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:

7926. 'To inflict the plague on Egypt' means as a result of which damnation comes to those belonging to the Church who have been governed by faith separated from charity. This is clear from the meaning of 'the plague', which in this case is the death of the firstborn, as the damnation of those belonging to the Church [who have been governed by faith] separated from charity, dealt with in 7766, 7778. For 'Egypt' - that is, the Egyptians - means those who have had a knowledge of those kinds of things that belong to the Church, yet have separated life from religious teaching, that is, charity from faith. The Egyptians too were like them, for they possessed a knowledge of the things belonging to the Church at that time, a Church that was representative. They were familiar with the representations of spiritual realities through natural things, which constituted the ceremonies of the Church at that time, and were accordingly familiar with correspondences, as is plainly shown by their hieroglyphics, which were pictures of natural things representing spiritual realities. This explains why 'the Egyptians' means those who have a knowledge of matters of faith yet lead an evil life. In the next life such people undergo vastation of all that composes faith, that is, all that composes the Church, and are eventually damned. That damnation is what is understood in the internal sense by the death of the firstborn in Egypt.

[2] Since it says 'Jehovah will go through to inflict the plague on Egypt', and these words mean the presence of the Divine, as a result of which damnation comes to those belonging to the Church who have been governed by faith separated from charity, something must be said to explain all this. Jehovah or the Lord does not present Himself among those in hell in order to inflict damnation; but even so His presence is what brings it about. The hells have a constant desire to molest the good and also a constant longing to rise into heaven and dislodge those who are there, though their efforts cannot get them past those living in the outermost parts of heaven. For it is enmity constantly exhaling hostility and violence. But the Lord makes unceasing provision to keep those living in the outermost parts of heaven secure and undisturbed. This He accomplishes by His presence among them. When those belonging to hell bring themselves to where the Lord is present, that is, into His presence, they cast themselves into the miseries of vastation, and eventually into damnation; for as shown already in various places, the Lord's presence which they run into brings those things about. From this it is evident that the Lord does not present Himself among them in order to inflict the miseries of punishment on them, but that they cast themselves into those miseries. These considerations show that nothing but good is attributable to the Lord, and that everything bad is attributable to those themselves who are immersed in evil, thus that the ones to inflict vastation, damnation, and hell on the evil are the evil themselves. This shows one how to understand 'Jehovah will go through to inflict the plague on Egypt'.