We observe, nonetheless, that there are many today whose life is probably no better than those who lived long ago when the Lord first established the Christian Church. In fact, most Christians are waiting and even hoping the Lord to come again and to set up His kingdom on earth. They see the evil in the world in men and look forward to the Lord's return, that evil is overcome, and that mankind lives in peace. Why is this? Well, remember the Lord said He was going away to prepare a place for them and, then, He would come again and receive them to Himself. Then, after He said this, after the disciples, Thomas and Philip - had questioned Him as to what He meant. He said that a Comforter or a Helper, which we learn was the Spirit of Truth, the Holy Spirit would come. You can say it was the Lord's Spirit when He was united with the Father and had become the Divine Human that would come, for hadn't the Lord said He was the 'Truth' and the 'Life'? He, of course, told them that at that time they would know that He was in His Father and they were in Him, and He in them and that this would be known to all those who keep His commandments, who love Him, and that He is loved by the Father and that He will manifest Himself to all those who follow His precepts.
So, we learn that a Comforter, a Helper would come and teach us all things, things that they could not know then. We may ask the question, why could man not know these things? The Lord had come and established His Church. Why was it necessary that He should come again? From most Christian's perspective today, they believe the Lord Jesus Christ had to die in order to save man and, of course, He from all appearances did die, but He arose from death and His physical body was glorified, becoming one with the Divine within Him, that is, with the Father. We also know that He did not remain on earth with His newly established Church and continue with them in His Natural body. The Lord truly overcame death. Could it be that the Lord had not overcome evil and so saved man? Or was it that His work of salvation was still unfinished? What more needed to be done?
Now, probably, most Christians believe that there will come a time when the end of the ages (sometimes written as end of the world) would come, where there would be a great battle fought between those in hell with those of the Lord's kingdom (an army of angels) and that, then, the Lord would come on earth and after that a new Heaven and a new earth would appear. Of course, there are various renditions of this happening according to the various Church doctrines. Most Christians still wait for and expect this event and so did those before them. Are they waiting in vane? Has the Lord come in Truth and they like the Jews not seen Him? The Lord had told the disciples that He would come again in the Spirit of Truth and that they would then understand clearly. And, we just saw that this meant He would come in Truth, in the Spirit of Truth, and in Good, the very proceeding that brings true life to man would come. If the Lord comes again in Spiritual Truth and Good as we learned He said He would, then doesn't He come into a man's heart and soul, into His will and his understanding immediately as He did to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise? Now, we know that the devil and all of hell wants to rule us. We know that today the devil 'as it were' goes around devouring whomever he can and that many fall into an evil life, and have taken up or follow evil ways.
Is not this just the same as when the Israelitish Church, God's chosen people, had waited for a time when the Messiah would come? The world was steeped in sin and evil and we find that even the Israelitish Church then on earth had turned from true worship. And, isn't this what many of the Prophets were saying? The Lord had even shown His anger to what they had done to the temple - having turned it into a den of thieves. What is pointed out here is that they did not accept the Lord's coming even with all their scholars and scribes who studied the Word. Could it be that the Christian Church has also rejected the Lord's coming again? Could it be that their understanding of the Word like the Israelites who over looked the passages that taught the Lord's Coming and could not recognize His coming? The Jewish Church rejects the New Testament as the Word of God. Perhaps they had read in the prophets where it is said that to add or to take away from the things written in the Old Testament is to add to one's self evils and taken to mean that there are no more Truths to be written - in this case meaning the New Testament. The same words are often quoted from Revelation by Christians to show grounds for not accepting that another written Word has come from the Lord.
The question is how does the Spirit of Truth teach us all things and bring all things into remembrance? How does the Spirit of Truth testify of Jesus? Of course, it is only though the Word, the Truth that one learns truths. And, since the Word no longer can come through perception to man from within, then the Word, as we have shown, comes through our natural sense, and thus, through the reading and studying the written Word, However, it is only understood literally not spiritually. Now, if you read the Word from its literal or natural sense, you will only come to understand it accordingly. And, as was said, things that come through the natural senses become distorted, because there is the love of self and the love of worldly things. They, in fact, make the truths to be only apparent truths. That is why there are different doctrinal beliefs; one sees it this way, another that way and, so, over the years many different groups claim their doctrine is true, etc.
Therefore, unless there is a new Word that has come that reveals what the Word - the Old and the New Testaments - signifies in Heaven, that is, to reveal the spiritual or internal sense, and then these spiritual truths will remain hidden to man. We can see that unless the Lord had chosen certain men, disciples and others, to write the New Testament, the Christian Church would not be able to understand what was meant by many things in the Old, especially those things that applied to the Lord and its worship would remain as is the Jewish Church's worship. So, too, unless there is a new Word, now, come on earth, the things of both the Old and the New Testaments will remain hidden, and its spiritual sense unrevealed.
