94. The great arcanum, why, unless the New Church be established by the Lord, no flesh can be saved, is this: that as long as the dragon with his crew remains in the world of spirits, into which he was cast from heaven, so long no Divine truth, united with Divine good, can pass from the Lord to men on earth, but it is either annihilated or perverted, whence there is no salvation. This is what is meant by this in Revelation:
And the dragon was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him; woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil is come down unto them, having great wrath; and he persecuted the woman, who brought forth a son (Rev. 12:9, 12, 13).
But after the dragon was cast into hell (20:10), then it was that John saw the new heaven and the new earth, and saw the new holy Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Rev. 21:1, 2 seq.). What is meant by "the dragon," and who the dragons are, may be seen above (n. 87).