877. For the former heaven and the former earth were passed away, signifies the heavens which were formed, not by the Lord, but by those who came out of the Christian world into the spiritual world, who were all dispersed at the day of the Last Judgment. That these heavens and no others are meant by "the former heaven and the former earth which passed away" may be seen above (n. 865), where these words are explained:
I saw a great white throne, and One sitting upon it, from whose face the heaven and the earth fled away (Rev. 20:11), where it is shown that by those words is signified the universal judgment executed by the Lord upon all the former heavens, in which were such as were in civil and moral good, but in no spiritual good, thus who in externals simulated Christians, but in internals were devils; which heavens with their earth were entirely dispersed. For other particulars relating to this subject see Last Judgment, published at London, 1758, and Continuation of the Last Judgment, published in Amsterdam; to which it is unnecessary here to add anything further.
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