309. Behold, the Lion hath overcome, signifies that the Lord from His own power subjugated the hells, and reduced all things there and in the heavens to order. This is evident from the signification of "overcoming," when predicated of the Lord, namely, 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 (of which see in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, n. 293, 294, 301, 309). This therefore is signified by "overcoming," when predicated of the Lord; and as the Lord had done these things from His own power, He is called a "Lion;" for "lion" signifies power (see above, n. 278). That the Lord did these things from His own power is known from the Word; but as few are aware of this, I wish to say something respecting it. The Lord did this from the Divine that was in Him from conception; this Divine He had as a man has a soul from his father; and the soul of everyone works by means of the body, for the body is the soul's obedience. The Divine that was in the Lord from conception was His own Divine, which in the Athanasian Creed is said to be equal to the Divine that 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 or least, nor first or last, but altogether equal. It is also said that:
The Divine and Human of the Lord are not two, but one person, and that as the soul and body make one man, so the Divine and the Human are one Christ.
From this also those who have faith in Athanasius may know that the Lord did these things from His own power, because from His Divine. From this it can clearly be seen what is meant by what the Lord says in John:
The Father that abideth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me, that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me (John 14:10-11). And elsewhere in the same:
Verily I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, except what He seeth the Father doing; for whatever things He doeth, these also the Son doeth in like manner. 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 gave He to the Son to have life in Himself (John 5:19, 21, 26). As the Divine, which the Lord calls "the Father," was His Divine, and not another Divine, it can be seen that whatever He did from the Father, as well as 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, since He did them from what was His.
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