84.除非神给自己取了人的样式，否则，祂无法救赎人类，即将人们从地狱和诅咒中解救出来。其中的原因有很多，这些原因将在下文依次予以揭示。因为救赎就是地狱的征服和天堂的秩序，接着就是教会的建立。这是神以其全能除了通过这人身外无法做到的事，就象人没有臂膀无法工作一样；事实上，祂的人身在圣言中被称作“耶和华的膀臂”（以赛亚书40:10；53:1）。或就象人若非有足够的应对手段，就无法攻下一座坚固城，并摧毁它里面的偶像神庙。由圣言也清楚可知，神的全能通过祂的人身执行这项神性任务。因为神居于至内和至纯部分，绝无法穿越到地狱和那时人们所在的最外层；好比灵魂离了身体什么也做不了。或好比某人若未看见敌人，或接近并以某种武器，如矛、盾或枪击打敌人，就无法战胜他们。对神来说，离了人身实现救赎就象人没有用船运来军队却要征服印度群岛一样不可能；或就象唯独以热和光支撑树木生长，却不创造空气作为它们传输的媒介，或创造它们生长所依赖的土壤一样不可能。事实上，这就象往空中而非水里撒网捕鱼一样不可能。诸如在自己里面的耶和华无法以其全能将一根手指头压在地狱的任何魔鬼，或世上的任何魔鬼身上，并节制他及其怒气，或驯服他的强暴，除非祂如同在其首先事物中那样存在于末后事物中。祂以其人身存在于末后事物中，这就是为何祂在圣言中被称为首先的和末后的，阿拉法和俄梅戛，初和终。
84. 若不是取了人的樣式顯現, 上帝就不能救贖人類, 也就是解救人類脫離詛咒和地獄。關於這點, 有很多原因, 接下來會逐步揭示。救贖其實就是:征服地獄, 重建天國, 接著建立教會。儘管祂全能, 但除了藉著人,祂無法完成救贖, 正如人除非藉著手, 就無法工作。祂(所取)的人事實上在聖言中就被稱為"耶和華的膀臂"(以賽亞書40:10; 53:1)。同樣, 若沒有足夠有力的裝備可供調配, 無人能攻下堅固的城牆和擊潰守軍。
聖言也清楚顯明, 上帝實施這聖工的全能就是通過這個人身顯現來達成。上帝處於最內在和最純全的領域, 沒有任何其它辦法可以令祂邁到地獄所處的最低級的層次,以及當時人類所處之地, 好比靈魂離了身體就無法做任何事情。同樣, 好比一個敵人不出現在面前, 某人無法去打敗他, 或者帶著一些類似長矛與槍支的武器去接近和正面迎擊他。
救贖人類而不通過人身顯現, 對上帝來說是不可能的。好比一個人想戰勝印度群島上的人, 而不先差遣部隊坐船渡到那裡。又好比只要光和熱就想讓樹長大, 而無需傳輸光熱的空氣和讓樹木紮根的土壤。事實上, 這些都是不可能的, 如同撒網在空中捕魚, 而不撒在水中。
因為耶和華就其本身而言, 或者耶和華在祂自己裡面而言, 祂不能運用祂的全能來觸碰到任何地獄中的魔鬼, 或地上的魔鬼, 並約制他們的暴怒, 或者制服他們的暴力, 除非祂顯現在最終端的事物中,如同祂在最初級的事物之中。以祂所取的人身顯現就是出現在最終端的事物之中, 這就是為何祂在聖言中被稱為"首先的和末後的, 阿爾法和俄梅戛, 始和終"。
84. God could not have redeemed people, that is, rescued them from damnation and hell, without first taking on a human manifestation. There are many reasons for this; they will be disclosed step by step in what follows. Redemption was a matter of gaining control of the hells, restructuring the heavens, and then establishing a church. Despite his omnipotence, God could not accomplish these things except through his human manifestation, as one cannot do work without arms. In fact, in the Word his human manifestation is called the arm of Jehovah (Isaiah 40:10; 53:1). By analogy, one cannot attack a fortified city and destroy the temples of idols there without powerful means.
