In order to learn something about the Lord's New Church, what it is, how it was formed or established with man, that is, in man, we must know what it is that constitutes a man. From the Third Testament we learn that man is a receptacle of the Lord's proceeding good and truth, and, thus, that man is a made a man from the Lord. The Word calls this man'wisdom' and 'intelligence' and, it is the celestial and spiritual man that is within who hears and follows the doctrines taught in the Word. The angels say that everyone knows that intelligence and wisdom make the man (cf. HH 80). Since angels have intelligence and wisdom from the Lord they are, therefore, either spiritual or celestial Heaven, and so, are called men. It is also said that angels are in Heaven, and that Heaven is in them, and that they constitute Heaven. Still, it is the Lord alone Who is the true Man, that makes Heaven to be Heaven(cf. HH80). Therefore, angels are Heaven from the wisdom and intelligence implanted within them from the Lord, and, thus, they are called intelligent and wise. That being so, then the natural man who has received the Lord's good and truth here on earth, and before he comes into Heaven, constitute the Church on earth, and that Church is in him, just as Heaven is in the angels and they are in Heaven.

Now, man is not the Church itself, even as the angels are not Heaven itself. "The Lord is Heaven, and He is the Church" (NJHD 247, cf. AC 4766). Heaven and the Church are the Lord's influx; they are His proceeding good and truth within a man on earth as it is in an angel in Heaven. Both angels in Heaven and men on earth, who have life or good and truth within them, are of Heaven and of the Church. For we have said that man is the receptacle of good and truth or of love and wisdom. Thus, Heaven in all its parts resembles a man and this because the Lord in His Divine Human makes man to be a man. It is His life in man. The angels even say that they are in His Body, which means they are in the good of His love. The Church has been called the Body of the Lord and the Lord its head, and indeed the Lord teaches in John 15: 4-7 this,

Men on earth who receive the Lord's good and truth have the Church within them to the degree that they have life from the Lord, from the Lord's good or love, and so, are members and parts of the whole Heaven, which resembles a man, that is, it resembles the Lord who is the Divine Human (cf. HH81).There is an organized Church on earth. It is the natural or external Church, and in it many people may affiliate themselves with it. There is also the Church within a person in his or her understanding and will. And this is because the natural understanding and will of man make the man's rational. Thus, such a Church is not a true Church, for such a person is an un-regenerated man and is in his natural state separated from the Lord. When man does accept good and truth, the Lord forms within him a new will and understanding from which comes a new rational. This, then, becomes the True New Church in man in the degree or state that the man is in Charity. This Church manifests itself in the natural world by its actions through the person in whom it abides or lives. It is manifested through the reception of love from the Lord to the Lord. In other words, in proportion as man reciprocates love to the Lord, the New Church develops within the man. Nevertheless, we see the possibility that a man maybe in the organized church, that is, in the external church, but may not have the true Church within him. In such a man, the Lord is only present, but when he is conjoined with the Lord or the true Church, which is when he has received a new understanding and will, and from which is formed in him a new rational from the Lord he is then in the true Church and it is in him. The Word states:

Within such a man, who denies the Lord's Divinity, there may be an appearance of the Church in him. However, it is not a genuine or true Church, for such a man does not have either good or truth from the Lord, but he uses the truths that he has learned for his own welfare or prominence. These truths only become a part of his memory-knowledge and fall from him 'as it were' upon entering the world of spirits. Such a Church is only in appearance and is not the New Church from the Lord. The Lord does not abide within such a man, nor does the man abide in the Lord, though he may have the Word in his memory as has been shown.

Those who do have the true Church within themselves progress towards a higher or spiritual state. Their spiritual form becomes like that of the spiritual angels. Only the Lord knows the spiritual state of a man or an angel. Thus, the Church on earth is becoming a more perfect form as is the Church in Heaven. Heaven is in a perfect form of a man. That form is known as the Grand Man of Heaven. The Word in Heaven and Hell 87 speaks that all things of Heaven correspond to all things of Man. This Man is the Lord, the Divine Human. All things of the earth correspond to all things of the Lord, but in a lower degree than in Heaven. The degrees of correspondence is celestial, spiritual, or natural, one lower or in a lesser degree of perfection than the other, ending or culminating in the natural degree where creation ends. It is in the natural only as an appearance of good and truth that the form of the Church or the Lord can be seen. However, once a man does receive spiritual good and truth he is in a higher degree, his spirit is in Heaven and is with the angels there; and if he is not, then his spirit is in the world of spirits within a good society similar to his love for the Lord and the neighbor. His natural entity is still with other men, both good and evil, while he is here on earth since he lives in the natural state. Before accepting the Lord or the Word, man's nature is to deny any influx of love and life coming from the Lord.

