Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End

From Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

I am the Alpha and the Omega, Beginning and End, signifies that He governs all things from firsts through ultimates, and thus all things of heaven to eternity. This is evident from the signification of "the Alpha and the Omega," as being the first and the last, or in firsts and in ultimates; and He who is in firsts and in ultimates also governs intermediates, thus all things. These things are said of the Lord's Divine Human, for they are said of Jesus Christ, by which name His Divine Human is meant.  By means of this the Lord is in firsts and in ultimates.  But that He governs all things from firsts through ultimates, is an arcanum that cannot as yet be perceived by man; for man knows nothing of the successive degrees into which the heavens are divided, and into which also the interiors of man are divided; and he scarcely knows that man as to flesh and bones is in his ultimates.  Neither does he perceive how intermediates are governed from firsts through ultimates; and yet in order that He might thus govern all things, the Lord came into the world that even to ultimates, that is, even to flesh and bones, He might assume the Human and glorify it, that is, make it Divine. That the Lord put on such a Human, and took it with Him into heaven, is known in the church from this, that He left nothing of His body in the sepulcher; also from His own words to His disciples:

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 behold Me having (Luke 24:39).

By this Human, therefore, the Lord is in ultimates; and by making even these ultimates Divine, He put Himself into the Divine power of governing all things from firsts through ultimates. If the Lord had not done this, the human race on this earth would have perished in eternal death....

(Apocalypse Explained 41)

The Testimony of Jesus Christ

From Apocalypse Explained ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

To those who in heart acknowledge Divine truth, and the Divine of the Lord in His Human

... "to testify" signifies to acknowledge in heart, and to acknowledge Jesus Christ in heart is to acknowledge the Divine in His Human; for he that acknowledges the Lord, and does not at the same time acknowledge the Divine in His Human, does not acknowledge the Lord; since His Divine is in His Human, and not out of it; for the Divine is in Its Human as the soul is in the body, consequently to think of the Lord's Human, and not at the same time of His Divine, is like thinking of a man abstractly from his soul or life, which is not thinking of a man.

That the Lord's Divine is in His Human, and that together they are one person, the doctrine received throughout the Christian world teaches; which teaching is as follows:

"Although Christ is God and Man, yet they are not two, but one Christ; one, but not by a change of the Divine into the Human, but the Divine took the Human to Itself. Altogether one, not by confusion of the two natures, but by unity of person; for as soul and body make one man, so God and Man are one Christ" (Athanasian Creed).

From this it is manifest, moreover, that those who separate the Divine into three persons, when they think of the Lord as a second person, ought to think of both together, the Human and the Divine; for it is said that they are a single person, and that they are one, as soul and body are. Therefore those that think otherwise do not think of the Lord; and those that do not think of the Lord in that way are unable to think of the Divine that is called the Father's, for the Lord saith:

I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one cometh unto the Father but through Me (John 14:6).

Since this acknowledgment is signified by the "testimony of Jesus Christ," it is said that:

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy (Rev. 19:10).

"The spirit of prophecy" is the life and soul of doctrine; and that "prophecy" signifies doctrine; and the acknowledgment of the Lord is the very life or soul of all doctrine in the church....

To "bear witness" is to acknowledge in heart, because spiritual things are treated of; and no one can bear witness respecting spiritual things except from the heart, because from no other source does he perceive that they are so. To bear witness of things that have existence in the world is to bear witness from knowledge, or from memory and thought, because the man has so seen or heard; but it is otherwise with things spiritual, for these fill the whole life and constitute it.

