328. These items need now to be presented in their sequence.

(a) Every religion eventually wanes and comes to completion. There have been several churches on our planet, one after the other, since wherever the human race exists there is a church. As already noted, heaven, which is the ultimate goal of creation, comes from the human race, and no one can get to heaven without the two universal principles of the church, belief in God and leading a good life (see 326 above). It follows that there have been churches on our planet from the earliest times all the way to the present day.

These churches are described in the Word, though only for the Israelite and Jewish church are we given historical accounts. There were several churches before them, but these are described only by the names of some people and nations and a few facts about them.

[2] The earliest church, the very first, is described by Adam and his wife Eve. The next church, called the early church, is described by Noah, his three sons, and their descendants. This was extensive, and spread through most of the nations of the Near East: the land of Canaan on both sides of the Jordan; Syria; Assyria and Chaldea; Mesopotamia; Egypt; Arabia; and Tyre and Sidon. They had an early Word that is discussed in Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 101-103. The existence of the church in these kingdoms is witnessed by various statements about them in the prophetical books of the Word.

This church changed significantly with Eber, though, who marks the beginning of the Hebrew church. This was the point at which sacrificial worship was established. From the Hebrew church, the Israelite and Jewish church was born, formally established for the sake of the Word that would be authored in it.

[3] These four churches are meant by the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in his dream, with its head of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of brass, and its legs and feet of iron and clay (see Daniel 2:32-33). This is exactly what is meant by the Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron Ages mentioned by ancient authors. It is well known that the Christian church followed after the Jewish church.

We can also see from the Word that each of these churches declined to its close, called a "consummation," with the passage of time. The consummation of the earliest church, brought about by eating from the tree of knowledge (meaning pride in our own intelligence) is described by the Flood [Genesis 3:6; ].

[4] The consummation of the early church is described by the destruction of the nations mentioned in the historical and prophetic books of the Word, and especially by the Israelites' expulsion of the inhabitants of the land of Canaan. The consummation of the Israelite and Jewish church is meant by the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem, by the carrying off of the people of Israel into permanent captivity and of the nation of Judah into Babylon, and ultimately by the second destruction of the temple and Jerusalem and the scattering of the people. This consummation is foretold in many passages in the prophets, and in Daniel 9:24-27.

The Lord describes the eventual total destruction of the Christian church in Matthew 24 Mark 13 and Luke 21 but the consummation itself is found in the Book of Revelation.

This shows that with the passage of time the church wanes and reaches its consummation, as does its religion as well.

[5] (b) Every religion wanes and comes to completion by inverting the image of God within us. We know that we were created in the image of God and after the likeness of God (Genesis 1:26), but what is this image and what is this likeness of God? Only God is love and wisdom. We are created to be recipients of both, so that our volition may be a recipient of divine love and our discernment a recipient of divine wisdom.

I have already explained [324] that we have these two recipient vessels in us from birth, that they are what make us human, and that they are formed within us in the womb. Our being images of God is our being open to divine wisdom, and our being likenesses of God is our being open to divine love. This means that the vessel we call "discernment" is the image of God and the vessel we call "volition" is the likeness of God. This then means that since we have been created and formed to be vessels, it follows that we have been created and formed to have our volition accept love from God and our discernment accept wisdom from God. We do in fact accept them when we believe in God and live by his commandments. We do this to a lesser or greater extent, though, depending on what we know about God and his commandments from our religion. Specifically, our acceptance depends on what truths we know, since truths are what tell us what God is and how we are to acknowledge him, what his commandments are and how we are to live by them.

[6] God's image and likeness in us have not been actually destroyed, but they have been virtually destroyed. They are still there, innate within those two abilities called freedom and rationality that I have already said so much about. They become virtually destroyed when we make the vessel of divine love--our volition--a vessel for self-love and make the vessel of divine wisdom--our discernment--a vessel for our own intelligence. By so doing we invert the image and likeness of God. We turn the vessels away from God and toward ourselves. This is why they are closed on top and open on the bottom, or closed in front and open behind, even though they were created open in front and closed behind. Once they are opened and closed in this inverted fashion, then the vessel of love, our volition, is open to an inflow from hell or from our own sense of self-importance, as is the vessel of wisdom, our discernment. This has led to the birth in our churches of the worship of particular people in place of the worship of God, and a worship based on teachings of falsity rather than on teachings of truth, the latter from our own intelligence and the former from our love for ourselves.

We can see from this that in the course of time a religion will wane and come to its conclusion by inverting the image of God within us.

[7] (c) This happens because of the constant increase of hereditary evil from generation to generation. I have already stated and explained [277] that we do not inherit evil from Adam and his wife Eve because they ate from the tree of knowledge; instead evil is gradually handed down and transplanted from parents to children, and so by constant increase gets worse with each generation. When this cumulative evil becomes strong enough among the majority, it spreads evil to even more people by its own momentum, since in every evil there is a compulsion to mislead, in some cases blazing with a rage against everything good, and so there is a consequent infectious evil. When this gets control of the leaders, managers, and chief representatives in the church, its religion is corrupted. Its means of healing, its truths, become defiled by distortions. This leads to an ongoing destruction of what is good and an abandonment of truth in the church until finally it is brought to its close.

[8] (d) The Lord still provides that everyone can be saved. The Lord provides that there will be some religion everywhere, and that in every religion there will be the two elements essential to salvation: belief in God, and not doing evil because it is against God. The other matters of intellect and thought, what we call the elements of faith, are offered to different people according to the way they live, since they are optional elements as far as living is concerned. If they are put first, we still do not receive life until we live them.

