The Lord's New Chapel
Christmas Salvation
By Rev. Paul Booth
Lord's New Chapel

Lessons:  Isaiah 42: 5-8  |    Luke: 1: 26-35
True Christian Religion: 82 § 1
    "Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and shall bear a son, who shall be called God with us (Immanuel)".                                          (Isaiah 7: 14; Matthew 1: 23)

    "Behold, the Lord Jehovah (the Lord God) will come with strong hand, and His arm shall rule for Him; behold His reward is with Him . . . He shall feed His flock like a shepherd".                                                (Isaiah 40: 10, 11)

Jehovah Himself descended to earth and became a Man. He assumed the Human, for the Word in Luke teaches this.
    "And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for you have found favor with God. And, behold, you shall conceive in your womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus" (Luke 1: 30, 31).
Mary had asked the angel how this could be, since she had not known a man. His answer was that
    "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God" (Luke 1: 34, 35).
From this we see that the Lord received His soul and life from Jehovah God just as each of us receive our soul and life from our father. Here, though, the similarity ends, for the Divine cannot be divided, as we are from father to father; God is One, thus was His soul and life the Divine itself, which the Lord called His Father and, so, Jehovah God called Him His own Son. Still, there are many today who have not been awakened by the light of the Word, since they believe that a Son born from eternity descended and assumed a human as is taught by many Christian Churches of today. The Word tells us that Jehovah Himself is the Savior and Redeemer and since He has descended and assumed the Human conceived and born of a virgin, Mary, then He is not born from eternity, but born on earth. It was Jehovah that descended and not another God and that He assumed the Human, for it is said Jehovah Himself promised to come and save man. "I am Jehovah; and besides Me there is no Savior" (Isaiah 43: 11). In fact, the only way salvation could take place is by Jehovah God to descend and assume the Human.
    "The Lord is in the midst thereof; He will not do iniquity: every morning doth He bring forth His judgment to light. He fails not" (Zephaniah 3: 5).   

    "In Him was the life; and the life was the light of men" (John 1: 4). "The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me, He is as the light of the morning; the sun rises, a morning without clouds" (1Samuel 23: 3, 4).
Everyone who has affection for understanding truth from the Lord who has come in His divine humanity, knows that the Lord is that 'light of morning' that was declared, even, in the words just quoted? Hasn't such a person confirm his faith in such a belief? However, this is not those who have confirmed themselves in a belief of the birth of another God from eternity come to redeem man. The truth is God Himself could not redeem mankind from damnation and hell, except He come, and assume the Human.

There is no other sent by God.
    "For unto us is born a child, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wounderful, Counsellor, The Might God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isaiah 9: 6).
The Church on earth had fallen away from Jehovah God. This can be seen, first, in Jehovah God sending man "forth from the garden of Eden" (Genesis 3: 23) and their progeny ending in the flood. Next, this is seen in Jehovah God confusing the tongues of those of the first Ancient Church that is called Noah, as seen in them wanting to make a tower to heaven, that is, a city, and a name for themselves. This resulted in the Ancient Church, Eber and its progeny, worshipping idols, which Abram was one, through which another Church, the Hebrew, was established and, it also ended. It can also be seen that the Churches Jacob, Judah, an Israel all fell away from Jehovah God and ended too. When the Lord, on earth came, the Jewish Church also ended as can be seen by the Lord in the Word. Until then the omnipotence of the Lord could not act through any person, thus unless the Lord had came and assumed a Human mankind could not be redeemed. However, in coming, the Lord could subjugate the hells, bring order to Heaven, and establish a new Church. How could Jehovah God approach evil unless He put on the Human Himself? It is like the soul that can do nothing without a body. The Lord God had to reach down into the natural, into the ultimates, where man had descended for his sins, and this was possible only in His Human that He assumed. This is the Lord in last things as in first things. Thus, in the Word He is called the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.

