A New Will

by Rev. David Rienstra,
minister of the Swedenborgian Church in St. Louis, Mo
In the July, 1994 Issue of Our Daily Bread

The "Golden Age" of humankind, as mythology puts it, or the Most Ancient Church, as Swedenborg describes it, was in its beginning a truly delightful state. The people were such, as least at first, that complete trust in God was the rule of the day.

These people were of such a nature that the will, the seat of desires and intentions, and the understanding, the seat of knowledge and faith, were so united that they were one. This was to prove both a blessing and a curse. So long as these people of ancient times used their gifts of will and understanding for good, they continued tin a state of peace, or in the childlike innocence of trust in God, and they could progress through this life in relative contentment.

God, however, foresaw that humankind would not always be content in this childlike state of trust. Even though He had provided a way for people to feel that they were self-sufficient and yet be able to acknowledge that apart from Him they could do nothing, God foresaw that the people would begin using this freedom unwisely. The inevitable result of turning more and more from God, and more to self, is total destruction. The reason is that the real center of life of every person is one's will, or ruling love. We are or become what we love more than anything else.

In the Most Ancient Church it was the will that gradually became corrupt. And because the will and understanding were so united in purpose every good and every truth that came from God was perverted and twisted to satisfy selfish ends. This was a deadly combination. Evils of every kind and falsity began to replace trust and confidence in the Lord. As the Scriptures teach, there were giants in the land, the Nephilim. Today they would probably be called ego-maniacs. Humankind was bet on self-destruction.

The Most Ancient Church was coming to its end; a last judgment on that church was near. We know, however, that this was not to be the end of humankind, or the end of the church on earth. We learn that whenever a judgment occurs, the Lord so provides that from a remnant of good He establishes His church anew. From the remnant of good people in the Most Ancient Church a new church emerged called Noah, or the Ancient Church.

It is important that we understand that this era of ancient time is not actual history, in the sense of natural events taking place. The Word of the time was written by means of symbols. The flood which inundated the world was not a flood of water, but is representative of the state of the people. It was actually the multiplication of falsity and evil affecting the lives of the people. It then was not really God who brought this affliction, but the people who brought it upon themselves by turning from God. It is descriptive of what can happen to people even today. What drowns and suffocates the life of a church either collectively  or individually more than selfish intentions? Truth from the Lord is twisted to meet selfish ends.

The loves of the people had become so corrupt that there was no possibility of salvation. With the beginning of the Ancient Church, a new dimension was added to the makeup of people by the Lord. Since the people would not be led by the united will and understanding, the Lord separated them, and provided the means for the people to development conscience.

The Lord provided again for a means of regeneration. The natural will of humans is or becomes corrupt; left alone, or joined to the understanding without a means of change, people would rush into evils of every kind. With the will and understanding separated there is then a possibility of renewal.

The natural will still seeks to satisfy self, not always considering what is really good or true, only what feels good or what is self-satisfying at the moment. The understanding set apart makes possible the development of a new will, even though the person is immersed in self love. it is the development of this new will that the life of regeneration is all about, and it is accomplished through the use of conscience.

From childhood we acquire many knowledges about the Lord, the church, and what it is to live, in our case, a Christian life. These knowledges are all stored up in the mind. It is through these knowledges that our conscience is formed. We do not always desire to follow in the ways of the Lord. Living a Christian life often seems too imposing on our own life-style. Many times we might feel like going our own way, but then our conscience reminds us of our wrong. Because of this reminder by our conscience, we do not do what our will desires, and we compel ourselves to do what is right; then a new will is gradually formed within us. It really seems strange, for you would think that we would naturally recognize and love what is good or heavenly, but we do not. However, through regeneration we do learn to love what is good and heavenly.

It is learning to love what is good, the possibility of forming a new will, that is meant by our test: "Never again will I curse the ground of man, even though every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood."

This process of developing a new will is not without some difficulty. The Lord has provided the means, but it is a narrow and difficult path. The natural will is very easily swayed. How tempting it is to follow the crowd. Do we ever feel that our world owes us, rather than feeling that we might provide something to make our world a better place? Do we expect that somehow we are going to end up in heaven in spite of ourselves, in spite of what we do or do not do? Isn't it tempting to rationalize or try to justify our actions to satisfy our own desires? For young people this difficulty is known as peer pressure. Even when something is known to be wrong, we don't want to be seen as different. To do what is right is often a difficult and a lonely place to be.

A new will can be developed. The Lord provides for us as He did for Noah. As God told Noah to build an ark, so He tells us. The ark is nothing more than sound principles of truth or doctrine in our minds that will help us overcome what seeks to drag us down. And these same principles are what aid us in developing a new will and becoming a new person. 

To be sure, it is not always easy. We all can feel despair or feel lonely. Here we have the beautiful imagery  of Noah in this large vessel with his family, all alone while the earth is covered with water. It is a state of temptation, and it seems that even the Lord has deserted us.

As a symbol of the Lord's promise, as a symbol of the potential we each have, He said, "I do set my bow in the cloud." Just as rainbows signal the end of a storm with the rays of sunlight shining through, when the dark clouds of hopelessness and despair threaten, we are assured that the love and wisdom of the Lord are also near, ready to save, to provide us with new hope and new courage, new promise.

Scripture:

The God said to Noah and to his sons with him, "As for me, I am establishing my covenant with you and your descendants after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the domestic animals, and every animal of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh by cut off by the waters of a flood, and never again shall there by a flood to destroy the earth." God said, "This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth." God said to Noah, "This is the sign of the covenant that I have established between me and all flesh that is on the earth."

Genesis 9:8-17

Reading from Swedenborg:

And I will establish my covenant with you. This signifies the presence of the Lord with all who have charity, and refers to those who go forth from the ark and to every wild animal of the earth, that is, to those within the church and those without. The Lord enters into a covenant, or conjoins Himself by charity, with Gentiles also who are outside the church. The person of the church supposes that all who are out of the church, and are called Gentiles, cannot be saved because they have no knowledge of faith, and are therefore wholly ignorant of the Lord, saying that without faith and without knowledge of the Lord there is no salvation, and thus he condemns all who are out of the church. Indeed many of this sort who are in some doctrine, even it be heresy, suppose that all outside this, that is, all who doe not hold the same opinion, cannot be saved; when in fact the case is not so at all. The Lord has mercy toward the whole human race, and wills to save and draw to Himself all who are in the universe.

The mercy of the Lord is infinite, and does not suffer itself to be limited to those few who are within the church, but extends itself to all in the whole world. Their being born out of the church and being thus in ignorance of faith, is not their fault; and no one is every condemned for not having faith in the Lord when he is ignorant of Him.

Arcana Coelestia (Heavenly Secrets) #1032

Music: Prism (Colors of Love) © 1999 Bruce DeBoer