9372. And He said unto Moses. That this signifies that which concerns the Word in general, is evident from the representation of Moses, as being the Word (of which below); and from the signification of “He said,” as involving those things which follow in this chapter, thus those which concern the Word (see n. 9370). (That Moses represents the Word, can be seen from what has been often shown before about Moses, as from the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 4859, 5922, 6723, 6752, 6771, 6827, 7010, 7014, 7089, 7382, 8601, 8760, 8787, 8805.) Here Moses represents the Word in general, because it is said of him in what follows, that he alone should come near unto Jehovah (verse 2); and also that, being called unto out of the midst of the cloud, he entered into it, and went up the mount (verses 16-18).

[2] In the Word there are many who represent the Lord in respect to truth Divine, or in respect to the Word; but chief among them are Moses, Elijah, Elisha, and John the Baptist. That Moses does so, can be seen in the explications just cited above; that so do Elijah and Elisha, can be seen in the preface to Genesis 18; and n. 2762, 5247; and that John the Baptist does so is evident from the fact that he was “Elias who was to come.” He who does not know that John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, cannot know what all those things infold and signify which are said about him in the New Testament; and therefore in order that this secret may stand open, and that at the same time it may appear that Elias, and also Moses, who were seen when the Lord was transfigured, signified the Word, some things may here be quoted which are spoken about John the Baptist; as in Matthew:

After the messengers of John had departed, Jesus began to speak concerning John, saying, What went ye out into the wilderness to see? a reed shaken by the wind? But what went ye out to see? a man clothed in soft raiment? Behold, they that wear soft things are in kings’ houses. But what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, even more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, Behold I send Mine angel before Thy face, who shall prepare Thy way before Thee. Verily I say unto you, Among those who are born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist; nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he. All the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if ye are willing to believe, he is Elias who was to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear (Matthew 11:7-15; and also Luke 7:24-28).

No one can know how these things are to be understood, unless he knows that this John represented the Lord as to the Word, and unless he also knows from the internal sense what is signified by “the wilderness” in which he was, also what by “a reed shaken by the wind,” and likewise by “soft raiment in kings’ houses;” and further what is signified by his being “more than a prophet,” and by “none among those who are born of women being greater than he, and nevertheless he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he,” and lastly by his being “Elias.” For without a deeper sense, all these words are uttered merely from some comparison, and not from anything of weight.

[3] But it is very different when by John is understood the Lord as to the Word, or the Word representatively. Then by “the wilderness of Judea in which John was” is signified the state in which the Word was at the time when the Lord came into the world, namely, that it was “in the wilderness,” that is, it was in obscurity so great that the Lord was not at all acknowledged, neither was anything known about His heavenly kingdom; when yet all the prophets prophesied about Him, and about His kingdom, that it was to endure forever. (That “a wilderness” denotes such obscurity, see n. 2708, 4736, 7313.) For this reason the Word is compared to “a reed shaken by the wind” when it is explained at pleasure; for in the internal sense “a reed” denotes truth in the ultimate, such as is the Word in the letter.

[4] That the Word in the ultimate, or in the letter, is crude and obscure in the sight of men; but that in the internal sense it is soft and shining, is signified by their “not seeing a man clothed in soft raiment, for behold those who wear soft things are in kings’ houses.” That such things are signified by these words, is plain from the signification of “raiment,” or “garments,” as being truths (n. 2132, 2576, 4545, 4763, 5248, 6914, 6918, 9093); and for this reason the angels appear clothed in garments soft and shining according to the truths from good with them (n. 5248, 5319, 5954, 9212, 9216). The same is evident from the signification of “kings’ houses,” as being the abodes of the angels, and in the universal sense, the heavens; for “houses” are so called from good (n. 2233, 2234, 3128, 3652, 3720, 4622, 4982, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997); and “kings,” from truth (n. 1672, 2015, 2069, 3009, 4575, 4581, 4966, 5044, 6148). Therefore by virtue of their reception of truth from the Lord, the angels are called “sons of the kingdom,” “sons of the king,” and also “kings.”

[5] That the Word is more than any doctrine in the world, and more than any truth in the world, is signified by “what went ye out to see? a prophet? Yea, I say unto you, and more than a prophet;” and by, “there hath not arisen among those who are born of women a greater than John the Baptist;” for in the internal sense “a prophet” denotes doctrine (n. 2534, 7269); and “those who are born,” or are the sons, “of women” denote truths (n. 489, 491, 533, 1147, 2623, 2803, 2813, 3704, 4257).

