Category Archives: Spiritual Teachings

Parent Category for categorising spiritual teachings.

Peter’s Denial of the Lord

By Rev. David W. Millar

Apocalypse Explained 627.16

But it must be understood that every thing related concerning the passion of the Lord, signifies the mockery of Divine Truth, and therefore the falsification and adulteration of the Word, because the Lord, when in the world, was the Divine Truth itself, which is the Word in the church. For this reason He permitted the Jews to treat Him in the same way that they treated Divine Truth, or the Word, by its falsification and adulteration; for they applied every thing in the Word to their own loves, and ridiculed every truth that did not agree with their loves, just as they did the Messiah Himself, because He did not become king over the whole world, and exalt them, according to their interpretation and religion, in glory above all peoples and nations.

Peter represents our developing faith or understanding of what it means to live a spiritual life. The difficulty Peter had along with the rest of the disciples, with the prospect of Jesus’ death was his dependence on His physical presence for his life’s meaning. He could not conceive of a life without the Lord being accessible in His physicality. Of course denial speaks volumes of our response to the truth, particularly the truth about ourselves. Peter would not have considered himself weak, or for that matter a coward. Yet how often is it that our very strengths or that in which we trust to get us through life merely conceals our inadequacy. It easy to be strong and show courage when events are seemingly under our control, but when things get beyond us we can be left with very little resource to draw on and find it extremely difficult to trust the Lord.

Peter as our developing faith or understanding is at this stage a faith grounded in self reliance rather than a trust and reliance on the Lord. As such he represents a natural state of faith in this case and not a truly spiritual faith. We can see this in that Peter did not trust the Lord. Despite the Lord’s efforts to prepare him along with the other disciples for what was to occur in Jerusalem, even to the degree that the Lord had told him that he would actually deny Him three times, what occurred came as a complete shock. A natural faith or a faith grounded in self reliance needs to be broken before a person is able to enter into a true spiritual faith. We often think and say that we trust in the Lord, but it is not until we hit a crisis that the extent of that trust is determined. Had Peter trusted, he would not have entered into states of denial. Lets look at these for a moment;

There are described in this event three levels of denial:

1. there is the denial of Jesus the Galilean

2. there is then the denial of Jesus the Nazarene

3. followed by the denial of being one of “them”

In denial 2 and 3 Peter’s words are identical where he says “I do not know the Man” where as in denial 1 Peter says “I do not know what you are saying!”. It is also interesting to note where the denials are said to take place. In the case of the first denial, Peter is said to be “sat outside in the courtyard” the second denial occurs in his coming out into the gate or portal, it would appear this is also where the third denial occurred after which we are told that he heard the cock crow and was reminded of the Lord’s words that he would deny him three times, after this he goes outside and breaks down in much sorrow.

In the first denial Peter is approached by a servant girl, in the second case we are told simply another one (we know from the Gk that it is definitely a woman and more than likely another servant girl) spoke to those who where there concerning his association with Jesus. In the third denial we are told those who challenged him were those standing around.

The number three is significant and the heavenly doctrines tell us it speaks of that which is complete. Thus here, whatever this process represents and we will be looking at that in more detail in a moment, it is one that is complete from beginning to end. But first we see that this trial of Peter’s faith occurs within the bounds of the high priest’s palace. This speaks volumes regarding natural faith – it is seated within the domain of the high priest. This teaches us that a natural state of faith finds itself dominated by the loves of self and the world in their various manifestations within a religious context as this is what the high priest represents. The problem is that when we are in such a state we can’t see it. What these events teach us however is that the process whereby we move from a natural faith to a spiritual faith involves a breaking of our ownership of that which belongs to the Lord – such a breaking can only occur through trial or temptation. Peter here teaches us what natural understanding of spiritual things is like – his suffering arose from his personal attachment and devotion to the Lord and from the prospect of loosing all hope of achieving those natural ambitions or what he had come to believe he was to receive once Jesus became ruler over Israel. You see a natural faith stays strong while there is the prospect of achieving some worldly end. But with the arrest and trial of Jesus Peter’s aspirations, and he no doubt felt he deserved to be rewarded due to what he had given up to follow the Lord, were fast becoming nothing more than a phantasm or vapour.

Thus these events describe in some detail the process whereby the breaking of a natural understanding of spiritual things. A natural faith is a faith where a self centered perspective in regard to spiritual things is supported, whether that self centeredness exists at a personal or an organizational level. If an individual or a church is to move from a natural faith to a spiritual faith then it cannot avoid the process described here. We need to be brought to a place where we worship the Lord for the sake of others and not for ourselves. And to do this we have to be freed from the high priest or Caiaphas or self interest and its domain of influence in spiritual matters.

Names in the Word are wonderfully descriptive and this is certainly true of Caiaphas whose name means “hollowed out”. Here we see the true nature of religion built on self interest. For it is only interested in its forms and traditions so far as they are able to promote and support the very loves true religion seeks to demote – thus the interest only goes so far as external things for here the internal of the church, love to the Lord and love to the neighbour have no place. Without these loves at the center all religion is nothing but a hollow shell. This is seen in Caiaphas’ treatment of the embodiment of those loves standing before him in our Lord Jesus Christ. Caiaphas represents a hollow religious expression, professing to having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof.

The three areas in which the denials take place represent three levels of the natural or external man. The heavenly doctrines teach that we have an external man and an internal man. Peter’s struggle is illustrative of the Lord’s dealing’s with our external man. Each has a will, an understanding and a life that is expressed in actions and activity in the external world. Peter’s court yard encounter with the maid or servant girl is a denial at the level of the will, his denial in the portal or gate is a denial at the level of the understanding and the third denial is a denial in the external actions of ones life. Hence will understanding and life the denial is as far as the human mind is concern complete and utter.

If we read these words in their literal sense we will have difficulty seeing this story and Peter’s denial of the Lord in anything but a negative frame. We see the betrayal of a friend and perhaps we wonder how one who showed such boldness could at the point of the Lord’s hour of greatest need, disown Him.

Yet the spiritual content is far more positive in its expression. And to see if we need to ask ourselves what it is that Peter is actually saying. Remember this process describes the transformation of a person’s faith from a natural faith to a spiritual faith. The servant girl in the first denial is an affection belonging to the domain of the will, for a girl or woman in the Word corresponds to our affections. Peter’s response on the surface appears to be a lie, but is it. In the literal sense we certainly have that impression, but lets look at what is actually said, I am reading from the Concordant Literal New Testament which gives a much better rendering of the Greek;

“Now Peter sat outside in the courtyard. And one maid came to him, saying, “You also were with Jesus, the Galilean.” Yet he disowns Him in front of them all, saying, “Not aware am I what you are saying!”

Could it be that this disowning of the Lord is absolutely necessary if we are to move on. The term “disown” is interesting because it suggests a state of faith which claims ownership of the Lord. Think about it in this way – this denial is a disowning of the false ideas associated with a natural understanding of spiritual things. It is the Lord as Peter knew Him that is here being denied or disowned. Natural affinity and affection, aspirations, expectations – the nature of the relationship is here undergoing a necessary change if a natural faith is to become spiritual. There has to be a breaking that is so complete the mind is made ready to receive the Lord resurrected in a new way. What we are seeing here is a description of that process. Those in the house of Ciaiphas seek to have something in us by which they can exercise power over us. Remember Ciaiphas is external religion without internals.

While our faith is such that it finds itself in Ciaiphas’ courtyard we will be vulnerable. Peter is drawn into the courtyard because of his natural affections for Jesus. Spiritually understood, natural affections that hold too tightly to external forms and traditions will inhibit the Church being able to express its love in ways that benefit others and they constantly seek to entrap us- this is the servant girl of Ciaiphas’ courtyard, an affection that serves a ‘hollow’, merely external religious expression and interest. Here we see her trying to tempt Peter or our developing faith, to align himself with those natural ties he has to Jesus – the temptation for the Church is to hang onto forms and traditions which hinder it finding new forms of uses relevant to the generation she is commissioned to serve.

Peter’s resistance far from being despicable is in fact truly commendable as far as a spiritual understanding of the passage goes. To give up old forms, to weigh our traditions in the balance of usefulness in the light of our purpose or reason for being will always involve a struggle. It will involve much soul searching, grief and the sense of loss will be in proportion to the strength of the attachment. It can bring confusion and a sense of disorientation. The statements of Peter express this – his first statement is literally;

“I am not perceiving what you are saying!”

far from being a lie, is in fact spiritually quite true – Peter now hasn’t a clue who Jesus is – everything he thought and attributed to Jesus, his famous confession “Thou art the Christ the Son of the living God” has very little meaning at this point. Prior to the Lord’s arrest Peter probably thought he knew very well who Jesus was. His two other statements of denial in the literal sense are also spiritually statements of truth.

The two statements are identical and read “I do not know the Man” but literally they read

“I have not perceived the human!”

The Greek word for “man” in this statement is “anthropos” which literally means human.

