You Can Heal Spiritual Suffering
...And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2)
Anyone can go to heaven, no matter what church they go to, no matter what doctrines they are taught, so long as they try to shun evils and live a life of charity. So why do people join the New Church if salvation isn't “on the line”? To relieve suffering.
The Lord is Love, and so He wants nothing more than for us to be happy. Yet, there is a lot of suffering in the world. We all suffer at one time or another, and if we're not suffering now, it's not hard for us to find someone around us who is. Some suffering is small, some is very great. And so, the Lord provides us with a way to be healed.
The Book of Revelation ends with a beautiful image of the heavenly city New Jerusalem. In its midst grows the Tree of Life, about which we are told, “The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” The city is an image of what the Lord's New Church is meant to be like here, today. This final chapter of the Bible
So if you are suffering, turn to these new truths, and you will find relief. And if you have experienced the healing power for yourself already, then go out, and be a healer. The Lord has anointed you to preach the good news and heal the brokenhearted.
This sermon is in two formats. First, there's a full text at the end of this post for those who like to read. In addition, you can listen to the audio recording of this sermon. Note: the audio version diverges from the text version in many respects, although both follow the same overall outline. For a "multimedia" experience, you can read the text while listening to the recording.
This sermon was preached at Pittsburgh New Church, in Pittsburgh, PA, on August 6th, 2006.
Before reading or listening to the sermon, I encourage you to look at the following three passages: Isaiah 61:1-3; Revelation 22:1-5; Apocalypse Revealed 936:1, 2. If I get enough of a response requesting it, I'll start putting up recordings of the readings from the Word to accompany the sermons in the podcast.
“The Spirit of the Lord Jehovih [is] upon Me,
Because Jehovah has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor;
He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives,
And the opening of the prison to [those who are] bound;
“To proclaim the acceptable year of Jehovah,
And the day of vengeance of our God;
To comfort all who mourn,
“To console those who mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
That they may be called trees of righteousness,
The planting of Jehovah, that He may be glorified.”
Revelation 22:1-5
And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, [was] the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each [tree] yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree [were] for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name [shall be] on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.
‘And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations’ signifies the rational truths therefrom by means of which those who are in evils and consequently in untruths are led to thinking soundly and living properly. By ‘the leaves of the tree’ are signified rational truths, treated of below. By ‘the nations’ are signified those who are in goods and consequently in truths, and in the opposite sense those who are in evils and consequently in untruths (n. 483). Here it is those who are in evils and consequently in untruths, because it is said ‘for their healing’, and those who are in evils and consequently in untruths cannot be healed by the Word, because they do not read it; but if they have a strong judgment they can be healed by means of rational truths. Things similar to those in this verse are signified by these words in Ezekiel:…Behold waters going forth from under the threshold of the house…from which there is a river, upon the banks of which is a tree…of very much food on this side and that, whose leaf does not fall, nor is consumed; it is reborn month by month (in menses), whence its fruit is for food, and its leaf for medicine…. (Eze. 47:1, 7, 12);where also the New Church is treated of. The reason why by ‘the leaves’ are signified rational truths is because by ‘a tree’ is signified a man (n. 89, 400); and then by all [the parts] of a tree are signified the things agreeing to them with the man, as by the branches, leaves, flowers, fruits and seeds. By ‘the branches’ are signified the man's natural and sensual truths, by ‘the leaves’ his rational truths, by ‘the flowers’ the earliest spiritual truths in the rational, by ‘the fruits’ the goods of love and charity, and by ‘the seeds’ are signified the man's last and first things.
That by ‘the leaves’ are signified rational truths appears clearly from the things seen in the spiritual world; for trees appear there also, with leaves and fruits. There are gardens and paradises composed of them there. With those who are in goods of love and at the same time in truths of wisdom there appear fruit trees with beautiful luxuriant foliage; but with those who are in truths of some wisdom and speak reasonably and are not in goods of love, there appear trees with plenty of leaves but without fruit. But with those who have neither goods nor truths of wisdom, trees only appear stripped of leaves like those in the world in the time of winter. A man not rational is nothing else but such a tree.
Rational truths are those that proximately receive spiritual truths, for a man's rational is the first receptacle of spiritual truths; for in the man's rational there is a perception of truth in some form, which the man himself does not see by a process of thought as he does those that are beneath the rational in the lower kind of thought that conjoins itself with external sight. Rational truths are signified by ‘leaves’ also (Gen. 3:7; 7:11; Isa. 34:4; Jer. 8:13; 17:8; Eze. 47:12; Dan 4:12, 14 [H.B. 9, 11]; Psa. 1:3; Lev. 26:36; Mat. 21:19; 24:32; Mark 13:28); but [the leaves] are significant according to the species of the trees. The leaves of the olive and the vine signify truths rational by virtue of celestial and spiritual light, the leaves of the fig-tree truths rational by virtue of natural light, while the leaves of the fir, poplar, oak and pine signify truths rational by virtue of sensual light. The leaves of these excite terror in the spiritual world when they are shaken by a strong wind. These are the ones understood in Lev. 26:36; Job 13:25. But with the leaves of the former [species] it is not so.
