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.

1053. (Verse 7) And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou wonder? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns. That this signifies manifestation of all things is evident without explanation. But what is signified by each particular, as by wondering, by the mystery of the woman, by the scarlet beast, by the seven heads, and by the ten horns, has been stated in the previous pages, and will be further explained in those which follow.

Concerning the second kind of Profanation:-

[2] There is another kind of profanation of things holy which takes place with those who have domination for their end, and the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, as the means.

It is according to Divine Order that heaven and the church should be the end, consequently, their holy things, and that domination should be a means to promote this end. For when such holy things are the end, and domination the means, then the Lord is worshipped and adored; but when domination is the end, and holy things the means, then, instead of the Lord, man is worshipped and adored. For the means regard the end as servants look to their lord; and the end looks to the means as a lord to his servants. As a lord, therefore, esteems and loves his servants according to the compliance which they give to his will, so also the man who has domination for an end, esteems and loves the holy things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, according as they show compliance with his end, which is domination. And, on the other hand, as a lord lightly esteems and rejects his servants, and takes others in their place, if they do not serve at command, so also the man, who has domination for an end, lightly esteems and rejects the holy things of the church, and if they are not subservient to his end, takes other things in their place.

[3] It is therefore evident that holy things, with those who have domination for an end, are of no account except so far as they are subservient to the end. And, also, that if they are subservient to the end with them, yet they are not holy but profane. The reason is, that the end, when it is domination, is the man himself. And since it is the love of self, it is his proprium; and a man's proprium, strictly, is nothing but evil, indeed, it is profane; and the end unites the means to itself, in order that they may be one.

In this kind of profanation are all those who perform sacred ministries, and by means of the holy things of the church seek their own honour and glory, from which they rejoice in heart, and not from the use, which is the salvation of souls.