555. [verse 11] 'And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony' signifies victory by the Divine Truth of the Word, and consequently by the acknowledgment that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, and that the precepts of the Decalogue are the precepts of life in accordance with which one must live. That 'the blood of the Lamb' is the Divine Truth proceeding from the Lord, which is the Divine Truth of the Word, may be seen above (n. 379); that 'the testimony' is the Divine Truth (Veritas), above (n. 6, 16); and that specifically these two [witnesses] are that the Lord is the God of heaven and earths, and that the precepts of the Decalogue are precepts of life (n. 490, 501). On this account the Decalogue is also called 'the testimony' (Exod. xxv 22; xxxi 7, i8; xxxii 15; Lev. xvi 13; Num. xvii 4; Ps. lxxviii 5; cxxxii 12). By those of the present day who are in faith alone it is believed that here by 'the blood of the Lamb' is understood the Lord's passion of the cross. This is especially the result of their making the Lord's passion of the cross the chief point of their dogma by saying that thereby He has transferred upon Himself the damnation of the law, made satisfaction to the Father and reconciled the human race to Himself, and more besides. That this, however, is not the case, but that:-
The Lord came into the world in order to subjugate the hells and glorify His Human, and that the passion of the cross was the last combat, by which He fully conquered the hells and fully glorified His Human,
may be seen [in] THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE LORD (n. 12-14). Consequently it can be seen that by 'the blood of the Lamb' here is not understood the passion of the cross in accordance with present-day dogma. That the Divine Truth proceeding out of the Lord, which is the Divine Truth of the Word, is understood by 'the blood of the Lamb' can be seen by reason of this, that the Lord is the Word, and because He is the Word the Divine Truth there is His Blood and the Divine Good is His Body. For clearness this can be taught thus: Is not every man his own good and his own truth, and because good is of the will and truths is of the understanding every man is his own will and his own understanding? What else makes a man? Is not a man, as to his essence, these two? The Lord, however, is Good itself and Truth itself, that is, Divine Good and Divine Truths, and these two also are the Word.
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