Peace on Earth

A Christmas Doctrinal Class by the Rev. Dr. Andrew M.T. Dibb

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

There are many stories about shepherds in the Word. Joseph's brothers were shepherds, and mighty king David himself was a shepherd in his youth. The life these men led was a very responsible one, for they had to look after their sheep. This meant many things. In one story we read of how shepherds had to draw water to give their flocks a drink (Genesis 29:3). When David was a young shepherd, a bear and a lion came to attack his sheep, and he had to defend them (1_Samuel 17:34-36). If a sheep went wandering off, the shepherd had to go and search for it, until the sheep was found - and that was a time of great rejoicing for the shepherd. The Lord once told a story about a man who had a hundred sheep, but when he found that one had gone astray, he left ninety nine of them, and searched and searched until he found the lost sheep. Then he came back full of joy because he had found his sheep (Luke 15:4, Luke 15:5).

We can imagine then, that shepherds knew a lot about sheep - they lived with them out in the fields. This means that shepherds were not city people. They didn't have polished manners, or lots of money. They probably weren't very educated, except about sheep. We know they must have been very brave, because they had to fight off wild animals, and perhaps even people who tried to steal their sheep. They must also have been gentle, because one has to be gentle with sheep, especially with little lambs.

These were the kinds of men the Lord sent the angel Gabriel to on the night He was born in Bethlehem. As we saw last week, an angel is a messenger of the Lord. In the Word angels came to bring wisdom and comfort, hope and the good news, the "euangellion" or Gospel, to those to whom the Lord wanted His presence revealed. This Gospel is the teaching that the Lord Jesus Christ was born into this world, that He made it possible for all people to be saved and brought into His kingdom. The angel Gabriel came in excitement to Mary to inform her that she was the Lord’s choice as His natural mother, and once the Lord was born, he spread the news to those willing to hear.

The angel came to simple shepherds, watching over their flock at night. When they first saw the angel, they were very afraid, but the angel's words were very comforting. "Behold," he said, "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord."

What wonderful words these are. Then, there appeared with the angel "a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"." When the shepherds saw this heavenly host, they saw the entire society of angels who took the form of the angel Gabriel. The shepherds knew what they must do - they left their sheep, and went to see the Lord in Bethlehem.

What was it that made the shepherds so eager to leave their sheep in the middle of the night when they knew that there might be wild animals around, or robbers, or the possibility of the sheep wandering off? The answer is in the words of the heavenly host to them.

"Glory to God in the highest," they said, "and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men." Like us the shepherds lived in a dangerous times. Palestine was under Roman occupation, any signs of revolt, either by individuals or communities against the Romans were brutally subdued by being brutally killed or enslaved. People lived in fear and human life held very little value.

The idea of peace and goodwill contradicted every experience human experience. So it is in our own times. Wars, famine, disease continue to rampage across the face of the earth. Corruption, greed and the quest for power continue to pollute our societies, and immorality, injustice and an array of prejudices tear at the fabric of our communities. It is little wonder that many people have lost their faith in the Lord altogether—the ancient Jews looked for God in external observance of the Mosaic law as a refuge from the world, and modern people turn to naturalism for their answers. The Lord is not to be found in either.

There seems to be little 'peace on earth', and precious little 'goodwill toward men.' So what were the angels talking about. Was Gabriel making empty promises to the Shepherd when he said "I bring you good tidings of great joy, which will be to all people. For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is Christ the Lord." And the heavenly host proclaimed, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

The Lord came in the darkest spiritual state, and Gabriel’s words are words of genuine hope. The Lord is present with His love and wisdom in each and every angel of heaven. The things they think and say comes to them from the Lord Himself. This means that their words to the shepherds are truly words of hope. There will be 'peace on earth', and 'goodwill toward men'. The only obstacles to these things come from people themselves, who, like Herod, rejected the Lord and chose lives of selfishness and greed instead.

The full message of the Lord's promise of peace comes when we think of all the words of the angels in this story.

Firstly, Gabriel told the shepherds that a Saviour had been born in the city of David. The shepherds probably knew the ancient prophecies that the Lord would be born in Bethlehem. Like many people at that time, they would have been watching and waiting for a Saviour to come.

"The reason why the Lord was born there and not elsewhere, is that He alone was born a spiritual celestial man, but all others natural, with the capacity or ability to become either celestial or spiritual by regeneration from the Lord. The reason why the Lord was born a spiritual celestial man was that He might make His Human Divine, and this according to order from the lowest degree to the highest, and might thus dispose into order all things in the heavens and in the hells. For the spiritual celestial is intermediate between the natural or external man and the rational or internal man (see above, n. Arcana Coelestia 4585, Arcana Coelestia 4592), thus below it was the natural or external, and above it was the rational or internal." (Arcana Coelestia 4594[2])

We are told in many places in the Doctrine, that the essential quality of the celestial is love to the Lord, and so all good, while the quality of the spiritual is love to the neighbour, which we accomplish by putting truth into action. At birth the celestial and spiritual qualities in us exist only in potential, and become real through the process of repentance. Yet at birth the Lord had these qualities existing in Him. His love for the Divine Itself, His Father, is portrayed in His constant willingness to obey the Father, epitomized by His words in the Garden of Gethesemane: "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done" (Luke 22:42). The Lord’s willingness is His celestial quality, and it took the form of the spiritual. The spiritual is loving the neighbour, for the Lord acted at all times from His love for God towards the neighbour, whom He had come to rescue. His spiritual, therefore, is the fact that He is the Word, "made flesh" and dwelling among us.