“I have not perceived the Human” is a statement with powerful spiritual significance. For the Lord was yet to fully glorify His Human, something that would be accomplished through His death and resurrection. So the statement of Peter represents a statement of faith that releases Him finally from a purely natural idea of the Lord tied into his own goals and aspirations. The process is complete, Peter has disowned a sense of ownership over the things of the Lord and the Church, yes there is despair and grief as his sense of being is rocked to the core – but the scripture reads he came out, out from the house of Ciaiphas, out from the mixed motives that had brought him thus far and the result is a heart prepared to receive His Lord in His glorified Human a few days hence.

The lessons for us as a church are clear. We need to look at where our affections actually lie, to see if there are any elements of natural “ownership” over the things of the Lord that hinder our ability to reach out to others that they might have an encounter with the living God.

Amen.

The Awesomeness of the Word and Its Capacity to Transform Our Lives

By Rev. Ian Arnold
June 20th 2010

Ezekiel Chapter 1, verse 28: “This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of One speaking.”

A time of uncertainty and transition

Please note, friends, that for all its complexity, and overawed and humbled by it, as he was, Ezekiel was in no doubt that this was a vision given to him of the Lord. He knew it to be from the Lord and of the Lord.

What is fascinating; and something it is important to hold on to; is that it was given to him at a time of uncertainty and transition.

This was a most uncertain time for the people of ancient Israel.

Unbelievably, their land had been over-run, and Jerusalem destroyed, by the invading and mighty Babylonians. And its leading people, including Ezekiel, had been taken away captive, into exile.

The old order; the old certainties and securities; the old mind-sets; and the way people had been seeing God; had all been reduced to rubble. Many, if not most, will have been asking if in fact God existed after all; and if he existed, whether He really cared. Hadn’t they been His special people? And wasn’t He supposed to have looked after them?

Touching base again

So – and by means of this vision – God touched base with them again.

He re-affirmed His existence; He re-assured them of His continuing involvement and of His ongoing connectedness with them; He re-asserted His care over them, even in the bewildering, new, set of circumstances in which they now found themselves.

Parallel

There is a parallel here with, how it is with us; with the Age in which we are living: a parallel which, when we think about it, we can hardly miss.

The old order; the old certainties; the old securities and the old mindsets of a former Age; and the way people had been seeing God; either have passed or are in the process of passing away.

We, too, live in what can seem to be uncertain and unpredictable times. Organized religion, such as it has been, is in retreat. Secularism and excessive individualism are – as we all know – very much now to the fore.

Where is God in all this? Where has He been?

Reconnecting and touching base

God re-connected – as it will have seemed – with the people of ancient Israel by means of this vision experienced by His prophet, Ezekiel. The vision re-energized Ezekiel, in the first instance, and through him, the people. Their sense of God was renewed, and for all that it involved uncomfortable challenges, it was balanced by uplifting promises and new insights about God and about His involvement in their lives and affairs.

The Lord re-connecting and touching base with us

Both with regard to the human race as a whole and with respect to our very own, personally, unfolding, spiritual states and ages, the Lord from time to time re-connects with us: re-awakening our awareness of Him; of His involvement with us; re-affirming and opening up to us even more His purposes for us and His care over us. But with us, He does this not by means of visions as such but through, and by means of, His Word.

And, in the internal sense, this is what this vision holds up to us.

It is all about the Word.

It is about the Word renewed – in the sense of being made to come alive again.

It is about the Word, as we have it in our Bibles; the fact that confidence in it came to be so badly shaken and even remains so with many people and in many places. The fact, too, that it has been so misunderstood and argued over, wrongly interpreted and called upon, as it has been, to justify the unjustifiable.

Dr. Alan Crown, one time Professor of Hebrew and of Old Testament Studies at Sydney University, in his book, “Biblical Studies Today” wrote of modern day attitudes in these terms:

“There have always been groups of persons to whom the Bible has been a classic in the sense that it was of central relevance of their thinking, beliefs and ways of life. For these people theology remains the queen of sciences, never to be dethroned and to which all mist pay homage. In no way has the Bible ever come to be superseded. No form of critical study, scientific analysis, or historical insights could affect their understanding g that here is the plain Word of God miraculously revealed and preserved through the ages…

…On the other hand there have been those people, perhaps the majority in the Western World, who are dogmatically certain that the Bible is a collection of old wives’ tales, unworthy of serious study and certainly irrelevant to our contemporary situation. Many of the Bibles in circulation are treated like so many other ‘heirlooms’, as curious relics of days gone by, to be seen and never to be used.” (Page 2)

Just on Two thousand, six hundred years ago, the Lord touched base with the ancient Israelites to restore their faith in Him and in the reality and meaningfulness of the Word.

In our day the Lord has “touched base” – for want of a better way of putting it – with the human race, re-invigorating the Word and for the purpose of restoring our faith and confidence in it, and to awaken anew our enthusiasm and love for it.

The vision of the Word

As challenging as Ezekiel found it to get his mind around what he saw; to adequately describe it; so it is challenging, if not impossible, for us to take in and to truly get a handle on the vastness and depth of the Word: its multiple levels of meaning; its unending richness; and the insights and understanding it brings us about ourselves and, most importantly, about the Lord, Who He is, how He operates, His ceaseless monitoring of the minutest details of our lives and of His plan and purpose which is at the very heart of creation and of our very own creation

Having said that, these – though – are some of the memorable features of the vision so usefully seen in relation to the Word which -as we now know – the vision is all about.

In verse 4 there is mention of a mighty whirlwind.

Secondly, fire is mentioned more than once. The whirlwind has fire in and around it and in verse 12, “fire was going back and forth among the living creatures.”

Thirdly, and with regard to the four living creatures, we read they had wings, hands under the wings, and overall the likeness of a man, each facing different directions.

And then there were the wheels, powerfully and purposefully driven: wheels within wheels.

A whirlwind – fire – four living creatures – and wheels within wheels.

Remember: this is all about the Word. It is highlighting features of the Word.

The whirlwind holds up to us how powerful and dynamic the Word is. It has the power to stir up things, to break down old defences and self-justifications. It brings home to us the power that the Word has to dismiss unreasonableness, negativity and thinking and influences impacting on us from hell.

The fire speaks of the Lord’s love burning at the heart of the Word. Remember? “Fire was going back and forth among the four creatures.” The Word is the Lord’s love clothed in admonitions, challenges, promises and encouragement; speaking to us through parable, example and ancient stories. It is Divine Love speaking to us.

The four living creatures are all about the Word being alive. And the fact that they had the appearance of being human brings home to us what the Word is all about – true humanness and each of us becoming a truly human being.

They had wings – remember – highlighting how the Word can both lift us up and also protect us.

And the wheels speak of the capacity the Word has; at all its different levels; meanings within meanings; wheels within wheels; to shift us and to move us to better places, spiritually.

The Second Coming

We honour each year, at this time, and as close to June 19th as possible, the renewing of the power of the Word in our midst; its dynamism; the expression of the Lord’s love, which it is; its ability to lift our minds and thinking on to a higher level; the protection it brings us when doubts, fears and self-centredness start to make inroads with us; its capacity to move us to new places; and, just so very significantly this new vision, appreciation and understanding of the Lord now possible for us. The Lord comes again to us in His restored, renewed, now opened Word, brought back to life and relevance, as it has been. This, indeed, is the Lord in His Second coming, the vehicle of which is of course the Writings or Heavenly Doctrines.

With us

There is nothing so powerful or so potentially life changing as the Word is. No saying of the wisest person or book written by the most renowned author. Nothing!

But we must be careful of mere hearsay in this regard, or the acknowledgement of our lips only, that this is so. I can say it; you can read about it; and we can both convince ourselves that we believe it. But…!

The thing is, we can only truly know its power; its capacity to lead us into true humanness; its protection against falsities and fears; its ability to move and shift us into heavenly states, and to keep us there, as we engage with it; wrestle with its challenges; and work the truths it enshrines into our lives.

Our transformation.

Our transformation, or regeneration, is the Lord’s total focus and goal, working with us – as He does – through His Word. Remember: Ezekiel saw Him on high, dazzling with the colours of the rainbow, directing operations.

And the Lord gives us His promise and a foretaste of the regenerate or transformed person we can become in the description of the holy city, New Jerusalem.

This is what the holy city, New Jerusalem, is. It is the now opened, restored and re-invigorated Word being worked into our lives; into thoughts, feelings, attitudes and reactions; into troubles that beset us and in response to doubts all too eager to ambush us.

There are, with respect to the new Jerusalem, its sure foundations, being the basic truths the Lord urges and presses on us, nothing complicated, all straightforward. For instance, “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” Such are the truths that make up the strong base on which all else is built. We know, too, of its golden streets, its transparent walls, the wonderful balance of everything it embodies – heart, mind and everyday life; will, understanding and action; length, breadth and height; each the equal of the other. And the Light of the Lord suffusing it all. “The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminates it…” Revelation 21:22

Offered observation

The New Church is all about the Word – the Word restored, renewed, brought back into focus, opened up and shown to be full of the Lord’s Love and Wisdom and powerful beyond our being able to adequately take in. We are not in the business, as any kind of priority, of becoming a mega Church, a spiritual Disco setting out to attract thousands or a pressure group for social, economic and political reform.

