137. It says in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: all things were made by means of him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind. He was in the world, and the world was made by means of him. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. (John 1:1, 3-4, 10, 14)

It is clear that the Lord is the one who is meant by "the Word," since it says that the Word was made flesh. Precisely what is meant by "the Word," though, is not yet known and must therefore be stated. The Word in this passage is the divine truth that is in the Lord and from the Lord, ¹ so here it is also called the light, which is divine truth, as has been shown earlier in this chapter. Now we need to explain the statement that all things were made and created by means of divine truth.

[2] In heaven, it is divine truth that possesses all power, and apart from it there is no power whatever. ² All angels are called "powers" because of divine truth, and are powers to the extent that they are recipients or vessels of it. Through it they prevail over the hells and over all who oppose them. A thousand enemies there cannot bear one ray of heavenly light, which is divine truth. Since angels are angels because of their acceptance of divine truth, it follows that all heaven is from this source and no other, since heaven is made up of angels.

[3] People cannot believe that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth if the only concept of truth they have has to do with thought or speech, which have no power in them except to the extent that other people concede it by being obedient. There is an intrinsic power within divine truth, though, power of such nature that by means of it heaven, the world, and everything in them was created.

We can illustrate the fact that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth by two comparisons - by the power of what is true and good in us, and by the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world.

By the power of what is true and good in us: Everything we do, we do out of our discernment and intent. Out of our intent, we act by means of what is good, and out of our discernment by means of what is true. In fact, all the elements of our volition are related to what is good, and all the elements of our discernment are related to what is true. ³ On this basis, then, we set our whole body in motion and a thousand things there rush to do our bidding of their own accord. We can see from this that our whole body is formed for obedience to what is good and true and therefore from what is good and true.

[4] By the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world: Everything that grows in our world - things like trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, fruits, and seeds - arises only by means of the warmth and light of the sun. So we can see what kind of productive power is inherent in that warmth and light. What about the divine light that is divine truth, then, and the divine warmth that is divine good, the source from which heaven comes into being and consequently the world as well, since as we have shown above, it is through heaven that the world comes into being?

This enables us to determine how to understand the statement that all things were made by means of the Word, and that without him nothing was made that was made, and further that the world was made by means of him, namely that this was accomplished by means of divine truth from the Lord. ⁴

This is also why in the book of creation it first mentions light and then the things that arise from light (Genesis 1:3-4). It is also why everything in all heaven and earth has to do with what is good and true and to their union if it is to be anything at all. ⁵

Poznámky pod čarou:

8443. 'And behold, the glory of Jehovah was seen in the cloud' means the Lord's presence within truth adjusted to their discernment. This is clear from the meaning of 'the glory of Jehovah' as the presence and arrival of the Lord, dealt with above in 8427; and from the meaning of 'the cloud' as the literal sense of the Word, dealt with in the Preface to Genesis 18, and in 4391, 5922, 6343 (end), 6752, 8106, thus truth adjusted to people's discernment, for the Word in the letter is that kind of truth. But 'the glory that is in the cloud' is Divine Truth, which is not adjusted in that way to people's discernment, because it is above illusions and appearances of the senses; so it is also the internal sense of the Word, Preface to Genesis 18, and 5922, 8427. The reason why 'the glory' is the internal sense of the Word is that this sense deals with the Church and the Lord's kingdom, and the highest sense with the Lord Himself, which sense also contains Divine Truth in its absolute form.

[2] There are many levels of God's truth, not just one. The first level of God's truth, and also the second, is that truth going forth directly from the Lord; it is above angels' understanding. But the third level of God's truth is that truth as it exists in the inmost or third heaven; its nature is such that man can grasp nothing whatever of it. The fourth level of God's truth is as it exists in the middle or second heaven; this is not intelligible to man either. But the fifth level of God's truth is that truth as it exists in the lowest or first heaven; this may to some small extent be perceived by man, but only if he is enlightened, though even then it is such that human language is incapable of expressing a large part of it. When it passes into ideas it generates the ability to perceive it and also to believe that it is indeed the truth. But the sixth level of God's truth is as it exists with man; it is adjusted to his discernment, thus it is the sense of the letter of the Word. This sense or kind of truth is represented by 'the cloud' and inner truths by 'the glory in the cloud'.

[3] This explains why Jehovah, that is, the Lord, appeared so many times to Moses and the children of Israel in a cloud, as at Exodus 24:15-16; 40:34-35; 1 Kings 8:10-11; Matthew 24:30; and elsewhere. When the Lord is making His appearance He does so through Divine Truth; indeed what is appearing is Divine Truth. The meaning of 'a cloud' as truth adjusted to human discernment has its origin in representatives in the next life. There the speech of angels in the higher heavens manifests itself to those below as light and also as the brilliance of light; but the speech of angels belonging to a lower heaven manifests itself as a bright cloud, the shape of which varies, and the thick or thin texture of which is determined by the character of truths. From all this it becomes clear that 'the glory of Jehovah was seen in the cloud' means the Lord's presence within truth adjusted to their discernment.