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.

958. CHAPTER 16.

1. AND I heard a great voice out of the temple saying unto the seven angels, Go, and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth.

2. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth and there came a great and noxious sore on the men who had the mark of the beast, and worshipped his image.

3. And the second angel poured out his vial into the sea and it became blood as of one dead; and every living soul in the sea died.

4. And the third angel poured out his vial into the rivers and the fountains of waters; and they became blood.

5. And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art just, O Lord, who is, and who was, and art holy, because thou hast judged these things.

6. Because they have shed the blood of saints and of prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.

7. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and just are thy judgments.

8. And the fourth angel poured out his vial into the sun and it was given unto him to scorch men with fire.

9. And men were scorched with great heat, and they blasphemed the name of God who hath power over these plagues, and they repented not to give him glory.

10. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became dark; and they gnawed their tongues for anguish.

11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their anguish and their sores, and repented not of their works.

12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared.

13. And I saw out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet three unclean spirits like frogs.

14. For they are spirits of demons, working signs to go forth to the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

15. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

16. And he gathered them together into a place, called in the Hebrew, Armageddon.

17. And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.

18. And there were voices, and lightnings, and thunders and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake.

19. And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his anger.

20. And every island fled, and the mountains were not found.

21. And great hail, as it were of the weight of a talent, came down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

EXPLANATION.

VERSES 1, 2. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying unto the seven angels, Go, and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth. And the first angel went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there came a great and noxious sore on the men who had the mark of the beast, and who worshipped his image.

"And I heard a voice out of the temple saying unto the seven angels," signifies, manifestation by means of Divine truth from the Word of the evils and falsities that have devastated the church: "go, and pour out the vials of the anger of God into the earth," signifies, the state of the devastated church.

"And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth," signifies, manifestation of the state of the church in general: "and there came a great and noxious sore," signifies, evil works therein, and the consequent falsifications of the Word: "on the men who had the mark of the beast, and who worshipped his image," signifies, those who acknowledge faith alone, and the doctrine thereof, and live according to it.