61. These truths relating to the Lord are now for the first time made known, because it is foretold in Revelation xxi and xxii that a New Church, in which this doctrine will hold the chief place, is to be instituted by the Lord at the end of the former Church. This Church is what is there meant by the New Jerusalem, into which none can enter but they who acknowledge the Lord alone as the God of heaven and earth. Moreover, I am enabled to declare that the universal heaven acknowledges the Lord alone, and that whosoever does not acknowledge Him is not admitted into heaven: for heaven is heaven from the Lord. This acknowledgment itself, from love and faith, causes those in heaven to be in the Lord and the Lord in them, as the Lord Himself teaches in John:
At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you. John xiv 20.
Also in the same:
Abide in me, and I in you ... I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth . . . John xv 4, 5, 6; xvii 22, 23.
[2] This was not seen from the Word before, because if it had been seen before, still it would not have been received. For the Last Judgment had not yet been accomplished; and prior to that the power of hell prevailed over the power of heaven. Now man is in the midst between heaven and hell; and therefore if this (doctrine concerning the Lord) had been seen before, the devil, that is, hell, would have plucked it out of the hearts of men, and would, moreover, have profaned it. This state of power of hell was completely broken by the Last Judgment, which has now been accomplished. After that Judgment, that is, now, every man who desires may become enlightened and attain wisdom.
On this subject see what is written in the work on HEAVEN AND HELL, Nos. 589-596, and Nos. 597-603; and also in the small treatise on THE LAST JUDGMENT, Nos. 65-72, and Nos. 73, 74.
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