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.

101. The church belongs with the Lord. Because of the spiritual marriage between what is good and what is true, the Lord is called Bridegroom and Husband and the church is called Bride and Wife. Christians know this from the Word, especially from the following passages in it.

John said of the Lord, “The bridegroom is the one who has the bride. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices because of the bridegroom’s voice.” (John 3:29)

Jesus said, “As long as the bridegroom is with them, the children of the wedding cannot fast.” (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34– 35)

I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)

The angel said to John, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb,” and from a mountain he showed him the city, the holy Jerusalem. (Revelation 21:9, 10)

The time for the Lamb’s wedding has come; his bride has prepared herself. Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19:7, 9)

“I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright and morning star.” And the spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And those who hear, say, “Come!” And those who are thirsty, come. Those who wish to, take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:16, 17)

76. Seven chapters in the Book of Revelation deal specifically with this affliction or attack by falsities against the truth. This attack is meant by the black horse and the pale horse that came forth from the scroll when the Lamb opened its seals (Revelation 6:5– 8). This attack is meant by the beast that rose up from the abyss and made war against the two witnesses and killed them (Revelation 11:7 and following). This attack is meant by the dragon that stood before the woman who was about to give birth, waiting to devour her child, and persecuted her in the desert; there it sent forth water like a river from its mouth to swallow her up (Revelation 12). This attack is also meant by the beast from the sea, who had a body like a leopard, feet like a bear, and a mouth like a lion (Revelation 13:2). This attack is also meant by the three spirits that were like frogs, which came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (Revelation 16:13). Finally, this attack is what is meant by the fact that after the seven angels poured out their bowls full of the wrath of God, which were the seven last plagues, onto the ground, into the sea, into the rivers and springs, into the sun, onto the throne of the beast, into the Euphrates, and finally into the air, there was a great earthquake unlike any that had occurred since the creation of humankind on the earth (Revelation 16). The “earthquake” means that the church is turned upside down; this is brought about by people teaching what is false and falsifying the truth.

Similar things are meant by the following passage as well:

The angel put forth his sickle and harvested the vineyard of the earth, and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trampled, and blood came out, up to the horses’ bridles, for one thousand six hundred stadia. (Revelation 14:19, 20)

“Blood” here means truth that has been falsified.

There are many other examples in those seven chapters; see, if you wish, the explanations of those chapters and the accounts of memorable occurrences that come after them.