764. After This Night Comes the Morning, Which Is the Lord's Coming

Since the successive stages of the church on both a large and a small scale are described in the Word as the four seasons of the year (spring, summer, fall, and winter) and as the four times of day (morning, afternoon, evening, and night), and since the modern-day church, which is Christianity, is the night, it follows that now the morning is at hand. The morning is the beginning of a new church.

The following passages make it clear that the Word describes the successive stages of the church as the four parts of the day, which are determined by light.

Through the evening and the morning, for two thousand three hundred [days], what is holy will be made just. The vision of the evening and the morning is the truth. (Daniel 8:14, 26)

Someone was crying out to me from Seir, "Watchman, watchman, what of the night?" The watchman replied, "Morning is coming, but so is the night. " (Isaiah 21:11-12)

The end has come. The morning is upon you, O you who dwell in the land. Behold, the day has come; the morning is over. (Ezekiel 7:6-7, 10)

In the morning, in the morning Jehovah will bring his judgment to light; it will not be lacking. (Zephaniah 3:5)

God is in her midst. God will help her when she looks for the morning. (Psalms 46:5)

I have been waiting for Jehovah. My soul waits for the Lord like those who watch for the morning. They watch for the morning because with him there is the most redemption. He will redeem Israel. (Psalms 130:5-8)

[2] In the passages just quoted evening and night mean the time when the church is at an end; morning means the time when the church is just beginning.

The Lord himself is also called the Morning, as we see in the following passages:

The God of Israel spoke, the Rock of Israel said to me, "He was like the morning light, a morning without clouds. " (2 Samuel 23:3-4)

I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the shining morning star. (Revelation 22:16)

From the womb of your dawn comes the dew of your youth. (Psalms 110:3)

These quotations are about the Lord. Since the Lord is the Morning, he rose from the tomb first thing in the morning, in order to begin a new church (Mark 16:2, 9).

[3] What the Lord says about his Coming makes it obvious that we are to await it:

As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, his disciples came to him and said, "Tell us what the sign of your Coming and of the close of the age will be. " (Matthew 24:3)

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Humankind will appear, and they will see the Son of Humankind coming in the clouds of heaven with power and glory. (Matthew 24:29-30; Mark 13:26; Luke 21:27)

Like the days of Noah, so will the Coming of the Son of Humankind be. Therefore be prepared, because you do not know at what hour the Son of Humankind will come. (Matthew 24:37, 39, 44)

In Luke:

When the Son of Humankind comes, will he find faith on the earth? (Luke 18:8)

In John:

Jesus said of John, "If I want him to remain until I come . . . " (John 21:22-23)

[4] In the Acts of the Apostles:

When they saw Jesus taken up into heaven, two men were standing near them in white clothes. They said, "Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven will come in the same way you saw him go up to heaven. " (Acts of the Apostles 1:9-11)

In the Book of Revelation:

The Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show his servants what must happen. "Behold, I am coming. Blessed are those who keep the commandments of this book. Behold, I am coming, and my reward is with me, to give to all according to their works. " (Revelation 22:6-7, 12)

And from the same chapter:

I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you these things in the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, a shining morning star. The spirit and the bride say, "Come. " And those who hear, say, "Come. " And those who are thirsty, come. Those who wish to, take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:16-17)

And again in the same chapter:

He who testifies to these things says, "I am indeed coming. " Amen. Do indeed come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. (Revelation 22:20-21)

39. 3. Because God is love itself and wisdom itself, he is life itself, or life in itself. The Gospel of John says, The Word was with God, and the Word was God. In it there was life, and that life was the light for humankind (John 1:1, 4). "God" in this case means divine love, and "the Word" means divine wisdom. Divine wisdom is actually life, and life is actually the light that radiates from the sun in the spiritual world - the sun that surrounds Jehovah God.

Divine love produces life the way fire produces light. Fire has two qualities: burning and shining. Its burning radiates heat and its shining radiates light. Likewise love has two qualities. The burning quality of fire corresponds to one of them; it is something that affects our will at the deepest level. The shining quality of fire corresponds to the other; it is something that affects our intellect at the deepest level. This is where our love and intelligence come from, because, as I have said several times now, the heat that radiates from the sun in the spiritual world is essentially love, and its light is essentially wisdom. That love and that wisdom flow into each and every thing in the universe and affect them at the deepest level. In us, they flow into our will and intellect; both were created as vessels to receive what flows in, the will as a vessel for love and the intellect as a vessel for wisdom.

From all this three points emerge: that our life finds its home in our intellect; that that life is only as good as our wisdom; and that that life is modified by the love in our will.