The Lord's New Chapel
The Lord's Human before His coming and glorification.
By Rev. Paul Booth

Lessons: 2 Samuel 23:1-4, 1 Kings 1:1-4 | John 1:1-5, 9-14 |  Arcana Coe1estia 5763
    "Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. Wherefore, his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin; and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat."
(1 Kings 1:1, 2)

      All our worship should be centered in the Lord in His Divine Human. That Human was the human He made Divine through glorification after His incarnation. This was necessary for our salvation. The Lord had to become really and essentially a man. (AC 10579)  That was the only way by which He could defeat the evils and reign in man again.


    The Word in our text and in the lesson in I Kings chapter one reveals the Lord who was about to come into the world. King David in the Word represents the Lord in His Divine Human Spiritual and before His glorification. (cf. DP 245) In this text you can comprehend the completion of that (Spiritual) state and the beginning of a new (Natural) state of the Lord. We read that the significance of king David being old and stricken in years is His coming into state were He 'puts off' His natural state, a state were He was clothed in the human or natural of man. That time or state was a state where the spiritual and the celestial became totally hidden from man's understanding. Hence, the necessity for the Lord's coming. It was the Church itself that had covered or clothed the truths (the Word) that came to mankind. The new state to which the Lord was about to 'put on' was His Divine Human of the Natural after He had come to earth. He was to become the Divine Human in the Natural; He was to glorify His human, thus uniting the Divine and the Human becoming God-Man and Man-God.

      The Church with man had become merely a representative church. The Church had covered and clothed the Lord's truths with its rational and scientific understanding. Thus, the Lord's truths had become obscured to the Church. Fallacies and falsities were believed by them and charity was lacking. The results were manifested in mankind's inability to kindle his will and produce love for the neighbor and the Lord. (cf. AC 3338)

      When the Word speaks of servant it, refers to what is subservient to a superior. (cf. AC 5305) What is the greatest servant of the Lord, and in the present case - the Divine proceeding from His Divine Human, which king David represented here in our lesson? (AE 316) It is His humanity before it was made Divine. For, the infirm humanity that Jehovah 'put on' hereditary from the mother was nothing but a servant. (AC 2159) The Lord was summoned to be without freedom from the proprium of mankind, which was that humanity that He 'put on' in the world. (AC 5760 5763) This is what the Word means (signifies) when it says, "Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin; and let her lie in thy bosom." (I Kings 1: 2)

      It was indicated that it was necessary that the Lord become really and essentially a man. To reach mankind He had to 'put on' a human from the mother. It had to be His, not one that He embraced from an angel. Until His Advent, the Lord was always seen as an angel, that is, as a man. In truth the Lord had presented Himself to mankind through angels. Though, He so completely utilized the angel that it was the Lord Himself before man, yet it was not the Divine Human in the natural

                            Now, how could this be possible; how was it possible for the Lord to become the Divine Human in the world? It became possible when the hereditary of the mother, the infirm human that is man's proprium and is nothing but evil, was 'put on' by the Lord. The Word in Arcana C&œ;lestia 5760 says,   

        ". . . the signification of 'being servants', as being to be without freedom from his proprium; for one who is a servant has no freedom from his proprium, but is dependent on the proprium and freedom of his master."

      The Lord was to become without freedom even as we are not free in our proprium, because it is nothing but evil.

      This is the will of the Lord: The kingdom of the Lord, His Church, is to be with and in those who are in love to the Lord. His goodness is to be with and in His Church. His truth is to be confirmed. (AC 7668) This is what the young virgin signifies in the text. The Church, the Lord's Goods and Truths that is to be in man had to be first established in the Lord as a man. The Lord had to become Man and Man Lord, even to the borders, even to the sensual of mankind. Because, it was only the Lord in the human that could attain and render what the Divine teaches and commands. (AR 366). Therefore, the young virgin in the text, which signified the intelligence of truth and affection of good, had to stand 'as it were' before the king, that is, before the Divine Truth. (AE 555)

      Our text continues: she, the virgin, is to ". . cherish him." The dictionary definition of 'to cherish' is to hold dear, to feel love for, or to take care of another. In Hebrew, this word means 'useful' and 'profitable'. Now, what is useful? Good is useful? And, what is of good is 'of life' and 'life' is what makes a man spiritual. (AC 9397.4) The Hebrew in another version of the Old Testament says 'to cherish' implies 'nurse' and 'companion'. From this, we can see 'to cherish' has the idea of causing a conjunction of good and its truth since virgin signifies intelligence of truth and affection of good. (AE 555)

      This meaning supports the next phrase, ". . . and let her lie in thy bosom." For, 'to lie', implies intent that there might be conjunction. (AC 5007) The divine truths that we must appropriate and that are to become 'as if' our own were appropriated by the Lord while He was in the human form in the world. The bosom of the Lord signifies, what is His -  His Proprium. It is by His love that Divine Truths were appropriated. (AC 9696) This is love in act. It is also spiritual love. (AE 84)

    All this: searching the coasts of Israel, finding a fair damsel, she cherishing, ministering to the king are things in general spoken of here in the Word. The Word is written in series and begins with generals and what follows are particulars. This is a series that teaches things concerning the Lord in His Divine Human before His coming into the world, and also the Lord in the Divine Human after His coming. This human He glorified and through it, man may be led in his repentance, reformation and comes into regeneration.

    As in all the Word, in what is prior contains all particulars. So, from today's text, it can    be accepted not only that the Lord became man as we read in John 1:14,

      "And the Word became 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."

    But, also the Word in its glorification became manifest in the Third Testament to all His people who are in His New Church today. The Third Testament is for our direction and guidance and is a servant of truth for us. It is the Word of the Divine Human. Is not the Word the Lord?

    Do we see in the lesson of 1 Kings 1:1-4 the gravity of 'putting off' the human from the mother and 'putting on' the Human from the Father? We can see this in the truth that Abishag was found and brought to the king, and that the king knew her not. For the Word reads;

      "And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not." (1 Kings 1:4) "He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not"  (John 1: 10).

    The Human was made Divine in the Natural as in the Spiritual and Celestial of life. This, the human made divine in the natural, was the acknowledgment of truth in faith and act. (AC3985). Because of this, that is, because of what is represented and signified by Abishag being brought to the king and the Lord glorifying His Human, we may now receive understanding and have restoration and reformation in the Church. (AE 721) We become enabled to be regenerated because the Lord bore our sins, that is, He carried, as it is said in the text, "and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king." (1 Kings 1:3). The Lord became obedient to His Truth, the Divine within and now continues united in that glorified state - the Divine Human - in good and truth. It is because of this that mankind may exist and subsist.

    In Abishag, who was brought to the king, we understand as the proprium desiring to rule self and as the source of error. The Hebrew meaning of Abishag is the 'Father of error, the cause of wandering'. This is the human that was 'put off' by the Lord. Isn't it the Lord in us who puts off (fights and defeats) the evils within us? He did so from His own power. (AC3975). Man was and is unable to do good, that is, to will well from himself, because he is not in freedom in his proprium. The Word says, ". . . the king knew her not." The Lord's obedience was to the Divine, to His Soul. It was not to the proprium or will of the mother that the Lord was obedient. But we are enslaved to it unless the Lord
    dwells within us. And with the Lord's grace and mercy we can become subservient to the spiritual as He was to the Divine.

    In summary, King David, his servants, the young virgin, her standing, cherishing, ministering and laying in his bosom, and finally his not knowing the damsel, are all explanations about the Lord's coming into the world and His glorification.

      "Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat." (1 King 1:1)

    The significance is: the Israelitish Church was about to end. The Lord was to come and 'put on' a natural human and glorify it. That Church did not acknowledge the Lord; they knew nothing of his truths. The truths, the Word they clothed with rational and scientific understanding. The Word - the Lord - became obscure to all mankind. The natural of man lacked spiritual life; he had rejected such life. The Church did not 'as it were' receive heat, that is affection or love.

    Next, in verse 2, is written,
      "Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my king may get heat." (1 Kings 1:2).

    The truth is external and the form of good. It serves the interior, which is the good. A new state of the Lord is revealed here. The Lord Himself, then called Jehovah, was to come
    into the world. In order for the Church, the Kingdom of the Lord, to continue a new state had to be entered into. Entering that new state was only possible through the young virgin brought 'as it were' to the king mentioned in the text. The Church, if it is to be a true Church, hears the Lord's commandments and obeys them. That is the meaning of standing before the king. Cherishing and lying in the king's bosom signifies the conjunction of good and its truth. We know that all good and truth comes from the Lord as one entity. We know the Lord's Divine Human is Good and Truth, it is Divine Love and Wisdom, and is the Lord's own. It is His Proprium. It is from this that the Lord 'as it were' receives heat, which is good from the Divine within called the Father. When the body, the human, receives love and affection it becomes animated by this heat, which is a spiritual heat. This happens when we receive truths and goods and they conjoin in us and the Lord is truly in us.

    The Word continues,

      "So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king." (1 Kings 1:3)

    Here, we understand it was the desire of the Lord, it was His will and understanding that caused the affection of truth to be subservient and to be a minister of good. In this way the Lord glorified His Human and, thus, enables our regeneration. Searching throughout all the coasts of Israel signifies the ultimate ground into which internal things fall and end. It is where good terminates, where good takes form. Thus, the Church will become a true Church; it becomes the Crown of all Churches. It is the Lord's New Church to which this truth looked toward to. For, if this is not looked to, had this not been consummated by the Lord, then there would be no Church and no salvation. This is why the damsel, that is, the affection of truth in its innocence is signified by Abishag. For, she represented the very sin that led mankind away from the Lord. She represents man's proprium.

    Finally, in verse 4 is stated,

      "And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not." (1 Kings 1:4)

    In this we see the Lord himself in the Natural state, in the Divine Human. That was the servant that ministered, that became subservient to the Divine, and not to the human that was of the mother. The human that He 'put off' the Lord did not know, He did not have foresight or providence of her, that is, He did not know sin.

    Thank the Lord, we can understand the Word in its natural sense and believe that it has a spiritual sense. We are to take truths and form doctrine from the Word and then we are to
    live our lives from these truths, these doctrines. It is then, when the Lord lives His life in us.

    We need to see our own error, our wanderings in sin away from the Lord. We need to be brought to the Lord and stand before Him in His Divine Human. We need to become servants to the Lord in His Divine Truth, as was the Lord to His Father the Divine. For, there we learn what our sins are and, there the Lord can open the interior of our understanding to His truths. There, we can become reformed and regenerated, even as He acknowledged and was obedient to the Divine within and had glorified His Human.

Amen.
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