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Arcana Coelestia #1812

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1812. 'He believed in Jehovah' means the Lord's faith at that time. This is clear from the words themselves, and also from the train of thought in the internal sense, the train of thought being that while He lived in the world the Lord was engaged repeatedly in conflicts brought about by temptations, and was repeatedly victorious. And what is meant here by 'believing in Jehovah' is the truth that the Lord was filled repeatedly with an inmost confidence and faith that, because it was pure love out of which He was fighting for the salvation of the whole human race, He could not but be victorious. From the love out of which anyone fights it is known what his faith is. A person who fights out of any other love than love towards the neighbour and love towards the Lord's kingdom is not fighting out of faith, that is, he does not believe in Jehovah but in that which he loves; for the love itself for which he fights constitutes his faith. Take, for example, one who fights out of the love of becoming the greatest in heaven. He does not believe in Jehovah, but rather in himself, for wishing to become the greatest is wishing to have control over others. Thus he fights for control. It is the same with every other example that may be taken. From the love itself therefore out of which a person fights one may know what his faith is.

[2] The Lord however, in all His conflicts brought about by temptations, never fought out of self-love, that is, for Himself, but for all throughout the universe. He did not fight therefore to become the greatest in heaven, for that is contrary to Divine love. He scarcely did so to become the least. He fought solely so that all others might become something and be saved, as He Himself also declares in Mark,

The two sons of Zebedee said, Grant us to sit in Your glory, one on Your right hand and the other on Your left. Jesus said, Whoever would be great among you must be your minister, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man also came not to be ministered to but to minister, and to give His life 1 as the price of redemption for many. Mark 10:37, 43-45.

This is the love, that is, the faith, out of which the Lord fought, and which is meant by 'believing in Jehovah'.

Footnotes:

1. literally, soul

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #5005

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5005. 'And none of the men of the house was there in the house' means without the help of any other. This becomes clear from the fact that this statement means that Joseph was alone; and because in the internal sense 'Joseph' is descriptive of the Lord, of how He glorified His Internal Human or made this Divine, these words are used to mean that He made it so without the help of any other. This truth that the Lord made His Human Divine by His own power, and so without the help of any other, may be recognized from the consideration that because He was conceived from Jehovah, the Divine was within Him, and thus that the Divine was His own. Therefore when He was in the world and made the Human within Him Divine, He did so with the aid of the Divine, which was His own, that is, He did it by Himself. This is described in Isaiah as follows,

Who is this who is coming from Edom, with spattered clothes from Bozra, He that is glorious in His apparel, marching in the vast numbers of His strength? I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no man was with Me. I looked about but there was none helping, and I wondered, but there was not one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation to Me. Isaiah 63:1, 3, 5.

And elsewhere in the same prophet,

He saw that there was no man, and as it were wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His own arm brought salvation to Him, and His righteousness lifted Him up. Consequently He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon His head. Isaiah 59:16-17.

For more about the Lord making the Human within Him Divine by His own power, see 1616, 1749, 1755, 1812, 1813, 1921, 1928, 1999, 2025, 2026, 2083, 2500, 2523, 2776, 3043, 3141, 3382, 3637, 4286.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.