Apocalypse Revealed # 555
555. "And they overcame it by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." (12:11) This symbolizes victory gained by the Divine truth of the Word and thus by an acknowledgment that the Lord is God of heaven and earth and that the Ten Commandments are commandments for life in accordance with which a person should live.
It may be seen in no. 379 above that the blood of the Lamb is the Divine truth emanating from the Lord, which is the Divine truth of the Word; in nos. 6, 16 above, that the testimony is Divine truth; and in nos. 490, 506, that it is in particular these two tenets, that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and that the Ten Commandments are commandments to be lived. The Ten Commandments are also accordingly called the testimony in Exodus 25:22; 31:7, 18; 32:15, Leviticus 16:13, Numbers 17:4, Psalms 78:5; 132:12.
People caught up in faith alone today believe that the blood of the Lamb refers to the Lord's suffering of the cross, principally because they make the Lord's suffering of the cross the chief tenet of their dogma, saying that by this He took upon Himself the condemnation of the Law, made satisfaction to the Father, and reconciled to Him the human race, and so on.
But that is not the case. Rather the Lord came into the world to conquer the hells and glorify His humanity, and His suffering of the cross was the last battle by which He completely overcame the hells and completely glorified His humanity, as may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 12-14.
Consequently it can be seen that the blood of the Lamb does not mean here the suffering of the cross as maintained by current dogma.
That the blood of the Lamb means the Divine truth emanating from the Lord, which is the Divine truth of the Word, can be seen from the fact that the Lord embodies the Word, and that because He embodies the Word, the Divine truth in it is His blood, and the Divine goodness in it His body.
This may be clearly shown by asking whether everyone does not embody his own goodness and his own truth. And because goodness is a matter of the will, and truth a matter of the intellect, whether everyone does not embody his own will and his own intellect. What else constitutes the person? Is not a person in essence these two entities? The Lord, however, is goodness itself and truth itself, or Divine good and Divine truth, and these two also constitute the Word.
Apocalypse Revealed # 6
6. Who bore witness to the Word of God, and to the testimony of Jesus Christ. (1:2) This symbolically means, who from the heart and so in a state of light receive Divine truth from the Word and acknowledge the Lord's humanity to be Divine.
John is said to have borne witness to the Word of God, but because John means all people who possess goodness of life arising from charity and its accompanying faith, as said just above in no. 5, therefore all these are meant in the spiritual sense. The angels, who are concerned with the spiritual sense of the Word, never know the name of any person mentioned in the Word, but only what the person represents and so symbolizes, which in the case of John is goodness of life or goodness in act, and consequently all people as a whole who possess that goodness. These bear witness, which is to say, they see, acknowledge, and accept from the heart in a state of light, and confess the truths of the Word, especially this truth there, that the Lord's humanity is Divine, as can be seen from the copious passages cited from the Word in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.
Jesus Christ and the Lamb in the book of Revelation mean the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and God means the Lord in respect to the Divine itself from which springs all else.
[2] As regards the spiritual signification of bearing witness, this is said of truth, because in the world it is truth to which one is to bear witness, and which, when borne witness to, is acknowledged. But in heaven truth bears witness to itself, because it is the very light of heaven. For when angels hear the truth, they at once recognize it and acknowledge it. And because the Lord is the embodiment of truth, as He Himself teaches in John 14:6, 1 He is, in heaven, self-witnessing. This makes apparent what is meant by the testimony of Jesus Christ. Therefore the Lord says,
You have sent to John, and he bore witness to the truth. Yet I do not receive testimony from man... (John 5:33-34)
And in another place:
(John) came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light... He was not that Light... (The Word that was with God and was God, and became flesh,) was the true Light which gives light to every man... (John 1:1-2, 7-9, 14, 34)
Elsewhere:
Jesus... said..., ."..I bear witness of Myself, (and) My witness is true, for I know where I came from and where I am going... (John 8:14)
When the Counselor comes..., the Spirit of truth..., it will testify of Me. (John 15:26)
The Counselor, the spirit of truth, means the truth itself emanating from the Lord. Therefore it is said concerning it that it will not speak of itself but from the Lord (John 16:13-15). 2
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."
2. [Jesus said,] "However, when it, the Spirit of truth, has come, it will guide you into all truth; for it will not speak on its own authority, but whatever it hears it will speak; and it will tell you things to come. It will glorify Me, for it will take of what is Mine and declare it to you. All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that it will take of Mine and declare it to you."