The Word as well makes it clear that having a human manifestation gave God the omnipotence to do this divine work. God is in the inmost and purest realms. There was no other way he could cross over to the lowest levels where the hells exist and where people were at that time, just as a soul cannot do anything without a body. By analogy, there is no way to overpower enemies who are not in sight and whom we cannot get close to with weapons such as spears, shields, or guns.
To redeem people without a human manifestation would have been as impossible for God as it would be for someone [outside India] to take control of people in India without sending in troops on ships. It would be as impossible as growing trees on heat and light alone if air had not been created as a medium through which they travel and earth had not been created in which the trees could grow. In fact, it would be as impossible as catching fish by throwing a net in the air and not in the water.
Given Jehovah's inherent nature, despite his omnipotence he could not touch any individual devils in hell or any individual devils on earth and control them or their rage or tame their violence unless he could be as present in the farthest realms as he is in those closest to him. In his human manifestation he is in fact present in the farthest realms. This is why the Word refers to him as the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End [Revelation 1:8, 11; 21:6; 22:13].
84. There are many reasons, as will be revealed in due course in the following pages, why God could not redeem mankind, that is, rescue people from hell and damnation, except by taking upon Himself human form. For redemption was the conquest of the hells and the ordering of the heavens, followed by the establishment of a church. This is something that God in His omnipotence could not do except through the Human, just as no one can work unless he has an arm; His Human is actually called in the Word 'Jehovah's arm' (Isaiah 40:10; 53:1). Or just as no one can attack a fortified city and destroy the shrines of idols it contains, unless he has adequate means at his disposal. It is plain too from the Word that in this Divine task God's omnipotence was exercised through His Human. For God, who dwells in the inmost and thus purest parts, can in no other way penetrate to the outermost, in which the hells are, and so too were the people of that time; as, for comparison, the soul can do nothing without the body. Or as someone cannot defeat an enemy without coming in sight of them, or approaching and meeting them with some sort of weapons, such as pikes, shields or muskets. To effect redemption without the Human was as impossible for God as it is for a man to conquer the Indies without ferrying an army there in ships; or as making trees grow solely by supplying heat and light, without creating air to be the medium of their transmission or soil out of which they can grow. Even better, it is as impossible as casting nets in the air to catch fish there, instead of in water. For Jehovah, such as He is in Himself, cannot by His omnipotence lay a finger upon any devil in hell, or any devil on earth, and restrain him and his fury, or tame his violence, unless He is present in last things as He is in first things. He is present in last things in His Human, which is why He is called in the Word the First and the Last, Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.
84. There are many reasons why God could redeem men, that is, could deliver them from damnation and hell, only by means of an assumed Human; which reasons shall be set forth in the following pages. Redemption consisted in subjugating the hells, restoring the heavens to order, and after this reestablishing the church; and this redemption God with His omnipotence could effect only by means of the Human; as it is only by means of an arm that one can work-in the Word (Isaiah 40:10; 53:1) this Human of the Lord is called "the arm of Jehovah"-or as one can attack a fortified town and destroy the temples of idols therein only by means of intervening agencies. That it was by means of His Human that God had omnipotence in this Divine work, is also evident from the Word. For in no other way would it be possible for God who is in the inmost and thus in the purest things, to pass over to outmost things, in which the hells are, and in which the men of that time were; just as the soul can do nothing without a body, or as no one can conquer an enemy without coming in sight of him, or approaching and getting near to him with proper equipments, such as spears, shields, or muskets. It was as impossible for God to effect redemption without the Human as it would be for men to conquer the Indies without transporting soldiers there by means of ships, or as it would be to make trees grow by heat and light if the air through which these pass, or the soil from which the trees spring, had never been created; as impossible, in fact, as to catch fish by spreading nets in the air instead of in the water. For it is impossible for Jehovah, such as He is in Himself, by His omnipotence to get in contact with any devil in hell or any devil upon the earth, and restrain him and his fury and tame his violence, unless He be in things last as He is in things first. Because He is in things last in His Human, He is called in the Word "the First and the Last," "the Alpha and the Omega," "the Beginning and the End."
