2005. That “father” signifies that it would be from the Lord Himself, is evident from the signification of “father,” as just explained, namely, that whatever was from the Father was from Him, because they were one. Every man’s internal is from his father, and his external from his mother; or what is the same thing, the soul itself is from the father, and the body with which the soul is clothed is from the mother. The soul together with the body, although two, make a one; for the soul is the body’s, and the body is the soul’s; and therefore they are inseparable. The Lord’s internal was from the Father, and therefore was the Father Himself, and hence it is that the Lord says that “the Father is in Him;” also, “I am in the Father and the Father in Me;” also, “He that seeth Me seeth the Father; I and the Father are one;” as may be seen in the passages cited above. In the Word of the Old Testament also the Lord is called “the Father,” as in Isaiah:

Unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder; and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, the Father of Eternity, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).

It is evident to everyone that the “Child” born to us and the “Son” given to us is the Lord, who is called the “Father of Eternity.” Again in Isaiah:

Thou art our Father, for Abraham knoweth us not, and Israel doth not acknowledge us. Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer, from eternity is Thy name (Isaiah 63:16); where also it is the Lord who is called “Jehovah our Father,” for there is no other “Redeemer.”

In Malachi:

Have we not all one Father? Hath not one God created us? (Malachi 2:10).

To “create” denotes to regenerate (as shown in Part First, n. 16, 88, 472). Besides that everywhere in the Word of the Old Testament, by “Jehovah” is meant the Lord, because all the rites of the church represented Him; and in the internal sense all things in the Word regard Him.

88. When the spiritual man becomes celestial, he is called the “work of God” because the Lord alone has fought for him, and has created, formed, and made him; and therefore it is here said, “God finished His work on the seventh day;” and twice, that “He rested from all His work.” By the Prophets man is repeatedly called the “work of the hands and of the fingers of Jehovah;” as in Isaiah, speaking of the regenerate man:

Thus hath said Jehovah the Holy One of Israel, and his Former, Seek ye signs of Me, signs concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me. I have made the earth, and created man upon it; I, even My hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their army have I commanded. For thus hath said Jehovah that createth the heavens, God Himself that formeth the earth and maketh it; He establisheth it, He created it not a void, He formed it to be inhabited; I am Jehovah and there is no God else besides Me (Isaiah 45:11-12, 18, 21).

Hence it is evident that the new creation, or regeneration, is the work of the Lord alone. The expressions to “create” to “form” and to “make” are employed quite distinctively, both in the above passage—“creating the heavens, forming the earth, and making it”—and in other places in the same Prophet, as:

Everyone that is called by My name, I have created him for My glory, I have formed him, yea, I have made him (Isaiah 43:7),

and also in both the preceding and this chapter of Genesis; as in the passage before us: “He rested from all His work which God in making created.” In the internal sense this usage always conveys a distinct idea; and the case is the same where the Lord is called “Creator” “Former” or “Maker.”