As In First Principles So Also In Ultimates

Selection from The Doctrine of the Lord ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

That in the Lord were the Divine and the human — the Divine from Jehovah the Father, and the human from the virgin Mary. Hence He was God and Man, having a Divine essence and a human nature — a Divine essence from the Father, and a human nature from the mother; and therefore was equal to the Father as to the Divine, and less than the Father as to the human. It is also known that this human nature from the mother was not transmuted into the Divine essence, nor commingled with it, for this is taught in the Doctrine of Faith which is called the Athanasian Creed. For a human nature cannot be transmuted into the Divine essence, nor can it be commingled therewith.

In accordance with the same creed is also our doctrine, that the Divine assumed the Human, that is, united itself to it, as a soul to its body, so that they were not two, but one Person. From this it follows that the Lord [put off] the human from the mother, which in itself was like that of another man, and thus material, and [put on] a Human from the Father, which in itself was like His Divine, and thus substantial, so that the Human too became Divine. This is why in the Word of the Prophets the Lord even as to the Human is called Jehovah, and God; and in the Word of the Evangelists, Lord, God, Messiah or Christ, and the Son of God in whom we must believe, and by whom we are to be saved.

As from His birth the Lord had a human from the mother, and as He by successive steps [put it off], it follows that while He was in the world He had two states, the one called the state of humiliation or emptying out [exinanitio], and the other the state of glorification or unition with the Divine called the Father. He was in the state of humiliation at the time and in the degree that He was in the human from the mother; and in that of glorification at the time and in the degree that He was in the Human from the Father. In the state of humiliation He prayed to the Father as to one who was other than Himself; but in the state of glorification He spoke with the Father as with Himself. In this latter state He said that the Father was in Him and He in the Father, and that the Father and He were one. But in the state of humiliation He underwent temptations, and suffered the cross, and prayed to the Father not to forsake Him. For the Divine could not be tempted, much less could it suffer the cross. From what has been said it is now evident that by means of temptations and continual victories in them, and by the passion of the cross which was the last of the temptations, the Lord completely conquered the hells, and fully glorified His Human, as has been shown above.

That the Lord [put off] the human taken from the mother, and [put on] a Human from the Divine in Himself called the Father, is evident also from the fact that whenever He addressed His mother directly, He did not call her Mother, but Woman. Only three times in the Evangelists do we read that He thus addressed or spoke of her, twice calling her Woman, and once not recognizing her as His mother. Of the two occasions when He called her Woman we read in John:

The mother of Jesus said unto Him, They have no wine. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, what [belongs] to Me, and to thee? Mine hour is not yet come (2:3, 4).

When from the cross, Jesus sees His mother, and the disciple standing by whom He loved,

He saith to His mother, Woman, behold thy son; and then He saith to the disciple, Behold thy mother (19:26, 27).

And of the one occasion when He did not recognize her, in Luke:

It was told Jesus by certain who said, Thy mother and Thy brethren stand without, desiring to see Thee. Jesus answering said unto them, My mother and My brethren are these, who hear the Word of God, and do it (8:20, 21; Matt. 12: 46-49; Mark 3:31-35).

In other places Mary is called His "mother," but not from His own mouth.

The same inference is confirmed by the fact that the Lord did not admit that He was the son of David For we read in the Evangelists:

Jesus asked the Pharisees, saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is He? They say unto Him, The Son of David. He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call Him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand till I make Thine enemies Thy footstool? If then David calls Him Lord, how is He his son? And no one was able to answer Him a word (Matt. 12:41-46; Mark 12:35-37; Luke 20:41-44; Ps. 110:1).

From what has been said it is evident that in respect to the glorified Human the Lord was the son neither of Mary nor of David.

Of what quality was His glorified Human, He showed to Peter, James, and John when transfigured before them:

That His face shone as the sun, and His raiment was like the light and then a voice out of the cloud said, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye Him (Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2-8; Luke 9:28-36).

The Lord was also seen by John as the sun shining in his strength (Rev. 1:16).

That the Lord's Human was glorified, is evident from what is said about His glorification in the Evangelists:

The hour is come that the Son of man should be glorified. Jesus said, Father, glorify Thy name: then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I both have glorified it and will glorify it again (John 12:23, 28).

