304. The Lord united divine truth to divine goodness; that is, he united his human nature to the divine nature itself. The Lord was taught like anyone else: 1457, 1461, 2523, 3030. The Lord progressed step by step toward oneness with the Father: 1864, 2033, 2632, 3141, 4585, 7014, 10076. When the Lord was in a state of oneness with the Father he talked with him as identical with himself; in other states he spoke with him as someone other than himself: 1745, 1999, 7058. The Lord united his human nature to his divine nature by his own power: 1616, 1749, 1753, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026, 2523, 3043, 5005, 5045, 6716. The Lord united divine truth, which was he himself, with the divine goodness that was within him: 10047, 10052, 10076. The uniting was reciprocal: 2004, 10067. When the Lord left the world he made his human nature divine goodness: 3194, 3210, 6864, 7499, 8724, 9199, 10076. So he came forth from the Father and returned to the Father: 3194, 3210. In this way he became one with the Father: 2751, 3704, 4766. The Lord's purpose in becoming one with the divine nature that was within him was to be joined to the human race: 2034. Ever since this oneness became complete, divine truth has emanated from the Lord: 3704, 3712, 3969, 4577, 5704, 7499, 8127, 8241, 9199, 9398. A description of how divine truth emanates: 7270, 9407.

Unless the divine nature had been within the Lord's human nature from conception, his human nature could not have become one with his divine nature, because of the intensity of infinite love in which divinity itself resides: 6849. So there is no way for any angel to become one with the Divine itself except remotely and by means of veiling; otherwise the angel would be consumed: 6849. This is what divine love is like: 8644. This shows that the Lord's human nature was not like that of anyone else: 10125, 10826. His oneness with the Father, the source of his soul, was not like a uniting of two but like a uniting of a soul and a body: 3737, 10824. The relationship of the Lord's human nature with the Divine is called "oneness," while our relationship with the Divine is called "a joining together": 2021.

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.