From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Lord #1

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1. Teachings for the New Jerusalem on the Lord

The Entire Sacred Scripture Is about the Lord, and the Lord Is the Word

WE read in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and nothing that was made came about without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind. And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not grasp it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory, glory like that of the only-begotten child of the Father. He was full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3, 5, 14)

In the same Gospel,

Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in the same Gospel,

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light. I have come into the world as a light so that anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

We can see from this that the Lord is God from eternity and that he himself is that Lord who was born into the world. It actually says that the Word was with God and that the Word was God, as well as that nothing that was made came about without him, and then that the Word became flesh and that they saw him.

There is little understanding in the church of what it means to call the Lord “the Word.” He is called the Word because the Word means divine truth or divine wisdom and the Lord is divine truth itself or divine wisdom itself. That is why he is also called the light that is said to have come into the world.

Since divine wisdom and divine love are one with each other and have been one in the Lord from eternity, it also says “in him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind.” The life is divine love, and the light is divine wisdom.

This oneness is what is meant by saying both that “in the beginning the Word was with God” and that “the Word was God.” “With God” is in God, since wisdom is in love and love is in wisdom. This is like the statement elsewhere in John, “Glorify me, Father, together with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). “With yourself” is “in yourself.” This is why it adds “and the Word was God.” It says elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father and the Father is in him [John 14:10], and that the Father and he are one [John 10:30].

Since the Word is the divine wisdom of the divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah himself and therefore the Lord, the one by whom all things were made that were made, since everything was created out of divine love by means of divine wisdom.

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

The Bible

 

John 10:30

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30 I and my Father are one.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #743

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743. 17:14 "These will do battle with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings." This symbolizes the Lord's battle with Roman Catholics in France over an acknowledgment of His Divine humanity, because the Lord in that humanity is God of heaven and earth and also the Word.

Their battle with the Lord and of the Lord with them does not mean the kind of battle waged by evil people or with evil people, but the kind waged by and with people who do not yet possess truths concerning the Lord. The Lamb means the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity and also in respect to the Word (nos. 269, 291, 595); and to overcome them means, symbolically, to convince them by means of the Word. "For He is Lord of lords and King of kings" means, symbolically, "for He is God of heaven and earth." It is because of His lordship over all the goods of heaven and the church that He is called Lord of lords, and because of His kingship over all the truths of heaven and the church that He is called King of kings (no. 664).

It is apparent from this that "these will do battle with the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them, for He is Lord of lords and King of kings," symbolizes the Lord's battle with Roman Catholics in France over an acknowledgment of His Divine humanity, because the Lord in His humanity is God of heaven and earth.

[2] That the Lord is God of heaven and earth is something He Himself in plain words teaches, for He says:

All things that the Father has are Mine. (John 16:15)

The Father... has given all things into (the Son's) hand. (John 3:35, cf. 13:3)

(Father,) You have given (Me) authority over all flesh... All Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine... (John 17:2, 10)

All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18)

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me... He who (knows and) sees Me, (knows and) sees the Father... (For) I am in the Father, and the Father in Me... (John 14:6-11).

The Father and I are one. (John 10:30)

He also says that everyone who believes in the Lord has eternal life, and that whoever does not believe in Him does not see life (John 3:15, 17-18, 36; 6:47; 11:26, and elsewhere).

Who does not know that the Lord was conceived of God as His Father (Luke 1:34-35)? And who does not know therefore that God the Father, who is Jehovah, assumed a humanity in the world, and consequently that the humanity is the humanity of God the Father, thus that God the Father and the Lord are one, as soul and body are one?

Can anyone accordingly turn to a person's soul, and from there descend to his body? Must one not turn to his humanity, and then turn to his soul?

[3] It is by these considerations and others found in the Word that the Lamb will overcome Roman Catholics in France. Therefore, because they have ceased to worship the Pope, let them worship Him from whom the Pope says that he has all authority over the church and heaven. The Pope is a man, and the Lord is God, and God alone is to be turned to, called upon and revered, or in other words, worshiped.

The Lord alone is the Holy One who is to be called upon (Revelation 15:4).

I know that people will think, "How could Jehovah the Father, the creator of the universe, descend and assume a humanity?" But let them think at the same time, "How could a Son from eternity, who is equal to the Father, and is also the creator of the universe, do this?" Is the case not the same?

People speak of a Father and Son from eternity, but there is no Son from eternity. It is the Divine humanity that is called the Son sent into the world (Luke 1:34-35).

But more on this subject may be seen in no. 962 below.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.