This is so inspiring what we are shown in the Writings, or the Heavenly Doctrines, about it, that if we are sincere and earnest looking to the Lord, seeking help and guidance, we can hear the Lord speaking with us in His Word and He will shine light on it and bring it to life for us in powerful, inspiring, ways.

Let’s not scorn the fact that there are those in the scientific community who ridicule it because they can’t make sense of it and won’t buy into simplistic insistence on its literal accuracy or the fundamentalists who make nonsense of it insisting on that literal accuracy. Instead, this is the challenge for the New Church, and of the Swedenborgian community world wide, to go and point the way to this new understanding and appreciation of the Second Advent Word.

And this is promised, that as you and I embrace its power and energy, and take to heart its directives and its reassurances; as we rise to its challenges and as it becomes truly alive in us; so the holy city, new Jerusalem further descends and become more of a reality in our lives; in our midst and in the world more generally, than ever.

“This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. So when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard a voice of One speaking.”

Amen.

The Lord’s Second Coming and the Descent of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, Which Follows

By Rev. Ian Arnold
June 19th 2011

Matthew 24: 29-31: “Immediately after the tribulation 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 Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

Revelation 21:5: “Then he who sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’.”

The Lord and Nicodemus

From what we read in the Gospels it was obviously rare for Jesus to meet one on one with people. He did on several occasions but it was the exception rather than the rule. Usually we read of crowds thronging Him, people crowding around Him, groups following Him but only very occasionally of one on one encounters and conversations.

One such meeting was with Nicodemus, one of the most powerful and influential people of the time, described as being “a ruler of the Jews”. He was a member of the Sanhedrin which was a legislative body overseeing the administration of the Jewish legal and justice system. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, a religious “Party” which was very much committed to preserving all that was distinctive about Judaism. And whilst that had its good side it also had its down side in that, as we also know from the Gospels and from Jesus encounters with Pharisees, it descended into suffocating legalism and nit-picking.

Nicodemus, clearly, was a searcher. He, however, obviously saw it to be prudent to come to Jesus “by night”. Reputation, what others might think of him, and how such a meeting might get him into hot water with his Sanhedrin colleagues, obviously enough was on his mind.

It was during the course of this meeting that Jesus spoke of the need to be “born again”.

This is for sure that Nicodemus didn’t understand at all, at first, what Jesus meant by this. But we do.

To be born again is to become other than what by inherited nature we incline to be and to do.

To be born again is to shift our focus from self-centredness to other people centredness.

To be born again is to re-order what are our priorities, shifting them away from what is material and external to what is spiritual and internal.

To be born again is to become regenerate.

A process

What we also know, from what we are taught, and also on the basis of what experience shows us and brings home to us, is that regeneration is a process. There is nothing overnight about it. There is no instant salvation.

Regeneration starts with us becoming aware of the Lord’s teachings, values and commandments. Then follows the need to honestly and bravely examine ourselves, not just what we actually do and say, but what we would do and say if it was safe to do so. Next we have to be prepared to change our thinking; to “reform” our understanding and whole approach to things. And what follows, of necessity, is a heartfelt commitment to carry out into life the ways of the Lord.

That a process is involved is hinted at even in the Old Testament where Moses is recorded as warning the ancient people of Israel that it would only be “little by little” that they would conquer and take over the Promised Land. (Exodus 33:20).

And we have it again, held up to us, in so much of what Jesus Himself taught. An excellent example is in Mark Chapter 4, the whole thing about gradualness, that regeneration is very much a step by step process. Quoting,

“And He said, ‘The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground, and should sleep by night and rise by day, and the seed should sprout and grow, he himself does not know how. For the earth yields crops by itself, first the stalk, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.” (Verses 26-28)

Notice that – first, then, next.

Faith: also a development and acquired gradually

Like regeneration, faith too is also something that develops gradually, step by step. Indeed, regeneration and the development of faith go hand in hand. They are two sides of one coin.

Faith is about understanding, insights, and deep, heartfelt, appreciation of the Lord; of His work in our lives; of our need of His strength and guidance.

Where faith is concerned we move from what is external to what is internal. It is always the way and it cannot be otherwise.

On first reading the Word, and coming to faith, we think how much better the world would be if only other people (!!) would follow through with its ideals and principles. Then we come to see that it is up to us to do so and that it is this which matters.

How all of us, as young people, first see the Lord is a whole lot different from how we come to see Him from years of working through issues.

Early faith is our honouring the Lord as the Babe of Bethlehem or the man of Galilee.

But regeneration is behind our moving to a much more real and living sense of the Lord and faith in Him.

I commend to you teaching in the book of the Writings, “True Christian Religion” which discussed faith stages. It talks there of faith borrowed or persuasive faith as compared to the later development of faith which is truly one’s very own.

The rich young ruler: an example

In its way, there is no better example of this movement in faith than the rich young man who came to Jesus, anxious about what else he needed to do to inherit eternal life. (Mark 10:17)

For all that he had kept the Commandments he was told by Jesus to go away and “sell” all that he had. He was too self-interested still. Too much, still, in faith of a very external, surface, type; too caught up in merit and the idea of earning his way into the kingdom.

He was, it is said, “sad” at what Jesus told him to do and went away “grieved”.

And as he did so he cannot but have been in turmoil. His world had been turned upside down. The assumptions he had made were all undone.

It is like people who have been brought up to believe that evil attracts punishment and good attracts blessing; that it is the way it is and the way it should be.

In the real world it doesn’t seem to work out like that and so the believer is catapulted into inner turmoil. Why? How can it be? ‘Life is not fair!’

It is exactly this turmoil and questioning that is captured in the words recorded here in Matthew Chapter 24, about famines, pestilences, earthquakes and tribulation. Events happen which really shake our convictions and, simple as they have been. We feel a deep down rattling of our foundations. We hunger for answers. The love and faith, meant by the sun and moon, which previously shone for us, fail and withdraw their light. The stars which once guided us fall from heaven.

But as we work through these times a much more real sense of the Lord breaks in. And this is His second coming.

“Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give it light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven…and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

The holy city, New Jerusalem

The Lord, so seen; so much more insightfully now; a new sense of the world; a deeper understanding of Him, of His Divine Providence, of His care over human affairs, of His purposes for us; a new appreciation of the underlying truth within His Word; opens up and introduces us to a new era in our spiritual life and development. And this is what is held up to us and represented by, the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

The vision of the holy city is the Lord’s promise of what can be. It is the high point of the Bible; of the Word. It is the goal to which the Lord has been leading us all the way through our regeneration.

And it is about beauty and wonder, serenity and peacefulness, freedom from anxiety, a sense of protection security. It is also about openness and transparency. It is about the Lord being Himself the light of our lives; and about spiritual values – the tree of life – being the centre around which all else revolves.

Collectively

This point is important, that the holy city is the high watermark of the Bible. All things lead to it. It is the goal of our creation. It is the Lord’s focus in all His dealings with us.

This is so with each of us, individually. It is, also, His focus with humankind collectively.

And, as with us, coming to it is emphatically a step by step process; one stage or age at a time; each having to be worked through and the whole process impossible to hurry.

Most recently of all, it involves, and has involved, the working through of very external approaches and understanding of things, even of so much that is said in the Bible, to something so much more internal.

History shows us how the Bible has been misapplied; its teachings falsified and externalized; its real meaning lost; it values degraded.

For example, it is 50 years this year since I first encountered apartheid in South Africa, a racially prejudiced philosophy buttressed as it was by a mischievous interpretation of a story in the Bible.

Then I recall my very first pastorate, a joint pastorate in the coal mining districts of northern England. At the time I didn’t have a car and used buses, two in fact, to travel from one to the other. At the rendezvous point there was an ancient church, its graveyard along the front wall, which I, from in the bus, could look down on. And it is seared into my memory, that along the fence there was a grave containing the bodies of 14 children as young as 5 all of whom had perished in a mining disaster 200 years ago. And yet the employment of such children was endorsed and encouraged on the basis of a false interpretation of yet another part of the Bible.

What, too, of the subjugation of women stoutly maintained on the basis of various Bible stories and passages?

Once again, it’s all about the sun being darkened, the moon not giving its light and the stars falling from heaven.

But new light is flooding the world, post Last Judgement, and captured as it is in the Heavenly Doctrines. The Lord is being seen anew in His Second Coming: and there are promising signs of a new world and a new spiritual Age breaking in.

For sure,

We see restlessness and, in our part of the world, rampant secularism and materialism. But within and behind it all is often disenchantment and despair and a deep hunger for something substantial and for a believable God. It’s the earthquakes and famines on a collective scale

The holy city, new Jerusalem

The Lord doesn’t play games with us.

