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.

190. The person who thinks like this fails to reflect that the Lord Jehovah, who is the God of heaven and earth, uttered the Word by means of Moses and the Prophets, and consequently it cannot be anything but Divine truth. For this is what everything is that the Lord Jehovah Himself speaks. He fails too to reflect that the Lord the Saviour, who is the same as Jehovah, uttered the Word in the Gospels, much of it from His own lips, and the remainder by the spirit of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit, through His twelve Apostles. This is why, as He Himself says, His words contain spirit and life, and why He is the light that enlightens, and why He is truth. This is plain from the following passages:

Jesus said, The words which I speak to you are spirit and life, John 6:63. Jesus said to the woman at Jacob's well, if you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, Give me a drink, you would ask him, and he would give you living water. He who drinks of the water which I shall give, will never thirst, but the water which I shall give will become a well of water springing up in him to give everlasting life, John 4:6, 10, 14.

'Jacob's well' means the Word, as it also does in Deuteronomy 33:28. That is why the Lord, being the Word, sat down there, and talked with the woman. 'Living water' means the truth of the Word.

Jesus said, If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and drink. If anyone believes in me, as the scripture says, streams of living water will flow from his belly, John 7:37-38.

Peter said to Jesus, You have the words of everlasting life, John 6:68. Jesus said, Heaven and earth will pass away; my words will not pass away, Mark 13:31.

The reason why the Lord's words are truth and life is that He is truth and life, as He teaches in John:

I am the way, truth and life, John 14:6.

In the same Gospel:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, John 1:1-4.

The Word means the Lord in respect of Divine truth, in which alone there is life and light. That is why the Word, which is from the Lord and is the Lord, is called 'a spring of living waters' (Jeremiah 2:13; 17:13; 31:9), 'a spring of deliverance' (Isaiah 12:3), 'a spring' (Zechariah 13:1) and 'a river of the water of life' (Revelation 22:1); and it is said that 'the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, [and bring them] to living springs of water' (Revelation 7:17). There are other passages too where the Word is called a 'sanctuary' and 'tabernacle ¹ ' in which the Lord dwells with man.

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