This morning's sermon is about the End of the World and the Second Coming of the Lord to the earth.

Many Churches believe that this world will end and the Lord will come to reign here on earth. Last year, before the year 2013 started, some gatherings of people talked about the near end of the world and the coming of the Lord. Most of the people in the year 2000 were sure that the Lord would come; but they did not see the Lord come. And from the beginning of the year 2000, every time the new year changes, there are many who are preparing for the Lord to come; but the Lord they were waiting for to come, and to see his face, did not come.

Is the prophecy about the Lord's second coming wrong? Are the Scriptures wrong?

No. The Holy Scriptures are from the Lord, so the contents are truths. The error lies in people's understanding of the mysterious words of the Lord.

The basis of many believers in their waiting is written in Acts 1:11 and in Matthew 24:29-39.

In Acts 1:11 it says this; "You men of Galilee, why are you standing looking at the sky. This Jesus who was received into heaven from you will come just as you saw him go to heaven."

In Matthew 24:29,30, it is said this way: "However, after the tribulation in those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall earth from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be lifted up; and then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the families of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming with clouds of heaven."

Because of these words, many believers are waiting for the end of the world and the second coming of God to the earth. Even the apostles of the Lord of their era were also waiting for the second coming of the Lord. James, in his preaching, prepares his students (to be ready) because the Lord is close to coming, that He may come at any moment. The apostle Paul also tells the people of Thessalonica that in their lifetime they will see the coming of the Lord, because it is written in Matthew 24:34-35; "Truly I say to you, this generation will not pass away, until all these things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away but my words will not." They "will by no means taste death until they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." (Matthew 16:28)

Because of these words, the apostles of the Lord also waited, but the Lord did not come in the age of the apostles. Until now, more than two thousand years ago, this prophecy has not yet been fulfilled, which can be seen by their eyes the coming of the Lord. And those who wait for the Second Coming of the Lord in person will continue to be disappointed, because it is impossible for these words to be fulfilled in the literal sense.

First: Where will the Lord come from if He descends here on earth and people's eyes can see Him? Where would He come from? In the Song of King David (Psalm 139:7-10) he said; “Where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, behold You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost part of the sea; There I will be guided by your hand……”

When it is said that you have arrived in a place, the place you went to is not there; but the Lord is divine and infinite. He is Omnipresent. He is everywhere. So where would He be coming from if the Lord is everywhere? So it presents a problem in the natural sense of the Lord's second coming to earth. But if the Second Coming of the Lord is explained in the spiritual sense, this prophecy will be clarified; "for the letter kills, but the spirit gives life," (2 Corinthians 3:6).

Second: the Lord was in His Holiness and Glory when He ascended into heaven. In His glorification the material body He assumed became immaterial and immortal, replacing the material substance with divine substance, so people cannot see him with their natural eyes.

Another problem about the concept that people will see Him when He comes literally, which is written in Matthew 24:29-30,

"Immediately after the tribulation,in those days, the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall to the earth from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be enraged; and then shall appear the sign of the son of man in heaven; and then all the families of the earth will mourn and they will see the Son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.”

We learned in science class in school that the stars are many, and bigger than the earth; that the earth is just a small planet. If the stars literally fell on the earth, the world will be crushed, and so will the people on the face of the earth.

Another problem taking this passage in the natural sense is, "the fact that the highest mountain is only visible from a comparatively small portion of the earth's surface;" that then the people who are on the opposite side of the earth will not see the descent of the Lord; and also the weather and time are different in different countries. For example, it's night in the USA, it's day in the Philippines, it's early morning in the rest of the world, and most people are still sleeping. So the literal fulfillment of the Second Coming of the Lord in Person will not happen.

Let us understand the First Coming of the Lord, to try to better understand His Second Coming. When the Lord was born in the town of Bethlehem, and the people saw it, that particular event was called the First Coming of the Lord. It does not mean that he came from another place when he was born in Bethlehem, but He manifested Himself in a new form, in a new way.

He took a body from the virgin Mary as a means wherein the Divine may manifest Himself to men in a new way, in a new form, in the form of flesh. (Luke 1:26-35)

At the First Coming, the invisible God became visible in the person of Jesus Christ, so that people could be saved. In His human incarnation, the body came from the Virgin Mary, including the sin and weakness of human flesh that he inherited. The Lord took our weakness and illnesses (Isaiah 53:4-6) and He fought and challenged the evil of the world. He overcame all the temptations that He went through, and all the impurities of the world were overcome. Thus, He sanctified His body inherited from the Virgin Mary, and His Body became purely divine. When He rose from the grave the body rose with it and nothing was left in the grave. The Passion of the Cross was the final temptation that He endured. His glorification and resurrection united His Human with His Divine.

So the question is how will the Lord in His deity, purely divine without any taint of evil, come down again to the dirty world and He will be seen by people, just like his first coming?

He is no longer in the flesh, and His material substance has been replaced by spiritual substance. So those who are waiting for His Second Coming that they will see with their natural sight, God coming down from heaven, will be disappointed.

And likewise there is a contradiction in the natural concept believed by those waiting for His coming. In Matthew 24:30 it is said "they will see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven...", and likewise in Mark 14:62. In the Old Testament, in Daniel 7:13, it says, "The Lord appeared in the clouds of heaven."

Whereas in John's Apocalypse 19:11, 13, 14, 16, it is said; “I saw the heavens open, and behold a white horse and he who sits on it is called Faithful and True and with reason he judges and and fights;... And the "armies of heaven follow him riding on white horses...."

We have here two different pictures of His Coming. In one, He is a valiant horseman riding a white horse, and the armies of heaven follow him, also on white horses. But in Matthew and Mark it is pictured that He was coming alone in the clouds of heaven.

Which of these two scenarios is correct? That He will come with the armies of heaven following him; or He will come alone in the clouds of heaven?

Literally, these two predictions with different scenarios are hard to reconcile. But if it is enlightened in the spiritual sense or internal sense that opens the mystery of the Word of the Lord, this contradiction will be resolved and we will see that there is no contradiction between these two scenarios.

The horse signifies understanding of the Word in the internal sense.

In Apocalypse 6, John witnessed that when the Lamb opened the Book that was sealed with seven seals, what came out were horses; white, red, black and pale. Each color of the horses has a meaning in the internal sense. The white horse (white horse) signifies the true understanding of the Word.

Remember that "the Word became a man that the Word is God and dwelt among us," (John 1:1, 14) and He, the Word, was born in a stable and laid in a manger where horses are being fed; and horses signify the understanding of the Word.

The horse is used as a symbol that transports to different places; "just so, the understanding of the Word, is the means by which we are carried from one spiritual truth to another." We see Him with the eyes of our understanding, and His name is called the Word of God, (Apocalypse 19:13).

If the truth is understood, it is what gives light to our thoughts; and we see Him with the eyes of our understanding, and this spiritual light is the Lord riding on the white horse and His name is called, the Word of God. (Apocalypse 19:13)

The clouds in the sky are made up of small water particles; and water corresponds to truth. So the clouds of heaven represent the gathering together of these truths, especially in the literal sense of the Word. That He is seen coming in the clouds of heaven means "He is seen in the literal sense of the Word, which as it were, opens to our sight, our understanding, and being perceived, the Lord rides into our hearts and minds on a white horse.”

Therefore these two visions: that the Lord will come "riding on a white horse with armies following him also riding on white horses, and His coming alone, riding on the clouds of heaven", in the spiritual sense is the same, and without contradiction.

In the Lord's First Coming, by incarnation, He came in a new form, in the form of flesh. He achieved all that could be accomplished by a life in the flesh, and the glorification of His body. But He said in the Book of John (John 16:12-13) "I have many things to say to you, but now you cannot bear it. So if he, the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all truth; for he will not speak from himself; but whatever things he hears, these he will answer; and he will reveal to you the things to come.”

He is indicating in this passage, that there are many things that he cannot teach and implement, because of the state of men's mind at that time and men's vision of Him in the flesh; but only by revealing His inner spirit, the spirit of truth.

