Chapter 12 (part 5)

He now sat in the chair of David, and was the true priest in the order of Melchisedec." ( Three Principles , xxii. 3.) But the victory which the Redeemer had gained over Satan at the time of the temptation could not be sufficient for the purpose of the redemption of mankind. To that p. 251 end the complete transmutation, consequently the (bodily) death of the Lord, had to take place. 1 "When Christ was born the heaven existed within the earth— of man; but this was not sufficient. The two worlds were to wrestle with each other. Therefore came the temptation, and as the divine world conquered, the great wonders (of the spiritual world) became revealed in the external human world. All this, however, could still not be sufficient, because the human quality was still active in her selfhood (self-consciousness) within the movable wrath. It was necessary that the human state should be transmuted into the celestial one, and for that there was no other way than that the name of Jesus in divine love and celestial essentiality would give itself wholly to be devoured by the wrath. Thus the Son was obedient to the wrathful Father, even unto the death on the Cross." ( Signature , ii. 12–17.) The physical death as well as the temptation of the Redeemer was caused by Satan, who for that purpose excited the animosity of the mundane and clerical authorities against the Lord. 2 "Christ said that He was a king of love and Son of God, having come to save His people from sin. The devil then thought that he would lose his kingdom, and the authorities thought, 'If this is a king and Son of God, our supremacy will be at an end;' while the clergy said to themselves, 'He is much too insignificant for us; we want a Messiah who will give us temporal power and p. 252 glory; one who will make us rich in the world and give us high places in society, so that we shall have all the honour of this world. This man we will not have; He is far too poor for us, and if we were to follow Him we might lose the favour of the mundane authorities. We will remain in our glory and power, and do away with this king of beggars and with His kingdom of love.'" ( Signature , x. 78.) By means of His corporeal death, the wrath, or that which was in antagonism to celestial magnificence, was to be taken away from the external being of the Redeemer. 1 "The human fire-life exists in the blood, and therein rules the wrath of God. Therefore another kind of blood, one that was born from the love-essence of God, had to be brought within the wrathful human blood. Both, however, had to enter together into the wrath of death, and thus the wrath of God had to be extinguished in the divine blood. Therefore external human nature had to die in Christ, so as to exist no longer in the quality of the wrath; so that the power of the celestial blood, namely, the speaking Word, may alone live in external human nature, and rule in its own divine power in external and internal man; that is to say, that the sense of the I (the selfishness or illusion of isolation and separateness) cease to exist in humanity; that the Spirit of God should be all in all, and the personality only His instrument living in humility." ( Signature , ii. 10.) "In the external flesh of the Redeemer was contained the evil part which came to the surface in Adam when he died relatively to God. Now this evil product was to be received again within the love of God, as Isaiah said of Christ, 'He took all our sins upon Him.' Now the cursed Adam was hanging at the Cross as a curse, but Christ redeemed him by His innocently suffering pain p.