TCR 109 - Before and After the Coming of the Lord

TCR 109 [1, 3]

All the Churches before the Coming of the Lord
were representative Churches,
which could see Divine truths
only in the shadow of darkness;
but after the Coming of the Lord
into the world a Church was established by Him
which saw Divine truths,
or rather, which could see them, in light.
The difference between those Churches
is all the difference between evening and morning;
the state of the Church before the Coming of the Lord
is also called in the Word evening,
and its state after His Coming, morning.
The Lord, before His Advent into the world,
was indeed present with the men of the Church,
but mediately, through angels who represented Him;
whereas, since His Advent, He is present
with the members of the Church immediately;
for in the world He put on the Divine Natural,
in which He is present with men.
The glorification of the Lord
is the glorification of His Human,
which He assumed in the world,
and the glorified Human of the Lord
is the Divine Natural.
That this is the case is evident from the fact
that the Lord rose from the tomb with His whole body
which He had in the world, leaving nothing behind;
consequently He took with Him from the tomb
the Natural Human itself,
complete from first things to last.

The difference between the state of the Church
before the Lord's Coming and after it
is like the difference seen in reading a paper by one
who reads it at night by the light of the moon and stars,
and by one who reads it in the sunlight.
In the pale light of the moon the eye is liable to error,
but not in the brilliant light of the sun.