We, as New Church people, believe that the Lord used Emanuel Swedenborg as a person who could reveal new truths, at the time when the world was ready again, and needed them. He could be instrumental, similarly to Moses, expressing the truth of God's Words that are mysterious and difficult to comprehend by the human mind alone.

The Lord told Nicodemus that it is necessary for man to be born again in order to be spiritual. His mother must give birth to him, and then, he must be born of water and of the spirit. He told him that it was not a rebirth in the flesh, but a rebirth from water and spirit. (John 3:3-8).

In a similar way, it is necessary for man to see the Lord, not only as to the flesh, but also to see Him as to His spirit. At the First Coming, the Lord came in a human body that people could see; in His Second Coming, He gives men a Body of Truth to discern the truth that cannot be realized in the literal sense of the Word. So the Lord's Second Coming has already been fulfilled, by revealing the truth in the internal sense through Emanuel Swedenborg, who in the natural sense will not reconcile.

In John's Apocalypse, (Apocalypse 19:11, 13, 14, 16) he said, "I saw the heavens open; and behold, a white horse; and he who sits on it is called faithful and true; and in rightly he judges and fights." "And he was clothed with a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called "The Word of God"; and the armies of heaven follow him, who ride on a white horse, and are clothed in fine linen, white and pure. And he has a name written on his garment and on his thigh; King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

Therefore those who are waiting for the Second Coming of the Lord to the face of the earth in person who will see Him with natural eyes, they will be disappointed in their waiting.

So what is said to be the Lord's return to the world, is not this world He referred to. For the Lord also created a world, set in our hearts, where He could come down and make it His kingdom (Ecclesiastes 3:11), "He made every thing beautiful in that age; he also put the world in their hearts, so that man cannot fathom the works that God has done from the beginning to the end."

The end of the world, is if the beautiful things created by the Lord placed in the heart, are destroyed, such as love, virtues and knowledge heavenly feelings that God placed in man from his childhood, that in New Church are called "remains". If those are destroyed, it will be the end of the world. When the love and faith and things of innocence that are set in the hearts of men are destroyed, that is the end of their world. So for me the end of the world is a personal thing; as well as the Second Coming. To the New Churchmen the Second Coming has happened and has taken place.

The world that is placed in the heart is what God will bring down, because God is the Word, who became a man, so that people can be saved. (John 1:1, 14)

Those who receive the Word of the Lord in truth and spiritually, and this is fulfilled in their lives, they "see" God.

"Blessed are the pure in heart because they will see God." (Matthew 5:8)

Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:6, "The letter kills, but the spirit gives life."

Those who have understood the internal sense of the Lord's mysterious words that contained the whole love of God and faith in God, and made it the policy of their lives; the Lord came to them and they saw the Lord not in the flesh, not in person, but in truth, by revealing His inner spirit, the spirit of truth. Just as at the First Coming, the Lord gave men a body of flesh to behold, now at His Second Coming, He gives men a body of truth.

The Lord said to the Pharisees, "the kingdom of God is not here to be seen, the kingdom of God is within you." (Luke 17:20, 21)

This harmonizes perfectly with the idea that the Lord becomes present by a greater understanding of the Word, which will lead us to a deeper affections and greater wisdom, such as is signified by the Rider on the white horse; and it makes one with the picture of the Lord coming with glory in the clouds of the literal sense of the Word, which are the clouds of heaven.”

This world that people live in will not disappear, will not end; it will remain forever, as the mouth of the Lord said and the Lord promised Abraham (Genesis 18:23-33), and the Lord also promised Noah after the great flood.

So let us study the Lord's Words patiently, and plant them in our hearts and keep them, and fulfill them with joy, so that the Lord who is His Word, therefore love and truth, will reign in our hearts and in our lives and living and be the guide of our souls in this life and the next life.

PRAISE THE LORD

Sermon by Rev. Merlita Rogers,

New Church in Samal, Bataan, Philippines

Delivered May 23, 2010

Revised in Tagalish, September 7, 2013

Machine-translated into English, and edited, 2022.

(References: Luke 1:11)