[6] That in the internal sense, or such as it is in heaven, the Word is in a degree above the Word in the external sense, or such as it is in the world, and such as John the Baptist taught, is signified by, “he that is less in the kingdom of the heavens is greater than he;” for as perceived in heaven the Word is of wisdom so great that it transcends all human apprehension. That the prophecies about the Lord and His coming, and that the representatives of the Lord and of His kingdom, ceased when the Lord came into the world, is signified by, “all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.” That the Word was represented by John, as by Elijah, is signified by his being “Elias who is to come.”

[7] The same is signified by these words in Matthew:

The disciples asked Jesus, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? He answered and said, Elias must needs first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you, that Elias hath come already, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished. Even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them. And they understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist (Matthew 17:10-13).

That “Elias hath come, and they knew him not, but did unto him whatsoever they wished” signifies that the Word has indeed taught them that the Lord is to come, but that still they did not wish to comprehend, interpreting it in favor of the rule of self, and thus extinguishing what is Divine in it. That they would do the same with the truth Divine itself, is signified by “even so shall the Son of man also suffer of them.” (That “the Son of man” denotes the Lord as to truth Divine, see n. 2803, 2813, 3704)

[8] From all this it is now evident what is meant by the prophecy about John in Malachi:

Behold I send you Elijah the prophet before the great and terrible day of Jehovah cometh (Malachi 4:5).

Moreover, the Word in the ultimate, or such as it is in the external form in which it appears before man in the world, is described by the “clothing” and “food” of John the Baptist, in Matthew:

John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judea, had His clothing of camel’s hair, and a leathern girdle about his loins; and his food was locusts and wild honey (Matthew 3:1, 4).

In like manner it is described by Elijah in the second book of Kings:

He was a hairy man, and girt with a girdle of leather about his loins (2 Kings 1:8).

By “clothing,” or a “garment,” when said of the Word, is signified truth Divine there in the ultimate form; by “camel’s hair” are signified memory-truths such as appear there before a man in the world; by the “leathern girdle” is signified the external bond connecting and keeping in order all the interior things; by “food” is signified spiritual nourishment from the knowledges of truth and of good out of the Word; by “locusts” are signified ultimate or most general truths; and by “wild honey” their pleasantness.

[9] That such things are signified by “clothing” and “food” has its origin in the representatives of the other life, where all appear clothed according to truths from good, and where food also is represented according to the desires of acquiring knowledge and growing wise. From this it is that “clothing,” or a “garment,” denotes truth (as may be seen from the citations above; and that “food” or “meat” denotes spiritual nourishment, n. 3114, 4459, 4792, 5147, 5293, 5340, 5342, 5576, 5579, 5915, 8562, 9003; that “a girdle” denotes a bond which gathers up and holds together interior things, n. 9341; that “leather” denotes what is external, n. 3540; and thus “a leathern girdle” denotes an external bond; that “hairs” denote ultimate or most general truths, n. 3301, 5569-5573; that “a camel” denotes memory-knowledge in general, n. 3048, 3071, 3143, 3145, 4156; that “a locust” denotes nourishing truth in the extremes, n. 7643; and that “honey” denotes the pleasantness thereof, n. 5620, 6857, 8056). It is called “wild honey,” or “honey of the field,” because by “a field” is signified the church (n. 2971, 3317, 3766, 7502, 7571, 9139, 9295). He who does not know that such things are signified, cannot possibly know why Elijah and John were so clothed. And yet that these things signified something peculiar to these prophets, can be thought by everyone who thinks well about the Word.

[10] Because John the Baptist represented the Lord as to the Word, therefore also when he spoke of the Lord, who was the Word itself, he said of himself that he was “not Elias, nor the prophet,” and that he was “not worthy to loose the latchet of the Lord’s shoe,” as in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory. The Jews from Jerusalem, priests and Levites, asked John who he was. And he confessed, and denied not, I am not the Christ. Therefore they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? But he said, I am not. Art thou the prophet? He answered, No. They said therefore unto him, Who art thou? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said Isaiah the prophet. They said therefore, Why then baptizest thou, if thou art not the Christ, nor Elias, nor the prophet? He answered, I baptize with water; in the midst of you standeth one whom ye know not; He it is who is to come after me, who was before me, the latchet of whose shoe I am not worthy to unloose. When he saw Jesus, he said, Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world! This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was before me; for he was before me (John 1:1, 14, 19-30).