The only connection now in today's world, since the man's fall, between his natural and his spiritual existence is through correspondence (cf. HH89). The Word tells us: "Man is a Heaven and a world in the least form after the image of the greatest" (HH90). Both a man's internal, or his spiritual, and his external, that is, his natural, are the man and the Lord's love and life are in him as in a receptacle. In fact, the receptacle of man is spiritual and it is in the natural of a man, and through the spiritual the Lord is conjoined with the man through correspondences. However, as said, the man's internal and external are not conjoined within the today's man, for they - a man's external and natural - were separated from each other since mankind had turned away from Jehovah God and no longer lives in either the celestial or the spiritual state unless he comes to know correspondences and is in charity. The pertinent question here asked is: 'How or in what way can man be conjoined again with the Lord? How can a man have the Lord's love and His truth live within him?' and 'How can the spiritual truths from the Lord reign in a man's natural life and he is in charity?' Obviously, a man cannot by himself join himself to the Lord. Even those who were in the Most Ancient Church who were expelled from Paradise and those who followed in the Ancient Church, who believed that the Lord would come and save them, were not conjoined with the Lord. That is to say, they did not come into and were not in Heaven after leaving this natural world. They were kept in a special region in the spiritual world until the Lord's first Advent and He accomplished His glorification and the subjugation of the hells in His Second Advent. Just what is it that had remained separated in man to prevent his conjunction with the Lord? Well, for one thing, his spiritual or internal constitutes his understanding and will; they are of the spiritual world in him. His senses and actions are the natural and the external world in him. His mind, that is, his understanding and will, comes from the spiritual world. His senses make the external or his natural world. You can understand that his ideas and thoughts correspond to the natural world, and are seen in his actions (cf. HH90). Here, a man may presume that he has formed a Church within himself because he believes that from his own will and understanding he has learned the truth and does well as the Word teaches and, so, it appears to him that he is correct, that is, that he is righteous.

Let us now look to the Lord, Who had put on the human of mankind, who became a man as we are and glorified His Human. We read the following:

His body is the New Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem is the New Church that is seen descending from God out of Heaven in the book of Revelation. The building up of the New Church, His Body, was the glorification of the Lord; He became the Divine Human. The falsities and evils of the natural human that the Lord put on upon His coming into the world were put off 'as it were' through His glorification; thus His natural body became on with the Divine within Him, and He became the Divine Human (cf. HH 187).
What would be a man's life if the Lord had not come on earth? Would a man have been reformed and regenerated if the Church had not been formed first in the Lord's Human, in His natural Body? Is there or was there not a way that man could be regenerated if the Lord Himself had not provided this way? Of course, there is no other way of salvation except through the Lord coming to earth, putting on the human of mankind. Historically, the Lord chose twelve (12) disciples and taught them a new doctrine which is: to love the Lord and one another. He thus established the Christian Church on earth. Those who  accepted the natural or literal sense of the Word to the extent of understanding were further instructed and led by the Lord in the world of spirits and, then, they ascended into the New Heaven that is spoken of in Revelation 21. Now, through them, from God the Divine Human, the New Jerusalem descends, which is the Lord's New Church in order that it form and develop within a man's natural understanding on earth. This New Church is now being formed within men on earth who receive it. How is it formed within a man? It most certainly is not anything that a man does of himself. For, a man's regeneration is from the Lord. Otherwise, the forming of a new Church with and in man is impossible. Also, regeneration and salvation cannot be imputed to man. The Lord cannot give man regeneration as if He were giving money or some other gift. The Lord's Power cannot be separated from Himself. It is an attribute, and it cannot be divided: the Lord has all Power even as He says. The Lord must, Himself, be within a man if the man is to shun evils because they are sins 'as if' he as himself shuns them by his own power. The Lord must abide in man. And, He can abide in man when the man is formed as a receptacle suitable for the Lord's goods and truths. That is why sins must be shunned. Thus, the Lord regenerates man. Man does not regenerate himself from the Lord's Power, for as said, both the Lord and His Power are one, and so, it is the Lord who regenerates man, but it is 'as if' man of himself does. So, it appears 'as if' the man has his own power or strength, but he must realize it is the Lord who does.

Any formation of the Lord's New Church in man is through the man's acceptance of the Lord's Divine Human, which is that the Trinity is in one person, the Lord Jesus Christ. This means accepting the Lord's glorification, believing that He is the true and only Man. As an example, the Third Testament tells of the Lord's glorification. Then, when a man accepts the Lord who is the Divine Human, the Lord descends into him on earth through the Heavens, both celestial and spiritual into the natural of man and there forms new vessels in him in which He can dwell and from where He reigns in His Kingdom here on earth, that is, in a man's natural. Then, the man is in regeneration and comes into salvation. You can see, here, that this is not anything from the man himself; it is not the man's good works. There is, then, a conjunction between the Lord in a man and with the Lord above the Heavens. The forming of a man's new rational comes from the Lord and is celestial through the spiritual. Said in another way, the good coming through the truth dwelling in man together as one when there is the man's cooperation with the truths taught from the Word can be seen the leading of the Lord in man into the good of truth and faith. This is, then, called 'Charity' with man and the good works are the Lord's within him and not the man's own. The doctrine of charity and faith is the doctrine of life within man and, this constitutes the true Church of the Lord in man (cf. NJHD 243).

In review, we have thus confirmed that the basis and the foundation for Heaven had been lost due to mankind's fall as seen in his expulsion from Paradise where he lived in the celestial state. Thus, mankind would have been lost to hell, if not for the Lord's coming to redeem and save him. Man had broken his connection, his communication and conjunction with Heaven and the Lord. Even the Heavens were then threatened. Now, what is the only conjunction with God that is possible? Is it not the Word? And, is it not the Lord, Who has come on earth as the Truth, the Word, to man? It is, but, even more specifically, it is the Word of the Divine Human, the Third Testament that has now descended and is descending to man in his obedience to its truths in which there are revealed correspondences, thus there is communication again and spiritual truths can again flow into men. This is the medium that conjoins man with Heaven again. This can be read in the book Heaven and Hell number 305. In number 306 one learns that the interiors of the man of the Most Ancient and Ancient Church's were turned to Heaven and therefore, there was a conjunction. (Here we need to remember that the Church is within each person who is regenerated.) However, later, we read that this conjunction was destroyed; it was lost and even the knowledge of correspondences were lost and the Church became merely a representative Church and later only a representative of a representative Church, which are not true Churches. Now, a new Church and a new Earth is being formed, that is, there a new conjunction with the Lord in man, which makes him a new man. It is called the Lord's New Church (cf. HH 307). It is the good and the truth, the Lord within man, in His redeeming power that has made this possible. Truth manifested Itself in Man, in the Human of the Lord, which had become glorified and became the Divine Human. The Lord as the Divine Human can, now, be in a man in power to those who turn to Him for help.

Fundamentally, there is the spiritual and the natural which is the internal and the external of each person. The rational of a man is the medium through which the Lord reaches the person. The Word is between these two - a person's spiritual and his rational. Now, we have said that the rational of the new or regenerated man is celestial from the Lord and is the Lord with man. The Lord is, thus, the means of the conjunction of man with Heaven. The Word had become manifested in 'flesh' and became united to the Divine in man, thus conjoining the man with Heaven. Therefore, the Church in man becomes spiritual from it's being representative and a natural Church. It had been separated from the spiritual world and the Lord. For, before His coming to man becoming Natural, there was no conjunction with man. In fact, the truths of the Lord with man became merely natural truths and were even turned into fallacies and eventually falsities. The Word is the foundation of the conjunction of the Church with man and the Lord. That is, the Lord is the foundation of the Church with and in man. Of course, man could not be the foundation of the Church. Now, we need finally to see that the Church is alive and dynamic, for it is not material or dead. The Lord acts in man and the Church in man re-acts. It is the Lord in man that is the Church. This is the true Church. The creation or formation of good and truth in the Natural of the Lord could not be formed in any other man, except first in the Human of the Lord and then in a man who accepts Him as his life. This same Human is the Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer; He is God-Man and Man-God, and His Human is not only Divine, but Celestial, Spiritual, and Natural.

From the Word we read: