The Generations of Jesus Christ
By Rev. Paul Booth
By Rev. Paul Booth
- Lessons: Old: Exodus 24: 4,7
- New: Matthew 1: 1,16, 17
Third: Apocalypse Revealed 96: 6e, 7
- The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David; the son of Abraham. And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who was called Christ. (Matthew 1: 1, 16)
Here, we have proof that the Word has an internal sense, for unless there is an internal sense in the Word, it makes very little sense, except to show that Joseph came from some well known men, some very important people, in the history of the Israelitish and Jewish Church. Yet, that in itself, does not tell us about the Lord, Heaven, or the Church unless it can be understood in its internal sense. The Word is a revelation of the Lord to man. It tells us about the Lord, about His qualities and attributes; it tell us of His love for us and how He has redeemed us. In so doing, the Lord, His Church and Heaven are revealed and the way to us. So let us, now, learn something of what is spiritually signified by our text, for it is the introduction to the story of our Lord's birth into the world and therefore, should not be skipped over as unimportant. We read from Matthew, chapter 1.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ (v. 1). By the word 'book' we understand the written Word, for we can read of the book of the Covenant which conjoins us to the Lord. The covenant is between the Lord and us. The book of the Covenant, in a limited sense, is the Word revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. Thus, it is by a 'book' that all things with men, spirits, and angels are signified, or that all states of their life as to love and faith. For, when we receive the Lord's love or His Good and Truth it is meant the things of good and truth and when with us are called faith and charity. Now, you can understand that what is meant is the spiritual generation or the birth of Jesus Christ and not a natural generation.
Doesn't man need to be reborn or regenerated? Hasn't a man been separated from the Lord because of sin and needs to be redeemed and saved by the Lord? And didn't the Lord come to earth becoming a man like us to save us? Didn't God become Man? So it is that the Lord's work
of regeneration - the formation of man's spiritual and celestial - that the Lord came to earth to accomplish. These are things predicated of faith and the things of love with man. So, from this, one sees that there is meant a birth, a birth of the Lord Jesus Christ among mankind. We learn, then, that the 'book of generation of the Jesus Christ' is meant the account of the Lord's birth on earth. It tells us of the different states and qualities that He had to attain or acquire while on earth so He could redeem and save us. It also tells us of the states He had to come into that a man on earth went through as we do in order to redeem us.
Most people think that the name Jesus Christ is the Lord's proper name. Some can see that there is something more that is meant; they see something more then the mere words; for in the spiritual sense of the Word words have different meaning or signification. Since, Jesus was born of God and was called the Christ, the Anointed, and the Messiah, then, wasn't He Divine? And, as all Christians should know, the Divine is Love or Good and so is Wisdom or Divine Truth; so it is by the name Jesus Christ that Divine Good and Divine Truth is signified and as such, there is a marriage of good and truth in Heaven and so, also in the Church, for angels in Heaven and those of the Church have good and truth joined within together as in a marriage. In this, we can understand the name Jesus Christ as Jehovah Lord as the Creator from eternity, the Savior in time, and the Reformer to eternity. The Divine is One, the Same, the Very Self, and is Indivisible. There is only one Divine or God. Thus, God is Jesus Christ Who is Jehovah the Lord and the Creator from eternity, and in time, He is the Savior, and to eternity He is the Reformer; He, that is, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ, is the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus, there is within the Word - the 'book' - the account of the Lord with mankind. He is the Word revealing both the good and the truth to a man. Again, we read.
The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David; the son of Abraham (Matt.
1: 1). The Lord is not literally the son of David, but the word David represents the Lord as the Divine Truth proceeding from His (that is, the Lord's) Divine Human. David was a king, so by the Lord being called the son of David signifies the Lord's royalty and sovereignty. And as such, the Lord who was to come into the world is here signified. Isn't Divine Truth proceeding from the Divine Love or Good? Love must proceed out 'as it were' if it is to be of use and so to be love. And isn't Divine Truth also proceeding from the Lord's Divine Wisdom? Thus, it is that all truth and good proceeds from the Lord's Divine or from Good, which is derived from the Lord.
I ask are we not to become sons of God and therefore, to become 'as it were' a Church from the Lord, just as Jesus Christ became the Divine Truth. Are we not to become the dwelling place of the Lord here on earth, and as such, that we are called His Church? It is the rational of man, the mind and heart of man, the understanding and will, where the Lord, as the Truth and the Good, dwells within us. However, here, in today's text, it is the Lord Himself who was to be born or to come and to put on the natural of mankind with all its infestations of evil. So it is Jesus' rational that is spoken of as to good and its general truth dwelling within His Human while on earth.
Jesus is also not the son of Abraham. By Jesus Christ the son of Abraham is signified the Divine Good of the Lord, for as Abraham was the father of the 'Jewish' Church on earth, the Divine Good, that is, the Lord's Love, the Father of the true and spiritual Church within man. So, we may have truth and good, the two qualities that the Lord Himself as a man had in order that He could glorify His Human and so save us.
After this opening sentence, the Word mentions all the names of Joseph's family lineage, each one in the spiritual or internal sense signifying a state or quality that the Divine proceeded to, establishing with him the Jewish Church before the Lord came to the world starting with Abraham and ending with Jacob the father of Joseph. Each person was born or begat of his father. We read that Jacob begat Joseph. You can say that Jehovah the Lord had to acquire the qualities and states necessary in order to put on the human of mankind so that He could redeem man though good and truth the He insinuated or given to Him as is to man.
The reason the Lord had to acquire such states was because man, of himself, would not acquire these qualities and reach these spiritual states and so regeneration. Instead, he had reached the state of vastation and consummation where truths and good could not remain with him. Truths which are of faith are never procured by man; if they were, then the Lord's coming would have been unnecessary. However, the Lord Jesus Christ, by Himself, by His own power could acquire the truths of faith. These are truths that come from good. Man, because of sin, shuts out these truths, and so could not and cannot save himself; he needs to be redeemed and be saved by the Lord. Let us continue now and read from the Word.
And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ (Matt. 1: 16). By Jacob is signified the Lord's exterior man, that is, the Lord's Natural. So, the state here that the Lord acquires or procures is in order for Him to redeem man. Although, it is not by the Lord's coming alone that man is redeemed and saved, though he is by the work that the Lord accomplished as a man on earth. Not only did He come on earth, but He glorified Himself by putting off the evils of mankind, that is, He made Divine His Human, and in so doing good and truth was united in Him when as a man and He became the Divine Human. Consequently, good and truth in man can now be conjoined; thus, the Lord lives within a man and that person becomes the new Church on earth and wi11 1ive after leaving this world as an angel in Heaven.
Next, by Joseph is signified the Lord's Divine Spiritual. In what is spiritual with man there is something of both love and wisdom or of will and understanding. This spiritual is the Lord's interior man; it is His will and understanding - His rational. So it is that Joseph as the husband of Mary, signifies the Good of Truth in a marriage, and thus with man is the Lord's New Church within. Here, we see that it is good which is first and truth which is second, for when truth come from good it is as one with good. Truth without good is not truth. Truth is in the understanding and good is in the will. A man may have the truth in his understanding, but unless he has good from the Lord, his will is evil. Here, also, Mary signifies the humanity of mankind that the Lord put on and covered His interior, that is, His celestial spiritual. Thus, the Lord was a celestial-spiritual man. This humanity was the receptacle that the Lord put on so that He could receive, as a man, good from truths in scientifics, that is, from the natural and sensual, for the natural life of a man are both civil and moral actions and into this life spiritual life can come, for these are the receptacles to receive the Lord's love. In fact, the Lord's life continually proceeds or flows 'as it were' to man. If the man is a civil and moral man, spiritual thoughts and affections enjoin themselves within.
Therefore, the Lord has formed two receptacles of Himself within man - the will and the understanding. Wasn't man made into the image of the Lord and according to His likeness? Are not these the inmost things of life from Him? Thus, it is that God alone is life and that we and the angels are recipients of life from Him. So it is that the Lord had to put on the human as we have so that Divine Love or Good together with Divine Wisdom or Truth can again be received by man. Therefore, He was born into the life of mankind on earth. And, thus, could He do the work of regeneration and, as such, form a new spiritual within man from His love. The Lord's Soul was the 'seed' of the Father clothed with a body in the womb of the mother. That 'Seed' is Love and is in all who have the Lord's love. This Love in man is faith grounded in charity. It is the celestial seed of good and truth from the Lord with man. It is the celestial and the spiritual clothed within man. The natural good is the clothing while on earth, for the natural covers the spiritual within.
Therefore, Jesus is the Divine Good, the Savior, and as such He is the Truth and the Good. As Savior, He has redeemed mankind. He is the Divine Proceeding to us, for as the Father, Who is Divine, proceeded to Him as a man, He was united with the Divine, becoming One - God Man and Man God. The Word tells us that Jesus was called Christ, the Son of God. As the Son of God He was the Divine Truth. So it is that salvation also must come through His Word, which is thought Doctrine, for unless the Lord is known and believed, unless we know what is the truth and what is good and what is not good or the truth, the Lord cannot dwell in our understanding. So, the Lord Jesus, who was also called the Son of Man, redeems us and saves us when we do or act from the doctrine we learn from the written Word. This is faith grounded in charity. Thus, it is that salvation is through good and truth conjoined within us, even as the Lord Jesus Christ had united the Divine with His Human and was glorified and became the Divine Human.
Amen.
| About |
| Doctrine
Site Content Copyright 2001 by The Lord's New Chapel All Rights Reserved
Site Concept and Creation Copyright 2001 by Stealth Media Solutions All Rights Reserved