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.

6335. And Jacob called his sons. That this signifies the setting in order of the truths of faith and goods of love in the natural, is evident from the signification of “calling,” as being to set in order, for the reason of calling them together was that the truths of faith and goods of charity might be presented in this orderly arrangement; and from the representation of Jacob and his sons, as being the truths of faith and goods of love in the natural. (That Jacob represents these in general, may be seen, n. 3509, 3525, 3546, 3659, 3669, 3677, 3775, 3829, 4234, 4273, 4337, 5506, 5533, 5535, 6001, 6236; and also his sons, or the tribes named from them, the same in particular, n. 3858, 3926, 3939, 4060.) As regards the setting in order of the truths of faith and of the goods of love, which is here signified, and is presented in the internal sense in this chapter, be it known that the twelve tribes of Israel represented in general all truths and goods in one complex, thus all the truths and goods which proceed from the Lord, and consequently those which are in heaven, and of which heaven consists. And because they are all represented in general, they are also represented severally in particular; for generals contain in them particulars, as wholes contain parts.

[2] The lights in heaven are varied in accordance with the goods and the derivative truths, and the states of intelligence and wisdom, in accordance with the lights; and it was from this that the light sparkled and quivered through the Urim and Thummim, and this with variety in accordance with the state of the matter about which the interrogation was made. This took place because the twelve tribes, by which were signified all truths and goods in general, were marked on that breastplate, that is, on the Urim and Thummim, for there was a single precious stone for each tribe. The reason why they were precious stones was that they signified spiritual and celestial truths (n. 114, 3720); and the gold in which they were set signified good (see n. 113, 1551, 1552, 5658). This is the secret that was signified by the Urim and Thummim.

[3] That the twelve tribes had such a signification, is plain from the passages in the Word where they are mentioned; especially from the inheritance of the tribes in the land of Canaan, described in Joshua, and from their inheritance in the Lord’s kingdom, described in the last chapters of Ezekiel, where we read of the new earth, the new Jerusalem, and the new temple; and in John in Revelation (Revelation 7:4-8); also from the order in which they encamped in the wilderness, which was of such a nature that they thereby represented truths and goods in their genuine order. Hence the prophetic utterance of Balaam:

When Balaam lifted up his eyes, and saw Israel dwelling according to their tribes, the spirit of God came upon him. And he gave forth an enunciation, and said, How good are thy tabernacles O Jacob! thy habitations O Israel! As the valleys are they planted, as gardens beside the river, as sandalwood trees which Jehovah hath planted, as cedars beside the waters (Numbers 24:2-6).

(See also the things shown about the tribes and their ordering in n. 2129, 3858, 3862, 3926, 3939, 4060, 4603)