The spirit of man, in which his life primarily resides, is nothing else than his will or his love, and his understanding and faith therefrom, and "heart" in the Word signifies the will and love, and understanding and faith therefrom. From this it is evident whence it is that by "bearing witness" in the spiritual sense, is meant to acknowledge in heart. Since by the "heart" is signified the good of love, and this alone is what acknowledges Divine truth, and the Divine of the Lord in His Human, and since that good is signified by "John," it is also said by John that he "bears witness to the Word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ." So also in another place:

And he that hath seen hath borne witness, and his witness is true; and he knoweth that he saith true, that ye may believe (John 19:35);

and in another place:

This is the disciple that beareth witness of these things, and wrote these things; and we know that his witness is true (John 21:24).

(Apocalypse Explained 10)

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 Being, The Divine Coming Forth

Selections from Apocalypse Explained and Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Since the Word is the Divine truth, and this proceeds from the Lord's Divine Being [Esse] as light proceeds from the sun, it follows as a consequence that the Lord is the Word because He is the Divine truth. The Lord is the Word, because He is the Divine truth, and this proceeds from His Divine Being [Esse], which is the Divine love, because the Divine love was in Him when He was in the world as the soul is in its body; and as the Divine truth proceeds from the Divine love as light proceeds from the sun, as has been said, therefore the Lord's Human in the world was the Divine truth proceeding from the Divine love that was in Him. That the Divine Itself, which is called "Jehovah" and the "Father," and which is the Divine love, was in the Lord from conception, is evident in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. In Matthew from these words:

When Mary the mother of Jesus had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Spirit. And the angel said to Joseph in a dream, Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is begotten in her is of the Holy Spirit. This came to pass that it might be fulfilled which was said of the Lord by the prophet, Behold the virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son. And Joseph knew her not until she had brought forth her firstborn son; and he called His name Jesus (Matt. 1:18-25).

And in Luke from these words:

The angel said to Mary, Behold thou shalt conceive in the womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call His name Jesus; He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most High. But Mary said unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? The angel answered her, The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; wherefore also the Holy One that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God (Luke 1:30-35).

It was because He was conceived of Jehovah that He is so frequently called in the Word "the Son of God," and Jehovah is called His "Father." Jehovah as to His Being [Esse] is the Divine love, and as to His Existing [Existere] He is the Divine good united to the Divine truth.

From this it can be seen what is meant by:

The Word that was with God and that was God, and also was the light that enlighteneth every man (John 1:1-10),

namely, that it was the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, thus the Lord as to His Existing [Existere]. That the Lord as to His Existing [Existere] was Divine truth, and that this was His Divine Human, because this existed from His Divine Being [Esse] as the body from its soul, these words in John clearly certify:

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

"The Word" is the Divine truth, which also is "glory;" "flesh" means the Divine Human, "the only-begotten of the Father" means that which exists or proceeds from the Divine Esse in Him.

===

... In the Word the Lord is called "Jehovah" as to Divine good, for Divine good is the Divine Itself; and the Lord is called the "Son of God" as to Divine truth, for Divine truth proceeds from the Divine good as a son from a father, and also is said to be "born:" how this is shall be further told.

When the Lord was in the world He made His Human Divine truth, and then called the Divine good which is Jehovah, His "Father;" because, as just said, Divine truth proceeds and is born from Divine good. But after the Lord had fully glorified Himself, which was done when He endured the last of temptation on the cross, He then made His Human also Divine good, that is, Jehovah; and thereby the Divine truth itself proceeded from His Divine Human. The Divine truth is what is called the "Holy Spirit," and is the holy which proceeds from the Divine Human. From this is evident what is meant by the Lord's words in John:

The Holy Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39).

That it is the Divine good which is called the "Father," and the Divine truth which is called the "Son,"

(Apocalypse Explained 1069:2, 3; Arcana Coelestia 7499)

Total Submission to the Lord

Selection from Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

Men are nothing else than forms receptive of life from the Lord, and these forms are such by inheritance and by actual life that they refuse to admit the spiritual life which is from the Lord. But when these receptacles have been so far renounced that they no longer have any freedom from the man's own, there is total submission. A man who is being regenerated is at last so far reduced by repeated alternations of desolation and sustenance that he no longer wills to be his own, but the Lord's; and when he has become the Lord's he comes into a state of such a nature that when he is left to self he grieves and is seized with anxiety; and when he is delivered from this state of self he returns into his happiness and bliss. In such a state are all the angels.

