The Third Church - Part 2
the Israelitish and Jewish Church
By Rev. Paul Booth
the Israelitish and Jewish Church
By Rev. Paul Booth
In each Church established on earth with man the Lord God had appeared. Why, might one wonder, is this necessary and how did He appear, since there was and is now a separation between God and man and man lives only in this world? Well, since mankind has rejected the Lord as giving him and supporting his life that truth and good he has had to acquire all his knowledge about God through his natural senses. He, therefore, cannot understand spiritual things without a revelation from God and, so, he falls into worshipping all sorts of images that he begins to think represents God unless there is revelation. You can see this from the fact that the Spiritual Church began such idol worship when they lost the knowledge or the science of correspondences when truth could be understood only in appearances in appearances that led them into fallacies and eventually falsities. They thought these to be the truth.
The Third Church the Israelitish and Jewish in its infancy was called out from those fallacies and falsities and evils to follow Jehovah as the one true God. Within this infant state, they, like we, the man of today, eventually want and need to acknowledge God for our salvation. But, it is impossible for a man to acknowledge God unless God is manifested to him or made known. As you will acknowledge, one cannot accept and worship an unknown God. That is why, even today, religion has something that, at least, signifies their God. So too, the form that is acknowledged by the Israelitish and Jewish Church and the Christian Churches is seen to be a God with a Personal Human Form. We can understand this because man now does not perceive truths and good, that is, he does not have perception as he did when those in the Most Ancient Church lived, but everything that he now learns and knows enters into him through his senses. Thus, it was recorded that God appeared to them as a man, as a human, and that these men were angels. In other words, all of nature, all of the world that surrounds man, he sees, feels, and breathes and his mind conceives and adopts a rational from Nature and he understands nothing of spiritual or religious things until he becomes enlightened. In other words, what such a Rational from man knows is only worldly not Heavenly things, only natural things, and not spiritual things. So, you can understand that in order for one to begin to understand spiritual things one must start with acknowledging God. Thus, it is that God manifests Himself to man and, in this case, in the form of an angel, and calls him out of his darkness and out from being a void of good and truth and he begins to know and acknowledge Him. Such a man can be inspired by God's Divine Spirit, and so, can be led to Heaven. You can begin understand this, because of man's nature; that man is to be instructed through his natural senses and, thus, by the written Word.
So, we can read in the Word the account of the Lord Jehovih appearing before Abraham. "Jehovah appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre; he was sitting at the door of his tent, . . . and when he lifted up his eyes and saw, behold! Three men stood by him, and as soon as he saw them, he ran from the door of the tent to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, O Lord, if I have found grace in Thine eyes, pass not away, I pray, from Thy servant" (Genesis 18:1-3).
Man is such that all that he sees or understands is through his senses and does not and cannot understand internal things (spiritual things). So, Jehovah, the Lord, manifested Himself through the three that men Abraham saw (that is, through angels). In this was the Third Church. It was to be established through scientific or rational things. Man, then and today, is in a state where he does not have perception as we had indicated, but he can develop a conscience. So, he can come to know if a thing is true or not from the Lord. We had, before, in the lecture on the Ancient Church, spoken about an internal dictate that was like perception, which comes from within and was planted there from infancy. This is called in man 'conscience' and is in which holy things come through and that establishes the Church within a man. By lifting up one's eyes signifies understanding or to see 'as it were' from within or above oneself from the Lord. Let us now see what is understood in Abram seeing, as it were, three men. The Lord Jehovah had manifested Himself to them through angels; we need to understand that angels are men in a truer sense than is a man, who is as a beast and without having good and truth. And, we should realize that because of the sinful nature or state of man, that man cannot see or understand the presence of God, for that presence, if allow to be with him in his natural nature, would consume him as fire consumes wood. It is man that signifies a certain quality, so, the qualities seen here by the three men are the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Divine Proceeding. Three meaning full and complete from beginning to end. You can see this is a representative of the Lord. The Lord appears to Abraham as three men that represented Him. However, Abraham does not recognize three men, but only one. He says, 'O Lord', not O lords. Of course, today, we have the added advantage of the Third Testament and can learn that it was the Lord, the Savior, who appeared in His Divine Trinity before Abraham. So, three men, who were angels, represented the Divine Unity in the Divine Trinity. This is confirmed from the fact that after Abraham spoke to the "three men" about going to Sodom we see that they are called angles, and as, now, there are two spoken of.
Again, we learn that Jehovah appeared and this time to Moses, who became the leader of the Israelitish and Jewish Church. " The Angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses at the mountain of Horeb, in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush" (Exodus 3:1, 2-4, 14). Remember that we are to look for the internal representatives of the spiritual historical sense of the Word. Thus, when we are to see Moses, that when he sees the burning bush, it is to be from spiritual scientific truths. Here, we understand flame and fire as Divine Love. And, we have learned in the past lectures that trees (in this case a bush), in an internal sense, signify perceptions and cognitions the scientific truths of the Church. So, Moses is to be seen as to his quality, that is, as wanting to know the Lord God. God calls him and Moses asks, "What is Thy name?" And God answers, "The God of Abraham, the God Isaac, and the God Jacob". This is to be understood as the Divine Itself and the Divine Human thus, the Lord as God Himself. And, by the study of correspondences we know that the quality of Abraham is the Divine Itself, that Isaac signifies the Divine Rational, and Jacob the Divine Natural. Of course, these names are only representatives. So, it is the scientifics concerning these things that appear in the understanding of Moses as he is called to accept the Lord within that leads to the establishment of the Israelitish and Jewish Church.
Here, in this text, we also see God calling the Israelites. "I am come to deliver . . . to bring them out of that land (Egypt) unto a land flowing with milk and honey (Canaan)" (Exodus 3:8). So, from this, we understand it is Jehovah that releases the Israelites from the power of false scientifics, which destroy the truths of the Church and that He causes a covenant between them with Heaven that becomes the good of charity and the truths of faith. Now, it is to the Lord's Kingdom where the Spiritual Church reigns with man that Jehovah is calling them to. This can be understood in this way: Man had turned to live in his natural and without the Lord. His life there was a false and evil life. So, the Lord calls man out of this evil life into a spiritual life where he can live in truth and goods. This is seen in the internal signification as being introduced into the land of Canaan. Now, you might think why, then, is it the into place where the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, Hivites and the Jebusites dwell, for as we may learn from the literal sense of the Word that these are all enemies of the Israelite and Jews and that with them they could be capture and ruled over? However, from a spiritual sense, these are the remnant of the spiritual Church, though not in any enlightened state, just as was the nation of the Hebrews from which Abraham was called out. As for instance, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, being in the land, which we know means the Church, signify the hereditary evils and falsities coming from those whose external rules. Their external state needs to vastated of evils and falsities. Again, the Amorites signifies the evil that these falsities originate from, and which need to be subjugated. The Hivites and Jebusites are the idolism in which there is something of good and truth present, that is, the idols represent something of good and truth of the Lord. As you could know they correspond to something in Heaven. Though they had lost what that correspondence was.
Jehovah also appeared to the people that became this Church. We read about this in Exodus 17: verses 9 through 24. In verse 9, "And let them (the congregation) be prepared by the third day, for in that day, Jehovah will come down in the eyes of all people." By preparation is meant their sanctification so that they may appear in holiness, In other words, their external is but a covering of their interior. It should be point out, here, that this Church was actually not a Representative Church as was the Ancient, but was a Representative of a Church. To help explain this, Jacob who represents the exterior man of this Church and, so, the natural literal truth and, as such, is the appearance of truth. As Jacob became later called Israel and represented the Jewish Church or, in an internal sense, the Ancient Church that had became external. Again, this is affirmed in the Word as written by Amos 6:8 " Jehovah God hath sworn by Himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the Excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein." This reveals that their love and faith is of what is false. Here, city signifies a false and evil doctrine. From Jacob are 12 sons. The ten sons of Jacob that were from Leah are the truths that are of that External Church. By the two sons of Rachel are meant the truths that are of that internal Church. In these can be seen temptations and combats in temptations, which make a man spiritual, that is, regenerates him. Thus, was Jacob named Israel, and from which comes this Third Church upon the earth the Israelitish and Jewish Church.
The Third Church the Israelitish and Jewish in its infancy was called out from those fallacies and falsities and evils to follow Jehovah as the one true God. Within this infant state, they, like we, the man of today, eventually want and need to acknowledge God for our salvation. But, it is impossible for a man to acknowledge God unless God is manifested to him or made known. As you will acknowledge, one cannot accept and worship an unknown God. That is why, even today, religion has something that, at least, signifies their God. So too, the form that is acknowledged by the Israelitish and Jewish Church and the Christian Churches is seen to be a God with a Personal Human Form. We can understand this because man now does not perceive truths and good, that is, he does not have perception as he did when those in the Most Ancient Church lived, but everything that he now learns and knows enters into him through his senses. Thus, it was recorded that God appeared to them as a man, as a human, and that these men were angels. In other words, all of nature, all of the world that surrounds man, he sees, feels, and breathes and his mind conceives and adopts a rational from Nature and he understands nothing of spiritual or religious things until he becomes enlightened. In other words, what such a Rational from man knows is only worldly not Heavenly things, only natural things, and not spiritual things. So, you can understand that in order for one to begin to understand spiritual things one must start with acknowledging God. Thus, it is that God manifests Himself to man and, in this case, in the form of an angel, and calls him out of his darkness and out from being a void of good and truth and he begins to know and acknowledge Him. Such a man can be inspired by God's Divine Spirit, and so, can be led to Heaven. You can begin understand this, because of man's nature; that man is to be instructed through his natural senses and, thus, by the written Word.
So, we can read in the Word the account of the Lord Jehovih appearing before Abraham. "Jehovah appeared unto Abraham in the plains of Mamre; he was sitting at the door of his tent, . . . and when he lifted up his eyes and saw, behold! Three men stood by him, and as soon as he saw them, he ran from the door of the tent to meet them, and bowed himself to the earth, and said, O Lord, if I have found grace in Thine eyes, pass not away, I pray, from Thy servant" (Genesis 18:1-3).
Man is such that all that he sees or understands is through his senses and does not and cannot understand internal things (spiritual things). So, Jehovah, the Lord, manifested Himself through the three that men Abraham saw (that is, through angels). In this was the Third Church. It was to be established through scientific or rational things. Man, then and today, is in a state where he does not have perception as we had indicated, but he can develop a conscience. So, he can come to know if a thing is true or not from the Lord. We had, before, in the lecture on the Ancient Church, spoken about an internal dictate that was like perception, which comes from within and was planted there from infancy. This is called in man 'conscience' and is in which holy things come through and that establishes the Church within a man. By lifting up one's eyes signifies understanding or to see 'as it were' from within or above oneself from the Lord. Let us now see what is understood in Abram seeing, as it were, three men. The Lord Jehovah had manifested Himself to them through angels; we need to understand that angels are men in a truer sense than is a man, who is as a beast and without having good and truth. And, we should realize that because of the sinful nature or state of man, that man cannot see or understand the presence of God, for that presence, if allow to be with him in his natural nature, would consume him as fire consumes wood. It is man that signifies a certain quality, so, the qualities seen here by the three men are the Divine Itself, the Divine Human, and the Divine Proceeding. Three meaning full and complete from beginning to end. You can see this is a representative of the Lord. The Lord appears to Abraham as three men that represented Him. However, Abraham does not recognize three men, but only one. He says, 'O Lord', not O lords. Of course, today, we have the added advantage of the Third Testament and can learn that it was the Lord, the Savior, who appeared in His Divine Trinity before Abraham. So, three men, who were angels, represented the Divine Unity in the Divine Trinity. This is confirmed from the fact that after Abraham spoke to the "three men" about going to Sodom we see that they are called angles, and as, now, there are two spoken of.