He doesn’t promise what will never be.

The holy city, new Jerusalem, captures for us this new spiritual Age dawning over the world; an Age of fairness and justice; of racial equality and respect; of spiritual richness and healing; of God become truly visible on the clouds of heaven; God in His Divine human; the Lord in His Second Coming, understood and appreciated, reasonably and rationally.

But when?

In the little book, “The Last Judgement”, towards the end, there is a Chapter titled, “The state of the World and of the Church hereafter”, looking to the future as it does. It begins,

“The state of the world hereafter will be just the same as it has been hitherto, for that great change which has taken place in the spiritual world brings about no change in the natural world so far as the outward form is concerned. Wherefore, there will be henceforth civil affairs as before; there will be times of peace, treaties and wars as before, and the other things belonging to societies in general and in particular.”

And then it continues,

“I have spoken with angels about the varying state of the Church hereafter. They have said they have no knowledge of things to come, because such knowledge belongs to the Lord alone. But they said they do know that the servititude and captivity in which people of the Church have been hitherto, has been removed, and that, now from his restored liberty he is able, if he so wishes, the better to understand interior truths and thus to become internal.” (Paragraphs 73 & 74).

Whilst the timing is in the Lord’s wise hands, nevertheless the scene is set and the opportunities are opened up for us.

For sure, we can’t take on responsibility for the world. But we can do our small part, where we are and amongst whom we move and have contact with, to make the holy city just that little bit more real and evident in our midst and in this world.

“Immediately after the tribulation 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 Man will appear in heaven…and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”

And he that sat on the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.”‘

Amen.

Readings:

Matthew Chapter 24: verses 3 to 14 and 29 to 31
Revelation Chapter 21: verses 1 to 5
Arcana Caelestia 3900 & 9405
“The Lord’s Coming does not consist, as the letter has it, in His appearing once again in the world, but in His Presence within everyone. He is present there as often as the Gospel is preached and that which is holy is contemplated.”

(This arises from the fact) “that the Word is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, and what emanates from the Lord is the Lord Himself. Consequently those who read the Word and at the same time look to the Lord, acknowledging that all truth and good come from Him, and none whatever from themselves, receive enlightenment; they see truth and perceive good from the Word…This is what accounts for the holiness of the Word, and also for the Lord’s Coming to and presence with those who, as they read the Word, have in mind the Lord and the neighbour, and not themselves. He comes to them and is present with them because they allow themselves to be raised by the Lord into the light of heaven.”

The Opening of the Graves Embellishment or Reality?

By Rev. Ian Arnold

“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the city and appeared to many.” Matthew 27:51-53

hen we really – really – stop and think about it we cannot be surprised that this statement has had the Bible scholars scratching their heads and coming up with suggestions and explanations as to what it is actually saying to us. This is incredible. But is it embellishment or reality? Is it a flight of fancy or something that actually happened?

We rightly ask such questions! After all, none of the other Gospels make mention on this happening. There is no known outside verification that it did. There is no supporting documentation whatsoever.

Ifit happened, think of the stir it would have caused. Can you imagine it? Surely there would have been a wholesale flocking to Golgotha and, subsequently, to the Christian cause. This is amazing. Presumably the “saints” is a reference to Moses and other leading Old Testament personalities. In truth it doesn’t seem possible that something as impressive as this would have been ignored by the other Gospel writers or quickly forgotten, as it seems to have been.

“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the city and appeared to many.”

For years now these words and this amazing event that is being claimed to have happened has been dismissed as an embellishment. For some it tends to be bracketed along with the Lord’s post-Resurrection appearances, stretching credibility too far. “Come on” the scholars are inclined to say, “It just can’t have been so.” One respected commentator writes, “the passage has elicited various explanations…The approach currently most popular: these verses are a midrash, a symbolic representation of certain theological ideas about the triumph of Jesus and the dawning of a new age. But apart from questions of literary genre one wonders why the evangelist, if he had nothing historical to go on, did not invent a midrash with fewer problems.” (D. A. Carson, “The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, on Matthew, page 581)

Since we are focusing on these events, all to do with Easter, it is valuable and helpful to bear this in mind:

We have teaching given in the Writings, or Heavenly Doctrines for The New Church, that from time to time there can be, and often has been, to all intents and purposes an unconscious “cross over” from events actually taking place in this physical world to things seen with the eyes of the spirit, or in the spiritual world. And this is one such instance of it happening. Someone saw this happening and reported it to Matthew, or Matthew saw it himself. It was as real as anything could be. But the crossover was unconscious. It wasn’t realized that what was being seen was being seen not in this world but in the spiritual world. It was a reality, but it was a reality on another level.

The question then arises, ‘What was this reality on another level?’

In a sense we will always find it difficult to get our minds around how it was, spiritually, for people 2000 years ago. We know this much from the Gospels, that outwardly, there was a dreadful sense of deadness about everything. We have only to think of how tradition-bound the Church of those times had become. It was all a matter of parroting the Scripture and going through the motions. Real, living, faith and goodness had been killed off. We can think back to a people caught up in dead, self-gratifying thinking and attitudes. Even if they wanted a way out, they couldn’t find it.

We in our day talk of people being pretty dead when they sit around and watch television all day.

Worship is itself dead if all it involves is repeating old worn out phrases and the mindless observance of rituals. Thinking is dead if all we are doing is repeating what others say. So, here is the picture; the spiritual picture; of those times.

It was as the result of His work on earth, successfully carried out, that the Lord changed all this.

He came to make it possible for people to think for themselves again. He came to restore the beauty, appeal, power and relevance of Divine Truth. He came to rekindle spiritual love in people’s hearts and to reawaken their confidence in a God who cared. He made it possible for Divine light to penetrate even to the natural and outermost level of human awareness and consciousness.

It wasn’t done easily. The very reason why the Lord became incarnate was so that He might confront the forces of darkness from hell so much in control and so casting their shadow over everything at that time. He confronted them and engaged them in temptation combats, one after another. He felt their influence; knew in Himself how powerful and alluring they could be; saw the extent of their grip on human nature; and yet overcame them and established His ascendancy over them. We hardly know of or read about what was going on within, but this is how it was. On the cross He gained His final and fullest victory. And, as He did so,

“behold, the veil of the temple was torn in tow from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

Let yourself feel what is being said here. What we need to get in touch with is the over-rising sense of people being liberated; set free; and coming back to life.

“It is recorded in Matthew that after the passion of the Lord the tombs were opened, and many bodies of those that slept came out of their tombs, went into the holy city, and appeared to many. (Chapter 27:52, 53). The tombs being opened, and many bodies of them that slept appearing, has a similar signification to what which is stated in Ezekiel, where it is said that Jehovah would open the sepulchres and cause them to come up out of the sepulchres, namely the regeneration of the faithful and their resurrection unto life; not that the bodies themselves, which lay in the tombs, rose again, but that there was the appearance of this in order that both regeneration and resurrection unto life from the Lord might be signified.”(Apocalypse Explained 659:15)

How it was then it very much as it is with you and me today. There are attitudes, thoughts, feelings and yearnings we all have that are encased with grave clothes and laid in a grave.

Our yearning to relate better to others around us can be encased with mistrust because of bitter experience.

Our sense of usefulness and self-worth may be just about dead because of withering criticism of our foolish mistakes in the past.

Our thoughts and hopes for the future may have the shadows of fear falling heavily across them.

Our sense of purpose and meaning in life is so often laid to rest by cynicism and disappointment.

Let’s ask ourselves: how many saints – or saintly things – are buried in the grave-yards of hopelessness or disappointment or bad experience generally?

But now these can be liberated and set free. Now they can be brought back to life and vitality.

The thing is, the Lord overcame the powers of darkness then and He can overcome those same powers of darkness in us now.

What, then, of Good Friday?

It is all about the things of the Lord within us brought back to life; being raised out of the graves to which old hurts, cynicism, disappointments and bad experiences have consigned them. The Saviour of the world can become the Saviour of our world, restoring to life what was once dead.

“And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming out of the graves after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.”

Amen.

Bearing Witness To Truth

By Rev. Kurt H. Asplundh

“You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this

cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37).

When the Lord rode into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday He was received as a king. A great multitude took branches of palm trees and went out to meet Him. They cried out: “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! The King of Israel!” (John 12:13). It was a royal welcome.

Not everyone was pleased. The chief priests and Pharisees hated the Lord. They cried out from the crowd while the multitude of disciples praised Him saying, “Teacher, rebuke Your disciples.” He answered that the “stones would immediately cry out” if the people were silenced (Luke 9:38-40). The very rocks and stones of creation would bear witness to the sovereignty of the Lord.

It was less than a week later that the Lord’s enemies would bring Him to the court of Pilate where this issue of kingship would be argued again. The chief priests and scribes had condemned the Lord before their own religious council with the charge of blasphemy in His claim that He was the Son of God. For this they wanted to put Him to death. Being a subject people, however, the Jews could not impose the death sentence. They needed the permission of the Roman governor, Pilate.

