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:

9404. 'And seventy of the elders of Israel' means all who are governed by good which results from truths. This is clear from the meaning of 'seventy' as that which is complete, thus all things or all people, dealt with in 6508; and from the meaning of 'the elders of Israel' as those who are governed by good which results from truths and guided by truths which flow from good. For 'elders' in the Word means those with wisdom, 6524, thus those who lead a good life as a result of teachings declaring what is true; and 'Israel' means those who belong to the spiritual Church, 6426, 6637, 6862, 6868, 7035, 7062, 7198, 7201, 7215, 7223, 8805, 9340, thus those who are guided by truths that lead to good and governed by good from which truths flow, 7957, 8234. From all this it is evident that 'seventy elders of Israel' means those who are governed by good which results from truths, and that in the sense detached from persons that good itself is meant. The same is meant in the internal sense by 'the Lord's seventy disciples', Luke 10:1, 17. The children of Israel were divided into twelve tribes, which had twelve princes or governors set in authority over them, and also seventy elders. 'The twelve tribes' meant all the truths and forms of good the Church possesses in their entirety, 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060, 6335, 6337, 6397, 6640, 7836, 7891, 7996, 7997; but 'the twelve princes' meant all the primary truths, 5044, and 'the seventy elders' all the forms of good resulting from truths.

[2] When the expression 'good which results from truths' is used the spiritual Church is meant; for this Church is governed by good resulting from truths. Anyone unacquainted with the arcana of the Church and of heaven may think that, since good cannot be implanted except through truths, all the good in the Church exists as a result of truths, indeed that a person cannot know what good is except through truths. However, the good which arises through truths is the spiritual Church's good, which regarded in itself is truth but is called good when it becomes part of will and action, and consequently of life. But good that does not arise through truths but through forms of the good of mutual love is the celestial Church's good, which regarded in itself is not truth but good since it is the good of love to the Lord. The Jewish Church represented this second kind of good, whereas the Israelite Church represented the first; and this accounts for their division into two kingdoms. For what the essential difference is between those two Churches and consequently the two kinds of good, see what has been shown already in 2048, 2227, 2669, 2708 (end), 2715, 2718, 2935, 2937, 2954, 3166, 3235, 3236, 3240, 3246, 3374, 3833, 3887, 3969, 4138, 4286, 4493, 4585, 4938, 5113, 5150, 5922, 6289, 6296, 6366, 6427, 6435, 6500, 6647, 6648, 7091, 7233, 7877, 7977, 7992, 8042, 8152, 8234, 8521. From what has been introduced in these paragraphs it becomes clear that the Lord's heaven is divided into a spiritual heaven and a celestial heaven, and that the celestial heaven is the inmost or third heaven, while the spiritual heaven is the middle or second.