Lexicon Entry: Advent of the Lord
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If the Most Ancient Church had remained uncorrupted, there would have been no need for the Lord to be born a human being. But as soon as the Most Ancient Church began to decline, the Lord foresaw that this celestial church would cease to exist altogether in the world. Therefore, a prophecy (Gen. 3:15) was given just after the fall of the Most Ancient Church about the Lord’s coming into the world (AC 2661). It was not necessary for the Lord to be born yet because the Lord’s whole life on earth was described, and was manifest to the angels, through the internal sense of the Word, the Ancient Word, and all the rituals of the Jewish Church (AC 2523, TCR 265). However, the people of the Ancient Church, the spiritual church that followed the celestial Most Ancient Church, could not have been saved unless the Lord had come into the world (AC 2661). In fact, after their deaths these people were detained in the lower earth until the Lord had made the Human in Himself Divine (AC 8261).
Many people of the Ancient Church knew that the Lord was going to come into the world and make the Human in Himself Divine (AC 6846). This is evident from the book of the Ancient Word called “The Wars of Jehovah,” which describes the conflicts between the Lord and the hells, and His victory over them, when He was about to come into the world (TCR 265). Also, the songs of the Ancient Church were prophetic, and described how the Lord would come into the world and overthrow the diabolical crew and liberate the faithful from their assaults (AC 8261).
Many gentiles also knew that the Lord was going to come into the world. We can see this from the custom then prevalent among the gentiles of sacrificing their sons, believing that they would thereby be purified and reconciled to God. They could not have made such an abominable custom their most important religious observance unless they had learned from the ancients that the Son of God was going to come into the world and, as they believed, be made a sacrifice (AC 2818).
See also:
Ancient Word, Gentiles,
Music, Sacrifices
Passages relating to the Advent of the Lord
and the Ancient Churches:
AC 728; AC 2523; AC 2605; AC 2661; AC 2818;
AC 4727; AC 6846; AC 8261; AC 9293; AE 659;
SE 4783; TCR 265
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