Consider the beautiful but cryptic statements of John 1:1:

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God."

God's love has always been and will always be infinite and perfect. That means the expression of God's love -- His truth -- has also always been and will always be infinite and perfect.

The Lord has shared this truth with us in various ways since the beginning of humanity. The earliest people received truth directly, flowing into the inner parts of their minds from heaven. Later, people understood it through nature seeing the Lord's love expressed in mountains, trees, rivers, and the sun, moon and stars. By using natural language as a container for spiritual language, the Lord expressed truth within the Bible inside its stories, laws and prophecies. When humanity reached its lowest point, God took on a human form and walked among us as Jesus. In this way, the Lord brought us Divine truths in an accessible and tangible way. By accepting and loving the Lord as Jesus we can open ourselves to His love.

Finally, the Heavenly Doctrine received through the pen of Emanuel Swedenborg are themselves a container for Divine Truth, both in speaking plainly about heaven and by unlocking the truth as it is contained in the Bible.

The Word itself is Divine Truth; the Lord's expression of love has and never will change.

6279. 'The angel redeeming me from every evil' means the Lord's Divine Human, the deliverer from hell. This is clear from the meaning of 'the angel' as the Lord's Divine Human, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'redeeming' as delivering, also dealt with below; and from the meaning of 'evil' as hell. The reason why 'evil' means hell is that hell itself is nothing but evil; for whether you say that all in hell are evil or that hell is evil, it amounts to the same thing. When the word 'evil' is used hell is meant in the spiritual sense; for whenever those who know the spiritual sense, as the angels in heaven do, think and express themselves, they do so without reference to any specific persons because they are concerned with the general and overall. This is why for them 'evil' means hell.

[2] The same applies to the word 'sin', when it is used to mean a dominant evil, as in Genesis 4,

Jehovah said to Cain, If you do not do well, sin is lying at the door. To you is his desire, and you will have dominion over him. Genesis 4:6-7.

Here 'sin' stands for hell, which is at hand when a person does what is evil. Also the evil present in a person is itself nothing else than hell, for it flows into him from there, making him at this time a miniature hell, even as each of its inhabitants is one. It is like the contrary situation when the good present with a person is itself nothing else than heaven in him, for good flows into him from the Lord through heaven, making the person with whom good resides a miniature heaven, even as each inhabitant of heaven is one.