From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Lord #1

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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.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

John 17:5

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5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Lord #30

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30. 1. The Lord from eternity is Jehovah. This we know from the Word, since the Lord said to the Jews,

Truly I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. (John 8:58)

And again,

Glorify me, Father, with the glory I had with you before the world existed. (John 17:5)

This means the Lord from eternity and not the Son from eternity, because the Son is his human nature conceived by Jehovah the Father and born by the Virgin Mary in time, as explained above.

[2] We are assured by many passages in the Word that the Lord from eternity is Jehovah himself, a few of which passages may be cited now.

It will be said on that day, “This is our God; we have waited for him to free us. [This is] Jehovah; we have waited for him. Let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.” (Isaiah 25:9)

We can see from this that the speakers were waiting for Jehovah God himself.

A voice of someone in the wilderness crying out, “Prepare a pathway for Jehovah; make level in the desert a highway for our God. The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. Behold, the Lord Jehovih is coming in strength.” (Isaiah 40:3, 5, 10; Matthew 3:3; Mark 1:3; Luke 3:4)

Here too, the Lord, who is to come, is called Jehovah.

[3] I am Jehovah. I will make you a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. I am Jehovah. This is my name, and I will not give my glory to another. (Isaiah 42:6-8)

A covenant for the people and a light for the nations is the Lord in his human nature. Because this is from Jehovah and was made one with Jehovah, it says “I am Jehovah. This is my name, and I will not give my glory to another” - that is, to no one other than himself. To give glory is to glorify, or to unite with himself.

[4] The Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to his Temple. (Malachi 3:1)

The Temple means the temple of his body, as he says in John 2:19, 21.

The Dayspring from on high has visited us. (Luke 1:78)

The Dayspring from on high is Jehovah, or the Lord from eternity.

We can see from these passages that “the Lord from eternity” means his divine nature as the source, which is called Jehovah in the Word. We will see from passages to be cited below that after his human nature had been glorified, both “the Lord” and “Jehovah” mean the divine nature and the human nature together as one, and that “the Son” by itself means the divine human nature.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.