In order that He may make a man blessed and happy, the Lord wills a total submission, that is, that he be not partly his own and partly the Lord's, for then there are two lords, which no one can serve at the same time:

No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matt. 6:24).

Total submission is also meant by the Lord's words in Matthew:

He that loveth father and mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he that loveth son and daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me (Matt. 10:37)

where by "father and mother" are signified in general those things which are man's own from inheritance, and by "son and daughter" those things which are his own from actual life. Man's own is also signified by "soul" in John:

He that loveth his soul shall lose it; but he that hateth his soul in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. If anyone will minister to Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be (John 12:25, 26).

Total submission is also signified by the Lord's words in Matthew:

Another disciple said, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. But Jesus said to him, Follow Me; and let the dead bury their dead (Matt. 8:21, 22).

That submission must be total is very evident from the first commandment of the church:

Thou shalt love the Lord thy God from all thy heart, and from all thy soul, and from all thy mind, and from all thy forces; this is the first commandment (Mark 12:30).

Thus because love to the Lord does not come from man, but from the Lord Himself, therefore all the heart, all the soul, all the mind, and all the forces, which are recipients, must be the Lord's, consequently submission must be total. ...

(Arcana Coelestia 6138)

God is One in Essence and in Person

Passages from True Christian Religion ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

These three, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are the three essentials of the one God, and they make one as soul, body, and operation make one in man. In anyone thing there are both general and particular essentials, and these together make one essence. The general essentials of the one man are his soul, body, and operation. That these constitute one essence can be seen from this-that one is from the other and for the sake of the other in an unbroken series; for man gets his beginning from the soul, which is the very essence of the semen; and the soul not only initiates, but also produces in their order all things that pertain to the body, and afterward all things that proceed from the soul and body together, which are called operations. From this production, therefore, of one from the other, and the consequent ingrafting and conjunction, it can be seen that these three are of one essence, and therefore they are called three essentials.

Everyone acknowledges that these three essentials, namely, soul, body, and operation, both were and are in the Lord God the Savior. That His soul was from Jehovah the Father cannot be denied except by Antichrist; for in the Word of both Testaments He is called the Son of Jehovah, the Son of the Most High God, the Only-begotten; consequently the Divine of the Father, like the soul in man, is His first essential. From this it follows that the Son whom Mary brought forth is the body to that Divine soul; for in the mother's womb nothing is furnished except the body that has been conceived and derived from the soul; this, therefore, is His second essential. Operations constitute the third essential, since these proceed from soul and body together, and what proceeds is of the same essence as that which produces it. That the three essentials, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, in the Lord are one, like soul, body, and operation in man, is clearly evident from the Lord's words, that the Father and He are one; that the Father is in Him and He in the Father; and in like manner He and the Holy Spirit, since the Holy Spirit is the Divine that goes forth out of the Lord from the Father...

When it is said that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are the three essentials of the one God, like soul, body, and operation in man, it seems to the human mind as if these three essentials are three persons, which is impossible. But when it is understood that the Divine of the Father, which constitutes the soul, and the Divine of the Son, which constitutes the body, and the Divine of the Holy Spirit or the proceeding Divine, which constitutes the operation, are the three essentials of the one God, the statement is comprehensible. For God the Father is His Divine, the Son from the Father is His Divine, and the Holy Spirit from both is His Divine; and as these are one in essence and one in mind they constitute one God. But if these three Divine essentials are called persons, and if to each person is attributed his own property, to the Father imputation, to the Son mediation, and to the Holy Spirit operation, the Divine Essence, which in fact is one and not divisible, becomes divided: and thus none of the three is God in fullness, but each has a sub-triple power; and this a sound understanding must needs reject.

