2
The same was in the beginning with God.
Explanation of John 1:2
By Brian David
This verse reinforces points in the first verse: that the divine truth was not created by or created after the divine love which it expresses. The two are one: Love has to express itself as truth to have form; truth has to express love to have substance. Love without truth is not really love at all; it’s just a feeling and a potential. Truth without love is not really truth; it’s just a concept with no goal, no use, no purpose.
"God" here represents the Lord’s desire for good; this verse then reinforces that perfect truth and perfect good were together from the beginning.
It’s also worth noting that along with the ultimate "beginning," there are also "beginnings" for each of us, marking the moments when we choose to turn away from evil and open ourselves to the Lord. This verse, then, reassures us that when we make such a beginning, the Lord’s love and the Lord’s truth will be there for us. And it also tells us that if we want to make a real beginning, we need to find that truth and cling to it as the best way to receive the Lord’s love.
Apocalypse Revealed #491
491. "And they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days." This symbolically means that these two - an acknowledgment of the Lord and a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments, which are the two essential elements of the New Church - must be taught until the end and a new beginning.
That these two, an acknowledgment of the Lord and a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments, are the two essential elements of the New Church, and are meant by the two witnesses, may be seen just above in no. 490. And that to prophesy means, symbolically, to teach, in nos. 8, 133.
One thousand two hundred and sixty days means, symbolically, until the end and a new beginning, that is, until the end of the previous church and thus the beginning of a new one. This is the symbolic meaning of the number because the number has the same symbolic meaning as three and a half; for when expressed in terms of years, 1260 days is equivalent to three and a half years, 1 and three and a half symbolizes an end and a beginning (no. 505).
This same number has the same symbolic meaning in the next chapter:
Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Revelation 12:6)
Footnotes:
1. Reckoning a year to comprise 360 days, or 12 months of 30 days each, a reckoning common in the ancient Near East before the establishment of the Julian calendar.
