Spiritual Meaning of Lord

Spiritual Meaning of

Lord

The name Lord is often used in the Word; and one who has no knowledge of the internal sense supposes that nothing more is meant by it than what is meant by the use of this term in common speech; but Lord is never used in the Word except where good is treated of, and the same is true of Jehovah; but when truth is treated of, God and King are used. For this reason by a lord is signified good, as is evident from the following passages. In Moses:--

Jehovah your God, He is God of gods, and Lord of lords (Deut 10:17).

In David:--

Confess ye to Jehovah. Confess ye to the God of gods. Confess ye to the Lord of lords (Ps. 136:1-3);

where Jehovah or the Lord is called God of gods from the Divine truth which proceeds from Him, and Lord of lords from the Divine good which is in Him.

[3] So in the Revelation:--

The Lamb shall overcome them; for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings (Rev. 17:14).

And again:--

He that sat upon the white horse hath upon His vesture and upon His thigh a name written, King of kings, and Lord of lords (Rev. 19:16);

that the Lord is here called King of kings from Divine truth, and Lord of lords from Divine good, is plain from the particulars; the name written is His quality (AC 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3006); the vesture on which it was written is the truth of faith (AC 1073, 2576, 4545, 4763); the thigh on which also that quality was written, is the good of love (AC 3021, 4277, 4280, 4575). From this also it is plain that the Lord from Divine truth is called King of kings and from Divine good Lord of lords. The Lord is called King from Divine truth, (AC 2015, 2069, 3009, 3670, 4581),

[4] From this it is also clear what is meant by the Lord's Christ, in Luke:--

Answer was made to Simeon by the Holy Spirit, that he should not see death, until he had seen the Lord's Christ (Luke 2:26);

the Lord's Christ is the Divine truth of the Divine good; for Christ is the same as Messiah, and Messiah is the Anointed or King (AC 3008, 3009). The Lord here is Jehovah. In the Word of the New Testament the name Jehovah is nowhere used; but instead of it Lord and God (AC 2921); as also in Luke:--

Jesus said, How say they that the Christ is David's Son? for David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand (Luke 20:41, 42).

The same passage reads thus in David:--

The saying of Jehovah unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand (Ps. 110:1).

It is plain that Jehovah in David is called Lord in the Evangelist. Lord there denotes the Divine good of the Divine Human; omnipotence is signified by sitting at the right hand (AC 3387, 4592, 4933).

[5] When the Lord was in the world He was Divine truth; but when He was glorified, that is, when He had made the Human in Himself Divine, He became Divine good, from which thereafter Divine truth proceeds. For this reason the disciples after the resurrection did not call Him Master, as before, but Lord, as is evident in (John 21:7, 12, 15-17, 20), and also in the rest of the Evangelists. The Divine truth, which the Lord was when in the world, and which thereafter proceeds from Him, that is, from the Divine good, is called also the angel of the covenant, in Malachi:--

The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, and the Angel of the covenant whom ye desire (Mal. 3:1).

[6] As Divine good is meant by Lord, and Divine truth by King, therefore where the Lord is spoken of as having dominion and a kingdom, dominion is predicated of Divine good, and a kingdom of Divine truth, and therefore also the Lord is called Lord of nations, and King of peoples; for by nations are signified those who are in good, and by peoples those who are in truth (AC 1259, 1260, 1849, 3581).

[7] Good is called a lord relatively to a servant, and it is called a father relatively to a son-as in Malachi:--

A son honoreth his father, and a servant his lord; if then I be a father, where is My honor; and if I be a lord, where is My fear? (Mal. 1:6).

And in David:--

Joseph was sold for a servant. The discourse of Jehovah proved him. The king sent and loosed him, the ruler of nations opened for him, he set him lord of his house, and ruler in all his possession (Ps. 105:17, 19-21);

that by Joseph here is meant the Lord, is evident from the several particulars; the lord here is the Divine good of the Divine Human.

from AC 4973

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Author: E. Swedenborg (1688-1772).

Design: I.J. Thompson, Feb 2002.