He Came as a Thief in the Night

Recently we covered the number 12, and 12 compounded as 144; which both mean the sum of all truths and goods of the Church and also those who know and practice them. This is why there were twelve tribes, why there were twelve disciples, and why the number twelve figures so prominently in the description of New Jerusalem. Today we are going to explore this notion of twelve further by demonstrating some connections which you might not otherwise notice; as always in the hope that this will enrich your reading and practice of the Word. We begin with a charming yet serious episode in the Gospel of John in which the Lord, so to speak, puts His money where His mouth is! For the Lord said that "the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many" (Matthew 20:28). But here is the extract in question: "5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith h...

Today there will be a brief lesson on the book of Job, which is essentially a book from the Bible before the Bible. The first few chapters of Genesis, the book of Jasher, the book of Job, the Wars of Jehovah, and the Pronouncements of Jehovah were all a part of this Word before the Word or Bible before the Bible; and some of it is contained in our Testaments, as we know. In a nutshell, the book of Job contains correspondences which are not, however, arranged in a perfect series. They are correspondences which are isolated from one another. And the meaning of Job involves a dramatization of the following concept described in this extract from Revelation:  "17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy na...

 Today we will cover the fact that each successive Church established by the Lord ends up knowing more than the preceding Church in the course of a gradual and unfolding divine revelation. As an example of this and as is generally known, the Christian Church was taught many things about the Word which the members of the Jewish Church did not know about; and which they cannot know about until they acknowledge Christ such that the veil is removed from the glory: "But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done away in Christ" (2 Corinthians 3:14).  Jesus' disciples, having acknowledged Him, were in a position to receive more information than the members of the Jewish Church otherwise could who had not so acknowledged. And thus, on the road to Emmaus where the risen Lord appeared to certain of His disciples, we read this: "And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expound...