20. And makes us kings and priests. (1:6) This symbolically means, who grants those who are born from Him, that is, who are reborn or regenerated, to be governed by wisdom from Divine truths, and by love from Divine goods.

People know that in the Word the Lord is called a king and also a priest. He is called a king owing to His Divine wisdom, and a priest owing to His Divine love. People who are governed by wisdom from the Lord are consequently called children of the king, and also kings, while people who are governed by love from Him are called ministers and priests. For the wisdom and the love in them do not originate from them, and so are not theirs but the Lord's. It is these people who are therefore meant in the Word by kings and priests. Not that they are kings and priests, but that they have the Lord in them, and He causes them to be termed such.

Such people are called also children born of Him, children of the kingdom, children of the Father, and heirs - children born of Him in John 1:12-13ff.), children of the kingdom in Matthew 8:12; 13:38, children of their Father in heaven in Matthew 5:45, and heirs in Psalms 127:3, 1 Samuel 2:8, Matthew 25:34. And being heirs, children of the kingdom, and children born of the Lord as their Father, they are therefore called kings and priests. Moreover, in Revelation 3:21 it is also said that they will sit with the Lord on His throne.

[2] The whole of heaven has been divided into two kingdoms - the spiritual kingdom and the celestial kingdom. The spiritual kingdom is what is called the Lord's kingship, and because all who are in it are governed by wisdom founded on truths, therefore it is they who are meant by the kings that the Lord will make those people who are governed by wisdom from Him. The celestial kingdom, on the other hand, is what is called the Lord's priesthood, and because all who are in it are governed by love arising from goodness, therefore it is they who are meant by the priests that the Lord will make those people who are governed by love from Him. The Lord's church on earth is likewise divided into two kingdoms. Regarding these two kingdoms, see nos. 24, 226 in the book Heaven and Hell, published in London, 1758.

[3] Someone who does not know the spiritual meaning of kings and priests may be deluded in regard to many things said in the prophets and in the book of Revelation about them. For example, in regard to these statements in the prophets:

The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you... You shall suck the milk of gentiles, even the breasts of kings you shall suck, that you may know that I, Jehovah, am your Savior and your Redeemer... (Isaiah 60:10, 16)

Kings shall be your foster fathers, and their princesses your wet nurses. (Isaiah 49:23)

Also elsewhere, as in Genesis 49:20; Psalms 2:10; Isaiah 14:9; 24:21; 52:15; Jeremiah 2:26; 4:9; 49:3; Lamentations 2:6, 9; Ezekiel 7:26-27; Hosea 3:4; Zephaniah 1:8. Kings there do not mean kings, but people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly, Divine truths themselves, from which comes wisdom.

"The king of the south" and "the king of the north" who waged war with each other in Daniel 11 do not mean kings either, but the king of the south means people who are governed by truths, and the king of the north people who are caught up in falsities.

[4] Likewise in the book of Revelation, which many times mentions kings, as in the following passages:

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared. (Revelation 16:12)

(With) the great harlot who sits on many waters... the kings of the earth committed whoredom... (Revelation 17:1-2)

...of the wine of the wrath of (Babylon's) whoredom all the nations have drunk, and the kings of the earth have committed whoredom with her... (Revelation 18:3)

And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him who sat on the (white) horse... (Revelation 19:19)

And the nations that are saved shall walk in His light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into (the New Jerusalem). (Revelation 21:24)

Elsewhere also, as in Revelation 16:14; 17:9-14; 18:9-10. The kings there means people who are governed by truths, and in an opposite sense, people caught up in falsities, and abstractly, truths or falsities themselves. The whoredom of Babylon with the kings of the earth means the falsification of the truth of the church. Obviously Babylon, or the woman who sat on the scarlet beast, did not commit whoredom with kings, but rather falsified truths of the Word.

[5] It is apparent from this that the Lord's going to make people who are wise from Him kings does not mean that they will be kings, but that they will be wise. The reality of this is also something that enlightened reason sees.

Likewise in the following:

You have made us kings and priests to our God, that we may reign on the earth. (Revelation 5:10)

That by king the Lord meant truth is apparent from His words to Pilate:

Pilate... said to Him, "Are You a king then?"

Jesus answered, "As you have said, because I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice."

Pilate said to Him, "What is truth?" (John 18:27, 38)

To bear witness to the truth is to be Himself the embodiment of truth. And because He called Himself a king by virtue of it, Pilate said, "What is truth?" - which is to say, "Is truth a king?

As for priests, we will see in later explanations that they symbolize people who are governed by the goodness of love, and abstractly, goods of love themselves.

19. In Relation to His Divine Humanity the Lord Is Called the Son of God, and in Relation to the Word the Son of Man

People in the church know no other than that the Son of God is the second person in the Godhead, distinct from the person of the Father. This has led to the belief that the Son of God was born from eternity.

Because this notion has been universally accepted and has to do with God, no opportunity or consent has been granted for thinking about it with any understanding, not even about what being born from eternity implies. For someone who thinks about this intellectually inevitably says to himself, “This surpasses understanding. But still I say it because others say it, and I believe it because others believe it.”

Be it known, however, that there is no Son from eternity, but that there is a Lord from eternity. When people know who the Lord is, and what the Son is, they may also be able to think intellectually about a triune God, and not before.

[2] The Lord’s humanity, conceived of Jehovah as the Father and born of the virgin Mary , is the Son of God, and this is clearly apparent from the following verses.

In Luke:

...the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. Having come in, the angel said to her, “Hail, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!”

When she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and considered how great a greeting this was.

But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, ...you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest....

However, Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I do not know a man?”

And the angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, the Holy One who is born (of you) will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:26-35)

It says here “you will conceive and bear a Son;” “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest.” And furthermore, “The Holy One who is born (of you) will be called the Son of God.” This makes apparent that the humanity conceived of God and born of the virgin Mary is what is called the Son of God.

[3] In Isaiah:

...the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name God-With-Us. (Isaiah 7:14)

It is apparent that the Son born of the virgin and conceived of God is the one who is called “God-With-Us, ” thus who is the Son of God. The reality of this is confirmed in Matthew 1:22-23.

[4] Again in Isaiah:

...unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; the government will be upon His shoulder. And He will call His name Wonderful, Counselor, God, Hero, Father of Eternity, Prince of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

So, too, here, for He is called a Child born to us, a Son given to us, who is not a Son from eternity, but a Son born in the world. This is apparent as well from the prophet’s declarations in verse 7 of the same chapter, and from the declaration of the angel Gabriel to Mary (Luke 1:32-33), where similar words are found.

[5] In Psalms:

I will declare a decree, “Jehovah has said..., ‘You are My Son, today I have begotten You....” ...Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way....” (Psalms 2:7, 12)

Neither is a Son from eternity meant here, but a Son born in the world, for it is prophetic of the Lord to come. That is why it is called a decree which Jehovah declared to David. “Today” does not mean from eternity, but in time.

[6] Again in Psalms:

I will set His hand on the sea.... He shall cry to Me, “You are my Father.... ...I will make him My firstborn....” (Psalms 89:25-27)

The subject of this Psalm throughout is the Lord to come. Therefore it is He who will call Jehovah His Father and who will be His firstborn, thus who is the Son of God.

[7] It is the same elsewhere, as where the Lord is called a rod from the stem of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1), an offshoot of David (Jeremiah 23:5-6), the seed of the woman (Genesis 3:15), the only begotten (John 1:18), a priest forever and the Lord (Psalms 110:4-5).

[8] People in the Jewish Church interpreted the Son of God to be the Messiah they were waiting for, whom they knew would be born in Bethlehem.

That they interpreted the Son of God to be the Messiah is apparent from the following passages.

In John:

(Peter said:) “We believe and acknowledge that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” (John 6:69)

Again in John:

“...You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” (John 11:27)

In Matthew, the chief priest asked Jesus if He were the Christ, the Son of God. Jesus said, “I am.” (Matthew 26:63-64, Mark 14:62)

In John:

These have been written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.... (John 20:31)

See also Mark 1:1.

[9] “Christ” is a Greek word and means “anointed, ” as does “Messiah” in Hebrew. John says, therefore, “We have found the Messiah, which means, if you translate it, the Christ.” (John 1:42) And in another place, “The woman said..., ‘I know that Messiah is coming, who is called Christ.’ ” (John 4:25)

The Law and the Prophets, or in other words the entire Word of the Old Testament, has as its subject the Lord, as we showed in the first section, and consequently the Son of God to come can only mean the humanity that the Lord took on in the world.

[10] It follows from this that that humanity was meant by the Son when the Lord was baptized and Jehovah from heaven said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” (Matthew 3:17, Mark 1:11, Luke 3:22); for it was His humanity that was baptized. And when He was transfigured, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:5, Mark 9:7, Luke 9:35)

See also elsewhere, as Matthew 8:29, 14:33, 27:43, 54; Mark 3:11, 15:39; John 1:34, 49, 3:18, 5:25, 10:36, 11:4.