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

Note a piè di pagina:

4288. These same verses which have been explained so far also have regard to the Jewish and Israelitish nation which is called 'Jacob' in the Word, as stated and shown above in 4279. In the sense which is being called the internal historical the words 'Let me go, for the dawn is coming up' mean that the genuine representative role would depart from the descendants of Jacob before they entered into the representatives connected with the land of Canaan. The nature of that nation has been shown above, namely that among them no internal worship existed, only external worship; that is to say, they had become cut off from the heavenly marriage, and therefore no Church could be established among that nation, only that which was a representative of the Church, see 4281.

[2] But one must know what a representative Church is and what a representative of the Church is. A representative Church exists when internal worship is present within external, but a representative of the Church when no internal worship exists even though external does so. In both cases they observe very similar external practices, that is to say, they follow similar ordinances, laws, and commands. But in the representative Church external things correspond to internal so that they make one, whereas in a representative of the Church that correspondence does not exist because external things are either devoid of internal or else at variance with them. In the representative Church celestial and spiritual love is supreme, but in a representative of the Church bodily and worldly love is supreme. Celestial and spiritual love constitutes the internal itself, but when no celestial or spiritual love exists, only bodily and worldly, that which is external devoid of what is internal exists. The Ancient Church which existed after the Flood was a representative Church, but that which was established among the descendants of Jacob was merely a representative of the Church. But to make the difference between the two quite plain, let it be illustrated by examples.

[3] In the representative Church Divine worship took place on mountains because 'mountains' meant celestial love, and in the highest sense the Lord, 795, 1430, 2722, 4210; and when they held worship on mountains they were in their own holy place because they were at the same time abiding in celestial love. In the representative Church Divine worship also took place in groves because 'groves' meant spiritual love, and in the highest sense the Lord in regard to that love, 2722; and when they held worship in groves they were in their own holy place because they were at the same time abiding in spiritual love. When they held Divine worship in the representative Church they used to turn their faces towards the rising of the sun because 'the rising sun' too meant celestial love, 101, 1529, 1530, 2441, 2495, 3636, 3643. And when they looked up at the moon they were again filled with holy reverence because 'the moon' meant spiritual love, 1529-1531, 2495, 4060. And the same applied when they looked up at the starry sky because this meant the angelic heaven or the Lord's kingdom. In the representative Church they had tents or tabernacles in which they held Divine worship, and this was holy worship because 'tents' or 'tabernacles' means the holiness of love and of worship, 414, 1102, 2145, 2152, 3312. And countless other examples could be mentioned.

[4] In the representative of the Church Divine worship did indeed take place at first on mountains and also in groves. The practice also existed then of turning to face the rising of the sun, as well as that of beholding the moon and the stars. There was likewise worship in tents or tabernacles. But because their external worship was devoid of internal - that is, they were governed by bodily and worldly love and not by celestial and spiritual, and so worshipped the actual mountains or groves, and also the sun, moon, and stars, as well as their tents or tabernacles - those practices, which had been holy in the Ancient Church, were now made idolatrous by those belonging to a representative of the Church. They were therefore restricted to the same place and practices for them all, that is to say, to the mountain on which Jerusalem and at length Zion stood, where from the temple they beheld the rising of the sun, and also to one tent for them all, called the tent of meeting, and ultimately to the ark in the temple. They were restricted to these things to the end that a representative of the Church might come into being when they practiced what was outwardly holy. Otherwise they would have rendered holy things unholy.

[5] From these examples one may see what the difference is between a representative Church and a representative of the Church. In general, one may see that members of the representative Church communicated with the three heavens, and that they did so in things of an interior kind, for which external ones could serve as the foundation on which they rested. But those who belonged to a representative of the Church did not communicate with heaven in things of an interior kind. Yet the external things to which those people were limited were nevertheless able to serve as the foundation for interior ones. The Lord's Providence in a miraculous manner enabled this to be so, for the reason that some kind of communication might be established between heaven and mankind through what was a semblance of the Church. For without any communication of heaven with mankind by means of some kind of Church the human race would perish. But what the communication is like when it takes place through external things devoid of any correspondence with internal ones cannot be stated briefly. In the Lord's Divine mercy a statement is to be made about this later on.