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

Notes de bas de page:

7879. 'And the plague will not be on you for the destroyer' means that damnation from hell will not enter in. This is clear from the meaning here of 'the plague' as damnation, for this plague is the death of all the firstborn in Egypt, which is damnation, see 7778; and from the meaning of 'the destroyer' as hell which inflicts damnation. The implications of this, that hell inflicts damnation, are as follows: The vastation that the evil undergo in the next life, also their damnation, and their being cast into hell too, is not brought about directly by the individual spirit immersed in evil but by the hells. For the evils that arise there all come about as a result of influx from the hells; none does so without that influx from there. Their rise also depends on the state of evil in which the spirits undergoing vastation and damnation are caught up; and that state of evil depends in turn on the degree to which goodness and truth have been removed. This state determines the amount of contact they have with the hells; and the hells are very ready to inflict ill, for inflicting ill is the greatest delight of their life. Since the hells are like this the Lord keeps them shut. Indeed if they were to be opened the whole human race would be destroyed; for the hells constantly long for the destruction of all. The destruction by pestilence of seventy thousand men, because of David's numbering of the people, 2 Samuel 24, and the killing in the camp of the Assyrians of a hundred and eighty-five thousand in one night, 2 Kings 19:35, were done by the hells at times when they had been opened. Similar destruction would take place at the present day if they were opened; they are therefore kept strictly closed by the Lord. With regard to damnation from the hells being unable to enter in among those maintained by the Lord in goodness and truth, meant by 'the plague will not be on you for the destroyer', see immediately above in 7878.