A State of Temptation Which One Overcomes

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Temptations are attended with doubt in regard to the Lord's presence and mercy, and also in regard to salvation. The evil spirits who are then with the man and induce the temptation strongly inspire negation, but the good spirits and angels from the Lord in every possible way dispel this state of doubt, and keep the man in a state of hope, and at last confirm him in what is affirmative. The result is that -

a man who is in temptation hangs between what is negative and what is affirmative.

One who yields in temptation remains in a state of doubt, and falls into what is negative; but one who overcomes is indeed in doubt, but still, if he suffers himself to be cheered by hope, he stands fast in what is affirmative. As during this conflict the man seems to urge the Lord, especially by prayers, to be present, to have mercy, to give aid, and to deliver from damnation ...

(Arcana Coelestia 2338)

The State of the Church Changed When the Word was Made Flesh

Selection from Sacred Scriptures ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

• The Lord came into the world to fulfill all things of the Word, and thereby to become Divine Truth or the Word even as to ultimates

• The Lord came into the world to fulfill all things of the Word

• He thereby became Divine truth or the Word even in ultimates is meant by these words in John:

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the Only-begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth  (John 1:14).

To "become flesh" is to become the Word in ultimates. What the Lord was as the Word in ultimates He showed His disciples when He was transfigured (Matt. 17:2, etc.; Mark 9:2, etc.; Luke 9:28, etc.); and it is there said that Moses and Elias were seen in glory. (By "Moses and Elias" is meant the Word)

The Lord, as the Word in ultimates, is also described by John in Rev. 1:13-16, where all things in the description of him signify ultimate things of Divine truth or of the Word. The Lord had indeed been the Word before, but only in first principles, for it is said:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word; the same was in the beginning with God  (John 1:1, 2);

but when the Word became flesh, then the Lord became the Word in ultimates also. It is from this that He is called,

The First and the Last  (Rev. 1:8, 11, 17; 2:8; 21:6; 22:13).

The state of the church was completely changed by the Lord's becoming the Word in ultimates. All the churches that had existed before His advent were representative churches and could see Divine truth in the shade only; but after the Lord's coming into the world a church was instituted by Him that saw Divine truth in the light. The difference is like that between evening and morning, and the state of the church before his advent is also called "the evening," and that of the church after it "the morning."

Before his coming into the world the Lord was indeed present with the men of the church, but mediately through heaven, whereas since His coming into the world He is present with them immediately, for in the world He put on the Divine Natural, in which He is present with men. The glorification of the Lord is the glorification of His Human that He assumed in the world, and the Lord's glorified Human is the Divine Natural.

Few understand how the Lord is the Word, for they think that the Lord may indeed enlighten and teach men by means of the Word without His being on that account called the Word.

Be it known however that every man is his own love, and consequently his own good and his own truth. It is solely from this that a man is a man, and there is nothing else in him that is man. It is from the fact that a man is his own good and his own truth that angels and spirits are men, for all the good and truth that proceeds from the Lord is in its form a man. And as the Lord is Divine good and Divine truth itself, He is the Man, from whom every man is a man....

(Doctrine of Sacred Scriptures 98 - 100)

The Divine Human Serves the Divine for Mankind's Salvation

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

And Jehovah appeared to him in that night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father; fear not, for I am with thee, and I will bless thee, and will multiply thy seed, for the sake of Abraham My servant. And he builded an altar there, and called upon the name of Jehovah, and pitched his tent there, and there the servants of Isaac digged out a well.   Genesis 26:24, 25

That this signifies from the Lord's Divine Human is evident from the representation of Abraham, as being the Lord's Divine, and also the Divine Human; and from the signification of "my servant," when predicated of the Lord, as being the Divine Human;

Not that the Divine Human is a servant, because this also is Jehovah, but because the Lord by this serves the human race; for by this man is saved, inasmuch as unless the Lord had united the Human to the Divine, so that man might be enabled with his mind to look upon and adore the Human of the Lord and thus have access to the Divine, he could not possibly have been saved.

The conjunction of man with the Divine itself which is called the "Father" is through the Divine Human which is called the "Son"; thus through the Lord, by whom the spiritual man understands the Human, but the celestial man the Divine Itself. Hence it is evident why the Divine Human is called a "servant," namely, because it serves the Divine, in order that man may have access thereto, and because it serves mankind for their salvation.

This then is what is signified by "Abraham my servant" as also in David:

Remember his marvelous works that He hath done, his wonders and the judgments of His mouth, O ye seed of Abraham His servant, ye sons of Jacob, His chosen ones. He sent Moses His servant, Aaron whom He hath chosen. He remembered the word of His holiness with Abraham His servant (Ps. 105:5-6, 26, 42);

where by "Abraham his servant" is meant the Lord as to the Divine Human. In like manner also the Lord as to the Divine Human is meant in the supreme sense by "Israel his servant," by "Jacob his servant," and by "David his servant"; by Israel his servant, in Isaiah:

Thou Israel my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend; thou whom I have taken hold of from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the wings thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art My servant, I have chosen thee (Isa. 41:8-9);

where "Israel my servant" in the supreme sense is the Lord in respect to the internal things of the spiritual church; and "Jacob" as to the external things of this church. Again:

He said unto me, Thou art My servant Israel, in whom I will be glorified. It is a light thing that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved of Israel; and I have given thee for a light of the Gentiles, that thou mayest be My salvation unto the end of the earth (Isa. 49:3, 6);

where "Israel, in whom I will be glorified," manifestly represents the Lord's Divine Human. That he is called "servant" from serving is manifest, for it is said, "that thou shouldest be My servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved of Israel."

That the Lord as to His Divine Human is meant also by "Jacob my servant" is evident in the following passage from Isaiah:

I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, for Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My chosen (Isa. 45:3, 4);

where by "Jacob My servant, and Israel My chosen" is meant the Lord, "Jacob My servant" having respect to the external things of the church, and "Israel My chosen" to the internal things of the church.

The same is also signified by "David my servant" in Ezekiel:

I will gather the sons of Israel from every side. My servant David shall be king over them; there shall be to them all one shepherd. They shall dwell upon the land which I have given unto Jacob My servant, and they shall dwell therein, they and their sons and their sons' sons even forever; and David My servant shall be their prince forever (Ezek. 37:21, 24-25).

"David My servant" plainly denotes the Lord's Divine Human, and this from Divine truth, which is signified by "king," and here by "David."

That truth itself also is relatively a servant, may be seen above (n. 3409); and because it is so, the Lord Himself calls Himself one that serveth" or "ministereth," in Mark:

Whosoever would become great among you shall be your minister; and whosoever would be first among you shall be servant of all. For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister (Mark 10:43-45; Matt. 20:26-28).

And in Luke:

Which is the greater, he that reclineth at meat, or he that ministereth? Is not he that reclineth at meat? But I am in the midst of you as he that ministereth (Luke 22:27).

(Arcana Coelestia 3441)