From these words it is plain that when John spoke about the Lord Himself, who was Truth Divine itself, or the Word, he said that he himself was not anything, because the shadow disappears when the light itself appears, that is, the representative disappears when the original itself makes its appearance. (That the representatives had in view holy things, and the Lord Himself, and not at all the person that represented, see n. 665, 1097, 1361, 3147, 3881, 4208, 4281, 4288, 4292, 4307, 4444, 4500, 6304, 7048, 7439, 8588, 8788, 8806.) One who does not know that representatives vanish like shadows at the presence of light, cannot know why John denied that he was Elias and the prophet.

[11] From all this it can now be seen what is signified by Moses and Elias, who were seen in glory, and who spoke with the Lord when transfigured, of His departure which He should accomplish at Jerusalem (Luke 9:29-31); namely, that they signified the Word (“Moses” the historic Word, and “Elias” the prophetic Word), which in the internal sense throughout treats of the Lord, of His coming into the world, and of His departure out of the world; and therefore it is said that “Moses and Elias were seen in glory,” for “glory” denotes the internal sense of the Word, and the “cloud” its external sense (see the preface to Genesis 18, and n. 5922, 8427).

35. The Lord gradually put off the humanity taken on from the mother and put on a humanity from the Divine in Him, a humanity which is a Divine humanity and the Son of God. People know that the Lord had a Divine component and a human one — a Divine one from His Father Jehovah, and a human one from the virgin Mary. Consequently He was God and man, and so had a Divine essence and a human nature — a Divine essence from the Father, and a human nature from the mother. And because of that He was equal to the Father in respect to His Divinity, but less than the Father in respect to His humanity. People also know that He did not convert the human nature from the mother into Divine essence; neither did He commingle it with that essence, as the doctrine of faith named after Athanasius teaches. For human nature cannot be converted into Divine essence or be commingled with it.

[2] And yet, according to that same doctrine, the Divine took on a humanity, which is to say that He united Himself to it, like a soul to its body, even to the point that they were not two, but one person. It follows from this that He put off the humanity from the mother, which in itself was like the humanity of any other person, and thus material, and put on a humanity from the Father, which in itself is the same as the Divine itself, and thus essential, as a result of which the humanity, too, became Divine.

That is why the Prophets in the Word call the Lord Jehovah and God even in respect to His humanity, and that the Gospels in the Word call Him Lord, God, the Messiah or Christ, and the Son of God, in whom we are to believe, and by whom we can be saved.

[3] Now because the Lord initially had a humanity from the mother, which He gradually put off, therefore, when He was in the world, He had two states, one called His state of submission or kenosis, and one called His state of glorification or of union with the Divine called the Father. His state was one of submission whenever and as long as He was in a human state from the mother, and His state was one of glorification whenever and as long as He was in a human state from the Father.

In His state of submission He prayed to the Father as though praying to another than Himself, while in His state of glorification He spoke with the Father as though speaking with Himself. In the latter state He said that the Father was in Him and He in the Father, and that He and the Father were one. On the other hand, in His state of submission He underwent temptations or trials, suffered the cross, and prayed to the Father not to forsake Him. For the Divine cannot be tempted or tested, and still less suffer the cross.

It is now apparent from this that temptations or trials and continual victories in them — including the suffering of the cross, which was the last of the trials — were the means by which He completely overcame the hells and completely glorified His humanity, as we showed earlier.

[4] That the Lord put off His humanity from the mother and put on a humanity from the Divine in Him called the Father is apparent as well from the fact that whenever the Lord spoke with His own mouth to His mother, He did not call her mother, but woman. We find in the Gospels only three times that He spoke with His own mouth to His mother or about her, and we read then that twice He called her woman, and once that He did not acknowledge her as His mother.

Twice we read in John that He called her woman:

...the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “What is that to you and Me, woman? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:3-4)

Again in John:

Jesus, therefore, seeing (from the cross) His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” (John 19:26-27)

And once we read in Luke that He did not acknowledge her:

It was reported to Him by some, who said, “Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside and wish to see You.” (Jesus) answering said to them, “My mother and My brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:20-21, cf. Matthew 12:46-49, Mark 3:31-35)

In other places Mary is called His mother, but not by His mouth.

