1. Teachings for the New Jerusalem on the Lord

The Entire Sacred Scripture Is about the Lord, and the Lord Is the Word

WE read in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and nothing that was made came about without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind. And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not grasp it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory, glory like that of the only-begotten child of the Father. He was full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3, 5, 14)

In the same Gospel,

Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in the same Gospel,

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light. I have come into the world as a light so that anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

We can see from this that the Lord is God from eternity and that he himself is that Lord who was born into the world. It actually says that the Word was with God and that the Word was God, as well as that nothing that was made came about without him, and then that the Word became flesh and that they saw him.

There is little understanding in the church of what it means to call the Lord “the Word.” He is called the Word because the Word means divine truth or divine wisdom and the Lord is divine truth itself or divine wisdom itself. That is why he is also called the light that is said to have come into the world.

Since divine wisdom and divine love are one with each other and have been one in the Lord from eternity, it also says “in him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind.” The life is divine love, and the light is divine wisdom.

This oneness is what is meant by saying both that “in the beginning the Word was with God” and that “the Word was God.” “With God” is in God, since wisdom is in love and love is in wisdom. This is like the statement elsewhere in John, “Glorify me, Father, together with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). “With yourself” is “in yourself.” This is why it adds “and the Word was God.” It says elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father and the Father is in him [John 14:10], and that the Father and he are one [John 10:30].

Since the Word is the divine wisdom of the divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah himself and therefore the Lord, the one by whom all things were made that were made, since everything was created out of divine love by means of divine wisdom.

32. 3. The Lord made the human nature divine from the divine nature within himself. There is support for this in many passages in the Word. Here we select passages that support the following points.

a. This happened step by step:

Jesus grew and became strong in spirit and in wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. (Luke 2:40)

Jesus increased in wisdom and age, and in favor with God and humankind. (Luke 2:52)

[2] b. The divine nature worked through the human nature the way a soul works through its body:

The Son cannot do anything on his own unless he sees the Father doing it. (John 5:19)

I do nothing of myself; as my Father taught me I say these things. The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone. (John 8:28-29; 5:30)

I have not spoken on my own authority; the Father who sent me has given me a commandment regarding what I should say and what I should speak. (John 12:49-50)

The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own authority; the Father who dwells in me does these works. (John 14:10)

I am not alone, because the Father is with me. (John 16:32)

[3] c. The divine nature and the human nature worked in complete accord:

Whatever the Father does, the Son also does in the same way. (John 5:19)

Just as the Father raises the dead and brings them to life, so also the Son brings to life those whom he wishes to. (John 5:21)

Just as the Father has life in himself, so he has also granted the Son to have life in himself. (John 5:26)

Now they know that all things you have given me are from you. (John 17:7)

[4] d. The divine nature was united to the human nature and the human nature to the divine:

“If you have known me you have also known my Father and have seen him.” When Philip wanted to see the Father, Jesus said, “Have I been with you for so long, and yet you have not known me, Philip? Those who have seen me have seen the Father. Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me.” (John 14:7-11)

If I am not doing the works of my Father, do not believe me. If I am doing them, believe the works, so that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I am in the Father. (John 10:37-38)

... so that they all may be one, as you, Father, are in me and I am in you. (John 17:21)

On that day you will know that I am in my Father. (John 14:20)

No one will snatch the sheep from my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one. (John 10:29-30)

The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. (John 3:35)

All things that the Father has are mine. (John 16:15)

All that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine. (John 17:10)

You have given the Son power over all flesh. (John 17:2)

All power has been given to me in heaven and on earth. (Matthew 28:18)

[5] e. We should turn to the Divine-Human One, as we can see from the following passages:

... so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. (John 5:23)

If you had known me, you would also have known my Father. (John 8:19)

Those who see me see the one who sent me. (John 12:45)

If you have known me you have also known my Father, and from now on you know him and have seen him. (John 14:7)

Those who accept me accept the one who sent me. (John 13:20)

This is because no one can see the divinity itself that is called “the Father”; only the Divine-Human One can be seen. The Lord in fact said,

No one has ever seen God. The only-begotten Son, who is close to the Father’s heart, has made him visible. (John 1:18)

No one has seen the Father except the one who is with the Father. He has seen the Father. (John 6:46)

You have never heard the Father’s voice or seen what he looks like. (John 5:37)

[6] f. Since the Lord made his human nature divine from the divine nature within himself, and since we should turn to him and he is the Son of God, we are therefore to believe in the Lord who is both Father and Son, as we can see from the following passages.

Jesus said that as many as accepted him, he gave them power to become children of God and believe in his name. (John 1:12)

... so that all who believe in him will not perish but will have eternal life. (John 3:15)

God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son so that everyone who believes in him would have eternal life. (John 3:16)

Those who believe in the Son are not condemned; but those who do not believe have already been condemned because they have not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God. (John 3:18)

Those who believe in the Son have eternal life. Those who do not believe in the Son will not see life; instead, the wrath of God abides on them. (John 3:36)

The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. Those who come to me will not hunger, and those who believe in me will never thirst. (John 6:33, 35)

This is the will of the one who sent me, that all those who see the Son and believe in him will have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day. (John 6:40)

They said to Jesus, “What should we do in order to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered, “This is the work of God, that you believe in the one whom he has sent.” (John 6:28-29)

Truly I say to you, those who believe in me have eternal life. (John 6:47)

Jesus cried out, saying, “If any are thirsty, they must come to me and drink. As the Scripture has said, from the bellies of those who believe in me will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38)

If you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. (John 8:24)

Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Even if they die, those who believe in me will live; and anyone who lives and believes in me will never die.” (John 11:25-26)

Jesus said, “I have come into the world as a light so that anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness.” (John 12:46; 8:12)

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light. (John 12:36)

I tell you truly, the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. (John 5:25)

Abide in me, and I [will abide] in you. I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and in whom I abide bear much fruit, because without me you cannot do anything. (John 15:1-5)

They were to abide in the Lord, and the Lord in them. (John 14:20; 17:23)

I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

[7] In these passages and all others, when it mentions “the Father” it means the divine nature that was in the Lord from his conception, which-according to the teaching embraced by the Christian world regarding faith-was like the soul within the body in human beings. The human nature that came from this divine nature is the Son of God.

Now, since this was also made divine, in order to prevent people from turning to the Father alone and thereby separating the Father from the Lord (in whom the Father dwells) in their thought, faith, and worship, the Lord went on to teach that the Father and he are one and that the Father is in him and he is in the Father, and that we are to abide in him; also that no one comes to the Father except through him. He also tells us that we are to believe in him and that we are saved by a faith focused directly on him.

[8] For many Christians, it is impossible to grasp the concept that in the Lord a human nature was made divine, primarily because they think of “human” only in terms of the physical body and not in terms of anything spiritual. Yet all angels, who are spiritual beings, also have a completely human form, and everything divine that emanates from Jehovah God, everything from its first [or innermost] level in heaven to its last [or outermost] level on earth, tends to take on a human form.

On angels as human forms and on everything divine tending toward the human form, see Heaven and Hell 73-77, 453-460. There will also be more on this subject in forthcoming works that will draw on angelic wisdom about the Lord.