So what good is the New Church? We are taught in the New Church that anyone who looks to God and shuns evils can go to heaven, no matter what religion they are a part of. So what is it the New Church good for? What good comes from being a part of it, if salvation isn’t on the line?
Well here’s one answer: happiness. Or, to put it another way that is perhaps a little more directly to the point: relief from suffering.
We all suffer. There’s a husband who suffers, who struggles with adulterous thoughts, who loves his wife dearly to the depths of his soul, and who is in anguish over the terrible things that come into his heart. There’s a young woman who suffers, who lost her innocence, or perhaps had her innocence taken away, who is in agony over what she believes she can never get back. There’s a child who suffers, who misses her mother painfully, and wonders if she’ll ever see her again now that she’s dead.
In this room with us today there is almost certainly someone whose spirit is feeling real pain. If, personally, you are not truly suffering now, you still might have suffered in the past, and it is very likely you will suffer in the future. It is a part of life. It is a consequence of our flawed sense of self, and of the fact that we live in a world of space and time. Some suffering is small, and some is great indeed.
But don’t get down. There’s good news. The Lord in His infinite mercy has provided a means of healing. And that means is in this room today. It comes in two forms, that you can see with your eyes right now.
Look at the Word of God. This book is full of healing power. It is the Lord’s presence with us. Now look at each other. Look at the person on your left, at the person on your right. Each person in this room, each one of you, is an agent of the Lord’s mercy. You have the power to heal.
Where does that power come from? How can we all be healers? And how does the Word give us relief from our suffering? The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. The truths the Lord has lovingly given us, the truths we have learned, are medicine for anyone afflicted by falsity or evil. The healing power is in the rational truths of the New Church.
This is what the Lord is saying to us in His Word. In two separate visions, one to Ezekiel in the Old Testament and one to John in the New Testament, we are told of a tree whose leaves have the power to heal. Now, in the new revelation given to the New Church, the spiritual meaning hidden within these two wondrous visions is laid open for us to understand. According to our reading from The Apocalypse Revealed
But first, what is a leaf?
Just thinking naturally, what do we know about leaves? Well, first of all, they are often green. In the Word, green things generally mean those things that bring life to our intellect. The understanding part of our mind is made alive, our faith is a verdant, living faith, by means of truths.
More to the point, though, we should ask: what is the function of a leaf? What is its use?
Well, leaves grow on plants. They are a very important part of all vegetation. Without leaves, a plant cannot breath, it cannot drink, and it cannot get energy. Essentially, if a plant’s leaves die, it dies. It is by means of tiny pores in a plants leaves that water is drawn up through the plant’s roots, up its stem, and out via its leaves, in a process called transpiration. Again, through those tiny pores, a plant takes up needed oxygen through respiration. Finally, in what is called photosynthesis, miniscule green cells throughout the leaf use carbon dioxide and water to convert sunlight into storable energy.
So what does that tell us about the nature of rational truths? To begin with, we can see that spiritual life is impossible without them. The rest of our spiritual makeup–the flowers that make up our more spiritual truths, the fruits that are our good works—it is all impossible without the green rational truths of our faith.
So does this mean that we are trees? Most definitely. Trees in the Word are symbols of three things. First, when we read about a tree, it is the Lord’s way of telling us something important about himself. The Tree of Life is a symbol of the Lord as we consider His Divine Love. Secondly, when we read about a tree, it is also a symbol of the Lord’s Church. Finally, whenever we read about a tree in the Word, it is also a symbol for a person in the Lord’s Church. This is the nature of the Word. Everything in it has three levels of meaning having to do with (1) the Lord and His Word, (2) His Kingdom in Heaven and on Earth, and (3) the minds and lives of the human beings that make up His kingdom.
So the tree is the Lord. The tree is the Church. And the tree is the individual member of the church. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.
Who are the nations? Remember from our reading that “the nations” are any people who are suffering under false beliefs or evil loves. If that’s the case, then who among us isn’t among the nations? We all fall pray to evil desires. We all become poisoned, at times, by false beliefs. This is true of you, and this is true of me, and it is also true of everyone else out there that you will ever meet.
Now, here’s the question: whether we are looking at the Lord as the tree or at ourselves as trees, who do we use truth to spiritually heal ourselves and those around us? What can we do about spiritual suffering?
