The New Church that now Descends to Earth
By Rev. Paul Booth
Lessons: Deuteronomy 17:14-20; Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43;
True Christian Religion 784
By Rev. Paul Booth
Lessons: Deuteronomy 17:14-20; Matthew 13: 24-30, 36-43;
True Christian Religion 784
Just so far as this new Heaven, which constitutes the internal of the Church
in man, increases, so far the New Jerusalem, that is the New Church, comes
down from that Heaven. (True Christian Religion 784)
Within everything there is a Divine order. From the Divine, who is the Lord and is the Divine Human come Divine order. Therefore, from the Divine Human all the Heavens and the earth were formed in accordance with that divine order. The order is, first, the Heavens and, then, the earth, for the external are formed only by means of the internal. The external - the natural - of anything is always formed by means of the internal. Thus, it is that a new Heaven had to be formed first before the New Church on earth could come into existence, just as during "the first period when man (was) being regenerated," that Heaven, or the internal of man was created before the external of man or the earth was regenerated (ref. AC 16). Since then there have existed four Churches on earth before the Lord's New Church came. These were the Adamic, the Noahic, the Israelitish, and the Christian Churches. After each of these Churches consummation the Lord raised up a new Church. Yet, until the Lord's New Church began to descend from a new Heaven to earth, there was only one Heaven. Now, there are two Heavens, the Ancient Heaven and the Christian Heaven. When the Christian Heaven was formed order was brought to the Heavens - the celestial, spiritual, and the natural - and evil subjugated in the hells.
Probably, if you have read from some of the books of the Third Testament you might be thinking, 'Haven't I read that there are three Heavens?' and you would be right, but these refer to the degrees of Heaven - the inmost or the third, the middle or the second, and the ultimate or the first. However, the two Heavens spoken of - the Ancient and the Christian - have only become existent after the Lord's coming again. (cf. AC 6858) Again, perhaps you know of the Lord's Divine Human concerning the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural Heavens, and if there were only one Heaven before the Lord came, you could wonder how the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, the Ancient Church, which was spiritual, and the Israelitish Church, which was natural, were formed from the internal. Here, we are taught that all who lived before the Lord's coming and who approached the Lord as the only God of Heaven and earth believed He would come on earth to redeem mankind. They were expecting the Lord to come and to save them from damnation when they lived on earth.
Here, let us remember that after the fall of the Most Ancient Church, the Churches that were established rejected the influx of good and truth that came from the Lord God; therefore, they fell into evils and falsities. Let us also recall that in the Ancient Church, only those who were celestial who had received the Lord, and could come into Heaven and that all the rest, because of the evils and falsities adhering to them, could not be in that Heaven. Instead, they were in a region where the spiritual or the middle Heaven was to be until the Lord came and redeemed and saved them. (You must remember they were waiting for the Lord to come and that hadn't happened at that time.) Therefore, the spiritual or middle Heaven was not formed until the Lord came, nor was the spiritual natural or ultimate Heaven. Let us recall that the Lord's New Church is a spiritual Church. So, it was that the Ancient Church, the Church in those men of the Ancient Church or Noahic times, occupied that region where the Spiritual Heaven was to be, but it was not a true Heaven and this was because their minds, their understanding and will, were occupied by evils and falsities. (Remember, the evil had entered the man of the Most Ancient Church, and therefore, even into Heaven assaulting even God if they could.) The Word teaches that they were kept in "some truth and good by external means" (AC 8054:2). They had fallen from Paradise or the celestial state into the natural when they were without the Lord. They were then, in effect, waiting for the Lord's come to save them, and thus establish the spiritual Heaven from which an external could be then formed
You can understand from this that unless the Lord had come and redeemed man and become the Divine Human, not only the spiritual of man, but the natural of man would not be saved. Thus, after the Lord's coming, not only was a new Heaven established from those Christians who had received the influx of divine good, but also the various degrees of Heaven came into existence. In the past, we have heard that the Lord is not only in Heaven, but that He is Heaven. Therefore, unless the Lord had put on the human of mankind and then glorified His Human, that is, His Spiritual and Natural Human, and united these to His Celestial Human and became the Divine Human (remember, the Lord was a Celestial Man), there could be no Spiritual Church in the Ancient Heaven, nor could there be a New Church on come on earth. That is, a New Church formed in a man's natural could not exist until order was restored in Heaven, which exists within man.
When the Church in man is established from its internal, it becomes not only an internal, but an external Church - both in Heaven and on earth; and it is therefore, is one with the Church in Heaven. The contrary is also true. Men, who themselves from Churches from their own knowledge cannot become an internal or spiritual, but remain in the external or the natural and are, therefore, not a true Church as all. They have not formed an internal from the Lord. Thus, a man of the Church is in Heaven to the degree that he is receptive to Heaven's influx, there being first an internal established, and afterwards the external is formed within him from that internal, that is, from the Proceeding Lord in him. This fact is known by the internal Church, the angelic Church, which is in Heaven. We read that "the internal Church (in man on earth) makes one with the Church in Heaven" (TCR 784). It is easy to see that the Church in Heaven knows that a Church is both internal and external and that is formed on earth from its internal, for they are in the light or the truth coming from the Sun above the Heavens in the spiritual world. Yet, it is very doubtful that the clergy of the prior Churches - the Israelitish and Christian - knew this. Without knowing that 'clergy' in the Word represents the internal of the Church, then even the clergy who are in the New Church on earth would not know this. However, if they were in some degree of reception of the truth of good from the Lord, they would be enlightened. If they were not, and they learned only from the literal sense of the Third Testament as do those who follow after the Christian Church, they might conclude that they are special and receive knowledge that the laity does not, simply because the laity is not the clergy. This will leads the clergy into self-pride, thinking that they are special, and thus fall into fallacies. Besides, all in the New Church should know that the New Jerusalem descends from God out of Heaven to all, both clergy and laity alike, and therefore, all can know from a new internal from the Lord, and that thus, a new external is then formed in them.
What is this new internal to be formed in us? It is the new Heaven that now comes down to man. We will understand this if we allow our mind, our thoughts, to be elevated above the natural degree. If we always think from the natural sense, we will think from space and time. When we think from the literal sense, we then form ideas that Heaven is somewhere or some place, and that it is not yet the time for the true New Jerusalem to become established on earth, as many so today. This is because we might think that the new Heaven has not yet developed to such a state or degree. So we wait for its development in the distant future, waiting for the new Heaven to increase. In effect, we would be waiting for others to form that new Heaven. The increase is within us and nowhere else. It is spiritual. Thus, let us read our text that it is "the new Heaven, which constitutes the internal of the Church in man" (TCR 784). This plainly shows that the new Heaven is in man; it is not located in place. And, what are the new Heaven, but truths and goods in man? It is the Lord within us, who is the Divine Human. Those in that new Heaven are recipients of the Lord; and even those on earth, who are recipients of the Lord, which is the Proceeding Operation, are in that new Heaven, though unaware.
The man on earth, who is born in hereditary evils, naturally rejects any influx from Heaven and the Lord, that is, he rejects the Operating good and truth, the Lord, who has redeemed and who saves man. If only he will hear the Word and follow it because it is the truth, he will receive a new will and understanding from the Lord. This man can do 'as if' from his self, and, so, can shun the falsities and evils in him. When he does, the New Jerusalem descends into him, into him in a new will and understanding. This, the Word says takes place "as the falsities of the former Church are removed" (TCR 784).
In the internal sense, this 'former Church' does not mean some other people who had lived in earlier times and who did not accept the Lord or the Word, and therefore did not form Doctrine from the Lord within themselves. This 'former Church' is in all men, even in those who come into the New Church on earth today; it is within the will and the understanding. All people are born with hereditary evils. Nevertheless, haven't we been taught in worship services and in doctrinal classes that all prior Churches signify the hereditary evil qualities that are in us and that these are what we need to shun? Did not those of the first Church, the Most Ancient Church, reject the Lord as their life, and consequently, are not all men born with that evil desire, which is to love self and to love worldly things? We read in the Word about the result of that decline among the first people. We also read that because of the Lord's love and mercy, He Himself came and redeemed, and now regenerates men who receives truths and goods, and therefore establishes a New Church, here, on earth. All the other Churches between the Adamic Church as read about in the Genesis account of creation, up to the Lord's New Church, which is now descending as the New Jerusalem, were representative Churches, for we see those in the Ancient Church, who, because of falsity and evil occupying their will and understanding, were not in Heaven until the Lord came and subjugated the evils in hell, bringing order to the Heavens. However, they were preserved until He came and brought the Heavens into order.
