Faith (pt.32)

Selection from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
(Continued pt. 32)

VII. THE LORD IS CHARITY AND FAITH IN MAN, AND MAN IS CHARITY AND FAITH IN THE LORD.

(2) Conjunction with God the Father is not possible, but only conjunction with the Lord, and through Him with God the Father. This the Scripture teaches and reason sees. The Scripture teaches that God the Father has never been seen or heard, and cannot be seen or heard; consequently that from Himself, as He is in His own Esse and Essence, He cannot operate at all in man. For the Lord says,

That no man hath seen God save He that is with the Father, He hath seen the Father (John 6:46).

Neither knoweth anyone the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27).

Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time nor seen His Shape (John 5:37).

This is because He is in the firsts and the principles of all things, thus pre-eminently above every sphere of the human mind; for He is in the firsts and the principles of all things of wisdom and all things of love, with which man can have no conjunction whatever; consequently if He Himself should draw near to man, or man to Him, man would be consumed and would melt away like wood in the focus of a powerful sun-glass, or rather like an image thrown into the sun itself. Therefore it was said to Moses, who longed to see God,

That man could not see Him and live (Ex. 33:20).

But that there may be conjunction with God the Father through the Lord, is evident from the passages just quoted, that not the Father, but the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, and who has seen the Father, has brought to view and revealed those things which are of God and from God; and also from the following:

In that day ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you (John 14:20).

The glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given unto them, that they may be one, even as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me (John 3:22, 23, 26).

Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no one cometh unto the Father but by Me. And then Philip wished to see the Father, and the Lord said to him, He that seeth Me seeth the Father; and if ye had known Me, ye would know My Father also (John 14:6, 7, 9).

Again:

He that beholdeth Me, beholdeth Him that sent Me (John 12:45).

He also said:

That He is the door, and that whosoever enters through Him is saved while he who climbeth up some other way is a thief and a robber (John 10:1-9).

He also says,

That he who abides not in Him, is cast forth and as a branch is withered, and cast into the fire (John 15:6).

This is because the Lord our Savior is Jehovah the Father Himself in human form; for Jehovah descended and became Man that He might be able to draw near to man, and man to Him, and conjunction might thus be effected, and through that conjunction man might have salvation and eternal life. For when God became Man, and thus also became Man-God, being then accommodated to man He could draw near to him and be conjoined with him as God-Man and Man-God. There are three things that follow in order; accommodation, application, and conjunction. There must be accommodation before there is application; and there must be accommodation and application both together before there is conjunction. Accommodation on God's part was that He became Man; application on God's part is perpetual so far as man applies himself in return; and so far as this is done, conjunction is effected also. These three follow each other and proceed in their order in each and all things, which become one and coexist.

(True Christian Religion 370)

To be continued...