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.

371. (iii) The link with the Lord is reciprocal, so that the Lord is in the person, and he is in the Lord.

Scripture teaches, and the reason too can see, that the link is reciprocal. The Lord teaches that His link with the Father is reciprocal, for He says to Philip:

Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? Believe me, I am in the Father, and the Father is in me, John 14:10-11. So that you may know and believe that the Father is in me and I am in the Father, John 10:38.

Jesus said, Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, so that your Son too may glorify you, John 17:1.

Father, all that is mine is yours, and all that is yours is mine, John 17:10.

The Lord's description of His link with man is similar, that is, as being reciprocal; for He says:

Remain in me and I in you. He who remains in me, and I in him, bears much fruit, John 15:4-5.

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in him, John 6:56.

On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you, John 14:20.

If anyone performs Christ's commands, he remains in Christ and Christ in him. 1 John 3:24; 4:13.

If anyone shall confess that Jesus ¹ is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 1 John 4:15.

If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I shall come in to him, and dine with him, and he with me, Revelation 3:20.

[2] These plain statements make it obvious that the link between the Lord and man is reciprocal; and it follows inevitably from this that a person ought to link himself with the Lord, so that the Lord may link Himself with him. It also follows that the consequence would otherwise be not linking, but removal and separation, though this is not on the Lord's part, but on man's. In order to make the link reciprocal, man has been given free choice, allowing him to set foot on the road to heaven, or the road to hell. This gift of freedom is the source of man's ability to reciprocate, so that he can link himself with the Lord or with the devil. But more illustrations will be offered of that freedom, its nature and the reason it has been given to man, in the following chapters dealing with free will, repentance, reformation and regeneration, and imputation.

[3] It is to be deplored that the reciprocal linking of the Lord and man, despite the clarity of its statement in the Word, is still unknown to the Christian church. The reason for this ignorance is the theories held about faith and free will. The theories about faith are that faith is conferred without man contributing anything to its acquisition, or adapting himself to receive it or making any more effort than a block of wood. The theories about free will are that man has not so much as a grain of free will in spiritual matters. But to prevent the reciprocal linking of the Lord and man, on which the salvation of the human race depends, from remaining any longer hidden in ignorance, I am compelled to make it known; and there is no better way of doing this than through illustrative examples.

[4] There are two kinds of reciprocation leading to linking: one is alternate, the other mutual. Alternate reciprocation leading to linking can be illustrated by the breathing of the lungs. A person inhales air, using it to expand the chest, and then expels the inhaled air, so contracting the chest. The act of inhaling and the consequent expansion is effected by means of the force exerted by the atmospheric pressure; but the expulsion of air and consequent contraction is effected by means of the muscular effort operating on the ribs. Such is the reciprocal link between the air and the lungs, and on it depends the functioning of the senses and movement throughout the body; for if respiration ceases, both of these fail.

[5] Reciprocal linking by alternate action can also be illustrated by the heart's link with the lungs and the lungs' link with the heart. The heart supplies blood from its right chamber to the lungs, and the lungs return it to the left chamber of the heart. This produces a reciprocal link, and on it the life of the whole body is totally dependent. There is a similar link of the blood with the heart, and of the heart with the blood; the blood from the whole of the body flows through the veins into the heart, and flows out of the heart through the arteries to the whole of the body, so that its action and reaction constitute a link. There is a similar action and reaction, which keeps a link in being, between the embryo and the mother's womb.

[6] However, the reciprocal link between the Lord and man is not of this sort; it is a mutual link, achieved not by actions and reactions, but by co-operation. For the Lord acts, and the man receives the action from the Lord, and works as if of himself, to be precise, of himself from the Lord. This working on the man's part coming from the Lord is imputed to him as if it were his, since he is perpetually kept by the Lord in a state of free will. The freedom which he has in consequence is the ability to will and think from the Lord, that is, from the Word, and also the ability to will and think from the devil, that is, contrary to the Lord and the Word. The Lord gives man this freedom so that he can enter into a reciprocal link, and by its means be granted everlasting life and blessedness; for this is unattainable without a reciprocal link.

[7] This kind of mutual reciprocal link too can be illustrated by various features of man and the world. Such is the link between the soul and the body in each individual. Such is the link between the will and action or between the thought and speech. Such is the link between the two eyes, the two ears and the two nostrils. The linking of the two eyes being, in its own fashion, reciprocal, is clear from the optic nerve; in this fibres from either hemisphere of the brain are twined round one another, and thus entwined proceed towards either eye. The case with the ears and nostrils is similar.

[8] There is a similar mutual reciprocal link between light and the eye, sound and the ear, smell and the nose, taste and the tongue, and touch and the body. For the eye is in light and light is in the eye, sound is in the ear and the ear is in sound, smell is in the nose and the nose is in smell, taste is in the tongue and the tongue is in taste, and touch is in the body and the body is in touch. This sort of reciprocal linking can also be compared with that of a horse with a carriage, that of an ox with a plough, that of a wheel with a machine, that of a sail with the wind, that of a flute with the air. To sum up, such is the reciprocal link between end and cause, or between cause and effect. There is, however, no room to explain all these one by one, since it would take a great many pages.

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