new church life: november/december 2016
the Lord willed to “send Himself into the world” (True Christian Religion 92)
by birth.
Thus in “bowing the heavens and coming down,” the Lord “took on just
what was with the angels” (Arcana Coelestia 6371) in the very descent to Mary’s
womb, so that on earth the Lord had Jehovah as His own soul, “God with us
Emanuel,” both embodied as the Son of God, and speaking the Word from His
own earthly mouth, as the Son of Man.
On this whole process, we read: “ . . . because Jehovah took on that human
form by passing through heaven, and yet in order to save the human race it
was necessary for Him to be a human being – in all reality and essentially
such – He was pleased to undergo human birth, and so to take on a truly
human form in which He – Jehovah Himself – was present.” (Ibid. 10579.4)
The previous “transflux” mode “came to an end.” (Ibid. 6371.2)10
That angel of Jehovah, the transflux via angels, announcing His birth in
Bethlehem, is Handel’s, “A multitude of the heavenly host singing Glory to
God in the Highest, on earth Peace, goodwill toward men.” And the Wise Men
worshipping Him as the King is “the Government shall be upon His shoulder,
Almighty God, the Everlasting Father, King of Kings.”
The Lord on earth glorified His Human, He “made His Human, while
He was in the world, to be Divine Truth; but after that, when He was fully
glorified, He made it to be Divine Good, and so one with Jehovah.” (Ibid.
6716.3) Therefore, “When He had glorified Himself, He rose above [the earlier
receptacle]; even His Human was made absolute Divine Good, or Jehovah.”
(Ibid. 5307.2) This risen Lord is hailed in Handel’s, “Hallelujah, Lord of Lords,
He shall reign forever.”
The Lord’s Divine Human after the Resurrection became an “essence
by itself filling the universal heaven” (Ibid. 3061), that is, “as the Divine and
Human in Him are one Person, that the Lord is that Father.” (True Christian
Religion 852, 112) Thus we see that the Messiah when risen, is “Our Father
who art in the Heavens.”
The Lord can from now on be seen by any angel “as an angelic being
distinguished from other angels by the Divine that shines through.” (Heaven
and Hell 52, 55) This is not the former angel of the Lord; instead it is the Lord
Himself seen as an “angelic being.” This is Handel’s “Behold your God.”
Another huge consequence of the First Advent was the beginning of
the Holy Spirit when the Lord breathed on His disciples and said: “Receive
the Holy Spirit.” The Lord now does this to all people. Whether it is received
“discernibly or indiscernibly,” the Holy Spirit today “imparts the ability to
10 Note to colleagues: these quotes are “gauntlet proof”. See “Clergy Report” New Church Life Sept.
Oct, 2015, p. 477-478
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