1. AFTER that the spirit in Moses had deciphered the figure of the Covenant of God, established in Christ Jesus with his children, showing how we poor children of Eve should and must depart out of this earthly will of selfness, and be born in Christ with a new will and life; he here now sets forth the figure, how the same should and must be brought to pass: How Christ must again offer up our soul and humanity to his Father, even as he also was to be cast as an offering into the fire of God's anger, and wholly die in the wrath of God to the human soul's selfness and own will, and yet spring forth powerfully with the divine only will of God, through death and the anger of God, and break in pieces and make a scorn of death which held the humanity captive. And so bring the human soul again to God his Father into the only eternal divine will, and deliver up again the kingdom unto him (1 Cor. xv. 24), which he had given him in the humanity, so that afterwards, and to all eternity, God might he all in all (1 Cor. xv. 28), and the creature might not live any more to its own will, but sound only as an instrument of a divine tune, in a divine harmony, and the whole human tree might be only one in all its boughs and branches.
2. The spirit in Moses does set forth this figure very clearly, even to the end of all his writings, and plays under the outward figure with the inward, which shall remain for ever. I will therefore set down this figure of Abraham's temptation in respect of his son Isaac, likewise in the spiritual figure, and show what is thereby to be understood. For although the learned have expounded it, that God tempted Abraham, to see if he would continue steadfast in the faith upon him, yet it has far another meaning and interpretation; for God knows well aforehand what man will do; also man cannot, without his grace, stand in the temptation, as may be seen here in Abraham, when he denied his wife before King Abimelech, as he came into Gerar.
3. Abraham is here represented in Adam's stead, and 'his son Isaac is represented in Christ's humanity, and the voice which came to Abraham is God the Father's. These three stand here in the figure of the process of the work of man's redemption; showing how Abraham, that is, Adam, should offer up his person 1 in Isaac, that is, in Christ, to the voice of God in the fire of God, that so the humanity might be proved in the fire of God.
4. Now the voice of God spoke to Abraham, and said, Ahrabam! And he answered, Here am I. That is, God called to Adam in Abraham, viz. to all men, and said : Take your own son Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon a mountain which I will tell you of (Gen. xxii. 1,2). Here the spirit looks with Isaac upon Christ, for in Isaac lay the Covenant, and the ens of Abraham's faith, out of which Christ should come.
Now said the voice of God to Adam in Abraham,
Take your son, whom you love, and
offer him for a burnt offering upon the mountain which I shall tell you of. That is, the Jews, viz. Adam's children, should offer Christ for a burnt offering; that is, the divine ens should give in itself into Adam's ens, which the children of Adam should offer up one with another in the fire of God; and it betokens, that every man, when he has received the ens of faith, must offer up himself wholly unto God, and die to his own will in the fire of God; and in the divine ens of faith be born anew through the offering in the fire of God.
5. For said the spirit in Moses: your son whom you love, viz. your own will, which has brought itself into self-love. This self-will must be offered up to God, that it may leave the own selfish will in the fire of God, and wholly give over its ownhood, and no more will and live to itself but to God. And it rightly points out, how Christ in our human will, (which [human will] had broken off or turned itself in Adam from God), should again wholly offer and give up himself in Adam's person to God his Father; and how the wrath of God should devour the will, viz. the will wherein Adam had introduced himself into selfhood.
1. AFTER that the spirit in Moses had deciphered the figure of the Covenant of God, established in Christ Jesus with his children, showing how we poor children of Eve should and must depart out of this earthly will of selfness, and be born in Christ with a new will and life; he here now sets forth the figure, how the same should and must be brought to pass: How Christ must again offer up our soul and humanity to his Father, even as he also was to be cast as an offering into the fire of God's anger, and wholly die in the wrath of God to the human soul's selfness and own will, and yet spring forth powerfully with the divine only will of God, through death and the anger of God, and break in pieces and make a scorn of death which held the humanity captive. And so bring the human soul again to God his Father into the only eternal divine will, and deliver up again the kingdom unto him (1 Cor. xv. 24), which he had given him in the humanity, so that afterwards, and to all eternity, God might he all in all (1 Cor. xv. 28), and the creature might not live any more to its own will, but sound only as an instrument of a divine tune, in a divine harmony, and the whole human tree might be only one in all its boughs and branches.
2. The spirit in Moses does set forth this figure very clearly, even to the end of all his writings, and plays under the outward figure with the inward, which shall remain for ever. I will therefore set down this figure of Abraham's temptation in respect of his son Isaac, likewise in the spiritual figure, and show what is thereby to be understood. For although the learned have expounded it, that God tempted Abraham, to see if he would continue steadfast in the faith upon him, yet it has far another meaning and interpretation; for God knows well aforehand what man will do; also man cannot, without his grace, stand in the temptation, as may be seen here in Abraham, when he denied his wife before King Abimelech, as he came into Gerar.
3. Abraham is here represented in Adam's stead, and 'his son Isaac is represented in Christ's humanity, and the voice which came to Abraham is God the Father's. These three stand here in the figure of the process of the work of man's redemption; showing how Abraham, that is, Adam, should offer up his person 1 in Isaac, that is, in Christ, to the voice of God in the fire of God, that so the humanity might be proved in the fire of God.
4. Now the voice of God spoke to Abraham, and said, Ahrabam! And he answered, Here am I. That is, God called to Adam in Abraham, viz. to all men, and said : Take your own son Isaac, whom you love, and go into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon a mountain which I will tell you of (Gen. xxii. 1,2). Here the spirit looks with Isaac upon Christ, for in Isaac lay the Covenant, and the ens of Abraham's faith, out of which Christ should come.
Now said the voice of God to Adam in Abraham,
Take your son, whom you love, and
offer him for a burnt offering upon the mountain which I shall tell you of. That is, the Jews, viz. Adam's children, should offer Christ for a burnt offering; that is, the divine ens should give in itself into Adam's ens, which the children of Adam should offer up one with another in the fire of God; and it betokens, that every man, when he has received the ens of faith, must offer up himself wholly unto God, and die to his own will in the fire of God; and in the divine ens of faith be born anew through the offering in the fire of God.
5. For said the spirit in Moses: your son whom you love, viz. your own will, which has brought itself into self-love. This self-will must be offered up to God, that it may leave the own selfish will in the fire of God, and wholly give over its ownhood, and no more will and live to itself but to God. And it rightly points out, how Christ in our human will, (which [human will] had broken off or turned itself in Adam from God), should again wholly offer and give up himself in Adam's person to God his Father; and how the wrath of God should devour the will, viz. the will wherein Adam had introduced himself into selfhood.
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