Christmas by Rev. Paul Booth
Lessons: Isaiah 25: 1, 8, 9 ¦ Luke 1: 30, 33, 35 True Christian Religion 85: 1b, 2b.
Lessons: Isaiah 25: 1, 8, 9 ¦ Luke 1: 30, 33, 35 True Christian Religion 85: 1b, 2b.
"Jehovah God descended and assumed a Human that He might redeem men and save them. Jehovah Himself says that He is the Savior and Redeemer: Am I not Jehovah, and there is no God besides Me? A just God and a Savior, there is none besides Me."
(Isa. xiv. 21, 22, and True Christian Religion 82, 83).
Who is it who came to save us?
Was it Jehovah our God or was it Another than He?
He has said, "I am Jehovah, and besides Me there is no Savior." And "Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts, I Am the First and the Last and besides Me there is no God" (Isa. 14:21, 22 and 44: 6).
How is it that He came to save us? It was in power to save
by putting on the Human.
It was according to Divine Order: an Order by which the Lord God has created the universe and all that is with in it.
Conception and birth was the Order established in the creation of mankind as is written in Isaiah and Matthew.
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a Son, who shall be called
God-with-us, and, as it is said of the coming Jehovah in Isaiah: " God is with us"
(Isa. 8:14, Matt. 1:22).
So, the Savior came into this world according to that Divine Order.
The Lord Jesus Christ, just, did not suddenly appear on earth as a man.
That we know from the Word.
Our Lord came in time as God's Proceeding Life the Good and Truth
Just as Good and Truth comes to each of us, forming in us, first, a soul and then a spirit.
And, covers it after that with a material body through conception and birth.
This is most miraculous. It is a miracle that the world in general had never seen before nor since Jehovah came among mankind, for He also comes still in the mind of every man who receives Him
He comes each moment of each day of our life to sustain us.
" Jehovah God descended and assumed a Human that He may redeem men and save them" (TCR 82).
Doesn't He come to us sustaining us each moment of each day of our life?
Indeed, the Lord came to effect the salvation of man.
He came in the fullness of time into this natural world and became one of us by putting on a human inside of which was the Human that
He glorified, that is, united to the Divine:
One Life, one God, in one person the Lord Jesus Christ in the Divine Human which gives Life to all.
He came as Divine Truth descending to the world to teach those in the world. Nonetheless, as Divine Truth He was also the Divine Good.
Thus, With God Good and Truth are not separated.
They are the one essence.
Truth came to the earth to lead mankind, for Good with man was separate, because of sin.
While in His infancy, Christ Jesus, the Son of Jehovah God, there was Good and Truth.
Was not Divine Good or Divine Love His soul?
And was not Divine Truth or Divine Wisdom His Spirit dwelling in a natural body conceived and born here on earth?
"&…;For that which is conceived in her (Mary) is of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:20).
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God"
(Luke 1:35).
Yes, indeed, truth was not separated from good in Christ come to man, for it was Jehovah God that descended as Truth,
Which is the Word, though He did not separate from God, for these two
Good and Truth are God's essence.
They are Love and His Wisdom, His Good and Truth flowing to all.
There is no separation of these in God.
Are not these qualities of God Love or Good and Wisdom or Truth?
"In the beginning was God, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1,2, 14).
We now have the Word present with us Good with its Truth.
We now have Truth with us.
Is not love and wisdom within us God's Kingdom?
Then, if so, are not these two His Truth and Good in us the Church even as the Lord is called Emmanuel or God-with-us?
Today, this day, Jehovah has come among men in an Infant, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Both Good and Truth became manifest and God was with us.
"For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into this world, that I should bear witness to the truth" (John 18:37).
In this Human put on God has effected our redemption
and we can be regenerated, that is, saved.
Were not the hells subjugated when He fought and conquered evil;
where not the Heavens restored to order when He cast the devils and their cohorts out;
And did not the Lord reestablish the Church on earth?
Is this not the reason for His coming?
These things effect our redemption.
Now, how could He effect this without assuming a Human?
He can not, for it is only by "the arm of Jehovah" (Isa. 40:10) that the evils could be brought down that rule man.
Is not "the arm of Jehovah" the Human that was made Divine?
How else could God, who is Inmost and thus in the purest things, pass over to outermost things, in which hell is and in which men of the time were.
Can the soul do anything without a body?
How else is God Omnipotent like a strong arm able to save?
How else can He save unless He makes His Human Divine?
