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:

7931. Verses 25-28. "And it shall be, when you come to the land which Jehovah will give you, as He has spoken, that you shall keep this service. And it shall be, when your children say to you, 'What do you mean by this service?' ¹ that you shall say, 'This is the Passover sacrifice to Jehovah, because He passed by the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He inflicted the plague on Egypt, and delivered our houses'. And the people bowed, and bowed down. And the children of Israel went and did as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron - so they did."

'And it shall be, when you come to the land which Jehovah will give you' means when they reach heaven, given them by the Lord. 'As He has spoken' means in accordance with the promise contained in the Word. 'That you shall keep this service' means worship because of the deliverance. 'And it shall be, when your children say to you' means the inward perception of truth that belongs to conscience. 'What do you mean by this service?' means when engaged in worship. 'That you shall say' means thought. 'This is the Passover sacrifice to Jehovah' means worship of the Lord because of the deliverance. 'Because He passed by the houses of Israel' means that damnation would stay away from the forms of good in which they were maintained by the Lord. 'In Egypt' means when in close proximity to the evil. 'When He inflicted the plague on Egypt' means when those belonging to the Church who had been governed by faith separated from charity were damned. 'And delivered our houses' means that nevertheless nothing damnable touched them because they were maintained in good by the Lord. 'And the people bowed, and bowed down' means self-abasement on the lips and in the heart. 'And the children of Israel went and did as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron' means that those belonging to the spiritual Church obeyed God's truth. 'So they did' means an act initiated by the will. ²

Footnotes: