152. Internal Meaning of Ezekiel, Chapter 29

1-3 Of the natural man who, in things Divine, trusts nothing but His knowledges [scientifica]. (2)

4-5 Such will pervert the truths of the church by applying their knowledges to falsities. (2, 1)

6-7 Because truths have been perverted in this manner, all power, which is of truth, has been destroyed in their case, (3, 16)

8-12 and all truth will be utterly devastated, until they will no longer have truth. (3)

13-16 Nevertheless something of a church will be established out of those who are natural and in knowledges [scientifica]. (11)

17-18 Reasonings from knowledges [scientifica] of the natural man will not destroy knowledges [cognitiones] of truth with them; (11)

19-20 but these will be destroyed by reasonings from the natural man with those who trust knowledges [scientifica] alone, and have perverted the truths of the church. (2)

21 Those who are of the church that the Lord will establish will have truths of doctrine. (11, 11)

The Bible refers to the Lord in many different ways seemingly interchangeably. Understood in the internal sense, though, there are important differences. To some degree, the meanings all start with "Jehovah," which is the Lord's actual name. It represents the perfect, eternal, infinite love which is the Lord's actual essence. As such it also represents the good will that flows from the Lord to us and His desire for us to be good. "God," meanwhile, represents the wisdom of the Lord and the true knowledge and understanding He offers to us. The term "the Lord" is very close in meaning to "Jehovah," and in many cases is interchangeable (indeed, translators have a tendency to go back and forth). When the two are used together, though, "the Lord" refers to the power of the Lord's goodness, the force it brings, whereas "Jehovah" represents the goodness itself. In the New Testament, the name "Jehovah" is never used; the term "the Lord" replaces it completely. There are two reasons for that. First, the Jews of the day considered the name "Jehovah" too holy to speak or write. Second, they would not have been able to grasp the idea that the Lord -- who was among them in human form at the time -- was in fact Jehovah Himself. This does ultimately lead to a difference in the two terms by the end of the Bible. Thought of as "Jehovah," the Lord is the ultimate human form and has the potential for assuming a physical human body; thought of as "the Lord" He actually has that human body, rendered divine by the events of his physical life.