555. "And they overcame it by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony." (12:11) This symbolizes victory gained by the Divine truth of the Word and thus by an acknowledgment that the Lord is God of heaven and earth and that the Ten Commandments are commandments for life in accordance with which a person should live.

It may be seen in no. 379 above that the blood of the Lamb is the Divine truth emanating from the Lord, which is the Divine truth of the Word; in nos. 6, 16 above, that the testimony is Divine truth; and in nos. 490, 506, that it is in particular these two tenets, that the Lord is God of heaven and earth, and that the Ten Commandments are commandments to be lived. The Ten Commandments are also accordingly called the testimony in Exodus 25:22; 31:7, 18; 32:15, Leviticus 16:13, Numbers 17:4, Psalms 78:5; 132:12.

People caught up in faith alone today believe that the blood of the Lamb refers to the Lord's suffering of the cross, principally because they make the Lord's suffering of the cross the chief tenet of their dogma, saying that by this He took upon Himself the condemnation of the Law, made satisfaction to the Father, and reconciled to Him the human race, and so on.

But that is not the case. Rather the Lord came into the world to conquer the hells and glorify His humanity, and His suffering of the cross was the last battle by which He completely overcame the hells and completely glorified His humanity, as may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 12-14.

Consequently it can be seen that the blood of the Lamb does not mean here the suffering of the cross as maintained by current dogma.

That the blood of the Lamb means the Divine truth emanating from the Lord, which is the Divine truth of the Word, can be seen from the fact that the Lord embodies the Word, and that because He embodies the Word, the Divine truth in it is His blood, and the Divine goodness in it His body.

This may be clearly shown by asking whether everyone does not embody his own goodness and his own truth. And because goodness is a matter of the will, and truth a matter of the intellect, whether everyone does not embody his own will and his own intellect. What else constitutes the person? Is not a person in essence these two entities? The Lord, however, is goodness itself and truth itself, or Divine good and Divine truth, and these two also constitute the Word.

12. The Lord Came into the World to Conquer the Hells and Glorify His Humanity; and the Suffering of the Cross Was the Final Battle by Which He Fully Overcame the Hells and Fully Glorified His Humanity

People in the church know that the Lord conquered death, which means hell, and that He afterward ascended with glory into heaven. But they still do not know that the Lord overcame death or hell by means of battles, which are temptations or trials; that by these means He at the same time glorified His humanity; and that the suffering of the cross was the final battle or trial by which He overcame hell or death and glorified His humanity.

Much is said about these trials in the Prophets and Psalms, but not so much in the Gospels. In the latter, the temptations or trials He endured in childhood are summarized and described by His trials in the wilderness and subsequent temptations by the devil, and the last ones by those He suffered in Gethsemane and on the cross.

[2] Regarding His trials in the wilderness and subsequent temptations by the devil, see Matthew 4:1-11, Mark 1:12-13, and Luke 4:1-13. However, all His temptations and trials are meant by these, even to the last of them. He revealed no more to His disciples concerning them, for we are told in Isaiah:

He was oppressed..., yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, He also opened not His mouth. (Isaiah 53:7)

Regarding His temptations or trials in Gethsemane, see Matthew 26:36-46, Mark 14:32-42, and Luke 22:39-46. And regarding His temptations or trials on the cross, see Matthew 27:33-56, Mark 15:22-38, Luke 23:33-49, and John 19:17-37.

Temptations or trials are nothing else than battles against the hells. Regarding the Lord’s temptations or battles, see the book The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine, published in London, nos. 201 and 302. And regarding temptations in general, see nos. 187-200 there.