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IF SOMEONE WERE TO MAKE a purely external judgment upon the New Church as it appears in the world today, he would be unlike to give it much chance of success. After all, looking at it externally, what would he see? He would see small groups of New Church people scattered throughout the world in a relatively small number of places. Judged externally, it is hardly an impressive church.
This external observer might well turn away, convinced that this church cannot possibly the Lord's special church here on earth. He would turn away and look for a larger church, a church that has been received by more people. In so doing, he would have made a big mistake, for he would have just passed over a church which, despite its external appearance, is the crown of all previous churches. As we read in the Coronis: "This New Church, truly Christian, which at this day is being established by the Lord, will endure to eternity, as is proved from the Word of both Testaments; also it was foreseen from the creation of the world; and it will be the crown of the four preceding churches, because it will have true faith and true charity" ( Coro. LII).
To the external observer, such a statement might well ring hollow. This, though is because he is judging by external standards a church which is essentially internal. Numbers do not make a church. Truth is not determined by the number of people who give lip-service to a particular idea. Truth comes from God alone, and man, or even a great number of men, do not establish the truth. The truth of the New Church is established, not by human opinion, but by the Lord, and the truth of the church is thus to be found in the doctrines which He Himself has revealed.
It is when you look at the doctrines of the New Church, and examine them thoroughly, honestly and carefully, that it becomes apparent just why the New Church is the crown of all the churches. Of course, doctrines by themselves are fruitless. They bear no fruit until they are received in people's lives. But the fact that the doctrines of the New Church are not more widely received by people is a reflection, not upon these doctrines, but upon the state of those people who are not able, or not willing to accept them.
Now some would maintain that doctrine is not important. Indeed, the increasing emphasis in many churches today is upon so-called good works, rather than upon the teachings of God. Obviously many benefits can arise from the doing of good deeds towards our fellow human beings. Also, considering the doctrines taught by Christianity in the past, the less emphasis placed upon those past doctrines, the better. But let us beware the glib and seductive proposition that doctrine -- what people believe -- does not matter that much. Such an attitude is itself a doctrine, and a dangerous doctrine at that.
Yes indeed: to say that doctrine doesn't matter is itself a doctrine. It is a fallacy to think that doctrine can be put aside. A person's doctrine is nothing other than the understanding from which he thinks and acts. If we are capable of making rational decisions, then we have doctrine, one way or another. If we reject religious teaching, religious authority, then we, ipso facto, replace it with man-made doctrine.
This is what we see, increasingly, in the world around us: man-made doctrine. Judged by its own standards, and in its own eyes, the world in these beginning years of the 3rd millennium might appear civilized. But, judged by other standards, we live in a world that is far from civilized. Consider some of the evidence: a flood of pornography, teen immorality, marital breakdowns, abortions. Can we doubt the decadence of a civilization which every year allows the destruction of countless future babies for reasons of personal convenience? And what of the children? Much of education and child-rearing is based upon the notion that children, as human beings, are innately good. And so young minds are all too often fed the poison, the falsity, that there is no absolute authority outside of themselves. Man himself is good, whereas what the Lord teaches in the Word is regarded merely as a matter of opinion. While human beings have become an authority unto themselves, God has become a matter of discussion.
This is the doctrine of the present age -- to reject God in favor of man: to believe that what we think is good, what we decide is good, and that morality is to be based merely on human thought.
Where does this idea, this doctrine, of the supremacy of man, come from? It is nothing else than the work of the dragon. Here is another concept generally rejected today -- a belief in the devil. And yet there is a devil. The devil is not a person, but is something composed of myriads of evil spirits. The devil is hell, and this devil is real. Hell is at work in the world today, and hell can be very powerful when conditions are favorable. Today this devil, this evil influence from the other world, is what is represented in the Word by the dragon.
Now there is much said in the Writings about the dragon. In general, though, the dragon is a flying snake. It represents those who are capable of thinking on a high plane -- but who think they can still be saved by living just how they please, by continuing to live a life immersed in sin -- in dirt -- just like a snake. This idea, that of salvation by faith alone, was at the very heart of Protestant doctrine, and it was inextricably linked to a divided Godhead. By praying to the Father for the sake of His Son, they thought they could somehow obtain unconditional grace which would save them quite apart from the way they lived.
This terrible idea was judged in the other world in the year 1757. Hosts of evil spirits, who claimed Divine grace for themselves despite their evil, were then cast down. But even though the dragon was cast down in the spiritual world, its influence in this world has not yet ceased. Evils spirits, subscribing to this concept of salvation by faith alone, still have a base, a sphere of influence, in the world of spirits, from where they are quite capable of infecting and gaining a powerful hold on the minds of people here on earth. As we read in the Book of Revelation, once the dragon was cast down upon the earth, he persecuted the woman clothed with the sun -- he persecuted the Lord's New Church. And as we read in Apocalypse Revealed: "This I can declare, that those in the church, who hereafter confirm themselves in faith alone, cannot recede from it, except by serious repentance, because they conjoin themselves with the dragonists, who now are in the world of spirits, and are tumultuous, and there out of hatred against the New Church, they infest all whom they meet; and as they are conjoined with men on the earth...they will not suffer those who have once been caught by their reasonings to recede from them" (AR 563).
Now the way in which evil draconic spirits attack the New Church is carefully explained in the Writings. It does not have to be an obvious persecution, for they can attack through certain powerful spheres which hinder the reception of the church. In the work True Christian Religion, three such spheres are enumerated. The first sphere takes away faith in the Lord's Divinity. The second is said to produce a lethargy, a lack of interest, in spiritual matters. The third tends to destroy the marriage of good and truth, so that a person is discouraged from doing the good which truth teaches (TCR 619).
How can such spheres from hell, spheres which undermine faith and which produce a deep soul-destroying lethargy, be fought? The answer is found in what is said about Michael. Only Michael and his angels can fight against the dragon. In the Book of Revelation, it is said that Michael and his angels cast the dragon down from heaven into the earth. Today, on earth, it is those represented by Michael who must continue this fight (see AR 564). And Michael is said to represent those people who constitute the New Church. We who would be of the Lord's New Church must ourselves do battle with the dragon.
But what exactly is meant by this name, Michael? The name does not refer to a particular person, a particular angel, but to an angelic function or ministry. The name is actually a question, meaning, literally, "Who is like God?" It is the answer to this one simple question which can, more than anything else, fight against the abominable spheres of the dragon.
Who is like God? The angels who taught the answer to this question were called Michael, and they were instrumental in bringing about the Last Judgment. On earth this same question is answered in the Writings. Indeed, this is their essential purpose -- to tell us who it is who is like God.
This question, "Who is like God?" is a most important question, indeed the most important question a person could ask. The greatest conflict of the present age centers upon the way in which this question is to be answered. Even in the time of Daniel, Michael the prince is spoken of -- a prince meaning a primary truth -- and even at that time, this primary question and the conflict of the present day was prophesied: "At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince who stands watch over the sons of your people; and there shall be a time of trouble, . . ." ( Dan. 12:1). And so, from the time of Daniel, and indeed from even earlier times (cf. AE 735:4), it was prophesied that there would at one time be great controversy, indeed spiritual war, concerning this question of Michael -- the question, "Who is like God?"
The conflict arises from the fact that there are two answers to this question -- the false answer, and the true answer. The dragon, and those associated with is, have their answer. "We are like God," they say. Or, if they do not say it, they certainly live as if this were the case. They are good. They are important. God is not important. What He says in Divine revelation is not important. They do not worship, and if they do, it is merely an empty gesture, for their hearts and their lives are not within their worship. After all, if you think you can decide for yourself how to live your life, then who really needs religion? If they read the Word, it is only for selfish or worldly motives. If they pray, it is a hypocritical prayer. If they decide to do good, they consider themselves to be the origin of this good -- they take secret pride in it. They consider themselves good men, and think they have no need for Divine guidance. They may have learned religion when they were children, but as adults they consider such knowledge to be no longer of any real importance to them. And so it is that, within themselves, all that is spiritual is reduced to empty words (cf. AR 839). They are not interested in actually understanding their religion. There is no real point in understanding it, for they have no intention of actually living what it teaches them.
But drawn up against these false view, in full battle array, is Michael, that great prince or primary truth -- that truth which answers the question, "Who is like God?" This is the truth that the Human of the Lord Jesus Christ is Divine. Who is like God? No man is, except for one -- namely that Man or Human assumed by Jehovah when He was born into the world. Jesus Christ is like God, for Jesus Christ is God.
Through the process of glorification, by which He was united to the Divine soul within, the Lord became God Himself in human form. And so the answer to that question posed by Michael, "Who is like God?" is a simple one: Jesus Christ, our Lord, is God.
The Lord is not just some idea, along with many other ideas, to be noticed or ignored as whim. He is not some minor weekly interest, to be paid lip-service to on Sundays, or perhaps even less frequently than that. Jesus Christ is God. And this truth has inescapable consequences for every rational thinking adult. Because He is God, we are to listen to Him and do what He says. Therefore included in the ministry of Michael are teachings about the importance of repentance and charity, that is, the doing of what the Lord teaches in Divine Revelation. He speaks to us in His three-fold Word, and our part is to listen, and to try to understand as much as we can, in order that we might live according to His will. Nothing less that this can be considered acceptable, sensible, or rational.
Jesus Christ is God. Such an idea seems so simple to understand. But within it there is tremendous power. It has no power over those who are evil in heart, those who are interested only in doing what they themselves think to be good. It has great power, though, to command the faithfulness of the wise in heart. As is said in the last chapter of Daniel: "none of the wicked shall understand, but the wise shall understand" ( Dan. 12:10).
Obviously no thinking caring person can avoid lamenting at times at the state of the world. Nor can we avoid being sad, at times, at the way in which the church is at present received with such great difficulty. Even in those organizations specifically called New Church, external evidence of true allegiance to this church is often less than acceptable. As for what goes on in our own hearts and minds, few of us can honestly rest completely easy. The fact is that the influence of the dragon is great indeed. The New Church really does face a vicious, powerful, unrelenting enemy. But let us not forget one thing: the truth is now present here on earth. The world has not rejected this truth, for it cannot have rejected what it has not yet heard. And so, despite the millions of closed eyes, and despite the prevalence of sensual worldly thought, there nevertheless is now present here in this world the most powerful truth ever revealed. In time this truth will conquer, and will be accepted, by those who long for good and truth in their hearts and spirits. There are many people like this throughout the world -- people who within themselves thirst for the truth and hunger for what is good.
There is hope for this world, hope because of the truth which has now been revealed, hope for the day when the Lord Jesus Christ will reign, not merely in the lips and memories of men and women, but in their hearts, in their understandings, and in their lives.
This kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ is now being established upon this earth, and it is a kingdom which shall endure forever.
Lessons:
Rev. 12:1-9
TCR 791
Dan. 12:1-4
AR 548