45. God Is One, and the Lord Is God

On the basis of the quite ample number of passages from the Word presented in the preceding chapter, we can determine that the Lord is called Jehovah, the God of Israel and of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel, Lord and God, as well as King, [Jehovah’s] Anointed, and David, all of which enables us to see (though as yet through a kind of veil) that the Lord is God himself, the source and subject of the Word.

All the same, it is generally acknowledged everywhere in the whole world that God is one, and no one of sound reason denies this. What now remains to be done, then, is to support this from the Word and further, to show that the Lord is God.

[2] 1. The following passages from the Word show that God is one.

Jesus said, “The first of all the commandments is ‘Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one; therefore you are to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.’” (Mark 12:29-30)

Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; you are to love Jehovah your God with all your heart and with all your soul. (Deuteronomy 6:4-5)

Someone came to Jesus and said, “Good Teacher, what good thing should I do in order to have eternal life?” Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except the one God.” (Matthew 19:16-17)

... so that all the kingdoms of the earth may acknowledge that you alone are Jehovah. (Isaiah 37:20)

I am Jehovah and there is no other. There is no God other than me. [I have prepared you] so that people will know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is no God other than me. I am Jehovah and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:5-6)

Jehovah Sabaoth, God of Israel, dwelling between the angel guardians, you alone are God over all the kingdoms of the earth. (Isaiah 37:16)

Is there any God other than me? Or any other Rock? I do not know of one. (Isaiah 44:8)

Who is God, except Jehovah? Who is the Rock, if it is not our God? (Psalms 18:31)

[3] 2. The following passages from the Word show that the Lord is God.

God is only among you, and there is no God except him. Surely you are a hidden God, O God of Israel, the Savior. (Isaiah 45:14-15)

Am I not Jehovah? And there is no God other than me. I am a just God, and there is no Savior other than me. Look to me so that you may be saved, all you ends of the earth, because I am God and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:21-22)

I am Jehovah, and there is no Savior other than me. (Isaiah 43:11)

I am Jehovah your God. You are to acknowledge no God other than me; there is no Savior other than me. (Hosea 13:4)

Thus says Jehovah the King of Israel, and Israel’s Redeemer, Jehovah Sabaoth: “I am the First and the Last, and there is no God other than me.” (Isaiah 44:6)

Jehovah Sabaoth is his name, and the Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. He will be called the God of the whole earth. (Isaiah 54:5)

On that day Jehovah will become king over all the earth. On that day Jehovah will be one, and his name one. (Zechariah 14:9)

Since the Lord alone is Savior and Redeemer, and since it says that Jehovah and no one else is that one, it follows that the one God is no other than the Lord.

4918. 'That behold, there were twins in her womb' means the two essentials of the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'twins' as the two - good and truth - dealt with in 3299; and from the meaning of 'the womb' as the place where good and truth have been conceived and are lying, and consequently the place where the essentials of the Church are lying. In the genuine sense 'the womb' means the inmost centre of conjugial love where innocence is present, for the womb corresponds to that love in the Grand Man. Now because conjugial love has its origin in the love of good and truth, which love is at the heart of the heavenly marriage, and because this marriage is heaven itself or the Lord's kingdom, and the Lord's kingdom on earth is the Church, therefore 'the womb' also means the Church. For the Church exists where the marriage of good and truth exists. This explains why 'opening the womb' means the resulting doctrines taught by the Churches, 3856, as well as the ability to receive the truths and goods of the Church, 3967; while 'going out of the womb' means being born again or being regenerated, 4904, that is, becoming the Church since one who is born again or regenerated becomes the Church.

[2] Since 'going out of the womb' means rebirth, and therefore the Church, the Lord is called in the Word 'He who formed from the womb' and 'He who brought out of the womb', and those who have been regenerated and become the Church are said 'to have been carried from the womb', as in Isaiah,

Thus said Jehovah. your Maker. He who formed you from the womb, and who helps you. Isaiah 44:2.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, He who formed you from the womb. Isaiah 44:24.

In the same prophet,

Thus said Jehovah. who formed me from the womb to be His servant, to bring back Jacob to Him, and that Israel might be gathered to Him. Isaiah 49:5.

In David,

Jehovah who brought me out of the womb. Psalms 22:9.

In Isaiah,

Hearken to Me, O house of Jacob, and all the remnant of the house of Israel who have been carried from the womb, and borne from the belly. Isaiah 46:3.

In David,

The wicked are alienated from the womb, and go astray from the belly, with lying words. Psalms 58:3.

Here 'being alienated from the womb' means alienation from the good fostered by the Church, and 'going astray from the belly' straying from the truth. In Hosea,

The pains of childbirth will come upon him, he is an unwise son, for now he does not present himself at the womb of sons. Hosea 13:13.

'Not presenting himself at the womb of sons' stands for not coming to the good of truth fostered by the Church.

[3] In the same prophet,

Their glory will fly away like a bird, away from birth, from the belly, and from conception. Hosea 9:11.

This means that the truth of the Church will perish fully - 'from birth' being that to which birth is given, 'from the belly' that which is undergoing gestation, 'from conception' that which is taking rise. In Isaiah,

I knew that you would certainly act treacherously, and that you were called [a man] of transgression from the womb. Isaiah 48:8.

This means that from the time when the Church first began he was like this. In John,

A great sign was seen in heaven - a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet. and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Carrying in the belly however, she cried out in labour, and was in anguish to give birth. Revelation 12:1-2.

'The woman' is the Church, 252, 253, 255. 'The sun' with which she was clothed is the good of love, 30-38, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 4060, 4696; 'the moon' which was under her feet is the truth of faith, 30-38, 1529, 1530, 2120, 2495, 4696; 'the stars' are cognitions of good and truth, 2495, 2849, 4697 - there being 'twelve stars' because 'twelve' means all things, thus all aspects of faith, 577, 2089, 2129 (end), 2130 (end), 3272, 3858, 3913; 'carrying in the belly' is the truth of the Church that had been conceived; 'being in labour and in anguish to give birth' is the fact that it was received with difficulty.