84. There are many reasons why God could redeem men, that is, could deliver them from damnation and hell, only by means of an assumed Human; which reasons shall be set forth in the following pages. Redemption consisted in subjugating the hells, restoring the heavens to order, and after this reestablishing the church; and this redemption God with His omnipotence could effect only by means of the Human; as it is only by means of an arm that one can work-in the Word (Isa. 40:10; 53:1) this Human of the Lord is called "the arm of Jehovah"-or as one can attack a fortified town and destroy the temples of idols therein only by means of intervening agencies. That it was by means of His Human that God had omnipotence in this Divine work, is also evident from the Word. For in no other way would it be possible for God who is in the inmost and thus in the purest things, to pass over to outmost things, in which the hells are, and in which the men of that time were; just as the soul can do nothing without a body, or as no one can conquer an enemy without coming in sight of him, or approaching and getting near to him with proper equipments, such as spears, shields, or muskets. It was as impossible for God to effect redemption without the Human as it would be for men to conquer the Indies without transporting soldiers there by means of ships, or as it would be to make trees grow by heat and light if the air through which these pass, or the soil from which the trees spring, had never been created; as impossible, in fact, as to catch fish by spreading nets in the air instead of in the water. For it is impossible for Jehovah, such as He is in Himself, by His omnipotence to get in contact with any devil in hell or any devil upon the earth, and restrain him and his fury and tame his violence, unless He be in things last as He is in things first. Because He is in things last in His Human, He is called in the Word "the First and the Last," "the Alpha and the Omega," "the Beginning and the End."