137. It says in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word: all things were made by means of him, and without him nothing was made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of humankind. He was in the world, and the world was made by means of him. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw his glory. (John 1:1, 3-4, 10, 14)

It is clear that the Lord is the one who is meant by "the Word," since it says that the Word was made flesh. Precisely what is meant by "the Word," though, is not yet known and must therefore be stated. The Word in this passage is the divine truth that is in the Lord and from the Lord, ¹ so here it is also called the light, which is divine truth, as has been shown earlier in this chapter. Now we need to explain the statement that all things were made and created by means of divine truth.

[2] In heaven, it is divine truth that possesses all power, and apart from it there is no power whatever. ² All angels are called "powers" because of divine truth, and are powers to the extent that they are recipients or vessels of it. Through it they prevail over the hells and over all who oppose them. A thousand enemies there cannot bear one ray of heavenly light, which is divine truth. Since angels are angels because of their acceptance of divine truth, it follows that all heaven is from this source and no other, since heaven is made up of angels.

[3] People cannot believe that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth if the only concept of truth they have has to do with thought or speech, which have no power in them except to the extent that other people concede it by being obedient. There is an intrinsic power within divine truth, though, power of such nature that by means of it heaven, the world, and everything in them was created.

We can illustrate the fact that this kind of power is inherent in divine truth by two comparisons - by the power of what is true and good in us, and by the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world.

By the power of what is true and good in us: Everything we do, we do out of our discernment and intent. Out of our intent, we act by means of what is good, and out of our discernment by means of what is true. In fact, all the elements of our volition are related to what is good, and all the elements of our discernment are related to what is true. ³ On this basis, then, we set our whole body in motion and a thousand things there rush to do our bidding of their own accord. We can see from this that our whole body is formed for obedience to what is good and true and therefore from what is good and true.

[4] By the power of light and warmth from the sun in our world: Everything that grows in our world - things like trees, shrubs, flowers, grasses, fruits, and seeds - arises only by means of the warmth and light of the sun. So we can see what kind of productive power is inherent in that warmth and light. What about the divine light that is divine truth, then, and the divine warmth that is divine good, the source from which heaven comes into being and consequently the world as well, since as we have shown above, it is through heaven that the world comes into being?

This enables us to determine how to understand the statement that all things were made by means of the Word, and that without him nothing was made that was made, and further that the world was made by means of him, namely that this was accomplished by means of divine truth from the Lord. ⁴

This is also why in the book of creation it first mentions light and then the things that arise from light (Genesis 1:3-4). It is also why everything in all heaven and earth has to do with what is good and true and to their union if it is to be anything at all. ⁵

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3928. 'And she called his name Naphtali' means the essential nature of it, that is to say, of the temptation in which one overcomes and also of the resistance offered by the natural man. This is clear from the meaning of 'name' and of 'calling the name' as the essential nature, dealt with in 144, 145, 1754, 1896, 2009, 2724, 3421. The particular nature is that which is meant by 'Naphtali', for the name Naphtali is derived from the word 'wrestlings'. And for the same reason 'Naphtali' represents this second general truth of the Church. Temptation is the means by which the internal man is joined to the external, for they are at variance with each other but are made to agree and to correspond by means of temptations. The external man is indeed such that of itself it does not desire anything except bodily and worldly things; these are the delights of the natural man's life. But the internal man - when opened towards heaven and desiring the things of heaven, as is the case with those who are able to be regenerated - takes delight in heavenly things. And when a person undergoes temptations these two types of delight conflict with each other. The person is not directly aware of the conflict, because he is not aware of what heavenly delight is and of what hellish delight is, let alone that they are so utterly contrary to each other. But celestial angels cannot be present at all with a person in his bodily and worldly delight until this has been made subservient, that is to say, until bodily and worldly delight is no longer regarded as an end in itself but something which is meant to be subservient to heavenly delight, as shown above in 3913. Once this has been achieved the angels are able to reside with that person in both; but in this case his delight becomes blessedness, and at length happiness in the next life.

[2] Anyone who believes that the delight of the natural man prior to regeneration is not hell-like, and that devilish spirits are not in possession there, is much mistaken. He is unaware of what the situation is with man - that prior to regeneration genii and spirits from hell have possession of his natural man, no matter how much he seems to himself to be like any other person, and also that he is able to participate with everybody else in what is holy and to reason about the truths and goods of faith, indeed is able to believe that he has become strong in these. If this person does not feel within himself some measure of affection for what is right and fair in his daily work, and for what is good and true in society and in life, let him recognize that his kind of delight in things is the kind that exists with those in hell, for his delight entails no other love than self-love and love of the world. And when these constitute his delight no charity or any faith is present within it. The only means that will weaken and dispel this delight once it has become predominant is the affirmation and acknowledgement of the holiness of faith and of the good of life, which is the first means meant, as shown above, by Dan, and after this by temptation, which is the second means and is meant by Naphtali; for this second means follows the other. Indeed people who do not affirm and acknowledge the goodness and the truth which constitute faith and charity are unable to enter any conflict brought about by temptation as there is nothing within to oppose the evil and falsity towards which natural delight gravitates.

[3] In other places in the Word where Naphtali is mentioned he means a person's state following temptations, as in the prophecy of Jacob, who by then was Israel,

Naphtali is a hind let loose, giving beautiful words. Genesis 49:21.

'A hind let loose' stands for the affection for natural truth in a state that is free, which arises following temptation. This state is also what is at stake within temptations, which are meant by 'Naphtali', for the battle fought in temptations is a struggle for freedom. Likewise in Moses' prophecy,

To Naphtali he said, Naphtali, satisfied with favour, and full with the blessing of Jehovah, will possess the west and the south. Deuteronomy 33:23.

For the representations of Jacob's sons, and of the tribes, depend on the order in which they are mentioned, 3862. And in the prophecy of Deborah and Barak,

Zebulun is a people that consigned its soul to die, as did Naphtali, on the heights of the field. Judges 5:18.

This too refers in the internal sense to the conflicts brought about by temptations, and to a person's presence among those who do not fear anything evil because they are rooted in forms of truth and good, meant by 'being on the heights of the field'.