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.

6115. And Joseph brought the silver into Pharaoh’s house. That this signifies that it was all brought into relation to what is general in the natural, is evident from the signification of “bringing into,” as being to bring into relation and to introduce; from the signification of “silver,” as being true and adaptable memory-knowledge (see n. 6112); and from the representation of Pharaoh, as being the natural in general (see n. 5160, 5799, 6015); thus the “house of Pharaoh” is what is general in the natural, because it is everything therein in the complex.

[2] In regard to true and adaptable memory-knowledges being brought into relation to what is general, be it known that in order to be anything, all memory-knowledges and also all truths whatsoever, must be brought into relation to their generals, and must be placed and contained in and under a general, as otherwise they are at once dissipated. For in order that memory-knowledges and truths may be anything, they must be brought into a form in which they shall mutually regard each other, which cannot be effected unless they are consociated under a general; and therefore it is this general which holds them together in form, and causes that each constituent therein may have its own quality. The general itself, together with other generals, must also be brought into relation under things more general; and the more general things again, under the most general; for otherwise the general things, and likewise the more general things, would be dissipated.

[3] The most general universal, by virtue of which all things are held together, is the Lord Himself, and that which holds together is the Divine truth proceeding from Him. The more general things are the general societies in the spiritual world, into which the Divine truth flows and distinguishes them in kind from one another. The general things are the societies less general under each more general society. The more general societies are those to which the members, organs, and viscera in man correspond, which by a wonderful connection are in such a form that they mutually regard each other, and thus mutually hold each other together, and also present themselves as a one. In man, the most general universal, which holds the single things together, is the soul; thus also it is the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, for this is continually flowing in and causing the soul to be such as it is.

[4] The Divine truth proceeding from the Lord is what is called the “Word through which all things were created” (John 1:1-3), or through which all things have come into existence, consequently through which all things subsist. That all things in the universal natural world are under a general, and each thing under its own general; and that otherwise they cannot subsist, will be plainly discerned by him who is willing to pay attention to the things in nature.