Since the Romans had no interest in the religious laws of the Jews or their theological disputes, the Jews brought a different charge. Bringing the Lord to Pilate they said: “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King” (Luke 23:2). It was on this charge that Pilate questioned the Lord in the Praetorium. The question was: Did the Lord pose a threat to the authority of the Roman government? Was He seeking a following to overthrow those in power? Pilate needed to determine if the Lord was indeed the King of the Jews.

In answer to Pilate’s question, “Are You the King of the Jews?” the Lord plainly said: “It is as you say” (Mark 15:2). But He added: “My kingdom is not of this world …. My kingdom is not from here” (John 18:36). This was a puzzling statement for the Roman administrator. What did Pilate know of other worlds? What kind of king could he be that had no temporal power? So he asked again, “Are you a king then?” The Lord answered: “You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth” (John 18:37).

What is the meaning of the Lord’s answer to Pilate? It is clear to us now. What He said was that truth is a king and that He Himself had come to present the truth to the mind of man. So He added: “Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (Ibid.).

Pilate was not a religious or philosophical man, but neither was he unintelligent. He understood from this testimony that the Lord’s purpose was to bear witness to a truth that would rule the minds of men. While he understood this, he was skeptical of it. The Word records his well-known response. Pilate said: “What is truth?” (John 18:38).

“What is truth?” The Heavenly Doctrine comments on this. From the question of Pilate “it is clear,” we are told, “that he understood that truth was called king’ by the Lord … ” (AE 31:3). What he doubted was whether truth was, indeed, king. His words pose the crucial question: “Is truth a king?” (AE 27:4, AR 20).

The rest of the account of the Lord’s trial is a sad confirmation of Pilate’s skeptical attitude about the power of truth. The truth did not rule the decisions that were soon to be made. Neither truth nor justice held sway in the tumultuous events that followed. From the moment Pilate appeared before the Lord’s accusers with the verdict: “I find no fault in Him at all,” hatreds, fears, angry emotions, and selfish ambitions took over. The rulers of the Jews did not want the truth from Pilate. They wanted their will. Time and again, they demonstrated the rejection of the rule of truth. This first happened in the matter of Barabbas.

It was customary at their feast that one of the prisoners should be released. Pilate offered them “the King of the Jews” or Barabbas. As we know from exposition, this is a choice between the rule of truth or the rule of principles of murder and theft embodied by Barabbas. The crowd cried out vehemently: “Not this Man, but Barabbas!”

“Not this Man!” What could be more clear?

Later the Lord stood before the people wearing a crown of thorns and a purple robe after He had been whipped and mocked by the soldiers. “Behold the Man!” He said. He was inviting them to see how the truth had been violated, mocked and rejected. There was no remorse, no sense of loss. Impelled by another king, the spirit of selflove they had welcomed in their hearts, they cried out unmercifully, “Crucify Him, crucify Him.” Pilate asked: “Shall I crucify your King?” The chief priests answered,

“We have no king but Caesar!” Imagine what that really means! The inner sense of what they shouted was that they were ruled by nothing but practical expediency. The Lord’s truth was of no importance to them. After the priests had cried out, spiritually denying the Lord, Pilate gave Him up to their will.

He was crucified with two thieves at the place called Golgotha. The accusation affixed to the cross by Pilate read: “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews” (John 19:19). Even in His condemnation, the Jews objected: “Do not write The King of the Jews,'” they said. Inwardly they were rejecting the Divine truth that should be king.

Write “He said, I am the King of the Jews.'” But Pilate would not acquiesce to this. “What I have written I have written” ( John 19:21, 22). And so the title stood in spite of their objection, the very truth of the matter written in Hebrew, Greek and Latin. It is not coincidental that the testaments which have borne witness to the Lord’s sovereign power also are written in these three sacred languages the Old Testament in Hebrew, which declares the creative power of the one God of heaven and earth; the New Testament in Greek, which records His incarnation and redemption of the race; and the Heavenly Doctrine of the New Jerusalem in Latin, which reveals the living Essence of His Divine Humanity.

“For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world,” the Lord declared, “that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice” (John 18:37).

Let us ask ourselves on this Palm Sunday if we can be numbered among those who are “of the truth” who hear the Lord’s voice. Pilate was not among these. As he was a Gentile and knew nothing from the Word, he could not be taught that Divine truth is from the Lord or that the Lord Himself bore witness to Divine truth (see AE 31:3). Pilate was not only skeptical of the power of truth but unaware that there was any source of authoritative truth. The Jews who wanted to crucify the Lord were not numbered among those who were of the truth. They had rejected the truth. We are told that “they desired a king who would exalt them over all in the whole earth. And as the Lord’s kingdom was not earthly but heavenly, they perverted everything that was said respecting Him in the Word, and mocked at what was foretold of Him. This is what was represented by their placing a crown of thorns upon His head, and smiting His head” (AE 577:4).

What of us? Are we “of the truth” and willing to hear the Lord’s voice? Do we welcome the King with joy and a willing heart? The greeting of the Lord with palms and Hosannas on that first Palm Sunday pictures a ready acceptance of the truth of the Word, an acknowledgment and confession of the Lord as our king.

Is this our welcome or do we share the rejection of the Jews or the skepticism of Pilate, asking, “What is truth?” Is truth a king?.

Pilate recognized that the Lord was not a direct threat to the empire. Had He not said: “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews … ” (John 18:36)? What Pilate had not learned and did not know was the Lord’s teaching that the kingdom of God is within. “The kingdom of God does not come with observation,” He had said to the Pharisees; “nor will they say, See here!’ or See there!’ For indeed, the kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:20, 21).

Here was a new concept to the Jews. Until now they had only an idea of kingdoms of this world, of nations and rulers and subjects under them. The Lord taught of a spiritual kingdom, a kingdom within us that is organized and developed by the spirit of truth. It is this “inner” kingdom that truth can rule. And when the spirit of man is ruled by truth, his actions in the world are also ruled by truth from within.

By creation every man is free. He can be compelled outwardly and be forced to live according to certain laws, but he cannot be compelled to think or believe against his will. We choose the king of our inner life. And this is our real life. The convictions, the principles, the ideals we choose to live by are the essentials of our true character. Is there power in these? The greatest power possible, far greater than the power of any dictator or outward force. The human spirit has proven indomitable. Tyranny’s rule is always short-lived. The desire for freedom that is deeply implanted in human hearts cannot be denied or forcibly suppressed.

The issue is not whether we have spiritual freedom, but what spirit will rule within us. Will it be the spirit of Divine truth or the spirit of the world? Will we choose the Lord for our king or Caesar?

The Lord has revealed Himself anew for the New Church, bearing witness to the truth as never before in the Heavenly Doctrine of the church.

The Palm Sunday account is prophetic of a new and conscious reception of the Lord now possible for us. The New Church is named the New Jerusalem. While we have established organizations for the promotion of the Lord’s church among men, the New Jerusalem is really in the individual heart. How does the Lord enter this New Jerusalem? His approach to us is symbolically pictured in the New Testament. There He rode upon the colt of a donkey with garments and branches strewed before Him.

Thus He physically entered that city. To us this signifies something that can take place again and again in our personal life: the subordination and guidance of our rational mind by the Lord’s teachings and the acknowledgment that Divine truths from the Word are the truths that should rule in our life. Palm Sunday takes place in the hidden kingdom of our spirit every time we are ready to receive the Lord. Let us pray for His promised coming. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you. He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zech. 9:9). “You say rightly that I am a king …. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice!” (John 18:37).

Amen.

The Word Made Flesh

By Rev. Brian W. Keith

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

Night a time of quiet when the bustle of the day dies down; a time of weariness when we make ready for a restful sleep; also a time of darkness and cold; our vision is limited and we seek the warmth of fires and homes.

Nighttime plays a prominent role in the birth of the Lord. It was at night in a dream that the angel appeared to Joseph giving him reasons to marry Mary. Later at night he warned him of the danger of Herod, and eventually informed him that it was time to return to the land of Israel. It was in the night that the Lord was born and the shepherds found their way to the manger. And it was in the night that the wise men saw the star in the east, and then had the star lead them from Jerusalem to Bethlehem where it stood over the house where the young Child lay.

The nighttime scenes surrounding the birth and early years of the Lord’s life depict the shroud that had descended upon the world. Their God, Jehovah, had not been seen nor heard from in hundreds of years. They were lost and rudderless without Him. Other than maintaining the ancient rituals, they had little sense of who He was and how they were to live. Hearts were growing colder from the confusion and distortion of everything good.

Even with the few descendants of the ancient churches, some of whose knowledge resided with the wise men, there were but scant glimmers of light. Perhaps those wise men alone among the ancients saw the star. Certainly its light was not overpowering. So even with the ancients there was but little understanding of who the Lord is. What minimal truth remained was heavily shaded because all they had ever seen of the Lord was a representative not the Divine in its glory (see SS 99).

