The Third Round: What it Means to Worship a Visible God

From the work, Arcana Coelestia 3701

…one cannot speak of a communication between, and the consequent joining together of the Lord’s Divine itself and His Divine Human unless at the same time one calls these attributes infinite and eternal, for in the Lord everything is infinite and eternal – infinite so far as Being (Esse) is concerned and eternal so far as Manifestation (Existere) is concerned.

From the work, Arcana Coelestia 4687.3

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. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the Word was made 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 1:1-4, 14);
the “Word” is the Divine truth, which in its essence is the infinite coming-forth from the infinite being, and is the Lord Himself as to His Human. This very Human it is from which truth Divine now proceeds and flows into heaven, and through heaven into the minds of men; consequently which rules and governs the universe, as it has ruled and governed it from eternity; for it is one and the same with the infinite being, because He conjoined the Human with the Divine, which was done by this, that He made the Human in Himself also Divine. From this it is now evident that the supreme of truth Divine is the Lord’s Divine Human, and hence that the supreme among the doctrinal things of the church is that His Human is Divine.

From the work, Arcana Coelestia 7211

The reason why the Divine Human is the all in heaven, is that no one there, not even an angel of the inmost or third heaven, can have any idea about the Divine Itself, according to the Lord’s words in John: “No one hath ever seen God” (John 1:18); “Ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time, nor seen His shape” (John 5:37). For the angels are finite, and what is finite cannot have an idea of the Infinite; and therefore unless in heaven they had in respect to God the idea of a human shape, they would have no idea, or an unbecoming one; and thus they could not be conjoined with the Divine either by faith or by love; and this being the case, in heaven they perceive the Divine in a human form; whence it is that the Divine Human in the heavens is the all in their regards, and hence is the all in their faith and love; whence comes the conjunction through which is salvation (n. 6700).

From the work, True Christian Religion 28

…the human mind, although highly analytical and elevated, is itself finite, and its finite quality cannot be separated from it. It is, therefore, quite incapable of comprehending the infinity of God as it is in itself, and thus God. It may, however, see Him obscurely, as it were, from behind; as it is said of Moses, when he prayed to see God, that he was placed in a cleft of a rock and saw His back parts, Exod. xxxiii. 20-23. By the back parts of God are meant the visible things in the world, and in particular the things apparent in the Word. Hence it is clear that it is vain to desire to know what God is in His Being or in His Substance. It is enough to acknowledge Him from finite, that is, created things, in which He is infinitely.

From the work, Spiritual Experiences Minor 4609

The more interiorly any one is elevated into heaven, the further [is he removed] from the idea of time and space; and the more fully [he is removed] from heaven the further [is he plunged] into the idea of time and space; thus, the more is he removed from the idea of infinity and eternity, consequently from faith. Time and space are those things which bound human ideas, and make them altogether natural, and adhere to other ideas; whereof man is ignorant; and they constitute the natural man, which reasons. The case is similar with the Divine Human of the Lord, a finite idea of which man takes from corporeal things, in himself and others: from which idea, unless he be removed, he cannot conceive other than that the Lord is like another man. Likewise, the numerical idea of Three in one God, or a trine, belong to space and time; from the human finite idea, it is conceived as being a separated trine: but the angels then have the idea as of a one.

Print Friendly, PDF & Email
Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments