4394. About the Coming of the Lord
With angels I spoke about the suffering of the Lord, and about the opinion of the modern world that He took away our sins; but I received the reply that the Lord's life and crucifixion took place that the scriptures might be fulfilled, as He Himself said, namely 1) because the symbolism of the Jewish and of the ancient Church prefigured Him, and the fact that He would fulfill all things, because they regarded Him; and no symbolic Church could come forth unless it represented Him, His life and all the rest related to Him as born a human being; 2) that the symbolism regarded the union of His Human nature with His Divine nature, and His temptations before they were united; 3) that the symbolism was to the effect that heavenly truth would suffer so as not to perish, indeed that He would be crucified by the Jews, He Himself being the example of heavenly goodness and heavenly truth, so because they suffered, He also suffered; 4) besides which, the human race could never have been saved if He had not come into the world and united the Human Essence to the Divine one, because there was no longer any goodness and truth left, but a disunion of the human race and heaven. 5) That He took away our sins is not to be understood according to the common notion, that they would be entirely free of sins, for the very least ones remain, but that the human race might not perish in eternal death. 6) Since the Human Essence has been united to the Divine one, the Divine efficacy extends to the lower regions belonging to spirits, which would not be the case without the Human Essence, for which reason also the Lord as to the Human Essence as well is the Sun, and enlightens. By means of the Divine Essence, the angels had been enlightened, that is, the heavenly angels, through whom it passed down to the lower regions; but when the heavenly principle was no longer there, and the hells still kept on multiplying, then this mediation was inadequate, so that those would have perished whom the Divine efficacy had been able to reach by means of the heavenly [angels]. See also above, number 2259.
4394. CONCERNING THE COMING OF THE LORD.
I spoke with the angels concerning the passion of the Lord, and concerning the opinion of the world at the present day, that he took away our sins; but it was replied to me that the life and crucifixion of the Lord took place that the scriptures might be fulfilled, as he himself said, to wit;
(1) - because the representatives of the Jewish and of the ancient church figured Him as destined to fulfil all things, inasmuch as they had reference to Him, and because no representative church could have existed unless it should have represented Him, His life and other things relating to Him as born a man;
(2) - because representatives had respect to the union of His human nature with His divine, and the temptations [He underwent] before they were united;
(3) - because representatives were of such a nature [as to indicate] that heavenly truth should suffer, because it had perished, nay, had been crucified by the Jews, [and] He was the exemplar of heavenly goodness and heavenly truth, and because that suffered He suffered also.
(4) - Besides which the human race could never have been saved unless He had come into the world, and had united the human to the divine essence, because there was no longer any good and truth, thus a disjunction of the human race and heaven [was imminent].
(5) - That He took away sins is not to be understood according to the common view of it, namely, that men should be altogether free from sins - for they remain in all their particulars - but that the human race should not perish in eternal death.
(6) - When the human essence is united to the divine, the divine efficacy extends to the lower things which are of spirits, which, without the human essence, could not have been the case; wherefore also the Lord as to the human essence is a sun, and illumines [angels and men]. By the Divine [Essence] the angels were illuminated [prior to the Lord's advent], thus also the celestials, through whom it passed to inferior things; but when there was no longer a celestial, and the hells continued to be multiplied, then this medium was insufficient; thus [unless the Lord had come] they would have perished to whom the divine efficacy had formerly been able, through the celestials, to penetrate. See also above, n, 2259.
4394. De Adventu Domini
Cum angelis loquutus de passione Domini, deque opinione orbis hodie, quod sustulerit nostra peccata; sed responsum tuli, quod Domini vita et crucifixio, fuerit ut implerentur scripturae sicut Ipse dixit, nempe
1) quia repraesentativa Ecclesiae Judaicae et antiquae Ipsum figurabant, quod impleret omnia, quia Ipsum spectabant, et quod nulla Ecclesia repraesentativa potuisset existere, nisi Ipsum, Ipsius vitam et caetera se ad Ipsum, ut natum hominem referrent,
2) quod repraesentativa spectarent Ipsius Humanae naturae unionem cum Divina, et tentationes, antequam uniretur;
3) quod repraesentativa essent talia, quod pateretur veritas coelestis, quia periret, imo crucifigeretur a Judaeis, bonitatis coelestis et veritatis coelestis Ipse fuit exemplar, ideo quia illa, etiam Ipse passus;
4) praeter quod nusquam salvari potuisset genus humanum nisi Ipse in mundum venisset, et univisset Essentiam Humanam Divinae, quia nulla bonitas et veritas amplius, ita disunio humani generis et coeli.
5) Quod sustulerit peccata, non secundum sensum communem intelligendum, quod prorsus liberi essent a peccatis, nam singula remanent, sed ne humanum genus aeterna morte periret.
6) Cum Humana Essentia unita est Divinae, se extendit efficacia Divina ad inferiora quae spirituum, quod absque Humana Essentia non fieret; quare etiam Dominus quoad Humanam Essentiam etiam est Sol, et illuminat: per Divinam illuminati fuerunt angeli, ita coelestes, per quos transivit ad inferiora, at cum coeleste non amplius, et usque multiplicarentur inferna, tunc hoc medium insufficiens fuit, ita periissent, ad quos Divina efficacia per eos potuisset pertingere. Vide prius quoque n. 2259.