Canons of the New Church · God the Redeemer and redemption

13. II.

GOD THE REDEEMER JESUS CHRIST, AND REDEMPTION.

[GOD THE REDEEMER JESUS CHRIST.]

SUMMARY.

[I. In God There Is Love and Wisdom, or Divine Good and Divine Truth.

II. He Descended as to the Divine Truth.

III. That Truth Is the Word.

IV. What Is the Holy Spirit and the Power of the Most High.

V. The Human of the Lord Is the Son of God.

VI. The State of the Lord’s Exinanition while in the World.

VII. The Unition of the Divine Truth and Good in the Human.

VIII. After the Unition, He Returned to the Father.

IX. He Successively Glorified Himself

X. The Unition Is Like that of the Soul and the Body.]

14. CHAPTER I

IN JEHOVAH GOD THERE ARE TWO THINGS OF THE SAME ESSENCE, DIVINE LOVE, AND DIVINE WISDOM; OR, DIVINE GOOD, AND DIVINE TRUTH.

1. Universally and singly, all things in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural, relate to love and wisdom, or to good and truth; since God, the Creator and the Establisher of the universe, is Love itself, and Wisdom itself, or Good itself, and Truth itself:-

2. Altogether as, universally and singly, all things in man relate to the will and the understanding; since the will is the receptacle of good or love, and the understanding the receptacle of wisdom and truth.

3. And altogether as all things of the universe, as to existence and subsistence, have relation to heat and light; and heat in the spiritual world, in its essence, is love, and light there, in its essence, is wisdom; and heat and light in the natural world correspond to love and wisdom in the spiritual world.

4. Hence it is that all things in the church relate to charity and faith; since charity is good, and faith is truth.

5. Therefore, in the prophetic Word there are two expressions; of which one relates to good, and the other to truth; and thus to Jehovah God, who is Good itself, and Truth itself.

6. In the Word of the Old Testament “Jehovah” signifies the Divine Esse, which is the Divine Good, and “God” the Divine Existere, which is the Divine Truth; and “Jehovah God” signifies both; likewise “Jesus Christ.”

7. Good is good, and truth is truth, according to the quantity and quality of their conjunction.

8. Good exists through truth; consequently truth is the form of good, and hence the quality of good.

15. CHAPTER II.

JEHOVAH GOD DESCENDED AS TO THE DIVINE WISDOM, OR THE DIVINE TRUTH, AND ASSUMED THE HUMAN IN THE VIRGIN MARY.

1. Jehovah God assumed the Human that in the fulness of time He might become the Redeemer and Saviour.

2. He became the Redeemer and Saviour by the Justice, which, as to the Human, He then put on.

3. He could not have become Justice, and thus the Redeemer and Saviour, as to the Human, except by Divine Truth: since by the Divine Truth, from the beginning, all things were made which were made.

4. The Divine Truth could combat against the hells, and could be tempted, blasphemed, reproached, and suffer.

5. But not the Divine Good, neither God, except in the Human, conceived and born according to Divine Order.

6. Jehovah God therefore descended as to the Divine Truth, and assumed the Human.

7. This is according to the Sacred Scripture, and according to reason enlightened there and from it.

16. CHAPTER III.

THIS DIVINE TRUTH IS MEANT BY “THE WORD WHICH WAS MADE FLESH” (John i.).*

1. The Word, in the Sacred Scripture, signifies various things; as that it signifies a thing which really exists; also the thought of the mind, and thence speech.

2. In the first place it signifies everything which exists and proceeds from the mouth of God; thus the Divine Truth; and hence the Sacred Scripture, since the Divine Truth is there in its essence and its form. It is on this account that the Sacred Scripture is called in one term “The Word.”

3. “The Ten Words” of the Decalogue signify all Divine truths in a summary.

4. Hence the “Word” signifies the Lord the Redeemer and Saviour, since all things there are from Him: thus Himself.

5. From these things it can be seen, that by the “Word,” which was “in the beginning with God, and which was God,” and which “was with God before the world,” is meant the Divine Truth, which was before creation in Jehovah, and after creation from Jehovah; and lastly the Divine Human, which Jehovah assumed in time; for it is said that “the Word was made flesh,” that is, Man.