As the Lord was glorified by successive steps, it is said "I both have glorified it, and will glorify it again."

Again in the same Evangelist:

After Judas had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in Him: God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him (John 13:31, 32).

Jesus said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son may also glorify Thee (John 17:1, 5).

And in Luke:

Behooved it not the Christ to suffer this, and to enter into His glory? (Luke 24:26).

These things are said concerning His Human.

The reason the Lord said "God is glorified in Him," and "God shall glorify Him in Himself," and also "Glorify Thy Son that Thy Son may also glorify Thee," is that the unition was reciprocal, being that of the Divine with the Human and of the Human with the Divine. On this account He said also, "I am in the Father, and the Father in Me" (John 14:10, 11); and "All Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine" (John 17:10); so that the unition was plenary. It is the same with all unition - unless it is reciprocal, it is not full. Such therefore must also be the uniting of the Lord with man, and of man with the Lord. As He teaches:

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

Abide in Me, and I in you; he that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit (John 15:4, 5).

As the Lord's Human was glorified, that is, made Divine, He rose again after death on the third day with His whole body, which does not take place with any man; for a man rises again solely as to the spirit, and not as to the body. In order that men may know, and no one doubt, that the Lord rose again with His whole body, He not only said so through the angels in the sepulcher, but also showed Himself to His disciples in His human body, saying to them when they believed that they saw a spirit:

See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; handle Me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see Me have; and when He had thus spoken, He showed them His hands and His feet (Luke 24:39, 40 John 20:20).

And He said to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold My hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side; and be not faithless but believing; then said Thomas, My Lord and my God (John 20:27, 28).

In order to evince still further that He was not a spirit but a Man, the Lord said to His disciples,

Have ye here any meat? And they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish, and of a honeycomb; and He took it and did eat before them (Luke 24:41-43).

As His body was no longer material, but Divine substantial, He came in to His disciples when the doors were shut (John 20:19, 26); and after He had been seen He became invisible (Luke 24:31). Being such, the Lord was then taken up, and sat at the right hand of God; as we read:

It came to pass that while Jesus blessed His disciples, He was parted from them, and carried up into heaven (Luke 24:51).

After He had spoken unto them, He was carried up into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God (Mark 16:19).

To "sit at the right hand of God," signifies Divine omnipotence.

As the Lord ascended into heaven, and sat at the right hand of God (by which is signified Divine omnipotence) with the Divine and the Human united into a one, it follows that His human substance or essence is just as is His Divine substance or essence. To think otherwise would be like thinking that His Divine was taken up into heaven and sat at the right hand of God, but not His Human together with it, which is contrary to Scripture, and also to the Christian Doctrine, which is that in Christ God and Man are like soul and body, and to separate these is contrary to sound reason. This unition of the Father with the Son, or of the Divine with the Human, is meant also in the following:

I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again I leave the world, and go to the Father (John 16:28).

I go away, and come to Him that sent Me (John 7:33; 16:5, 16; 17:11, 13; 20:17).

If then ye shall see the Son of man ascending where He was before (John 6:62).

No one hath ascended into heaven but He that came down from heaven (John 3:13).

Every man who is saved ascends into heaven, but not of himself. He ascends by the Lord's aid. The Lord alone ascended of Himself.

Thus God became Man, as in first principles so also in ultimates. That God is a Man, and that every angel and every spirit is a man from God... From the beginning, however, God was a Man in first principles and not in ultimates; but after He had assumed the Human in the world, He became a Man in ultimates also. This follows from what has been already established — that the Lord united His Human to His Divine, and thus made His Human Divine. It is from this that the Lord is called the beginning and the end, the first and the last, the Alpha and the Omega:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, saith the Lord, who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty (Rev. 1:8, 11).

When John saw the Son of man in the midst of the seven lamp stands, he fell at His feet as dead; but He laid His right hand upon him, saying, I am the first and the last (Rev. 1:13, 17; 2:8; 21:6).

Behold, I come quickly, to give everyone according to his work: I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Rev. 22:12-13).

Thus saith Jehovah the King of Israel, and his Redeemer Jehovah of Armies, I am the first and the last (Isa. 44:6; 48:12).

