The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.

By Emanuel Swedenborg

(First published 1763)

A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers.

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Translator’s Table of Contents

PREFACE

The Holy Scripture Throughout Has the Lord As Its Subject, and the Lord Embodies the Word. 1

The Statement That the Lord Fulfilled All of the Law Means That He Fulfilled All of the Word. 8

The Lord Came into the World to Conquer the Hells and Glorify His Humanity; and the Suffering of the Cross Was the Final Battle by Which He Fully Overcame the Hells and Fully Glorified His Humanity. 12

By His Suffering of the Cross the Lord Did Not Take Away Sins, but Bore Them. 15

An Imputation of the Lord’s Merit Is Nothing Else Than the Forgiveness of Sins Following Repentance. 18

In Relation to His Divine Humanity the Lord Is Called the Son of God, and in Relation to the Word the Son of Man. 19

The Lord Made His Humanity Divine from the Divine in Him, and So Was United with the Father. 29

The Lord Is God Himself, the Origin of and Subject of the Word. 37

There Is One God, and the Lord Is That God. 45

The Holy Spirit Is the Divinity Emanating from the Lord, and It Is the Lord Himself. 46

The New Church Is Meant by the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation. 62

PREFACE

Several years ago we published the following five short works:

1. Heaven and Hell.

2. The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem.

3. The Last Judgment.

4. The White Horse.

5. The Planets and Earths in the Universe.

In them we presented to view a number of things hitherto unknown.

Now, by command of the Lord, who has been revealed to me, I am to publish the following:

- The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord.

- The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.

- A Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem Based on the Ten Commandments.

- The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith.

- A Continuation Concerning the Last Judgment.

- Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence.

- Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Omnipotence, Omnipresence, Omniscience, Infinity and Eternity.

- Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom.

- Angelic Wisdom Regarding Life.

We say The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, but we mean doctrine for the New Church, a church which is today being established by the Lord. For the former church has reached its end, as can be seen from what we said in the short work, The Last Judgment 33-39, and from what we are going to say later in the short works just named.

The fact that the New Jerusalem to come after the Judgment, as foretold in the twenty-first chapter of the book of Revelation, means the New Church may be seen in the final section here below.

37. The Lord Is God Himself, the Origin of and Subject of the Word

In the first section we began to demonstrate that the Holy Scripture throughout has the Lord as its subject, and that the Lord embodies the Word. Here we will demonstrate it further from passages in the Word in which the Lord is called Jehovah, the God of Israel and of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel, the Lord and God, as well as King, the Anointed of Jehovah, and David.

I may relate to begin with that I have been granted to go through the Prophets and the Psalms of David and to examine each verse and see what the subject is there, and I saw that the subjects were nothing else than the church established by the Lord and the church to be established, the Lord’s advent, His battles, His glorification, redemption and salvation, and the heaven established by Him and to be established, and at the same time their opposites.

Because these are all works of the Lord, it was apparent that the Holy Scripture throughout has the Lord as its subject, and that the Lord therefore embodies the Word.

[2] However, this can only be seen by people who are enlightened by the Lord and who are acquainted as well with the spiritual sense of the Word. Angels in heaven all possess this sense. Consequently, when a person reads the Word, that is the only meaning the angels comprehend. For a person has spirits and angels with him continually, and because they are spiritual, they understand spiritually everything that the person understands naturally.

That the Holy Scripture throughout has the Lord as its subject can be seen dimly, and as though through a screen, from the passages presented from the Word in the first section above, nos. 1-6, and from those we will present now regarding the Lord, showing how often He is called the Lord and God. This may make clear that it is the Lord who spoke through the prophets, in whose books we find everywhere the declarations, “Jehovah spoke, ” “Jehovah said, ” and “the saying of Jehovah.”

[3] That the Lord existed prior to His advent into the world is apparent from the following:

(John the Baptist said of the Lord:) “It is He who, coming after me, is before me, whose shoelace I am not worthy to loosen.... This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who was before me, and who was of prior standing to me.’ ” (John 1:27, 30)

In the book of Revelation:

...they...fell (before the throne on which the Lord sat), saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who are and who were and who are to come....” (Revelation 11:16-17)

And in Micah:

You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, out of you shall come forth to Me One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity. (Micah 5:2)

It is apparent in addition from the Lord’s words in the Gospels that He was before Abraham, that He had glory with the Father before the foundation of the world, that He came forth from the Father, and that the Word was from the beginning with God, that God was the Word, and that this became flesh.

That the Lord is called Jehovah, the God of Israel and of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel, God and the Lord, as well as King, the Anointed of Jehovah, and David, can be seen from what follows next.