37. The Lord Is God Himself, the Origin of and Subject of the Word

In the first section we began to demonstrate that the Holy Scripture throughout has the Lord as its subject, and that the Lord embodies the Word. Here we will demonstrate it further from passages in the Word in which the Lord is called Jehovah, the God of Israel and of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel, the Lord and God, as well as King, the Anointed of Jehovah, and David.

I may relate to begin with that I have been granted to go through the Prophets and the Psalms of David and to examine each verse and see what the subject is there, and I saw that the subjects were nothing else than the church established by the Lord and the church to be established, the Lord’s advent, His battles, His glorification, redemption and salvation, and the heaven established by Him and to be established, and at the same time their opposites.

Because these are all works of the Lord, it was apparent that the Holy Scripture throughout has the Lord as its subject, and that the Lord therefore embodies the Word.

[2] However, this can only be seen by people who are enlightened by the Lord and who are acquainted as well with the spiritual sense of the Word. Angels in heaven all possess this sense. Consequently, when a person reads the Word, that is the only meaning the angels comprehend. For a person has spirits and angels with him continually, and because they are spiritual, they understand spiritually everything that the person understands naturally.

That the Holy Scripture throughout has the Lord as its subject can be seen dimly, and as though through a screen, from the passages presented from the Word in the first section above, nos. 1-6, and from those we will present now regarding the Lord, showing how often He is called the Lord and God. This may make clear that it is the Lord who spoke through the prophets, in whose books we find everywhere the declarations, “Jehovah spoke, ” “Jehovah said, ” and “the saying of Jehovah.”

[3] That the Lord existed prior to His advent into the world is apparent from the following:

(John the Baptist said of the Lord:) “It is He who, coming after me, is before me, whose shoelace I am not worthy to loosen.... This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who was before me, and who was of prior standing to me.’ ” (John 1:27, 30)

In the book of Revelation:

...they...fell (before the throne on which the Lord sat), saying: “We give You thanks, O Lord God Almighty, who are and who were and who are to come....” (Revelation 11:16-17)

And in Micah:

You, Bethlehem Ephrathah, though you are little among the thousands of Judah, out of you shall come forth to Me One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from the days of eternity. (Micah 5:2)

It is apparent in addition from the Lord’s words in the Gospels that He was before Abraham, that He had glory with the Father before the foundation of the world, that He came forth from the Father, and that the Word was from the beginning with God, that God was the Word, and that this became flesh.

That the Lord is called Jehovah, the God of Israel and of Jacob, the Holy One of Israel, God and the Lord, as well as King, the Anointed of Jehovah, and David, can be seen from what follows next.

1. The Holy Scripture Throughout Has the Lord As Its Subject, and the Lord Embodies the Word

We read in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of people. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.... And the Word moreover became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14)

Again in the same Gospel:

...the light came into the world, but people loved darkness more than light, for their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in it:

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of light.... I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

It is apparent from this that the Lord is, from eternity, God, and that God Himself is the Lord who was born in the world. For we are told that the Word was with God, and that the Word was God. Also that without Him nothing was made that was made. And later we are told that the Word became flesh, and people beheld Him.

[2] Why the Lord is called the Word is little understood in the church. However, He is called the Word because the term “Word” symbolizes Divine truth itself or Divine wisdom itself, and the Lord embodies Divine truth itself or Divine wisdom itself. That, too, is why He is called the light, which is also said to have come into the world.

Because Divine wisdom and Divine love are united, and were united in the Lord from eternity, therefore we are told as well that “In Him was life, and the life was the light of people.” Life means Divine love, and light Divine wisdom.

This is the union meant by the statement that the Word was in the beginning with God and that God was the Word. With God means in God, for wisdom is present in love, and love in wisdom.

So, too, we find elsewhere in John:

...Father, glorify Me with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (John 17:5)

“With Yourself” means in Yourself. That, too, is why we are told, “And God was the Word.” And elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father, and the Father in Him, and that He and the Father are one.

Now because the Word is the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah Himself, thus the Lord, by whom all things were made that were made, inasmuch as they were all created out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom.