angels know that in all the spiritual world, only the Lord is a complete
human being.
[ 2 ] The church recognizes that all the worship among the ancient
Israelite and Jewish people was purely external and that it foreshadowed
the inner worship the Lord initiated later on. It is recognized, then, that
before the Lord’s coming, worship was based on emblems and allegories
that represented true worship in its proper form.
Now, the Lord was indeed seen among the ancients, for he says to the
Jews, “Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day, and he
did see it and was glad. I tell you, I existed before Abraham did” (John
8 : 56 , 58 ). But that was only a representation of the Lord, which involved
angels, and therefore everything having to do with the church among the
ancients became symbolic. After the Lord came into the world those
symbolic representations disappeared. The inner reason for this is that
through the divine physical form the Lord added on in the world, he
enlightens not only our inner spiritual self but also our outer physical
self. If both of these are not enlightened at the same time, we are in
shadow, but when they are both enlightened at once we are in daylight.
If just our inner self is enlightened but not our outer self, or if just
our outer self is enlightened but not our inner self, we are like people
who are asleep and dreaming; soon after they wake up they remember
their dream and make various false inferences based on it. We are also
like sleepwalkers who think the things they see are in broad daylight.
[ 3 ] The difference between the state of the church before the Lord’s
coming and after it is like one person reading in moonlight and starlight
and another person reading in sunlight. Obviously, the eye makes mis-
takes in that first type of light, a mere white light, but it does not make
mistakes in the other type of light, which includes the colors of flame.
For this reason it is said of the Lord, “The God of Israel spoke, the
Rock of Israel said to me, ‘He was like a morning light when the sun
arises, a morning without clouds’” ( 2 Samuel 23 : 3 , 4 ). “The God of Israel”
and “the Rock of Israel” are the Lord. Elsewhere it says, “The light of the
moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven
times as strong, like the light of seven days, on the day when Jehovah will
bind up the brokenness of his people” (Isaiah 30 : 26 ). These words refer to
the state of the church after the Lord’s coming.
In brief, the state of the church before the Lord’s coming was like an
old woman with makeup on her face, who looks beautiful to herself
singke
(singke)
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