Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture #2
2. Someone who thinks in this way, however, does not reflect that Jehovah Himself, the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and that it must therefore be Divine truth itself. For whatever Jehovah Himself utters is such truth. Nor does that person reflect that the Lord, who is the same as Jehovah, spoke the Word reported by the Gospel writers, much of it in person, and the rest by the breath of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit. Consequently what He Himself says is, in His own words, life, and He is the light that enlightens, and truth personified.
[2] That Jehovah Himself spoke the Word through the prophets is something we showed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 52-53.
That the words the Lord Himself spoke, as reported by the Gospel writers, are life, is something He said in John:
The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)
Again in John, Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s spring:
If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink, ” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.... Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:6, 10, 14)
Jacob’s spring symbolizes the Word, as in Deuteronomy 33:28 as well. That, too, is why the Lord sat there and spoke with the woman. And the water symbolizes the Word’s truth.
[3] Again in John:
...Jesus...(said), “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38)
And again:
...Peter (said to Jesus), “...You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)
Therefore the Lord says in Mark:
Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. (Mark 13:31)
The Lord’s words are life because He is the life and the truth, as He tells us in John:
I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)
And again in John:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1, 4)
The Word there means the Lord in relation to Divine truth, in which alone there is life and light.
[4] It is on this account that the Word, being from the Lord and embodying the Lord, is called “a fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13, 17:13), “a fountain of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3), “a fountain” (Zechariah 13:1). Also “a river of the water of life” (Revelation 22:1). And we are told that “the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters” (Revelation 7:17).
There are in addition many other places where the Word is called the sanctuary and the tabernacle in which the Lord dwells with mankind.
Revelation 1
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The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John:
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Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
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Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
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John to the seven churches which are in Asia: Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne;
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And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,
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And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
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Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
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I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.
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I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.
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I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,
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Saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.
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And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;
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And in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle.
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His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire;
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And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
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And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.
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And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:
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I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.
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Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;
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The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.
