Passages from the Sacred Scripture and the Heavenly Doctrine Supporting New Church Teachings:

General:

The Faith of the New Heaven and of the New Church in its Universal Form is as follows: The Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah, came into the world to subjugate the hells and to glorify His Human; and without this no mortal could have been saved; and those are saved who believe in Him. - True Christian Religion §2:1

This is called the faith in its universal form, because this is the universal principle of faith; and the universal principle of faith must be in each thing and in all things of it. It is a universal principle of faith that God is one in essence and in person, in whom is a Divine trinity, and that He is the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ. It is a universal principle of faith that no mortal could have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world. It is a universal principle of faith that He came into the world to remove hell from man, and that He did remove it by means of contests with it and victories over it, and thereby He subdued it and reduced it to order and made it obedient to Himself. It is a universal principle of faith that He came into the world to glorify His Human which He took on in the world, that is, to unite it with the Divine from which [are all things], and thereby He eternally holds hell in order and under obedience to Himself. As this could be accomplished only by means of temptations admitted into His Human, even to the last of them, which was the passion of the cross, He endured even that. These are the universal principles of faith relating to the Lord. - True Christian Religion §2:2

The Faith of the New Heaven and of the New Church in a Particular Form is as follows: Jehovah God is love itself and wisdom itself, or is good itself and truth itself; and in respect to Divine truth, which is the Word, and which was God with God, He came down and took on the Human for the purpose of reducing to order all things that were in heaven, and all things in hell, and all things in the church; because at that time the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven, and upon the earth the power of evil over the power of good, and in consequence a total damnation stood threatening at the door. This impending damnation Jehovah God removed by means of His Human, which was Divine truth, and thus He redeemed angels and men, and thereupon He united, in His Human, Divine truth with Divine good or Divine wisdom with Divine love; and so, with and in His glorified Human, He returned into His Divine in which He was from eternity. All this is meant by these words in John:
"The Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh" (1:1, 14);
and in the same:
"I came out from the Father and am come into the world; again I leave the world and go unto the Father" (16:28);
and also by these words:
"We know that the Son of God is come, and has given us understanding that we may know the True; and we are in the True, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and life eternal" (1 John 5:20).
From these words it is clear that without the Lord's coming into the world no one could have been saved. It is the same today; and therefore without the Lord's coming again into the world in Divine truth, which is the Word, no one can be saved. - True Christian Religion §3:1

The Lord:

• There is ONE God, the Lord Jesus Christ in whom is the Divine Trinity:
  • That God is one, is confirmed by these passages of the Word:
    "Jesus said, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, The Lord our God is one Lord; therefore thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul" (Mark 12:29, 30).
    "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and thou shalt love Jehovah thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul" (Deut. 6:4, 5).
    "One came unto Jesus and said, Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life? Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou Me good? There is none good but the one God" (Matt. 19:16, 17).
    "That all the kingdoms of the earth may know that Thou alone art Jehovah" (Isa. 37: 20).
    "I am Jehovah and there is none else there is no God besides Me that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no God besides Me: I am Jehovah and there is none else" (Isa. 45:5, 6).
    "O Jehovah of Armies, God of Israel, that dwellest on the cherubim, Thou art the God, even Thou alone, over all the kingdoms of the earth" (Isa. 37:16).
    "Is there a God besides Me? and a Rock? I know not any" (Isa. 44:8).
    "Who is God save Jehovah? and who is a Rock save our God?" (Ps. 18:31).
    
    That the Lord is that God, is confirmed by these passages of the Word:
    "Surely God is in thee, and there is none else, there is no God. Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself, O God of Israel, the Savior" (Isa. 45:14, 15).
    "Have not I Jehovah? and there is no God else besides Me, a just God and a Savior, there is none besides Me. Look unto Me that ye may be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is none else" (Isa. 45:21, 22).
    "I am Jehovah, and besides Me there is no Savior" (Isa. 43:11).
    "I am Jehovah thy God, and thou shalt acknowledge no God but Me; for there is no Savior besides Me" (Hos. 13:4).
    "Thus saith Jehovah the King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of Armies, I am the First and I am the Last, and besides Me there is no God" (Isa. 44:6).
    "Jehovah of Armies is His name, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel the God of the whole earth shall He be called" (Isa. 54:5).
    "In that day Jehovah shall be king over all the earth; in that day there shall be one Jehovah, and His name one" (Zech. 14:9).
    
    As the Lord alone is the Savior and the Redeemer, and as it is said that Jehovah is that Savior and Redeemer, and that there is none besides Him, it follows that the one God is no other than the Lord. - Doctrine of the Lord §45:2-3
  
  
  • And Jesus coming spoke to them, saying, All authority is given to Me in heaven and on earth.
    Going [forth], therefore, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things whatever I have commanded you; and, behold, I am with you all the days, until the consummation of the age. Amen. - Matthew 28:18-20
  
  
  • When we say that Father, Son and Holy Spirit are the three essentials of a single God, in the same way as soul, body and activity are in man, it may look to the human mind as if the three essentials are three persons. This is impossible. But when we understand that the Father's Divine which makes up the soul, and the Son's Divine which makes up the body, and the Holy Spirit's Divine or the Divine which proceeds and makes up the activity, are the three essentials of a single God, then it can be grasped by the understanding. For God the Father is His own Divine, the Son out of the Father is His own, and the Holy Spirit out of both is His own. Since these are of one essence and one mind, they make up a single God. If, however, those three Divines are called persons, and each has attributed to Him His own property, imputation to the Father, mediation to the Son, and activity to the Holy Spirit, then the Divine essence is divided. Yet it is one and indivisible. In this case none of the three is fully God, but each is God to the power of one third, a proposition no sane understanding can accept.
    
    Can anyone fail to see how the Trinity is in the Lord, if he considers the trinity in any human being? Every person has a soul, a body and activity; likewise the Lord, "for in the Lord all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily," as Paul said (Col. 2:9). Therefore the Trinity in the Lord is Divine, that in men human. - True Christian Religion §168,169

The Word:

• The Word (the Bible) is a revelation by God of Divine truth itself:
  • The Holy Scripture or Word is Divine Truth. It is in everybody's mouth that the Word is from God, is Divinely inspired, and is therefore holy; and yet hitherto no one has known wherein it is Divine. For in the letter the Word appears like a common writing, in a style that is strange, and neither so sublime nor so brilliant as apparently are the writings of the day. For this reason a man who worships nature as God, or in preference to God, and who consequently thinks from himself and what is proper to himself, and not from heaven from the Lord, may easily fall into error in respect to the Word, and into contempt for it, and while reading it may say to himself, What is this? What is that? Can this be Divine? Could God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak in this manner? Where is its holiness, and where does it come from, except from religious feeling and its consequent persuasion?
    
    But he who thinks in this way does not consider that Jehovah Himself, the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and that it must therefore be Divine truth itself, for what Jehovah Himself speaks can be nothing else. Nor does he consider that the Lord, who is the same as Jehovah, spoke the Word that is in the Gospels, much of it with His own mouth, and the rest from the spirit of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit. This is why, as He Himself says, there is Life in His words, that He is the Light which enlightens, and that He is the Truth. - Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures §2-3
• The Word has an internal sense:
  • The spiritual sense is not the one which transparently underlies the literal sense of the Word, when it is scrutinised and expounded to support some dogma of the church; such a sense can be called the literal sense of the Word as understood by the church. But the spiritual sense is not to be seen in the literal sense; it lies within it, like the soul in the body, or as what is thought by the understanding shows in the eyes, or as the affection of love shows in the face. This sense is the principal reason why the Word is spiritual, not only for human beings, but also for the angels. This is why this sense enables the Word to act as a channel of communication with the heavens. Since the Word is inwardly spiritual, it was composed completely by the use of correspondences. Anything written by using correspondences emerges in its outermost sense as resembling the style used by the Prophets, the Gospels and Revelation. For all that it seems ordinary, it still has stored within it Divine wisdom and all the wisdom of the angels.... The spiritual sense is present in every part and detail of the Word. - True Christian Religion §194,196 See two examples of the revelation of the spiritual sense.
  
  
• The Word joins people with heaven and the Lord:
  • [T]he style of the Word is the Divine style itself, with which no other style, however sublime and excellent it may seem, is at all to be compared; for every other style is as darkness is to light. The style of the Word is such that there is holiness in every sentence, and in every word, and in some places in even the very letters. This is why the Word conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven. From the Lord proceed two things: Divine love, and Divine wisdom (or, what is the same, Divine good, and Divine truth, for Divine good is of His Divine love, and Divine truth is of His Divine wisdom), and in its essence the Word is both of these; and as it conjoins man with the Lord, and opens heaven, it follows that the man who reads it from the Lord, and not from himself alone, is filled by it with the good of love and the truths of wisdom; his will with the good of love, and his understanding with the truths of wisdom. In this way man has life by means of the Word. - Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures §4
  • Without the Word No One Would Have a Knowledge of God, of Heaven and Hell, of a Life After Death, and Still Less of the Lord. This follows as a general conclusion from what has been already said and shown;
    
    • as that the Word is Divine truth itself (§1-4);
    • that it is the means of conjunction with the angels of heaven (§62-69);
    • that everywhere in it there is a marriage of the Lord and the church, and a consequent marriage of good and truth (§80-89);
    • that the quality of the church is such as is its understanding of the Word (§76-79);
    • that the Word exists in the heavens also, and the angels have their wisdom from it (§70-75);
    • that the nations and peoples outside the church also have spiritual light by means of the Word (§104-113);
    and much more besides.
    
    From all this it can be concluded that without the Word no one would possess spiritual intelligence, which consists in having knowledge of a God, of heaven and hell, and of a life after death; nor would know anything whatever about the Lord, about faith in him and love to him, nor anything about redemption, by means of which nevertheless comes salvation. As the Lord also says to His disciples:
    "Without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5);
    and John [the Baptist said]:
    "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven" (John 3:27). - Doctrine of the Sacred Scriptures §114

The Life of Religion:

The Particulars of Faith on Man's Part are:

1. God is one, in whom is a Divine trinity, and the Lord God the Savior Jesus Christ is that one.
2. Saving faith is to believe in Him.
3. Evils should not be done, because they are of the devil and from the devil.
4. Goods should be done, because they are of God and from God.
5. These should be done by man as if by himself; but it should be believed that they are done by the Lord in man and through man.

The first two are matters of faith, the next two of charity, and the fifth of the conjunction of charity and faith, thus of the conjunction of the Lord and man.

• The life of religion is to shun evils because they are sins against the Lord and to do what is good because it is from the Lord:
  • All Religion is of Life, and the Life of Religion is to do that which is Good. Every man who has religion knows and acknowledges that he who leads a good life is saved, and that he who leads an evil life is damned; for he knows and acknowledges that the man who lives aright thinks aright, not only about God but also about his neighbor; but not so the man whose life is evil. The life of man is his love, and that which he loves he not only likes to be doing, but also likes to be thinking. The reason therefore why we say that the life is to do that which is good is that doing what is good acts as a one with thinking what is good, for if in a man these two things do not act as a one, they are not of his life.
    
    That religion is of the life and that the life of religion is to do that which is good is seen by everyone who reads the Word, and is acknowledged by him while he is reading it. The Word contains the following declarations:
    "Whosoever shall break the least of these commandments, and shall teach men so, shall be called the least in the kingdom of the heavens; but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of the heavens. For I say unto you that except your righteousness shall exceed that of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of the heavens" (Matt 5:19-20).
    "Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Therefore by their fruits ye shall know them" (Matt 7:19-20).
    "Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of the heavens; but he that doeth the will of My Father who is in the heavens" (Matt 7:21).
    "Many will say to Me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied by Thy name, and in Thy name done many mighty things? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from Me ye that work iniquity" (Matt 7:22,23).
    "Everyone who heareth these words of Mine, and doeth them, shall be likened to a wise man who built his house upon the rock; and everyone that heareth these words of Mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man who built his house upon the sand" (Matt 7:24,26).
    Jesus said, "Behold, the sower went forth to sow; some seeds fell on the hard way, others fell upon the rocky places, others fell among the thorns, and others fell into good ground; he that was sown upon the good ground, this is he that heareth the Word, and attendeth to it, who thence beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some a hundredfold, some sixty, and some thirty. When Jesus had said these things, He cried, saying, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear" (Matt 13:3-9,23,43).
    "For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father, and then shall He render unto every one according to his deeds" (Matt 16:27).
    "The kingdom of God shall be taken away from you, and shall be given unto a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof" (Matt 21:43).
    "When the Son of man shall come in His glory, then shall He sit on the throne of His glory. And He shall say to the sheep on His right hand, Come ye blessed, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry, and ye gave Me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took Me in; naked, and ye clothed Me, I was sick, and ye visited Me I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer, When saw we Thee so? And the king shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me. And the king shall say the like things to the goats on the left, and because they have not done such things, He shall say, Depart from Me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt 25:31-41).
    "Bring forth therefore fruits worthy of repentance even now is the axe laid unto the root of the trees every tree, therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the fire" (Luke 3:8,9).
    Jesus said, "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? Everyone that cometh unto Me, and heareth My words, and doeth them, he is like a man building a house, and he laid a foundation upon the rock; but he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that built a house upon the earth without a foundation" (Luke 6:46-49).
    Jesus said, "My mother and My brethren are these who hear the Word of God, and do it" (Luke 8:21).
    "Then shall ye begin to stand, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and He shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from Me, all ye workers of iniquity" (Luke 13:25-27).
    "This is the judgment: that the light is come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their works were evil; for every one that doeth evil hateth the light, lest his works should be reproved. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God" (John 3:19-21).
    "And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection [of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection] of judgment" (John 5:29).
    "We know that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a worshiper of God, and do His will, him He heareth" (John 9:31).
    "If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them" (John 13:17).
    "He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me and I will love him, and will manifest Myself unto him and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. He that loveth Me not keepeth not My words" (John 14:21-24).
    Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vine-dresser; every branch in Me that beareth not fruit, He taketh away and every branch that beareth fruit, He cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit" (John 15:1, 2).
    "Herein is My Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit, and ye shall be made My disciples" (John 15:8).
    "Ye are My friends if ye do the things which I command you; I have chosen you, that ye should bear fruit, and your fruit should abide" (John 15:14,16).
    The Lord said to John, "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: I know thy works; I have this against thee, that thou hast left thy first charity; repent, and do the first works, or else I will move thy lamb stand out of its place.
    To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: I know thy works.
    To the angel of the church in Pergamos write: I know thy works, repent.
    To the angel of the church in Thyatira write: I know thy works and charity, and thy last works are more than the first.
    To the angel of the church in Sardis write: I know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou livest, but art dead; I have not found thy works perfect before God; repent.
    To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: I know thy works.
    To the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write: I know thy works; repent" (Rev 2:1,2,4,5,8-9,12,16,18,19; 3:1-3,7-8,14-15,19).
    "I heard a voice from heaven saying, Write, Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors, for their works follow with them" (Rev 14:13).
    "Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, all according to their works" (Rev 20:12, 13).
    "Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to everyone according to his work" (Rev 22:12).
    
    In like manner in the Old Testament:
    "Recompense them according to their work, and according to the deed of their hands" (Jer 25:14).
    "Jehovah, whose eyes are open upon all the ways of the sons of men, to give everyone according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his works" (Jer 32:19).
    "I will visit according to his ways, and will reward him his works" (Hos 4:9).
    "Jehovah, according to our ways, according to our works doth He to us" (Zech 1:6).
    And in many places it is said that the statutes, commandments, and laws were to be done: "Ye shall observe My statutes, and My judgments, which if a man do, he shall live by them" (Lev 18:5).
    "Ye shall observe all My statutes, and My judgments, that ye may do them" (Lev 19:37; 20:8; 22:31).
    The blessings, if they did the commandments; and the curses if they did them not (Lev 26:4-46).
    The sons of Israel were commanded to make for themselves a fringe on the borders of their garments, that they might remember all the commandments of Jehovah, to do them (Num 15:38, 39).
    So in a thousand other places. That works are what make a man of the church, and that he is saved according to them, is also taught by the Lord in the parables, many of which imply that those who do what is good are accepted, and that those who do what is evil are rejected. As in the parable of the husbandmen in the vineyard (Matt. 21:33-44); of the fig-tree that did not yield fruit (Luke 13:6-9); of the talents, and the pounds, with which they were to trade (Matt. 25:14-31; Luke 19:13-25); of the Samaritan who bound up the wounds of him that was wounded by robbers (Luke 10:30-37); of the rich man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31); of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-12). - Doctrine of Life §1-2

Salvation:

• People who believe in the Lord are saved:
  • The universal principle of faith on man's part is that he should believe in the Lord; for by believing in Him there is conjunction with Him and thereby salvation. To believe in the Lord is to have confidence that He saves; and as only those who live rightly can have this confidence, this, too, is meant by believing in Him And this the Lord teaches in John:
    "This is the Father's will, that everyone that believeth in the Son may have eternal life" (John 6:40);
    and again:
    "He that believeth in the Son hath eternal life; but he that believeth not in the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). - True Christian Religion §2:3
• People of all religions who acknowledge God and live well can be saved:
  • [I]t has been provided that everyone, no matter in what heresy he may be with respect to his understanding, may still be reformed and saved, if only he shuns evils as sins and does not confirm heretical falsities in himself. For by shunning evils as sins the will is reformed, and through the will the understanding, which then first emerges out of darkness into light. There are three essentials of the Church: an acknowledgment of the Divinity of the Lord, an acknowledgment of the holiness of the Word, and the life that is called charity. According to the life which is charity is every man's faith; from the Word he has a rational perception of what the life should be; and from the Lord he has reformation and salvation. Had these three been held as essentials of the Church intellectual dissensions would not have divided but would have merely varied it, as light varies colours in beautiful objects, and as the various emblems of royalty constitute the beauty of a kingly crown. - Divine Providence §259:3

Life after Death:

• There is life after death:
  • That man after death lives for ever is manifest from the Word where life in heaven is called eternal life, (as in Matt 14:29; 25:46; Mark 10:17; Luke 10:25; 18:30; John 3:15,16,36; 5:24,25,39; 6:27,40,68; 12:50) also simply life (Matt 18:8,9; John 5:40; 20:31). The Lord also said to the disciples:
    "Because I live, ye shall live also" (John 14:19).
    and concerning the resurrection, that God is a God of the living, and not a God of the dead, and that they cannot die any more (Luke 20:38,36). - Divine Providence §324:5
  
  
  • When the body is no longer able to perform the bodily functions in the natural world that correspond to the spirit's thoughts and affections, which the spirit has from the spiritual world, man is said to die. This takes place when the respiration of the lungs and the beatings of the heart cease. But the man does not die; he is merely separated from the bodily part that was of use to him in the world, while the man himself continues to live. It is said that the man himself continues to live since man is not a man because of his body but because of his spirit, for it is the spirit that thinks in man, and thought with affection is what constitutes man. Evidently, then, the death of man is merely his passing from one world into another. - Heaven and Hell §445
• We are all created to become angels of heaven:
  • Every man is created that he may live for ever in a state of happiness. This follows as a consequence; for He who wills that man should live for ever also wills that he should live in a state of happiness. What would eternal life be without that? All love desires the good of another. The love of parents desires the good of their children; the love of the bridegroom and of the husband desires the good of the bride and of the wife; and friendship's love desires the good of friends. What then does the Divine Love not desire? What is good but delight? And what is Divine Good but eternal happiness? All good is called good from its delight or happiness. That which is given and possessed is indeed called good, but unless it is also delightful it is a barren good, not good in itself. Hence it is clear that eternal life is also eternal happiness. This state of man is the end of creation; and it is not the Lord's fault but man's that only those who enter heaven are in that state. - Divine Providence §324:6
  
