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the Heavenly Doctrines. For simplicity sake, I am only going to treat of the
published works, although I believe that the unpublished works could easily
fit into this scheme.
Let me be clear, what follows is my speculation. I know of no statements
in the Heavenly Doctrine that teach this.
Preparation for the Last Judgment was by means of the Lord and His
Divine Truth descending out of heaven into the world of spirits. This caused
evil spirits to flee and throw themselves into the hells below. I believe that the
ultimate, which served as a basis for this, was the writing and publication of
the Arcana Coelestia (1749 - 1756).
With the completion of the Last Judgment in 1757 the work of redemption
could begin, which consisted in the subjugation of the hells and the ordering
of the heavens. While the subjugation of the hells and the ordering of the
heavens are two distinct activities, they are usually treated of in the Heavenly
Doctrines in the same breath. The Heavenly Doctrines do make it clear that
the subjugation of the hells had to precede the ordering of the heavens, or at
least had to begin first. The books of the Heavenly Doctrine relating this are:
• Heaven and Hell (1758)
• New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (1758)
• The Last Judgment (1758)
• The White Horse (1758)
• Earths in the Universe (1758)
• The Doctrine of the Lord (1763)
• The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture (1763)
• The Doctrine of Life (1763)
• The Doctrine of Faith (1763)
• The Last Judgment Continued (1763)
• Angelic Wisdom Concerning the Divine Love and Wisdom (1763)
• Angelic Wisdom concerning the Divine Providence (1764)
The dating of these works suggests that those works published in 1758
may have played a more important role in the subjugation of the hells, while
those works which were published in 1763 and 1764 may have been more
important for the ordering of the heavens.
Before the Lord sent His apostles throughout the spiritual world on June
19, 1770, He prepared them for their important task. This is evident in True
Christian Religion 339 where we are told that the Lord sent them to observe
Swedenborg writing on the difference between the blind faith in an invisible
God and the faith in the Lord God the Savior who is God and Man.
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