The Last Judgment
and
The Second Coming of the Lord

Lesson 12

^{(From Arcana Coelestia  ~ Emanuel Swedenborg)}

Before the preceding chapter the explication was continued of what the Lord foretold concerning the last time of the church, and there was unfolded what He foretold by the parable of the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13). After this follows another parable--that of the servants to whom the man going into a far country gave talents, to one five, to another two, and to another one, that they might trade therewith; and of these servants he who received five talents gained by them five more, he who received two also gained by them two, and he who received the one hid it in the earth. As this parable involves almost the same things as the parable of the ten virgins, I may pass on to explain the concluding part of the same chapter, which in the letter is as follows:

When the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then shall He sit upon the throne of His glory; and before Him shall be gathered all nations, and He shall separate them one from another as a shepherd separateth the sheep from the goats; and He shall set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the King say unto them on His right hand, Come ye blessed of My Father, possess the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was a hungered, and ye gave Me to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me to drink; I was a stranger, and ye gathered Me; naked, and ye clothed Me; I was sick, and ye visited Me; I was in prison, and ye came unto Me. Then shall the righteous answer Him, saying, lord, when saw we Thee a hungered, and fed Thee? or thirsty, and gave Thee to drink? When saw we Thee a stranger, and gathered Thee? or naked, and clothed Thee? Or when saw we Thee sick, or in prison, and came unto Thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me. Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from Me ye cursed into eternal fire, prepared for the devil and his angels for I was a hungered, and ye gave Me not to eat; I was thirsty, and ye gave Me not to drink; I was a stranger, and ye gathered Me not; naked, and ye clothed Me not [sick, and in prison, and ye visited Me not]. Then shall they also answer Him, saying, Lord, when saw we Thee a hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto Thee ? Then shall He answer them saying, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to Me. And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into life eternal (Matt. 25:31-46).

One who is unacquainted with the internal sense cannot but think that these words were spoken by the Lord of some last day, when all in the whole world will be gathered before Him, and will then be judged; and also that the procedure of the Judgment will be just as is described in the letter, namely, that He will set those who are to be judged on the right hand and on the left, and will speak to them as in the parable. But one who is acquainted with the internal sense, and who has learned from other passages in the Word that the Lord judges no one to eternal fire, but that everyone judges himself, that is, casts himself into it; and who has also learned that the Last Judgment of everyone is when he dies, may know in some measure what these words involve in general. And one who from the internal sense and from correspondence knows the interior meaning of the words, may know what they specifically mean, namely, that in the other life everyone receives a reward in accordance with his life in the world.

[2] Those who vaunt the salvation of man through faith alone, cannot explain these words in any other way than by saying that what the Lord said of works means the fruits of faith, and that He mentioned them merely for the sake of the simple, who are unacquainted with mysteries. But even according to their opinion it would still follow that the fruits of faith are what make man blessed and happy after death. The fruits of faith are nothing else than a life in accordance with the precepts of faith; consequently a life in accordance with these precepts saves, but not faith without life; for after death man carries with him all the states of his life, so that he is such as he has been in the body. For instance: one who in the life of the body has despised others in comparison with himself, in the other life also despises others in comparison with himself; one who in the life of the body has regarded the neighbor with hatred, also in the other life regards the neighbor with hatred; one who in the life of the body has acted deceitfully toward his companions, in the other life also acts deceitfully toward his companions; and so in other instances. Everyone retains in the other life the nature which he has acquired in the life of the body; and it is known that a man's nature cannot be cast out, and that if it is cast out, nothing of life remains.

[3] It is for this reason that only works of charity are mentioned by the Lord; for he who is in the works of charity, or what is the same, in a life of faith, is capable of receiving faith, if not in the body, yet in the other life; but one who is not in the works of charity, or in a life of faith, is by no means capable of receiving faith, either in the body or in the other life. For evil does not accord with truth, but the one rejects the other; and if those who are in evil speak truths, they speak them from the lips, and not from the heart, and thus evil and truths are still very far apart.

But what is involved in the internal sense in these things which the Lord here says concerning the Last Judgment, that is, concerning the last judgment of everyone after death, is too much to be unfolded before this chapter, and therefore will of the Lord's Divine mercy be unfolded in order before the chapters which follow.

(from Arcana Coelestia 4661-4664 ~ Emanuel Swedenborg)