Arcana Coelestia, Vol. VII

Jesus said, How say they that the Christ is David’s Son? for David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand (xx. 41, 42).

The same passage reads thus in David:—

The saying of Jehovah unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand (Ps. cx. 1).

It is plain that “Jehovah” in David is called “Lord” in the Evangelist. “Lord” there denotes the Divine good of the Divine Human; omnipotence is signified by “sitting at the right hand” (n. 3387, 4592, 4933e). [5] When the Lord was in the world He was Divine truth; but when He was glorified, that is, when He had made the Human in Himself Divine, He became Divine good, from which thereafter Divine truth proceeds. For this reason the disciples after the resurrection did not call Him “Master,” as before, but “Lord,” as is evident in John (xxi. 7, 12, 15–17, 20), and also in the rest of the Evangelists. The Divine truth, which the Lord was when in the world, and which thereafter proceeds from Him, that is, from the Divine good, is called also “the angel of the covenant,” in Malachi:—

The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to His temple, and the Angel of the covenant whom ye desire (iii. 1).

[6] As Divine good is meant by “Lord,” and Divine truth by “King,” therefore where the Lord is spoken of as having dominion and a kingdom, “dominion” is predicated of Divine good, and a “kingdom” of Divine truth, and therefore also the Lord is called “Lord of nations,” and “King of peoples;” for by “nations” are signified those who are in good, and by “peoples” those who are in truth (n. 1259, 1260, 1849, 3581). [7] Good is called a “lord” relatively to a servant, and it is called a “father” relatively to a son—as in Malachi:—

A son honoreth his father, and a servant his lord; if then I be a father, where is My honor; and if I be a lord, where is My fear? (i. 6).

And in David:—

Joseph was sold for a servant. The discourse of Jehovah proved him. The king sent and loosed him, the ruler of nations opened for him, he set him lord of his house, and ruler in all his possession (Ps. cv. 17, 19–21);