Das Konzept einer "Kirche" in den Schriften ist sowohl komplex als auch schön organisch, verbunden mit Lehren über die Natur des Herrn und die daraus resultierende Natur des Menschen.

Die Schriften sagen, dass der Herr in seinem Wesen - seiner eigentlichen Substanz - vollkommene, unendliche Liebe ist, eine Liebe, die die Schöpfung antreibt, die die letzte Quelle der Wirklichkeit ist und die die Wirklichkeit ständig aufrechterhält. Diese Liebe drückt sich in der Form als vollkommene, unendliche Weisheit aus, die der Schöpfung Gestalt gab und der Wirklichkeit Gestalt verleiht.

Tiefes Zeug! Darüber können Sie an anderer Stelle mehr lesen, aber was hier zählt, ist, dass die gesamte Schöpfung, von den kleinsten Elementen bis hin zum gesamten Universum, dieselbe Struktur widerspiegelt. Sie ist in der Natur selbst vorhanden, angetrieben von der Wärme (Liebe) und dem Licht (Weisheit) der Sonne. Sie ist in den wesentlichen Lebensformen präsent, wobei Pflanzen (die verwurzelt sind; die sich wenig verändern; die gefühllos sind; die vom Licht angetrieben werden) Elemente der Weisheit und Tiere (warm, gefühlvoll, beweglich, sich ständig verändernd, angetrieben von Wärme) Formen der Liebe darstellen. Sie ist in der nahezu universellen Einteilung in männliche (Weisheit) und weibliche (Liebe) Aspekte von Pflanzen und Tieren gleichermaßen präsent.

Diese Struktur ist auch in jedem von uns vorhanden. In der gemeinsamen Sprache könnten wir diese unsere Herzen und unseren Verstand nennen - was wir wollen und was wir denken. Die Schriften sprechen gewöhnlich von ihnen als gut (Liebe; was wir in unseren Herzen wollen) und als Wahrheit (Weisheit; was wir in unseren Köpfen wissen) oder als Wille (Herz) und Verstand (Geist). Diese Elemente definieren uns nicht nur, sie sind auch der Schlüssel zu unserem geistlichen Schicksal. Wir können sie benutzen, um die Liebe des Herrn anzunehmen, zum Wohl des Lebens zu kommen und schließlich in den Himmel zu kommen. Wir können sie auch benutzen, um die Liebe des Herrn zurückzuweisen und in die Hölle zu trotten.

Und es gibt weitere Schichten. Die Schriften sagen, dass alle menschlichen Gesellschaften in menschlicher Gestalt sind, mit Funktionen, die dem menschlichen Körper entsprechen. Dies gilt von kleinen Gruppen wie Familien über große Unternehmen bis hin zu ganzen Nationen und letztlich sowohl für die gesamte Menschheit in dieser Welt als auch für die Gesamtheit des Himmels in der nächsten.

Zu den wichtigsten menschlichen Gesellschaften gehören natürlich die Kirchen. Da das Konzept der "Kirche" jedoch auf der menschlichen Form basiert, können Kirchen, wie sie in den Schriften erwähnt werden, viele Formen annehmen. Am einen Ende der Skala ist jeder Mensch, der wahre Vorstellungen von richtig und falsch hat und danach lebt, selbst eine Kirche. Am anderen Ende der Skala bilden alle diejenigen in der ganzen Welt, die an die Nächstenliebe glauben - und aus diesem Glauben heraus handeln - gemeinsam eine Kirche.

Viele andere Varianten liegen zwischen diesen beiden Extremen, aber die meisten Hinweise auf "Kirche" in den Schriften bedeuten die Gemeinschaft derer, die das Wort haben, den Herrn kennen und seine Gebote befolgen. Diese Menschen haben Zugang zur bestmöglichen Wahrheit und zum tiefstmöglichen Verständnis über das Wesen des Herrn und darüber, was er von uns will.

Eine solche Kirche spielt eine wichtige Rolle: Der Herr wirkt durch sie, um Ideen über das Gutsein in die Köpfe der Menschen zu bringen und den Wunsch, gut zu sein, in das Innere ihres Herzens zu tragen, wobei er weit über diese Kirche selbst hinausgeht, um jeden in der Welt zu berühren. Tatsächlich sagen die Schriften, dass es im Wesentlichen eine Ehe zwischen dem Herrn und der Kirche gibt, wobei die Kirche in der Rolle der Braut und Ehefrau wahre Ideen und gute Wünsche hervorbringt, so wie eine Frau Kinder produziert.

Um diese Funktion zu schützen, hat der Herr dafür gesorgt, dass es im Laufe der Geschichte (und ein gutes Stück Vorgeschichte) immer eine Kirche gab, die diese Rolle ausfüllte.

