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.

786. X. This new church is the crown of all the churches which have up to now existed upon earth.

It was shown above that from the beginning there have been, generally speaking, four churches on this earth; one before the flood, one after the flood, a third the Israelite, and the fourth that named Christian. Since all churches depend upon the knowledge and acknowledgment of one God, with whom a member of the church can be linked, and since all four churches lacked that truth, it follows that a church will take the place of those four, which will know and acknowledge one God. God's Divine love had no other end in view in creating the world than the linking of man to Himself and of Himself to man, so that He might dwell with man. The reason why the former churches lacked that truth is that the Most Ancient Church, which existed before the flood, worshipped an invisible God, with whom no linking is possible. The Ancient Church, which existed after the flood, did likewise. The Israelite Church worshipped Jehovah, who is in Himself an invisible God (Exodus 33:18-23), but in human form, which Jehovah God put on by means of an angel; in this He was seen by Moses, Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Gideon, Joshua and on occasions by the Prophets. This human form was a representation of the Lord who was to come, and because this was representative, each and every detail in their church was made representative. It is well known that the sacrifices and other rites of their worship represented the Lord who was to come, and on His coming they were done away with.

[2] The fourth church, however, that called Christian, certainly acknowledged in speech one God, but in three Persons, each of whom is singly or by Himself God, thus making a divided Trinity, not one united in one Person. Hence the idea of three Gods clung to their minds, although the expression 'one God' was upon their lips. Moreover, the doctors of the church by their own peculiar teaching, which they devised after the Council of Nicaea, teach that we should believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit, all being invisible, because they came into existence before the world having a similar essence - yet, as said above, linking is not possible with an invisible God; for they did not yet know that the one God, who is invisible, had come into the world, and had taken on human form, not only so as to redeem mankind, but also so as to become visible and thus capable of being linked with mankind. For we read:

The Word was with God, and the Word was God; and the Word was made flesh, John 1:1, 14.

And in Isaiah,

A boy is born for us, a son is given to us, whose name is God, Hero, the Everlasting Father, Isaiah 9:6.

Many passages in the Prophets state that Jehovah Himself was to come into the world, to be the Redeemer; and this too He did in the human which He put on.