1. The Holy Scripture Throughout Has the Lord As Its Subject, and the Lord Embodies the Word

We read in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. This was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of people. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.... And the Word moreover became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-5, 14)

Again in the same Gospel:

...the light came into the world, but people loved darkness more than light, for their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in it:

While you have the light, believe in the light, that you may be children of light.... I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

It is apparent from this that the Lord is, from eternity, God, and that God Himself is the Lord who was born in the world. For we are told that the Word was with God, and that the Word was God. Also that without Him nothing was made that was made. And later we are told that the Word became flesh, and people beheld Him.

[2] Why the Lord is called the Word is little understood in the church. However, He is called the Word because the term “Word” symbolizes Divine truth itself or Divine wisdom itself, and the Lord embodies Divine truth itself or Divine wisdom itself. That, too, is why He is called the light, which is also said to have come into the world.

Because Divine wisdom and Divine love are united, and were united in the Lord from eternity, therefore we are told as well that “In Him was life, and the life was the light of people.” Life means Divine love, and light Divine wisdom.

This is the union meant by the statement that the Word was in the beginning with God and that God was the Word. With God means in God, for wisdom is present in love, and love in wisdom.

So, too, we find elsewhere in John:

...Father, glorify Me with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was. (John 17:5)

“With Yourself” means in Yourself. That, too, is why we are told, “And God was the Word.” And elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father, and the Father in Him, and that He and the Father are one.

Now because the Word is the Divine wisdom accompanying Divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah Himself, thus the Lord, by whom all things were made that were made, inasmuch as they were all created out of Divine love by means of Divine wisdom.

1226. And he said unto me, These are true words of God.- That this denotes that they are from the Lord, who is the Word and the Truth, is evident from this, that all the truths of God are from the Lord, that consequently the Lord is called the Word, which is Divine Truth (see John 1:1, 2, 14), and that He calls Himself the Truth (John 14:6).

[2] Continuation [concerning Omnipresence and Omniscience].- 7. The Lord's omnipresence and omniscience may be understood also from the creation of the universe; for it was so created by Him, that He is in primaries and in ultimates, in the centre and at the same time in the circumferences, and that those things in which He is are uses.

The truth of this proposition is evident from the creation of the universe, from the life of man, and from the essence of uses.

a. From the creation of the universe. This cannot be better seen anywhere than in types in the heavens, creation being there continual and instantaneous. For in the spiritual world lands exist in a moment, and upon them paradisiacal gardens, in which there are trees laden with fruits; shrubs, flowers and plants of every kind. When these are contemplated by a wise man, they are found to be correspondences of the uses in which the angels are, to whom they are given as a reward. For the angels are presented with houses, rich in furniture and ornament, and also with clothing, and food palatable and pleasant, all according to uses. They, moreover, hold delightful conversations with each other, and these are also uses, because serving as a means of recreation. All these things are bestowed upon them without money or price, but still on account of the uses which they perform. In a word, the whole heaven is full of uses, so that it ought to be called, the very kingdom of uses.

[3] But on the other hand, those who perform no use are banished to the hells, where they are compelled by a judge to do various kinds of work. If there they refuse, no food is given them, or clothing, or any other bed than the ground, and they are mocked and insulted by their companions as slaves are by their masters. The judge even allows them to be made the slaves of their companions; and if they entice others from their work, they are severely punished. Both kinds of treatment are adopted towards them, until they are compelled to yield. But those who cannot be made to yield are cast out into deserts, where they have a morsel of bread given them daily, with water to drink, and pass a solitary existence in huts or in caverns. Because they perform no uses, so barren are the lands where they are that fields with grass upon them are but rarely seen. I have seen in these deserts and hells many men of noble descent, who in the world gave themselves up to idleness, or sought for office, the duties of which they discharged not for the sake of uses, but for the sake of honour or gain, the only uses which they had in view.

