Martinus: Livets Bog, vol. 3, sect. 873

873. Furthermore, it should be noticed that he points out that the beings that are "resurrected" are "like the angels in heaven". The "angels in heaven" are something completely different. If they were not, it would be impossible to make a comparison. One can compare two things with each other, but one cannot compare something with itself. The "angels" and "heaven" were therefore expressions of things the world redeemer's listeners were already acquainted with and with which he could compare the new realities that he was telling them about. These new realities were the same as the beings that were "resurrected" or the new, perfect mental and physical form of existence that was to come (the new heaven and the new earth in which righteousness dwells). As previously mentioned, dwellers in this form of existence neither marry nor are given in marriage and consequently are so far above the principle of marriage or are so free of the urge to mate that they can love each and every neighbour as themselves, like "the angels in heaven". Their desire and ability to serve or live and devote themselves to any neighbour whatsoever is not hindered, disturbed or made impossible by any jealousy-arousing tendency to fall in love, with its strong desire to possess sexual partners. Life in the "resurrection" should be like that of the "angels in heaven". The world redeemer does not say that the beings that are "resurrected" are the same as the "angels in heaven", which would certainly have been what was most natural and easiest for his listeners to understand, if that was really what he meant. He is merely saying that the new state in the "kingdom of God" that is to come, that which began as a "grain of mustard seed", will be like that of the "angels in heaven". The "angels in heaven" was something that the people who were listening to Jesus already knew about. So what was their understanding of "angels" and "heaven"? As they knew nothing whatsoever of reincarnation or rebirth and as the concept of future physical lives or existences was entirely beyond their comprehension or imagination, any form or plane of existence that was not identical with their own form or sphere of existence could be only a non-physical one. "Angels" were therefore "spiritual beings", and "heaven" a "spiritual" world in which they dwelled and had their plane of existence. To these beings it was completely natural that all physical beings would finally end up there when their earthly life was over. This "spiritual" plane of existence was therefore the absolutely only idea about life and existence outside their own present physical life that they could understand. And it is indeed true that every being, after its present physical existence has come to an end, is bound to find itself in this "spiritual" form of existence and on this "spiritual" plane of existence. But this was not the main point that the world redeemer had to make to his listeners. He mentioned this plane of existence and its inhabitants only in passing. His expression "like the angels in heaven" was actually just background scenery for the really central point of what he was saying about "the new heaven and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness", that is to say, a future perfect, physical existence in which righteousness or justice dwells, and which the terrestrial human beings are able to reach through only the "day of judgment", which means through rebirth and karma, and not through the "forgiveness of sins".