84. There are several reasons, which will be explained in the following pages, why God could not redeem mankind, that is, deliver them from damnation and hell, unless by assuming the Human. For redemption meant the subjugation of the hells, the bringing of the heavens into order, and afterwards the establishment of the Church. God from His omnipotence could not accomplish these things unless by means of the Human, just as no man can act without an arm; and indeed His Human is called in the Word "the arm of JEHOVAH" Isaiah 40:10; 53:1. Nor can anyone attack a fortified city and destroy the temples of its idols unless with suitable armament. Moreover it is evident from the Word that the omnipotence of God was acting in this Divine work through His Human. For God, who dwells in the inmost and purest things, could in no other way approach those depths where the hells are, and to which mankind at that time had fallen; just as the soul can do nothing without the body, and just as no one can conquer an enemy who does not come within sight, or against whom he cannot draw near with weapons of some sort, as spears, shields or muskets. It would have been as impossible for God to accomplish the work of redemption without His Human as for a general to subjugate the Indies without transporting soldiers there by ship; or to cause trees to grow by heat and light alone, unless there had been created air for the transmission of these, and also soil from which the trees could grow. Indeed, it would have been as impossible as for a man to catch fish by casting nets into the air instead of into the water. For Jehovah as He is in Himself cannot come in contact with any devil in hell, or with any devil on earth, to restrain him and his fury, and to curb his violence, unless He were in last things as well as in first. And He is in ultimates in His Human; therefore in the Word He is called the First and the Last, the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
84. Quod Deus non potuerit Redimere homines, hoc est, a damnatione et Inferno extrahere illos, nisi per assumtum Humanum, sunt plures causae, quae in serie in sequentibus detegentur; Redemptio enim fuit subjugatio Infernorum, et ordinatio Coelorum, et post has instauratio Ecclesiae; haec Deus ex sua Omnipotentia non potuit efficere, nisi per Humanum; sicut non quis operari potest nisi ei sit brachium, etiam Humanum Ipsius in Verbo vocatur Brachium Jehovae, Esaias 40:10; 53:1 tum sicut quis non potest Urbem aliquam munitam aggredi et fana idolorum quae inibi sunt, destruere, nisi per Potentias medias; quod Deo in hoc Divino Opere Omnipotentia per suum Humanum fuerit, etiam ex Verbo patet; Deus enim, qui est in intimis et sic purissimis, nequicquam potuit ad ultima, in quibus Inferna sunt, et in quibus homines istius temporis fuerunt, aliter transire, comparative sicut anima non aliquid absque corpore potest agere; aut sicut quis non potest vincere hostes, qui non in conspectum ejus veniunt, aut ad quos non aliquibus armis, ut hastis, clypeis aut sclopetis, potest accedere et appropinquare; absque Humano Redemptionem agere, tam impossibile fuit Deo, sicut homini est subjugare Indos, et non transferre illuc milites per naves; tum sicut facere arbores crescere solum per calorem et lucem, nisi creatus sit aer per quem transeant, et creata sit terra, e qua producantur; imo tam impossibile est, sicut emittere retia in aerem, et ibi captare pisces, et non in aquis: Jehovah enim, qualis est in se, ex Omnipotentia sua non potest contingere aliquem diabolum in Inferno, nec aliquem diabolum super terra, ac illum et ejus furorem compescere, et violentiam domare, nisi in ultimis sit sicut est in primis; in ultimis est in Humano suo, quare in Verbo vocatur Primus et Ultimus, Alphah et Omegah, Principium et Finis.