From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christianity #102

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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).

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

The Bible

 

Revelation 1:8

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8 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Doctrine of the Lord #36

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36. Thus God became man, as in the firsts of creation, so also in the lasts of it. God is human, and every angel and spirit is human because God is human, as we showed several times in the book Heaven and Hell, and as we will show additionally in short works with the title Angelic Wisdom.

From the beginning, however, God was human in the firsts of creation, but not in the lasts of it. Not until after He took on a humanity in the world did He become also human in outmost expressions. This follows from the confirmatory passages above, confirming that the Lord united His humanity to His Divinity, and so made His humanity also Divine.

[2] It is because of this that the Lord is called the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, and the Alpha and the Omega, being called so in the book of Revelation:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, ” says the Lord, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. (Revelation 1:8, cf. 1:11)

When John saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven lampstands,

...(he) fell at His feet as though dead. But He laid His right hand on (him), saying..., “...I am the First and the Last....” (Revelation 1:13, 17, cf. 2:8, 21:6)

Behold, I am coming quickly..., to give to every one according to his 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 says Jehovah, the King of Israel, and its Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts: “I am the First and I am the Last....” (Isaiah 44:6, cf. 48:12)

  
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Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003687, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954074.