270. These facts can establish that the Word possessed by the Protestants and the Reformed churches is the source of enlightenment to all nations and peoples by means of spiritual communication. They also show that the Lord provides that there should always be on earth a church where the Word is read and thus the Lord becomes known. Therefore when the Word was more or less rejected by the Roman Catholics, by the Lord's Divine providence the Reformation took place, and so the Word was, so to speak, dragged out of its hiding place and put to use. Also, when the Word possessed by the Jewish nation was utterly falsified and adulterated, so that it became practically null, then it pleased the Lord to come down from heaven, to come as the Word and fulfil it, thus renewing and restoring it, and to give light again to the inhabitants of the earth, as these words of the Lord relate:

The people that sat in darkness have seen a great light; for those who sat in the region and shadow of death, upon them a light has dawned, Isaiah 9:1 and Matthew 4:16.