1. Teachings for the New Jerusalem on the Lord

The Entire Sacred Scripture Is about the Lord, and the Lord Is the Word

WE read in John,

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and nothing that was made came about without him. In him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind. And the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness did not grasp it. And the Word became flesh and lived among us; and we saw his glory, glory like that of the only-begotten child of the Father. He was full of grace and truth. (John 1:1-3, 5, 14)

In the same Gospel,

Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. (John 3:19)

And elsewhere in the same Gospel,

While you have the light, believe in the light, so that you may become children of the light. I have come into the world as a light so that anyone who believes in me will not remain in darkness. (John 12:36, 46)

We can see from this that the Lord is God from eternity and that he himself is that Lord who was born into the world. It actually says that the Word was with God and that the Word was God, as well as that nothing that was made came about without him, and then that the Word became flesh and that they saw him.

There is little understanding in the church of what it means to call the Lord “the Word.” He is called the Word because the Word means divine truth or divine wisdom and the Lord is divine truth itself or divine wisdom itself. That is why he is also called the light that is said to have come into the world.

Since divine wisdom and divine love are one with each other and have been one in the Lord from eternity, it also says “in him there was life, and that life was the light for humankind.” The life is divine love, and the light is divine wisdom.

This oneness is what is meant by saying both that “in the beginning the Word was with God” and that “the Word was God.” “With God” is in God, since wisdom is in love and love is in wisdom. This is like the statement elsewhere in John, “Glorify me, Father, together with yourself, with the glory I had with you before the world existed” (John 17:5). “With yourself” is “in yourself.” This is why it adds “and the Word was God.” It says elsewhere that the Lord is in the Father and the Father is in him [John 14:10], and that the Father and he are one [John 10:30].

Since the Word is the divine wisdom of the divine love, it follows that it is Jehovah himself and therefore the Lord, the one by whom all things were made that were made, since everything was created out of divine love by means of divine wisdom.

1695. And all their food. That this signifies that they were deprived of the power of thinking falsity, is evident from the signification of “food.” What the celestial, spiritual, and natural food are that are enjoyed in the other life, has been shown before (n. 56-58, 680, 681). These also correspond to the food of the body; and therefore are represented in the Word by food, and are called “food.” But the food of evil and infernal spirits is that which is contrary to wisdom, intelligence, and true knowledge, which is all falsity; and wonderful to say, evil spirits are sustained by this food. The reason that it sustains them is that it is their life. Unless there is given them the means of vilifying the truth, and indeed of blaspheming it, they cannot live. But still license is given them to think and speak only that falsity which is from their evil, and not that which is contrary to their evil, for this would be deceit for insofar as they speak falsity from their evil, it is from their life; and then it is forgiven them, because their nature is such that otherwise they could not live.

[2] As to their being deprived of the power of doing evil and of thinking falsity, the case is this: In the combats of temptations the evil spirits are permitted to draw forth all the evil and falsity that are in the man, and to battle from the evil and falsity of the man; but when they have been overcome, they are no longer permitted to do so, for they instantly perceive in the man that good and truth have been confirmed. Spirits, more than men, are gifted with such perception; from the very sphere of a man who has been confirmed in truth and good, they know at once how the case is, what answer they will get, and more besides. This is plainly evident with the spiritual regenerate man, with whom there are evil spirits equally as well as with the non-regenerate, but they are subjugated and serve. This is what is meant by their being deprived of the power of doing evil and of thinking falsity.