6. The hypostatic Word is nothing else than Divine Truth.

* [ANNOTATIONS FROM THE MARGIN.]

HYPOSTATIC WORD. The Son could not call Himself God, thus the Father.

No “Son of God from eternity” could descend, according to the statements of the doctrine of the church of this day. Since it is evident:

(1) He could not call Him His Father.

(2) Nor say that all things of the Father were His.

(3) He who sees Him, sees the Father.

(4) At His baptism and at His Transformation God the Father could not say, “This is My beloved Son” (Matt iii. 17; xvii. 5).

(Besides many more passages in the Word of the Old Testament concerning the Lord’s Coming, collected in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 6); and there, that Jehovah would come.)

17. CHAPTER IV.

THE “HOLY SPIRIT,” WHICH CAME UPON MARY, SIGNIFIES THE DIVINE TRUTH; AND THE “POWER OF THE MOST HIGH,” WHICH OVERSHADOWED HER, SIGNIFIES THE DIVINE GOOD FROM WHICH THAT EXISTS.

1. The Holy Spirit is the Divine proceeding, thus the Divine Truth, teaching, reforming, regenerating, and vivifying.

2. This is the Divine Truth which Jehovah God spoke by the prophets, and which the Lord Himself spoke from His own mouth, while He was in the world.

3. This Divine Truth, which also is the Word, was in the Lord by nativity from conception; and afterwards it was beyond all measure, that is, it was infinitely increased; which is meant by the Spirit of Jehovah resting upon Him.

4. The Spirit of Jehovah is called the “Holy Spirit;” since “holy” in the Word is predicated of Divine Truth. Hence it is that the Human of the Lord born of Mary is called “Holy” (Luke i. [35]); and the Lord Himself is called “Alone Holy” (Apoc. xv. 4); and others are called “holy,” not from themselves, but from Him.

5. “The Most High,” in the Word, is predicated of the Divine good; wherefore the “power of the Most High” signifies power proceeding from the Divine good.

6. Therefore these two things, “the Holy Spirit coming upon her,” and “the power of the Most High overshadowing her,” signify both, namely, Divine Truth and Divine Good,- this forming the soul, and that the body,-and communication.

7. Consequently, that these two in the Lord recently born were distinct, as are soul and body, but were afterwards united.

8. In like manner as is done in man, who is born and afterwards is regenerated.

18. CHAPTER V.

THE HUMAN OF THE LORD JEHOVAH IS “THE SON OF GOD SENT INTO THE WORLD.”

1. Jehovah God sent Himself into the world whereby He assumed the Human.

2. This Human, conceived from Jehovah God, is called “the Son of God, which was sent into the world.”

3. This Human is called “the Son of God,” and “the Son of Man”; “the Son of God,” from the Divine Truth and the Divine Good in Him, which is the Word; and “the Son of Man,” from the Divine Truth and the Divine Good from Him, which is the doctrine of the church from the Word.

4. No other Son of God is meant in the Word, but He who was born in the world.

5. “A Son of God born from eternity,” who is a God by Himself, is not from the Sacred Scripture; and it is also contrary to reason enlightened by God.

6. This was invented and made up by the Nicene Council, as an asylum to which those could betake themselves who wished to avoid the scandals disseminated by Arius and his followers, concerning the Human of the Lord.

7. The Primitive Church, which was called the Apostolic Church, knew nothing concerning the birth of any Son of God from eternity.

19. CHAPTER VI.

THE LORD, SO FAR AS HE WAS IN DIVINE TRUTH, AS TO HIS HUMAN, SEPARATELY, SO FAR HE WAS IN A STATE OF EXINANITION; AND SO FAR AS HE WAS CONJOINED WITH DIVINE GOOD, SO FAR HE WAS IN A STATE OF GLORIFICATION.

1. The Lord had two states; one which was called a state of exinanition, the other of glorification.

2. The state of exinanition was also a state of humiliation before the Father; and the state of glorification was a state of unition with the Father.

3. The Lord, when He was in a state of exinanition, or of humiliation, prayed to the Father as though absent or remote; and when He was in a state of glorification, or unition, He spoke with Himself, when with the Father; altogether as with man there are states of the soul and body, before and after regeneration.

