Other sheepfolds...

There are north of seven billion people on earth. Christianity is the biggest religion, with more than 2 billion people... which leaves 5 billion who might wonder what Christians think will happen to non-Christians!

In the Gospel of John, there are seven places where Jesus likens himself to something metaphorical, sometimes called the 7 "I am" statements. Some of them can sound pretty exclusive. Let's take a look at the texts:

Here are three statements that are clear promises to people who are actual Christians -- i.e., they believe in it, and they live by it. They aren't excluding anyone, but there's certainly an implication that this is THE way:

“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, 'I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life'.” (John 8:12)

“I am the door of the sheep... I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.” (John 10:7, 9)

“I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.” (John 11:25)

Next, here are two more statements that make a similar promise, but that also state that if you don't accept Jesus, you won't be saved:

“Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.” (John 14:6)

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman... Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.” (John 15:1, 4, 5, 9)

Earlier in John's gospel, there's a 6th "I am" statement, or really a nested pair of statements. They have two special characteristics. Here's one of the pair:

“Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will not be hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty." And further, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day." (John 6:35, 44).

There's a new idea here. The "Father" draws people to Jesus. This is a reference to the influx from the Divine into our minds, that is pulling us out of our swamp. This "pull" gets us to open the Word, to "come to Jesus", to seek spiritual guidance.

In this same story, in John 6, Jesus also says this,

"'I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world....' Then Jesus said unto them, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.'" (John 6:35, 41, 48, 51)

This was a tough teaching. It seems like many people didn't understand that Jesus wasn't talking about literal flesh and blood. In verses 60 and 66, it says,

"Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? ... From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (John 6:60, 66)

There's been a long argument in the Christian church about the meaning of this. Was Jesus talking about his actual blood? His actual flesh? Were Christians supposed to practice cannibalism? No. In New Christian thought, we're always looking at the internal significations of the words in the literal sense. Bread and flesh refer to good. Blood and wine refer to truth. We need to try to be good, and to try to learn truth. Jesus was showing us what good looks like, and teaching us true ideas.

Here's a passage from one of Swedenborg's works:

Since all things that are spiritual and heavenly relate exclusively to goodness and truth, it follows that flesh means good action that relates to goodwill and blood means truth that relates to faith. On the highest level, these words mean the divine goodness of the Lord's love and the divine truth of the Lord's wisdom. (True Christianity 706)

There's much more detail in that referred-to section, and in the following ones; they convincingly base this interpretation on many Bible passages. They're well worth reading!

Now, getting back to the "I am" statements... here's the seventh one. It shows some ecumenism:

“I am the good shepherd.... I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine.... And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold, and one shepherd.” (John 10:11, 14)

These other sheep are people of the spiritual church, "those guided and governed by spiritual truth and good". Arcana Coelestia 7035.

Today, wherever people seek true wisdom and practice a genuine love towards their neighbor, those are the "other sheepfolds". There's spiritual truth and good in all corners of the earth. From the dawning of spiritual awareness, the Lord's love and wisdom has been flowing into people's minds -- received dimly or clearly, or sometimes mostly rejected. When, relatively recently, oral traditions gradually gave way to written ones, the "Ancient Word", as Swedenborg names it, was spread across much of the inhabited world. Fragments of it were preserved in the Old Testament, and in other ancient sacred texts.

In John 10:14, while there's an expectation that the sheepfolds will converge into one, it's not disqualifying to be in another fold now. That's something that we need to dig into. Does a person have to be Christian to be saved? What if they are a good Buddhist whose ruling love is a love of the neighbor? Or a good Muslim who seeks to know and do the will of Allah?

Here's a striking passage from Luke:

"...they shall come from the east and the west, and from the north and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God; and behold, there are last who shall be first, and there are first who shall be last." (Luke 13:23, 28-30)

From the Book of Revelation, there's this, too:

"After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude, which no man could number, out of every nation and of [all] tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands..." (Revelation 7:9)

Finally, here's a useful reinforcing quote from Secrets of Heaven 1032:

"The Lord has mercy on the whole human race. He wants to save everyone in the entire world and to draw all people to himself. The Lord's mercy is infinite; it does not allow itself to be restricted to the few within the church but reaches out to everyone on the face of the earth."