Die erste davon war die älteste Kirche, vertreten durch Adam; sie war von der Liebe des Herrn inspiriert. Die zweite war die Alte Kirche, vertreten durch Noah; sie war inspiriert von der Nächstenliebe und der Erkenntnis des Herrn. Die dritte war die israelitische Kirche, die keine innere Liebe zum Guten hatte, sondern die Ideen des Herrn bewahrte. Die vierte war die primitive christliche Kirche, die ein neues, direkteres Verständnis hatte, das auf den Lehren des Herrn beruhte. Die fünfte soll nach den Schriften auf dem tieferen Verständnis beruhen, das die Schriften und ihre Erklärungen der Bibel bieten.

Es gibt noch viel mehr zu sagen, aber wir wollen nur einen weiteren Punkt hervorheben:

Wir als Individuen sind das, was wir sind, basierend auf dem, was wir lieben, und nicht auf dem, was wir wissen. Wir werden in den Himmel oder in die Hölle kommen, basierend auf dem, was wir lieben, und nicht auf dem, was wir wissen. Wissen, Denken und Wahrheitssuche sind wichtige Dinge, aber ihr Zweck ist es, unsere Liebe zu formen, zu leiten und ihr zu dienen; Liebe ist letztendlich das, was zählt. In den Schriften wird reichlich und wiederholt deutlich, dass es mit den Kirchen genauso ist: Sie basieren letztlich auf Liebe, nicht auf Wissen, auf ihrer Entschlossenheit, dem Nächsten zu dienen, nicht auf ihren äußeren Formen der Anbetung. Und wenn die Kirchen das gemeinsame Ziel teilen, dem Nächsten zu dienen, dann sind sie im Wesentlichen eins, wobei Abweichungen in der Lehre nur von geringer Bedeutung sind.

(Verweise: Enthüllte Offenbarung 533; Himmlischen Geheimnissen 407, 768, 1799 [3-4], 2048, 2853 [2-3], 2910, 2982, 3310, 3773, 3963 [2], 4292, 4672, 4723, 5826 [2-3], 6637, 6648, 8152, 9256 [4-5], 9276 [2]; Die Eheliche Liebe 116; Himmel und Hölle 57; The Word 8; die Lehre von der Heiligen Schrift 99, 104)

9276. 'And whatever is left by them let the wild animal of the field eat' means being joined through them to those immersed in the delights that go with external truth. This is clear from the meaning of 'whatever is left by them', that is to say, by 'the needy of the people', as that which is left and so remains after them, but at this point that which is received through them since the subject is the Church's being joined to those who possess few truths, and also here being joined to those immersed in the delights that go with external truth (the Church is joined to the latter through the former, as will be seen below); from the meaning of 'eating' as communicating and being joined together, dealt with immediately above in 9275; and from the meaning of 'the wild animal of the field' as those immersed in the delights that go with external truth. For in the Word affections for truth and good are meant by 'beasts', affections for internal truth and good being meant by 'beasts belonging to the flock', and affections for external truth and good being meant by 'beasts belonging to the herd'. But 'wild animals' are the kinds of affections that are drawn towards most external truth; for these affections compared with internal ones are 'wild animals', since they are the affections that belong to the level of the senses, and are called lowly pleasures and delights. They are delights that go with truth and not so much with good, the reason for this being that the senses, which are in direct contact with the world through the body, derive scarcely anything from spiritual good; for bodily and worldly kinds of love reside especially on the sensory level.

Affections for truth and good are meant in the Word by 'beasts', see 45, 46, 142, 143, 246, 714, 715, 719, 776, 1823, 2180, 2781, 3218, 3519, 5198, 9090.

Affections for internal truth and good are meant by 'beasts belonging to the flock', and affections for external truth and good by 'beasts belonging to the herd', 5913, 8937, 9135.

The senses are in contact with the world, being the most external powers of the mind, 4009, 5077, 5089, 5094, 5125, 5128, 5767, 6183, 6201, 6310, 6311, 6313, 6315, 6318, 6564, 6598, 6612, 6614, 6622, 6624, 6844, 6845, 6948, 6949, 7442, 7693, 9212, 9216.

From all that is shown in these places one can see what the sensory level of a person's mind compared with more internal levels is like, namely like a wild animal.

[2] The present verse deals in the internal sense with those who are governed by the good of charity, then with those who possess few truths and still have a desire to receive instruction, and after that with those who are immersed in the delights that go with external truth. These three groups of people constitute the Church. Those governed by the good of charity constitute the internal part of the Church, whereas those who possess few truths and still wish to receive instruction, thus who derive from good an affection for truth, constitute the external part of the Church. But those immersed in the delights that go with external truth are the most external; they so to speak form the perimeter and enclose the Church.

