62. XII
A NEW CHURCH IS MEANT BY THE NEW JERUSALEM IN THE 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. xxi 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.
[2] As a renewal of the Church in both the spiritual and natural worlds was effected by the Lord when He was in the world, a similar prediction, namely, that a new heaven and a new earth should then come into being is made in the Prophets, as in Isaiah lxv 17; lxvi 22; and elsewhere. Therefore by this prediction cannot be meant a heaven visible before the eyes and an earth habitable by men. By the spiritual world is meant the world where angels and spirits dwell; and by the natural world is meant the world where men dwell. That a renewal of the Church in the spiritual has lately been effected, and that a renewal of the Church in the natural world will be effected, has been briefly shown in the treatise on THE LAST JUDGMENT, and will be more fully shown in the CONTINUATION of that work.