(from The Doctrine of the Lord 35 - 36)

All Things Created Regard The Angelic Heaven

From Canons of the New Church ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

THE END ITSELF OF CREATION

IT IS AN ANGELIC HEAVEN FROM THE HUMAN RACE

In the created world there are perpetual progressions of ends; from first ends, through mediate ends, to ultimate ends.

The first ends are of love, or relations to love; mediate ends are of wisdom, or relations to wisdom; ultimate ends are of use, or relations to use. These things are so, because all things which are infinite in God and from God are of love, wisdom, and use.

These progressions of ends proceed from firsts to ultimates, and return from ultimates to firsts, and they proceed and return by periods which are called the circles of things.

These progressions of ends are more or less universal, and they are the aggregate of particular ends.

The most universal end, which is the end of ends, is in God; and it proceeds from God, from the firsts of the spiritual world to the ultimates of the natural world; and from these ultimates it returns to those firsts, and thus to God.

This most universal end, or that end of ends from God, is an angelic heaven from the human race.

That most universal end is the complex of all ends, and of their progressions in both worlds, the spiritual and the natural.

That most universal end is the inmost, and, as it were, the life and soul, the force and endeavor, in all and each created thing.

Thence there is a continued connection of all things in the created universe — from firsts to ultimates, and from ultimates to firsts.

From this end implanted in created things, in general and in particular, is the preservation of the universe.

On the Other Hand. —

Love is spiritual conjunction.

True love cannot be quiescent in itself, and be restrained within its own limits, but it wills to go forth and embrace others with love.

True love wills to be conjoined to others, and to communicate with them, and to give of its own.

True love wills to dwell in others, and in itself from others.

The Divine Love, which is Love itself, and God Himself, wills that it may be in a subject which is His image and likeness; consequently He wills to be in man, and man to be in Him.

In order that this may be effected, it follows from the very essence of Love, which is in God, and hence from an urgent cause, that the universe must needs be created by God, in which are earths, and upon them men, and in the men minds and souls, with which the Divine Love can be conjoined.

Therefore all things which are created regard man as the end.

Since the angelic heaven is formed from men, from their spirits and souls, all things which are created regard the angelic heaven as the end.

The angelic heaven is the habitation itself of God with men, and of men with God.

Eternal beatitudes, felicities, and delights together, are the ends of creation, because they are of love.

This end is the inmost; thus as it were, the life and soul, and as force and endeavor in each and all created things.

That end is God in them.

This end implanted in created things, in general and in particular, causes the universe to be preserved in the created state, in so far as the ends of an opposite love do not obstruct and destroy.

God from His Divine Omnipotence, Omnipresence, and Omniscience, continually provides lest opposite ends from opposite loves should prevail, and the work of creation be ruined even to destruction.

