3381. Because that Abraham hearkened to My voice. That this signifies the union of the Lord’s Divine Essence with the Human Essence through temptations, is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord as to the Divine Human also (see n. 2833, 2836, 3251) and from the signification of “hearkening to My voice,” when predicated of the Lord, as being to unite the Divine Essence to the Human through temptations, for in the Word it is from these that obedience is predicated of the Lord. What is here said has reference to that which is related concerning Abraham in chapter 22, namely, that God tempted him, and said unto him that he should take his son and offer him for a burnt-offering (verses 1-2); and when he hearkened to this voice, it is said:

Now I know that thou fearest God, and thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only one, from Me.

In Myself have I sworn saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this word, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only one, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens (Genesis 22:12, 16-17).

That by “not withholding thy son, thine only one, from Me” (which was “hearkening to the voice”) is signified the unition of the Human with the Divine through the last of temptation, may be seen above (n. 2827, 2844). That this is meant by “hearkening to the voice of Jehovah,” or “the Father,” is evident also from the words of the Lord in Gethsemane:

My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless not My will but Thine be done: again a second time, My Father, if this cup cannot pass from Me except I drink it, Thy will be done (Matthew 26:39, 42 Mark 14:36 Luke 22:42).

But inasmuch as Jehovah or the Father was in Him, or He in the Father and the Father in Him (John 14:10-11), by “hearkening to the voice of Jehovah” is meant that the Lord united the Divine to the Human through temptations, by His own power; as is also evident from the words of the Lord Himself in John:

As the Father knoweth Me, and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. Therefore doth the Father love Me, because I lay down My life, that I may take it again. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received from My Father (John 10:15, 17-18). (That the Lord by His own power united His Divine Essence to His Human Essence through temptations, may be seen above, n. 1663, 1668, 1690, 1691, 1725, 1729, 1733, 1737, 1787, 1789, 1812, 1820, 2776, 3318)

1729. To God Most High. That this signifies the internal man, which is Jehovah, is evident from what has been said already several times concerning the Lord’s internal man, that it is Jehovah Himself, and thus that the Lord is the same as Jehovah the Father; as He Himself says in John:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. Philip saith, Show us the Father. Jesus saith unto him, Am I so long time with you, and dost thou not know Me, Philip? He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou then, Show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:6, 8-11).

[2] It is the Lord’s Human Essence which is called the “Son of man;” which also, after the combats of the temptations, was united to His Divine Essence, so that it was itself also made Jehovah; wherefore in heaven they know no other Jehovah the Father than the Lord (see above, n. 15). With the Lord all is Jehovah; not only His internal and His interior man, but also the external man, and the very body; and therefore He alone rose into heaven with the body also; as is sufficiently evident in the Gospels, where His resurrection is treated of; as also from the words of the Lord Himself:

Wherefore do thoughts arise in your hearts? See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see, for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet (Luke 24:38-40).