New Church Life May/June 2017 | Page 19

         we might anticipate in the years to come contributing to this same end. Is there a process involved here that if it were known could help us to understand where the world has been in the last 250 years, where it is now, and what states it might experience in the future, as the Lord leads it more and more into the New Age, the Age of the New Church? Perhaps if we had a better idea of where we have been, where we are, and some idea of where we are still to go, we could cooperate better with the Lord in working to establish His new kingdom in this world. I would suggest that the Lord has not left us without some general and very helpful teaching in this matter. It would appear there is indeed a process that is broadly suggested in passages such as True Christian Religion 762 and Invitation 34. In True Christian Religion 762 the Lord tells us that “in the Lord’s sight the church [through the ages] is seen as a single human being, and this larger human being must pass through its stages of life like an individual – that is to say, from infancy to youth, from this to young manhood, and finally to old age; and then when he dies, he will rise again.” When we reflect on this and its companion teaching in Invitation 34, the following picture emerges: • The age of the Most Ancient Church corresponds to the infancy of this greater human being. • The age of the Ancient Church corresponds to the childhood. • The age of the Israelitish and Jewish Church relates to the later childhood up to maturity. • The age of the Christian Church relates to the maturity of this greater human being until its natural death. • The age of the New Church would then correspond to the state of a human being after death, a state that progresses and, with the good, is perfected to eternity. Perhaps, if we had a better idea of where we have been, where we are, and some idea of where we are still to go, we could cooperate better with the Lord in working to establish His new kingdom in this world. 199