1. Survey of Teachings of the New Church Meant by the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation

[Author’s Preface]

AFTER publishing, within the span of a few years, several larger and smaller works on the New Jerusalem (which means the new church that the Lord is going to establish), and after unveiling the Book of Revelation, I resolved to publish and bring to light the teachings of the [new] church in their fullness, and thus to present a body of teaching that was whole. But because this work was going to take several years, I developed a plan to publish an outline of it, to give people an initial, general picture of this church and its teachings. When a general overview precedes, all the details that follow, of however wide a range, stand forth in a clear light, because they each have their own place within the overall structure alongside things of the same type.

This briefing does not include detailed argumentation; it is shared as advance notice, because the points it contains will be fully demonstrated in the work itself.

First, however, I must present the teachings concerning justification as they exist today, in order to highlight the differences between the tenets of today’s church and those of the new church.

110. 1. After we die we are all assigned either blame for the evil or else credit for the goodness to which we have devoted ourselves. In order to make this clear, I will break it down into the following pieces: (a) We all have our own individual life. (b) Our life stays with us after we die. (c) At that point, evil people are assigned blame for the evil that constituted their life, and good people are assigned credit for the goodness that constituted theirs.

(a) We all have our own individual life. This is well known. Each of us is differentiated from everyone else. There is an unending variety among people, and nothing about us is identical; so we each have our own unique selfhood.

This becomes very clear when we consider human faces. Not one face is absolutely identical to any other face, nor could there ever be two identical faces to eternity, because no two minds are alike, and the face reflects the mind. Our face, as they say, is a mirror of our mind, and our mind is formed and shaped by our life.

If we did not have our own unique life (just as we have our own unique mind and our own unique face), after death we would not have a life that was differentiated from anyone else’s. In fact, there would be no heaven, since heaven consists of an unending variety of people. The form heaven takes is possible only because of all the varieties of souls and minds, arranged into a design in such a way that they all work together as one. They work together as one due to the one whose life is present within each of them, like the soul within a human being. If this were not the case, heaven would fall apart because that form would collapse. The Lord is the one who is the source of life for each and every person there and is the force that holds the entire form together.

[2] (b) Our life stays with us after we die. The church recognizes this from statements in the Word. For example, “The Son of Humankind is going to come; then he will repay all people according to their deeds” (Matthew 16:27). “I saw books opened. All were judged according to their works” (Revelation 20:12, 13). “In the day of judgment, God will repay all according to their works” (Romans 2:6; 2 Corinthians 5:10). The works according to which we will be repaid are our life; our life produces these works, and they are done in accordance with our life.

For many years now I have been allowed to be among angels and talk to new arrivals from the physical world. As a result I can testify that all of us are explored there to see what kind of life we have; the life we formed in the world stays with us to eternity. I have spoken with people who lived centuries ago, whose lives I knew about from historical accounts, and recognized that they fit the description.

I have been told by angels that it is impossible for our life to be changed after death, because it is organized around the love and faith we had, and the things we did as a result. If our life were to be changed, it would tear apart that whole structure, and that could never happen. Changes in that structure are possible only while we are alive in the physical body; such changes are completely impossible in the spiritual body once our physical body has been cast off.

[3] (c) At that point, evil people are assigned blame for the evil that constituted their life, and good people are assigned credit for the goodness that constituted theirs. Being assigned blame for evil after we die is not the same as being accused or charged or declared guilty or judged [by someone else], the way we would be in the physical world. We are assigned blame by the evil itself that is within us. Evil people freely choose to leave good people, since the two types of people cannot coexist. The pleasures involved in loving what is evil are completely opposite to the pleasures involved in loving what is good. In the spiritual world, each type of person exudes an atmosphere of what pleases her or him, just as different types of plants on earth give off their own unique odor. There, these exhalations are not absorbed or covered up by the physical body the way they used to be in the physical world; instead they flow forth freely from the individual’s love into the spiritual atmosphere. Evil is sensed there as having its own smell; therefore the presence of evil itself is what accuses us, charges us, declares us guilty, and judges us — not in the presence of some judge but in the presence of anyone who is devoted to goodness. This is what the “assigning of blame for evil” means.

The assigning of credit for goodness happens in much the same way. We are assigned credit for goodness if in the world we acknowledged that everything good about us was and is from the Lord and none of it came from ourselves. People who acknowledge this undergo a preparation first and are then brought into the inner pleasures associated with the goodness they love. After that a pathway opens up for them, leading to a community in heaven where the angels take delight in things that are in harmony with what the new arrivals take delight in. This is the Lord’s doing.

11. Teachings on justification by faith. The general teachings of the volume are as follows.

(a) Through the Word and the sacraments the Holy Spirit is given, who produces faith where and when he wills in those who hear the gospel.

(b) Contrition, justification by faith, renewal, and good works follow each other in sequence. It is of great importance to differentiate between them, however. Contrition and good works contribute nothing to our salvation; faith alone saves.

(c) Justification by faith alone is the forgiving of our sins, absolution from damnation, reconciliation with the Father, and adoption as his children. This is accomplished through the assignment to us of the merit or righteousness of Christ.

(d) Therefore faith is the righteousness itself by which we are considered to be just before God. Faith is confidence and trust in grace.

(e) Our renewal, which follows our justification, is our being brought to life, regenerated, and sanctified.

(f) Good works follow this renewal. They are the fruits of faith, and are actually works of the Spirit.

(g) We lose this faith if we commit serious evils.

The following are general teachings concerning the law and the gospel:

(h) It is important to differentiate between the law and the gospel, and between the works of the law and the works of the Spirit, which are the fruits of faith.

(i) The law is the teaching that shows us we have sins and are therefore in a state of damnation and under the wrath of God; this terrifies us. The gospel is the teaching about how we are ritually purged from sin and damnation by Christ; it is the teaching that comforts us.

(j) The law has three functions: to restrain the ungodly; to lead people to recognize their sins; and to teach the reborn the rules of life.

(k) The reborn live and walk in the law, but they are not under the law; they are under grace.

(l) The reborn should practice following what the law teaches, because as long as they are still living in this world, they are urged by their flesh to sin; after death, however, they become pure and perfect.

(m) Even the reborn struggle with the Holy Spirit and resist it in various ways. Nevertheless, they willingly obey the law and therefore live in the law as children of God.

(n) In those who are not reborn, the veil of Moses remains in front of the eyes and the old Adam is dominant. In those who are reborn, the veil of Moses is taken away and the old Adam is repeatedly put to death.