A New Church for a New Age
"But be ye glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy." Isaiah 65:10
Additional lessons: Revelation 21:1-17
On every hand we see change. Scientific discoveries and theories follow each other almost as quickly as the morning papers. In philosophy, art, industry, and in every other branch of human interest we cannot fail to see rapid developments. There is also a change taking place in the moral and spiritual outlook of the peoples of the earth.
The world is passing through the melting pot of trouble and distress, and out of it we may expect to see a new civilization arise, leaving behind it something of the dross of the ages of the past; the social, political, industrial, and international confusion and unrest are the outward signs of a deeper spiritual crisis through which the world is passing. And out of the chaos of war, with its inevitable aftermath, the dislocation of trade, the virtual bankruptcy of nations, the rise of many different schools of thought, there is seen the hope of a new kind of life and new ideals.
When it is asked how is this new and better world to be realized, we need to remember that it is not in the power of man of himself to bring it about. There must be a new turning to the Lord, a new knowledge of Him, and the effort to do His will.
Many persons look for a continued progression of the human race and a high state of civilization at some remote period, to be brought about by science and human reason unaided. But the Word of God gives us a different and a far better assurance. Such a time will come, but it must descend out of heaven from God, Who is the Author of all good. Human self-sufficiency would often desire to originate improvements, and to be its own savior, but man is only a receiver. He can improve only as he receives what the Lord offers to give. And this is the testimony of experience. Those who received the Gospel at the Lord's first coming were elevated and saved by it, and those who receive the truths of the New Jerusalem may walk in its light and be happy. But it must never be forgotten that the New Jerusalem descends from God. It does not originate with man. Nor can it be forced upon man.
We were created that we might come into a knowledge of the Lord and live according to His laws in order that He might bestow His blessings upon us, and that we might communicate these blessings to others. Most of the blessings that the Lord bestows upon us He bestows through the instrumentality of man. He is really the Giver of all things; but for our happiness, that we may have something of His joy in ourselves, He imparts His gifts through the useful offices for which He has endowed us with our various capacities, training, and circumstances.
The Lord could, if it were not a violation of His order, force us and all men to do His will and to live in peace. He could reveal to us the secrets of nature, so that our minds would not have to work. He could show us clearly all things we need to know. But this would destroy all our capacities, prevent us from obtaining any strength of mind or character, and make us slaves. There would be no joy in such a life. We should be mere automatons.
We recall that in the creation story man was placed in the Garden of Eden. He was not to live there in idleness. He was to tend the garden and keep it. It was not his own. Ansd above all he should not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for if he ate of it he would die. This, we know, means that man must not look to himself as the source of goodness and truth. Always must he look to the Lord, learn and do His will.
It is for this purpose that the Lord established His Church upon the earth. It prospers and is blessed when it is faithful to its mission, and when it fails, human life is thrown into confusion. The confusion and unrest of the world are due to a forsaking of the Lord. Wrong ideas of the Lord and of His Word remove Him from us. The one purpose for which man was created is lost to view, and darkness enshrouds the mind.
The New Church stands for a new knowledge of the Lord revealed in His Second Coming. There have been several different epochs in the history of the world. Each ended in spiritual disaster which led to physical disaster. The first is portrayed in the story of the flood. The result was the degeneration of man into savagery, out of which some peoples are now just beginning to emerge.
The second ended in polytheism and idolatry, which led to the destruction of the mighty empires of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Persia, and Greece. The third ended with the fall of Rome and the Dark Ages. We are now in the beginning of the fifth age, and witnessing the last stages of the destruction of the fourth. Is this to go on forever? No. One of the wonderful things about this new age into which we have entered is that it is to have no end. From now on we can look forward to continual improvement until the kingdoms of this world become the "kingdoms of the Lord and of His Christ."
No human ingenuity can bring this about. The forces at work in the world, inspiring in the hearts of men the desire for a universal brotherhood of mankind are from the Lord. They are the effect of the new truths revealed in the Second Coming, as they are received in the minds and hearts of men. The improvement of the world will be accomplished through those men and women who acknowledge Him in His Second Coming.
