** "He Bore Our Sicknesses" **

  AC  9937 [6]

. . . it can be known what is signified by all that is said
in the fifty-third chapter of the . . . prophet Isaiah
concerning the Lord,
in which from beginning to end
the state of His temptations is treated of;
thus the state in which He was
while He fought with the hells,
for temptations are nothing else
than combats with these.
This state is thus described:

He bore our sicknesses,
and carried our griefs;
He was pierced for our transgressions,
and bruised for our iniquities;
Jehovah made to fall on Him
the iniquity of us all;
and thus He gave the wicked to their sepulcher;
the will of Jehovah shall prosper by His hand;
He shall see from the labor of His soul and be sated;
and by His wisdom shall justify many,
because He hath borne their iniquities,
and thus hath carried the sin of many.
(Isaiah 53:4-5)

He is also called there "the Arm of Jehovah,"
by which is signified Divine power.
That by "bearing sicknesses," "sorrows," and "iniquities,"
and by "being pierced and bruised by them,"
is signified a state of temptations, is evident;
for in such a state there are griefs of soul,
distresses, and despairs,
which in this way cause anguish.
Such things are induced by the hells,
for in temptations they assault
the very love of him against whom they fight;
the love of everyone being the inmost of his life.
The Lord's love was the love of saving the human race,
which love was the Esse of His life,
for this love was the Divine in Him.