808. 19:4 And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sat on the throne, saying, "Amen! Alleluia!" This symbolizes an adoration of the Lord as God of heaven and earth and judge of the universe by angels of the higher heavens, and an affirmation by them of the thanksgiving, confession and celebration of the Lord made by angels of the lower heavens.

To fall down and worship symbolizes humility, and worship as a result of that humility, as in no. 370 above. The twenty-four elders and four living creatures symbolize the higher heavens (no. 369). He who sat on the throne means the Lord as God of heaven and judge of the universe, since the throne symbolizes heaven and the government there (nos. 14, 221, 222), and also judgment - in this case judgment, because it refers to the judgment on the Roman Catholic religion, which is the subject of the preceding chapter. That He who sat on the throne is the Lord will be seen below. "Amen! Alleluia!" symbolizes an affirmation of the thanksgiving, confession and celebration of the Lord by angels of the lower heavens. "Amen" symbolizes an affirmation and agreement in response to truth (nos. 23, 28, 61, 371, 375), and "alleluia" symbolizes a thanksgiving, confession and celebration of the Lord (no. 803). These were made by angels of the lower heavens, because they spoke first and celebrated the Lord as God of heaven, and as judge and avenger, saying "Alleluia!" as is apparent from the first two verses of this chapter and the exposition in nos. 803-806 above. Affirmation of these by angels of the higher heavens is symbolized here by "Amen! Alleluia!"

[2] That He who sat on the throne is the Lord is apparent from Revelation 1:4; 3:21; 4:2-6, 9; 5:13; 6:16; 7:9-11; 22:1, 3. These verses tell us that God and the Lamb were on the throne. God there means the underlying Divinity of the Lord called the Father, and the Lamb the Divine humanity called the Son (nos. 269, 291). Thus it is the Lord alone. This, too, is apparent from chapter 7 where it says, "the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them" (Revelation 7:17). And in Matthew:

...when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory (i.e., ready to judge).... (Matthew 19:28)

When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the... angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory. (Matthew 25:31)

29. The Lord Made His Humanity Divine from the Divine in Him, and So Was United with the Father

The doctrine of the church, accepted throughout the Christian world, is this:

...our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man.... But although He is God and man, still there are not two Christs but one, being one because the Divine took to Himself a humanity; yet still completely one, for...He is one person. For as soul and body form one person, so God and man are one Christ....

These words are taken from the doctrine of the Athanasian Creed, which has been accepted throughout the Christian world. They constitute the essential teaching there regarding the union of the Divine and human in the Lord. Everything else said in this same doctrine regarding the Lord — this we will explain in its own section.

It is apparent, clearly, from the above citation, that it accords with the Creed of the Christian Church to say that the Divine and the human in the Lord are not two entities but one, as soul and body are one person; and that it was the Divine in Him that took on the human.

[2] It follows from this that the Divine cannot be separated from the human, nor the human from the Divine, as separating them would be like separating soul and body.

The reality of this is something everyone acknowledges who reads what we have cited above in nos. 19 and 21 from the two Gospels that tell of the Lord’s birth, namely from Luke 1:26-35 and from Matthew 1:18-25. These descriptions make clear that Jesus was conceived of Jehovah God and born from the virgin Mary, thus that the Divine was present in Him and was His soul.

Now because His soul was the Divinity itself of the Father, it follows that His body or humanity became also Divine; for when one element is Divine, the other must be also.

In this way and no other are the Father and Son one — the Father being in the Son, and the Son in the Father —and all things of the Son are the Father’s, and all things of the Father are the Son’s, as the Lord Himself teaches in His Word.

[3] But how the union was formed — this we will tell point by point as follows:

1. The Lord from eternity is Jehovah.

2. The Lord from eternity, or Jehovah, assumed a humanity in order to save mankind.

3. He made His humanity Divine from the Divinity in Him.

4. He made His humanity Divine through temptations or trials that He underwent.

5. The complete union of the Divine and the human in Him was achieved by His suffering of the cross, which was the last of those temptations or trials.

6. He gradually put off the humanity received from the mother and put on a humanity from the Divinity in Him, which is the Divine humanity and the Son of God.

7. Thus God became human in final elements as well as in first ones.