But our images and memories of the birth of the Lord are not focused upon the darkened states. Rather we remember the multitude of heavenly hosts shining upon the shepherds, the star guiding the wise men, and the light of day in which Simeon lifted up the infant Lord, blessed God, and Anna proclaimed His glory to all. For the Lord’s coming is a coming with light and with life. “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”

One of the wonders of Christmas is the fact that the Lord is born with light in the midst of confused and dark states of life. When we see little but gloom and hopelessness, He comes to us. He holds us in His hands, nourishing an inner sense of hope that we might endure and overcome. Then His full presence with us is in the light of the morning, enabling us to recognize who He is and how we might walk in His ways. This is why the morning with its light and warmth corresponds to the Lord’s coming (see AC 22, 4240e; SS 99).

For the Lord came as the light of the world. This is His glory. We can see it shining upon us in the truth His advent brought. For until the Lord took on a physical form as a tender infant, all the earlier concepts of Him were vague at best (see SS 99). All of the true ideas that had existed with the ancients about marriage, life continuing past the veil of this world, and how His providence guides us were only misty images of what they might be. For all truth had been filtered through the heavens. Dependent upon the finite grasp of the angels, the glory of the Lord had shone dimmer and dimmer into this world, until at last the vision of Him was nearly lost. By His birth the Lord acquired a natural degree of life. As He put it on and gradually made it Divine, the warmth of His love and the light of His wisdom became immediately present with all.

This is the light of the new day the Lord’s coming heralded for mankind a light shining in the darkness, leading to the brilliance of day. We can sense this when we reflect upon our awakening states not those mornings which come after too little sleep, or when we are rudely awakened by alarms and the bustle of hurriedly preparing to rush off to work. But we feel it in the quiet mornings when we awake refreshed and revived when we listen to the singing of the birds and know the dazzling sunlight portends the warming of the earth. The light has a special quality then. With clarity we see beauty in even the simplest things around us. And we can sense the closeness of heaven, the closeness of the Lord’s advent as our spirits are lifted up to the new day (see AC 7844:2).

As the Word made flesh, the glory of the Lord can bring us a peacefulness unlike any other. Not a peace like the quiet of evening when we are preparing to rest. Rather it is a peace of contentment and confidence. As the Heavenly Doctrines note, this peace is “the very Divine truth in heaven from the Lord which universally affects all who are there and makes heaven to be heaven; for peace has in it confidence in the Lord, that He directs all things and provides all things, and that He leads to a good end. When a person is in this state, he is in peace, for he then fears nothing, and no worry about things to come disturbs him” (AC 8455). The glory of the Lord’s Word shines upon us when we have such assurance that He is in charge, carefully guiding every one of our steps.

This is the state of the angels. Their unpleasant memories of this earth have been set aside. They have no desire to leap into the future. Rather they fully enjoy the present, sensing all the goodness that the Lord is giving them now. For they trust in Him, knowing that He is leading and caring for them no matter what happens.

We may taste some of this angelic peace as we celebrate the Lord’s advent or awaken in the morning. But we enter into it more and more as we set aside the things of this world: worry about the future, too great a focus on natural toys and conveniences, our selfish drives and desires. To the extent that we can enjoy earthly delights without making them all-important, that we can serve others without always thinking about what we will get out of it, so far peace can enter our lives. It is then that we become convinced that the Lord’s light is the true light and most of the problems and troubles we experience can fall away. It is then that we can glimpse the Lord and experience His peace, His advent into our lives.

In one sense there is nothing startlingly new or different about this idea. Indeed, it is so simple, so fundamental, that it hardly needs to be said. So we are affected by the Word made flesh as the Divine flows into some of the simple truths we already know. This is one of the reasons the Lord was born on earth that the Divine goodness might be joined with our common sense and simple ideas of Him that we have (see AC 2554).

The Lord’s birth itself did not reveal any radical new information that had not been available before. In fact there would be no real instruction until thirty years later when the Lord began His public ministry. But His birth signaled a beginning of salvation for all because His presence, His love for us all, was proclaimed by His coming down among us, filling us with His good.

For us now, the Christmas story reveals His glory, the brilliance of His Divine Human in which we may know Him and love Him. The Divine as it is in Itself is far beyond our comprehension and affection, even as it was for the ancients. So the Lord was born that we might see His nature and have it shed light on our lives, giving us the confidence and trust that He is always with us, always leading us in paths of peace.

The Lord then becomes flesh and dwells among us when even our limited, simple ideas of truth can be filled with His presence, showing us something of His love. For the Lord’s coming into our life is not simply to make us feel good. Yes, the Lord would have us experience states of happiness and joy regularly, and eventually in heaven constantly. While He may be born in our states of darkness, His full advent is to us in light the truth of His Word which can fill our minds. Every time we recognize a concept as Divine, as coming from Him and leading our minds back to His love and mercy, His advent has occurred. Then the Word is made flesh, living, for us. We are touched by it, we are enlightened by it, and we are strengthened by it (see AC 8792).

This is our sight of the Lord, His birth among us. It brings us light, and it will bring us warmth. We can embrace this light, this new vision of the Divine, and use it to recognize and follow His teachings (see TCR 774). Then the truth of peace will be ours.

So let this Christmas day affect us with the joys of morning. As its light brings a new brightness to our day, as its warmth stirs a renewed heat in our lives, let us feel the Lord’s closeness to us. His birth on earth was the taking on of a natural form of life that we might know Him, see Him, and love Him. As we put off an excessive focus on the things of this world and upon our concerns, He can come closer to us, bringing us the peace of dawn a peace that has within it complete confidence in His truth, in His guidance, a complete confidence that a heaven shall be made from this human race.

This was the reason for His coming to touch our hearts and enlighten our minds, that He might become the Word made flesh for us eternally. Let us behold His glory, full of grace and truth.

Amen.

The Unexpected Nature of Incarnation

By Rev. David Moffat

.. the Lord is as much present in charity with those outside the Church who are called gentiles. … Indeed He is more present with them, for the reason that there is less cloud in the understanding part of their minds than is normally the case with so-called Christians. Indeed gentiles have no knowledge of the Word and do not know what the Lord is, and as a consequence do not know what the truth of faith is. This being so, they are incapable of opposition to the Lord or to the truth of faith, such cloud being dispersed easily when they are enlightened. … But the cloud existing with Christians does stand in opposition to the Lord and to the truths of faith, and this cloud is so obscure as to be darkness. And when hatred is there instead of charity it is thick darkness. (Arcana Caelestia 1059 [portion])

The Lord is present with every person, urging and pressing him to receive Him. And when a person receives Him, which happens when he acknowledges Him as his God, the Creator, Redeemer and Saviour, this is His first coming. (True Christian Religion 766)

These two passages from the teachings of our church offer what appears to be a contradiction. Swedenborg writes that gentiles seem to be at no disadvantage in their lack of knowledge about the Word, yet in True Christian Religion, he writes that an acknowledgement of the Lord is of the utmost important. How can we resolve this? We must consider what this “acknowledgement of the Lord is”. We can look at it on two levels.

Firstly there is the verbal acknowledgement upon which Christians tend to place so much weight. This involves the recognition of the Lord Jesus Christ as He walked the earth and as it is recorded in the gospels. However, it ought to be recognised that such a proclamation of the lips is meaningless unless it has some impact upon the life of the person making the declaration. The Lord himself taught this countless times (for example in the parable of the two sons [Matthew 21:28-32], and the parable of the sheep and the goats [Matthew 25:31-46]). We see it in other events in the gospels too, such as when the Lord cast out demons who recognised Jesus for who he was, yet remained opposed to Him. Even the Jewish authorities were forced to recognise who Jesus was – it is recorded in John’s gospel, chapter 11 that instead of paying the honour due to Him, they sought to kill him (John 11:45-57) and Lazarus too, the living proof of Jesus’ power (John 12 9-11). A verbal recognition that the Jesus who taught and performed miracles in Palestine is not the acknowledgement which Swedenborg talks about.

The acknowledgement which is so essential is the change in a person’s heart and life. It is obedience to the Lord’s teachings. Without that obedience, verbal recognition is worse than worthless. So we should not look to a person making any proclamation in order to believe that they will find heaven in this world and the next. Those two parables I mentioned before (the two sons and the sheep and the goats), also teach this – what a person does is a more accurate indicator of his inner nature.

Of course, it’s not just being “good” or “nice” which constitutes that acknowledgement. In order to give the Lord the titles, “God, the Creator, Redeemer and Saviour” we have to give them up ourselves. This is the basis of the 12 step programme of Alcoholics Anonymous – that a “higher power” exists, which is the source of our ability to make positive changes in our lives. In Spiritual Recovery, Grant Schnarr quotes the woman who says, “I know there is a God, and it ain’t me!” So many of our problems originate in believing that we hold all the answers, that we don’t need to listen to anyone else, even God. Unfortunately, Christians aren’t immune – we can claim to have all the answers just as much as anyone, because we believe we KNOW everything that is important for our salvation and everyone else’s for that matter. Indeed, we confirm it from the Bible, and give our own thinking Divine authority, which makes it even more difficult to turn our back on. This is why Swedenborg says the condition of Christians can be so much worse than that of gentiles.

