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

Footnotes:

6713. Exodus 2

1. And a man from the house of Levi went and married a daughter of Levi .

2. And the woman conceived and bore a son; and she saw that he was good, ¹ and hid him three months.

3. And she could not hide him any longer; and she took for him a box made of rush, and coated it with bitumen and pitch, and put the child in it, and put [him] in the weed at the bank of the river.

4. And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would happen to him.

5. And the daughter of Pharaoh went down to wash at the river; and her maidservants were going along the side of the river. And she saw the box in the middle of the weed, and sent her servant-girl; and she took it.

6. And she opened it, and saw him, the child; and behold, the boy was crying. And she took pity on him, and said, This is one of the children of the Hebrews.

7. And his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, Shall I go and call you a woman, a wet nurse, from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?

8. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and called the child's mother.

9. And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take to yourself this child and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages. And the woman took the child and nursed him.

10. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he was a son to her. And she called his name Moses, and said, Because I drew him out of the water.

11. And it happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and saw their burdens. And he saw an Egyptian man striking a Hebrew man, one of his brothers.

12. And he looked this way and that, and saw that there was no man; and he struck the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

13. And he went out the second day, and behold, two Hebrew men were quarrelling; and he said to the one in the wrong, Why are you striking your companion?

14. And he said, Who set you up as a man-prince and a judge over us? Do you intend ² to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian? And Moses was afraid, and said, Surely the matter is known!

15. And Pharaoh heard of this matter and sought to kill Moses. And Moses fled from before Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian; and he dwelt next to a well.

16. And the priest of Midian had seven daughters; and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

17. And the shepherds came and drove them away; and Moses rose up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18. And they came to Reuel their father, and he said, Why have you hastened to come today?

19. And they said, An Egyptian man delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds; and he even drew water for us, and watered the flock.

20. And he said to his daughters, And where is he? Why is it that you left the man? Call him, and let him eat bread.

21. And Moses was willing to dwell with the man; and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses.

22. And she bore a son, and he called his name Gershom; for he said, I am a stranger in a foreign land.

23. And it happened in [the course of] these many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of their hard service, and cried out; and their cry came up to God because of their hard service.

24. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25. And God saw the children of Israel, and God knew [them].

CONTENTS

This chapter deals in the internal sense with God's truth - with its beginnings and its succeeding states with a member of the Church.

Footnotes: