877. 'For the former heaven and the former land were passed away' signifies the heavens not made by the Lord but by those who came into the spiritual world out of Christendom, which [heavens] were all done away with at the day of the last judgment. That these heavens and no others are understood by 'the former heaven' and by 'the former land' may be seen above (is. 865) where these words have been expounded:-
I saw a throne white and great, and One sitting upon it, from Whose face the heaven and the land fled away Rev. xx 11.
There it has been shown that by these words is signified the universal judgment executed by the Lord upon all the former heavens, in which were those who were in civil and moral good but in no spiritual good, thus who in external things were pretending to be Christians but in internal things were devils; which heavens together with their territories were entirely done away with. The rest [of the things revealed] concerning these heavens may be seen in the little work concerning THE LAST JUDGMENT published at London in 1758, and in A CONTINUATION CONCERNING THAT [JUDGMENT] published at Amsterdam. It is unnecessary to add more to them here.
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