104. (8) The progress towards union was His state of Exinanition [emptying Himself], and the union itself is His state of Glorification. It is acknowledged in the church that when the Lord was in the world He was in two states, called the state of exinanition and the state of glorification. The prior state, which was the state of exinanition, is described in the Word in many places, especially in the Psalm of David and also in the Prophets, and particularly in Isaiah (chapter 53) where it is said:
That He emptied His soul even unto death (Isa. 53:12). This same state was His state of humiliation before the Father; for in it He prayed to the Father; and He says that He does the Father's will, and ascribes to the Father all that He did and said. That He prayed to the Father is evident from these places: Matt. 26:39, 44; Mark 1:35; 6:46; 14:32-39; Luke 5:16; 6:12; 22:41-44; John 17:9, 15, 20. That He did the Father's will: John 4:34; 5:30. That He ascribed to the Father all that He did and said: John 8:26-28; 12:49, 50; 14:10. He even cried out upon the cross:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me? (Matt. 27:46; Mark 15:34.) Moreover, except for this state He could not have been crucified. But the state of glorification is also the state of union. He was in that state when He was transfigured before His three disciples, and also when He wrought miracles, and whenever He said that the Father and He are one, that the Father is in Him and He in the Father, and that all things of the Father are His; and, when the union was complete, that He had "power over all flesh" (John 17:2), and "all power in heaven and on earth" (Matt. 28:18); besides other things.
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