thing they contain.

(42) Since in like manner there is an internal or spiritual sense in every word in the Apocalypse, and since that sense contains the arcana of the state of the church in the heavens, and on the earth; and since those arcana can be revealed to no one, but to him who knows that sense, and to whom at the same time it has been granted to have consort with the angels, and to speak spiritually with them, therefore, lest the things which are therein written should be hidden to men, and should hereafter be disregarded, because they are not understood, its contents have been disclosed to me; but because they are many they cannot be described in this little work. On which account I will explain the whole book from beginning to end, and disclose the arcana which are within it. This explanation shall be published in less than two years, together with certain things in Daniel, which have hitherto lain hidden, because their spiritual sense was unknown.

(43) He who does not know the internal or spiritual sense, never can divine what is meant in the Apocalypse by "the dragon," and by "the battle" of Michael and his angels with it; what by "the tail" with which the dragon drew down the third part of the stars from heaven; what by "the woman" who brought forth the son a male, which was caught up to God, and whom the dragon persecuted; what by "the beast ascending from the sea," and "the beast ascending from the earth," which had so many horns; what by "the harlot," with whom the kings of the earth committed whoredom; what by the first and second "resurrection," and by "the thousand years"; what by "the lake of sulphur and of fire," into which the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet were cast; what by "the white horse"; also what by "the former heaven, and the former earth" which passed away; and what by "the new heaven and the new earth," in the place of the former; and by "the sea," which was no more; also what by "the city New Jerusalem descending from heaven," and by its "measures," "wall," "gates," and "foundation of precious stones"; what by the various "numbers"; besides other things, which are the deepest mysteries to those who know nothing of the spiritual sense of the Word. But the meaning of all these things shall be unfolded in the promised explanation of that book (Apocalypse Revealed).

(44) It has been remarked before, that all the things which are contained in that book, in the heavenly sense, are now fulfilled. In this present work I will deliver some general account of the Last Judgment, the Babylon destroyed, the first heaven and the first earth which passed away, the new heaven, the new earth, and the New Jerusalem; in order that it may be known, that all things are now accomplished. But the details can only be delivered, where all these things are explained according to the description of them in the Book of Revelation

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