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

അടിക്കുറിപ്പുകൾ:

9399. 'And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it over the people' means making a person well-adapted to receive it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood of the sacrifice' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, dealt with above in 9393; and from the meaning of 'sprinkling over the people' as making a person well-adapted to receive it, for 'sprinkling' means flowing into something, that is, adapting it. Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord is flowing unceasingly into a person and composing his understanding; indeed, if you are willing to believe it, without that unceasing inflow of God's truth emanating from the Lord he can see and learn nothing. For the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is the light which enlightens the human mind and composes inner sight, which is the understanding. And since that light flows in unceasingly, it makes every person well-adapted to receive it. Those who do receive it however are people who lead a good life, whereas those who do not receive it are people who lead a bad life. Even so, the latter have the ability, just as the former do, to see and learn Divine Truth, and also to receive it to the extent that they depart from evil ways. This is what the half of the blood sprinkled over the people by Moses served to mean.

[2] Regarding Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, that it is the Light which enlightens the human mind and composes its inner sight, which is the understanding, see 2776, 3167, 3195, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4405, 5400, 8644, 8707.

This Divine Truth is also meant in John,

He was the true light which enlightens every person coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, but the world did not know Him. John 1:9-11.

This refers to the Word, which is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord.

[3] Every person in the world who is sound in mind has the ability to learn God's truth, and consequently has the ability to receive it to the extent that he departs from evil ways, as considerable experience has enabled me to know. For all without exception in the next life, the evil as well as the good, are able to learn what is true and what is false, also what is good and what is bad. But the evil, though they can see what truth or good is, have no wish to see it; for their will, and the evil there, finds it repugnant. When left alone to themselves therefore the evil fall back to the falsities accompanying their evil, in detestation of the truth or good they have come to see. The same applied to such people when they were in the world, where they refused to accept truths which they were able to see. From this it has been evident to me that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord flows constantly into human minds and makes them well-adapted to receive it, and that it is indeed received by people to the extent that they depart from the evil ways that go with self-love and love of the world.