Before mankind fell from grace, he could understand through perception and, thus, he could understand spiritual and celestial truths. We, today, only understand truths naturally. However, we can understand spiritual things through representatives and significations. Now, hasn't the Lord spoken through parables or proverbs and when the disciples asked Him what He meant, He explained it by representatives and significations or correspondences and, thus, a more interior sense could be seen by them? The fact that in both the Old and the New Testaments there are many parts, especially in the Prophets and in Revelation, where we know there are things written there that meant or represent something other than what is written. The mere fact that there are people who look for a key 'as it were' where by hidden truths are found indicates that the Word understood in its literal sense lacks the true meaning. The problem with this is that men are lead by their love of wanting to know from their selves, not from the Lord, that is, they want the knowledge of good and evil themselves so that their eyes become opened and know as God knows, not from God, but from their selves. Isn't this what the serpent said to Eve if she ate of the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of good and evil? "&…;.then shall your eyes be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil".
So, we learn that a Comforter, a Helper would come and teach us all things, things that they could not know then. We may ask the question, why could man not know these things? The Lord had come and established His Church. Why was it necessary that He should come again? From most Christian's perspective today, they believe the Lord Jesus Christ had to die in order to save man and, of course, He from all appearances did die, but He arose from death and His physical body was glorified, becoming one with the Divine within Him, that is, with the Father. We also know that He did not remain on earth with His newly established Church and continue with them in His Natural body. The Lord truly overcame death. Could it be that the Lord had not overcome evil and so saved man? Or was it that His work of salvation was still unfinished? What more needed to be done?
Now, probably, most Christians believe that there will come a time when the end of the ages (sometimes written as end of the world) would come, where there would be a great battle fought between those in hell with those of the Lord's kingdom (an army of angels) and that, then, the Lord would come on earth and after that a new Heaven and a new earth would appear. Of course, there are various renditions of this happening according to the various Church doctrines. Most Christians still wait for and expect this event and so did those before them. Are they waiting in vane? Has the Lord come in Truth and they like the Jews not seen Him? The Lord had told the disciples that He would come again in the Spirit of Truth and that they would then understand clearly. And, we just saw that this meant He would come in Truth, in the Spirit of Truth, and in Good, the very proceeding that brings true life to man would come. If the Lord comes again in Spiritual Truth and Good as we learned He said He would, then doesn't He come into a man's heart and soul, into His will and his understanding immediately as He did to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Paradise? Now, we know that the devil and all of hell wants to rule us. We know that today the devil 'as it were' goes around devouring whomever he can and that many fall into an evil life, and have taken up or follow evil ways.
Is not this just the same as when the Israelitish Church, God's chosen people, had waited for a time when the Messiah would come? The world was steeped in sin and evil and we find that even the Israelitish Church then on earth had turned from true worship. And, isn't this what many of the Prophets were saying? The Lord had even shown His anger to what they had done to the temple - having turned it into a den of thieves. What is pointed out here is that they did not accept the Lord's coming even with all their scholars and scribes who studied the Word. Could it be that the Christian Church has also rejected the Lord's coming again? Could it be that their understanding of the Word like the Israelites who over looked the passages that taught the Lord's Coming and could not recognize His coming? The Jewish Church rejects the New Testament as the Word of God. Perhaps they had read in the prophets where it is said that to add or to take away from the things written in the Old Testament is to add to one's self evils and taken to mean that there are no more Truths to be written - in this case meaning the New Testament. The same words are often quoted from Revelation by Christians to show grounds for not accepting that another written Word has come from the Lord.
The question is how does the Spirit of Truth teach us all things and bring all things into remembrance? How does the Spirit of Truth testify of Jesus? Of course, it is only though the Word, the Truth that one learns truths. And, since the Word no longer can come through perception to man from within, then the Word, as we have shown, comes through our natural sense, and thus, through the reading and studying the written Word, However, it is only understood literally not spiritually. Now, if you read the Word from its literal or natural sense, you will only come to understand it accordingly. And, as was said, things that come through the natural senses become distorted, because there is the love of self and the love of worldly things. They, in fact, make the truths to be only apparent truths. That is why there are different doctrinal beliefs; one sees it this way, another that way and, so, over the years many different groups claim their doctrine is true, etc.
Therefore, unless there is a new Word that has come that reveals what the Word - the Old and the New Testaments - signifies in Heaven, that is, to reveal the spiritual or internal sense, and then these spiritual truths will remain hidden to man. We can see that unless the Lord had chosen certain men, disciples and others, to write the New Testament, the Christian Church would not be able to understand what was meant by many things in the Old, especially those things that applied to the Lord and its worship would remain as is the Jewish Church's worship. So, too, unless there is a new Word, now, come on earth, the things of both the Old and the New Testaments will remain hidden, and its spiritual sense unrevealed.
Before mankind fell from grace, he could understand through perception and, thus, he could understand spiritual and celestial truths. We, today, only understand truths naturally. However, we can understand spiritual things through representatives and significations. Now, hasn't the Lord spoken through parables or proverbs and when the disciples asked Him what He meant, He explained it by representatives and significations or correspondences and, thus, a more interior sense could be seen by them? The fact that in both the Old and the New Testaments there are many parts, especially in the Prophets and in Revelation, where we know there are things written there that meant or represent something other than what is written. The mere fact that there are people who look for a key 'as it were' where by hidden truths are found indicates that the Word understood in its literal sense lacks the true meaning. The problem with this is that men are lead by their love of wanting to know from their selves, not from the Lord, that is, they want the knowledge of good and evil themselves so that their eyes become opened and know as God knows, not from God, but from their selves. Isn't this what the serpent said to Eve if she ate of the forbidden fruit of the knowledge of good and evil? "&…;.then shall your eyes be opened, and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil".