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

脚注:

10219. 'That there may be no plague among them when they are numbered' means in order that there may be no punishment of evil when they do good as from themselves. This is clear from the meaning of 'plague' as the punishment of evil, dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'numbering the children of Israel' as arranging and setting truths and forms of the good of faith and love in order, dealt with above in 10217, thus putting them into practice. The expression 'as from themselves' is used because the good deeds which a person does he does as from self; until faith resides in him as a result of love he can see no other origin of those deeds. For good flows in from the Lord and is received by the person; but what is received is not felt initially to be other than something residing and originating in himself. And the person does not perceive that it begins in the Lord until this is made known to him and then believed and acknowledged by him. Till then he is not capable of reflecting on the idea that something flows in from the Divine; and he is totally incapable of perceiving it, that is, feeling it within himself, until he begins to will and desire it to be so.

[2] The situation in all this is like that with the actual life present in a person and like that with the two inner powers of life, the understanding and the will. Is there anyone who does not think, before receiving instruction in the matter, that life dwells innately within him and that his actions therefore originate in himself? Is there anyone who does not think that understanding and will are likewise innate? But in actual fact both his life in general and his understanding and will are flowing into him. Truths constituting the understanding and forms of good composing the will are flowing out of heaven from the Lord, while falsities constituting the understanding and evils composing the will are flowing from hell. For unless spirits and angels are present with a person, acting as channels through which those things flow in, the person cannot have life for even a single moment, nor therefore have any thought or will, as becomes clear from plenty of experiences mentioned at the ends of a number of chapters, where influx is the subject; see the places referred to in 9223, 9276(end), 9682.

[3] But for as long as a person thinks that everything he does originates in himself, both good deeds and bad ones, he is unmoved by good influences and evils cling to him. As soon however as he acknowledges and believes that good desires flow in from the Lord and do not begin in himself, and that evil desires flow in from hell, he is moved by good influences, and evils stop clinging to him. Furthermore to the extent that the good influences move him the evils are removed, and in this way he is purified and delivered from them. But for as long as the person's state is such that he is not capable of perceiving or feeling the presence of good influences from the Lord, he performs good deeds as from himself; nevertheless he ought to acknowledge and believe that they begin in the Lord. When the person does this he is also delivered from evils; but in order that he may be delivered from the evils, that acknowledgement must be a confession not of the lips alone but of the heart itself.

[4] The fact that 'plague' means the punishment of evil is clear without explanation. There are three plagues or punishments which follow those who attribute truths and forms of the good of faith and love to themselves, that is, who think that they merit heaven because of their deeds. For those who attribute them to themselves are also given to think that they merit heaven because of what they themselves have done. Those three punishments are,

1. Their inability to receive any good of love or truth of faith at all;

2. Evils and falsities constantly pursuing them;

3. Destruction of the truths and forms of good received since early childhood.

These three punishments are meant by the three plagues which were presented by the prophet Gad to David because of his numbering the people, 2 Samuel 24:13.

[5] These were,

1. Seven years of famine;

2. Flight for three months before his enemies;

3. Three days of pestilence.

For 'famine' means a lack and shortage of the forms of good and of the truths that belong to faith and love, since these are meant by bread, food, wheat, barley, oil, and wine, which are lacking so long as famine lasts.

'Flight before enemies' however is used to mean in the internal sense pursuit by evils and falsities; for people who attribute good and truth to themselves cannot fight against the evils and falsities that come from hell, 9978, these being in the spiritual sense the enemies before whom they flee and by whom they are pursued.

But 'pestilence' means the laying waste and annihilation of the forms of good and the truths received since early childhood, 7505. David's choice of the pestilence and the death from it of up to seventy thousand men meant that among the Israelite and Jewish nation all truth and good of faith and love would be destroyed, which was indeed what happened. For they did not acknowledge the Lord; yet He is the Source of all good and all truth. Three days meant to completeness, as did the seventy thousand men who died.