Again, we learn that Jehovah appeared and this time to Moses, who became the leader of the Israelitish and Jewish Church. " The Angel of Jehovah appeared to Moses at the mountain of Horeb, in a flame of fire out of the midst of the bush" (Exodus 3:1, 2-4, 14). Remember that we are to look for the internal representatives of the spiritual historical sense of the Word. Thus, when we are to see Moses, that when he sees the burning bush, it is to be from spiritual scientific truths. Here, we understand flame and fire as Divine Love. And, we have learned in the past lectures that trees (in this case a bush), in an internal sense, signify perceptions and cognitions the scientific truths of the Church. So, Moses is to be seen as to his quality, that is, as wanting to know the Lord God. God calls him and Moses asks, "What is Thy name?" And God answers, "The God of Abraham, the God Isaac, and the God Jacob". This is to be understood as the Divine Itself and the Divine Human thus, the Lord as God Himself. And, by the study of correspondences we know that the quality of Abraham is the Divine Itself, that Isaac signifies the Divine Rational, and Jacob the Divine Natural. Of course, these names are only representatives. So, it is the scientifics concerning these things that appear in the understanding of Moses as he is called to accept the Lord within that leads to the establishment of the Israelitish and Jewish Church.
Here, in this text, we also see God calling the Israelites. "I am come to deliver . . . to bring them out of that land (Egypt) unto a land flowing with milk and honey (Canaan)" (Exodus 3:8). So, from this, we understand it is Jehovah that releases the Israelites from the power of false scientifics, which destroy the truths of the Church and that He causes a covenant between them with Heaven that becomes the good of charity and the truths of faith. Now, it is to the Lord's Kingdom where the Spiritual Church reigns with man that Jehovah is calling them to. This can be understood in this way: Man had turned to live in his natural and without the Lord. His life there was a false and evil life. So, the Lord calls man out of this evil life into a spiritual life where he can live in truth and goods. This is seen in the internal signification as being introduced into the land of Canaan. Now, you might think why, then, is it the into place where the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, and the Perizzites, Hivites and the Jebusites dwell, for as we may learn from the literal sense of the Word that these are all enemies of the Israelite and Jews and that with them they could be capture and ruled over? However, from a spiritual sense, these are the remnant of the spiritual Church, though not in any enlightened state, just as was the nation of the Hebrews from which Abraham was called out. As for instance, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, being in the land, which we know means the Church, signify the hereditary evils and falsities coming from those whose external rules. Their external state needs to vastated of evils and falsities. Again, the Amorites signifies the evil that these falsities originate from, and which need to be subjugated. The Hivites and Jebusites are the idolism in which there is something of good and truth present, that is, the idols represent something of good and truth of the Lord. As you could know they correspond to something in Heaven. Though they had lost what that correspondence was.
Jehovah also appeared to the people that became this Church. We read about this in Exodus 17: verses 9 through 24. In verse 9, "And let them (the congregation) be prepared by the third day, for in that day, Jehovah will come down in the eyes of all people." By preparation is meant their sanctification so that they may appear in holiness, In other words, their external is but a covering of their interior. It should be point out, here, that this Church was actually not a Representative Church as was the Ancient, but was a Representative of a Church. To help explain this, Jacob who represents the exterior man of this Church and, so, the natural literal truth and, as such, is the appearance of truth. As Jacob became later called Israel and represented the Jewish Church or, in an internal sense, the Ancient Church that had became external. Again, this is affirmed in the Word as written by Amos 6:8 " Jehovah God hath sworn by Himself, saith the LORD the God of hosts, I abhor the Excellency of Jacob, and hate his palaces: therefore will I deliver up the city with all that is therein." This reveals that their love and faith is of what is false. Here, city signifies a false and evil doctrine. From Jacob are 12 sons. The ten sons of Jacob that were from Leah are the truths that are of that External Church. By the two sons of Rachel are meant the truths that are of that internal Church. In these can be seen temptations and combats in temptations, which make a man spiritual, that is, regenerates him. Thus, was Jacob named Israel, and from which comes this Third Church upon the earth the Israelitish and Jewish Church.