True Christianity #706
706. "The Lord's blood" means the divine truth that belongs to him and to the Word, because the spiritual meaning of his flesh is the divine goodness of his love; these two are united in the Lord.
It is well known that the Lord is the Word. There are two things to which all the details in the Word relate: divine goodness and divine truth. Therefore if we substitute "the Word" for "the Lord," it is clear that his flesh and blood mean divine goodness and divine truth.
There are many passages that establish that blood means the divine truth that belongs to the Lord or the Word. For example, his blood is called "the blood of the covenant," and a covenant means a partnership. It is by means of his divine truth that the Lord forges a partnership with us. See, for example, Zechariah: "By the blood of your covenant I will release the prisoners from the pit" (Zechariah 9:11). In Moses, "After Moses had read the book of the Law in the hearing of the people, he sprinkled half the blood upon the people and said, 'Behold, the blood of the covenant that Jehovah has forged with you through all these words'" (Exodus 24:3-8). "And Jesus took the cup and gave it to them and said, 'This is my blood of the new covenant'" (Matthew 26:27-28; Mark 14:24; Luke 22:20).
[2] The "blood of the new covenant" or "testament" means the Word, which is called a Covenant and a Testament, both the Old and the New; therefore it means the divine truth that is there. Because blood has this meaning, the Lord gave his disciples wine and said, "This is my blood" [Matthew 26:28; Mark 14:24]; wine means divine truth. Therefore wine is also called "the blood of grapes" (Genesis 49:11; Deuteronomy 32:14).
The Lord's words make this clearer still:
Truly, truly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Humankind and drink his blood, you will not have life within you. My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me and I in them. (John 6:50-58)
Blood here means the divine truth of the Word, as is very clear because it says that those who drink it have life within them and live in the Lord and he lives in them. As people within the church are capable of knowing, divine truth and a life according to it are what allow the Lord to be in us and us in the Lord; the Holy Supper strengthens these effects.
[3] Since blood means the Lord's divine truth, which is also the divine truth of the Word, and this is the Old and New Covenant or Testament itself, therefore blood was the holiest symbolic substance in the church that existed among the children of Israel - a church whose every detail was a correspondence of something earthly with something spiritual. For example, they took the blood of the Passover lamb and put it on the doorposts and the lintel of their houses, to keep the plague from coming upon them (Exodus 12:7, 13, 22). The blood of the burnt offering was sprinkled on the altar, on its base, and on Aaron and his sons and on their garments (Exodus 29:12, 16, 20-21; Leviticus 1:5, 11, 15; 3:2, 8, 13; 4:25, 30, 34; 8:15, 24; 17:6; Numbers 18:17; Deuteronomy 12:27). Blood was also sprinkled in front of the veil that was before the ark, on the mercy seat there, and on the horns of the altar of incense (Leviticus 4:6-7, 17-18; ).
The "blood of the Lamb" mentioned in the Book of Revelation has the same meaning: "They washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14). So does the following statement in the same book: "War broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, and conquered it by the blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their testimony" (Revelation 12:7, 11).
[4] There is no basis for thinking that Michael and his angels were able to conquer the dragon through anything other than the Lord's divine truth in the Word.
The angels in heaven are unable to think about any blood or about the Lord's suffering; they think instead about the divine truth and about his resurrection. When we think about the Lord's blood, angels think instead about the divine truth of the Lord's Word; when we think about the Lord's suffering, they think instead about the Lord's glorification, focusing exclusively on his resurrection. A great deal of experience has allowed me to know that this is the case.
[5] The fact that blood means divine truth is also clear from the following statements in David: "God will save the souls of the needy; their blood will be precious in his sight. And they will live; and he will give them some of the gold of Sheba" (Psalms 72:13-15). The blood that is precious in the sight of God stands for the divine truth that is among the people [meant by "the needy"]; the gold of Sheba is the wisdom they develop as a result.
In Ezekiel: "Gather yourselves to a great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, so that you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will drink the blood of the leaders of the earth, and drink blood until you are drunk. This is how I will present my glory among the nations" (Ezekiel 39:17-21). This passage deals with the church that the Lord is going to establish among the nations. (On the point that the word "blood" here cannot mean blood, but must mean the truth from the Word that exists among them, see just above [705].)
John 5
1
After these things, there was a feast of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
2
Now in Jerusalem by the sheep gate, there is a pool, which is called in Hebrew, "Bethesda," having five porches.
3
In these lay a great multitude of those who were sick, blind, lame, or paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water;
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for an angel went down at certain times into the pool, and stirred up the water. Whoever stepped in first after the stirring of the water was made whole of whatever disease he had.
5
A certain man was there, who had been sick for thirty-eight years.
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When Jesus saw him lying there, and knew that he had been sick for a long time, he asked him, "Do you want to be made well?"
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The sick man answered him, "Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, but while I'm coming, another steps down before me."
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Jesus said to him, "Arise, take up your mat, and walk."
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Immediately, the man was made well, and took up his mat and walked. Now it was the Sabbath on that day.
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So the Jews said to him who was cured, "It is the Sabbath. It is not lawful for you to carry the mat."
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He answered them, "He who made me well, the same said to me, 'Take up your mat, and walk.'"
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Then they asked him, "Who is the man who said to you, 'Take up your mat, and walk'?"
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But he who was healed didn't know who it was, for Jesus had withdrawn, a crowd being in the place.
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Afterward Jesus found him in the temple, and said to him, "Behold, you are made well. Sin no more, so that nothing worse happens to you."
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The man went away, and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well.
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For this cause the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill him, because he did these things on the Sabbath.
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But Jesus answered them, "My Father is still working, so I am working, too."
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For this cause therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making himself equal with God.
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Jesus therefore answered them, "Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
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For the Father has affection for the Son, and shows him all things that he himself does. He will show him greater works than these, that you may marvel.
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For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son also gives life to whom he desires.
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For the Father judges no one, but he has given all judgment to the Son,
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that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He who doesn't honor the Son doesn't honor the Father who sent him.
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"Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn't come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
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Most certainly, I tell you, the hour comes, and now is, when the dead will hear the Son of God's voice; and those who hear will live.
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For as the Father has life in himself, even so he gave to the Son also to have life in himself.
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He also gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man.
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Don't marvel at this, for the hour comes, in which all that are in the tombs will hear his voice,
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and will come out; those who have done good, to the resurrection of life; and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of judgment.
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I can of myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is righteous; because I don't seek my own will, but the will of my Father who sent me.
31
"If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid.
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It is another who testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is true.
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You have sent to John, and he has testified to the truth.
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But the testimony which I receive is not from man. However, I say these things that you may be saved.
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He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light.
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But the testimony which I have is greater than that of John, for the works which the Father gave me to accomplish, the very works that I do, testify about me, that the Father has sent me.
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The Father himself, who sent me, has testified about me. You have neither heard his voice at any time, nor seen his form.
38
You don't have his word living in you; because you don't believe him whom he sent.
39
"You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about me.
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Yet you will not come to me, that you may have life.
41
I don't receive glory from men.
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But I know you, that you don't have God's love in yourselves.
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I have come in my Father's name, and you don't receive me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him.
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How can you believe, who receive glory from one another, and you don't seek the glory that comes from the only God?
45
"Don't think that I will accuse you to the Father. There is one who accuses you, even Moses, on whom you have set your hope.
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For if you believed Moses, you would believe me; for he wrote about me.
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But if you don't believe his writings, how will you believe my words?"