[4] The uses which those in the heavens perform, and the different kinds of work which those who are in the hells do, are, in some measure, similar to those which exist in the world. Most of the uses, however, are spiritual, and cannot be described in natural language; they do not even fall within the ideas of natural thought - a circumstance at which I have often wondered; but such is the nature of that which is spiritual in very many cases. The creation of the whole world with its planets (tellurbus), may be seen as in a figure, from the continual and instantaneous creation of all things in the heavens, there being nothing created in the latter but for use. Taken generally, one kingdom of nature was created for the sake of another; the mineral kingdom for the sake of the vegetable, the vegetable for the sake of the animal, and both the latter kingdoms for the sake of the human race, that its members might serve the Lord by performing uses to the neighbour.

[5] b. From the life of man. For if the life of man is regarded from the creation of all things existing in him, there will be found no part which is not adapted for use, not a fibre or minute vessel in the brains, in the organs of the senses, in the muscles, or in any one of the viscera of the thorax or abdomen, or in any of the rest, which does not exist for the sake of use generally and individually, thus not for its own sake, but for the sake of the whole and the co-ordination of the parts. Even the larger forms, which are called members, sensories, muscles, and viscera, woven together and organised from fibres and vessels, are all formed from use, in use, and for the purpose of use, so much so, that they may be simply called the uses out of which the whole man is built up and formed, it being clearly evident that they have no other origin or end but use.

[6] That every man is in a similar manner created and born for use, is plain from the use of all things in him, and from his state after death, which is such, that, if he does not perform any use, he is considered so worthless that he is cast into infernal prisons, or into desert places. His life also indicates plainly that he was born to be useful; for the man whose life consists in the love of use, is entirely different from one whose life consists in the love of idleness, by which is also meant a life devoted merely to company, festivity and amusements.

The life of the love of use is a life of the love both of the public good and of the neighbour. It is moreover a life of the love of the Lord; for the Lord performs uses to man by the agency of man. A life of the love of use is therefore a spiritual Divine life, and therefore every man who loves a good use, and performs it from the love of it, is loved by the Lord and received with joy by the angels in heaven. But a life of the love of idleness is a life of the love of self and of the love of the world; and consequently it is a merely natural life, which does not keep the thoughts of man together, but scatters them upon every vanity, turning them away by this means from the delights of wisdom, and plunging him into those of the body and the world alone, with which evils are in close connection. After death therefore such a man is sent down to the infernal society to which he had attached himself in the world, and there, by force of hunger and the want of food, he is compelled to work. By uses in the heavens and on earth are meant the callings, functions, and pursuits of life, various kinds of work, service, and labour, and consequently all that is opposite to idleness and sloth.

[7] c. From the essence of uses. The essence of uses is the public good, by which, with the angels, is meant in the most general sense, the good of the whole heaven, in a less general sense the good of society, and in a particular sense the good of a fellow-citizen. With men again the essence of uses is, in the most general sense, the good both spiritual and civil of the whole human race; in a less general sense, the good of their country; in a particular sense, the good of society; and in an individual sense, the good of a fellow-citizen; and because these goods form their essence, love is their life, since all good originates in love, and in love there is life. Every one is in this love who is delighted with the use in which he is for the sake of such use, whether he is a king, a magistrate, a priest, a minister, a general, a merchant, or a labourer. Every one who is delighted with the use of his calling for the sake of such use, loves his country and his fellow-citizens; but he who is not delighted with uses for the sake of uses, but performs them only for the sake of self, or of honour and wealth alone, does not at heart love his country or his fellow-citizens, but merely himself and the world. The reason of that is, that no one can be kept by the Lord in the love of his neighbour, unless he is in some degree of love for the public good; and no one is in such love unless he is in the love of use for the sake of use, or in the love of use from use, thus from the Lord.

[8] Now since all things, collectively and individually, were created in the world at the beginning for use, and all things also in man were formed for use, and the Lord from creation regarded as one man the whole human race, each member of which is in a similar manner designed for use or is use, and since the Lord Himself is the life of this man, as said above, it is plain that the universe was so created that the Lord is in primaries and in ultimates, in the centre also and in the circumferences, that is, in the midst of all things; and that those things in which He is are uses. From these facts also the Lord's omnipresence and omniscience may be understood.