4. The Lord, when He was in Divine Truth separately, was in a state of exinanition, since that could be attacked by the hells, or by the devils there, and be reproached by men; wherefore the Lord, when He was in that separately, could be tempted and suffer.

5. But on the other hand, the Lord, when He was in Divine Good conjointly, could not be tempted and suffer by devils in hell, nor by men in the world, since that could not be approached, still less invaded.

6. The Lord, when in the world, was alternately in these two states.

7. The Lord could not otherwise have become Justice and Redemption.

8. The same takes place with the man who is regenerated by the Lord.

9. This [is to be proved] from experience, reason, and the Sacred Scripture.

20. CHAPTER VII.

THE LORD UNITED DIVINE TRUTH WITH DIVINE GOOD, AND DIVINE GOOD WITH DIVINE TRUTH, THUS THE HUMAN WITH THE DIVINE OF THE FATHER, AND THE DIVINE OF THE FATHER WITH THE HUMAN, THROUGH TEMPTATIONS, AND FULLY BY THE PASSION OF THE CROSS.

1. The Lord in the world, admitted into Himself and underwent grievous and dreadful temptations from the hells, and at length the last of them, which was the passion of the cross.

2. The Lord in temptations combated with the hells and overcame and subjugated them.

3. By this means He reduced the hells to order, and then at the same time the heavens where the angels are, and the church where men are; since the state of one continually depends upon the state of the other.

4. The Lord also by temptations and rejections, and lastly by the passion of the cross, represented the state of the church, such as it then was, as to Divine truth, thus as to the Word.

5. The Lord by fulfilling the Word, and by temptations, and fully by the last of them, which was the passion of the cross, glorified the Human.

6. Thus He took away the universal damnation which threatened not only the Christian world, but also the whole universe, and likewise the angelic heaven.

7. This is meant by “His bearing and taking away the sins of the world.”

8. He underwent temptations and rejections while He was in the state of truth separately, which was the state of His exinanition.

9. The conjunction of the spiritual man with the natural, and of the natural man with the spiritual, is effected by temptations.

21. CHAPTER VIII.

AFTER THE UNITION WAS ACCOMPLISHED HE RETURNED INTO THE DIVINE IN WHICH HE WAS FROM ETERNITY, TOGETHER WITH AND IN THE GLORIFIED HUMAN.

1. Jehovah God from eternity had a Human such as the angels in the heavens have, but of infinite essence, thus Divine; and He had not a human such as men have on the earths.

2. Jehovah God assumed a Human such as men have on the earths, according to His own Divine order, which is, that it should be conceived, born, grow up, and successively be imbued with Divine Wisdom and Divine Love.

3. Thus He united this Human with His Divine from eternity; and thus He went forth from the Father, and returned to the Father.

4. Jehovah God in this Human, and by it, exercised justice, and made Himself the Redeemer and Saviour.

5. And by its unition with His Divine, He made Himself the Redeemer and the Saviour to eternity.

6. Jehovah God, by the union of this Human with the Divine, exalted His Omnipotence; which is meant by “sitting on the right hand of God.”

7. Jehovah God in this Human is above the heavens, illuminating the universe with the light of wisdom, and inspiring into the universe the virtue of love.

8. They who approach Him as Man, and who live according to His precepts, receive these two principles freely from Him.

9. Jehovah God alone is a full Man with the angels.

22. CHAPTER IX.

JEHOVAH GOD SUCCESSIVELY PUT OFF THE HUMAN FROM THE MOTHER, AND PUT ON THE HUMAN FROM THE FATHER; AND THUS HE MADE THAT HUMAN DIVINE

1. The soul of the offspring is from the father, and in the womb it clothes itself with the body from the substance of the mother; analogically as seed in the earth, and from the substance of the earth.

2. Hence the image of the father is implanted in the body, first obscurely, then more and more evidently, as the son applies himself to the studies and offices of the father.

3. The body of Christ, so far as it was from the substance of the mother, was not life in itself, but a recipient of life from the Divine in Him, which was Life in itself.

4. Christ, as He successively exalted the Divine Wisdom and the Divine Love in Himself, took upon Himself, the Divine Life which is Life in itself.

5. Christ, in the degree that He took upon Him life in Himself, from the Divine in Himself, in that degree He put off the human from the mother, and put on the Human from the Father.

6. Christ, by this means, made His Human Divine, and from the Son of Mary He made Himself the Son of God.

7. Jesus Christ could thus and not otherwise be in angels and men, and angels and men in Him.

8. But because Mary, His mother, afterwards represented the church, that in this respect she is to be called His mother.

9. Christ, when He was in the human of the mother, was in the state of exinanition, and could be tempted, reproached, and suffer.

10. In this state He prayed to the Father, because He was then as though absent from Him.

23. CHAPTER X.

THE DIVINE FROM ETERNITY AND THE HUMAN IN TIME, UNITED AS SOUL AND BODY, ARE ONE PERSON, WHO IS JEHOVAH.

1. In Jesus Christ, the Divine from eternity, and the Human in time, are united as soul and body in man.

2. Unition was and is reciprocal, and thus full.

3. Consequently God and Man, that is, the Divine and the Human, are one Person.

4. All the Divine things of the Father are at the same time in the Human of the Lord.

5. Thus the Lord is the one and only God, who had all power in the heavens and on the earths from eternity, and will have to eternity.

6. He is “the First and the Last,” “the Beginning and the End,” “who was, who is, and who is to come,” “the Alpha and the Omega,” “the Almighty.”

7. He is “the Father of eternity,” “Jehovah our Justice,” “Jehovah the Saviour and Redeemer,” “Jehovah Zebaoth.”

8. They who go to Him, as Jehovah and as the Father, and are united to Him, become His sons, and are called “the sons of God.”

9. These are receptacles of His Divine Human.

24. III

REDEMPTION.

SUMMARY.

[I. The Church Declines Successively from Good to Evil.

II. The End of the Church Is when the Power of Evil and of Hell Is Over Good and of Heaven.

III. In Like Manner the Church Wanders from the Internal to the External.

IV. A Description of the End and Progression, in the Word.

V. Then a Total Damnation Threatens.

VI. The Lord Redeemed Men and Angels.

VII. The Temptations of the Lord the Christ.

VIII. Redemption Is Not Possible except by God Incarnate.]

CHAPTER I.

IN PROCESS OF TIME THE CHURCH DEPARTS FROM THE GOOD OF CHARITY, AND THEN TO FALSITIES OF FAITH, AND DIES.

1. There is a church in the heavens, and a church on the earths, and they constitute a one, like the internal and external with man.

2. The church in both worlds is together before the Lord, and appears before the angels as one man.

3. Hence the church can be compared to a man; who is at first an infant, next a youth, afterwards a man, and lastly an old man.

4. While the church is an infant, it is in the good of charity; while a youth and man it is in the truths of faith from that good; and when an old man it is in the marriage of charity and faith.

5. The church, while it is and remains such, endures to eternity; but otherwise, if it recedes from the good of charity of its infancy.

6. If the church recedes from the good of charity of its infancy, it becomes involved in thick darkness as to truths, and falls into falsities, like a blind man into a pit.

7. The four essentials of the church are,-the knowledge of God, the knowledge of the goods of charity, the knowledge of the truths of faith, and life according to them.

8. When the church recedes from charity, it also recedes from these four; and then falsities flow in concerning God, concerning charity, concerning faith, and concerning worship.

9. These flow into the primates of the church, and from them into the people, as from the head into the body.

10. There are two causes why falsities flow into the primates of the church, and flow forth from them: one is the love of ruling from the love of self; the other is intelligence from the proprium, and not from the Sacred Scripture.

11. Then from one falsity there flow forth falsities in a continuous series, and this until nothing of truth remains.

12. The Sacred Scripture, while it is applied to confirm those things, is then wholly falsified, and thus the church perishes.

25. CHAPTER II.

THEN THE END OF THE CHURCH IS AT HAND, WHEN THE POWER OF EVIL BY FALSITIES BEGINS TO PREVAIL OVER THE POWER OF GOOD BY TRUTHS, IN THE NATURAL WORLD, AND THEN AT THE SAME TIME THE POWER OF HELL OVER THE POWER OF HEAVEN.

1. Every man after death comes into his own good, and thence truth, in which he was in the world; in like manner into his own evil, and thence falsity.

2. They who are in good and thence in truth enter into heaven; and they who are in evil and thence in falsity enter into hell.

3. They who are in good on the earths are interiorly in truths; and if in falsities, they can receive truths conformable to their good even after death. But the contrary is the case with those who are in evils. The reason is, because good and evil are of the will; and the will is the esse of man, and the understanding thence exists.

4. From the state of heaven and hell, in the spiritual world, it is known how much good prevails over evil, or evil over good, on the earths; since every man after death is gathered to his own, that is, comes into his own evil or good, and heaven and hell are from the human race.

5. This could by no means be known upon the earths, for many reasons.

6. Between heaven and hell there is an interspace, into which evil exhaling from hell ascends, and good descends from heaven; and there they meet.

7. In the midst of this interspace there is an equilibrium between good and evil.

8. From this equilibrium, it is known how much good prevails over evil, or evil over good.

9. The Lord there weighs it as in a balance.

10. This equilibrium is elevated towards heaven as evil prevails over good, and is depressed towards hell as good prevails over evil; since good from heaven depresses it, and evil from hell elevates it.

11. This equilibrium is as a footstool to the angels of heaven, in which their good terminates, and upon which it rests.

12. According to the degree in which this equilibrium is elevated, the happiness of the angels of heaven, from their goods and thence truths, is diminished.

13. When evil prevails over good on the earths, at the same time hell prevails over heaven.

14. From these things it is evident that the end of the church is at hand, when the power of evil prevails over the power of good.

15. It is called the power of good by truths, and the power of evil by falsities, because good has power by truths, and evil has power by falsities.

26. CHAPTER III.

AS THE CHURCH WANDERS FROM GOOD TO EVIL, THUS ALSO IT WANDERS FROM INTERNAL WORSHIP TO EXTERNAL.

1. In the degree that evil increases in the church, in the same degree the man of the church becomes external.

2. In the degree that the man of the church becomes external, in the same degree he becomes double-minded; that is, evil in internals, and apparently good in externals.

3. Every man after death at length becomes such as he was in internals, but not such as he was in externals.

4. Hence also it is that the world, because it judges from externals does not know what is the state of the church; thus also, neither how the church decreases and verges to its end.

5. Every man has an internal and an external, which is called the internal and external man.

6. In the internal man the will governs, thus love, the principle of life; but in the external man the understanding governs, which either manifestly, prudently, or cunningly favors the internal.

7. If the internal man is evil and the external man good, in this he is a dissembler and a hypocrite.

8. No man is good, as to his internal man, except from the Lord.

27. CHAPTER IV.

THE PROGRESSION OF THE CHURCH TO ITS END, AND THE END ITSELF, ARE DESCRIBED IN VERY MANY PLACES IN THE WORD.

1. The successive decrease of good and truth, and increase of evil and falsity in the church, are called in the Word “vastation” and “desolation.”

2. The last state, when nothing of good and truth remains, is there called “consummation” and “cutting off.”

3. The end itself of the church is the fulness (of time).

4. Similar things are likewise meant in the Word by “evening” and “night;”

5. And also by these words in the Prophets and Evangelists:-

Then shall the sun be darkened, the moon shall not give her light, the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken [Matt. xxiv. 29; Isa. xlii. 10; Ezek. xxxii. 7; Joel ii. 10; ii. 31; iii. 15; Amos v. 20; viii. 9; Mark xiii. 24; Luke xxi. 25)].

6. Then there is no longer a church, except as to name; but still this residue is there, namely, that man may know and understand truths, and do goods, if he will.

28. CHAPTER V.

IN THE END OF THE CHURCH A TOTAL DAMNATION THREATENS MEN ON THE EARTHS AND ANGELS IN THE HEAVENS.

1. Every man is in the equilibrium which is between heaven and hell, and thence in the freedom of looking and turning himself either to heaven or to hell.

2. Every man after death comes first into this equilibrium, and thus into a similar state of life to that in which he was in the world.

3. They who in the world looked and turned themselves to heaven or to hell, in like manner look and turn themselves after death.

4. In the end of the church, when the power of evil prevails over the power of good, this equilibrium is distended and filled by the evil who depart from the world.

5. Hence this equilibrium is elevated more and more towards heaven, and according to its approach infests the angels there.

