81. CHAPTER 2 THE LORD THE REDEEMER. In the preceding chapter God the Creator, together with Creation, has been treated of. This chapter will treat of the Lord the Redeemer, together with Redemption; and the next chapter of the Holy Spirit, together with the Divine Operation. By the Lord the Redeemer we mean Jehovah in the Human; for in what follows it will be shown that Jehovah Himself descended and assumed a Human in order that He might effect redemption. The name Lord is used and not Jehovah, because the Jehovah of the Old Testament is called the Lord in the New, as is shown in the following passages. In Moses:
Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah; and thou shalt love Jehovah God with all thy heart and with all thy soul (Deut. 6:4, 5);
and in Mark:
The Lord our God is one Lord; and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul (Mark 12:29, 30). Again, in Isaiah:
Prepare ye the way of Jehovah, make level in the wilderness a highway for our God (Isa. 40:3);
and in Luke:
Thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare His way 1:76);
besides other passages. Moreover, the Lord commanded His disciples to call Him Lord, and this is why He was so called by the Apostles in their Epistles, and afterwards by the Apostolic Church, as appears from its creed, which is called the Apostles' Creed. The reason of this was that the Jews durst not utter the name Jehovah on account of its holiness; also that "Jehovah" means the Divine Esse which was from eternity; and the Human that He assumed in time was not that Esse. What the Divine Esse or Jehovah is, has been shown in the preceding chapter (n. 18-26, 27-35). For this reason, by the Lord, here and in the following pages, Jehovah in His Human is meant. And since a knowledge of the Lord surpasses in excellence all other knowledges in the church, and even in heaven, the subject shall be so arranged in order as to bring this knowledge out into clear light. It will be considered in the following order:
(1) Jehovah the Creator of the universe descended and assumed a Human that He might redeem men and save them. (2) He descended as Divine Truth, which is the Word, although He did not separate from it the Divine Good. (3) He assumed the Human in accordance with His Divine Order. (4) The Human whereby He sent Himself into the world is what is called the Son of God. (5) Through the acts of Redemption the Lord made Himself Righteousness. (6) Through the same acts He united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him, also in accordance with the Divine Order. (7) Thus God became Man, and Man became God, in one Person. (8) The progress towards union was His state of Exinanation [emptying Himself]; and the union itself is His state of Glorification. (9) Hereafter no one from among Christians enters heaven unless he believes in the Lord God the Savior, and approaches Him alone. But these statements shall be explained separately.