1. THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

A statement of faith, set out in both universal and particular terms, is placed at the beginning to serve as a preface to the book which follows, to be like a doorway leading into a church, and a summary presenting in a short compass what follows at more length. It is called the faith of the new heaven and the new church, because heaven, where the angels are, and the church among men form a single unit, just as the internal and external sides of the personality make up a single individual. This is why a member of the church who possesses the good of love which arises from the truths of faith, and possesses the truths of faith which arise from the good of love, is, so far as the interiors of his mind are concerned, an angel of heaven. Therefore too after dying he comes into heaven, and there enjoys happiness depending upon how far the good and truth are linked. It should be known that in the new heaven, which is at the present time being established by the Lord, this statement of faith serves as its preface, doorway and summary.

124. (v) THIS REDEMPTION COULD ONLY BE EFFECTED BY AN INCARNATE GOD.

The previous section showed that redemption was an entirely Divine deed, and consequently it could only have been accomplished by almighty God. The reason why it had to be by means of His incarnation, that is, by making Himself man, is that Jehovah God, as He is in His infinite essence, cannot approach hell, much less enter it, since He exists at the purest and first level. Therefore if Jehovah God, being in essence of that nature, were so much as to breathe upon those in hell, He would destroy them in an instant. For He said to Moses, when he desired to see God:

You cannot see my face, for no man shall see me and live, Exodus 33:20.

Since then Moses could not, far less can those in hell, where all are at the lowest, grossest and therefore most distant level, since they are the lowest of natural men. Therefore if Jehovah God had not taken upon Himself human form, and thus clothed Himself with a body at the lowest level, it would have been vain for Him to attempt any kind of redemption. For how can anyone attack an enemy, unless he comes to grips and equips himself with weapons to fight with? How can anyone drive off and destroy snakes, hydras and basilisks in some desert, unless he protects his body with armour and his head with a helmet, and takes a spear in his hand? Or how can anyone catch whales at sea, without a ship and equipment designed for the purpose? These and similar images are not so much a comparison as an illustration of almighty God's battle with the hells, which He could not have started without first taking human form.

[2] But it needs to be known that the Lord's battle with the hells was not a battle of words, like people arguing a point or disputing in a court of law. That sort of battle is quite ineffectual here. It was a spiritual battle, Divine Truth fighting with the strength of Divine Good, that is, the very life force of the Lord. No one in the hells can stand its effects when made visible. Its power is such that at a mere glance the spirits of hell take to their heels, hurl themselves into the depths and force themselves underground to hide from it. This is the same as is described by Isaiah:

They shall go into caverns in the rocks and into cracks in the dust, for fear of Jehovah, when He arises to terrify the earth, Isaiah 2:19.

and in Revelation:

All shall hide themselves in caves in the rocks and in rocky mountains; and they shall say to the mountains and the rocks, Fall upon us and hide us from the face of Him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb, Revelation 6:15-17.

[3] What the Lord's strength that He has from Divine good was like when He was effecting the Last Judgement in 1757 can be proved by the descriptions given of that event in my small book on the subject. ¹ For example, it tore from their places hills and mountains in the world of spirits, which spirits from hell had seized, transferred them to different locations and made some sink into the ground; it flooded towns, villages and their surrounding land, completely upheaved their fields and cast them together with their inhabitants into chasms, lakes and marshes, and much besides. All this was accomplished by the Lord alone by the power of Divine truth coming from Divine good.

Footnotes:

470. II. Man is not life, but a receiver of life from God.

It is generally believed that the life which a person has is his own, so that he is not merely a receiver of life but also is life. This general belief exists because he appears to live, that is, to feel, think, speak and act exactly as if of himself. The result is that the statement that man is a receiver of life and is not life must inevitably seem an unheard-of idea or a kind of paradox to those whose thought is based on the senses, because it is contrary to appearances. I have traced to appearances the reason for this wrong belief that man is also life, and that consequently life is implanted in man from creation, and propagated subsequently by transfer. But the reason for this mistake based on appearances is that most people at the present time are natural, and only a few are spiritual; and a natural man bases his judgment on appearances and the mistakes these lead to, and these are diametrically opposed to this truth, that man is merely a receiver of life, and is not life.

[2] The fact that man is not life, but a receiver of life from God, is proved by the following clear evidence, that all created things are in essence finite, and man, being finite, could only be created of finite substances. That is why the Book of Creation tells us that Adam was made of earth and its dust, and this is the reason for his name, since Adam means the ground. In fact every person is composed exclusively of substances to be found in the earth or emitted from the earth into the atmosphere. The emanations from the earth in the atmosphere are absorbed by people by means of the lungs and by pores throughout the body; the denser substances are absorbed in the form of food made from the earth's products.

[3] As for man's spirit, however, this too was created from finite substances. What is man's spirit but a receiver of mental life? The finite materials of which it is composed are spiritual substances, to be found in the spiritual world, and also transferred to our earth and there stored up. If they were not present there along with material substances, no seed could at the inmost level have been made fertile, and so grow in a wonderful way without any aberration from its first structure until it produces fruits and new seeds. Nor would any worms be procreated by effluvia from the earth and from gases given off by plants and impregnating the atmosphere.

[4] Can anyone reasonably suppose that the Infinite could create anything other than that which is finite, or that man, being finite, is anything but a form, which the Infinite can bring to life by the life in itself? This is what is meant by the following:

Jehovah God formed man, dust from the earth, and He breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, Genesis 2:7.

God, being infinite, is life in Himself. This cannot be created and copied into man, for this would be making him God. The idea that this happened was the madness of the serpent, or the devil, which he passed on to Eve and Adam, for the serpent said:

On the day when you eat of the fruit of that tree, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, Genesis 3:5.

[5] This deadly conviction, that God infused and copied Himself into men, was held by the people of the most ancient church in its final period leading up to its termination, as I have heard from their own lips. On account of their horrendous belief that they were thus gods, they lie hidden deep within a cavern, which no one can approach closely without falling victim to an inner vertigo. The previous section made it known that Adam and his wife mean and describe the most ancient church.