We in the New Church understand that a new Church is now being formed on earth. However, it cannot be formed in any man on earth until the evil and false qualities of these prior Churches in man are eliminated. The end of that old Church, which is in each of us, must be consummated before a new Church can be formed. Just as until the Lord came to the spiritual world and defeated the evils there, subjugating them in hell, could the New Church be established from those Christians, who received influx of good from the Lord, descend from that New Heaven. We read that after "falsities are first rooted out" (TCR 784) that a New Church can be implanted. The new wine, the good of the Divine Human must be put into new bottles or into new receptacles of good and truth that are formed by the Lord in man. The Lord taught in Matthew 9: 17 that "no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine bursts the bottles and the wine is spilled . . . but they put new wine into new bottles."
All the prior Churches underwent devastation and consummation and still we ourselves are taught that we need to shun falsities and evils that come from those Churches, for all men are born in that fallen state. The New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, will not descend into us until we 'as if' of ourselves root out the evils and falsity that destroys the Church in us that the Lord now wants to implant. This destroyed Church in us is not a true Church, even as there are no prior Churches existing in earth today, though there appears to be. There is only one Church on earth today and it is the Lord's New Church. All the others have ended and their teachings and doctrinal things that are in man are not of the New Church.
"The Lord is present with every man, urgent and pressing to be received; and when a man receives Him, by acknowledging Him as his Creator, Redeemed and Savior, then is His first Coming, which is called the dawn" (TCR 766). The Lord, here, is in His Divine Human and in Heaven, which is in man's interior or is the rational from the Lord in man. Then the Word continues, "From this time the man, as to his understanding, begins to be enlightened in spiritual things and to advance to a more interior degree of wisdom" (TCR 766).
The Lord is, today, enlightening all men who receive Him. We need not wait until there are more regenerated men (souls) in the New Heaven. We need only act in obedience to the Word and be led, as if, from our own understanding, and follow the Lord's Commandments. Then the Lord will enlighten us in accordance with the good we receive. "The interior degree of wisdom" (TCR 766) is the rational from the Lord in man; it is the means of conjunction between the Lord and man. It is where the Lord and man meet. Are we receiving enlightenment from the Lord? Have we seen 'the dawn'? If we have, then we can know that the falsities of the former Churches in us are being set aside, that they are being 'rooted out'. The New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, is descending into our new will and understanding from the Divine Human, the Lord. This takes place within man's internal, and, then, his external is conjoined in one Church that is both in Heaven and, here, on earth. This is meant by: "This will take place with the clergy, and similarly with the laity" (TCR 784).
May we see that the New Church is formed in us as we set aside and root out, 'as if' by ourselves the evils and the falsities, but know it is the Lord in us.
Amen.
in man, increases, so far the New Jerusalem, that is the New Church, comes
down from that Heaven. (True Christian Religion 784)
Within everything there is a Divine order. From the Divine, who is the Lord and is the Divine Human come Divine order. Therefore, from the Divine Human all the Heavens and the earth were formed in accordance with that divine order. The order is, first, the Heavens and, then, the earth, for the external are formed only by means of the internal. The external - the natural - of anything is always formed by means of the internal. Thus, it is that a new Heaven had to be formed first before the New Church on earth could come into existence, just as during "the first period when man (was) being regenerated," that Heaven, or the internal of man was created before the external of man or the earth was regenerated (ref. AC 16). Since then there have existed four Churches on earth before the Lord's New Church came. These were the Adamic, the Noahic, the Israelitish, and the Christian Churches. After each of these Churches consummation the Lord raised up a new Church. Yet, until the Lord's New Church began to descend from a new Heaven to earth, there was only one Heaven. Now, there are two Heavens, the Ancient Heaven and the Christian Heaven. When the Christian Heaven was formed order was brought to the Heavens - the celestial, spiritual, and the natural - and evil subjugated in the hells.
Probably, if you have read from some of the books of the Third Testament you might be thinking, 'Haven't I read that there are three Heavens?' and you would be right, but these refer to the degrees of Heaven - the inmost or the third, the middle or the second, and the ultimate or the first. However, the two Heavens spoken of - the Ancient and the Christian - have only become existent after the Lord's coming again. (cf. AC 6858) Again, perhaps you know of the Lord's Divine Human concerning the celestial, the spiritual, and the natural Heavens, and if there were only one Heaven before the Lord came, you could wonder how the Most Ancient Church, which was celestial, the Ancient Church, which was spiritual, and the Israelitish Church, which was natural, were formed from the internal. Here, we are taught that all who lived before the Lord's coming and who approached the Lord as the only God of Heaven and earth believed He would come on earth to redeem mankind. They were expecting the Lord to come and to save them from damnation when they lived on earth.
