Who is Jesus?/Book 2/Chapter 9
IX. THE DIVINE HUMANITY
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WHILE it may seem to some that we have elaborated our idea of the deity of Jesus at great length, it is perfectly proper to say that what has been said upon the subject is in comparison with what might be said upon the basis of the Scriptures, merely the barest outline—a suggestion; for it would be possible to begin "at Moses" and continue through "all the prophets"; indeed, to take the Word from Genesis to Revelation, and show that all things therein relate to the Lord and his incarnation and redemptive work. It would be interesting and profitable to take all the prophecies and all the statements of Jesus himself in the New Testament, as well as the statements made about him, and show that they are all perfectly explained by the interpretation which we have given of him. It would be found to be a key to unlock the Scriptures from beginning to end.
We would see that the "seed of the woman" who was to bruise the serpent's head, the heir of Abraham and David, the "servant" told about in the later prophets, was the man of Nazareth, the son of Mary, the one who, because of this assumption of a limited human covering, with its planes of life, was tempted in all points like as we are. We would perceive how this outward expression in time and space could grow tired as other men, and be tempted, whereas the eternal God is never weary and cannot be tempted of evil. We would perceive the steps by which this "servant" overcame, on their own plane, the hosts of evil who were in this way admitted into combats with him, and how he at last rescued man from their power and holds man in such a state of balance between good and evil forever that men can of themselves freely choose the good and reject the evil. It would be interesting and profitable, as we have said, to do this and many other things relating to our subject; but they are not pertinent to show who Jesus of Nazareth was in himself.
This explanation of him that we have offered would show why God in the Old Testament is sometimes spoken of as Jehovah (often translated "Lord"), and sometimes as Elohim (translated "God"); as Jehovah, when God in His essential nature is spoken of, or as the Divine Good; and as Elohim, when He is spoken of in His Divine Proceeding, or Going-forth, or the Divine Truth, as the creative activity of the universe. This would make clear, what is now confused to many, that the writers of the Old Testament, when they sometimes used Jehovah and sometimes Elohim, were speaking—and from Divine dictation—in accordance with the phase of being or activity that was referred to. The so-called Higher Criticism would fall completely to the ground.
This would relate Jehovah to the "Father" of the New Testament, and Elohim to Jesus, thus to the Logos, or the Divine Truth, or to the "Son." Two Gods would not be referred to by the names Jehovah or Elohim, or Jehovah and Jesus, or Father and Son, but one only God in His two phases of Being and Coming-forth; in the nature of the case, of one Essence; in the nature of the case, Indivisible, and only divided by men in their thought of these two phases.
The world would in this way perceive that the Son of God as the Logos, or the Divine Truth, was never weary or was never tempted; for the Son of God is God Himself.
We would see in the "Son of God" or the Logos, the son from eternity; not, indeed, "born" from eternity; for the Infinite could never be born, but always existed in the bosom of the Father,—"who is in the beginning with God," and God Himself, the Divine Truth, one with the Divine Good. We would be able to differentiate between the son born of a virgin in time, perceiving this not to be a separate being, but merely the outside envelop, as it were, of the Son of God. We would perceive how this limited human was not God, and yet was a temporary medium through which God could manifest Himself on the natural plane of life. It was God as much as our outward bodies are ourselves; but as our outward material bodies are not essential to our complete life as men, except as they serve as the material basis of our lives in order to put us into contact with the material universe around us, so the outward form of Jesus was only temporarily useful.
There was this difference between men and Jesus in the resurrection. Men forever cast aside their natural bodies at death. Jesus, indeed, put aside his outward physical material body, but there was provided in its place a form of Divine substances which enabled him forever to dwell with men on the plane of the natural. Unlike men, he is forevermore on even the lowest plane of being, as the disciples saw after the resurrection. Jesus did not actually go away. He, indeed, disappeared from the sight of men as a material man in limitations; but we learn from him that he is always with us, "even unto the end of the world." His ascension, as we have seen before, was the perfect union of the Divine Truth and the Divine Good, the Son and the Father, on every plane of being.