(True Christian Religion 166 - 168)

The Conjunction of the Lord with Those Who Believe in Him

From Arcana Coelestia ~ Emanuel Swedenborg

When speaking of His union with the Father, the Lord speaks immediately and without a break of His conjunction with the human race; because this was the cause of the union, as is evident in John:

That they all may be one, as Thou Father art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in us; the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them, that they may be one, even as we are one, I in them, and Thou in Me, for I have made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known, that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them (John 17:21, 22, 26)

which it is evident that in the union of Himself with the Father the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and that He had this at heart, because it was His love; for all conjunction is effected by means of love, love being conjunction itself.
Again in the same gospel:

Because I live, ye shall live also in that day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in Me, and I in you; he that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me (John 14:19-21)

from which in like manner it is evident that in the union of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence the Lord had in view the conjunction of Himself with the human race, and that this was His end, and this His love, which was such that the salvation of the human race, as held in the union of Himself with His Father, was to Him the inmost joy. There is also here described that which unites, namely, to have and to do His commandments, and thereby to love the Lord.

Again:

Father, glorify Thy name; there came therefore a voice from heaven, I have both glorified and will glorify it again. Jesus said, This voice hath not come for My sake, but for your sakes. But I, when I shall be lifted up from the earth, will draw all after Me (John 12:28, 30, 32)

by "glorification" is meant union, as before said; and that in the union of Himself with the Father He regarded the conjunction of Himself with the human race, is openly said in the words, "when I shall be lifted up, I will draw all after Me."

That conjunction of the Infinite or Supreme Divine with the human race was effected through the Lord's Human made Divine, and that this conjunction was the cause of the Lord's coming into the world, is an arcanum into which many inquire in their own minds, and because they do not comprehend, they do not believe it; and as they do not believe for the reason that they do not comprehend, it becomes a scandal or stumbling-block to them. ... Very many of these - almost the greater part of those who had been men of talent in the world - when they merely think that the Lord became a man, and in external form was like other men, that He suffered, and that nevertheless He rules the universe, at once fill the sphere with scandals ... in the other life the interiors are open, and are made manifest by the sphere diffused from them. ...

Seeing that such is the case, it may be well to explain the matter a little further. After all the celestial in man had perished, that is, all love to God, so that there was no longer any will of good, the human race had then been separated from the Divine; for nothing effects conjunction except love, and when this had been annihilated, there was disjunction; and when there is disjunction, then destruction and extirpation follow. Therefore the promise was then made respecting the Lord's coming into the world, who should unite the Human to the Divine, and by this union should effect in Himself the conjunction of the human race by means of the faith of love and of charity.

From the time of the first promise (spoken of in Gen. 3:15) the faith of love in the Lord who was to come effected conjunction. But when there was no longer any faith of love remaining in the whole world, then the Lord came and united the Human Essence to the Divine Essence, so that they were altogether one, as He Himself clearly says; and at the same time He taught the way of truth, that everyone who should believe in Him - that is, who should love Him and the things that are His, and who should be in His love which is love toward the universal human race, thus in love toward the neighbor-should be conjoined and saved.

When, in the Lord, the Human was made Divine, and the Divine Human, the result was an influx of the Infinite or Supreme Divine with man that otherwise could not possibly have existed; and an additional result was the dispersion of the direful persuasions of falsity and the direful cupidities of evil with which the world of spirits was brimful, and with which it was continually being filled full from the souls arriving from the world; and they who were in those persuasions and cupidities were cast into hell, and thereby were separated. Unless this had been done, the human race would have perished, for the Lord rules the human race by means of spirits. Nor could they have been dispersed in any other way, for no operation of the Divine was possible through man's rational things into those of internal sense, because these are far below the Supreme Divine when not so united; not to mention still deeper arcana that cannot be explained to the apprehension of any man. ...

(Arcana Coelestia 2034:2-8)