[ 2 ] Our soul is our true self and is spiritual in origin. It is clear then
why it is that a father’s higher mind, lower mind, character, tendencies,
and feelings of love live on in one descendant after the other. They return
and surface noticeably in generation after generation. As a result, many
families, and in fact whole nations, resemble their first father. A common
image manifests itself in the individual faces of successive generations.
That image does not change unless the spiritual realities of the
church come into play. The reason why the general image of Jacob and
Judah still remains in their descendants and they are differentiated from
others by that image is that even to the present they have stuck firmly to
their religious position.
In the sperm that conceives each one of us, there is a whole graft or
offshoot of our father’s soul that is wrapped in substances from nature.
Our body is formed by means of this in our mother’s womb. The forma-
tion of our body may lean toward a likeness of our father or a likeness of
our mother, but the image of our father remains inside and constantly
tries to assert itself. If it cannot manifest itself in the first child, it success-
fully manifests itself in the younger children.
[ 3 ] In sperm there is a whole image of the father because, as I say, the
soul is spiritual in origin. What is spiritual has nothing in common with
space; therefore it is the same in something small as it is in something large.
As for the Lord, by acts of redemption while he was in the world he
put off everything human that came from his mother and put on a human
nature that came from his Father—a divine human nature. As a result, in
him a human is God and God is human.104 8. When the Lord was being emptied out he was in a state of progress
toward union; when he was being glorified he was in a state of union itself.
The church recognizes that the Lord had two states while he was in the
world: one called being emptied out; the other called glorification.
The prior state, being emptied out, is described in many passages in
the Word, especially in the Psalms of David, but also in the Prophets.
There is even one passage in Isaiah 53 where it says, “He emptied out his
soul even to death” (Isaiah 53 : 12 ). This same state also entailed the Lord’s
being humbled before the Father. In this state he prayed to the Father. In
this state he says that he is doing the Father’s will and attributes every-
thing he has done and said to the Father.
The following passages show that he prayed to the Father: Matthew
26 : 36 – 44 ; Mark 1 : 35 ; 6 : 46 ; 14 : 32 – 39 ; Luke 5 : 16 ; 6 : 12 ; 22 : 41 – 44 ; John 17 : 9 ,
15 , 20. The following show that he did the Father’s will: John 4 : 34 ; 5 : 30.