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.

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

We read in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of people. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.... And the Word moreover became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14)

Again in the same Gospel:

...the light came into the world, but people loved darkness more than light, for their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in it:

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of light.... I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

It is apparent from this that the Lord is, from eternity, God, and that God Himself is the Lord who was born in the world. For we are told that the Word was with God, and that the Word was God. Also that without Him nothing was made that was made. And later we are told that the Word became flesh, and people beheld Him.

[2] Why the Lord is called the Word is little understood in the church. However, He is called the Word because the term “Word” symbolizes Divine truth itself or Divine wisdom itself, and the Lord embodies Divine truth itself or Divine wisdom itself. That, too, is why He is called the light, which is also said to have come into the world.

Because Divine wisdom and Divine love are united, and were united in the Lord from eternity, therefore we are told as well that “In Him was life, and the life was the light of people.” Life means Divine love, and light Divine wisdom.

This is the union meant by the statement that the Word was in the beginning with God and that God was the Word. With God means in God, for wisdom is present in love, and love in wisdom.

So, too, we find elsewhere in John:

...Father, glorify Me with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (John 17:5)

“With Yourself” means in Yourself. That, too, is why we are told, “And God was the Word.” And elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father, and the Father in Him, and that He and the Father are one.

Now because the Word is the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah Himself, thus the Lord, by whom all things were made that were made, inasmuch as they were all created out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom.