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.

9298. Thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice upon what is fermented. That this signifies that the worship of the Lord from the truths of the church must not be commingled with falsities from evil, is evident from the signification of “sacrificing” and of “a sacrifice,” as being the worship of the Lord (see n. 922, 923, 2180, 2805, 2807, 2830, 3519, 6905, 8680, 8936); from the signification of “what is fermented,” as being what is falsified, and falsity from evil (n. 2342, 7906, 8051, 8058); and from the signification of “blood,” as being truth from good, thus the truth of the church (n. 4735, 6978, 7317, 7326, 7846, 7850, 7877, 9127). From this it is evident that by “thou shalt not sacrifice the blood of My sacrifice upon what is frequented,” is signified that the worship of the Lord from the truths of the church must not be commingled with falsities from evil. (What falsity from evil is, and what falsity not from evil, see n. 1679, 2408, 4729, 6359, 7272, 8298, 9258)

[2] That truths from good, which are the truths of the church, must not be commingled with falsities from evil, is because they do not at all agree together; for they are opposites, and cause a conflict, whereby either the good will perish, or the evil will be dissipated; for good is from heaven, that is, through heaven from the Lord; and evil is from hell. There are indeed truths with the evil, and also falsities with the good; but the truths with the evil are not commingled with falsities from evil in them so long as they are merely in the memory and serve as means for evil, for so long they are without life. But if the truths are falsified so as to favor evil, which is done by a wrong interpretation, they then are commingled, whence is profanation of truth. (The nature of this profanation may be seen above, n. 1008, 1010, 1059, 1327, 1328, 2051, 2426, 3398, 3399, 3402, 4289, 4601, 6348, 6959, 6960, 6963, 6971, 8394, 8943, 9188.)

[3] That it was forbidden to sacrifice upon what was fermented is evident from the following law concerning the meat-offering which was offered upon the altar together with the sacrifice, of which in Moses:

No meat-offering which ye shall bring to Jehovah shall be made fermented; and there shall be no ferment, nor any honey, of which ye shall burn an offering made by fire to Jehovah (Leviticus 2:2).

From all this it is evident that the profanation of truth is signified by this law, and therefore it is said, “the blood of the sacrifice,” and not “the sacrifice,” because “blood” denotes truth from good.