6. All they who are in this elevated equilibrium, are interiorly infernal and exteriorly moral.

7. These, because they are such, perpetually endeavor to destroy heaven, which is above them; which also they do by cunning devices from hell, with which, as to their interiors, they make a one.

8. Hence it is that in the end of the church, destruction, and hence damnation, threaten even the angels of heaven.

9. Unless judgment were then executed, no man upon the earths could be saved, nor could any angel in the heavens remain in his state of safety.

29. CHAPTER VI.

JEHOVAH GOD, BY HIS ADVENT INTO THE WORLD, TOOK AWAY THAT TOTAL DAMNATION; AND BY THAT REDEEMED MEN ON THE EARTHS AND ANGELS IN THE HEAVENS.

1. Jehovah God Himself came into the world, to deliver men and angels from the assault and violence of hell, and thus from damnation.

2. He effected this by combats against hell, and by victories over it; and He subjugated it, reduced it to order, and subjected it to obedience to Himself.

3. After this judgment He also created, that is, formed, a new heaven, and through this a new church.

4. By these Jehovah God put Himself in the power of saving all who believe in Him, and do His precepts.

5. Thus He redeemed all in the whole world, and all in the whole heaven.

6. This is the Gospel, which He commanded should be preached throughout the whole world.

7. This is the Gospel to those who repent, but not to those who purposely transgress His precepts.

30. CHAPTER VII.

THE LORD, IN THE WORLD ENDURED THE MOST GRIEVOUS TEMPTATIONS FROM THE HELLS, AND ALSO FROM THE JEWISH CHURCH; AND BY VICTORIES OVER THEM, HE REDUCED ALL THINGS TO ORDER, AND AT THE SAME TIME GLORIFIED HIS HUMAN; AND THUS HE REDEEMED ANGELS AND MEN, AND REDEEMS THEM TO ETERNITY.

1. All spiritual temptations are combats against evils and falsities, therefore against the hells; and these temptations are more grievous in the degree in which they invade the spirit of man, and at the same time his body, and torment both.

2. The Lord sustained the most grievous temptations of all, because He fought against all the hells, and also against the evils and falsities of the Jewish Church.

3. His temptations are little described in the Evangelists, only by combats with beasts, that is with satans in hell, forty days in the wilderness, and afterwards by infestations from the devil, and lastly by His sufferings in Gethsemane, and by the dreadful passion upon the cross. [(Mark i. 12, 13; Matt. iv. 1-11; Luke iv. 1-13; Matt. xxvi. 36-46; Mark xiv. 32-42; Luke xxii. 40-46; John xviii. 1; Matt. xxvii. 26-50; Mark xv. 15-37; Luke xxiii. 25-46; John xix. 1-30.)] But that His temptations or combats with the hells, which, because they were invisible, could not be manifested, were more particularly and more fully described in the Prophets and in David (Isa. lxiii.).

4. The Lord underwent these temptations, in order that He might subjugate the hells which infested heaven and at the same time the church; and that He might deliver angels and men from that infestation, and thus save them.

5. The end of all spiritual temptation is the thorough subjugation of evil and falsity, thus also of hell; and at the same time, the entire subjugation of the external man, for into him evils and falsities from hell flow. For in temptations there is a contest for the dominion of evil over good, and of the external man over the internal; wherefore, on whichever side victory remains, on that side also dominion remains. When therefore victory is on the side of good, good holds dominion over evil, and also the internal man over the external.

6. The Lord suffered these temptations from His boyhood even to the last age of His life, and thus He successively subjugated the hells, and successively glorified His Human; and in the last temptation upon the cross, which was the most grievous of all, He fully conquered the hells, and made His Human Divine.

7. The Lord fought with the hells and also against the falsities and evils of the Jewish Church, as the Divine Truth itself, or the Word, which He was; and He suffered Himself to be reproached, to be assailed with insults, and to be slain, just as the church then did with the Word. Almost the same was done with the prophets, because they represented the Lord as to the Word, therefore with the Lord, who was the Prophet Himself, because the Word itself. That it was so done was according to Divine order.*

8. An image of the victories of the Lord over the hells, and of the glorification of His Human, by temptations, is presented in the regeneration of man; for as the Lord subjugated the hells and made His Human Divine, so with man He subjugates them and makes him spiritual, and thus regenerates him.

9. It is known that the Lord snatches man from the jaws of the devil, that is, of hell, and raises him to Himself in heaven; and that He does this with man by withdrawing him from evils, which is effected through contrition and repentance. These two are the temptations which are the means of regeneration.**

* [ANNOTATIONS FROM THE MARGIN.]

Of the representation of the state of the church by the prophets and also by Ezekiel, of whom four times it is said that “He bears the iniquities of the house of Israel” and that the Lord was called the “Greatest Prophet”-see Doctrine of the Lord (n 15-17).

** [ANNOTATIONS FROM THE MARGIN.]

The Lord, as Prophet, bore the iniquities of the Jewish Church and did not take them away.

His glorification or union with the Divine of His Father which was in Him as the soul In man, could not be effected except through a reciprocal operation; the Human cooperates with the Divine, nevertheless it is chiefly from the Divine, but still reception, action, or reaction from the Human as from Himself. But so far as it is conjoined He acted at the same time from both. In like manner as man is regenerated and becomes spiritual from the Lord. When an infant He was as an infant; while a boy [He was as a boy] and from boyhood. He increased in wisdom (Luke ii. 40-50). He could not be born wisdom but could become it according to order. He advanced to full conjunction.

31. CHAPTER VIII.

REDEMPTION COULD NOT HAVE BEEN EFFECTED, AND HENCE NEITHER COULD SALVATION HAVE BEEN GIVEN, EXCEPT BY GOD INCARNATE.

1. The Word of the Old and of the New Testament teaches that God became incarnate.

2. All the worship of the church before God became incarnate, foreshadowed and regarded Him after He was incarnate; and hence and from no other source was that worship Divine.

3. God Incarnate is “Jehovah our Justice,” “Jehovah our Redemption,” “Jehovah our Salvation,” and “Jehovah our Truth;” and all these are meant by the two names, Jesus Christ.

4. God not incarnate could not have fought against the hells, and could not have conquered them.

5. God not incarnate could not have been tempted, still less could He have suffered the cross.

6. God not incarnate could not have been seen and known; thus He could not have been approached, and so could not have been conjoined to men and angels, unless through Himself incarnate.

7. Faith in God not incarnate is impossible, but only in Him incarnate.

8. Hence it is that it was said by the ancients, that no one can see God and live, and by the Lord, that no one hath seen the shape of the Father nor heard His voice.

9. Also, that by means of angels God manifested Himself to the sight of the ancients in the human form, which form was representative of God incarnate.

10. Every operation of God is effected from firsts by ultimates, thus from His Divine through His Human. Hence God is the “First and the Last, who was, who is, and who is come.”

11. In the ultimates of God are all things Divine together; thus, in our Lord Jesus Christ are all things of His Father.

12. From these things it follows, that redemption could by no means have been effected except by God incarnate.

13. And there could have been no salvation except by God incarnate, thus by the Lord, the Redeemer and Saviour; which salvation is perpetual redemption.

14. Hence it is, that they who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ have eternal life; and they who do not believe in Him have not that life.*

* [ANNOTATIONS FROM THE MARGIN.]

Redemption itself was the subjugation of the hells and the arrangement of the heavens into order, and thus a preparation for a new spiritual church.

Without this redemption no man could have been saved, nor angels have subsisted in their state of happiness.

The Lord not only redeemed men, but also angels [see Chapter vi.].

Redemption was a work purely Divine.

This redemption could not have been effected except by God incarnate [see Chapter viii.].

The passion of the cross was the last temptation, which, as the Greatest Prophet, He endured and through which also He truly subjugated the hells and glorified His Human: thus that it was not redemption, but the means of redemption.

That the passion of the cross was redemption itself, is a fundamental error of the church.

This error together with the error of three Divine Persons from eternity, has perverted the whole church to such a degree that there is not any spiritual residue of it remaining:-

The errors flowing from [the doctrine] of redemption [held] at the present day [namely] that it is the passion of the cross are to be enumerated.

The falsities of faith cannot be conjoined with the good of charity.

Predictions in Daniel and the Prophets concerning those successive states.

Concerning Christ (Matt. xxiv.).