AR 533 - A Church Must Exist Somewhere in the World

AR 533

A woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon under her feet.
(Revelation 12:1)

This symbolizes the Lord's New Church in heaven, 
which is the New Heaven,
and the New Church to come on earth,
which is the New Jerusalem.

That the woman here symbolizes
the Lord's New Church
is clear from the particulars in this chapter,
understood in their spiritual meaning.
. . . A woman symbolizes the church
because the church is called
the Lord's bride and wife.

The woman here appeared clothed with the sun
because the church is governed
by love toward the Lord;
for it acknowledges Him
and keeps His commandments,
and that is loving Him (John 14:21-24).
. . . the sun symbolizes love . . ..

The moon appeared under the woman's feet
because it means the church on earth,
which was not yet conjoined with
the church in heaven.
The moon symbolizes
the intelligence in a natural person, and faith.
And its being seen under the woman's feet
means, symbolically,
that it was a church to come on earth.
Feet otherwise symbolize that same church
after it has been conjoined.

 It should be known
that the church exists in heaven just as on earth.
For the Word is found there,
and churches,
and the preaching of sermons in them.
Clerical and priestly orders exist there.
For all the angels there were once people,
and their departure from the world
was for them but a continuation of life.
Consequently they are perfected
in love and wisdom,
each one according to the degree
of the affection for truth and goodness
that he brought with him from the world.

The church among these
is the church meant by
the woman clothed with the sun,
having on her head a crown of twelve stars.
But because the church in heaven
does not continue in existence
unless there is also a church on earth
that possesses an accordant love and wisdom,
and this was yet to come,
therefore the moon was seen
under the woman's feet,
which in particular here symbolizes faith,
a faith which, as it exists today,
is not a means of conjunction.

The church in heaven
does not continue in existence
unless it is conjoined with a church on earth,
because heaven where angels are,
and the church where people are,
function together,
like the internal and external components
in a person;
and the internal component in a person
does not continue in its proper condition
unless the external component is joined to it.
For the internal component
without the external one
is like a house without a foundation,
or like seed on top of the ground
and not in the ground,
thus like something without a root -
in a word, like a cause
without an effect in which to abide.

It can be seen from this
that it is an absolute necessity
that a church exist somewhere in the world
which has the Word
and where the Lord is consequently known.