Here, let us remember that after the fall of the Most Ancient Church, the Churches that were established rejected the influx of good and truth that came from the Lord God; therefore, they fell into evils and falsities. Let us also recall that in the Ancient Church, only those who were celestial who had received the Lord, and could come into Heaven and that all the rest, because of the evils and falsities adhering to them, could not be in that Heaven. Instead, they were in a region where the spiritual or the middle Heaven was to be until the Lord came and redeemed and saved them. (You must remember they were waiting for the Lord to come and that hadn't happened at that time.) Therefore, the spiritual or middle Heaven was not formed until the Lord came, nor was the spiritual natural or ultimate Heaven. Let us recall that the Lord's New Church is a spiritual Church. So, it was that the Ancient Church, the Church in those men of the Ancient Church or Noahic times, occupied that region where the Spiritual Heaven was to be, but it was not a true Heaven and this was because their minds, their understanding and will, were occupied by evils and falsities. (Remember, the evil had entered the man of the Most Ancient Church, and therefore, even into Heaven assaulting even God if they could.) The Word teaches that they were kept in "some truth and good by external means" (AC 8054:2). They had fallen from Paradise or the celestial state into the natural when they were without the Lord. They were then, in effect, waiting for the Lord's come to save them, and thus establish the spiritual Heaven from which an external could be then formed
You can understand from this that unless the Lord had come and redeemed man and become the Divine Human, not only the spiritual of man, but the natural of man would not be saved. Thus, after the Lord's coming, not only was a new Heaven established from those Christians who had received the influx of divine good, but also the various degrees of Heaven came into existence. In the past, we have heard that the Lord is not only in Heaven, but that He is Heaven. Therefore, unless the Lord had put on the human of mankind and then glorified His Human, that is, His Spiritual and Natural Human, and united these to His Celestial Human and became the Divine Human (remember, the Lord was a Celestial Man), there could be no Spiritual Church in the Ancient Heaven, nor could there be a New Church on come on earth. That is, a New Church formed in a man's natural could not exist until order was restored in Heaven, which exists within man.
When the Church in man is established from its internal, it becomes not only an internal, but an external Church - both in Heaven and on earth; and it is therefore, is one with the Church in Heaven. The contrary is also true. Men, who themselves from Churches from their own knowledge cannot become an internal or spiritual, but remain in the external or the natural and are, therefore, not a true Church as all. They have not formed an internal from the Lord. Thus, a man of the Church is in Heaven to the degree that he is receptive to Heaven's influx, there being first an internal established, and afterwards the external is formed within him from that internal, that is, from the Proceeding Lord in him. This fact is known by the internal Church, the angelic Church, which is in Heaven. We read that "the internal Church (in man on earth) makes one with the Church in Heaven" (TCR 784). It is easy to see that the Church in Heaven knows that a Church is both internal and external and that is formed on earth from its internal, for they are in the light or the truth coming from the Sun above the Heavens in the spiritual world. Yet, it is very doubtful that the clergy of the prior Churches - the Israelitish and Christian - knew this. Without knowing that 'clergy' in the Word represents the internal of the Church, then even the clergy who are in the New Church on earth would not know this. However, if they were in some degree of reception of the truth of good from the Lord, they would be enlightened. If they were not, and they learned only from the literal sense of the Third Testament as do those who follow after the Christian Church, they might conclude that they are special and receive knowledge that the laity does not, simply because the laity is not the clergy. This will leads the clergy into self-pride, thinking that they are special, and thus fall into fallacies. Besides, all in the New Church should know that the New Jerusalem descends from God out of Heaven to all, both clergy and laity alike, and therefore, all can know from a new internal from the Lord, and that thus, a new external is then formed in them.
What is this new internal to be formed in us? It is the new Heaven that now comes down to man. We will understand this if we allow our mind, our thoughts, to be elevated above the natural degree. If we always think from the natural sense, we will think from space and time. When we think from the literal sense, we then form ideas that Heaven is somewhere or some place, and that it is not yet the time for the true New Jerusalem to become established on earth, as many so today. This is because we might think that the new Heaven has not yet developed to such a state or degree. So we wait for its development in the distant future, waiting for the new Heaven to increase. In effect, we would be waiting for others to form that new Heaven. The increase is within us and nowhere else. It is spiritual. Thus, let us read our text that it is "the new Heaven, which constitutes the internal of the Church in man" (TCR 784). This plainly shows that the new Heaven is in man; it is not located in place. And, what are the new Heaven, but truths and goods in man? It is the Lord within us, who is the Divine Human. Those in that new Heaven are recipients of the Lord; and even those on earth, who are recipients of the Lord, which is the Proceeding Operation, are in that new Heaven, though unaware.