Seen from this perspective, the Lord is a spiritual celestial being, incorporating these two essentials as a core part of His being, even though they were written and formed in the human from Mary through the process of glorification. Ordinary human beings are not born this way. We are born purely natural, and have to learn truths through the intellect, and then have them form a new will through a willingness to follow the Lord and through the process of regeneration.

"Bethlehem" represents these spiritual celestial qualities in the Lord by which He could save the human race, and for that reason, He was born there. The shepherds would not have known this, but they would have recognized the significance of Bethlehem from the ancient prophecies, and also a savior from the house of David. Like David, the Savior would be a great king.

They expected this saviour to be a mighty prince, or king, who would make the children of Israel into a great and powerful nation again. When the angel spoke to them, he said, "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."

Gabriel’s message to the shepherds, that the Child born in Bethlehem was be "Christ the Lord" is different from the message given to Mary when he announced that she would conceive. "Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus" (Luke 1:30-31).

Very deep arcana lie concealed within the internal sense, which up to now have not come to anyone's knowledge. … It becomes absolutely clear from the internal sense of our Lord's two names JESUS CHRIST. When these are mentioned few have any other notion than that they are proper names which are little different from, though more sacred than, the names of any other human being. Better educated people know, it is true, that Jesus means Saviour, and Christ the Anointed, from which they conceive some more interior notion. But this is not the same as the things which the angels in heaven perceive from those names. They perceive things more Divine still, that is to say, when Jesus is mentioned by someone reading the Word they perceive Divine Good, and when Christ is mentioned, Divine Truth. And when both are mentioned together they perceive the Divine marriage of good to truth, and of truth to good. Thus they perceive everything Divine within the heavenly marriage, which is heaven. (Arcana Coelestia 3004)

Technically the name 'Christ' means one who has been anointed with oil, and thus who would be a king. When David was made king, Samuel the priest poured oil over his head as a sign that he was now the king. So when the angel said that 'Christ the Lord' was born, they understood that their king had come. The Writings tell us, however, that the name "Christ" refers specifically to the divine truth, which, in the Lord was His Humanity—thus to that child born in Bethlehem whose human would eventually be glorified and united to the Divine.

The Christ means the Lord's Divine humanity because the Christ is the Messiah, and the Messiah is the Son of God whose coming into the world was awaited by the Jews. (Apocalypse Revealed 520)

Salvation would come through the purifying of the human taken on from Mary, and its glorification, that is, it’s conjunction with the Divine. Christ the Lord is the Savior because by taking on this humanity, the Lord is now able to be present in the natural degree of our lives, and so lead us along the same route He followed in His glorification.

The shepherds were simple men. They thought, as many would later on, that this king would be king instead of King Herod - whom they didn't like. A message like this would have been wonderful enough, and the shepherds must have been very happy that they lived when the King had come down to earth. They couldn't have understood that the Lord did not come as an earthly king, He did not come to take over from Herod, or overthrow the Romans. "My kingdom," He said, "is not of this world." He came to bring us peace and show us how to build goodwill toward all men in our hearts.

As we celebrate Christmas, we are fortunate to know that the Lord didn't come as a king to overthrow the Romans, or take over from Herod. We know that He came to fight against the power of hell, and that He overcame it. He fought and He won, and in so doing, He has made it possible for us to do the same thing. His kingdom doesn't belong in this world, it is the kingdom of heaven, which we know lives within us as a constant source of love and kindness.

As the shepherds listened to Gabriel speaking, they were surprised when suddenly they saw with the angel Gabriel a multitude of the heavenly hosts, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" This was enough to convince the shepherds. They left their flocks and went quickly to Bethlehem, where they saw the Child, wrapped in Swaddling Cloths, lying in a manger.

But if the Lord’s human was His truth, how can a person pick out the real truth from the rest of the things we learn. Let’s assume for a moment that more than one baby was born in Bethlehem on that night. How would the shepherds identify which of the babies born was the Christ? How do we know that the truths that will rescue and regenerate us are the real ones, amid a world full of competing truths?

The shepherds would know by the sign given to them. The Child would be wrapped in swaddling cloths and laid in a manger. With this information, they would know not to look for the Lord in a palace or wealthy home, or any place where the animals were separated from people. A stall, or stable, would be the most likely place.

Familiar as we are with the Christmas tableau of the stall, we know that we will not find the Lord in the riches of worldly knowledge, or contemporary wisdom (regardless of the age we live in), nor in conventional thought and practice. To find the Lord we need to look for that manger. In the spiritual sense,

"A manger" means the doctrine of truth from the Word, because "horses" signify the understanding of the Word; and thus a manger, as a feeding place for horses, signifies the doctrine of truth from the Word. (Apocalypse Explained 706[12])

"The doctrine of truth from the Word" is nothing other than the true teachings from the Word—clear, plain teachings that are self-evident to the reason of a person who is looking for truth. For example, when a person considers the qualities of God, that He is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, divine, these can only exist in one God. There cannot be a plural of omnipotent God. Reason does not allow for that. The teaching of the Word that God is One God, is eminently reasonable and believable. It is the same with many other teachings, for example, the Ten Commandments. It doesn’t take a genius to see that lying, stealing, murdering or committing adultery are harmful to both individuals and society.

These are the teachings of the Word that appeal to the understanding, the horses which each from the manger, and this is where we will find our salvation. The Lord was the Word, He is the truth come down and dwells among us. And the only place we find Him is lying in that manger of teaching.

It is not stretch of the imagination that the shepherds were looking for this manger, but as there were probably several new-born babies in Bethlehem, so there were probably many mangers in stables around the town. In our quest for understanding, there are many competing ideas laid before us. How do we know which is the right one?

The answer lies in the angel Gabriel’s description, "This will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger."

He is also said to have been "wrapped in swaddling clothes," because "swaddling clothes" signify first truths, which are truths of innocence, and which are also truths of the Divine love; for "nakedness," in reference to a babe, signifies deprivation of truth. From this it is clear why it was said by the angels, "This is a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger." (Apocalypse Explained 706[12])

The "first truths" a person has are the sensual and factual knowledge from which they are able to think, reason, and so to believe and do. The "first truths" introduce a person to the church, and make it possible for them to develop the spiritual understanding that will later guide their lives.

… the first truths there being sensory ones, the second truths being factual, and interior truths matters of doctrine. The latter are based on factual truths inasmuch as a person can have and retain no idea, notion, or concept of them except from factual truths. But the foundations on which factual truths are based are sensory truths, for without sensory truths nobody is able to possess factual ones. (Arcana Coelestia 3310)

The first truths a person learns are from the sense of the letter of the Word, for these become the containant of deeper truths:

First truths are also ultimate truths, such as are in the sense of the letter of the Word, for through these entrance is effected, for these are first learned, and in them are all interior things which constitute the internal sense of the Word. (Apocalypse Explained 395)

These first truths from the foundation for the later truths:

But because exterior truths are the first truths which a person learns, the Lord has provided that by means of them he can be introduced into interior truths. (Arcana Coelestia 3857)

These are the "swaddling cloths" wrapping the baby. When the shepherds found a manger with this baby in it, they would know that they have found the Lord.

When Gabriel had made this announcement to the astonished shepherds, "suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!"

What wonderful words of praise, and words we still sing today. When the angels praised God, their song was a sign that they believed in God, not only in His existence, but also in all the things He has taught in His Word. From the prophecies of the Word they saw ahead into His life, and saw the great battles He would fight for each one of us. They saw His victories over the power of hell, as He made it subject to Himself.

They also saw that as He conquered hell. He made it possible for peace and goodwill to reign on all the earth - possible because if people followed His teachings, and walked the path He shows us, the primary human evils of selfishness and greed could be overcome, and, without them, there would be peace.

For many people the fact that there are still wars, disease and poverty two thousand years after the Lord's birth is a major stumbling block. Many people ask how these things can continue in the face of the Lord's birth, His life, death and resurrection. Yet the Lord did not come to change the natural world, He came to change our spiritual world - to change the way we think and feel about things, and from that to change how we act. Changing the world alone would not have a lasting effect. True change must come from within us, and genuine spiritual change can only come when we submit ourselves to the Lord as our God and Saviour.

The Lord's main message is, of course, that we must turn aside from evil and do good. We need to do this inside our hearts where no one can see what we really think and feel, and also in our actions, which everyone can see. If we believe that the Lord is our God and Saviour, then it is not so difficult to turn aside from these things, for we do them for the Lord. Our belief in Him, then, won't just be something we say, but it will be intertwined with all the things we do. It will be written on our hearts. So the angel hosts began by saying "Glory to God in the highest," for when we hold the Lord in glory and think of Him first in all the things we feel, think, say and do, then the Lord will be at the centre of our lives.

The angels next words show us what happens to us when we put the Lord high up in our lives. They said, "and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men." The word 'earth' here is a symbol of our minds - we often speak of a person as having a fertile mind, or as ideas as seeds. It is not too difficult, then, to see that the earth means more than just the world around us, it also means our minds.

Our minds become peaceful when the Lord governs it. The Psalmist says, "The Lord is in His holy temple, let all the earth keep silent before it" which reminds us that our minds come from and belong to the Lord. Our silence is the stilling of the voices of promoting contrary things to what the Lord gives us. When we use our minds properly as a bridge between true spiritual love and our actions in this world, then the Lord is present there, and when our minds are filled with the Lord, there is a silence, partly a silence of awe and partly a silence because the constant irritations of selfishness and greed are quietened by His presence.

This, then, is true peace. It is not contingent on natural things, on whether we are young or old, rich or poor, thin or fat, black or white. Rather it comes from within, from the presence of the Lord in our minds, and from His presence there He guides and directs our thoughts and our feelings, our speech and our actions.

This presence bubbles out of us as love - the angels call it 'Goodwill toward men'. A love that it untainted by selfishness makes it possible for us to reach out to others and embrace their lives with ours. It means that people will think before they act or speak. That they will hold back the hurtful word, or the painful action. It means that they will rise above self concern and learn to give of themselves.

If all six billion of us on this planet today could learn to think like this, then earthly peace would be with us all. There would be no more wars - differences between individuals and countries could be sorted out amicably with regard to the deeper issues at stake. Diseases and famine may still be with us, but people would see in them an opportunity to help one another.

It sounds utopian, and very simple. Yet those were the words the angels used when they spoke to the shepherds, "Glory to God in the Highest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men."

The shepherds were so moved by these words - although they could only understand them in a very simple way, that they left their sheep, and went at once and in haste to Bethlehem. There, in that stable they saw, for the first time ever, the face of the Lord - a tiny child with the work of redemption stretched out before Him, a work that He did once during His life time, and over and over again in the hearts and minds of those who hear Him calling, and turn and follow Him.

AMEN

Readings:

Luke 2:8-20

Arcana Coelestia 92

Arcana Coelestia 223

Arcana Coelestia 925

328. For thou wast slain, and didst redeem us to God in Thy blood, signifies the separation of all from the Divine, and the conjunction with the Divine by the acknowledgment of the Lord, and by the reception of Divine truth from Him. This is evident from the signification of "being slain," as being, in reference to the Lord, the separation of all from the Divine, for "to be slain" signifies in the Word to be spiritually slain, that is, to perish by evils and falsities (See above, n. 315); and because the Lord with such is not, for He is denied, therefore "being slain" signifies, in reference to the Lord, not acknowledged (as above, n. 315 and also denied; and when the Lord is denied He is as it were slain with such as deny, and by the denial they are separated from the Divine; for such as deny the Lord, that is, His Divine, separate themselves altogether from the Divine. For the Lord is the God of the universe, and He is one with the Father, and the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and no one cometh to the Father but by Him, as the Lord Himself teaches; consequently those in the church who do not acknowledge His Divine, and still more those who in heart deny it, are altogether separated from the Divine.

[2] Denying the Divine is here meant by slaying Him with themselves. In the internal sense of the Word the same is meant by "crucifying the Lord" (See above, n. 83, 195); for the Jews, with whom the church then was, denied that he was the Christ, and thereby separated themselves from the Divine and therefore they gave Him up to death, or crucified Him. Moreover, at this day those who deny His Divine do the same; it is therefore frequently said by preachers that those who lead an evil life and blaspheme the Lord crucify Him with themselves. This, therefore, is what is here signified by "Thou wast slain." This is evident also from the signification of "thou didst redeem us to God in Thy blood," as being that He conjoined us to the Divine by the acknowledgment of Him, and by the reception of Divine truth from Him; for "to redeem" signifies to liberate from hell, and thereby to appropriate men to Himself, and thus conjoin them to the Divine, as will be seen from the passages in the Word in which "to redeem" and "redemption" are mentioned, which will be quoted below. The "blood of the Lord" signifies Divine truth proceeding from Him; and because man by the reception of Divine truth from the Lord is liberated from hell and conjoined to Him, therefore "Thou didst redeem us to God in Thy blood" signifies conjunction with the Divine by the reception of the Divine truth from the Lord.

[3] That this sense lies hidden in these words no one can see who abides in the mere sense of the letter, for in that sense nothing else can be seen except that "Thou wast slain" means that He was crucified and "Thou didst redeem us in Thy blood" means that He has reconciled us to His Father by the passion of the cross. Because this meaning is the meaning of the letter, and because it has hitherto been unknown that in the particulars of the Word there is an internal sense which is spiritual, from that sense, namely, the sense of the letter, it has been made a doctrine of the church that the Divine Itself which they call the Father cast away from Him the whole human race, and that the Lord by the passion of the cross made reconciliation, and that thus those for whom He intercedes are saved. Who that has any illumination of understanding cannot see that this doctrinal is contrary to the Divine Itself? For the Divine Itself never casts away any man from Him for He loves all, and therefore desires the salvation of all. It is also contrary to the Divine Itself to be reconciled by the shedding of blood, and to be brought back to mercy by beholding the passion of the cross which His own Son sustained, and from this to have mercy, and not from Himself. Although this doctrine is so contrary to the Divine essence, yet to believe this is called essential faith or justifying faith.

