C

ON THE DIVINE BEING, WHICH IS JEHOVAH.

18. This first section deals with the Divine Being Being: translated from the Latin "Esse," meaning the very core of existence or "to be-ness", and afterwards with the Divine Essence. It appears as if those two are one and the same, but yet Being is more universal than Essence, for Essence presupposes Being, and from Being comes Essence. The Being of God, or the Divine Being, cannot be described, because it is above every idea of human thought; into human thought nothing falls except what is created and finite, but not the Uncreated and Infinite, and thus not the Divine Being. The Divine Being is Being itself, from which all things are, and which must be in all things so that they may exist. A further notion of the Divine Being can flow from the following Articles:

I. That the one God is called Jehovah from His Being, thus because He alone Is, Was, and Will Be, and because He is the First and Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega.

II. That the one God is Substance itself and Form itself, and that Angels and Men are substances and forms from Him, and that insofar as they are in Him, and He in them, so far are they images and likenesses of Him.

III. That the Divine Being is Being in itself, and at the same time Existing in itself. In this context, "Existing" refers to the outward manifestation or becoming of the inner "Being."

IV. That the Divine Being and Existing in itself cannot produce another Divine being that is Being and Existing in itself; consequently, another God of the same Essence is not possible.

V. That a plurality of gods in ancient times, and also in the present day, has existed from no other cause than the Divine Being not being understood.

But these points must be elucidated one by one.

19. I. THAT THE ONE GOD IS CALLED JEHOVAH FROM BEING, THUS BECAUSE HE ALONE IS, AND WILL BE, AND BECAUSE HE IS THE FIRST AND LAST, THE BEGINNING AND THE END, THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA. That "Jehovah" signifies I Am and To Be is well known; and that God has been so called from the most ancient times is evident from the Book of Creation, or Genesis, where in the first chapter He is named "God," but in the second and following chapters, "Jehovah God." Afterward, when the sons of Abraham through Jacob had forgotten the name of God during their stay in Egypt, it was recalled to their memory, concerning which it is written:
,, Moses said to God, "What is your name?" God said, I AM WHO I AM; thus shall you say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you; and you shall say, JEHOVAH THE GOD of your fathers has sent me to you: this is my Name forever, and this is my Memorial from generation to generation" Exodus 3:14–15.
Since God alone is I Am and Being, or Jehovah, therefore there is nothing in the created Universe that does not derive its being from Him; but how this is so will be seen below. This same thing is also understood by these words: I am the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega original: "Alphah et Omegah", Isaiah 44:6, and Revelation 1:8, 11; 22:13; by which is signified: He who is the Self-Existing and Only One from firsts to lasts, from whom all things come.

The reason God is called Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, is because Alpha is the first and Omega is the last letter in the Greek alphabet, and they therefore signify all things in the aggregate. The reason for this is that every alphabetical letter in the spiritual world signifies a certain thing, and a vowel, because it serves for sound, signifies something of affection or love. From this origin comes spiritual or angelic speech, and also the writing there. But this is a secret Arcanum: a hidden or profound mystery known only through revelation unknown until now; for there is a Universal Language in which all Angels and Spirits are, and this has nothing in common with any language of men in the world. Every person comes into this language after death, for it is implanted in every person by creation; therefore everyone can understand another in the entire spiritual world. It has been granted to me many times to hear 그 language, and I have compared it with languages in the world, and I have found that it does not, even in the smallest detail, make one with any natural language on earth. It differs from these...