From Swedenborg's Works

 

The Lord #2

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2. We can see clearly that the specific Word meant here is the Word made known through Moses, the prophets, and the evangelists, since this is the actual divine truth from which angels get all their wisdom and from which we get our spiritual intelligence. In fact, angels in the heavens have the very same Word that we have in the world, though for us in the world it is earthly, while in the heavens it is spiritual. Further, since it is divine truth, the Word is also something divine that is emanating, and this is not only from the Lord but is the Lord himself.

Since it is the Lord himself, absolutely everything written in the Word is about the Lord alone. From Isaiah to Malachi every detail has to do with the Lord, either directly or in an opposite, negative sense.

No one has seen this before, but anyone who knows this and thinks of it can see it while reading, especially given the knowledge that in the Word there is not only an earthly meaning but a spiritual one as well; and that in this latter meaning the names of persons and places are used to mean something about the Lord and therefore something about heaven and the church that come from him-or something opposed to the Lord.

Since absolutely everything in the Word is about the Lord, and since the Word is the Lord because it is divine truth, we can see why it says “The Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory” [John 1:14]. We can also see why it says “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; anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness” [John 12:36, 46]. “Light” is divine truth and therefore the Word.

For this reason, even nowadays anyone who turns to the Lord alone while reading the Word and who prays to him will find enlightenment in it.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Foundation for the permission to use this translation.

The Bible

 

John 1:1-3

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1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

  

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6864

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6864. 'And now, go, I will send you to Pharaoh' means the Holy influence going forth from the Lord's Human, by which molesting falsities would be dispelled. This is clear from the representation of 'Moses', who was to go and who was being sent, as the Lord in respect of the law of God, dealt with in 6713, 6752, 6771, 6827, and so in respect of the Human (for when the Lord was in the world He first made His Human Divine Truth, which is the same as the law of God, then after that He completely glorified His Human and made it Divine Good, the difference between Divine Truth and Divine Good being like that between the light radiated from the sun and the fire within the sun); from the meaning of 'being sent' as going forth, dealt with in 2797, 4710, 6831, in this instance holy truth (regarding the use of the word 'holy' in reference to truth, see 6788); and from the representation of 'Pharaoh' as falsity, dealt with in 6651, 6679, 6683, 6692. The reason for the addition of the statement that the molesting falsities would be dispelled - dispelled, that is, by the Holy influence going forth from the Lord's Human - is that what follows deals with the children of Israel, meaning those belonging to the Lord's spiritual Church, and their deliverance from falsities, from which they cannot be delivered at all except by the Holy influence that goes forth from the Lord. For that Holy influence going forth from the Lord not only dispels molesting falsities but also arranges all things into Divine order, both those in the heavens and those in the hells. The effect of that influence is such that it makes the heavens completely distinct and separate from one another, as determined by their forms of good and consequent truths, and also makes the hells completely distinct and separate, as determined by their evils and consequent falsities. It also places these kinds of evil opposite those kinds of good, and falsities opposite truths, in order that equilibrium may be established spiritual level and nothing excluded from a state of freedom.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.