The Lord's New Chapel
Session Three
The Lord's Subjugation of the Hells and His Glorification of His Human - Part 1
"The Lord came into the World to subjugate the Hells and to glorify His Human; and the Passion of the Cross was the Last Combat by which He fully conquered the Hells, and fully glorified His Human"  (Doctrine of the Lord, heading III)
It is well known by Christians that unless the Lord, that is, Jehovah came into the world, mankind would be forever lost and end in hell. It is also known that the Lord in His coming conquered death, that is, hell, and that death has no hold on Him and, so, He arose from the grave. He was victorious and ascended in glory into Heaven. All throughout the Lord's life on earth the Lord went through temptations. These can be seen in the Gospels when He was in the wilderness and when approached by the Devil, by His suffering in Gethsemane and on the cross, and thus it was His last passion by which He fully conquered the hells and glorified His Human.

We need to understand what temptations are. Temptations are really combats within man, for who does not know that being tempted is a combat between good and truth with evil and falsity? Many times we feel that we will loose something that we dearly love. However, what this is actually is our anxiety from misfortune, diseases, etc. True temptation is whether within us good has dominion over evil and truth over falsity. It is whether the Lord will have dominion over us or whether the devil or the hells will.

However, it is not man's temptation that we are concerned with here, but the Lord's. You see, the Lord had put on the natural human of mankind. In so doing it made Him vulnerable to the same evils and falsities that man is. As such, in His entire life on earth, He fought against the hells and overcame them and was victorious. This ended in hell's subjugation where at the same time He glorified His Human. The purpose was, of course, to deliver man from evil, that is, from hell, for if hell is under subjugation, it cannot rule in man. Every man upon coming into the world and his leaving were infected by evils from hell, that is, man's life was taken over by evils from hell, and so too, they attempted to do so with the Lord. Nonetheless, as the text says, not only did the Lord subjugate the hells by combats against them, but He glorified His Human and became the Human Divine.

    12. "It is known in the Church that the Lord conquered death, by which is meant hell, and that He afterwards ascended with glory into Heaven. But it is not yet known that the Lord conquered death, or hell, by combats, which are temptations, and at the same time by these glorified His Human; and that the passion of the cross was the last combat or temptation by which He effected this conquest and glorification. These combats are much treated of in the Prophets and in the Psalms, but not so much in the Evangelists. In these the temptations which He endured from childhood are described in summary form by His temptations in the wilderness; and afterwards are described His temptations by the devil, and the final temptations by His sufferings in Gethsemane and on the cross. His temptations in the wilderness, and afterwards His temptations by the devil, are related in Matthew iv 1to 11; in Mark i 12,13; and in Luke iv 1 to 13. But by these are meant all His temptations even to the last. He did not reveal more  concerning them to His disciples; for it is said in Isaiah:
      'He was oppressed . . . yet He opened not His mouth: He is brought as a lamb before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth' Isa. liii 7.
      'His temptations in Gethsemene are related in Matthew xxvi 36 to 44; in Mark xiv 32 to 42; and in Luke xxii 39 to 46;
      'And those on the cross, Matthew xxvii 33 to 56; in Mark xv 22 to 38; in Luke xxiii 33 to 49; and in John xix 17 to 37.'

    Temptations are nothing else than combats against the hells. Concerning the Lord's temptations or combats, see the little work on The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine, published in London, Nos. 201 and 302; and concerning temptations in general, Nos. 187 to 200 of the same work."

Generally, when thinking of the glorification of the Lord, one thinks of exulting Him and thus, of worshipping Him. Yet, it is far more than just that, for it is the Lord's union of His Human with His Divinity. To glorify is to make Divine. Still, by the Lord's union of His humanity with His divinity, there is far more than the Lord returning from the grave and ascending to His 'Father' in Heaven. All one need do is to look at the reason why He came on earth and became a man. Wasn't it that unless He did, man could not be freed from hell? The point being, that through faith and charity, that is, through the Lord's love and wisdom, or good and truth that can now enter a man, the Lord is conjoined within him, even as is He is with the Father and they with us. There is a perpetual influx of divine goods and truths entering man, and angels. As these are accepted, learned, and acknowledged in one's heart, that is, in the will, a man becomes intelligent and wise, and thus, comes into spiritual and even into celestial understanding and thus, as he acts accordingly good enters his will and the Lord rules, not the evils. He becomes a spiritual man while in this world.

