100. Brief Analysis

The New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Revelation 21) means the new church. For one thing, Jerusalem was the largest city in the land of Canaan. The Temple was there. The altar was there. The sacrifices were performed there. It was the center for divine worship. Three times a year every male in the entire country was commanded to come worship there. Another reason is that the Lord was in Jerusalem and taught in its Temple; it was there that he glorified his human manifestation. For these reasons “Jerusalem” means the church.

[2] The fact that Jerusalem means the new church is abundantly clear in what the prophets of the Old Testament say about the new church that the Lord is going to establish, which they refer to as Jerusalem. I will present only passages in which the fact that Jerusalem means the church is easy to see for anyone who has the ability to reason inwardly. We will limit ourselves, then, to just the following.

Behold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth; the former ones will not be remembered. Behold, I am going to create Jerusalem as a rejoicing and her people as a gladness, so that I may rejoice over Jerusalem and be glad about my people. Then the wolf and the lamb will feed together; they will do no evil in all my holy mountain. (Isaiah 65:17, 18, 19, 25)

For Zion’s sake I will not be silent and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest until her justice goes forth like radiance and her salvation burns like a lamp. Then the nations will see your justice and all monarchs will see your glory, and a new name will be given you that the mouth of Jehovah will utter. And you will be a crown of beauty [in the hand of Jehovah] and a diadem of the kingdom in the hand of your God. Jehovah will be well pleased with you and your land will be married. Behold, your salvation will come. See, his reward is with him. And they will call them a holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and you will be a city sought out, not deserted. (Isaiah 62:1– 4, 11, 12)

Wake up! Wake up! Put on your strength, O Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, holy city. No more will the uncircumcised or the unclean come into you. Shake yourself from the dust, rise up, and sit [in a higher place], Jerusalem. The people will acknowledge my name on that day, because I am the one saying, “Here I am!” Jehovah has comforted his people; he has redeemed Jerusalem. (Isaiah 52:1, 2, 6, 9)

Rejoice, O daughter of Zion! Be glad with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! The King of Israel is in your midst. Do not fear evil anymore. He will be glad over you with joy; he will rest in your love; he will rejoice over you with singing. I will give you a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth. (Zephaniah 3:14– 17, 20)

Thus says Jehovah your Redeemer, who says to Jerusalem, “You will be inhabited.” (Isaiah 44:24, 26)

Thus says Jehovah: “I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem will be called the city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah Sabaoth will be called the holy mountain.” (Zechariah 8:3; see also 8:20– 23)

Then you will know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling on Zion, my holy mountain. Jerusalem will be holy. And on that day it will happen that the mountains will drip with new wine and the hills will flow with milk; and Jerusalem will abide from generation to generation. (Joel 3:17– 21)

On that day the branch of Jehovah will be beautiful and glorious. And it will happen that those remaining in Zion and those left in Jerusalem will be called holy — all who are written as alive in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 4:2, 3)

At the very last of days the mountain of the house of Jehovah will be established on the top of the mountains. Teaching will go forth from Zion and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1, 2, 8)

At that time they will call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all nations will gather at Jerusalem because of the name of Jehovah. They will no longer follow the stubbornness of their own evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17)

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts! Your eyes will see Jerusalem as a peaceful abode, a tabernacle that will not be taken down; its tent pegs will never be removed and its cords will not be torn away. (Isaiah 33:20)

Not to mention other passages, such as Isaiah 24:3; 37:32; 66:10– 14; Zechariah 12:3, 6– 10; 14:8, 11, 12, 21; Malachi 3:2, 4; Psalms 122:1– 7; 137:4, 5, 6.

[3] Jerusalem in the passages just quoted does not mean the Jerusalem where Jews once lived, but the church of the Lord to come. This is clear from every detail of the description in the passages: for example, the point that Jehovah God is going to create a new heaven and a new earth, including a Jerusalem; that this Jerusalem is going to be a crown of beauty and a diadem of the kingdom; that it is going to be called “holy,” “the city of truth,” “the throne of Jehovah,” “a peaceful abode,” “a tabernacle that will not be taken down”; that the wolf and the lamb will feed together there; and we are told that the mountains there will drip with new wine, the hills will flow with milk, and it will abide from generation to generation. This is also clear from what we are told of the people there, that they are holy, they have all been written as alive, and they are to be called “the redeemed of Jehovah.”

[4] What is more, all these passages indicate that only at the time of the Lord’s Coming, especially his Second Coming, [but not before,] will “Jerusalem” be the way these passages describe it. Before that, Jerusalem is not married; that is, it has not yet become the bride and wife of the Lamb, which is how the New Jerusalem is described in the Book of Revelation.