How do we reconcile the exclusive-sounding sayings with the inclusive-sounding ones? In New Christian teaching, anyone who is in a love of good, or in a love of truth where there is good, will be saved. And, we acknowledge that truth and good come from the Lord, not from ourselves. Anyone, in any belief system, who does not seek God's help in escaping evil loves and false ideas, will stay stuck. Anyone who genuinely, persistently, humbly seeks good and truth is in the "spiritual church", i.e., in one of the sheepfolds.

Do some sheepfolds have better pastures than others? Yes. Do religions vary in the amount of truth they convey, or in the quality of the practices that they recommend and live by? Of course they do. For the New Christian Bible Study, do we think that Christianity is the best road? Yes. Is it the only road? No. Is it the only destination? Maybe.

Jesus said He was the Way, the Truth, and the Life. He was the Word in human form -- spiritual truth. There's no way to salvation without setting out on the Way, seeking the Truth, and living a Life of good. You can start from anywhere. As you approach the top of the mountain, you'll be getting closer to the place where the light is clearest.

706. The reason why the Lord's blood means His Divine truth and that of the Word is that His flesh means in the spiritual sense the Divine good of love, and these two are made one in the Lord. It is well known that the Lord is the Word; and there are two things to which everything in the Word has reference, Divine good and Divine truth. If therefore the Word is substituted for the Lord, it is plain that it is these two which are meant by His flesh and blood. It is established from many passages that blood means the Divine truth of the Lord or of the Word; for instance, from blood being called the blood of the covenant, since a covenant is a link, and linking is effected by the Lord by means of His Divine truth. Also in Zechariah:

By the blood of your covenant I shall release the captives from the pit, Zechariah 9:11.

And in the works of Moses:

After Moses had read the book of the law for the people to hear ¹ , he sprinkled half the blood upon the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which Jehovah has made with you upon all these words, Exodus 24:3-8.

Also:

Jesus taking the cup gave it to them, saying, This is my blood, the blood of the new covenant, Matthew 26:27-28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20.

[2] The blood of the new covenant or testament cannot mean anything but the Word, which is called an old and a new covenant or testament, and so the Divine truth it contains. It is because blood has this meaning that the Lord gave them wine, saying, 'This is my blood'; and wine stands for Divine truth. For this reason it is also called 'the blood of grapes' (Genesis 49:11; Deuteronomy 32:14). This is plainer still from the Lord's words:

Truly, truly, I tell you: if you do not eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you will not have life in you. For my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink. He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood, remains in me and I in him, John 6:50-58.

It is perfectly obvious that blood here means the Divine truth of the Word, because it is said that he who drinks it has life in himself, and remains in the Lord, and the Lord remains in him. It ought to be well known in the church that this is the effect of Divine truth and living in accordance with it, and that the Holy Supper strengthens this effect.

[3] It is because blood stands for the Lord's Divine truth, which is also the Divine truth of the Word, and because this is what the old and new covenants and testaments are, that blood was the holiest representative of the church among the Children of Israel. In that church every detail was a correspondence of something natural with something spiritual. For instance, they were to take some of the blood of the Passover and put it on the door-posts and lintels of their houses, to ensure the plague would not come upon them (Exodus 12:7, 13, 22).

The blood of the burnt offering was to be sprinkled over the altar, right to its foundations, and over Aaron, his sons and their clothes (Exodus 29:12, 16, 20-21; Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:25, 30, 34; 8:15, 24; 17:6; Numbers 18:17 ² ; Deuteronomy 12:27). Also over the veil above the Ark, over the mercy-seat there, and over the horns of the incense altar (Leviticus 4:6-7, 17-18; 16:12-15). The blood of the Lamb stands for something similar in Revelation:

These have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, Revelation 7:14.

Also in these words from the same book:

War broke out in heaven, Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and they defeated him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their ³ witness, Revelation 12:7, 11.

[4] It is impossible to think that Michael and his angels defeated the dragon by anything but the Lord's Divine truth in the Word. For angels in heaven cannot think about any blood, nor do they think about the Lord's passion; but they think of Divine truth and His resurrection. When therefore a person thinks about the Lord's blood, the angels perceive the Divine truth of His Word. When he thinks about the Lord's passion, they perceive His glorification, and then only His resurrection. I have been allowed to know by long experience that this is so.