Let’s move on to the Lord’s Incarnation. Was it really “unexpected”? Well, if we look at the Old Testament, we find countless prophecies of the Lord’s coming. The people of Jesus time looked forward to the coming of the promised “Messiah” with great anticipation. Swedenborg writes that the Lord will only enter our lives and our world when he is expected – he guards our freedom too carefully to jeopardise it. But what becomes clear throughout the gospels is that the nature of his coming was so unexpected that most missed it completely. So few welcomed him at his birth – at Christmas time we are used to celebrate only the rejoicing of a handful of shepherds and some foreign astrologers. Why didn’t the Lord make his birth more widely known? Look what happened when he did! Herod tried to kill the boy for fear of a potential political rival from the little that he knew, and when Jesus entered public ministry some thirty years later he was ultimately executed for making such outrageous claims.

The Lord, although born in Bethlehem, lived most of his life in Nazareth. Being in Galilee, it was dismissed as an insignificant backwater by many of the Jews, and certainly despised by the religious authorities. The northern part of Palestine had been resettled by diverse peoples many years before, after the Israelites of that region had been exiled under the Assyrian empire, and it was certainly not purely Jewish. It represents a gentile condition. It was certainly not a suitable place for the promised Messiah to make his home! In John’s gospel the authorities challenge Nicodemus’s support of this Nazarene upstart with the words, “Are you also from Galilee? Search and look, for no prophet has arisen out of Galilee.” (John 7:52) The disciple Nathaniel was similarly sceptical before he met Jesus himself (see John 1:46). Outwardly, the reason for Jesus’ residence there was his parents. Inwardly the reason was the spiritual rejection of his authority by the leaders of the Jewish religious institution, and this reflects our own difficulty in truly accepting the Lord into our lives.

Even so, there were those who recognised the Lord instantly. Simeon (and Anna – Luke 2:36-38) represents those who rejoiced to see Him. These are the “remnant” of the people referred to so often in the Old Testament prophets and encountered again in Micah. It is clear from Micah’s writing (4:6-7) that this remnant is not intended as the seed of a re-established nation or political unit, but a people who accept the Lord because they recognise their desperate need of him. They are those who remain true to the Lord out of an otherwise shattered religion. The “remnant” is a spiritual reality, not a natural one.

So, what lessons can we draw from these stories? Firstly, we all exist in varying states of spiritual darkness. There is something of the gentile in all of us, in other words, states of spiritual ignorance. Then there are the religious states. The problem here is that the religious tend to think they know the truth, which can be even worse than being in spiritual ignorance, because such states of “certainty” will actively reject whatever truth appears strange to them. The point is, the standard by which they measure their understanding of truth is not the Lord or the Word, but their own understanding. Sometimes it is thinly disguised as belief in the Word of God, or in the authority of Scripture, but what is really meant is their own interpretation of Scripture. Jesus said, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you say, ‘We see.’ Therefore your sin remains.” (John 9:41) “If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!” (Matthew 6:23)

The third state is that represented by the “remnant”, by Simeon and Anna. It is stored up and protected within us by the Lord Himself. It is that within us which is receptive of the Lord. It is what responds to His call, and recognises Him for who He truly is. The question is what we give priority to. It is this that determines our quality and the quality of our actions.

We are challenged to look for the Lord everywhere, not just where and when we expect Him. He is not limited to the outwardly religious. He is not to be found only in our own sense of what is right or good. He is not to be found in doctrine which is separated from a life in obedience to the Lord’s commands. That is why the Lord chose to make his home in a town so divorced from Jewish religious life. We should be prepared to be wrong! If we are not, we are in real danger of missing Him. Being right or outwardly “good” does not equal salvation or happiness. Praise the Lord that this is so – if our eternal happiness depended upon such things, who would be saved?!

Amen.

The Call of Christmas

By Rev. David A. Moffat

The Christmas story poses a very special challenge to each one of us. As we read of the Lord’s coming into the world, and as we celebrate that event today, I would like you to bear one question in mind – Of all the characters in the Christmas story, who are you most like?

Are you like the SHEPHERDS?

They were simple folk, attending to their duties, as they would have every night. Their religion would not have been particularly complicated, or learned, consisting largely in the fulfilment of their allotted task in life. They were active in the practical care of others, through simple actions, humbly and faithfully carried out.

And yet, on this night, they are blessed with a spectacular, awesome revelation of the Lord’s birth! Gladly, they heard the news, and rushed to see the new born Saviour. They are reminiscent on those, who through simple charity and obedience to the Lord’s command, can see the need for the Lord’s coming. They are suddenly blessed with an insight and understanding which is unavailable to more sophisticated thinkers. The Lord flows into their hearts and minds through the carrying out of simple duties. This is the nature of their call to the Lord.

Or are you like the WISE MEN?

These men were quite different from the shepherds. They were men of intelligence, something akin to ancient scientists. Living in a far off land, they studied the skies. And despite their learning, they were open to the possibility of things beyond their understanding. They were aware of spiritual truths in an indirect way only – they were not a part of the spiritual community of the Jews. Theirs was an ancient knowledge, handed down, which was preserved to some extent in the practice of their science, although it was hazy, and not clearly seen.

They remind us that science points to spiritual truths, and although it cannot define or quantify the spiritual realm, it can point us in the right direction. We might look to the mounting evidence for life after death, or the research done supporting the real existence of the star of Bethlehem. The Psalmist writes, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” (Psalm 19:1) Nature itself, and many aspects of our natural lives point to the Lord, if only we will look for them. We may well hope that growing numbers of people might find themsevles in the wide men’s shoes – after all, there are many who now live outside the direct influence of the Christian churches.

These men received no startling revelation. It was through their learning that they were able to “read the signs”. And although their knowledge was uncertain, what they witnessed was enough to send them on a long journey of discovery which would bring them to the Lord Himself.

But there were others involved in this story, and they too were called to the Lord’s crib. Take the SCRIBES, for example.

Once again, we meet men of intelligence. Scholars, not of worldly things, but of Scripture. It is strange that these men were not among the first to seek the Lord. Because, of all the people in this story, they have the biggest clue to the Lord’s birth – the Word itself. Indeed, they tell the Wise men where they will find the new born King. The thing which separates them from the wise men, is motivation. They do not wish to find the Lord – the Lord is really nothing to them. They are religious in only a professional sense. It has no effect upon their lives, nor are they excited by the possibility of the Lord’s coming.

It is not that these men don’t receive a call from the Lord – they choose not to hear it. Do we have all the opportunity in the world and simply fail to grasp it? As Christians, this is a danger we face. We become so used to our way of life, our religiosity, that we ignore or fail to recognise the potential newness within them. Fooled by our external religion, we fail to truly follow the Lord.

Or are we more like HEROD? He was a man of great power, at least in his own eyes. Yet, he was strangely insecure. He was all too aware of the political powder keg which he has ruled so harshly for so long. And he too heard the call. He had all the signs – access to the Word, the startling new discovery of the Wise men. But his reaction is not one of love. It is not even the professional disinterest of the scribes. His reaction is hatred, born of insecurity and fear.

Herod reminds us of those times when we run from the Lord in fear that we will lose what little control we have over our lives. Sometimes we feel that power to be great, and we are threatened by the prospect of losing that power. Sometimes, we are so fearful of that power that the only solution seems to be the destruction of the threat. Of course, in reading the gospels, we realise that the power of the Lord was not really a challenge to the political power of the king. The Lord wants my heart, not my wealth or my worldly power. But its difficult for us to see that distinction when we’re in the state of Herod.

The essence of the message is this. We all hear the call at one time or another. What separates us is how we react to it. In the Christmas story we see that it is the humble and the foreigners who typically follow that call. The “religious” and the powerful fail to do so, through complacency or fear, despite having all the signs.

The Word calls us to a truly spiritual life. How will you respond?

Amen.

Joy In The Coming of Our Lord

By Rev. David C. Roth

“Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him …. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy” (Matthew 2:2,10).

How often have we been in the same position as the wise men, or maybe the same situation as the shepherds? We are in a position similar to theirs when we are told of the Lord and the message of His Word. As He did for the wise men and the shepherds, the Lord has made Himself known to each of us in different ways, and now it is up to us to respond. Both the shepherds and the wise men were told in different ways about the coming of the Lord and then given guidance to that special place where the Lord chose to be born. Although both were present to see the newborn Savior, they received the message of the Lord’s birth in different ways.

