7541. 'For this time I am sending all My plagues' means that it would be possible for the evil things yet to come to rush in on them all together. This is clear from the meaning of 'plagues' as evils, in this instance the evil things that had yet to come until they were completely cast into hell, which is why it says 'all' the plagues; and from the meaning of 'sending' as irrupting, for plagues or evil things are not sent by Jehovah or the Lord but irrupt from evil itself. For in the next life evil carries punishment with it and holds it so to speak within itself, 696, 967, 1857, 6559. This then is why 'I am sending all My plagues' means that all the evil things would rush in on them.
[2] Order requires that one plague should follow another and that for this reason the casting of the evil into hell should be done in stages. That is why the explanation here says merely that it would be possible for them to rush in all together. Since the member of the Church has no knowledge of what life is like after death he thinks that after life in the body a person is either raised instantly to heaven or cast instantly into hell. But in fact what happens to him takes place in stages, though considerably varying periods of time and states are involved in the process. In the case of the good who are to be raised to heaven evil is separated from them in successive stages, and they are filled at each stage with good according to their ability acquired in the world to receive it. But in the case of the evil who are to be cast into hell good is separated from them in successive stages, and they are filled at each stage with evil according to their ability acquired in the world to receive it. Furthermore a person in the next life goes on entering new states and undergoing changes. Those who are being raised to heaven are constantly being made more perfect, both then and afterwards for evermore. But those who are being cast into hell suffer bad experiences, both then and afterwards - experiences which become repeatedly grimmer, till they reach the point at which they do not dare to inflict harm on another. And after they have been cast into hell they remain there forever. They cannot be released from there because no desire for someone else's good can be imparted to them, only a refusal to do harm to someone, from fear of punishment; for the desire to do it will never forsake them.