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.

179. (vii) THIS IS THE SOURCE OF THE ABOMINATION OF DESOLATION AND THE AFFLICTION SUCH AS HAS NEVER BEEN NOR SHALL BE, BOTH OF WHICH THE LORD PREDICTED IN DANIEL, THE GOSPELS AND REVELATION.

We read in Daniel:

Finally upon the bird of abominations desolation, to the point of ending and cutting off, shall be poured drop by drop upon devastation, Daniel 9:27.

In Matthew's gospel the Lord says:

Then many false prophets shall arise and lead many astray. When therefore you see the abomination of desolation predicted by the prophet Daniel standing in the holy place, let him who reads take due notice, Matthew 24:11, 15.

Later in the same chapter:

Then there shall be great affliction, such as never was from the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will be, Matthew 24:21.

This affliction and the abomination are dealt with in seven chapters of Revelation. These are what is meant by the black horse and the pale horse which came out of the book, when the Lamb opened its seals (Revelation 6:5-8); and by the beast coming up out of the abyss, which made war on the two witnesses, and killed them (Revelation 11:7ff.); as by the dragon which stood in front of the woman who was about to give birth, to devour her child, and pursued her into the desert, and there ejected water from its mouth like a river, to drown her (chapter 12); also by the beasts of the dragon, one from the sea, the other from the land (chapter 13); also by the three spirits like frogs, who came out of the mouth of the dragon and the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet (Revelation 16:13); moreover by the fact that after the seven angels had poured out the bowls of the wrath of God, in which were the seven last plagues, upon the earth, the sea, the springs and streams, the sun, the throne of the beast, the Euphrates and finally the air, a great earthquake took place such as had never occurred since the creation of man (chapter 16). The earthquake means the overthrow of the church, the result of falsities and falsifications of truth, much as is meant by the great affliction such as never has been since the beginning of the world (Matthew 24:21). The following passage has a similar meaning:

The angel put in his sickle and reaped the grape-harvest of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God; and the winepress was trodden, and blood came out up to the bridles of the horses at a distance of one thousand six hundred stades ¹ . Revelation 14:19-20.

Blood means falsified truth. There are many more such passages in those seven chapters.

Footnotes:

199. The Lord, when He was in the world, spoke by means of correspondences; so He spoke spiritually as well as naturally. This can be proved by His parables, the individual expressions of which contain a spiritual sense. Let us take as an example the parable of the ten virgins. He said:

The kingdom of the heavens is like ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise, but five were foolish. The foolish ones, when they took their lamps, failed to take oil, but the wise ones took oil in their lamps. But when the bridegroom was late, they all became drowsy and went to sleep. However, in the middle of the night a cry went up, Look, the bridegroom is coming, go out to meet him. Then all those virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. But the foolish ones said to the wise ones, Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out. The wise ones, however, replied and said, Perhaps there may not be enough for us and for you; go rather to the sellers and buy some for yourselves. While they were away buying it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding; and the door was shut. At length the other virgins came too, and said, Lord, Lord, open the door to us. But he replied and said, In truth I tell you, I do not know you, Matthew 25:1-12.

No one who does not know that there is a spiritual sense, and what sort of sense it is, can see that each of these details contains a spiritual sense, and therefore a Divine holiness. In the spiritual sense the kingdom of the heavens means heaven and the church, the bridegroom means the Lord, the wedding the Lord's marriage with heaven and the church by means of the good of love and the truth of faith. The virgins mean those who belong to the church, ten means all, five a part. The lamps mean things to do with faith, oil things to do with the good of love. Sleeping and waking mean a person's life in the world, which is natural, and his life after death, which is spiritual. Buying means acquiring, going to the sellers and buying oil means acquiring the good of love from others after death. Because it cannot then any longer be acquired, although they came with their lamps and the oil they had bought to the door where the wedding was, still the bridegroom told them, I do not know you. This is because after his life in the world a person remains such as his life in the world made him. It is plain from this that the Lord spoke purely in correspondences, and this was because He spoke from the Divine which was in Him and was His. It is because virgins stand for those who belong to the church that we find so often in the prophetic parts of the Word mention of the virgin and daughter of Zion, of Jerusalem, of Judah, or of Israel, and it was because oil stands for the good of love, that all the holy things of that church were anointed with oil. It is the same in the rest of the parables and in every expression which the Lord used; thus it is that the Lord says that His words are spirit and life (John 6:63).