[3] Heaven is joined to the human race, that is, the Lord coming by way of heaven is joined to it, through those who are governed by the good of charity, thus through the good of charity since the Lord is present within that good. For essentially that good is the Lord, because it emanates from Him. Through that good the Lord joins Himself to those who have an affection for truth; for the affection for truth is derived from good, and good emanates from the Lord, as has been stated. Through these people in turn the Lord is present with those immersed in the delights that go with external truth; for their delights spring for the most part from self-love and love of the world and derive little at all from spiritual good. Such is the manner in which heaven makes contact with people, that is, such is the manner in which the Lord coming by way of heaven makes contact with them; such therefore is the manner in which He is joined to them.

[4] That such is the manner in which the Lord makes contact with and is joined to the human race is clear from the consideration that the manner in which influx takes place with every member of the Church is such. The expression 'member of the Church' is used to mean one who is governed by the good of charity and consequently by the truths of faith received from the Lord; for charity from which faith springs is the Church itself present with a person, since charity and faith come from the Lord. The Lord flows into that good, which is the internal level of a person, then through that good into the affection for truth, which is his external level, and on through that affection into the delights that go with external truth, which are present on the most external levels.

[5] What applies to the individual member of the Church also applies to the Church as a whole, that is, to all collectively who constitute the Lord's Church. The reason why this should be so is that in the Lord's eyes the entire Church is like a human being; for the Lord's heaven, with which the Church acts as one, is in His eyes seen as one total human being, as becomes clear from what has been shown regarding heaven as the Grand Man at the ends of a number of the chapters explaining Genesis. This being so with the Church, the same is so with the individual member of the Church; for the individual member of the Church is a miniature heaven, Church, and Lord's kingdom.

[6] The Church also resembles an actual human being in this respect, that a person has two fountains of life, namely The Heart and The Lungs. It is well known that when human life begins the first part to develop is the heart and that the second is the lungs, and that from these two as fountains of life every other part of the body receives life. The heart of the Grand Man, that is, of heaven and the Church, is composed of those who are governed by love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour, and so, considered without reference to persons, consists in love of the Lord and love of the neighbour. But the lungs in the Grand Man, or heaven and the Church, are composed of those who are governed by charity towards the neighbour, which comes from the Lord, and from this by faith, and so, considered without reference to persons, consists in charity and faith coming from the Lord. The remaining organs and members in the Grand Man however are composed of those who are governed by external forms of good and external truths, and so, considered without reference to persons, consist in external forms of good and external truths, by means of which internal truths and forms of good can be brought in. Just as the heart, then, flows first into the lungs, and subsequently from itself through these into the organs and members of the body, so too the Lord flows through the good of love into internal truths, and through these into external truths and forms of good.

[7] From all this it may be seen that the existence of the Church on earth is absolutely vital, and that without the Church the human race would perish; for it would be like a person at the time of death, when the lungs and heart stop working. For this reason the Lord sees to it that there always exists on earth a Church in which the Lord has made Himself known through Divine Truth received from Him, such Divine Truth on our planet being the Word. Scarcely anyone at the present day believes that this is so, because no one believes that human life comes wholly from the Lord by way of heaven. For it is supposed that life exists innately in a person and can continue to do so without connection with heaven, that is, with the Lord through heaven. But that supposition is utterly false.

[8] All this now shows how to understand the idea of being joined through the good of charity to those who possess few truths and still have a desire to receive instruction, and being joined through them to those immersed in the delights that go with external truth, meant by the law about letting the land rest and letting it lie fallow in the seventh year, when the needy of their people would eat, and whatever was left by these the wild animal of the field would eat. But see what has been shown already regarding matters that are mentioned above:

In the Lord's eyes heaven is seen as one total human being and for this reason heaven is called the Grand Man, 1276, 2996, 2998, 3624-3649, 3741-3751, 4218-4228.

[9] The same applies to the Lord's Church, for the Lord's kingdom on earth is the Church, which acts as one with the Lord's kingdom in heaven, 4060, 7396, 9216.

The individual member of the Church has heaven and the Church within him, 1900, 1902, 3624-3631, 3634, 3884, 4292, 4523, 4524, 4625, 6013, 6057.

Those who are governed by love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour constitute the province of the heart in the Grand Man, and those who are governed by charity and from this by faith coming from the Lord constitute the province of the lungs, 3635, 3883-3896.

Human life flows in wholly from the Lord by way of heaven, 2536, 2706, 2886-2889, 2893, 3001, 3318, 3484, 3742, 3743, 4151, 5846, 5850, 5986, 6053-6058, 6189-6215, 6307-6327, 6466-6495, 6598-6626, 6982, 6985, 6996, 7004, 7055, 7056, 7058, 7147, 7270, 7343, 8321, 8685, 8701, 8717, 8728, 9110, 9111, 9216.

Heaven exists in connection with mankind, 9216.

Without the Church on earth the human race would perish, 468, 637, 2853, 4545.