9315. 'When My angel goes before you' means a life in keeping with the Lord's commandments. This is clear from the meaning of 'going before you' - when it refers to the Lord, who is 'the angel of Jehovah' here - as teaching the commandments of faith and life, and therefore also a life in keeping with those commandments, ('going' and 'travelling on' mean living, see 1293, 3335, 4882, 5493, 5605, 8417, 8420, 8557, 8559); and from the meaning of 'the angel of Jehovah' as the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with above in 9303, 9306. The reason why the Lord's Divine Human is meant by 'the angel' is that the numerous angels who appeared in times before the Lord's Coming into the world were Jehovah Himself in human form, that is, in that of an angel. This is plainly evident from the fact that angels who appeared were called Jehovah, such as those who appeared to Abraham and are spoken of in Genesis 18. The fact that they were called Jehovah may be seen in verses 1, 13, 14, 17, 20, 26, 33, of that chapter, as was the one who appeared to Gideon and is spoken of in Judges 6. The fact that this angel too was called Jehovah may be seen in verses 12, 14, 16, 22-24, of that chapter. The same may be seen in other places besides these. Jehovah Himself in human form, or what amounts to the same thing, in that of an angel, was the Lord.

[2] His Divine Human appeared in those times as an angel, of whom the Lord Himself speaks in John,

Jesus said, Abraham rejoiced to see My day, and saw it and was glad. Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham was, I am. John 8:56, 58.

And in the same gospel,

Father, glorify Me in Your Own Self with the glory I had with You before the world was. John 17:5.

Jehovah could not have appeared in any other way, as is again clear from the Lord's words, in John,

You have never heard the Father's voice nor seen His shape. John 5:37.

And in the same gospel,

No one has seen the Father except Him who is with God, ¹ He has seen the Father. John 6:46.

From all this one may see what is meant by 'the Lord from eternity'.

[3] The reason why the Lord was pleased to be born as Man (Homo) was in order that He might in reality take on a Humanity and make it Divine, to save the human race. Know therefore that the Lord is Jehovah Himself or the Father in human form, as yet again the Lord Himself teaches in John,

I and the Father are one. John 10:30.

In the same gospel,

Jesus said, From now on you know and have seen the Father. He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:7, 9, 11.

And in the same gospel,

All Mine are Yours, and all Yours are Mine. John 17:10.

[4] This great mystery is described in John in the following words,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father. Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:1-3, 14, 18.

'The Word' is Divine Truth which has been revealed to mankind; and since it could not have been revealed except by Jehovah as Man, that is, except by Jehovah in human form, thus by the Lord, it says, 'In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God'. It is well known in the Church that 'the Word' is used to mean the Lord, for it is explicitly stated, 'The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only Begotten from the Father'. The fact that Divine Truth could not have been revealed to mankind except by Jehovah in human form is also clearly stated, 'Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known'.

[5] From all this it is evident that the Lord from eternity was Jehovah or the Father in human form, but not yet so in earthly flesh, for an angel does not have such flesh. And since Jehovah or the Father wished to take on everything human in order to save the human race, He also took flesh. This is why it says, The Word was God, and the Word became flesh, and in Luke,

See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see Me have. Luke 24:39.

By this the Lord taught that He was no longer Jehovah under the form of an angel but that He was Jehovah as Man. This is also what the following words spoken by the Lord serve to mean,

I came out from the Father and have come into the world; again I am leaving the world and going off to the Father. John 16:28.

The Lord made His Human Divine when He was in the world, see 1616, 1725, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2033, 2034, 2083, 2523, 2751, 2798, 3038, 3043, 3212, 3241, 3318 (end), 3637, 3737, 4065, 4180, 4211, 4237, 4286, 4585, 4687, 4692, 4724, 4738, 4766, 5005, 5045, 5078, 5110, 5256, 6373, 6700, 6716, 6849, 6864, 6872, 7014, 7211, 7499, 8547, 8864, 8865, 8878.

And everything human received from the mother was cast out, till at length He was not Mary's son, 2159, 2649, 2776, 4963, 5157, and especially 3704, 4727, 9303, 9306, as well as the things shown regarding these matters in the places referred to in 9194, 9199.

Poznámky pod čarou:

4692. 'And they hated him all the more for his dreams and for his words' means still greater contempt and aversion on account of that declaration of truth, namely concerning the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'adding' as making still greater; from the meaning of 'hating' as holding in contempt and turning away in aversion, dealt with above in 4681; from the meaning of 'a dream' as a declaration, also dealt with above, in 4682, 4685; and from the meaning of 'words' as truths. The reason 'words' means truths is that every word in heaven is received from the Lord, and therefore 'words' in the internal sense means truths, while 'the Word' in general means all Divine Truth.

[2] The subject in particular is that the Church which has separated faith from charity holds in utter contempt and turns away in utter aversion from the highest truth of all - the truth that the Lord's Human is Divine. All who belonged to the Ancient Church and did not separate charity from faith believed that the God of the whole world was a Divine Man, and that He was the Divine Being (Esse), which also was why they called Him Jehovah. They knew of Him as such from the most ancient people, and also because He had appeared to many of their brethren as Man. They also knew that all the ritual and external practices of their Church represented Him. But those who adhered to faith separated from charity were unable to share that belief of those who did not separate faith from charity because they could not grasp how the Human could ever be Divine, or that Divine love could make it such. For anything they did not grasp with some idea acquired through their bodily senses they considered to be worthless. This is what faith separated from charity is like; for with those people the internal degree of perception is closed because nothing intermediate exists to enable one to flow into the other.

[3] The Jewish Church which came next did in fact believe that Jehovah was Man as well as God, because He had appeared to Moses and the Prophets as a human being, on account of which they called every angel who appeared Jehovah. Yet their idea of Him was no different from ideas the gentiles had of their gods, though they preferred Jehovah God because He could work miracles, 4299. They were unaware of the fact that this Jehovah was the Lord in the Word, 2921, 3035, and that His Divine Human was represented in all their religious observances. They had no other idea of the Messiah or Christ than one who would be a very great prophet, greater than Moses, and a very great king, greater than David, who would lead them into the land of Canaan to the accompaniment of amazing miracles. Of His heavenly kingdom they did not wish to hear anything at all, for the reason that they grasped none but worldly ideas since they were people separated from charity.

[4] The Christian Church, it is true, does in its religious services adore the Lord's Human as one that is Divine. It does so in particular in the Holy Supper, because He has said that the bread there is His body, and the wine His blood. But they do not in their doctrine make His Human Divine, for they make a distinction between His Divine nature and His human nature. Also, they make this distinction because the Church has turned aside from charity to faith, and at length to faith separated from charity. And failing to acknowledge that the Lord's Human is Divine, many go wrong and in their heart deny Him, 4689. Yet the truth of the matter is that the Lord's Divine Human is the Divine Manifestation of the Divine Being, dealt with above in 4687, and that He Himself is the Divine Being; for Divine Being and Divine Manifestation make one, as the Lord also plainly teaches in John,

Jesus said to Philip, Have I been so long a time with you and you do not know Me? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11.

The same teaching occurs elsewhere. The Divine Manifestation is the Divine itself proceeding from the Divine Being and in image is Man, since heaven, of which He is its all, represents the Grand Man, as stated above in 4687 and shown at the ends of chapters where the correspondence with heaven of everything in the human being is dealt with. The Lord, it is true, was born as any human being is born, and received an infirm human from His mother; but the Lord cast out this human completely, to the point of His being no longer Mary's son, and made the Human within Himself Divine, which is what is meant by His being glorified. He also showed Peter, James, and John that He was a Divine Man, when He was transfigured.