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.

8427. 'And in the morning you will see the glory of Jehovah' means that at the beginning of a new state the arrival of the Lord is going to take place. This is clear from the meaning of 'the morning' as the beginning of a new state, dealt with immediately above in 8426; and from the meaning of 'the glory of Jehovah' as the presence and the arrival of the Lord. The reason why 'the glory' means the presence and the arrival of the Lord is that in the highest sense 'glory' is the Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord; and Divine Truth appears before angels' eyes as the light and splendour from the Sun, which is the Lord. For the meaning of 'the glory' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, see 5922, 8267; for its meaning intelligence and wisdom that belong to Divine Truth, 4809; and its consequently meaning the internal sense of the Word, since that sense is Divine Truth in glory, 5922.

[2] It says that in the morning they are going to see the glory of Jehovah because sunrise and its accompanying light (which in heaven brings light to angels' eyes, to both their outward and their inward sight) consequently the presence and arrival of the Lord (who is the Sun of heaven) corresponds to morning time on earth and is meant here by 'the morning'. The light from the sun then, which is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and for that reason is the Lord, is 'the glory'. From this it is evident that 'the glory' means the presence and arrival of the Lord. The fact that these are meant by 'the glory' is also evident from a number of places in the Word, such as in Moses,

The cloud covered the mountain, and the glory of Jehovah dwelt over Mount Sinai. And the cloud covered it six days. The sight of the glory of Jehovah was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain, before the eyes of the children of Israel. Exodus 24:15-18.

Plainly, the presence of Jehovah, that is, of the Lord, appearing as a cloud and as fire on the mountain, is here called 'the glory of Jehovah'.

In the same author,

The cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. Nor could Moses enter the tent of meeting, because the cloud dwelt over it, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. Exodus 40:34-35.

Here also the Lord's presence, appearing as a cloud, is called 'the glory'.

[3] In the same author,

Moses and Aaron entered the tent of meeting; and they came out and blessed the people. At that time the glory of Jehovah appeared to the whole people. Leviticus 9:23-24.

In the same author,

The glory of Jehovah appeared in the tent of meeting before all the children of Israel. Numbers 14:10-12.

Likewise in Numbers 16:19, 42. In the first Book of Kings,

The cloud filled the house of Jehovah, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah. 1 Kings 8:10-11.

In John,

The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, so that no one was able to enter the temple. Revelation 15:8.

In the same book,

He showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shed light in it; the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. Revelation 21:10-11, 23.

Here 'the glory of God' plainly stands for light from the Lord, which is Divine Truth emanating from Him, and so is the presence of the Lord since the Lord is present in Truth coming from Him.

[4] The fact that 'the glory of Jehovah' means His presence is clear yet again in Moses,

Moses said to Jehovah, Show me, I beg You, Your glory He said to him, I will cause all My goodness to pass by before you. And when My glory passes by, it will happen, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover My hand over you until I have passed by. But when I take My hand away you will see My back parts, and My face will not be seen. Exodus 33:18-end.

Here also 'Jehovah's glory' plainly stands for His presence. In Matthew,

The disciples said to Jesus, Tell us, what will be the sign of Your coming? Jesus said, Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear, and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. Matthew 24:3, 30.

The subject here is the final period of the former Church and the first of the new. 'The Son of Man' is God's truth emanating from the Lord; 'the clouds of heaven' are the Word in the sense of the letter, and 'power and glory' are the internal sense, thus Divine Truth which will be visible then. 'The Lord's coming' stands for the acceptance of God's truth by those belonging to the new Church and the rejection of it by those belonging to the old Church, see 4060 (end).

[5] The fact that the Lord in respect of Divine Truth is meant by 'the glory' is clear in Isaiah,

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah. The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. Isaiah 40:3, 5.

This refers to the Lord, who is 'the glory'. In John,

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us; and we saw His glory. glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14

In the same gospel,

These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him. John 12:41.

Here 'glory' stands for the Lord. Similarly in Moses,

I am the Living One, and the whole earth will be filled with the glory of Jehovah. Numbers 14:21.

Here 'the glory of Jehovah' stands for the Coming or arrival of the Lord, and for enlightenment by Divine Truth emanating from Him.

[6] 'Glory' stands for the Lord's Divinity in Isaiah,

I am Jehovah, that is My name; and My glory I will not give to another. Isaiah 42:8.

In Mark,

... when the Son of Man comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels. Mark 8:38.

In Luke,

Ought [not] Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory? Luke 24:26.

Since 'the glory of Jehovah' means the Lord in respect of Divine Truth, 'the glory' also means the Divine Wisdom and Intelligence that belong to Divine Truth emanating from the Lord. Wisdom and intelligence from God are meant by the glory in Ezekiel 1:28; 8:4; 9:3; 10:4, 18-19; 11:22-23; and there it is represented by 'a rainbow' such as one sees in a cloud.