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.

4906. Bring her forth, and let her be burnt. That this signifies that it ought to be extirpated, namely, the internal of the church which is represented by Tamar, is evident from the signification of “bringing her forth and burning her,” as being to extirpate. “Bringing forth” is predicated of the truth, and “burning” of the good, which was to be extirpated. That “burning” is predicated of the extirpation of good is evident from many passages in the Word; and the reason is that “fire” and “flame” in the spiritual sense denote good, and hence “heat” denotes the affection of good; but in the opposite sense “fire” and “flame” denote evil, and the “heat” thence the affection of evil (n. 1297, 1861, 2446). Moreover, good is actually spiritual fire, from which comes the spiritual heat which vivifies, and evil is the fire and the consequent heat which consumes. That the good of love is spiritual fire, and that the affection of this good is spiritual heat, will be very evident to one who attends and reflects; for if he reflects whence man has vital fire and heat, he will find that it is from love; because as soon as love ceases, the man grows cold, while the more he is in love, the warmer he grows. Unless man’s vitality were from this origin he could have no life at all. But this spiritual fire or heat which produces life becomes a burning and consuming fire with the evil, for with them it is turned into this kind of fire. With animals devoid of reason spiritual heat likewise flows in and produces life, but a life according to the reception in their organic forms, for which reason their knowledges and affections are connate, as with bees and the rest.