Divine Truth descended, which is the Word made flesh,
that He might work redemption and save man.
Such Divine Truth comes from Divine Good.
This is the sharp sword or the spear or the bow
and arrows that are effective against the enemy,
and by which man is redeemed.
"All the strength, energy, and power of God belong to Divine truth from the Divine Good" (TCR 86e).
Is it not the Word of Jehovah God that has come down as the Divine Truth?
"Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O mighty One, and in Thy majesty mount up;
ride upon the Word of truth; Thy right hand shall teach Thee wonderful things.
Thine arrows are sharp, Thine enemies shall fall under Thee"
(Psalm 14:3-5).
The Lord in us, the Word in us, when followed, is such power,
even as the Divine truth is against evils and falsities,
and consequently against all cohorts of the devils.
For, is it not Divine Truth from Divine Good God Himself that created the universe?
For these are the Proceeding Life given to all mankind.
And all the laws of order by which God preserves the universe are truths.
"&…;All things were made by the Word, and without Him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3:10).
"God assumed the Human in accordance with His Divine Order" (TCR 89).
Therefore, it was necessary that He become Human among men
that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, carried in the womb of Mary and was, born from her, that He gradually grew in knowledge and wisdom.
"And the child Jesus grew and waxed strong in spirit. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and in stages of life, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2: 40, 52).
"When He was twelve years old He sat in the temple in the midst of the doctors and taught them; and that all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers" (Luke 2:46, 47).
Should not we also prepare ourselves for reception of God by means of knowledge respecting God and spiritual things pertaining to the Church?
This is the law of order, if a man wishes to approach and come near to God.
We must, as if by ourselves, do this.
For, then, does God approach us and conjoin Himself with us in our interiors.
Divine Omnipotence apart from Divine Order only fills the Church with absurdities
such as a Son from eternity, and
such as three persons in One God.
The natural is not to rule the spiritual,
Nor is our external nature to be over our internal.
"The Human whereby God sent Himself into the world is the Son of God" (TCR 92).
Have we not heard the Lord say that the Father sent Him,
and that He was sent by the Father?
"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" and "For him whom God sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the spirit by measure" (John 3:17, 34).
Thus, does being sent into the world mean to descend and to come among men.
This has been done.
We have said that through Mary the Lord took on a human within which was the Human that He glorified, that is, united with the Divine.
And, was not this human conceived from Jehovah God its Farther?
And, is it not He who is called the Son of God, the Son of man, and the son of Mary.
Jehovah God in His Human means the Son of God.
The Lord as the Word means the Son of man.
And, what we call 'the human' under which we understand the created human, was the son of Mary.
The Divine the Lord had was His Soul, that is called in the Old and New Testaments Jehovah the Father,
"The angel Gabriel said to Mary, The Holy Spirit will come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore the Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1: 35).
"Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, He is called the God of the whole earth" (Isa. 54: 5).
This is the Son of God the Lord's Human made Divine.
He is not a Son born from eternity.
He is not another God.
Does not the Lord Himself declare that no one can see the Father, or can know Him,
Or come to Him, or believe in Him, except through His Human?
And that His Human is that which He has glorified, or made Divine.
The Lord is not merely the son of Mary; He was not merely a created man like we are.
He is God-Man and Man God.
He is the Divine Human.
"Thus, it is that through the acts of Redemption the Lord made Himself Righteousness"
(TCR 95).
Has not the Lord been obedient to the Divine within God His Father - while in the world?
The Lord upon becoming Righteousness has separated the evil from the good.
He has expelled the dragon and his beasts from Heaven.
He had formed a new Heaven out of the worthy
and hell out of the unworthy.
All things righteousness is done in accordance with Divine order.
It has been told,
"Behold, the days come when I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch;
and He shall reign as king, and shall execute righteousness in the land.
And this is His name, Jehovah our Righteousness" (Jer. 23: 5,6; 33:15,16).
For the Lord has said at His baptism, "&…;thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all the righteousness of God"
(Matt. 3:15).
Has the Lord, the Divine Human, become one with you today?
Has He redeemed you? Does he dwell within your soul?
Does He fill your spirit with His love His Truth and His Good?
Wasn't it for this reason that He came on earth: To set us free; to give us peace?
It is for this reason that He still comes in Truth and in Good to all those
who act according to His Life, (as if by self),
for He still proceeds to all those who turn to Him in faith and charity.
