Doctrine of the Lord # 27
27. The Lord is called the Son of man when the subject is redemption, salvation, reformation and regeneration. This is clear from the following:
...the Son of man (came) to give His life a redemption for many. (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45)
...the Son of man has come to save..., (and) not...to destroy.... (Matthew 18:11, Luke 9:56)
...the Son of man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)
(The Son of man came) that the world through Him might be saved. (John 3:17)
He who sows the good seed is the Son of man. (Matthew 13:37)
The subject there is redemption and salvation, because these are accomplished by the Lord through the Word, and the Lord therefore calls Himself the Son of man.
The Lord says that “the Son of man has power...to forgive sins” (Mark 2:10, Luke 5:24), that is, to save from them. Also, that He is Lord of the Sabbath, because He is the Son of man (Matthew 12:8, Mark 2:28, Luke 6:5), since He is the Word that He teaches then. Moreover, He says in John:
Labor not for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of man will give you.... (John 6:27)
Food means all the truth and goodness of doctrine drawn from the Word, thus from the Lord.
This, too, is meant by the manna and bread referred to there that descended from heaven, and by the following declaration as well in the same chapter:
...unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. (John 6:53)
Flesh, or bread, is the goodness of love gained from the Word, while blood, or wine, is the goodness of faith gained from the Word, both originating from the Lord.
[2] The Son of man has the same symbolism in other places where the Son of man is mentioned. So, for example, in the following:
Foxes have holes and birds...have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay His head. (Matthew 8:20, Luke 9:58)
This means that the Word would have no place among the Jews, as the Lord also says in John 8:37. Nor would they have it abiding among them, because they did not acknowledge Him (John 5:38).
The Son of man means the Lord in relation to the Word as well in the book of Revelation:
(I saw) in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of man, clothed with a long robe and girded about the breasts with a golden girdle. (Revelation 1:13ff.)
Various things in that book represent the Lord as the embodiment of the Word, for which reason He is called the Son of man.
In Psalms:
Let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, upon the Son of man whom You made strong for Yourself. Then we will not turn back from You; revive us.... (Psalms 80:17-18)
The man of the right hand here as well is the Lord in relation to the Word, like the Son of man. He is called the man of the right hand because the Lord has power from Divine truth, which is also what the Word is, and He had Divine power when He fulfilled the whole of the Word. That is why He also said that people would see the Son of Man sitting at the right of the Father with power (Mark 14:62).
Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003687, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954074.
2 Peter 3
1
This is now, beloved, the second letter that I have written to you; and in both of them I stir up your sincere mind by reminding you;
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that you should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior:
3
knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts,
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and saying, "Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation."
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For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the word of God;
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by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.
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But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
8
But don't forget this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
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The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some count slowness; but is patient with us, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
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Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,
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looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?
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But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
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Therefore, beloved, seeing that you look for these things, be diligent to be found in peace, without blemish and blameless in his sight.
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Regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote to you;
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as also in all of his letters, speaking in them of these things. In those, there are some things that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unsettled twist, as they also do to the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
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You therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware, lest being carried away with the error of the wicked, you fall from your own steadfastness.
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But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.
