True Christianity: The Portable New Century Edition, Volume 1

The underlying divine reality is the reality itself from which all things
exist, and which must be in every thing in order for that thing to exist.
Some further notion of the underlying divine reality may, however, be
gained from the following points:

1. The one God is called Jehovah from “being,” that is, from the fact

that he alone is and was and will be, and that he is the First and the

Last, the Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega.

2. The one God is substance itself and form itself. Angels and people

are substances and forms from him. To the extent that they are in

him and he is in them, to that extent they are images and likenesses

of him.

3. The underlying divine reality is intrinsic reality and is also an intrin-

sic capacity to become manifest.

4. The intrinsic, underlying divine reality and intrinsic capacity to

become manifest cannot produce anything else divine that is intrin-

sically real and has an intrinsic capacity to become manifest. There-

fore another God of the same essence is impossible.

5. The plurality of gods in ancient times, and nowadays as well, has no

other source than a misunderstanding of the underlying divine reality.

These points need to be clarified one by one.

1. The one God is called Jehovah from “being,” that is, from the fact that 19
   he alone is [and was] and will be, and that he is the First and the Last, the
   Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega.“Jehovah” means “I am”
   and “to be,” as is generally known. We know from the Book of Creation,
   or Genesis, that God was called “Jehovah” from most ancient times. In the
   first chapter he is called “God,” but in the second and subsequent chap-
   ters he is called “Jehovah God.” Later on the descendants of Abraham
   through Jacob forgot the name of God owing to their long sojourn in
   Egypt. Then in the event recorded in the following passage it was recalled
   to memory:

Moses said to God, “What is your name?” God said, “I Am I Who Am.
So you will say to the Children of Israel, ‘I Amsent me to you.’ And
you will say, ‘Jehovah, the Godof your fathers, sent me to you.’ This is
my name to eternity, and this is how I will be remembered from gener-
ation to regeneration.” (Exodus 3 : 13 – 15 )
Since God alone is “I Am”and being, or “Jehovah,” therefore nothing
exists in the created universe that does not derive its underlying reality
from him. (How this happens will be discussed below [§§ 21 , 75 , 76 , 78 ].)

§19 god the creator & creation 27