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.

104. A similar thing would happen to us if we were to embrace the faith of the new church but also hold onto the faith of the former church regarding the assignment of the Lord’s justice or merit, since from the latter concept as from a root all the tenets of the former church have risen up like shoots.

If this were to happen, it would be like people escaping from three of the dragon’s heads but entangling themselves in the other four. It would be like running away from a leopard but stumbling onto a lion. It would be like climbing out of a dry pit only to fall into a water-filled pit and drown.

(The truth of this statement will be further shown after the discussion of the next proposition [§§109– 113], where the topic of being assigned spiritual credit or blame is taken up.)

94. Here is the great secret as to why no flesh could be saved if the Lord were not establishing a new church. As long as the dragon and its crew stay in the world of spirits where they went when they were thrown down from heaven, no divine truth united to divine goodness can get across from the Lord to people on earth without being perverted or annihilated. Therefore there is no salvation. This is what the Book of Revelation means when it says,

The dragon was thrown down onto the earth and its angels were thrown with it. Woe to those who live on the earth and in the sea, because the Devil has come down to them in a giant rage. It persecuted the woman who had given birth to a son. (Revelation 12:9, 12, 13)

It was after the dragon was thrown down into hell (Revelation 20:10) that John saw a new heaven and a new earth and saw the holy New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven (Revelation 21:1, 2, and following). (For what “the dragon” means and who “the dragons” are, see §§87– 90 above.)