In saying this, "the Lord by acts of redemption made Himself Righteousness" (True Christian Religion 95). The purpose that the Lord came on earth was to redeem man. "By the same acts the Lord united Himself to the Father, and the Father united Himself to Him" (True Christian Religion 97). Therefore, it is to the Lord alone that belong merit and righteousness, for He alone was obedient to God the Father while in the world. We all know that the Lord fought against the hells, overcame and subdued them, This, we can evidence in Isaiah
    "Who is this that comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozah? This that is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore are You red in Your own apparel, and your garments like him that treads in the winefat? I have trodden this wine-press alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come. . .  Mine own arm brought salvation unto me . . . and I will bring down their strength to the earth . . . So He said, Surely they are my people, my children . . . So He was their Savior . . . In His love and pity He redeemed them" (63: 1-9). 
Yet, is this redemption seen in the Lord's Passion on the Cross? What was effected by the passion of the cross was His glorification of His Human, not our redemption. In the Lord's coming to earth He put on the human of Mary, for it is the mother that provides the body, the natural of mankind; thus, this is why the Lord, as the Son of Mary, had that tendency to sin. It was therefore, these temptations, that all men have, that the Lord fought against and was victorious over, thus was He in putting off the human from mankind and putting on the Human or making it Divine, He united His Human with the Divine - the Father - within and became the Divine Human. You can see that He merited glorification, that He did it alone. This was His final glorification and was able to rise from the grave.

It was said that the acts of redemption, by which He made Himself Righteousness was judgment; the last judgment was in the spiritual world where He separated the evil from the good, the sheep from the goats. There, from the book Revelation we read that He drove out those who had common cause with the beasts and dragon mentioned there. Thus, He founded a new Heaven from those who were worthy, and a hell from those unworthy. He brought order to Heaven. Then, He established a New Church. By these acts of redemption the Lord made Himself Righteousness and this can be seen in the Lord saying,
    "It becomes me to fulfill all the righteousness of God" (Matthew 3: 15). We may also read of this in the Old Testament: "Behold, the days come . . . that I will raise unto David a righteous branch, and a king shall reign . . . and shall execute . . . righteousness in the earth . . . and this is His name, Jehovah our Righteousness" (Jeremiah 23: 5, 6; 33: 15).

Here, we see that our faith does not merit us the Lord's righteousness. We need only to ask: Can the Lord's righteousness be conjoined to any man? If the Divine Life, which is Divine Love and Wisdom cannot be conjoined, then how can His Righteousness, which is Divine?

Many who hear this will say, 'but, doesn't the Lord enter every man'. True, but even though His Life is within us, it contributes nothing to our salvation. His entering us in His truths and goods only gives us a faculty of understanding truth and doing good. Nonetheless, we have freedom to either accept or reject this Truth and to do good that is taught there. Here, then, is a truth. Our living according to order is living according to the Commandments of God that His Word teaches; and by our living accordingly and acting so, we procure righteousness for ourselves. However, we do not receive the Lord's righteousness of His redemption, but we receive the Lord Himself as Righteousness. Thus, it is that we 'as if' of ourselves can reject evil temptations and, yet, it is not us who does, but the Lord in us who fights and conquerors evil.  This, the Lord has taught when He said,
    "Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no way enter into the kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5: 20). And, "Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven" (Matthew 5: 10).

In effect, by the Lord's coming, His glorifying Himself and redeeming man, God became Man, and Man God, in one Person. We see this truth in two conclusions: 1."Jehovah, the Creator of the universe, descended and assumed the Human, in order to redeem and save mankind," and 2."The Lord, by acts of redemption, united Himself to the Father, and the Father to Him, thus reciprocally and mutually." Since, the Lord is that One God, then the Lord as to His Human is not the Son of Mary. True, He was the Son of Mary, but He Has put on the Human from the Father as He put off the Human from Mary.

As Christians celebrate the Lord's birth into the world, we must see that He enters us every moment of our lives with the means for us to be regenerated, that is, to be made anew in our will and understanding, whereby we are born again into a new life in Heaven. In this, He has saved us.

Amen. 
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