First we must have a clear idea of God. The teaching of the New Church is clear. The Lord Jesus Christ glorified is the one and only God of heaven and earth. The Father is in Him; the Holy Spirit is from Him. He is Jehovah become our Redeemer and Savior. THe teaching is clear and not contradictory. It conforms to the whole of Scripture. A child can be taught it. There is nothing in it that he will have to unlearn, and he can increase in the understanding of it forever. God is shown to be a God of love and mercy, Whom we can love and trust and not fear.
And now it is given us to see that His Word is Truth. It is Divine Wisdom clothed in human language. Inmostly it treats of the Lord, and in it He speaks directly to us. In it the way of life is revealed. The mind need no longer be shrouded in doubt.
The teachings of the New Church concerning the future life are equally distinctive and clear. The spiritual world is no longer seen as severed from this world, but as the final goal of human life. The resurrection takes place, not at some future "last day," but immediately upon the death of the body, and we come into a real world. We possess substantial bodies. Men and women live there in societies as they do here. In heaven these societies are perfected human societies, where the inhabitants have greater powers of body and mind than they have here. It is a place to which we may look forward with joy, a place where alone our highest possibilities and happiness can be fulfilled.
Truths concerning the Lord, the Word, and the future life are essentials to human progress. Our age prides itself somewhat on its tolerance, and particularly on religious tolerance; and religious freedom is one of the four freedoms for which we say we have fought. Truly there can be no religion that is not free, for coercion would destroy all its reality; it would not be embraced by the affections.
But this tolerance should not lead us into the assumption that all forms of religion are equally valid and equally good, or cause us to say that it does not matter what a man believes. It matters vitally what we believe, for what we really believe directs our lives. We need truths in every aspect of life, truth in government, truth in education, and especially truth about the Lord.
Truth concerning nature and our external activities is increasing at an amazing rate. That very real benefits will result can be taken for granted. But real progress in civilization and human welfare cannot be effected by external improvements alone, however far-reaching they may be.
Only as we progress spiritually, develop the higher qualities of our minds, increase our wisdom and good affections can we gain the victory over the evils that bring misery, conflict, and war. False standards, false maxims and principles of life must be seen in their true colors, and the truth established in their place.
The power of the Lord through His truth is the only means of healing and restoring sanity to the world. Truth is the only power that can change human nature, the truth that the lord revealed, the Rider on the white horse, going forth conquering and to conquer. These truths have been revealed because no human ingenuity or schemes can suffice to bring security and peace to our souls or to the world. For this reason the teachings of the Second Advent were given. Their message is necessary to the well-being of all mankind.
John saw in vision a city descending from God out of heaven because in the Word a city is the symbol of the Church as to its teaching. It pictures the Church as to its ability to receive and to impart the truths of religion from the Lord Who is its central light, the origin of all truth. A city is more than its buildings and streets. The real city is the intelligence, the desires, and the aspirations of those who live therein. So Sodom and Gomorrah were called cities of iniquity, but Jerusalem a city of truth.
A doctrine of faith and life that will enable us to live and work, a doctrine that disturbs nothing but darkness, which banishes mystery, and lifts our thoughts from things purely material to the eternal values, showing us how to live that the Lord may be present with us and bless us, is indeed the Holy City.
And it is solely for our good that these truths have been revealed. We read in the Writings, "The man who is regenerated is not deprived of the pleasures of the body and of the mind, for he enjoys it more fully after regeneration than before." We have only to live within the city to find out and to proclaim with gladness its truth.
We are all of us concerned about our Church, which teachest these things. We see an apparent outward decline, and may imagine that the Church is dying or being absorbed into the former Church. Let us not make this mistake. The New Church is just it its beginning. It is passing through the inevitable temptations which always beset a new spiritual beginning in the world or in any one of us as an individual.The New Church is really a new system of truth revealed by the Lord in His Word to meet the needs of the new age.
Of this new Jerusalem the Lord said, "I will defend this city for mine own sake."
