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Deuteronomy 6

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1 These are the precepts, and ceremonies, and judgments, which the Lord your God commanded that I should teach you, and that you should do them in the land into which you pass over to possess it:

2 That thou mayst fear the Lord thy God, and keep all his commandments and precepts, which I command thee, and thy sons, and thy grandsons, all the days of thy life, that thy days may be prolonged.

3 Hear, O Israel, and observe to do the things which the Lord hath commanded thee, that it may be well with thee, and thou mayst be greatly multiplied, as the Lord the God of thy fathers hath promised thee a land flowing with milk and honey.

4 Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.

5 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole strength.

6 And these words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart:

7 And thou shalt tell them to thy children, and thou shalt meditate upon them sitting in thy house, and walking on thy journey, sleeping and rising.

8 And thou shalt bind them as a sign on thy hand, and they shall be and shall move between thy eyes.

9 And thou shalt write them in the entry, and on the doors of thy house.

10 And when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land, for which he swore to thy fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: and shall have given thee great and goodly cities, which thou didst not build,

11 Houses full of riches, which thou didst not set up, cisterns which thou didst not dig, vineyards and oliveyards, which thou didst not plant,

12 And thou shalt have eaten and be full:

13 Take heed diligently lest thou forget the Lord, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and shalt serve him only, and thou shalt swear by his name.

14 You shall not go after the strange gods of all the nations, that are round about you:

15 Because the Lord thy God is a jealous God in the midst of thee: lest at any time the wrath of the Lord thy God be kindled against thee, and take thee away from the face of the earth.

16 Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God, as thou temptedst him in the place of temptation.

17 Keep the precepts of the Lord thy God, and the testimonies and ceremonies which he hath commanded thee.

18 And do that which is pleasing and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with thee: and going in thou mayst possess the goodly land, concerning which the Lord swore to thy fathers,

19 That he would destroy all thy enemies before thee, as he hath spoken.

20 And when thy son shall ask thee to morrow, saying: What mean these testimonies, and ceremonies and judgments, which the Lord our God hath commanded us?

21 Thou shalt say to him: We were bondmen of Pharao in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a strong hand.

22 And he wrought signs and wonders great and very grievous in Egypt against Pharao, and all his house, in our sight,

23 And he brought us out from thence, that he might bring us in and give us the land, concerning which he swore to our fathers.

24 And the Lord commanded that we should do all these ordinances, and should fear the Lord our God, that it might be well with us all the days of our life, as it is at this day.

25 And he will be merciful to us, if we keep and do all his precepts before the Lord our God, as he hath commanded us.

   

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True Christianity # 81

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81. Chapter 2: The Lord the Redeemer

THE previous chapter was on God the Creator, and also included material on creation. This chapter is on the Lord the Redeemer, and also includes material on redemption. The following chapter is on the Holy Spirit, and will also include material on divine action.

By "the Lord, the Redeemer" we mean Jehovah in his human manifestation. In what follows, we will show that Jehovah himself came down and took on a human manifestation for the purpose of redeeming.

We speak of "the Lord" rather than "Jehovah" because Jehovah of the Old Testament is called "the Lord" in the New, as you can see from the following passages. In Moses it says, "Hear, O Israel, Jehovah your God, Jehovah is one. You are to love Jehovah God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Deuteronomy 6:4-5); but in Mark it says, "The Lord your God is one Lord. You are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul" (Mark 12:29-30). Likewise in Isaiah it says, "Prepare a way for Jehovah; make a level pathway in the solitude for our God" (Isaiah 40:3); but in Luke it says, "I will go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way for him" (Luke 1:76). There are other instances elsewhere.

Furthermore, the Lord commanded his disciples to call him Lord [John 13:13]. Therefore this is what he was called by the apostles in their letters, and afterward what he was called in the apostolic church, as is clear from its creed, called the Apostles Creed.

One reason for this change of names was that the Jews did not dare to say the name Jehovah, because of its holiness. Another reason is that "Jehovah" means the underlying divine reality, which existed from eternity; but the human aspect that he took on in time was not that underlying reality. The nature of the underlying divine reality or Jehovah was shown in the previous chapter, 18-26-27-35.

Because of this, here and in what follows when we say "the Lord" we mean Jehovah in his human manifestation.

The concept of the Lord has an excellence that surpasses all other concepts that exist in the church or even in heaven. Therefore we need to adhere to an orderly sequence, as in the following, to make this concept clear:

1. Jehovah, the Creator of the universe, came down and took on a human manifestation in order to redeem people and save them.

2. He came down as the divine truth, which is the Word; but he did not separate the divine goodness from it.

3. In the process of taking on a human manifestation, he followed his own divine design.

4. The human manifestation in which he sent himself into the world is what is called "the Son of God. "

5. Through acts of redemption the Lord became justice.

6. Through these same acts he united himself to the Father and the Father united himself to him, again following the divine design.

7. Through this process God became human and a human became God in one person.

8. When he was being emptied out he was in a state of progress toward union; when he was being glorified he was in a state of union itself.

9. From now on, no Christians will go to heaven unless they believe in the Lord God the Savior and turn to him alone.

I need to address these statements one by one.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.