New Church Life March/April 2017 | Page 26

new church life: march/april 2017 and evil desires were cast into hell and so separated. Unless this had been done the human race would have perished, for it is by means of spirits that the Lord rules the human race. They could not have been dispersed in any other way because there was no activity of the Divine by way of man’s rational concepts into his inner sensory awareness, for these are far below the Supreme Divine when not so united. The point is that the whole world is connected to the Divine by means of human minds completing a circle of creation that flows from God down into physical matter and then back up to Him as He is acknowledged, loved and obeyed. When this circle is broken the world cannot continue to exist since, speaking metaphorically, the energy has nowhere to go – just the same as when a short circuit cuts off the flow of power in your house. The thing is, for the connection to be effective there has to be a certain level of understanding and respect for God in the world, and the problem at the time of the Lord’s birth was that this level had reached such a low point that the influx of life was just about to be lost. The Word of the Old Testament was of course well known by the Jews, but nobody really understood what it meant spiritually, and in the case of other religions, most were either polytheistic or animistic, or were based on a totally abstract idea of God, so no truly human connection could be made through them. These were the last remnants of the Ancient Church. But when the Lord took on His own natural human body and mind among the Jews, as He learned the teachings of the Word He was able to see and understand their spiritual meaning instantly, and because His inmost love was Divine He was able to apply the teachings perfectly throughout His life. So He Himself was able to bridge the gap between God and the world. He Himself was able to restore the circuit that was almost broken for all life on earth. So we read in Isaiah, “His own arm brought salvation for Him; and His own justice, it sustained Him.” (Isaiah 59:16) And again: “I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered, that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; and My own fury, it sustained Me . . . ” (Ibid.. 63:5) The “arm” of Jehovah is of course His Human life in the world, and the “fury” mentioned is really a kind of indignation that we can think of as intense zeal for the truth. When the Lord took on His own natural human body and mind among the Jews . . . He Himself was able to bridge the gap between God and the world. He Himself was able to restore the circuit that was almost broken for all life on earth. 92