TCR 118 - Short Explanation of Redemption

TCR 118

To redeem means to deliver from condemnation,
to save from eternal death, to rescue from hell,
and to release the captive and the bound
from the power of the devil. 

This the Lord did by subduing the hells
and founding a new heaven.
Mankind could not otherwise have been saved,
because the spiritual world
is so connected with the natural
that they cannot be separated.
The connection is primarily with the interiors of men,
called their souls and minds,
those of good men
being connected with the souls and minds of angels,
and those of evil men
with the souls and minds of infernal spirits.
So close is this connection
that if angels and spirits were removed from a man,
he would fall down dead, like a log;
and in the same way they would cease to exist
if men were withdrawn from them.
Hence it is plain why
redemption took place in the spiritual world,
and why heaven and hell
had to be reduced to order
before a Church could be established on earth.
That this is so is very evident
from what is said in the Book of Revelation,
that after the new heaven was formed,
there came down out of that heaven the New Jerusalem,
which is the New Church.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth,
for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,
and there was no longer any sea.
I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem,
coming down out of heaven from God,
prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
(Revelation 21:1-2)