[4] Again, who can think from enlightened reason that the sins of the whole world were transferred to the Lord, and that the sins of anyone who merely has that faith are thereby taken away? But although this is the doctrine of those who never think beyond the sense of the letter, yet the angels who are with men have no perception of these things according to that sense, but according to the spiritual sense, for they are spiritual and therefore think spiritually and not naturally. To angels, "redeeming man in His blood" means liberating man from hell, and thus claiming and conjoining man to Himself by the acknowledgment of Him, and by the reception of Divine truth from Him. Moreover, the church may know that this is so; for it may know that no one is conjoined to the Divine by blood, but by the reception of the Divine truth, and the application of it to the life.

[5] Liberation from hell by the Lord was accomplished by His assuming the Human, and through it subjugating the hells, and reducing to order all things in the heavens, which could have been done in no way except by the Human; for the Divine operates from firsts through ultimates, thus from Himself through the things that are from Himself in ultimates, which are in the Human. This is the operation of Divine power in heaven and in the world. (On this see some things above, n. 41; also in Heaven and Hell 315; and in Arcana Coelestia 5897, 6239, 6451, 6465, 8603, 9215, 9216, 9824, 9828, 9836, 10044, 10099, 10329, 10335, 10548.) Liberation from hell by the Lord was also accomplished by His glorifying His Human, that is, making it Divine; for thus and not otherwise could He hold the hells in subjection forever; and as the subjugation of the hells and the glorification of His Human was accomplished by means of temptations admitted into his Human, His passion of the cross was His last temptation and complete victory. That "He bore the sins of all" signifies that He admitted into Himself all the hells when He was tempted, for from the hells all sins or evils ascend, and enter into man and are in him; therefore the Lord's "bearing sins" signifies that He admitted the hells into Himself when tempted; and His "taking away sins" means that He subjugated the hells, in order that evils may no more rise up from them, with those who acknowledge the Lord and receive Him, that is, who receive in faith and life the Divine truth proceeding from Him, and who are thus conjoined to the Lord.

It was said that "Thou didst redeem us to God in Thy blood" signifies conjunction with the Divine by the acknowledgment of the Lord, and the reception of Divine truth from Him; and as the church is founded on this, I will state briefly how conjunction is thereby effected.

[6] The primary thing is to acknowledge the Lord, to acknowledge His Divine in the Human, and His omnipotence to save the human race; for by that acknowledgment man is conjoined to the Divine, since there is no Divine except in Him; for the Father is there; for the Father is in Him, and He in the Father, as the Lord Himself teaches; consequently they who look to another Divine near Him, or at His side, as those are wont to do who pray to the Father to have mercy for the sake of the Son, turn aside from the way and worship a Divine elsewhere than in Him. Moreover, they then give no thought to the Divine of the Lord, but only to the Human, when yet these cannot be separated; for the Divine and the Human are not two, but a single person, conjoined like soul and body, according to the doctrine received by the churches from the Athanasian Creed. Therefore to acknowledge the Divine in the Lord's Human, or the Divine Human, is the primary thing of the church, by which there is conjunction; and because it is the primary it is also the first thing of the church. It is because this is the first thing of the church, that the Lord, when He was in the world, so often said to those whom He healed, "Believest thou that I can do this?" and when they answered that they believed, He said, "Be it done according to thy faith." This He so often said that they might believe, in the first place, that from His Divine Human He had Divine omnipotence, for without that belief the church could not be begun, and without that belief they could not have been conjoined with the Divine, but must have been separated from it, and thus would not have been able to receive anything good from him.

[7] Afterwards the Lord taught how they were to be saved, namely, by receiving Divine truth from Him; and truth is received when it is applied to the life and implanted in it by doing it; therefore the Lord so often said that they should do His words. From this it can be seen that these two things, namely, believing in the Lord and doing His words, make one, and can by no means be separated; for he who does not do the Lord's words does not believe in Him; so also he who thinks that he believes in Him and does not do His words does not believe in Him, for the Lord is in His words, that is, in His truths, and by them He gives faith to man. From these few things it can be known that conjunction with the Divine is effected through the acknowledgment of the Lord and the reception of Divine truth from Him. This, therefore, is what is signified by "the Lamb redeeming us to God in His blood." That "the Lamb" signifies the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, see above n. 314. (On this more may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 293-297, and in the quotations from Arcana Coelestia, n 300-306, as also at the end of that work, where the Lord is particularly treated of.)

That "blood" signifies the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, and "salvation by His blood" signifies by the reception of Divine truth from Him, will be explained in the following article.

[8] That "to redeem" signifies to deliver and to make free, and, in reference to the Lord, to deliver and free from hell, and thus to set apart and conjoin to Himself, can be seen from the following passages. In Isaiah:

Who is this that cometh from Edom, walking in the multitude of his power? I that speak in righteousness, great to save. For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed hath come. In all their straitness He was in straitness and the angel of His faces saved them; because of His love and His pity He redeemed them; and He took them up and carried them all the days of eternity (Isaiah 63:1, 4, 9).

This treats of the Lord and His temptation-combats, by which He subjugated the hells. "Edom from which He cometh" signifies His Human, so also does "the angel of His faces." His Divine power from which He fought is signified by "walking in the multitude of His power;" the casting down into hell of those who rose up against Him and the elevation of the good into heaven is meant by "righteousness," thus by these words, "I that speak in righteousness, great to save. For the day of vengeance is in my heart, and the year of my redeemed hath come." His Divine love from which He did these things is described by "In all their straitness He was in straitness, and the angel of His faces saved them; because of His love and His pity He redeemed them; and He took them up and carried them all the days of eternity." From this it is clear that "the redeemed" and "those whom He redeemed" signify those whom He rescued from the fury of those who are from hell, and whom he saved.

[9] In the same:

Thus hath said Jehovah thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Former, O Israel; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine (Isaiah 43:1).

That "to redeem" signifies to free from hell, and to set apart and conjoin to Himself so that they may be His, is clear, for it is said, "I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine;" because this is effected through reformation and regeneration by the Lord, therefore it is said, "Jehovah thy Creator, O Jacob, and thy Former, O Israel." He is called Creator because "to create" in the Word signifies to regenerate (See above, n. 294). "Jacob" and "Israel" signify those who are of the church, and are in truths from good.

[10] In the same:

Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and the wages of His work are before Him. And they shall call them a people of holiness, the redeemed of Jehovah (Isaiah 62:11-12).

This also treats of the Lord's coming, and the establishment of a church by Him. "Daughter of Zion" signifies the church which is in love to the Lord; His coming is meant by "Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him, and the wages of His work are before Him;" those who are reformed and regenerated by Him are meant by "the redeemed of Jehovah."

[11] These are called the "redeemed" because they have been freed from evils by regeneration, and are set apart by the Lord and are conjoined to Him. In the same:

No lion shall be there, and the ravenous of the wild beasts shall not be found therein; but the redeemed shall go; and the ransomed of Jehovah shall return, and come to Zion with singing, and the gladness of eternity shall be upon their head (Isaiah 35:9-10).

This also treats of the Lord's coming, and the salvation of those who suffer themselves to be regenerated by the Lord. That with such there shall not be falsity destroying truth nor evil destroying good, is signified by "No lion shall be there, and the ravenous of the wild beasts shall not be found therein;" that such are delivered from evils and freed from falsities is signified by "the redeemed shall go; so shall the ransomed of Jehovah return;" their eternal happiness is signified by "they shall come to Zion with singing, and the gladness of eternity shall be upon their head," "Zion" meaning the church. What "singing" signifies see just above (n. 326). There are two, words in the original by which "to redeem" is expressed, one signifying deliverance from evils, the other liberation from falsities; these two words are used here; thus it is said, "the redeemed shall go," and "the ransomed of Jehovah shall return." (These two words are also used in Hosea 13:14; and in David, Psalms 69:18; 107:2)

[12] "To redeem" signifies to deliver from evils and to free from falsities, and also to deliver and free from hell, because all evils and falsities with man arise out of hell; and since the Lord removes these by reformation and regeneration, reformation and regeneration also are signified by "to redeem" or "redemption," as in the following passages.

[13] In David:

Rise up as a help to us, and ransom us for Thy mercy's sake (Psalms 44:26);

to "ransom" here meaning to free and to reform. In the same:

God hath ransomed my soul from the hand of hell; and He will accept me (Psalms 49:15).

"To ransom from the hand of hell" means to free; "to accept me" means to set apart and to conjoin to Himself, or to make His own, as servants sold and redeemed. In Hosea:

Out of the hand of hell will I ransom them; I will redeem them from death (Hosea 13:14).

"To redeem" meaning to deliver and free from damnation.

In David:

Bless Jehovah, O my soul, who hath redeemed thy life from the pit (Psalms 103:1, 4).

"To redeem from the pit" means to free from damnation; "the pit" meaning damnation. In the same:

Draw nigh unto my soul, redeem it, and because of my enemies ransom me (Psalms 69:18).

"To draw nigh to the soul" signifies to conjoin it to Himself; "to redeem it" signifies to deliver from evils; "because of my enemies ransom me" signifies to free from falsities, "enemies" meaning falsities. In the same:

Let the redeemed of Jehovah say, whom He hath redeemed out of the hand of the distressing enemy (Psalms 107:2).

"The redeemed of Jehovah" means those who are delivered from evil; "whom He hath redeemed out of the hand of the distressing enemy" means those whom He has freed from falsities. In Jeremiah:

I am with thee, to save thee and to rescue thee; and I will rescue thee out of the hand of the evil, and I will ransom thee out of the hand of the violent (Jeremiah 15:20-21).

"To ransom out of the hand of the violent" means to free from falsities that offer violence to the good of charity; the "violent" signifying such falsities, consequently those also who are in them.

[14] In David:

Let Israel hope in Jehovah, for with Jehovah there is mercy, and in Him is much ransom, and He shall ransom Israel out of all his iniquities (Psalms 130:7-8).

"Ransom" means liberation; "Israel" the church; and to reform those who are of the church and free them from falsities is signified by "He shall ransom Israel out of all his iniquities."

In the same:

Let integrity and uprightness preserve me; for I have waited for thee. Ransom Israel, O God, out of all his distresses (Psalms 25:21-22).

"To ransom Israel out of distresses" means here also to free those who are of the church from falsities, which straiten.

In Isaiah:

Is My hand shortened, that there is no ransoming? or is there no power in Me to rescue? (Isaiah 50:2).

That "ransoming" means liberation is evident, for it is said also, "Is My hand shortened, or is there no power in Me to rescue." In David:

God shall hear my voice; He shall ransom my soul in peace (Psalms 55:17-18);

"to ransom" here means to free.

In the same:

Unto Thee will I sing psalms with the harp, Thou Holy One of Israel. My lips shall praise; and my soul, which Thou hast ransomed (Psalms 71:22-23).

"To ransom the soul" means to free from falsities; for "soul" in the Word signifies the life of faith, and "heart" the life of love; therefore "to ransom the soul" signifies to free from falsities and to give the life of faith.

[15] In the same:

Ransom me from the oppression of man, that I may keep Thy precepts (Psalms 119:134).

"To ransom from the oppression of man" signifies to free from the falsities of evil, for "man" signifies the spiritual affection of truth and wisdom therefrom, and in the contrary sense, as here, the lust of falsity and insanity therefrom; the "oppression of man" signifies the destruction of truth by falsities.

In the same:

Into Thine hand I will commend my spirit; Thou hast ransomed me, O Jehovah, God of truth (Psalms 31:5);

"to ransom" means to free from falsities and to reform by means of truths; and because this is signified by "ransom" it is said, "O Jehovah, God of truth." In the same:

Crime is in the hands of sinners, and their right hand is full of a bribe. But as for me, I walk in mine integrity; ransom me, and be merciful unto me (Psalms 26:10-11);

"to ransom" meaning to free from falsities and to reform. In the same:

He shall redeem their soul from fraud and violence; and precious shall their blood be in His eyes. And he shall live, and to him shall He give of the gold of Sheba; and He shall pray for him continually; all the day shall He bless them (Psalms 72:14-15).

The "needy" are here treated of, by whom those are signified who desire truths from spiritual affection; of these it is said that "He shall redeem their soul from fraud and violence," which signifies liberation from falsities and evils that destroy the goods of love and the truths of faith; the reception of Divine truth by them is signified by "precious shall their blood be in His eyes;" their reformation is described "he shall live, and to him shall He give of the gold of Sheba; and He shall pray for him continually; all the day shall He bless him;" "the gold of Sheba" is the good of charity; "to pray for him continually" signifies that they shall constantly be withheld from falsities and kept in truths; and "all the day shall He bless him" signifies that they shall constantly be in the good of charity and faith, for this is a Divine benediction; while to withhold from falsities and to keep in truths is "to pray for him continually."

[16] In Isaiah:

Thus said Jehovah, For nought ye have been sold, and not by silver shall ye be redeemed. My people went down into Egypt to sojourn there, but Assyria oppressed them for nought (Isaiah 52:3-4).

This treats of the desolation of truths by knowledges and by the reasonings of the natural man from them; for "My people went down into Egypt to sojourn there" signifies the instruction of the natural man in knowledges and cognitions of truth; "Egypt" signifies knowledges and also cognitions, but such as are from the sense of the letter of the Word; and "to sojourn" signifies to be instructed; "Assyria oppressed them for nought" signifies the falsification of knowledges by the reasonings of the natural man; "Assyria" signifying reasonings, and "to oppress for nought" falsifications, for falsities are nought because there is nothing of truth in them. Knowledges are thus falsified when the natural man separate from the spiritual forms conclusions; this is why it is said, "For nought ye have been sold, and not by silver shall ye be redeemed;" "for nought to be sold" signifies from self or from the selfhood to alienate oneself from falsities and renounce them; and "not by silver to be redeemed" signifies that one cannot be delivered by means of truth from the falsities of evil; "silver" signifying truth, and "to be redeemed" signifying to be delivered from the falsities of evil and to be reformed.

[17] In Zechariah:

I will bring them together, because I will ransom them; and then shall they be multiplied; I will sow them among the peoples; and I will bring them back out of the land, and will bring them together out of Assyria; and I will lead them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon (Zechariah 10:8-10).

This treats of the restoration of the church, and reformation by means of truth from good; and "I will bring them together, because I will ransom them" signifies the dispersion of falsities and reformation by means of truths; therefore it is said, "they shall be multiplied, and I will sow them among the peoples," which signifies the multiplication and insemination of truth from good; "to bring them back out of the land of Egypt, and to bring them together out of Assyria" signifies (as above) to withdraw them from the falsifying of truth that they are in by their reasonings from knowledges; "to lead them to the land of Gilead and to Lebanon" signifies to the good of the church, which is the good of charity, and to the good and truth of faith; the former is "the land of Gilead" and the latter "Lebanon. "

[18] From this it can be seen what is signified in the spiritual sense by Jehovah's "leading the people out of Egypt" and "ransoming them," as in Moses:

I will rescue you from bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched-out arm, and with great judgments (Exodus 6:6).

I led you out of Egypt with a stretched-out arm, and I ransomed you out of the house of bondmen (Deuteronomy 7:8; 9:26-29; 13:5; 15:15; 24:18).

Thou in Thy mercy hast led Thy people whom Thou hast redeemed; Thou hast guided them in the strength of Thy hand to the habitation of Thy holiness (Exodus 15:13).

And in Micah:

I made thee to go up out of the land of Egypt, and ransomed thee out of the house of bondage (Micah 6:4).

This means in the sense of the letter that they were led by the Divine power out of Egypt, where they had been made bondmen; but in the internal or spiritual sense no such thing is meant, but it means that those who are of the church, that is, those that are reformed by the Lord by means of truths and a life according to them, are delivered and freed from evils and from the falsities thence, for these are the things that make man a bondsman; this is the spiritual sense of these words, and in this sense are the angels when man is in the sense of the letter.

[19] Moreover, by "redemption" the angels understand deliverance from evils and liberation from falsities in the following passages. In Moses:

I will put a ransom between My people and Pharaoh's people (Exodus 8:23).

In David:

He hath sent a ransom unto His people; He hath commanded His covenant for ever; holy and fearful is His name (Psalms 111:9).

In Matthew:

What is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, but shall cause the loss of his soul? or what price shall a man give sufficient for the redemption of his soul? (Matthew 16:26; Mark 8:36-37);

"redemption" here meaning deliverance from damnation.

[20] From this it can be seen what the Lord's redeeming mankind signifies, namely, that He delivered and freed them from hell and from the evils and falsities that continually rise up therefrom and bring man into condemnation, and that He continually delivers them and frees them. This deliverance and liberation was effected by His subjugating the hells; and the continual deliverance and liberation by His glorifying His Human, that is, making it Divine, for thereby He keeps the hells continually subjugated; this, therefore is what is signified by His redeeming man, and by His being called in the Word "Redeemer," as in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Fear not, thou worm of Jacob, and ye mortals of Israel; I am He that helpeth thee, and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 41:14).

Thus said Jehovah, the Redeemer of Israel, His Holy One, because of Jehovah who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel, who hath chosen thee (Isaiah 49:7).

Our Redeemer is Jehovah of Hosts, His name the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 47:4).

Thus said Jehovah your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel (Isaiah 43:14).

That all flesh may know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (Isaiah 49:26).

That thou mayest know that I Jehovah am thy Savior and thy Redeemer, the Mighty One of Jacob (Isaiah 60:16).

By the "Holy One of Israel," and the "Mighty One of Jacob," who is here called "Redeemer," is meant the Lord in respect to the Divine Human, and by "Jehovah" is meant His Divine Itself. The Lord in respect to His Divine Human is called "the Holy One of Israel," and "the Mighty One of Jacob," and the "Strong One of Jacob," because "Israel" and "Jacob" signify the church, thus those who are regenerated and reformed, that is, redeemed by the Lord, for these alone are of the church, that is, constitute the church of the Lord.

[21] That the Lord's Divine Human is what is called "the Holy One" is evident in Luke:

The angel said unto Mary, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore the Holy Thing born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:35).

And that the Lord in respect to the Divine Human is "the Strong One of Jacob," and the "Mighty One of Jacob;" in the same:

The angel said unto Mary, Behold, thou shalt conceive in the womb, and bring forth a Son. He shall be great, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end (Luke 1:30-33).

"The house of Jacob" evidently means the Lord's church, not the Jewish nation.

[22] Because the Lord's Human was equally Divine with His Divine Itself that took on the Human, Jehovah is called "the Redeemer" in the following passages.

In Isaiah:

Thus said Jehovah thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, I am Jehovah thy God (Isaiah 48:17).

Jehovah of Hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel the God of the whole earth shall He be called (Isaiah 54:5).

In David:

O Jehovah, my ¹ Rock and my Redeemer (Psalms 19:14).

In Jeremiah:

Their Redeemer is strong; Jehovah of Hosts is His name (Jeremiah 50:34).

In Isaiah:

Thou, O Jehovah, art our Father, our Redeemer; from everlasting is Thy ² name (Isaiah 63:16).

From this it can now be seen how this saying of the Lord is to be understood:

The Son of man came to give His soul a redemption for many (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45);

namely, that they might be delivered and freed from hell; for the passion of the cross was the last combat and complete victory by which He subjugated the hells, and by which He glorified His Human (See The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem 293-297, 300-306).