1. True Christianity

Containing a Comprehensive Theology of the New Heaven and the New Church

The Faith of the New Heaven and the New Church

THE faith of the new heaven and the new church is stated here in both universal and specific forms to serve as the face of the work that follows, the doorway that allows entry into the temple, and the summary that in one way or another contains all the details to follow. I say "the faith of the new heaven and the new church" because heaven, where there are angels, and the church, in which there are people, act together like the inner and the outer levels in a human being. People in the church who love what is good because they believe what is true and who believe what is true because they love what is good are angels of heaven with regard to the inner levels of their minds. After death they come into heaven, and enjoy happiness there according to the relationship between their love and their faith. It is important to know that the new heaven that the Lord is establishing today has this faith as its face, doorway, and summary.

221. 5. The exteriors of the Temple in Jerusalem, as well, represented the types of good and truth that exist in the Word's literal meaning. The Temple represented heaven and the church just as the tabernacle did, although the Temple meant the heaven where the spiritual angels are, while the tabernacle meant the heaven where the heavenly angels are. Spiritual angels have wisdom because of the Word. Heavenly angels have love because of the Word.

The Lord himself teaches in John that in its highest meaning the Temple at Jerusalem stood for the Lord's divine-human manifestation:

"Break this temple in pieces and I will raise it in three days. " He was speaking of the temple of his body. (John 2:19, 21)

When something means the Lord it also means the Word, because he is the Word.

Since the interiors of the Temple represented the inner parts of heaven and the church, and the inner parts of the Word as well, its exteriors in turn represented and meant the outer parts of heaven and the church, and the outer parts of the Word as well, which belong to its literal meaning. We read of the exteriors of the Temple that they were built of whole, uncut stone, with cedar on the inside face; all the walls were carved on the inside with angel guardians, palm trees, and open flowers; and the floor was overlaid with gold (1 Kings 6:7, 29-30). All these details stand for the outer parts of the Word, which are holy aspects of its literal meaning.

777. The Lord is the Word, as is very clear from the following statement in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. And the Word became flesh. (John 1:1, 14)

In this passage the Word means divine truth, because the Word is the only source of divine truth for Christians. The Word is the spring from which all the churches named for Christ draw living water in all its fullness. Admittedly, the church is in a cloud when it focuses on the Word's earthly meaning; but it is in glory and power when it focuses on the Word's spiritual and heavenly meaning. (The fact that the Word contains three levels of meaning, the earthly meaning, the spiritual meaning inside that earthly meaning, and the heavenly meaning inside that spiritual meaning, has been demonstrated in the chapter on the Sacred Scripture and in the chapter on the Ten Commandments or the catechism.)

This makes it clear that "the Word" in John means divine truth. John gives further testimony to the same effect in his first Epistle:

We know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, so that we may know the truth. And we are in the truth in his Son Jesus Christ. (1 John 5:20)

This is also why the Lord often says, "Amen I say to you. " "Amen" in Hebrew means "the truth. " In fact, the Lord is "the Amen" (see Revelation 3:14) and "the Truth" (John 14:6).

When you ask church scholars of today what "the Word" means in John 1:1, they say it means "the supreme power of the Word. " What else gives the Word supreme power but its divine truth?

[2] All this makes it clear that the Lord is now going to appear in the Word.

The reason he will not be appearing in person is that ever since he ascended into heaven, he has been in his glorified human manifestation. In this he cannot appear before any human beings unless he has first opened the eyes of their spirit. The eyes of the spirit cannot be opened in people who are engaged in evils and falsities - in any of the goats, whom he placed on his left [Matthew 25:33]. Therefore whenever he showed himself to his disciples, he first opened their eyes. We read, "And their eyes were opened and they recognized him, but he became invisible to them" (Luke 24:31). A similar thing happened with the women who were by his tomb after he had risen; this is why they were able to see angels sitting in the tomb and hear them speaking with them. No one can see angels through physical eyes.

Even before the Lord rose, it was not the apostles' physical eyes but their spiritual eyes that saw the Lord in his glorified human manifestation; after they came out of that state, they appeared to themselves to have been asleep. This is clear from the Lord's transfiguration in the presence of Peter, James, and John and the fact that they were then "heavy with sleep" (Luke 9:32). Therefore it is foolish to believe that the Lord is going to appear in person in a cloud of heaven; instead he is going to appear in the Word, since the Word is from him, and he is the Word.