The man on earth, who is born in hereditary evils, naturally rejects any influx from Heaven and the Lord, that is, he rejects the Operating good and truth, the Lord, who has redeemed and who saves man. If only he will hear the Word and follow it because it is the truth, he will receive a new will and understanding from the Lord. This man can do 'as if' from his self, and, so, can shun the falsities and evils in him. When he does, the New Jerusalem descends into him, into him in a new will and understanding. This, the Word says takes place "as the falsities of the former Church are removed" (TCR 784).
In the internal sense, this 'former Church' does not mean some other people who had lived in earlier times and who did not accept the Lord or the Word, and therefore did not form Doctrine from the Lord within themselves. This 'former Church' is in all men, even in those who come into the New Church on earth today; it is within the will and the understanding. All people are born with hereditary evils. Nevertheless, haven't we been taught in worship services and in doctrinal classes that all prior Churches signify the hereditary evil qualities that are in us and that these are what we need to shun? Did not those of the first Church, the Most Ancient Church, reject the Lord as their life, and consequently, are not all men born with that evil desire, which is to love self and to love worldly things? We read in the Word about the result of that decline among the first people. We also read that because of the Lord's love and mercy, He Himself came and redeemed, and now regenerates men who receives truths and goods, and therefore establishes a New Church, here, on earth. All the other Churches between the Adamic Church as read about in the Genesis account of creation, up to the Lord's New Church, which is now descending as the New Jerusalem, were representative Churches, for we see those in the Ancient Church, who, because of falsity and evil occupying their will and understanding, were not in Heaven until the Lord came and subjugated the evils in hell, bringing order to the Heavens. However, they were preserved until He came and brought the Heavens into order.
We in the New Church understand that a new Church is now being formed on earth. However, it cannot be formed in any man on earth until the evil and false qualities of these prior Churches in man are eliminated. The end of that old Church, which is in each of us, must be consummated before a new Church can be formed. Just as until the Lord came to the spiritual world and defeated the evils there, subjugating them in hell, could the New Church be established from those Christians, who received influx of good from the Lord, descend from that New Heaven. We read that after "falsities are first rooted out" (TCR 784) that a New Church can be implanted. The new wine, the good of the Divine Human must be put into new bottles or into new receptacles of good and truth that are formed by the Lord in man. The Lord taught in Matthew 9: 17 that "no man puts new wine into old bottles; else the new wine bursts the bottles and the wine is spilled . . . but they put new wine into new bottles."
All the prior Churches underwent devastation and consummation and still we ourselves are taught that we need to shun falsities and evils that come from those Churches, for all men are born in that fallen state. The New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, will not descend into us until we 'as if' of ourselves root out the evils and falsity that destroys the Church in us that the Lord now wants to implant. This destroyed Church in us is not a true Church, even as there are no prior Churches existing in earth today, though there appears to be. There is only one Church on earth today and it is the Lord's New Church. All the others have ended and their teachings and doctrinal things that are in man are not of the New Church.
"The Lord is present with every man, urgent and pressing to be received; and when a man receives Him, by acknowledging Him as his Creator, Redeemed and Savior, then is His first Coming, which is called the dawn" (TCR 766). The Lord, here, is in His Divine Human and in Heaven, which is in man's interior or is the rational from the Lord in man. Then the Word continues, "From this time the man, as to his understanding, begins to be enlightened in spiritual things and to advance to a more interior degree of wisdom" (TCR 766).
The Lord is, today, enlightening all men who receive Him. We need not wait until there are more regenerated men (souls) in the New Heaven. We need only act in obedience to the Word and be led, as if, from our own understanding, and follow the Lord's Commandments. Then the Lord will enlighten us in accordance with the good we receive. "The interior degree of wisdom" (TCR 766) is the rational from the Lord in man; it is the means of conjunction between the Lord and man. It is where the Lord and man meet. Are we receiving enlightenment from the Lord? Have we seen 'the dawn'? If we have, then we can know that the falsities of the former Churches in us are being set aside, that they are being 'rooted out'. The New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, is descending into our new will and understanding from the Divine Human, the Lord. This takes place within man's internal, and, then, his external is conjoined in one Church that is both in Heaven and, here, on earth. This is meant by: "This will take place with the clergy, and similarly with the laity" (TCR 784).
May we see that the New Church is formed in us as we set aside and root out, 'as if' by ourselves the evils and the falsities, but know it is the Lord in us.
Amen.
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