Most likely each of us has a favorite story in relation to the Lord’s birth. We may even ask ourselves whether it was the wise men or the shepherds who responded in a more favorable way to the announcement of the Lord’s advent. But this question is not really very important when we realize that the essential observation is the one that points to the fact that both the wise men and the shepherds did respond. They both heeded the Lord’s call, but in different ways, each according to his own state – different states, yet states which were acceptable to the Lord. How can we then apply the responses of the wise men and shepherds to our own lives on this Christmas day? As we examine the stories of the shepherds and the wise men, the spiritual sense shows us clearly of their application to our lives.

The first thing, however, that we must understand is the importance of the Lord’s birth. Without His coming we could not be in freedom to be regenerated by Him. His coming has redeemed mankind; that is, He put the hells back where they belonged, put the heavens in order so that they could be safe from the attack of the hells, and began a new church where people could love the Lord and their neighbors (see TCR 86). By His birth and fulfilled life here on earth the Lord is now present with us fully and powerfully in His Word; we are not left alone. It was this message involving all this wonderful work to be done by the Lord which the shepherds were told of, and which the wise men sought to see fulfilled. As the angel of the Lord proclaimed to the shepherds, “Fear not, for behold I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10,11). The message was clearly one to pay attention to, one to be happy about. A Savior had come, of whose kingdom there would be no end.

When we consider the call of the shepherds we see a unique response. The shepherds at this time of the year lived out in the fields with their sheep day and night, always keeping a watchful eye on their tender flocks. Perhaps we envision it being cold and dark, with the shepherds staying close to keep themselves warm. This is illustrative of the type of world into which the Lord was born – cold from the lack of charity and love, and dark because of the false understanding in which the world had engulfed its minds. Yet even in all this cold and darkness there were a few who possessed an innocence and a willingness to be led and taught by the Word. We can see this in the story of the shepherds. A shepherd represents one who teaches the truths and goods of faith. A good shepherd, that is, one that guards and protects his flock, shows us a picture of someone who is learning, protecting and storing up goods and truths. This is a picture of a basically good person, yet one who believes that life is his own, and that most power is from himself. He has been working hard to learn the truths of the Lord’s Word; however, he remains in a state of darkness as to how it all applies to his life, and how it leads him closer to the Lord and away from self. But with this learning of truth and innocent willingness the Lord is able to come to us and be born in our hearts.

The first thing which the appearing angel said to the shepherds was, “Fear not.” This represents a renewal of life, meaning that the Lord will create a new heart within us, a heart that acknowledges the Lord as our Savior and not ourselves. This actually can be a real cause for fear. We read, “For all who come suddenly from self-life into any spiritual life are at first afraid, but their life is renewed by the Lord” (AC 80). It can be a difficult and scary thing to give our life over to the care of the Lord when we feel so strongly that life is our own and that we have the power ourselves to conquer evil. When the Lord draws near, the result is temptation, and if we are good we will fear for the loss of good and truth. His nearer presence makes it feel as if we are losing what good and truth we have. But it is when we do follow the Lord, when we listen to the angel’s good tidings, that He can truly care for us. The manger in which the shepherds found the Lord represents spiritual nourishment. It is here in the presence of the Lord that we are nourished and instructed. The Lord does not lead us to Himself and then starve us; He will fill us to overflowing. The Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes means first truths, truths of innocence from the Lord’s Divine Love. When we come to the Lord He nourishes and instructs us in those things which will make us ready for His kingdom, a kingdom of innocence, love, and use.

After seeing the Babe, “the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told them” (Luke 2:20). This response by the shepherds signifies a true confession and worship, which comes when we acknowledge in our hearts that there is nothing of good in ourselves, and that we can do nothing of ourselves – and, on the other hand, that all good is from the Lord, and that the Lord can do all things (see AC 1210). The Heavenly Doctrines say further of this response, “When man is in this acknowledgment he puts aside what is his own, which belongs to the love of self, and opens all things of his mind, and thus gives room for the Divine to flow in with good and with power” (AC 1210). The shepherds heard the Lord’s call and followed it. We can be like the shepherds ourselves when we make the same sort of acknowledgment regarding the power of the Lord. He will call us in His Word, but if we are looking to ourselves for strength we will not hear Him. We may celebrate the Lord’s advent, but not with the same conviction for the Lord as we would if we humbled ourselves and gave glory to the King of Glory.

From this beautiful picture of innocence as seen in the story of the shepherds we now turn to a different scenario: one of wisdom and perseverance – the story of the wise men. The wise men seemed to have a special quality about them. They knew about the advent of the Lord because they had a knowledge of the Word and its prophecies. We read concerning them, “The knowledge of correspondences survived among a number of the Orientals, even until the Lord’s Advent, as is evident from the wise men of the east who came to the Lord at His birth” (SS 23), “and that they knew of His Advent by a star which appeared to them in the east” (AC 10177).

It is interesting to think of the fact that those who were of the Jewish faith who had the Old Testament Word and who should have known that the Lord was to be born had no idea of it. When the wise men came and asked Herod, “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” he had no answer but called the chief priests and scribes together to help. We can imagine that perhaps Herod was a bit embarrassed that he, the king, did not know this, as well as being jealous of this newborn King. The Word says that ” … he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. ” Whatever the nature of the response, again it was quite indicative of the state of the Jewish Church at the time. Not only was their knowledge of the Word lacking and false but many, like Herod, had an all-out hatred for the Lord. This is plainly shown in Herod’s plot to kill the infant Lord, a plot which resulted in the slaying of thousands of innocent children in Bethlehem.

The Jews at this time, it seems, were not looking for the Lord. And when they did find out that He had come, there was no room in their hearts nor their inns to greet Him. Yet, as with the shepherds, we see in the story of the wise men others who were ready for the Lord. But we observe a difference in their response to the Lord’s coming, the main difference being that the wise men were actively seeking out the Lord. They had seen His star in the east and had come to worship Him. They traveled a long distance to see the star that had come out of Jacob, the Scepter that had risen out of Israel, He who was to be born King of the Jews.

In the spiritual sense, the east represents love, and the star that went before them signifies knowledge from heaven (see AC 3762, SS 23). The wise men traveling eastward to the land of the east was representative of those who in their life are moving toward the good of faith. This, the Writings teach, is nothing else than charity toward the neighbor, or a life according to the Lord’s commandments (see AC 3249). In this spiritual picture we can see that it is the knowledges of good and truth found in the Lord’s Word, represented by the star, which guide us to a life of charity or love, that is, which guide us to the Lord Himself. This paints a beautiful picture for each of us. We see that it is through the learning of the Lord’s truths and commands that we can be led to Him.

Still, the most beautiful aspect of the wise men’s response to the Lord’s Advent is seen when they departed from Herod for Bethlehem and the star reappeared before them. “And behold the star which they had seen in the east went before them, til it came and stood over where the young Child was. And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.” Exceeding great joy! What kind of a feeling did they have? It must have been an overwhelming feeling of excitement and internal peace over having embarked upon the last leg of the journey to their Savior, the star’s reappearing to assure them that the Lord was with them as they continued their trek. Can we ever have such feelings of great joy in our religious life? We certainly can, and we must! Talking to a person who has recently become aware of the wisdom and love found in the Heavenly Doctrines can certainly emanate exceeding great joy. Or a newly engaged or married couple show it to a certain degree. Perhaps we can even relate it to the expression a young child shows on Christmas morning. However, if we are raised in the New Church, do we lose this excitement, or never let it show? If we do, how can we regain this feeling or bring it out so that others can share it? One answer is to be like the wise men, to seek out the Lord in His Word and then come to Him when we see the star, that is, the knowledges from heaven contained in the Word. We may not find the Lord right away. Even the wise men thought they would find the Lord in Jerusalem, but He wasn’t there. They could have given up, but they asked others where He could be found. It is essential to talk to others about our beliefs and our quest for the Lord. They can add to our understanding and love for the Lord, and perhaps our picture then becomes clearer for us, which can eventually lead us to Him. Notice, the star showed itself again until it came and stood over where the young Child was. It led the wise men right to the Lord. We need the truths and goods represented by the star to lead us, and to keep leading us throughout life.

It is important to realize that truth will lead us to the Lord and make us happy, but the real joy for us in our spiritual lives will be when we come to the Lord offering gifts to Him, as the wise men did. These gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh were more than just earthly treasures. They represented testifications of the heart or will, the heart found in a person that is truly thankful for all that the Lord has done for him, and shows it by following His Word. These gifts represented things pleasing to God, because their origin is in love and faith toward Him – the love represented by gold, and our faith by the frankincense, and by myrrh is represented our love and faith grounded in things external, which is a life in obedience and love to the Lord and to our neighbor. These are the gifts which the Lord is asking us to bear on Christmas day and beyond. But more importantly to know, they are the gifts which He gives us and wills to give each of us when we respond to His coming. So on this Christmas day let us ask ourselves the following question with the earnest desire to find the answer: “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews?” Let us then search diligently for His star in the east and come to worship Him, that is, live a life of charity and faith in Him, because it is in this kind of a life where we too can share the vision of the shepherds and the excitement of the wise men. “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the east and have come to worship Him … And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”

Amen.