309. Behold the Lion hath prevailed. That this signifies that the Lord from His own power subjugated the hells, and reduced all things there and in the heavens to order, appears from the signification of prevailing, when said of the Lord, that is, that when He was in the world He subjugated the hells, and reduced all things there and in the heavens to order, and this by temptations admitted into His Human, and then by continual victories. (Concerning which see the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 293, 291, 301, 302.) This therefore is signified by prevailing, when said of the Lord; and because the Lord did those things from His own power, He is called a lion; for a lion signifies power (as may be seen above, n. 278). That the Lord did those things from His own power is known from the Word; but because few are aware of this, I desire to say something concerning it. The Lord did it from the Divine which was in Him from conception, which He had as a man has a soul from his father; and the soul of every one operates by means of the body, for the body obeys it. The Divine, which was in Him from conception, was His own Divine, which, in the Athanasian creed, is said to be equal to the Divine which is there called the Father; for it is said
"That, as is the Father, so also is the Son, infinite, uncreate, eternal, omnipotent, God, Lord, and that neither of them is greatest nor least, nor first nor last, but altogether equal."
And it is also said
"That the Divine and Human of the Lord are not two, but only one person, and that as the soul and body make one man, so the Divine and Human are one Christ."
Hence it may be known even by those who have faith in Athanasius, that the Lord did those things from His own power, because from His Divine. From these considerations it is quite evident how those words are to be understood which the Lord saith in John:
"The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (xiv. 10, 11).
And elsewhere in the same:
"Verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do; for whatsoever things he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise. As the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them, even so the Son quickeneth whom he will. As the Father hath life in Himself, so also hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself" (v. 19, 21, 26).
Because the Divine, which the Lord calls the Father, was His own Divine, and not another Divine, therefore it is evident that whatever He did from the Father, and also whatever [He did] from the Human, which He calls the Son, He did from Himself: and thus that He did all things by His own power, because [He did them] from what was His own.
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