In Daniel, Jerusalem means the church of today, the former [Christian] church. The beginning of this church is described in the following words.

Know and understand: from [the time] the Word goes forth that Jerusalem must be restored and built until [the time of] Messiah the Leader will be seven weeks. Then after sixty-two weeks the street and the trench will be restored, but in troublesome times. (Daniel 9:25)

The end of the church of today is described in the following words from the same chapter:

In the end desolation [will fly in] on a bird of abominations; even to the close and the cutting down, it will drip steadily upon the devastation. (Daniel 9:27)

The final stages of the church of today are also what the following words of the Lord in Matthew are referring to:

When you see that the abomination of desolation foretold by the prophet Daniel is standing in the holy place, let those who read note it well. (Matthew 24:15)

Evidence that Jerusalem in the passages above does not mean the Jerusalem where Jews once lived is found in the passages in the Word in which we are told that Jerusalem has already been completely destroyed or is going to be in the future. See Jeremiah 5:1; 6:6, 7; 7:17, 18, and following; 8:6, 7, 8, and following; 9:10, 11, 13, and following; 13:9, 10, 14; 14:16; Lamentations 1:8, 9, 17; Ezekiel 4:1 to the end; 5:9 to the end; 12:18, 19; 15:6, 7, 8; 16:1– 63; 23:1– 40; Matthew 23:37, 38; Luke 19:41– 44; 21:20, 21, 22; 23:28, 29, 30; besides many other passages. See also the passages where Jerusalem is referred to as Sodom (Isaiah 3:9; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 16:46, 48; and elsewhere).

44. Brief Analysis

The proposition just stated is the faith of the new church in a simple form. This faith can be seen in fuller detail in the appendix to this volume [§§116– 117], and in complete detail in the first part of the work itself. That first part will present teachings concerning the Lord God the Savior and the trinity that exists within him; about love for God and love for our neighbor; and about faith and its partnership with these two loves. This faith will also be covered point by point in the rest of the work. Here, however, it is important to present at least a few items of support to illustrate this preliminary statement of the faith.

The following are a few arguments and passages to support the first point in the proposition — that there is one God, that the divine trinity exists within him, and that he is the Lord Jesus Christ.

It is a fixed and constant truth that there is one God, that his essence is indivisible, and that there is a trinity. Given that there is one God and that his essence is indivisible, it follows that God is one person. And since he is one person, it follows that the trinity exists within that one person.

It is clear that the Lord Jesus Christ is God; he was conceived by God the Father (Luke 1:34, 35), and therefore God is the soul and the life within him. As he himself has said, the Father and he are one (John 10:30); he is in the Father and the Father is in him (John 14:10, 11); anyone who sees and knows him sees and knows the Father (John 14:7, 9); no one sees or knows the Father except the one who is close to the Father’s heart (John 1:18); all things that the Father has are his (John 3:35; 16:15); and he is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him (John 14:6). (So we come to the Father by him because the Father is in him and is him.)

Paul says that all the fullness of divinity dwells physically in Jesus Christ (Colossians 2:9). Isaiah says, “A Child has been born to us; a Son has been given to us. His name will be called God, Father of Eternity” (Isaiah 9:6). Furthermore, he has power over all flesh (John 17:2) and has all power in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). From these quotations it is clear that he is the God of heaven and earth.

The second point in the proposition — that believing in him is a faith that saves — is supported by the following passages.

Jesus said, “Anyone who believes in me will live and will never die.” (John 11:25, 26)

This is the will of the Father, that all those who believe in the Son will have eternal life. (John 6:40)

God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son so that everyone who believes in him would not perish but would have eternal life. (John 3:15, 16)

Those who believe in the Son have eternal life. Those who do not believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God abides on them. (John 3:36)

As for the remaining three points in the proposition — that we must abstain from doing things that are evil because they belong to the Devil and come from the Devil; we must do things that are good because they belong to God and come from God; but we must believe that this abstaining and doing come from the Lord working with us and through us — there is no need to illustrate or demonstrate these points. The entirety of Sacred Scripture from beginning to end supports them. Briefly put, the Word teaches nothing else but that we should abstain from things that are evil, do things that are good, and believe in the Lord God.

There is no such thing as a religious practice that lacks these three elements. Religious practice has to do with life; life is abstaining from things that are evil and doing things that are good; and none of us can abstain from evil or do good without the help of the Lord. Therefore if you remove these three from the church, you are removing both Sacred Scripture and religious practice from the church, and once these are removed, the church is no longer a church.

For the faith of the new church in a universal form and a specific form, see §§116, 117 below.

All these points will be demonstrated in the work itself.