937. [verse 3] 'And no accursed thing shall be there, and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall minister unto Him' signifies that in the Church that is the New Jerusalem there will not be any who are separated from the Lord, because the Lord Himself will rule there, and those who are in truths by means of the Word from Him and are doing His commandments will be with Him, because conjoined with Him. By 'no accursed thing shall be there' is signified that in the New Jerusalem there will not be anything evil or untrue from evil that sets the Lord apart; and because evil and untruth are not given except in a recipient who is a man, it is signified that there will not be any there who are separated from the Lord. By 'an accursed thing' in the Word is understood all the evil and untruth that separate and turn away a man from the Lord, for then the man becomes a devil and a satan. By [the statement] that' the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it' is signified that the Lord Himself is going to rule in that Church, for by 'the throne' is signified the kingdom, and the Lord's kingdom is where Himself Only is worshipped. By [the statement] that 'His servants shall minister unto Him' is signified that those who are in truths by means of the Word from the Lord will be with Him and doing His commandments, because conjoined with Him. That by the Lord's 'servants' are signified those who are in truths from Him may be seen above (n. 3, 380), and by 'ministers' those who are in good from Him (n. 128). Consequently by the 'servants who shall minister unto Him' are signified those who are in truths derived from good by means of the Word from the Lord, and are doing His commandments. [2] Because the Church at this day does not know that conjunction with the Lord makes heaven, and that conjunction is effected by the acknowledgment that He Himself is the God of heaven and earth, and at the same time by a life in accordance with His precepts, therefore something shall be said concerning these things. He who knows nothing concerning them can say, 'What is conjunction? How can acknowledgment and life make the conjunction? What need is there of these? Cannot every one be saved out of mercy alone? What need is there of another means of salvation than faith alone? Is not God merciful and omnipotent?' But let him know that in the spiritual world recognition and acknowledgment (cognitio et agnitio) bring about all presence, and that the affection that is of love brings about all conjunction; for the spaces there are nothing else but appearances in accordance with the likeness of minds (animus), that is, the affection and the thought therefrom. And therefore when anyone is acquainted with another, either by reputation, or as the result of business or conversation with him, or by being related to him, while he is thinking of him out of the idea of that acquaintance he appears as present, even though to all appearance he might be a thousand stadia* away. And if anyone also loves another whom he has known he dwells with him in one society, and in one house if he loves him inmostly. This is the state of all in the whole spiritual world; and this state of all derives its origin from the fact that the Lord is present - with everyone in accordance with faith, and conjoined according to love. Faith and the consequent presence of the Lord is given by means of cognitions of the truths (veritas) derived from the Word, especially the truths there concerning the Lord Himself; but love and the consequent conjunction is given by means of a life in accordance with His precepts, for the Lord says:-
He who has My precepts and does them, he it is who loves Me, and I will love him and make an abode with him John xiv 21-24.
[3] But how this comes about will also be stated. The Lord loves every one and wills to be conjoined with them, but he cannot be conjoined so long as a man is in the delight of evil, as in the delight of hating and avenging, in the delight of committing adultery and whoredom, in the delight of robbing or stealing of any kind, in the delight of blaspheming and lying, and in the lusts of the love of self and the world. For everyone who is in those things is in company with devils who are in hell. The Lord indeed loves them even there, but He cannot be conjoined with them unless the delights of those evils are removed; and these cannot be removed by the Lord unless the man examines himself so that he may know his own evils, acknowledge and confess them before the Lord, and be willing to give them up and thus to practise repentance. This the man must do as from himself, because he does not feel that he does anything from the Lord; and this [faculty] is given to the man, because conjunction in order to be conjunction must be reciprocal, of the man with the Lord and of the Lord with the man. In so far therefore as evils with their delights are being removed, so far the Lord's love enters, which, as was said, is universal towards all; and then the man is led away from hell and into heaven. The man must do this in the world, for such as a man is in the world as to his spirit such he remains to eternity, with the difference only that, if he has lived well, his state becomes more perfect, because then he is not enveloped with a material body but lives spiritually in a spiritual body. * Plural of stadium=approx. one-eighth of a mile.
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