From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #82

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82. (1) JEHOVAH GOD DESCENDED AND ASSUMED THE HUMAN, IN ORDER TO REDEEM AND SAVE MANKIND.

It is believed at this day in the Christian Churches that God, the Creator of the universe, begot a Son from eternity, who descended and assumed a human in order to redeem and save mankind. This, however, is erroneous, and cannot be upheld when it is considered that God is one, and that it is utterly opposed to reason to say that the one God begot a Son from eternity, and that God the Father, together with the Son and the Holy Spirit, each of whom separately is God, is one God. This absurd belief is completely dissipated, like a falling star in the air, when it is shown from the Word that Jehovah God Himself descended and became Man and also the Redeemer.

[2] The first point, that Jehovah God Himself descended and became Man, is evident from the following passages:

"Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, who shall be called God with us (A.V., Immanuel)" Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23.

"Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful,...the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace" Isaiah 9:6.

"It shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for Him, and He will save us: this is JEHOVAH; we have waited for Him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation" Isaiah 25:9.

"The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of JEHOVAH, make straight in the desert a highway for our God,... and all flesh shall see it together" Isaiah 40:3, 6.

"Behold, the Lord Jehovih (A.V., Lord God), will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold, His reward is with Him... He shall feed His flock like a shepherd" Isaiah 40:10-11.

"Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith JEHOVAH: and many nations shall be joined to JEHOVAH in that day" Zechariah 2:10-11.

"I JEHOVAH have called thee in righteousness,... and will give thee for a covenant to the people... I am JEHOVAH; that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another" Isaiah 42:6, 8.

"Behold the days come,... that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign... and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth,... and this is His name... JEHOVAH our righteousness" Jeremiah 23:6, 6; 33:15-16.

Besides these there are other passages where the Coming of the Lord is called the Day of Jehovah, as Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13; Ezekiel 31:15; Joel 1:15; 2:1, 11; 3:1, 14, 18; Amos 5:13, 18, 20; Zephaniah 1:7-18; Zechariah 14:1, 4-21; and in other places.

[3] That Jehovah Himself descended and assumed the Human is clearly evident in Luke, where it is written:

"Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" Luke 1:34-35.

And in Matthew:

The angel said to Joseph, the husband of Mary, in a dream, that what was conceived in her was of the Holy Spirit. And Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her son: "And he called His name Jesus" 1:20-25.

It will be seen in the third chapter of this work that by the Holy Spirit is meant the Divine which proceeds from Jehovah God. Everyone knows that a child receives his soul and life from his father, and that the body is from the soul. What then is more clearly stated than that the Lord received His soul and life from Jehovah God? And since the Divine cannot be divided, what is more evident than that the Divine itself of the Father was His soul and life? It was for this reason that the Lord so often called Jehovah God His Father, and Jehovah God called Him His own Son. What, then, could one hear more unreasonable than that the soul of our Lord was derived from Mary, His mother, as both Roman Catholics and Protestants at this day affirm, as in a dream, not being as yet awakened by the light of the Word?

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

The Bible

 

Zephaniah 1:7-18

Study

  

7 Hold thy peace at the presence of the Lord GOD: for the day of the Lord is at hand: for the Lord hath prepared a sacrifice, he hath bid his guests.

8 And it shall come to pass in the day of the LORD's sacrifice, that I will punish the princes, and the king's children, and all such as are clothed with strange apparel.

9 In the same day also will I punish all those that leap on the threshold, which fill their masters' houses with violence and deceit.

10 And it shall come to pass in that day, saith the LORD, that there shall be the noise of a cry from the fish gate, and an howling from the second, and a great crashing from the hills.

11 Howl, ye inhabitants of Maktesh, for all the merchant people are cut down; all they that bear silver are cut off.

12 And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.

13 Therefore their goods shall become a booty, and their houses a desolation: they shall also build houses, but not inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, but not drink the wine thereof.

14 The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

15 That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,

16 A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.

17 And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

18 Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land.