    13. "That by the passion of the cross the Lord fully conquered the hells, He Himself teaches in John:
    'Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out' (John xii 31).
    This the Lord said when the passion of the cross was about to take place."

For what reason is there a judgment of this world? Of course, you may understand it is not meant the physical world or the earth, but by 'world' is meant Satan and the Devil, for in John xvi 11, we read, the prince of this world is judged, not this natural world that we live in. In John xvi 33 what the world means is clear. "Jesus [said] to the disciples, These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me you might have power. In the world you have tribulation; but trust confidently, I have overcome the world." And, we see this in His passion in the cross where He became glorified and given all power in Heaven and earth.

    "In the same:
    'The prince of this world is judged'  (John xvi 11).
    Again:
'Be of good cheer; I have overcome the world'  (John xvi 33).
    And in Luke:
'Jesus said, I beheld Satan as lightening fall from Heaven.  (Luke x 18).

    In these passages by the world, the prince of the world, Satan and the devil is meant hell."

To help us understand what 'Satan' and 'Devil' means in the spiritual sense, we read, "And, the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, (thus, leading the entire world astray) was cast into the land, and his angels with him" (Rev. 12: 9). We find that in the Word by 'dragon' is meant the Churches devastation. "I will make Jerusalem into a heap, a habitation of dragons, and I will reduce the city Judah into waste" (Jer. ix 11). At the time Jerusalem and Judah were where the Lord's Church was known. Dragon, of course, is meant the devil. Here, is predicated the down fall of those who had turned away from the Lord to themselves or from Heaven to the world. Here, you see, these are all called dragons, that is, devils and satans. For, wasn't it the serpent who led Eve and Adam away through falsities and thus, those who are in untruths? Thus, by the devil and Satan is not any one particular enmity, but are those that are in hell.

    "In these passages by the world, the prince of the world, Satan and the devil, is meant hell.
    "That by the passion of the cross the Lord also fully glorified His Human, He teaches in John:
    'After Judas was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
    'If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him.  (John xiii 31, 32).

    "In the same:
    'Father, the hour is come: glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You (John xvii 1, 5).
Again:
Now is My soul troubled.
    And he said, Father, glorify Your name. Then came there a voice from Heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again  (John xii 27, 28).   
In Luke:
Ought not Christ to have suffered this, and to enter into His glory? (Luke xxiv 26).

    These things are said concerning His passion. Glorification is the uniting of the Divine and the Human; therefore it is said, 'God shall glorify Him in Himself."

Here, we understand that the Lord calls Himself the 'Son of Man' and not the 'Son of God'. Thus, we learn that these two names mean that different subjects are treated of concerning the Lord One is when He speaks as being one with God and having power or in whom a man has faith in and from Him, as in John v 17 to 26.

However, when the subject is of the Lord's passion, of judgment, of His coming, and in general about man's redemption, regeneration, and salvation, He speaks of Himself as the Son of man. It is seen that in the case, where the Lord is the Son of Man and as the Word, He suffers, judges, etc. Basically, the one the Son of Man refers to the essential good and truth and the Son of God is when His Human was made Divine.

While the Lord was on earth and had put on the human from mankind and before He put it off and was made Divine, that is, before He was glorified, He was nothing else than a servant. From this we see that by combats of temptations He overcame evil and falsity that had attacked Him as do they all mankind. The outcome of completely putting off His human from mankind was that He became one with the Divine and became the Divine Human.

In fact, He did not recognize His earthy mother or brother when they came looking for Him. In Mark 3: 32 to 35 we can read, "And the multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, 'Look, Your mother and Your brothers are outside seeking You'". But He answered them, 'Who is My mother, or My bothers?' And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him and said, 'Here are My mother and My brothers! 'For whoever does the will of God is My brother and My sister and Mother.'" So, by calling Himself the Son of Man was meant Truth itself and by Son of God was meant Good itself, both which belonged to His Human essence when made Divine or glorified.

In speaking of His passion the Lord asked, "Ought not Christ to have suffered this, and to enter into His glory?" (Luke 24: 26). By Christ is the Son of God the Messiah meant which is the Divine Human of the Lord or the Divine Truth and Good. Here, by suffering means to be lead or to allow and, of course, it is the Divine Truth that leads to glory, that is, to be united the Divine with the Human, but it is the Divine Good that unites the Human with the Divine, as love unites one with another.

END.
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