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.

574. 'Flesh' means that man became bodily-minded. This is clear from the meaning of 'flesh' in the Word, where it is used to mean the whole of mankind in general and the bodily-minded man in particular. It is used to mean the whole of mankind in Joel,

I will pour out My spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. Joel 2:28.

'Flesh' stands for mankind, 'spirit' for the influx of truth and good from the Lord. In David,

O You that hearest prayer, to You will all flesh come. Psalms 65:2.

Here 'flesh' stands for the whole of mankind. In Jeremiah,

Cursed is that man (vir) who trusts in man (homo) and makes flesh his arm. Jeremiah 17:5.

'Flesh' stands for mankind, 'arm' for power.

In Ezekiel,

And all flesh will know. Ezekiel 20:48, 49.

[2] In Zechariah,

Be silent, all flesh, before Jehovah. Zechariah 2:13.

Again 'flesh' stands for the whole of mankind. 'Flesh' stands for the bodily-minded man in particular in Isaiah,

The Egyptian is man (homo), and not God; and his horses are flesh and not spirit. Isaiah 31:3.

'Flesh' here indicates that their factual knowledge is concerned with things of the body. 'Horses' here and elsewhere in the Word stands for the rational.

In the same prophet,

One will strike down on the right and will be hungry; and they will eat on the left, and they will not be satisfied. Every man will eat the flesh of his own arm. Isaiah 9:20.

Here 'flesh' stands for the things that are man's own, all of which are of a bodily nature.

In the same prophet,

He will fat up from the soul even to the flesh. Isaiah 10:18.

'Flesh' stands for bodily things.

In the same prophet,

The glory of Jehovah will be revealed, and all flesh will see it together. A voice says, Cry! And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass. Isaiah 40:5-6.

'Flesh' stands for the whole of mankind as being bodily-minded.

[3] In the same prophet,

In fire Jehovah will dispute, and by His sword with all flesh, and the slain ¹ of Jehovah will be multiplied. Isaiah 66:16.

'Fire' stands for the punishment of evil desires, 'sword' for the punishment of falsities, and 'flesh' for the bodily things of man. In David,

God remembered that they were flesh, a spirit going away so that it did not turn back. Psalms 78:39.

This refers to the people in the wilderness who craved for flesh, that is, a bodily-minded people. Their craving for flesh represented their desire for bodily things alone, see Numbers 11:32-34.

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