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.

3761. And Jacob lifted up his feet. That this signifies the elevation of the natural, is evident from the signification of “lifting up,” as being elevation; and from the signification of the “feet,” as being the natural, concerning which in what follows. The elevation here signified is that treated of in this chapter, which is from external truth to internal good. In the supreme sense it is shown how the Lord elevated His natural even to the Divine, according to order, by ascending from external truth through the degrees to internal good; and in the representative sense, how the Lord makes new the natural of man when He regenerates him, according to a similar order. That the man who is being regenerated in adult age advances according to the order described in the internal sense in this and the following chapters, is known to few, for the reason that few reflect upon it, and also that few at this day can be regenerated. For these are the last times of the church, when there is no longer any charity, consequently not any faith; and this being the case, it is not even known what faith is, although it is on the lips of all that man is saved by faith. Still less is it known what charity is; and as these two are known merely as terms, and are unknown in respect to their essence, it is on this account said that few can reflect upon the order according to which man is made new, or is regenerated, and also that few can be regenerated.

[2] Because the natural is here treated of, and this is represented by Jacob, it is not said that he “arose,” and went to the land of the sons of the east, but that he “lifted up his feet.” Both expressions signify elevation (that “arising” has this signification may be seen above, n. 2401, 2785, 2912, 2927, 3171). But the reason why it is here said, “he lifted up his feet,” is that this is said with respect to the natural; for “feet” signify the natural (n. 2162, 3147). That “feet” signify the natural, or natural things, comes from the correspondence with the Grand Man which has been spoken of at the close of the preceding chapters, in which Grand Man they who belong to the province of the feet are those who are in natural light and but little in spiritual; consequently the parts under the feet, as the soles and the heels, signify the lowest natural things (see n. 259); and hence the shoe, which is also occasionally mentioned in the Word, signifies the corporeal natural which is the ultimate (n. 1748).