Ezechiele 11:13
To many Protestant and Evangelical Italians, the Bibles translated by Giovanni Diodati are an important part of their history. Diodati’s first Italian Bible edition was printed in 1607, and his second in 1641. He died in 1649. Throughout the 1800s two editions of Diodati’s text were printed by the British Foreign Bible Society. This is the more recent 1894 edition, translated by Claudiana.
The Lord #3
3. I need at this point to say briefly what all the prophets of the Old Testament from Isaiah to Malachi have to say about the Lord, in general and in some detail.
1. The Lord came into the world in the fullness of time [Galatians 4:4], which was when he was no longer recognized by Jews and when for this reason there was no longer anything left of the church; and unless the Lord had come into the world and revealed himself at that time, humankind would have suffered eternal death. He says in John, “If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins” (John 8:24).
2. The Lord came into the world to carry out a last judgment, thereby subduing the hells that were then in control, and doing so by means of battles or trials that were permitted to attack the human nature he had received from his mother, and by a constant succession of victories. Unless the hells had been subdued, no one could have been saved.
3. The Lord came into the world to glorify his human nature-that is, to unite it to the divine nature that he had from conception.
4. The Lord came into the world to found a new church that would recognize him as Redeemer and Savior and that would be redeemed and saved through its love for and faith in him.
5. At the same time he was reorganizing heaven and uniting it with the church.
6. The suffering on the cross was the final battle or trial by means of which he completely subdued the hells and completely glorified his human nature.
In my forthcoming booklet on Sacred Scripture it will become evident that these are the sole subjects of the Word.
