1. Survey of Teachings of the New Church Meant by the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation

[Author’s Preface]

AFTER publishing, within the span of a few years, several larger and smaller works on the New Jerusalem (which means the new church that the Lord is going to establish), and after unveiling the Book of Revelation, I resolved to publish and bring to light the teachings of the [new] church in their fullness, and thus to present a body of teaching that was whole. But because this work was going to take several years, I developed a plan to publish an outline of it, to give people an initial, general picture of this church and its teachings. When a general overview precedes, all the details that follow, of however wide a range, stand forth in a clear light, because they each have their own place within the overall structure alongside things of the same type.

This briefing does not include detailed argumentation; it is shared as advance notice, because the points it contains will be fully demonstrated in the work itself.

First, however, I must present the teachings concerning justification as they exist today, in order to highlight the differences between the tenets of today’s church and those of the new church.

10. Teachings from the Formula of Concord on original sin:

(a) Since the fall of Adam, all human beings who are propagated according to nature are born with sin, which condemns and brings eternal death to those who are not born anew. The merit of Christ is the sole means and instrument through which we are reborn, and therefore the only remedy by which we are healed (pages 9, 10, 52, 53, 55, 317, 641, 644, and the appendix, pages 138, 139).

(b) Original sin is a corruption of our nature at such a deep level that there is nothing spiritually sound left in the human body or soul or in their powers (page 574).

(c) It is the source of all other, actual sins (pages 317, 577, 639, 640, 942; appendix, page 139).

(d) It is the complete absence or lack of the image of God (page 640).

(e) A distinction must be maintained between our nature, as it was created by God, and the original sin that resides within our nature (page 645).

(f) The volume refers to original sin as the Devil’s work, spiritual poison, and the root of all evils, and says it is an “accident” and a “quality.” Our nature, on the other hand, is there referred to as the work and the creation of God; it is our person, substance, and essence. The volume gives as a comparison the distinction between the person who is infected with a disease and the disease itself.

71. Brief Analysis

In Matthew we read,

The disciples came to Jesus and showed him the buildings of the Temple. Jesus said to them, “Truly, I say to you, not one stone will be left here on another that will not be thrown down.” The disciples said to him, “Tell us, when will these things be? Especially, what will be the sign of your Coming and of the close of the age?” (Matthew 24:1, 2, 3)

Today, learned clergy and well-educated lay people think that “the destruction of the Temple” refers to the Temple’s destruction by Vespasian. They take “the Coming of the Lord” and “the close of the age” to mean the end or the death of this world. “The destruction of the Temple,” however, refers not only to the Temple’s destruction by Romans but also to the destruction of the church of today. “The close of the age” and the ensuing “Coming of the Lord” mean the end of the existing church and the establishment of a new church by the Lord. That whole chapter from beginning to end makes it clear that these terms have such a meaning; the sole topic is the successive states of decline and corruption within the Christian church leading up to its death, when it meets its end.

In a narrow sense, “the Temple” means the Temple in Jerusalem. In a broad sense, it means the Lord’s church. In a broader sense, it means the angelic heaven. In the broadest sense, it means the Lord’s human manifestation (see Revelation Unveiled 529). “The close of the age” means the end of the church; the end comes when the teaching from the Word has no truth left in it that has not been falsified and used up (see Revelation Unveiled 658, 676, 750). “The Coming of the Lord” means his Coming in the Word and his establishing a new church in place of the former church that has come to an end; this is clear from the Lord’s words in the same chapter (Matthew 24:30– 34) and in the two final chapters in the Book of Revelation (Revelation 21 and 22). In the last chapter there we read the following:

I, Jesus, am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning star. The spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And those who hear, say, “Come!” And those who are thirsty, come. “Yes, I am coming quickly.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:17, 20)