Preservation is perpetual creation, as subsistence is perpetual existence.

~~~

THE OMNIPOTENCE, OMNISCIENCE, AND OMNIPRESENCE OF GOD

The Omnipotence, Omniscience, and Omnipresence of God do not fall within the human understanding; because the Omnipotence of God is Infinite Power, the Omniscience of God is Infinite Wisdom, and the Omnipresence of God is Infinite Presence, in all things which have proceeded, and which do proceed, from Him; and the Divine Infinite does not fall within the finite understanding.
[All things proceed according to order. God is order.]

That God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent, is acknowledged without a rational investigation; since this flows in from God into the higher region of the human mind and thence into an acknowledgment with all who have religion and sound reason. That it also flows in with those who have no religion; but with them there is no reception, and hence no acknowledgment.

That God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent, man can confirm from innumerable things which are of reason, and at the same time of religion, as from the following: —

First.-God alone is and exists in Himself; and every other being and every other thing exists from Him.

Second.-God alone loves, is wise, and lives and acts from Himself; and every other being and every other thing does so from Him.

Third.-God alone has power from Himself; and every other being and every other thing has power from Him.

Consequently, God is the Soul of the whole; from whom all beings and all things are, live, and move.

Unless each and all things in the world and in heaven, relate to the One who is, lives, and has power from Himself, the universe would be dissipated in a moment.

Hence the universe created by God is the fullness of God; wherefore He Himself said that:

He Is the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, who was, is, and will be, the Omnipotent (Revelation 1: 8, 11).

The preservation of the universe, which is perpetual creation, is a full testimony that God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent.

Opposites, which are evils, are not removed because God is Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Omnipresent; since evils are outside of subjects, and outside created things, and do not penetrate to the Divine things which are within.

Evils, by the Divine Providence, which also is universal in the most particular things, are more and more removed from the interiors, and are cast out to the exteriors, and thus alienated and separated, lest they should inflict any injury on things internal, which are from the Divine.

[The Divine Omnipotence is [exercised] by means of His Human. This is "to sit at the right hand," and to be "The First and the Last" as is said of the Son of man in the Apocalypse, and there [it is said] that He is "Omnipotent." The reason is because God acts from firsts through ultimates and thus embraces all things.

The Lord acts from firsts through ultimates with men; not through anything belonging to the man but through His own in the man. With the Jews He acted through the Word, thus through His own; through the Word also He performed miracles through Elijah and Elisha; but because the Jews perverted the Word, God Himself came and made Himself the "Last." Then He performed miracles from Himself. Order was first created according to which God acts, wherefore God made Himself order.]

(from Canons of the New Church 10-12)

Divine Truth In Its Ultimates

Selection from Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
THE SANCTUARY OF DIVINE TRUTH IN ITS HOLINESS

Divine truth is what is called holy. But it is not holy before it is in its ultimate; and its ultimate is the Word in the literal sense; therefore, the Divine truth there is holy, and may be called the sanctuary. The reason is, that that sense contains and includes all the sanctities of heaven and the church.

It appears as if the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called spiritual and celestial, are more holy than the Divine truths in the literal sense of the Word, which are natural. But the Divine truths in the heavens, which are called spiritual and celestial, are comparatively like the lungs and heart in man, which, unless they were encompassed by ribs, and contained by the pleura and diaphragm, would not form the breast; for without these integuments - in fact, unless they were connected with them by bonds - they could not perform their vital functions. The spiritual things of the Word are like the breath of the lungs; its celestial things like the systole and diastole of the heart, and its natural things like the pleura, the diaphragm, and the ribs, with the moving fibres annexed, by means of which the motions are reciprocated.

Moreover, the spiritual and celestial things of the Word are comparatively like the holy things of the tabernacle, these being the table, upon which was the shew bread; the golden altar, upon which was the incense; the perfumes and censer; also the lampstand with the lamps; and still more interiorly the cherubim, the mercy-seat, and the ark. All these were the holy things of the Jewish and Israelitish church; but still they could not be called holy and the sanctuary until they were covered over by curtains and veils. For without those coverings they would have stood under the naked sky, exposed to showers and storms, to the birds of heaven and the wild beasts of the earth, and also to robbers' by which they would be violated, plundered, and dispersed. So would it be with the Divine truths in the heavens, called spiritual and celestial, unless they were enclosed by natural truths, such as are the truths of the literal sense of the Word.

Natural truths, which are the truths of the literal sense of the Word, are not the real truths of heaven, but they are the appearances thereof; and appearances of truth encompass, enclose, and contain the truths of heaven, which are genuine truths; and cause them to be in connection and order, and to cohere, as do the cardiac and pulmonary organs with their integuments and ribs, as said above. And when they are in connection and in order, then first they are holy, and not before. The literal sense of our Word does this by the appearances of truth, of which its ultimate consists; this is why this sense is essentially holy and Divine, and a sanctuary.