[5] It is also plain from this passage in the Psalms of David that blood stands for Divine truth:

God will save the souls of the needy. Their blood will be precious in His eyes, and they will live and He will give them of the gold of Sheba, Psalms 72:13-16.

Blood being precious in God's eyes stands for Divine truth being with them; the gold of Sheba is wisdom coming from this. Also in Ezekiel:

Gather for the great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, so that you may eat flesh and drink blood; you will drink the blood of the princes of the earth, and you will drink blood until you are drunk. Thus shall I set my glory among the nations, Ezekiel 39:17-21.

This deals with the church which the Lord is to found among the gentiles. Blood cannot here mean blood, but the truth from the Word they possess; see just above.

Footnotes:

379. "And made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb." This symbolically means, and by truths have purified those religious beliefs from the falsities accompanying evil, and so have been reformed by the Lord.

Some evils are evils that accompany falsity, and some falsities are falsities that accompany evil. Evils that accompany falsity are found among people who, in accord with their religion, believe that evils do not condemn, provided they orally confess that they are sinners. And falsities that accompany evil are found among people who justify the evils they harbor.

As in no. 378 above, robes here symbolize general truths drawn from the Word, which constitute the people's religious beliefs. They are said to have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb because the color white is predicated of truths (nos. 167, 231, 232), meaning therefore that they used truths to purify their falsities.

This symbolically means also that thus they were reformed by the Lord, because all who have fought against evils in the world and have believed in the Lord are, after their departure from the world, taught by the Lord and led by truths away from the falsities of their religion. And so they are reformed. That is because people who refrain from evils as being sins possess goodness of life, and goodness of life desires truths, and acknowledges and accepts them. But this is never the case with evil of life.

People believe that the blood of the Lamb here and elsewhere in the Word symbolizes the Lord's suffering of the cross. But the suffering of the cross was the final temptation or trial by which the Lord completely overcame the hells and fully glorified His humanity. By these two means He saved mankind (see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 12-14, 15-17, and also no. 67 above). Moreover, because by His suffering of the cross the Lord fully glorified His humanity, which is to say, made it Divine, therefore nothing else can be meant by His flesh and blood but the Divinity in Him and emanating from Him - His flesh meaning the Divine goodness of His Divine love, and His blood meaning the Divine truth emanating from that goodness.

[2] Blood is mentioned many times in the Word, and everywhere it symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, either the Lord's Divine truth, which is the same as the Divine truth of the Word, or in an opposite sense, the Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned, as can be seen from the following passages.

First, that blood symbolizes the Lord's Divine truth or the Divine truth of the Word can be seen from these passages:

Blood was called the blood of the covenant, and a covenant conjoins, a conjunction that the Lord accomplishes by His Divine truth. So, for example, in Zechariah:

By the blood of your covenant, I will set your prisoners free from the pit... (Zechariah 9:11)

After Moses read the Book of the Law in the hearing of the people, he sprinkled half the blood on the people and said,

This is the blood of the covenant which Jehovah has made with you in accordance with all these words. (Exodus 24:3-8)

Moreover,

(Jesus) took the cup..., and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. ...this is My blood, the blood of the new covenant... (Matthew 26:27-28, cf. Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20)

The blood of the new covenant or testament symbolizes nothing else than the Word, which is called a covenant or testament - the Old Covenant or Testament, and the New Covenant or Testament - thus symbolizing the Divine truth in it.

[3] Since blood has this symbolic meaning, the Lord therefore gave His disciples wine, saying, "This is My blood" - wine symbolizing Divine truth (no. 316). Wine is also on that account called "the blood of grapes" (Genesis 49:11, Deuteronomy 32:14).

This is still further apparent from these words of the Lord:

Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you will have no life in you... For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:53-56).

It is clearly apparent that blood here means Divine truth, because the text says that he who drinks has life, and abides in the Lord, and the Lord in him. This is the effect of Divine truth and a life in accordance with it, and an effect confirmed by the Holy Supper, as everyone in the church may know.

[4] Since blood symbolizes the Lord's Divine truth, which is the same as the Divine truth of the Word, and this is the essence of the Old and New Covenants or Testaments, therefore blood was the holiest representative symbol in the Israelite Church, in which every single thing corresponded to something spiritual. So, for example, the people were to take some of the blood of the paschal lamb and put it on the doorposts and lintel of their houses to keep the plague from coming upon them (Exodus 12:7, 13, 22). The blood of the burnt offering was to be sprinkled on the altar, at the base of the altar, on Aaron and his sons, and on their vestments (Exodus 29:12, 16, 20-21).

[5] The blood of the Lamb has a like symbolism in the following verses in the book of Revelation:

...war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon... And they overcame it by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony... (Revelation 12:7, 11)

For no one can think that Michael and his angels overcame the dragon with anything other than the Lord's Divine truth in the Word. Angels in heaven, indeed, cannot think of any blood, nor do they think of the Lord's suffering, but of His Divine truth and resurrection. Consequently, when a person thinks about the Lord's blood, angels perceive His Divine truth, and when a person thinks about the Lord's suffering, they perceive His glorification, and then only His resurrection. I have been granted to know the reality of this by much experience.

[6] That blood symbolizes Divine truth is apparent also from these verses in the book of Psalms:

(God) will save the souls of the needy... Precious shall be their blood in His sight. And they shall live, and He will give them the gold of Sheba. (Psalms 72:13-15)

The blood, precious in the sight of God, stands for Divine truth among those people. The gold of Sheba is the resulting wisdom.

In Ezekiel:

Gather together... to My great sacrifice... on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall... drink the blood of the princes of the earth... You shall... drink blood till you are drunk at My sacrifice which I am sacrificing for you... (Thus) I will set My glory among the nations. (Ezekiel 39:17-21)

Blood here does not mean blood, because the statement is that they will drink the blood of the princes of the earth and that they will drink blood till they are drunk. But the true meaning of the word emerges when blood is understood to mean Divine truth. The subject there, too, is the Lord's church, which He would establish among gentiles.

[7] Second, that blood symbolizes Divine truth can be clearly seen from its opposite meaning, in which it symbolizes the Divine truth of the Word falsified or profaned, as is apparent from these passages:

He who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed, and shuts his eyes from seeing evil... (Isaiah 33:15)

You shall destroy those who speak falsehood; Jehovah abhors the bloody and deceitful man. (Psalms 5:6)

...everyone recorded for life in Jerusalem, when the Lord has... rinsed away (her) blood... from her midst, by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of purification. (Isaiah 4:3-4)

...on the day you were born... I saw you trampled in your blood, and I said to you in your blood, "Live!" ...I washed you and rinsed away the blood upon you... (Ezekiel 16:5-6, 9, 22, 36, 38)

They wandered blind in the streets; they have defiled themselves with blood, and what they cannot touch, they touch with their garments. (Lamentations 4:13-14)

The garment is polluted with blood. (Isaiah 9:5)

Also on your skirts is found the blood of the souls of the innocent... (Jeremiah 2:34)

Your hands are full of blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings... (Isaiah 1:15-16)

...your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken a lie... They make haste to shed innocent blood. (Isaiah 59:3, 7)

...Jehovah is coming out... to visit the iniquity... of the earth; then the earth will disclose her blood... (Isaiah 26:21)

...as many as received Him, to them He gave the ability to be children of God..., who were born, not of blood... (John 1:12-13)

In (Babylon) was found the blood of prophets and saints... (Revelation 18:24)

...the sea... became as the blood of a dead man... ...the springs of water... became blood. (Revelation 16:3-4. Cf. Isaiah 15:9, Psalms 105:29)

The like is symbolized by the rivers, ponds, and pools of water in Egypt being turned into blood (Exodus 7:15-25).

...the moon (shall be turned) into blood, before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)

...the moon became... blood. (Revelation 6:12)

In these places and many others, blood symbolizes the truth of the Word falsified, and also profaned. But this can be seen more clearly when these passages in the Word are read in context.

So, then, since blood in an opposite sense symbolizes the truth of the Word falsified or profaned, it is apparent that blood in a true sense symbolizes the truth of the Word not falsified.