Has He established His Church within you today establishing a New spiritual Church, The Lord's New Church, which is seen as the New Jerusalem descending out of Heaven?
Amen.
(Isa. xiv. 21, 22, and True Christian Religion 82, 83).
Who is it who came to save us?
Was it Jehovah our God or was it Another than He?
He has said, "I am Jehovah, and besides Me there is no Savior." And "Thus said Jehovah, the King of Israel, and His Redeemer, Jehovah of Hosts, I Am the First and the Last and besides Me there is no God" (Isa. 14:21, 22 and 44: 6).
How is it that He came to save us? It was in power to save
by putting on the Human.
It was according to Divine Order: an Order by which the Lord God has created the universe and all that is with in it.
Conception and birth was the Order established in the creation of mankind as is written in Isaiah and Matthew.
"Behold, a virgin shall conceive and shall bear a Son, who shall be called
God-with-us, and, as it is said of the coming Jehovah in Isaiah: " God is with us"
(Isa. 8:14, Matt. 1:22).
So, the Savior came into this world according to that Divine Order.
The Lord Jesus Christ, just, did not suddenly appear on earth as a man.
That we know from the Word.
Our Lord came in time as God's Proceeding Life the Good and Truth
Just as Good and Truth comes to each of us, forming in us, first, a soul and then a spirit.
And, covers it after that with a material body through conception and birth.
This is most miraculous. It is a miracle that the world in general had never seen before nor since Jehovah came among mankind, for He also comes still in the mind of every man who receives Him
He comes each moment of each day of our life to sustain us.
" Jehovah God descended and assumed a Human that He may redeem men and save them" (TCR 82).
Doesn't He come to us sustaining us each moment of each day of our life?
Indeed, the Lord came to effect the salvation of man.
He came in the fullness of time into this natural world and became one of us by putting on a human inside of which was the Human that
He glorified, that is, united to the Divine:
One Life, one God, in one person the Lord Jesus Christ in the Divine Human which gives Life to all.
He came as Divine Truth descending to the world to teach those in the world. Nonetheless, as Divine Truth He was also the Divine Good.
Thus, With God Good and Truth are not separated.
They are the one essence.
Truth came to the earth to lead mankind, for Good with man was separate, because of sin.
While in His infancy, Christ Jesus, the Son of Jehovah God, there was Good and Truth.
Was not Divine Good or Divine Love His soul?
And was not Divine Truth or Divine Wisdom His Spirit dwelling in a natural body conceived and born here on earth?
"&…;For that which is conceived in her (Mary) is of the Holy Spirit" (Matt. 1:20).
"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God"
(Luke 1:35).
Yes, indeed, truth was not separated from good in Christ come to man, for it was Jehovah God that descended as Truth,
Which is the Word, though He did not separate from God, for these two
Good and Truth are God's essence.
They are Love and His Wisdom, His Good and Truth flowing to all.
There is no separation of these in God.
Are not these qualities of God Love or Good and Wisdom or Truth?
"In the beginning was God, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.
All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" (John 1:1,2, 14).
We now have the Word present with us Good with its Truth.
We now have Truth with us.
Is not love and wisdom within us God's Kingdom?
Then, if so, are not these two His Truth and Good in us the Church even as the Lord is called Emmanuel or God-with-us?
Today, this day, Jehovah has come among men in an Infant, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Both Good and Truth became manifest and God was with us.
"For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into this world, that I should bear witness to the truth" (John 18:37).
In this Human put on God has effected our redemption
and we can be regenerated, that is, saved.
Were not the hells subjugated when He fought and conquered evil;
where not the Heavens restored to order when He cast the devils and their cohorts out;
And did not the Lord reestablish the Church on earth?
Is this not the reason for His coming?
These things effect our redemption.
Now, how could He effect this without assuming a Human?
He can not, for it is only by "the arm of Jehovah" (Isa. 40:10) that the evils could be brought down that rule man.
Is not "the arm of Jehovah" the Human that was made Divine?
How else could God, who is Inmost and thus in the purest things, pass over to outermost things, in which hell is and in which men of the time were.
Can the soul do anything without a body?
How else is God Omnipotent like a strong arm able to save?
How else can He save unless He makes His Human Divine?
Divine Truth descended, which is the Word made flesh,
that He might work redemption and save man.
Such Divine Truth comes from Divine Good.
This is the sharp sword or the spear or the bow
and arrows that are effective against the enemy,
and by which man is redeemed.
"All the strength, energy, and power of God belong to Divine truth from the Divine Good" (TCR 86e).