[5] This, too, is confirmed by the fact that He did not acknowledge Himself to be the son of David. For we read in the Gospels:

...Jesus asked (the Pharisees), saying, “What do you think regarding the Christ? Whose son is He?” They said to Him, “The son of David.” He said to them, “How then does David in the spirit call Him Lord, saying: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at My right, till I make Your enemies Your footstool?” ’ If David calls Him Lord, then how is He his Son?” And no one was able to answer Him a word.... (Matthew 22:41-46, cf. Psalms 110:1, Mark 12:35-37, Luke 20:41-44)

It is apparent from this that in respect to His glorified humanity the Lord was neither the son of Mary nor the son of David.

[6] What His glorified humanity was like He showed to Peter, James and John when He was transfigured before them:

His face shone like the sun, and His garments were [as white] as the light.... And then a voice from out of the cloud said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:1-8, cf. Mark 9:2-8, Luke 9:28-36)

The Lord also appeared to John “as the sun shining in its power” (Revelation 1:16).

[7] That the Lord’s humanity was glorified is clear from what we are told in the Gospels about His glorification. For example, in the following:

In John:

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.... (He said,) “Father, glorify Your name.” A voice...came from heaven, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.” (John 12:23, 28)

Because the Lord was glorified gradually, therefore the text says, “I have both glorified it and will glorify it again.”

Again in John:

...after (Judas) had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.... ...God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.” (John 13:31-32)

Again:

Jesus...said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You....” (John 17:1, 5)

And in Luke:

Ought not the Christ to have suffered this and to enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26)

This He said in regard to His humanity.

[8] The Lord said, “God is glorified in Him, ” “God will also glorify Him in Himself, ” and “Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may also glorify You.” The Lord said these things because the union was a reciprocal one of the Divine with the human and of the human with the Divine. That is why He also said, “I am in the Father and the Father in Me” (John 14:10-11), and “all mine are yours, and (all) yours are mine” (John 17:10). The result was a complete union.

The case is the same with every union. It is not complete unless it is a reciprocal one. Such is the nature also of the union of the Lord with a person and of a person with the Lord, as He teaches in John:

In that day you will know that...you are in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

And elsewhere:

Abide in Me, and I in you.... He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit. (John 15:4-5)

[9] Since the Lord glorified His humanity, that is, made it Divine, therefore after death He rose on the third day with His whole body. This does not happen in the case of any other person; for a person rises only in respect to his spirit, and not in respect to his body.

That people might know and no one doubt that the Lord rose with His whole body, He not only said so through the angels who were at the sepulchre, but He also showed Himself in His human body to His disciples, saying to them, when they believed they were seeing a spirit,

See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have. And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His feet. (Luke 24:39-40, cf. John 20:20).

And furthermore:

(Jesus) said to Thomas, “Put your finger here, and see My hands; and reach out your hand here and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.” Then Thomas...said..., “My Lord and my God!” (John 20:27-28)

[10] To confirm yet again that He was not a spirit but a man, the Lord said to His disciples,

“Have you any food here?” So they gave Him part of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence. (Luke 24:41-43)

Since His body was now no longer a material one but an essential, Divine one, therefore He came to His disciples through closed doors (John 20:19, 26). And after they saw Him, He vanished out of their sight (Luke 24:31).

It was in such a state that the Lord was then taken up and sat at the right of God. For we are told in Luke:

It came to pass, as (Jesus) was blessing (His disciples), that He departed from them and was taken up into heaven. (Luke 24:51)

And in Mark:

...after (He) had spoken to them, He was taken up into heaven, and sat at the right of God. (Mark 16:19)

Sitting at the right of God symbolizes Divine omnipotence.

[11] Since the Lord rose into heaven and sat at the right of God, symbolizing Divine omnipotence, with His Divinity and humanity united into one, it follows that His human substance or essence was like His Divine substance or essence.

If a person were to think otherwise, it would be as though he thought that the Lord’s Divinity was taken up into heaven and sat at the right of God, but not at the same time His humanity, which is contrary to Scripture. It is also contrary to Christian doctrine, which teaches that in Christ God and man are like soul and body, and to separate them would be contrary to sound reason.

This union of Father and Son, or of the Divine with the human, is what is meant also in the following:

I came forth from the Father and have come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go to the Father. (John 16:28)

... I go away... and... go to Him who sent Me. (John 16:5, 7:33, cf. 16:16, 17:11, 13, 20:17)

If then you see the Son of Man ascend where He was before? (John 6:62)

No one has ascended into heaven but He who came down from heaven.... (John 3:13)

Everyone who is saved ascends into heaven, though not by his own power, but the Lord’s. The Lord alone ascended into heaven on His own.