81. CHAPTER TWO
THE LORD THE REDEEMER
The previous chapter dealt with God the Creator, and at the same time with creation; this chapter will deal with the Lord the Redeemer, and at the same time with redemption. The following chapter will deal with the Holy Spirit, and at the same time with the way God works. By the Lord the Redeemer we understand Jehovah in the Human; for the following pages will prove that Jehovah Himself came down and assumed human form in order to effect redemption. We say 'the Lord' and not 'Jehovah' because the Jehovah of the Old Testament is called the Lord in the New Testament, as can be established from the following passages; we read in Moses:
Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our* God is one Jehovah; you shall love Jehovah God with your whole heart and your whole soul. Deut. 6:4, 5.
but in Mark:
The Lord our God is one Lord; you shall love the Lord your God with your whole heart and your whole soul. Mark 12:29, 30.
Also in Isaiah:
Prepare the way for Jehovah, make smooth in the desert a path for our God. Isa. 40:3.
but in Luke:
You shall go before the face of the Lord to prepare the way for Him. Luke 1:76.
and in other passages. The Lord too ordered His disciples to call Him Lord, and He was therefore so called by the Apostles in their Epistles, and later by the Apostolic Church. This is plain from its creed, the so-called Apostles' Creed. The reason was that the Jews did not dare to name Jehovah on account of His holiness, and because 'Jehovah' means the Divine Being (Esse), which existed from eternity, while the Human, which He took upon Himself in time, was not that Being. I showed in the previous chapter (18-26, 27-35) what the Divine Being or Jehovah is. For this reason, here and in what follows by the Lord we understand Jehovah in His Human.
[2] Now since knowledge of the Lord surpasses in excellence all other kinds of knowledge known to the church, or even in heaven, I shall adopt an ordered arrangement to bring that knowledge to light, as follows:
(i) Jehovah, the Creator of the Universe, came down and took upon Himself human form, in order to redeem and save mankind. (ii) He came down as the Divine Truth, which is the Word, yet He did not separate the Divine Good from it. (iii) He took upon Himself human form in accordance with His Divine order. (iv) The Human by which He brought Himself into the world is what is called the Son of God. (v) The Lord by acts of redemption made Himself righteousness. (vi) By the same acts He united Himself with the Father, and the Father with Him. This too was in accordance with Divine order. (vii) Thus God became man, and man God, in one person. (viii) His progress towards union was His state of exinanition**, and the union itself is His state of glorification. (ix) From this time on no one from Christian countries can come into heaven, unless he believes in the Lord God the Saviour, and approaches Him alone.
These propositions will be explained one by one.
* So changed in the author's own copy from 'your'. ** Or being emptied; see 104.