New Church Life July/August 2017 | Page 11

    Judas’ betrayal was thus at the Lord’s command, “Do it quickly,” which means certainly, i.e. the Lord’s self-control. It led to the veil being rent, which is the Christian Church unveiled. The Lord was establishing the Christian Church by unwrapping the externals of the Jewish Church. This was to reveal the same internal as all previous genuine churches, now to be clothed with new externals, namely baptism and the Lord’s Supper. Judas was the agent of the change, and he committed suicide, death meaning resurrection, i.e. a new external for Christianity. Here is a small section of my original 1983 Council of the Clergy paper on Judas Iscariot, parts of which were melded in the above-mentioned articles. I hope your readers might enjoy this with Chris’ superb examination. The Internal Sense as Guide “We turn now to Genesis 37:25-27, which contains the passage parallel to Judas’ betrayal of the Lord. This passage has the Ishmaelites from Gilead (sensuous good) on camels (scientifics) going to Egypt (knowledge), and Judah saying, “Come, let us sell Joseph,” and his brothers agreeing. “The internal sense of these verses reads: ‘There was further thought by those in simple good, such as gentiles have, about interior natural truths received by instructions in scientifics. The depraved quality in the Church, which is against whatever is good, saw no profit or eminence to be gained if these truths (especially about the Lord’s Divine Human) should be completely extinguished. Those acknowledge Divine Truth who have simple good, and they are without blame, because what is from them is accepted.’ (Arcana Coelestia 4746-4754, expository sections) “This is the very sequence of which it is said, ‘By Judas also, in that he sold the Lord, the like is represented as here by Judah, who said, ‘Come, let us sell Joseph.’” (Ibid. 4751e) “In the internal sense, the depraved quality of the Church is involved in preserving the Church because of those who are in simple good. As Dr. (Hugo) Odhner so aptly put it: ‘The nominal acknowledgment of the Lord must still be maintained, lest the organized Church should lack any real reason for existing, and thus lose power among the simple. It is this dilemma that haunts the Christian Churches.’ “The Lord preserves states of simple good amidst the destruction and death of churches. There are many people who are without blame, sheep without a shepherd. “Judas seems to partake of both the depravity and somehow also of the blameless simple good – a double nature which is perhaps at the root of trying to understand Judas. It may also be part of the Jewish people as a whole. (cf. Jews entering heaven Spiritual Diary 246, 2881, 4332, 4385, 3479; Arcana 281