  
  • Those who are in heaven are continually advancing towards the spring of life, with a greater advance towards a more joyful and happy spring the more thousands of years they live; and this to eternity, with increase according to the growth and degree of their love, charity, and faith. Women who have died old and worn out with age, if they have lived in faith in the Lord, in charity to the neighbour, and in happy conjugial love with a husband, advance with the succession of years more and more into the flower of youth and early womanhood, and into a beauty that transcends every conception of any such beauty as is seen on the earth. Goodness and charity is what gives this form and thus manifests its own likeness, causing the joy and beauty of charity to shine forth from every least particular of the face, and causing them to be the very forms of charity. Some who beheld this were struck with amazement. The form of charity that is seen in a living way in heaven, is such that it is charity itself that both forms and is formed; and this in such a manner that the whole angel is a charity, as it were, especially the face; and this is both clearly seen and felt. When this form is beheld it is beauty unspeakable, affecting with charity the very inmost life of the mind. In a word, to grow old in heaven is to grow young. Such forms or such beauties do those who have lived in love to the Lord and in charity towards the neighbour become in the other life. All angels are such forms in endless variety; and of these heaven is constituted. - Heaven and Hell §414
• We choose heaven or hell:
  • [E]very man is created that he may enter heaven. This is the end of creation; but all do not enter heaven because they become imbued with the delights of hell which are opposite to the happiness of heaven; and those who are not in the happiness of heaven cannot enter heaven, for they cannot endure it. To no one who enters the spiritual world is it denied to ascend to heaven; but when one who is in the delight of hell enters heaven his heart palpitates, his breathing is laboured, his life begins to fail, he is in anguish, distress and torment, and he writhes like a serpent placed close to a fire. This is so because opposites act against each other. Nevertheless, they cannot die, as they were born men and thereby with the faculty of thinking and willing, and consequently of speaking and acting. However, as they can live only with those who are in a similar delight of life they are sent to them; thus those who are in the delights of evil and those who are in the delights of good are sent to their own appropriate companions. It is indeed granted everyone to experience the delight of his own evil provided he does not molest any who are in the delight of good; but as evil cannot do otherwise than molest good, for there is inherent in evil hatred against good, therefore lest the wicked should inflict injury they are removed and cast down to their own place in hell, where their delight is turned to what is the reverse of delightful. - Divine Providence §324:7-8
• Heaven is a kingdom of useful service:
  • Some spirits think that heaven and heavenly joy consist in a life of ease in which they are waited on by others. But they are told that happiness in no way consists in being inactive and finding happiness in that. This would mean that everybody wished to subordinate other people's happiness to his own, and when everybody wished to do that nobody would have it. Such life would not be an active life but a life of idleness in which they would become listless, even though they may well know that unless one is active there is no happiness in life. Angelic life consists in use, and in good deeds of charity. For angels never feel happier than when they are informing and teaching spirits that stream in from the world, or when they are ministering to men and are preventing the evil spirits with them overstepping the mark, and inspiring men with what is good; also when they are arousing the dead into the life of eternity, and after that introducing such souls into heaven if they are capable of it. The happiness they find in all this is more than can possibly be described. Angels in this way are images of the Lord; they love their neighbour more than themselves; and this is what makes heaven heaven. Consequently angelic happiness is in use, from use, and according to use, that is, it is according to the goods of love and of charity. - Arcana Caelestia §454

Divine Providence:

• The goal of the Lord's Providence is to create a heaven from the human race.
  • By long-continued intercourse with angels and spirits it has been made known to me and proved that heaven is not from any angels created such from the beginning, and that hell is not from any devil created an angel of light and cast down from heaven, but that both heaven and hell are from the human race - heaven from those who are in the love of good and thence in the understanding of truth, and hell from those who are in the love of evil and thence in the understanding of falsity. Now since heaven is from the human race, and heaven is an abiding with the Lord to eternity, it follows that this was the Lord's end in creation; and since this was the end in creation, it is also the end of His Divine Providence. The Lord did not create the universe for His own sake, but for the sake of those with whom He will be in heaven; for spiritual love is such that it wishes to give what is its own to another; and so far as it can do this, it is in its being (esse), in its peace, and in its blessedness. Spiritual love derives this property from the Divine Love of the Lord, which is such in an infinite degree. From this it follows that the Divine Love, and consequently the Divine Providence, has for its end a heaven which should consist of men who have become, and who are becoming angels, upon whom the Lord can bestow all the blessings and felicities that belong to love and wisdom, and bestow these from Himself in them. Nor can He do otherwise, for there is in them from creation the image and likeness of Himself; the image in them is wisdom, and the likeness in them is love; and the Lord in them is love united to wisdom and wisdom united to love; or what is the same, is good united to truth and truth united to good. - Divine Providence §27:1-2
• The Lord's Providence operates according to laws.
  • It is well known that there is a Divine Providence, but it is not known what its nature is. This is not known because the laws of the Divine Providence are interior truths, hitherto concealed within the wisdom of the angels; but they are now to be revealed in order that what belongs to the Lord may be ascribed to Him, and what does not belong to man may not be ascribed to any man. For very many in the world attribute all things to themselves and their own prudence; and what they cannot so ascribe they call accidental or happening by chance, not knowing that human prudence is nothing and that accidental and happening by chance are empty words.
  