What was accomplished by the glorification?
As the darkness and cold of the night are dissipated by the sun at dawn, so the descent of the Divine into the heavens enlightened and purified them, and in the world of spirits, or Hades, it drove out the false and evil, effected a judgment. We read in Luke 10:17—19:
"And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy." And in John 12:31: "Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out." And in John 19:30: "It is finished."
That a last judgment was an object of his coming into the world is shown by the passage in Matthew 12:18—20, where the prophecy in Isaiah 42:1 is said to be fulfilled: "Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall show judgment to the Gentiles. . . . A bruised reed shall he not break, and smoking flax shall he not quench, till he send forth judgmmt unto victory." And in John 9:39: "And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world."
It became possible, because of the judgment effected, because of the Lord's victory over the forces of evil, for men once again to act freely as of themselves in the rejection of evil. At the time he came the devils had taken almost full possession of the human race. It was one of his chief works to cast them out, and we can understand that he did, not merely in the individual cases mentioned in the New Testament, but as would be fitting and proper for the Divine Truth descending into lower planes of life, cast them out en masse, so that mankind would be set at liberty, for his mission was "to preach deliverance to the captives, . . . to set at liberty them that are bruised."
Ascending into heaven and sitting at the right hand of God is, as we have seen, to reign as God; for all power was given unto the Son, so that after the resurrection he said, "All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth," showing conclusively that there was no other being or person who exercised power. Can any one imagine for an instant that by this statement it is meant that the Father voluntarily resigned Himself to a condition of innocuous desuetude?
In Revelation He said: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending." What does this mean but that Jesus, who was then speaking to John in his glorified humanity, was claiming that he was Jehovah, the very beginning of life, and also its ultimate on the natural plane, the first and last things of creation? And he ends by calling himself "the Almighty." Could anything be plainer than that Jesus of Nazareth, in his glorified humanity, is the only God of heaven and earth?
It is true that in Revelation Jesus is often referred to as the Lamb, but is this not merely a symbol of his outward projection into time and space as the Divine Innocence? He is also referred to at the same time as the Lion of the Tribe of Judah, which symbolizes the Divine Strength. As the Lamb he sits upon the throne of God and reigns, as God alone can reign. As the Lamb he receives Divine honors and adoration. The Lamb, "as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes," can be nothing else than a symbolization. When we read of the millions who surround the throne, "saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing," shall we think of more than one God on the throne? We read further:
"And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever."
Shall we not rather think of this adoration of God and the Lamb as the adoration of the one God of heaven and earth in His two phases of Being and Coming-forth? That only one being or person is referred to is shown by what immediately follows, where it is said, "And the four beasts," also representatives or symbols, "said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped Him (not them) that liveth forever and ever."
And it is right and proper that we should worship and adore God in His two phases of Being and Coming-forth, and that we should join in the ascription of praises to Him who, for our sakes, came into the world in the flesh to save us from our deadly enemies of hell. For us indeed the phase of Coming-forth is absolutely essential to our salvation. For it is this phase of Coming-forth that enables us to approach the Father, or Essential Being. "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; no man cometh unto the Father but by me." It is useless in view of this and other similar statements to think that we can approach the Lord except through His Coming-forth, or in His Divine Humanity. For the Son and the Father are one as body and soul are one. "If ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins." In other words, we cannot approach substance or quality except through Form; we cannot approach the Divine Good except through the Divine Truth. It is idle to think of any other kind of approach to the Divine except through His manifestation; for we cannot conceive of Him, have any idea of Him in a definite way, except as He is manifested in form.
The glorified humanity, the Divine Humanity, is truly justified by its results. Immanuel, God-with-us, means to us heaven on earth and heaven hereafter, for God's presence makes heaven. Let us not think again of a divided God, but remembering that "he that hath seen me hath seen the Father," let us approach to the Lord Jesus Christ as the only God of heaven and earth, our Saviour, and realize that we shall never know any other God.
"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God."