Is it not the Word of Jehovah God that has come down as the Divine Truth?
"Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O mighty One, and in Thy majesty mount up;
ride upon the Word of truth; Thy right hand shall teach Thee wonderful things.
Thine arrows are sharp, Thine enemies shall fall under Thee"
(Psalm 14:3-5).
The Lord in us, the Word in us, when followed, is such power,
even as the Divine truth is against evils and falsities,
and consequently against all cohorts of the devils.
For, is it not Divine Truth from Divine Good God Himself that created the universe?
For these are the Proceeding Life given to all mankind.
And all the laws of order by which God preserves the universe are truths.
"&…;All things were made by the Word, and without Him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3:10).
"God assumed the Human in accordance with His Divine Order" (TCR 89).
Therefore, it was necessary that He become Human among men
that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, carried in the womb of Mary and was, born from her, that He gradually grew in knowledge and wisdom.
"And the child Jesus grew and waxed strong in spirit. And Jesus advanced in wisdom, and in stages of life, and in favor with God and man" (Luke 2: 40, 52).
"When He was twelve years old He sat in the temple in the midst of the doctors and taught them; and that all that heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers" (Luke 2:46, 47).
Should not we also prepare ourselves for reception of God by means of knowledge respecting God and spiritual things pertaining to the Church?
This is the law of order, if a man wishes to approach and come near to God.
We must, as if by ourselves, do this.
For, then, does God approach us and conjoin Himself with us in our interiors.
Divine Omnipotence apart from Divine Order only fills the Church with absurdities
such as a Son from eternity, and
such as three persons in One God.
The natural is not to rule the spiritual,
Nor is our external nature to be over our internal.
"The Human whereby God sent Himself into the world is the Son of God" (TCR 92).
Have we not heard the Lord say that the Father sent Him,
and that He was sent by the Father?
"For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved" and "For him whom God sent speaks the words of God, for God does not give the spirit by measure" (John 3:17, 34).
Thus, does being sent into the world mean to descend and to come among men.
This has been done.
We have said that through Mary the Lord took on a human within which was the Human that He glorified, that is, united with the Divine.
And, was not this human conceived from Jehovah God its Farther?
And, is it not He who is called the Son of God, the Son of man, and the son of Mary.
Jehovah God in His Human means the Son of God.
The Lord as the Word means the Son of man.
And, what we call 'the human' under which we understand the created human, was the son of Mary.
The Divine the Lord had was His Soul, that is called in the Old and New Testaments Jehovah the Father,
"The angel Gabriel said to Mary, The Holy Spirit will come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee; therefore the Holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1: 35).
"Jehovah of Hosts is His name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, He is called the God of the whole earth" (Isa. 54: 5).
This is the Son of God the Lord's Human made Divine.
He is not a Son born from eternity.
He is not another God.
Does not the Lord Himself declare that no one can see the Father, or can know Him,
Or come to Him, or believe in Him, except through His Human?
And that His Human is that which He has glorified, or made Divine.
The Lord is not merely the son of Mary; He was not merely a created man like we are.
He is God-Man and Man God.
He is the Divine Human.
"Thus, it is that through the acts of Redemption the Lord made Himself Righteousness"
(TCR 95).
Has not the Lord been obedient to the Divine within God His Father - while in the world?
The Lord upon becoming Righteousness has separated the evil from the good.
He has expelled the dragon and his beasts from Heaven.
He had formed a new Heaven out of the worthy
and hell out of the unworthy.
All things righteousness is done in accordance with Divine order.
It has been told,
"Behold, the days come when I will raise up unto David a righteous Branch;
and He shall reign as king, and shall execute righteousness in the land.
And this is His name, Jehovah our Righteousness" (Jer. 23: 5,6; 33:15,16).
For the Lord has said at His baptism, "&…;thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all the righteousness of God"
(Matt. 3:15).
Has the Lord, the Divine Human, become one with you today?
Has He redeemed you? Does he dwell within your soul?
Does He fill your spirit with His love His Truth and His Good?
Wasn't it for this reason that He came on earth: To set us free; to give us peace?
It is for this reason that He still comes in Truth and in Good to all those
who act according to His Life, (as if by self),
for He still proceeds to all those who turn to Him in faith and charity.
Has He established His Church within you today establishing a New spiritual Church, The Lord's New Church, which is seen as the New Jerusalem descending out of Heaven?
Amen.
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