  
  • It is a law of the Divine Providence that:
    
    1. Man should act from freedom according to reason. - Divine Providence §71-99
    2. Man should as from himself remove evils as sins in the external man; and thus and not otherwise can the Lord remove evils in the internal man, and then at the same time in the external. - Divine Providence §100-128
    3. Man should not be compelled by external means to think and will, and thus to believe and love, the things of religion, but should persuade at at times compel himself to do so. - Divine Providence §129-153
    4. Man should be led and taught by the Lord from heaven by means of the Word, and doctrine and preaching from the Word, and this to all appearance as of himself. - Divine Providence §154-174
    5. Man should not perceive and feel anything of the operation of the Divine Providence, but still should know and acknowledge it. - Divine Providence §175-190
• The Lord is always providing for our eternal welfare:
  • [P]eace is like dawn on the earth, which gladdens minds with universal delight; and the truth of peace is like the light of the dawn. This truth, which is called "the truth of peace," is the very Divine truth in heaven from the Lord, which universally affects all who are there, and makes heaven to be heaven; for peace has in it confidence in the Lord, that He directs all things, and provides all things, and that He leads to a good end. When a man is in this faith, he is in peace, for he then fears nothing, and no solicitude about things to come disquiets him. A man comes into this state in proportion as he comes into love to the Lord. - Arcana Caelestia §8455

Marriage:

• All joy, happiness, and delight from the Lord are gathered into the love of marriage:
  • 1. There is a truly conjugial love, which today is so rare that people do not know what it is like, and scarcely that it exists.
    2. This love originates from the marriage between good and truth.
    3. There is a correspondence between this love and the marriage of the Lord and the church.
    4. Regarded from its origin and correspondence, this love is celestial, spiritual, holy, pure and clean, more so than any other love which exists from the Lord in angels of heaven or people of the church.
    5. It is also the fundamental love of all celestial and spiritual loves, and consequently of natural loves.
    6. Moreover, into this love have been gathered all joys and all delights, from the first to the last of them.
    7. But no others come into this love and no others can be in it but those who go to the Lord and love the truths of the church and do the good things it teaches.
    8. This love was the greatest of loves among the ancients who lived in the golden, silver and copper ages, but after that it gradually disappeared. - Conjugial Love §57
  • All delights have been gathered into this love, from the first to the last of them, because of the excellence of the use it serves, surpassing that of all other loves. The use it serves is the propagation of the human race and so of the angelic heaven. And because this use or purpose was the ultimate goal in creation, it follows that all blessings, felicities, delights, gratifications and pleasures, which could ever have been conferred on mankind by the Lord the Creator, have been gathered into this, its accompanying love. - Conjugial Love §68:2
  • I know that few will accept that all joys and all delights, from the first to the last of them, have been gathered into conjugial love, and this for the reason that truly conjugial love - the love into which these joys and delights have been gathered - today is so rare that people do not know what it is like, and scarcely that it exists. For these joys and delights do not occur in any other conjugial love than genuine conjugial love. And because genuine conjugial love on earth is so rare, it is impossible to describe its supreme states of bliss on the basis of anything other than the testimony of angels, because angels experience it. - Conjugial Love §69
  • 1. A person lives as a person after death.
    2. A male is then still a male, and a female still a female.
    3. Everyone's own love remains in him after death.
    4. Especially does a love for the opposite sex remain, and in the case of people coming into heaven, namely, people who become spiritual on earth, conjugial love.
    5. All of this has been fully attested by personal observation.
    6. Consequently, marriages exist in heaven.
    7. Spiritual marriage is meant by the Lord's words, that after the resurrection they are not given in marriage. - Conjugial Love §27
  • Spiritual marriage is meant by the Lord's words, that after the resurrection they are not given in marriage. In the Gospels we read the following:
    "Some of the Sadducees, who deny that there is a resurrection..., asked Jesus, saying, 'Teacher, Moses wrote...that if anyone's brother dies, having a wife, and he dies without children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.... There were seven brothers, (and one after another they took her as wife, but they died childless).... Lastly...the woman died also. In the resurrection, therefore, whose wife of them does she become...?'
    
    But Jesus, answering, said to them, "The children of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who shall be held worthy to attain the second age, and the resurrection from the dead, shall neither marry nor be given in marriage; nor can they die any more, for they are like the angels, and are children of God, being children of the resurrection. Moreover, that the dead rise again, even Moses showed in reference to the bush, when he calls the Lord 'the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' So, then, He is not God of the dead but of the living, for all live to Him" (Luke 20:27-38; cf. Matthew 22:23-32, Mark 12:18-27).
    The Lord taught two things by these words. First, that a person rises again after death. And secondly, that people are not given in marriage in heaven. He taught that a person rises again after death by saying that God is not God of the dead but of the living, and that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are still alive. So likewise in the parable about the rich man in hell and Lazarus in heaven (Luke 16:19-31). - Conjugial Love §41

The Second Coming:

• The Second Coming of the Lord is not a coming in person:
  • I have yet many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.
    But when it shall come, the Spirit of Truth, it will guide you into all truth; for it shall not speak from itself, but whatever it shall hear, it shall speak; and it shall announce to you things to come.
    These things have I spoken to you in proverbs; but the hour comes when I will no more speak to you in proverbs, but will announce to you plainly concerning the Father. - John 16:12-13,25
  • This coming of the Lord which is His second coming, is taking place in order that the evil may be separated from the good, and that those who have believed and do believe in Him, may be saved, and that from them a new angelic heaven and a new church on earth may be formed; and without this, no flesh could be saved (Matt 24:22). - True Christian Religion §772
  • This Second Coming of the Lord is Not a Coming in Person, but in the Word, which is from Him, and is Himself. It is written in many places that the Lord will come in the clouds of heaven (as in Matt 17:5; 24:30; 26:64; Mark 14:62; Luke 9:34, 35; 21:27; Rev. 1:7; 14:14; Dan. 7:13). And as no one has hitherto known what is meant by "the clouds of heaven," it has been believed that the Lord would appear in them in Person. Heretofore it has not been known that "the clouds of heaven" mean the Word in the sense of the letter, and that the "glory and power" in which He is then to come (Matt 24:30), mean the spiritual sense of the Word, because no one as yet has had the least conjecture that there is a spiritual sense in the Word, such as this sense is in itself. But as the Lord has now opened to me the spiritual sense of the Word, and has granted me to be associated with angels and spirits in their world as one of them, it is disclosed that "a cloud of heaven" means the Word in the natural sense, and "glory" the Word in the spiritual sense, and "power" the Lord's power through the Word. That such is the signification of "the clouds of heaven" may be seen from the following passages in the Word:
    "There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun who rideth in the heaven, and in magnificence upon the clouds" (Deut. 33:26-27).
    "Sing unto God, praise His name; extol Him that rideth upon the clouds" (Ps 68:4).
    "Jehovah rideth upon a light cloud" (Isa 19:1). - True Christian Religion §776
  • That the Lord is the Word can be clearly seen from the following in John:
    "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word was made flesh" (John 1:1, 14).
    "The Word" means here Divine truth because Divine truth among Christians is from no other source than the Word, which is the fountain from which all churches bearing the name of Christ draw living waters in their fullness; and yet a church accepting the Word in its natural sense is, as it were, in a cloud, but one accepting it in its spiritual and celestial senses is in glory and power. That there are three senses in the Word, a natural, a spiritual, and a celestial, one within the other, has been shown in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture, and in the chapter on the Decalogue or Catechism. From all this it is clear that "the Word" in John means Divine truth. John also bears testimony to this in his first Epistle:
    "We know that the Son of God hath come, and hath given us an understanding that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ" (5:20).
    This is why the Lord so frequently said, "Verily I say unto you," verily [amen] in the Hebrew language meaning truth (That He is "the Amen" see Apoc. 3:14, and "the Truth" John 14:6.) Moreover, when the learned men of the present day are asked what they understand by "the Word" in John (1:1), they say that it means the Word in its preeminence; yet what is the Word in its preeminence but Divine truth? From all this it is evident that the Lord is now to appear in the Word. He is not to appear in Person, because since He ascended into heaven He is in His glorified Human, and in this He cannot appear to any man unless the eyes of his spirit are first opened; and this cannot be done in anyone who is in evils and consequent falsities, thus not in any of the goats whom He sets on His left hand. Therefore when He showed Himself to His disciples, He first opened their eyes, for it is written:
    "And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him and He vanished out of their sight" (Luke 24:31).
    The same took place with the women who were at the sepulchre after the resurrection, and in consequence they also saw angels sitting in the sepulchre and talking with them, and angels cannot be seen with the material eye. Neither did the apostles before the resurrection see the Lord in His glorified Human with their bodily eyes, but in spirit, which seems, after one is awakened from it, like the state of sleep. This is evident from the Lord's transfiguration before Peter, James, and John, for it is said that they were heavy with sleep (Luke 9:32). It is idle therefore, to believe that the Lord will appear in the clouds of heaven in Person; but He is to appear in the Word, which is from Him and therefore is Himself. - True Christian Religion §777
  • This Second Coming of the Lord is Effected by Means of a Man to whom the Lord has Manifested Himself in Person, and whom he has filled with His Spirit, That he may teach the Doctrines of the New Church from the Lord by means of the Word. Since the Lord cannot manifest Himself in Person, as shown just above, and nevertheless has foretold that He was to come and establish a new church, which is the New Jerusalem, it follows that He will do this by means of a man, who is able not only to receive these doctrines in his understanding but also to publish them by the press. That the Lord manifested Himself before me, His servant, and sent me to this office, that He afterward opened the eyes of my spirit and thus introduced me into the spiritual world and granted me to see the heavens and the hells, and to talk with angels and spirits, and this now continuously for several years, I affirm in truth; as also that from the first day of that call I have not received anything whatever pertaining to the doctrines of that church from any angel, but from the Lord alone while I have read the Word. - True Christian Religion §779

The New Church

• A New Church is meant by the New Jerusalem in Revelation:
  • In the Revelation, after the state of the Christian Church is described, as it would be at its end and as it now is; and after those of that Church who are meant by the false prophet, the dragon, the harlot and the beasts, were cast into hell; thus after the Last Judgment was accomplished, it is there said:
    "I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away ... Then I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven ... And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and He Himself shall be with them, their God. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful" (Rev. 21:1-3,5).
    By the new heaven and the new earth which John saw, after the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, are not meant a new starry and atmospheric sky, such as appears before human eyes, nor a new earth upon which men dwell; but there is meant a renewing (novum) of the Church both in the spiritual world and in the natural world. - Doctrine of the Lord §62
  
  
  • By the holy city, New Jerusalem, is meant this new Church as to doctrine. It was therefore seen coming down from God out of heaven, for the doctrine of genuine truth comes only from the Lord through heaven. Because the Church as to doctrine is meant by the city, New Jerusalem, it is therefore said:
    "Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (Rev 21:2);
    and afterwards:
    "There came unto me one of the seven angels ... and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a ... high mountain, and showed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God" (Rev 21:9,10).
    It is well known that by the bride and wife are meant the Church when the Lord is meant by the Bridegroom and Husband. The Church is a bride when she is willing to receive the Lord, and a wife, when she has received Him. It is evident that the Lord is here meant by the husband; for it is said, the bride, the Lamb's wife. - Doctrine of the Lord §63
  
  
  • It is said in Revelation, I saw a new heaven and a new earth; and afterwards, Behold, I make all things new. By this nothing else is meant than that, in the Church now to be established by the Lord, there will be new doctrine which was not in the former Church. This doctrine was not granted to that Church because, if it had been, it would not have been received; for the Last Judgment was not yet accomplished, and prior to this the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven. Therefore, if it had been given prior to this, even from the mouth of the Lord, it would not have remained with man: nor does it remain with any to-day, unless with those who approach the Lord alone, and acknowledge Him as the God of heaven and earth. - Doctrine of the Lord §65
• The essentials of the church are love and faith in the Lord:
  • The church is said to be where the Lord is acknowledged and where the Word is, for the essentials of the church are love and faith in the Lord from the Lord; and the Word teaches how man must live that he may receive love and faith from the Lord.
    
    That there may be a church, there must be doctrine from the Word, since without doctrine the Word is not understood. Doctrine alone, however, does not constitute the church with man, but a life according to it. Hence it follows that faith alone does not constitute the church with man, but the life of faith, which is charity. Genuine doctrine is the doctrine of charity and faith together, and not the doctrine of faith separate from charity; for the doctrine of charity and faith together is the doctrine of life; but not the doctrine of faith without the doctrine of charity.
    
    They who are out of the church and acknowledge one God, and live according to their religious principle, and in some charity towards the neighbor, are in communion with those who are of the church; for no man who believes in God and lives well, is condemned. Hence it is evident, that the church of the Lord is in the whole world, although specifically, where the Lord is acknowledged, and where the Word is. - New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine §242
  
  
• The New Church, which is the Lord's bride and wife, will desire the Lord's coming and receive Him gladly:
• And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely.
  He who testifies to these things says, Yes, I come quickly, amen. Yes, come, Lord Jesus.
  The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen. - Revelation 22:17,20-21
• [H]ere at the end of the book, the Lord speaks and the church speaks, as the Bridegroom and the Bride; the Lord speaks these words, "Surely, I come quickly. Amen"; and the church speaks these, "Yea, come, Lord Jesus," which are words of betrothing to the spiritual marriage. - Apocalypse Revealed §960


• The Lord God Jesus Christ reigns:
  • After this work (True Christian Religion) was finished the Lord called together His twelve disciples who followed Him in the world; and the next day He sent them all forth throughout the whole spiritual world to preach the Gospel that The Lord God Jesus Christ reigns, whose kingdom shall be for ages and ages, according to the prediction in Daniel (7:13,14), and in Revelation (11:15).
    Also that blessed are those that come to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rev 19:9).
    This took place on the nineteenth day of June, 1770. This is what is meant by these words of the Lord:
    He shall send His angels and they shall gather together His elect, from the end of the heavens to the end thereof (Matt 24:31). - True Christian Religion §791