294. The spiritual sense of this commandment is that no other God is to be worshipped except the Lord Jesus Christ, because He is Jehovah, who came into the world and carried out the redemption, without which no man, nor any angel, could have been saved. The following passages in the Word show that there is no other God beside Him.

On that day it will be said, Behold, He is our God, whom we have awaited to free us. He is Jehovah, whom we have awaited; let us exult and rejoice in His salvation, Isaiah 25:9.

The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare the way of Jehovah, make smooth in the desert a path for our God. For the glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. Behold, the Lord Jehovah comes in strength. Like a shepherd will He feed His flock, Isaiah 40:3, 5, 10-11.

Only among you is there God, there is no other God besides; surely, you are a hidden God, O God the Saviour of Israel, Isaiah 45:14-15.

Am I not Jehovah, and there is no other God beside me? There is no ¹ righteous God and Saviour beside me, Isaiah 45:21-22.

I am Jehovah, and there is no Saviour beside me, Isaiah 43:11; Hosea 13:4.

That all flesh may know that I am Jehovah your Saviour and your Redeemer, Isaiah 49:26; 60:16.

As for our Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, Isaiah 47:4; Jeremiah 50:34.

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

Thus spoke Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah your God, Isaiah 48:17; 43:14; 49:7; 54:8.

Thus spoke Jehovah your Redeemer, I am Jehovah the maker of all things, alone, by myself, Isaiah 44:24.

Thus spoke Jehovah, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, Jehovah Zebaoth, I am the first and the last, and there is no God beside me, Isaiah 44:6.

Jehovah Zebaoth is His name, and your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel; He will be called the God of the whole earth, Isaiah 54:5.

Abraham does not know us, Israel does not acknowledge us. You, Jehovah, are our Father, Redeemer from eternity is your name, Isaiah 63:16.

A child is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is Wonderful, Counsellor, God, Hero, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace, Isaiah 9:6.

Behold, the days will come, when I shall raise up for David a righteous shoot, who will reign as king; and this is His name, Jehovah our righteousness, Jeremiah 23:5-6; 33:15-16.

Philip said to Jesus, Show us the Father. Jesus said to him, He who sees me sees the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? John 14:8-10.

In Jesus Christ all the fulness of the Godhead dwells bodily, Colossians 2:9.

We are in truth, in Jesus Christ. He is the true God and everlasting life. My sons, beware of idols. 1 John 5:20-21.

These passages plainly show that the Lord our Saviour is Jehovah Himself, who is at once the Creator, the Redeemer and the Regenerator. This is the spiritual sense of this commandment.

Poznámky pod čarou:

645. Crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, "Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the hour has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth has dried." This symbolizes a supplication by angels in heaven to the Lord to bring things to an end and execute judgment, because the church had now reached its last state.

To cry with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud symbolizes a supplication by angels in heaven to the Lord, because they lacked anything corresponding to them on earth. For the church on earth is to the angelic heaven like the foundation on which a house rests, or like the feet on which a person stands and which he uses to walk. When the church on earth has been destroyed, therefore, the angels lament and supplicate the Lord. Their supplication is that He may bring the church to an end and raise up a new one. The angel's crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud accordingly symbolizes a supplication by angels in heaven to the Lord.

That He who sat on the cloud symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word may be seen just above in no. 642. That to thrust in a sickle and reap means, symbolically, to put an end to something and execute judgment - this, too, may be seen in nos. 642, 643 above. For the hour has come to reap means symbolically that the church is at an end. For the harvest has dried means symbolically that the church has reached its last state. A harvest symbolizes the state of the church with respect to Divine truth. The reason is that a harvest yields the grain used to make bread, and grain and bread symbolize the church's goodness, which is achieved through truths.

[2] That this is the symbolic meaning of these words can be more clearly seen from passages in the Word where a harvest, reaping, or sickle are mentioned, as in the following:

...I will sit to judge all the... nations. Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe... For their wickedness is great. (Joel 3:12-13)

Cut off the sower..., and him who handles the sickle at harvest time. (Jeremiah 50:16)

The daughter of Babylon is like a threshing floor...; a little while yet till the time of her harvest comes. (Jeremiah 51:33)

It shall be when the standing grain of the harvest is gathered, and his arm reaps the ears... ...in the morning your seed flourishes..., the harvest a heap in the day of your possession and desperate sorrow. (Isaiah 17:5-6, 11)

Be ashamed, you farmers..., because the harvest of the field has perished. (Joel 1:11)

(Jesus said to His disciples:) "There are still four months until the harvest comes. ...lift up your eyes and behold the fields, that they are already white for harvest! ...I sent you to reap...." (John 4:35-38)

(Jesus) said to His disciples, "The harvest... is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Pray... the Lord of the harvest to send laborers into His harvest." (Matthew 9:37-38, Luke 10:2)

In these places, and also in Isaiah 16:9, Jeremiah 5:17; 8:20, the harvest symbolizes the church with respect to Divine truth.

[3] Everything contained in these verses in the present chapter, however, and also in the following two chapters, was foretold by the Lord in the parable of a sower and his gathering in of the harvest, and because it shows and illustrates what the symbolism is, we will quote it here:

(Jesus said:) "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field; but... his enemy came and sowed tares... ...when the plants sprouted..., ...the tares also appeared....

"The servants said..., 'Do you want us to... gather them up?'

"But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares you also uproot the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest, and at the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, "First gather together the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat into my barn...." ' "

And His disciples came to (Jesus), saying, "Explain to us the parable...."

(Jesus) said...: "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man (or the Lord). The field is the world (the church), the... seeds are the sons of the kingdom (the church's truths), the tares are the sons of the evil one (falsities from hell), the enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the culmination of the age (the end of the church), the reapers are the angels (Divine truths). Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the culmination of this age (at then end of the church)." (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43)