2. 여기서 말씀이 특히 모세와 선지자와 복음서의 기록자들이 밝힌 말씀과 같은 의미라는 것은 말씀은 신적진리 자체이며 이것으로부터 천사들이 그들의 모든 지혜를 얻으며 이것으로부터 사람들 그들의 모든 영적 지능을 얻는다는 사실에서 아주 분명하다.

세상 사람들이 가지고 있는 이 말씀은 천국의 천사들이 가지고 있는 말씀과 같기 때문이다. 다만 세상 사람들이 갖고 있는 말씀은 자연적이지만 천국의 말씀은 영적이다. 말씀은 신적 진리이므로 그것은 또한 신성의 발현이다. 그리고 그것은 주님으로부터 나올 뿐 아니라 주님 자신이시다. 말씀이 주님 자신이시기 때문에 말씀 하나 하나와 모든 것은 오직 주님에 대해서 기록되었다.

이사야서로부터 말라기에 이르기까지 주님에 관한 것이 아니거나 반대로 주님에 반하지 않는 것은 하나도 없다. 지금까지는 아무도 이 사실을 알지 못했다. 그러나 말씀을 읽으면서 그것을 의식하고 생각하는 사람이면 누구든지 그 것을 알 수 있다. 특히 말씀 속에 자연적일 뿐 아니라 영적인 뜻이 있고 인명이나 지명이 이 뜻으로 주님을 나타내며, 나아가서 주님이 세우신 천국과 교회의 어떤 것 또는 그 반대의 것을 의미한다는 것을 알게 되면 그것을 이해할 수 있을 것이다.

말씀의 모든 것은 일반적으로나 개별적으로 주님을 다루고 있으며 신적 진리로서 말씀은 주님이시기 때문에 말씀에서 왜 “말씀이 육신이 되어 우리 가운데 거하시매 우리가 그 영광을 본다”(요한복음 1:14)고 했는지 왜 “빛이 있는 동안에 빛을 믿으라 그리하면 너희가 빛의 자녀가 되리라, 나는 세상의 빛으로 왔나니 나를 믿는 자는 어두움 안에 살지 않으리라”(요한복음 12:36, 46)고 했는지 그 이유가 분명한 것이다. 빛은 신적 진리이며 그러므로 말씀이다.

오늘날 말씀을 읽으면서 오직 주님께 다가가고 주님께 기도하면 누구나 말씀 안에서 깨달음을 얻는 것은 이런 이유 때문이다.

1093. Having great power.- That this signifies to whom belongs Omnipotence, both in the heavens and on earth, is evident from the signification of great power, when said of the Lord, as denoting Omnipotence. Omnipotence here signifies great power, because the term "great power," but not "Omnipotence," can be applied to an angel, which is according to the idea that man has of angels; but when by an angel is meant the Lord as to His proceeding Divine, then great power means Omnipotence. Omnipotence is also the Lord's because He is the God of heaven and of earth, and both heaven and earth were created by means of the Divine that proceeds from Him as a Sun, and by it also heaven and earth are maintained in existence and subsist. The proceeding Divine is what is called in John, "The Word, which was with God, and which was God," by which all things were made that were made, and by which also the world was made (chap. 1:1, 2, 10). The Omnipotence of the Lord both in the heavens and on earth is meant by the great power of the angel, because it is afterwards said that the earth was lightened with His glory; for when the Last Judgment was accomplished upon those who are meant by the harlot of Babylon, then the darkness was removed which had gathered between heaven and earth. But more will be said upon this subject below.

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- It is evident from what has been said, that the thoughts of man are extensions into societies either heavenly or infernal, and that unless they were extensions they would have no existence. Man's thought is like the sight of his eyes, and, unless this had extension beyond itself, there would be either no sight, or blindness. But it is man's love that gives his thoughts their determination into societies, good love into heavenly societies, and evil love into infernal societies. For the whole heaven is arranged into societies, according to all the varieties of the affections that belong to love, generally, specifically, and in particular; while hell is arranged into societies according to the lusts (cupiditates) of the love of evil, opposite to the affections of the love of good.

[3] Man's love is comparatively like fire, and his thoughts are like the rays of light from it; if the love is good, then the thoughts, which are like rays, are truths; if the love is evil, the thoughts which go forth like rays are falsities. Thoughts from good love, which are truths, tend towards heaven; but thoughts from evil love which are falsities, tend towards hell, and are so completely conjoined with, and as it were ingrafted upon homogeneous societies, that is, such as are in similar love, that a man becomes entirely one with them.

[4] Man, by means of love to the Lord, is an image of Him. The Lord is Divine Love, and He appears as a Sun before the angels in heaven. Light and heat go forth from that Sun, light being the Divine Truth, and heat the Divine Good; the whole heaven, and all the societies of heaven, are from these. The Lord's love with a man who is an image of him, is as fire from that Sun, from which fire, light and heat similarly go forth; the light is the truth of faith, and the heat is the good of love, each of them being from the Lord, and each implanted in the societies with which such a man's love acts in unison. That man from creation is an image and likeness of God, is evident from Genesis (1:26); and He is an image and likeness of the Lord by means of love, because by means of love man is in the Lord and the Lord in him (John 14:20, 21). In a word, the very least thought that can exist is received in some society, not by the individuals or angels of the society, but by the affection of love from which and in which that society is; for this reason the angels are not conscious of the influx, neither does that influx disturb the society in any way.

[5] From these considerations the truth is evident that man is in conjunction with heaven while he lives in the world, and also in consociation with angels, although both men and angels are ignorant of it. They know nothing of this is because a man's thought is natural, and an angel's thought spiritual, and these make one only by correspondence. Since man by means of the thoughts of his love, is inaugurated into societies either of heaven or hell, therefore, on his entrance into the spiritual world, which takes place immediately after death, his character is known merely from the extension of his thoughts into societies, and in this way every one is explored. Man is also reformed by the admission of his thoughts into the societies of heaven, and he is condemned by the immersion of his thoughts in the societies of hell.