281. "Because You were slain and have redeemed us to God by Your blood." This symbolizes deliverance from hell and salvation by conjunction with the Lord.

We need not have recourse to the spiritual sense to explain the specific symbolic meanings of the particulars here, such as what it means to be slain, to redeem us to God, and the meaning of His blood, for they are arcana which are not apparent in the literal sense. It is enough to say that it is redemption that is thus described. And because redemption is deliverance from hell and salvation by conjunction with the Lord, these are what are symbolically meant.

Here we will simply confirm from the Word that Jehovah Himself came into the world, was born a human being, and became the Redeemer and Savior for all who by a life of charity and its faith are conjoined with His Divine humanity, and that Jehovah is the Lord from eternity, so that the Lord's Divine humanity, with which one must be conjoined, is the Divine humanity of Jehovah Himself.

[2] We will accordingly cite here passages which confirm that Jehovah and the Lord are one, and that because they are one and not two, the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah Himself, is, by assuming a human form, the Redeemer and Savior. This is apparent from the following:

You, O Jehovah, are our Father; our Redeemer from of old is Your name. (Isaiah 63:16)

Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts: "I am the First and I am the Last; besides Me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6)

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you...: "I am Jehovah, who makes all things and... alone... by Myself. (Isaiah 44:24)

Thus says Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: "I am Jehovah your God...." (Isaiah 48:17)

...Jehovah, my rock, and my Redeemer. (Psalms 19:14)

Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of Hosts is His name. (Jeremiah 50:34)

...Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He shall be called the God of the whole earth. (Isaiah 54:5)

...that all flesh may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob. (Isaiah 49:26; 60:16)

As for our Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts is His name... (Isaiah 47:4)

."..with everlasting kindness I will have mercy on you." Thus said Jehovah your Redeemer. (Isaiah 54:8)

...said Jehovah, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 43:14)

...said Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One... (Isaiah 49:7)

You have redeemed me, O Jehovah, God of truth. (Psalms 31:5)

Let Israel hope in Jehovah, for... with Him is abundant redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. (Psalms 130:7-8)

Arise (O Lord) for our help, and redeem us for Your mercies' sake. (Psalms 44:26)

(Jehovah God said,) I will redeem them from the power of hell; I will redeem them from death. (Hosea 13:4, 14)

(O Jehovah,) hear my voice... He will redeem my soul... (Psalms 55:17-18)

See also Psalms 49:15; 69:18; 71:23; 103:1, 4; 107:2, Jeremiah 15:20-21.

[3] People in the church do not deny that the Lord is the Redeemer in His humanity, because it accords with Scripture, including this statement:

Who... comes from Edom..., traveling in the greatness of His strength? ...the year of My redeemed has come... ...He redeemed them... (Isaiah 63:1, 4, 9)

Say to the daughter of Zion, "Surely your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him, and... they shall call them The Holy People, The Redeemed of Jehovah." (Isaiah 62:11-12)

Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people... (Luke 1:68)

And so, too, elsewhere.

For still more passages confirming that the Lord from eternity, who is Jehovah Himself, came into the world and assumed human form in order to redeem mankind, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 37-46.

Jehovah is also called a Savior in many places, too many to cite them here.

81. CHAPTER TWO

THE LORD THE REDEEMER

The previous chapter dealt with God the Creator, and at the same time with creation; this chapter will deal with the Lord the Redeemer, and at the same time with redemption. The following chapter will deal with the Holy Spirit, and at the same time with the way God works. By the Lord the Redeemer we understand Jehovah in the Human; for the following pages will prove that Jehovah Himself came down and assumed human form in order to effect redemption. We say 'the Lord' and not 'Jehovah' because the Jehovah of the Old Testament is called the Lord in the New Testament, as can be established from the following passages; we read in Moses:

Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our ¹ God is one Jehovah; you shall love Jehovah God with your whole heart and your whole soul, Deuteronomy 6:4-5.

but in Mark:

The Lord our God is one Lord; you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul, Mark 12:29-30.

Also in Isaiah:

Prepare the way for Jehovah, make smooth in the desert a path for our God, Isaiah 40:3.

but in Luke:

You shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way for Him, Luke 1:76.

and in other passages. The Lord too ordered His disciples to call Him Lord, and He was therefore so called by the Apostles in their Epistles, and later by the Apostolic Church. This is plain from its creed, the so-called Apostles' Creed. The reason was that the Jews did not dare to name Jehovah on account of His holiness, and because 'Jehovah' means the Divine Being (Esse), which existed from eternity, while the Human, which He took upon Himself in time, was not that Being. I showed in the previous chapter (18-35) what the Divine Being or Jehovah is. For this reason, here and in what follows by the Lord we understand Jehovah in His Human.

[2] Now since knowledge of the Lord surpasses in excellence all other kinds of knowledge known to the church, or even in heaven, I shall adopt an ordered arrangement to bring that knowledge to light, as follows:

(i) Jehovah, the Creator of the Universe, came down and took upon Himself human form, in order to redeem and save mankind.

(ii) He came down as the Divine Truth, which is the Word, yet He did not separate the Divine Good from it.

(iii) He took upon Himself human form in accordance with His Divine order.

(iv) The Human by which He brought Himself into the world is what is called the Son of God.

(v) The Lord by acts of redemption made Himself righteousness.

(vi) By the same acts He united Himself with the Father, and the Father with Him. This too was in accordance with Divine order.

(vii) Thus God became man, and man God, in one person.

(viii) His progress towards union was His state of exinanition ² , and the union itself is His state of glorification.

(ix) From this time on no one from Christian countries can come into heaven, unless he believes in the Lord God the Saviour, and approaches Him alone.

These propositions will be explained one by one.

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