Heaven and Hell - Swedenborg Foundation

HEAVEN AND HELL 363
[4] This danger is what is meant by the Lord’s words:
He hath blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts lest they
should see with their eyes, and understand with their heart, and
should turn and I should heal them (John 12:40).
And that those that are in falsities would not believe [even if
visions were given] is meant by these words:
Abraham said to the rich man in hell, They have Moses and
the Prophets, let them hear them. But he said, Nay, father
Abraham, but if one came to them from the dead they would be
converted. But Abraham said to him, If they hear not Moses and
the Prophets, neither will they believe though one should rise from
the dead (Luke 16:29–31).
457. When the spirit of man first enters the world of spirits,
which takes place shortly after his resuscitation, as described
above, his face and his tone of voice resemble those he had in
the world, because he is then in the state of his exteriors, and
his interiors are not as yet uncovered. This is man’s first state
after death. But subsequently his face is changed, and becomes
entirely different, resembling his ruling affection or ruling love,
in conformity with which the interiors of his mind had been
while he was in the world and his spirit while it was in the
body. For the face of a man’s spirit differs greatly from the face
of his body. The face of his body is from his parents, but the
face of his spirit is from his affection, and is an image of it.
acknowledged holy things, still less those that have no knowledge of them,
cannot profane them (n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 9188, 10284). The heathen who
are out of the church and do not have the Word cannot profane it (n. 1327,
1328, 2051, 2284).
On this account interior truths were not disclosed to the Jews, for if
they had been disclosed and acknowledged that people would have profaned
them (n. 3398, 4289, 6963). The lot of profaners in the other life is the
worst of all, because not only the good and truth they have acknowledged,
but also their evil and falsity remain, and as these cling together, the life is
rent asunder (n. 571, 582, 6348). Consequently most careful provision is
made by the Lord to prevent profanation (n. 2426, 10287).