But he who separates the appearances of truth from genuine truths, and calls the literal sense holy by and of itself, and not by these, and from these, and together with these, is much deceived. He who sees only the literal sense separates them, and does not examine its meaning, as is the case with those who do not read the Word from doctrine.

By the cherubim in the Word is meant guard and protection, lest the holy things of heaven should be violated, and lest the Lord should be approached except by love. And hence the literal sense of the Word is signified by them, for it guards and protects. It guards and protects in this way, in order that a man may think and speak according to the appearances of truth, while he is well-disposed, simple, and as it were a child; but he must beware lest he confirms the appearances to the destruction of genuine truth in the heavens.

Now because in the ultimate sense of the Word, which is called the literal sense, are all interior things, that is to say, the spiritual and celestial things that are in the Words of the three heavens together - for those things are there that are in the Word with the angels of the third heaven, in its inmost contents; and those that are in the Words of the angels of the lower heavens, in its mediate contents, and these are encompassed with and included in such things as exist in nature in our world - the literal sense of our Word is from the latter and the former. Hence it is evident that the Divine truth in the literal sense of our Word is in its fulness.

That is called full which contains in itself all prior things from the first, or all things higher from the highest, the ultimate being that which includes them. The fulness of the Word may be compared to a common marble vessel, wherein are innumerable smaller crystal vessels, and in these still more numerous made of precious stones, in which and around which are the most exquisite delicacies of heaven; these are for those who from the Word perform excellent uses. That the Word is of such a quality is not seen by a man while he is in the world, but it is seen when he becomes an angel.

Because the Word in ultimates is such, it follows that it is not fully the Word before it is in that ultimate, thus before it is in the literal sense. For if that were not the case the Word would be like a temple in the air and not on the earth; or like a man with flesh without bones. And whereas Divine truth in its ultimate is in its fulness, and also in its power, for while it is that it is also in all, therefore the Lord never operates except from primaries by means of ultimates, consequently in fulness. For He does not reform and regenerate a man except by means of truths in ultimates, which are natural. And it is from this that such as is a man's quality in the world, such he remains after his departure out of the world, to eternity. It is from this also that heaven and hell are from the human race, and that, angels were not immediately created; for a man in the world is in his fulness, therefore he can be conceived and born there, and afterwards be filled with knowledge, intelligence, and wisdom, and become an angel. To create angels otherwise is not possible.

Because the Lord does all things from primaries by means of ultimates, and in ultimates He is in His power and in His fulness, therefore it pleased the Lord to take upon Him the Human, and to be made Divine truth, that is, the Word; and thus from Himself to bring into order all things in heaven, and all things in hell, that is, to execute a Last Judgment. This the Lord could accomplish from the Divine in Himself, which was in primaries, by His Human, which was in ultimates, and not from His presence or abode in the men of the church, as formerly; for these had entirely fallen away from the truths and goods of the Word, in which the Lord had His habitation with men previously. This was the primary cause of the Lord's Advent into the world; and also that He might make His Human Divine. For by this means He had the power of keeping all things in heaven and all things in hell in order for ever. This is meant by sitting at the right hand of God (Mark xvi. 19). The right hand of God is the Divine Omnipotence, and to sit at the right hand of God denotes the being in that by means of the Human.

That the Lord ascended into heaven with His Human glorified even to the ultimates, He Himself witnesses in Luke:

Jesus said unto his disciples, "See my hands and my feet, that I myself am, feel me and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have." (24: 39).

These things the Lord said just after His resurrection. Flesh and bones are the ultimates of the human body, on which the strength of it depends.

The absolute truth is, that no one can understand the Word without doctrine; for he may be led away into errors of every kind, to which he may incline from some love, or to which he may be drawn from some principle, by which his mind becomes vague and uncertain, so that at length it is, as it were, without truth. But he who reads the Word from doctrine sees all the things that confirm it, and also many things which are hidden from the eyes of others. Nor does he allow himself to be drawn into strange [doctrines]. Hence it is that his mind is made up so that he sees definitely.

The reason why the Word may be turned to confirm even heresies, unless it is read from doctrine, is, that its literal sense consists of pure correspondences, and these, for the most part, are appearances of truth, and in part, genuine truths, which can be neither seen nor distinguished unless doctrine be the lamp.

But doctrine cannot be procured except from the Word, and only by those who are enlightened by the Lord. Those who love truths because they are truths, and incorporate them in their life, are enlightened. Moreover, everything of doctrine must be confirmed by the literal sense of the Word, because therein Divine truth is in its fulness and in its power, and by this a man is in conjunction with the Lord, and associated with the angels.

In a word, he who loves truth because it is truth may, as it were, interrogate the Lord in doubtful matters of faith, and receive answers from Him, but nowhere else than in the Word, because the Lord is the Word.

(from Apocalypse Explained 1087 -1089)