1446. The meaning of Jehovah was seen by Abram as the fact that Jehovah appeared to the Lord while he was still young is established by the foregoing remarks and simply by Abram's representation of the Lord. It can also be seen from the course of progress; he acquired heavenly traits and then perception, from which it follows that Jehovah appeared to him. 1
Footnotes:
1. This appearing of Jehovah to the Lord (meaning Jesus) as if to a separate person, when Swedenborg's overall theology maintains that Jehovah is Jesus' own divine soul and there is but one person in the Godhead, can be understood by considering two related dualities involved in Jesus' incarnation as explained by Swedenborg. The first duality is that at birth Jesus had both an outer finite human nature derived from his human mother and an inner infinite divine nature that was Jehovah God, referred to in the New Testament as "the Father." The second duality is that in the process of putting off the finite humanity derived from his mother and replacing it with an infinite divine humanity from the Father, Jesus went through two alternating states. The first of these states was a process of emptying himself of the finite humanity derived from his mother. The second was a process of transformation or glorification that involved replacing the finite humanity with an infinite divine humanity, and thus becoming one with the Father. (On glorification, see note 1 in §1603.) When Jesus was in a state of being emptied, his consciousness was primarily in his finite humanity. In this state he related to the Father (Jehovah) as if to a separate person, and spoke as such. It is this perspective that is represented in the current passage. When Jesus was in a state of transformation or glorification his consciousness was primarily in his infinite divinity. In this state he related to the Father as his own deeper self, and spoke as such. These alternations of state continued throughout his lifetime on earth, culminating in the final cycle that occurred at the time of his crucifixion and resurrection. His ascension to the Father at the end of the Gospel accounts marks the final step in the process of achieving full oneness with the Father, even down to the level of flesh and bone. For more on these alternating states of emptying out and transformation or glorification and Jesus' differing states of mind during each of these states, see §§1815:2, 1999:2, 2159, 7058:3; The Lord 35-36; True Christianity 104-105, 110:2-4; Sketch for "True Christianity" (Swedenborg 1996a) "God the Redeemer" chapter 6 §19 (Coulson's numbering), chapter 9 §22 (Coulson's numbering). [LSW]
