Doc. of Lord (Potts): Lord 37

Doc. of Lord (Potts) n. 37

37. THE LORD IS GOD HIMSELF, FROM WHOM AND CONCERNING WHOM IS THE WORD. In chapter I. we undertook to show that universal Holy Scripture treats of the Lord, and that the Lord is the Word. This shall now be further shown from passages of the Word in which the Lord is called "Jehovah," the "God of Israel and of Jacob," the "Holy One of Israel," the "Lord," and "God;" and also "King," "Jehovah's Anointed," and "David." I may first mention that I have been permitted to run through all the Prophets and the Psalms of David, and to examine each verse and see what it treats of, and I have seen that the only subjects treated of are: the church set up anew and to be set up anew by the Lord; the advent, combats, glorification, redemption, and salvation, of the Lord; heaven from Him; and, with these, their opposites. As all these are works of the Lord, it became evident that universal Holy Scripture is concerning Him, and therefore that the Lord is the Word. [2] But this can be seen only by those who are in enlightenment from the Lord, and who also know the spiritual sense of the Word. All the angels of heaven are in this sense, and therefore when the Word is being read by a man, they so comprehend it. For spirits and angels are constantly with man, and as they are spiritual they understand spiritually all that a man understands naturally. That all Holy Scripture is concerning the Lord, may be obscurely seen, and as through a glass, darkly, from the passages of the Word already cited in chapter I. (n. 1-6), as also from those concerning the Lord now to be quoted, to show how frequently He is called the Lord [that is, Jehovah] and God; and from which it is apparent that it is He who spoke through the prophets, by whom it is everywhere said, "Jehovah spake," "Thus saith Jehovah," "The saying of Jehovah." [3] That the Lord existed before His advent into the world, is evident from the following passages:

John the Baptist said concerning the Lord, He it is who coming after me was before me, whose shoe's latchet I am not worthy to unloose. This is He of whom I said, After me cometh a man who was before me, for He was before me (John 1:27, 30). They fell down before the throne (on which was the Lord) saying, We eve Thee thanks, Lord God Almighty, who art, and who wast, and who art to come (Rev. 11:16, 17). Thou Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, out of thee shall He go forth unto Me that shall be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth have been from of old, from the days of eternity (Micah 5:2). The same is evident from the Lord's words in the Evangelists that He "was before Abraham," that He had glory with the Father "before the foundation of the world," that He "had gone forth from the Father," and that "the Word was from the beginning with God," that "God was the Word," and that this "was made flesh." That the Lord is called "Jehovah," the "God of Israel and of Jacob," the "Holy One of Israel," "God," and "Lord," and also "King," "Jehovah's Anointed," and "David," is evident from what now follows.

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