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.

639. Which stand before the God of the earth.- This signifies the things that are Divine which proceed from the Lord, and which are of Him in heaven and in the church, as is evident from the signification of the God of the earth, as denoting the Lord, who is the God of heaven and earth, and, specifically, the God of the church in heaven and in the world; for earth (terra) in the Word signifies the church, and the church is in heaven as well as in the world. The reason why heaven and the church also are there understood by earth, is, that there are lands (terrae) in the spiritual world just as in the natural world, and in external appearance they are very similar in that world to what they are in this. For this reason the God of the earth means the God of heaven and earth, and, specifically, the God of the church in heaven and in the world. That the Lord is the God of heaven and earth, He Himself teaches in Matthew:

Jesus said," All power is given unto me in heaven and on earth" (28:18).

And from the signification of standing before Him, as denoting to be from Him, thus what is of Him in heaven and in the church.

[2] In various places in the Word it is said of angels and of men of the church that they stand before God, also that they walk before Him, and in the spiritual sense, by standing before God is signified life (esse) from Him, and by walking before God is signified to live according to life (esse) from Him. For all the life (esse) of heaven and the world proceeds from the Lord, being the proceeding Divine which created and formed every thing in heaven and in the world; this is called the Word in John (1:1-3); and the Word there mentioned is the proceeding Divine, which is called the Divine Truth, from which all things were made and created. Since this extends itself in every direction around the Lord as the Sun, it is properly said to stand before Him, for from every quarter and direction it looks to the Lord as its common centre; and this in its essence is the Lord in heaven, because it is the proceeding Divine, and that which proceeds is of Him from whom it proceeds, in fact, it is He Himself; just as the heat and light proceeding from the sun is of the sun. Therefore all the angels, being recipients of this proceeding Divine, which is called the Divine Truth, turn themselves to the Lord, and hence are continually in His presence. For, as stated, the proceeding Divine looks to the Lord as its centre from which it proceeds and to which [it returns]; consequently the angels also, who are the recipients of Divine Truth, and are Divine truths as it were in form. It is from this fact that the angels are said to stand before the Lord, for "to stand" is properly used in reference to Divine Truth, because it surrounds the Lord as a Sun.

[3] To stand before God signifies also in the following passages to be in the Divine Truth, consequently with the Lord.

In Luke:

"The angel said, I am Gabriel, that standeth before God" (1:19).

In the First Book of Kings:

"I saw Jehovah sitting upon his throne, and all the host of the heavens standing near him, on his right hand and on his left" (22:19).

In Jeremiah:

"There shall not be cut off from Jonadab a man to stand before me all the days" (35:19).

In David:

"At thy right hand standeth the queen in best gold of Ophir" (Psalm 45:9).

In Luke:

"Watch at all times, that ye may be accounted worthy to stand before the Son of Man" (21:36).

In the Apocalypse:

"The great day of his anger cometh, and who can stand?" (6:17);

"All the angels stood around the throne, and the elders and the four animals" (7:11).

"I saw seven angels who stood before God" (8:2).

In Zechariah:

Two olive trees, and two berries of olives, which are "the two sons of the olive tree, standing near the Lord of the whole earth" (4:11, 12, 14); and in other places.

It is also said concerning the Lord Himself that "He stood to judge," because it is said of the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which is called Divine Truth, since judgment is from it.

Thus in Isaiah:

"Jehovah stood up to plead, and standeth to judge" (3:13);

and in David:

"God stood in the assembly of God, in the midst of the gods He will judge" (Psalm 82:1).

By the assembly of God, and by the gods in the midst of whom Jehovah stood, are meant the angels, who, in the spiritual sense, signify Divine truths; and because the Lord in heaven is the Divine Truth, therefore the term to stand is used in reference to Him. From these considerations it is now evident that to stand before the God of the earth signifies the Divine proceeding from the Lord, which is of Him in heaven and in the church. That those who are in this are meant, is clear also from this fact, that "to stand before the God of the earth" is stated of the two olive trees and the two lampstands, which signify good and truth, consequently the proceeding Divine. See also the preceding article (n. 638).