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.

1026. (Verse 21) And a great hail, as it were, the weight of a talent, came down from heaven upon men. That this signifies falsities in the highest degree infernal, destroying all understanding of truth with the men of the church, is evident from the signification of hail, as denoting infernal falsity, destroying all the truth and good of the church (concerning which see n. 503, 704). That hail is called great and, as it were, the weight of a talent, because falsities in the greatest degree infernal are meant. The quality of the falsities is compared with a talent; because a talent, in the computation of numbers, and in the weighing of silver, was the greatest sum. And by silver is signified truth, and, in the opposite sense, falsity; and by weight is signified what is heavy from evil, thus in the highest degree infernal. For falsity from evil is heavy and falls of itself into hell. And the above is evident from the signification of falling from heaven upon men, as denoting from hell, destroying the understanding of truth with the men of the church. For by men are signified the men of the church as to the understanding of truth; or, what is the same, the understanding of truth possessed by the men of the church is signified.

[2] The reason why to fall from heaven signifies to be from hell is, that the falsity here signified by a great hail does not come down from heaven, but rises up from hell. Hail does indeed fall from heaven in the spiritual, as in the natural world; for it is the rain that descends from heaven, congealed into hail from the cold which ascends from hell; the cold thence being the privation of heat or of heavenly love. Consequently, it follows that hail, as hail, does not descend from heaven, but that it is from hell. The case is similar with the rain of sulphur and fire from heaven. Rain signifies Divine truth from heaven, but hail Divine truth turned into infernal falsity; this takes place on its descent from heaven.

Concerning the Precepts of the Decalogue in general:-

[3] Because from the Lord as a Sun proceeds Divine truth united to Divine good, by which heaven and the world were made (John 1:1, 3, 10), it follows, that it is from this fact that everything in heaven and everything in the world have reference to good and to truth, and to their conjunction, in order that they may be something.

In these Ten Precepts are contained everything of Divine Good, and everything of Divine truth, and in them is also the conjunction thereof. But this conjunction is a mystery; for it is like the conjunction of love to the Lord and love towards the neighbour. Divine Good pertains to love to the Lord, and Divine truth to love towards the neighbour. For when a man lives according to Divine truth, that is, loves his neighbour, then the Lord flows in with Divine Good, and conjoins Himself to him.

[4] For this reason there were two tables, on which those Ten Precepts were written, and they were called the Covenant, which signifies conjunction. And they were afterwards placed in the ark, not one by the side of the other, but one above the other, for a testimony of the conjunction between the Lord and man. Upon one table were written the precepts of love to the Lord, and upon the other the precepts of love towards the neighbour. The three first precepts involve love to the Lord, and the six last precepts involve love towards the neighbour; while the fourth precept, which is, "Honour thy father and mother," is the mediating precept; for by father is there meant the Father in the heavens, and by mother is meant the church, which is the neighbour.