Word, and has been lost for many ages, is revealed at this day, is, because the divine truths of the church are now coming to light, and of these the spiritual sense of the Word consists. The same is signified by John seeing heaven open, and a white horse; and also by his seeing and hearing an angel, who stood in the sun, calling all people together to the supper of the great God, Apoc. xix. 11 to 18. But that it would not be acknowledged for some time, is signified by the beast and the kings of the earth making war against him that sat on the white horse, and against his army, Apoc. xix. 19; and also by the dragon persecuting the woman, which brought forth the man-child, and casting out of his mouth water as a flood after her, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood, Apoc. xii. 13 to 17.
XLV. The Last Judgment, the Second Advent of the Lord, and the New Jerusalem.
IT has heretofore been very generally believed, in respect to the last judgment, that the Lord would then personally appear in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory, accompanied by an innumerable host of angels; that he would raise out of their graves all, who had ever lived since the creation of the world; that he would again clothe their souls with their former bodies; and, when collected together to one place, that he would pass judgment upon them, sentencing the good to eternal life or heaven, and the wicked to eternal death or hell. It has also been supposed, that the visible heavens and the habitable earth would at the same time be destroyed, and that a new heaven and a new earth would be created in their stead. Such notions as these have arisen in the