The Lord also provides that everyone who has led a good life and has believed in God will be taught by angels after death. Then people who have been devoted to the two essential principles of religion in the world accept the truths of the church as they are presented in the Word and recognize the Lord as God of heaven and of the church. They accept this more readily than Christians who have brought with them from the world a concept of the Lord's human nature as separated from his divine nature. The Lord has also provided that all the people who die in early childhood are saved, no matter where they were born.

[9] We are all given the means of amending our lives after death, if we can. The Lord teaches and leads us through angels, and since by then we know that we are living after death and that heaven and hell are real, we accept truths at first. However, if we have not believed in God and abstained from evils as sins in the world, before long we develop a distaste for truths and back away. If we have professed these principles orally but not at heart, we are like the foolish young women who had lamps but no oil. They begged others for oil and went off to buy some, but still they were not admitted to the wedding [Matthew 25:1-13]. The lamps mean the truths that our faith discloses and the oil means the good effects of our caring.

This shows that under divine providence everyone can be saved, and that it is our own fault if we are not saved.

[10] (e) He also provides that a new church will take the place of the one that has been razed. This has been going on from the earliest times: once a church has been razed, a new one succeeds the former one. The early church followed the earliest church, the Israelite or Jewish church followed the early one, and after that came the Christian church. After it there is going to be still another new church, the one foretold in the Book of Revelation. That is the meaning of the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven [Revelation 21:2, 10].

For the reason the Lord provides a new church to take the place of an earlier one that has been razed, see Teachings for the New Jerusalem on Sacred Scripture 104-113.

901. 'The twenty-seventh day' means that which is holy. This is clear from what has been said above, for it is the composite number that is obtained when three is cubed - that is, three multiplied by three making nine, and nine multiplied by three again making twenty-seven. The predominant factor in this number therefore is three. This was how the most ancient people calculated numbers and by means of them meant nothing else than real things. That 'three' has the same meaning as seven becomes clear from what has been stated already just above. A hidden reason why it does so is that the Lord rose on the third day. The Lord's resurrection itself comprehends all that is holy, and the resurrection of all men. This was why in the Jewish Church this number became representative, and why in the Word it is a holy number. It is similar in heaven where no numbers are envisaged. Instead of three and seven they have a general holy idea of the resurrection and of the Coming of the Lord.

[2] That 'three' and 'seven' mean what is holy is clear from the following places in the Word: In Moses,

Anyone touching a dead body will be unclean for seven days. He shall purify himself on the third day, and on the seventh day he will be clean. And if he does not purify himself on the third day then he will not be clean on the seventh day. He who touches one pierced by the sword, or one dead, or a human bone, or a sepulchre will be unclean for seven days. The one who is clean shall sprinkle [with hyssop] over the unclean on the third day and on the seventh day; and on the seventh day he shall purify him, and he [the unclean] shall wash his clothes and bathe himself in water, and will be clean in the evening. Numbers 19:11, 11, 16, 19.

Quite clearly these requirements are representative, that is, things of an external nature meaning those that are internal. Take for example the fact that anyone was unclean who had touched one who had died, or one pierced [by the sword], or a human bone, or a sepulchre. Each of these objects means in the internal sense things that are a person's own, which are dead and unholy. So too with the requirement that he had to bathe himself in water and would be clean in the evening. And the third day and the seventh day were in like manner representative. They mean that which is holy because these were the days when he was to be purified and so be cleansed.

[3] The same usage occurs in the reference to the men coming back from the battle with the Midianites, who were told,

Camp outside the camp for seven days. Every one of you who has killed someone ¹ and every one who has touched one slain ² shall purify yourselves on the third day and on the seventh day. Numbers 31:19.

If this were just a ceremonial observance and the third and the seventh days were not representative and symbolical of that which is holy, that is, of purification, it would be something dead. It would be something without a cause and a cause without an end in view. That is, it would be like that which has been severed from its cause and its cause from its end in view; and so there would be nothing Divine about it at all. That the third day was representative of, and so symbolized, that which is holy, is quite clear from the Lord's coming down on Mount Sinai, concerning which event the following command was given, Jehovah said to Moses, Go to the people, and make them holy today and tomorrow, in order that they may wash their garments and be ready on the third day, for on the third day Jehovah will come down on Mount Sinai before the eyes of all the people. Exodus 19:10-11, 15-16.

[4] The same usage occurs in Joshua's crossing the Jordan on the third day,

Joshua commanded, Pass through the middle of the camp, and command the people saying, Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will be crossing this Jordan to go and take possession of the land. 'The crossing of the Jordan' represented the introduction of the children of Israel, that is, of the regenerate, into the Lord's kingdom, 'Joshua', who led them in, representing the Lord Himself. And this took place 'on the third day'. Because the third day, like the seventh, was holy it was stipulated that the third year should be a year of taking tithes ³ and in that year people should be holy in their conduct by performing charitable works, Deuteronomy 26:12 and following verses. 'Tithes' ³ represented remnants, which are holy because they are the Lord's alone. Jonah's presence in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights, Jonah 1:17, clearly represented the Lord's burial and His resurrection on the third day, Matthew 12:40.

[5] That 'three' means that which is holy is also clear in the Prophets, as in Hosea,

Jehovah will revive us after two days, on the third day He will raise us up that we may live before Him. Hosea 6:2.

Here too 'the third day' clearly stands for the Lord's Coming, and for His resurrection. In Zechariah,

It will happen in all the land that two parts in it will be cut off and breathe their last, and a third will be left in it. And I will lead the third part through fire, and I will refine them as one refines silver, and test them as one tests gold. Zechariah 13:8-9.

Here 'a third part' or three stands for that which is holy. A third embodies the same as three, and so does the third of a third, as in the present verse, for three is the cube root of twenty-seven.

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