302. The glorification of the Lord's human nature and his gaining control over the hells were accomplished by means of crises of the spirit. Beyond all others, the Lord suffered the most severe spiritual crises: 1663, 1668, 1787, 2776, 2786, 2795, 2816, 4295, 9528. The Lord fought out of his divine love for the human race: 1690, 1691, 1812, 1813, 1820. The Lord's love was a love for the salvation of the human race: 1820. The hells fought against the Lord's love: 1820. The Lord, alone and by his own power, fought against the hells and conquered them: 1692, 1813, 2816, 4295, 8273, 9937. As a result, the Lord alone became righteousness and merit: 1813, 2025, 2026, 2027, 9715, 9809, 10178. The Lord's last spiritual crisis was in Gethsemane and on the cross, followed by the complete victory through which he gained control over the hells and at the same time glorified his human nature: 2776, 2813, 2814, 10655, 10659, 10828. The Lord could not undergo spiritual crisis with respect to his divine nature: 2795, 2813, 2814. That is why he took on from his mother a weak human nature that was susceptible to spiritual crisis: 1414, 1444, 1573, 5041, 5157, 7193, 9315. Through spiritual crises and victories he drove out everything he had inherited from his mother and shed the human nature received from her so completely that finally he was no longer her son: 2159, 2574, 2649, 3036, 10830. Jehovah, who was within him, nevertheless seemed to be absent during his spiritual crises to the extent that he was centered in the human nature he had from his mother: 1815. This was the Lord's state of being humbled: 1785, 1999, 2159, 6866. Through spiritual crises and victories the Lord set everything in the heavens in order: 4287, 9528, 9715, 9937. By the same means he also united his human nature to his divine nature-that is, glorified his human nature: 1725, 1729, 1733, 1737, 3318, 3381, 3382, 4286, 4287, 9528, 9937.

7193. 'And I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Shaddai' means the temptations which the Lord underwent in His Human and the temptations that faithful believers undergo, and the subsequent periods of consolation. This is clear from the meaning of 'appearing' or 'being seen', when used in reference to Jehovah, as perception from the Divine, dealt with in 2150, 3764, 4567, 5400; and from the representation of 'Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob' as the Lord in respect of the Divine itself and the Divine Human, dealt with in 6804, 6847. But here, since Jehovah is the speaker and says that He had appeared to them, the Lord in respect of the Human, that is, the Human before it had been made Divine, is meant, 'Abraham' meaning the celestial degree within that Human, 'Isaac' the spiritual degree, and 'Jacob' the natural degree.

[2] The reason why the Lord in respect of the Human, not the Divine itself and the Divine Human, is meant here by these three is that temptations are being referred to, and the Lord's Human before it was made Divine was able to be tempted, but not the Divine Human, still less the Divine itself; for the Divine is beyond any kind of temptation. Those in hell who are tempters cannot approach even celestial angels, for when they do approach them they are seized by a feeling of dread and anguish, and feel as if they were being deprived of air. Since they cannot approach celestial angels, because of the Divine presence among those angels, far less can they approach the Divine who is infinitely higher than the angelic level. From all this it may be recognized that the Lord took infirm humanity from His mother in order that He might undergo temptation, and by means of temptations might restore to order everything in heaven and in hell, and at the same time glorify His human, that is, make it Divine.

[3] For the meaning of 'God Shaddai' as temptations and subsequent periods of consolation, see 1992, 3667, 4572, 5628. The expression 'subsequent periods of consolation' is used because it is in keeping with Divine order that feelings of grief which temptations bring should be followed by those of comfort, just as evening and night are followed by morning and the dawn. These are also corresponding conditions, for there are alternations of states in the next life, just as there are alternations of times of day in the world. States involving temptations and molestations, and also states involving desolations, constitute evening and night in that life, while states which are periods of consolation and festivity constitute morning and dawn there. The reason why the same words, the words 'I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob', also mean the temptations that faithful believers undergo, and subsequent periods of consolation, is that a person's regeneration, which is effected by means of temptations, is an image of the Lord's glorification, 3138, 3212, 3296, 3490, 4402, 5688, and therefore the things in the Word which relate in the highest sense to the Lord relate in the comparable internal sense to faithful believers.