He was in the world, and the world came into being through him, yet the world did not know him.
John 1:10
Dear members and friends,
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are known as the Abrahamic religions, meaning that they worship the God who called Abraham. And all three of them are monotheistic religions, meaning they believe in one God, Creator. Among them, Christianity is unique in that they believe in Divine Incarnation, or the idea that God chose to come into the human world taking a human form. The emphasis here is that God came to human reality not as a traveler, but as a human in whom was the Divine. What this means is that God limited the Divine Self into human form for a time, and was born and grew up as a human child called Jesus, who was Christ.
For what reason did God have to incarnate into the human world taking human form? According to the Gospel of John, it was love for humanity, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”(3:16) According to Swedenborg, the love of Creator was actualized in the purpose of redemption in the Divine Incarnation, because humanity was at the time under the power of collective negativity, and thus lost their spiritual freedom. This was a crucial matter, because without spiritual freedom humans were not able to choose their path to the Creator, but lived in darkness without knowing their spiritual predicament. This is why in John, the Divine Incarnation is described as “The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world.” (1:9)
My brothers and sisters in God, let us take a moment of prayer and deep reflection this week. Let us pray to the Creator for the ability to acknowledge and accept the divine light shining over our spirits. And let us motivate our hearts and minds to follow the path on which the light from God is shining.
Blessings,
Rev. Junchol Lee