Consider the person whose mind is plagued by adulterous thoughts, although he loves his spouse and loves his marriage. Why is he suffering? Where are these thoughts coming from? The Lord taught in the Sermon on the Mount that to look at someone with lustful thoughts was in effect to commit adultery with her in your heart. Is this person an adulterer? Assuming that this poor person really does love their marriage, and truly wishes such thoughts never came into his head, you can imagine that such thoughts cause him extreme anguish. He may believe that he is a terrible person for having such thoughts.
But here’s a leaf: We are not responsible for the thoughts that come into our heads, but are only responsible for how we react to them. This beautiful and rational idea is taught quite plainly in the book Divine Providence
“If a person were to believe, as is the truth, that all goodness and truth originate with the Lord, and all evil and falsity from hell, he would not assign goodness to himself and make it desrving of merit, nor assign evil to himself and make himself guilty of it.” (320)
Can you see how this is healing? Evil comes from hell, not from ourselves. We are only responsible for those evil thoughts that we welcome in, that we willingly take delight in, that we decide to act upon.
What about the person who has lost her innocence? Maybe she made some bad choices in life, or maybe she was treated brutally by someone. It may have happened recently, or it may have happened a long time ago. Whatever the case, she is now suffering because she knows the importance of innocence, and believes that, once lost, innnocence can never be regained. Is she permanently and irreparably damaged? Will she never fully appreciate the heavenly joys that the Lord teaches us we can only attain through innocence? Imagine her suffering.
And here is a leaf to salve her suffering: True innocence is not a state we are born into, but one we achieve with spiritual maturity. Think about that. No, it doesn’t undo the past, and the past pain is not retroactively erased. But the ongoing suffering, the terrible, false conviction that she is permanently tainted and forever less of a human being–this falsity is replaced by the healing truth that is taught plainly in the book, Heaven and Hell
…[T]he innocence of angels in heaven…is a willingness to be led by the Lord and not by oneself. …But the innocence of little children is not genuine innocence, because as yet it is without wisdom. Genuine innocence is wisdom. For so far as anyone is wise he loves to be led by the Lord, or what is the same, so far as anyone is led by the Lord he is wise. (341)
Yes, the innocence we are born with is precious, and we really should safegaurd it in ourselves and in our children. But it is only a template for true innocence. Losing it can be tragic and painful, but gaining the more full and wonderful innocence that every angel has is never out of our reach.
Finally, there’s the child who has lost a parent. If they have no understanding of the life after death, they may be terrified to think that perhaps they will never see their loved one ever again. But the New Church is fully supplied and then some when it comes to truths about death and what comes after. The natural pain of loss and grief is not erased from the child’s mind, but when they are given the beautiful truths about heaven, about how real life there is, and about how we can be reunited with lost loved-ones when we ourselves go on to that life—well, the sting can be blunted. Over time, healing can happen in a way that it couldn’t otherwise, without the truths.
Now remember, the tree is the Lord. He is the source of these truths. And the twenty-second chapter of Revelation that we read the beginning of is a description of the Lord’s New Christian Church. The Lord is in the midst of this Church, and always will be. It would cease to be His Church otherwise.
But the tree is also someone other than the Lord. The tree is a man or a woman of the Church. You are the tree, if you are part of the Church.
John’s vision of the New Jerusalem, with its throne and its river and its trees, is a promise of the future of the Church. This is a future we are a part of. We would probably be making a mistake, however, if we took this as a promise that we should just wait around passively for. The Lord builds His Church out of people, and He does it by means of people. By means of you. By means of everyone here.
So this isn’t just about how we can turn to the Lord’s truths when we are suffering. It is also an explanation of what a member of the Church does. If you are a member of the Church, if you are a tree planted by the waters in the New Jerusalem, well then that means that your leaves are for the healing of the nations. You are a source of healing. The leaves still come from the Lord, ultimately, but they are put to use through your own actions. That’s what it means to be a member of the Church: not merely that you are healed by the Lord and His Church, but that as a part of that Church you go out and provide healing for the world around you.
And that brings us to one more critical point. The Lord taught His disciples that with leaves but no fruit is no good. Likewise, we are no good if we have plenty of truths, but perform no good works. The whole point of a tree’s leaves is to provide air, water and energy so that fruit may be produced. The whole point of the healing truths we are given in the New Church is so that we may go out into the world and do good to others.
So go to the Lord when you are spiritually suffering. Turn to His truths, when you need healing. And go out into the world, and fulfill the Lord’s promise to the world about His New Church, and bear fruit, and provide leaves for the healing of the nations.
That is what the New Church is good for.
Amen.