102. There is a belief that the Lord in his human manifestation not only was but still is the Son of Mary. This is a blunder, though, on the part of the Christian world. It is true that he was the Son of Mary; it is not true that he still is. As the Lord carried out the acts of redemption, he put off the human nature from his mother and put on a human nature from his Father. This is how it came about that the Lord's human nature is divine and that in him God is human and a human is God. The fact that he put off the human nature from his mother and put on a divine nature from his father - a divine human nature - can be seen from his never referring to Mary as his mother, as the following passages show: "The mother of Jesus said to him, 'They have no wine. ' Jesus said to her, 'What do I have to do with you, woman? My hour has not yet come'" (John 2:4). Elsewhere it says, "Jesus on the cross saw his mother and the disciple he loved standing next to her. He said to his mother, 'Woman, behold your son. ' Then he said to the disciple, 'Behold your mother'" (John 19:26-27). On one occasion he did not acknowledge her: "There was a message for Jesus from people who said, 'Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to see you. ' Jesus said in reply, 'My mother and my brothers are these people who are hearing the Word of God and doing it'" (Luke 8:20-21; Matthew 12:46-49; Mark 3:31-35). So the Lord called her "woman," not "mother," and gave her to John to be his mother. In other passages she is called his mother, but not by the Lord himself.

[2] Another piece of supporting evidence is that the Lord did not acknowledge himself to be the son of David. In the Gospels we read,

Jesus asked the Pharisees, saying, "What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?" They say, "David's. " He said to them, "Why then does David in the spirit call him his Lord when he says, 'The Lord said to my Lord, "Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a footstool for your feet?"' If David calls him Lord, how is he his son?" And no one could answer him a word. (Matthew 22:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Psalms 110:1)

[3] Here I will add something previously unknown. On one occasion I was given an opportunity to talk to Mother Mary. She happened past, and I saw her in heaven over my head in white clothing apparently made of silk. Then, stopping for a while, she said that she had been the Lord's mother in the sense that he was born from her, but by the time he became God he had put off everything human that came from her. Therefore she adores him as her God and does not want anyone to see him as her son, because everything in him is divine.

From the points above another truth now becomes manifest: Jehovah is as human in what is first as he is in what is last, as the following passages indicate: "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the One who is, who was, and who is to come, the Almighty" (Revelation 1:8, 11). When John saw the Son of Humankind in the middle of seven lampstands, he fell at his feet as if dead; but the Son of Humankind laid his right hand on John and said, "I am the First and the Last" (Revelation 1:13, 17; 21:6). "Behold, I am coming quickly to give to all according to their work. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last" (Revelation 22:12-13). And in Isaiah, "Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel and its Redeemer, Jehovah Sabaoth: I am the First and the Last" (Isaiah 44:6; 48:12).

20. To the seven churches, signifies to all who are in truths from good or in faith from charity. This is evident from the signification of "seven," as being all [persons]. For "seven," in the Word, signifies the beginning and end, thus an entire period and a full state, in like manner as a "week" (Arcana Coelestia 728, 6508, 9228); and because "seven" signifies what is full, it also signifies all, since all constitutes what is full, for fullness, as regards those that constitute a society (here, the church), means all; therefore when magnitude is treated of in the Word, "seven" signifies what is full; but when multitude is treated of, "seven" signifies all. "Three" also in the Word signifies what is full and all (as may be seen in Arcana Coelestia 2788[1-13], 4495, 7715); but "seven" is used in the Word where anything holy is treated of, and "three" in all other cases (Arcana Coelestia 10127); therefore "seven" is here used, because truths from good, which are the holy things of the church, are treated of. It is also evident from the signification of "churches" as being those who are in truths from good, or in faith from charity.

These are meant by "churches," because such truths constitute the church with everyone; for those who are not in truths from good, though born within the church, yet are not of the church, because there is no church in them. From this it is that the Lord's church consists of all those, wheresoever they are, who are a church, that is, who are in truths from good. (That the church, like heaven, is in man, and not outside of him, consequently that man who is in truths from good is a church, see Arcana Coelestia 3884; and in the work on Heaven and Hell 53, 54, 57.)

It is also said, who are in faith from charity, since this is similar; for truth is of faith, and good is of charity; for in fact, everything that man believes is called truth, and everything that man loves is called good.

(That every truth is from good, and that everything of faith is from charity, see in the small work, The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine 84-107, 108-122; and Last Judgement (n. 33-39; also Heaven and Hell 364, 424, 482, 526.)

He who knows nothing of the internal sense of the Word, when he reads these things believes no otherwise than that by "seven churches" are meant the seven churches afterwards named (verse 1:11); whereas churches are not meant, but all who are of the church; because this is the spiritual sense of the Word.