The Redemption

Redemption itself was the Subjugation of the Hells, and the establishment of Order in the Heavens, and preparation thereby for a new spiritual church. (TCR n. 115)

That the Lord while He was in the world fought against the hells, and conquered and subjugated them, and thus brought them under obedience to Him, is evident from many passages in the Word, of which I shall select these few:—In Isaiah: “Who is this that cometh from Edom, besprinkled as to His garments from Bozrah? this [that is] honourable in His apparel, travelling in the multitude of His strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save. Wherefore art Thou red in Thine apparel, and Thy garment as one that treadeth in the wine-press? I have trodden the wine press alone; and of the people [there was] not a man with Me; therefore I trod them in Mine anger, and trampled them in My wrath; thence their victory is sprinkled upon My gar­ments; .. for the day of vengeance is in, Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come: … Mine arm brought salvation to Me; … I made their victory descend to the earth…. He said, Be­hold My people, they are children; therefore He became to them a Saviour; … in His love and in His pity He redeemed them” (lxiii. 1-9). These things are said of the Lord’s conflict against the hells. By the garment in which He was honourable and which was red the Word is meant, to which violence was offered by the Jewish people. The conflict itself against the hells and the victory over them is described by the saying that He trod them in  His anger, and trampled them in His wrath. That He fought alone and of His own power is described by the words: “Of the people [there was] not a man with Me; … Mine arm brought salvation to Me; I made their victory descend to the earth.” That thereby He saved and redeemed is meant by these: “Therefore He became to them a Saviour; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. “That this was the cause of His coming is meant by the words: “The day of vengeance is in Mine heart, and the year of My redeemed is come.” Again in Isaiah: “He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor; therefore His arm brought salvation unto Him, and His righteous­ness it sustained Him; and He put on righteousness as a breast­plate, and the helmet of salvation upon His head; and He put on, the garments of vengeance, and covered Himself with zeal as with a cloak…. Then cometh the Redeemer to Zion” (lix. 16, 17, 20). In Jeremiah: “They were dismayed, … their mighty ones were beaten down; they fled apace; they looked not back; this day is to the Lord Jehovah of Hosts a day of vengeance, that He may take vengeance on His enemies; the sword shall devour and be satiated” (xlvi. 5, 10). Both of these passages relate to the Lord’s conflict against the hells, and victory over them. In David: “Gird Thy sword upon Thy thigh, O Mighty; … Thine arrows are sharp; the people shall fall under Thee, from the heart of the King’s enemies; Thy throne … is for ever and ever…. Thou hast loved righteousness, therefore God hath anointed Thee” (Psa. xlv. 3-7); also in many other places. Since the Lord alone conquered the hells, without help from any angel, therefore He is called a Hero and a Man of Wars (Isa. xliv. 15; ix. 6); The King of Glory, Jehovah the Mighty, the Hero of War (Psa. xiv. 8, 10) “The Mighty One of Jacob (cxxxii. 2); and in many places Jehovah Sabaoth, that is, Jehovah of Hosts. And also His advent is called the day of Jehovah, terrible, cruel, a day of indignation, of wrath, of anger, of vengeance, of ruin, of war, of a trumpet, of a loud noise, of tumult. In the Evangelists it is said: “Now is the judgment of this world: the prince of this world shall be cast out” (John 31); “The prince of this world is. judged” (xvi. 11); “Be assured I have overcome the world” (xvi. 33); “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven” (Luke x. 18). By the world, the prince of the world, Satan, and the Devil, is meant hell. (TCR n. 116)

It is known in the Church that the Lord is the Saviour and Redeemer of the human race; but how this is to be understood is known by few. They who are in the externals of the Church believe that the Lord redeemed the world, that is the human race, by His blood, by which they understand the passion of the Cross. But those that are in the internal [truths] of the Church know that no one is saved by the Lord’s blood, but by a life according to the precepts of faith and charity from the Lord’s Word. Those who are in the inmost [truths] of the Church, understand by the Lord’s blood the Divine Truth proceeding from Him, and by the passion of the cross they understand the last of the Lord’s temptation, by which He entirely subjugated the hells, and at the same time glorified His Human, that is made it Divine; and that thereby He redeemed and saved all who suffer themselves to be regenerated, by a life according to the precepts of faith and charity from His Word. By the Lord’s blood also in the internal sense, accord­ing to which the angels in the heavens perceive the Word, Divine Truth is meant proceeding from the Lord. But how man was saved and redeemed by the Divine, through the sub­jugation of the hells and the glorification of His Human, no one can know , unless He knows that with every man there are angels from heaven, and spirits from hell, and unless these are present with man continually he cannot think anything, or will anything; and that thus as to his interiors man is either under the dominion of spirits who are from hell, or under the dominion of angels from heaven. When this is first known, then it may be known that unless the Lord had entirely subdued the hells, and reduced all things both there and in the heavens to order, no man could have been saved. So, unless the Lord had made His Human Divine, and had thereby won over the hells and over the heavens to eternity. or without Divine power neither the hells nor the heavens can be kept in order; since the power by which anything exists must be perpetual in order that it may subsist, for subsistence is perpetual existence. The very Divine, which is called the Father, without the Divine Human, which is called the Son, could not effect this; inasmuch as the very Divine without the Divine Human cannot reach to man, nor even to an angel, when the human race have altogether removed themselves from the Divine,—as was the case in the end of times, when there was no longer any faith nor any charity. For this reason the Lord then came into the world and restored all things, and this by virtue of His Human, and thus saved and redeemed man through faith and love to the Lord from the Lord. For those [that have this faith and love] the Lord can withhold from the hells and from eternal damnation; but not those who reject faith and love from Him to Him, for these reject salvation and redemption. (AC n. 10, 152)