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The Lord came into the World to fulfill all things of the word, and thereby to become the divine truth, or the word, in ultimates also (S. S. 98-100) Before the Word which is in the world at this day, there was a word which is lost (S. S. 101-104) By means of the Word, those also have light who are outside the church and have not the word (S. S. 104-113)As connected with the subject of the present study, little need be said with respect to these three headings. The first two are historical statements. The third must necessarily apply to the Writings if the Writings are the Word, but it does not itself determine that question, the immediate reference, as is so frequently the case throughout the Writings, being to the Old and New Testaments, or, more specifically, to " the Word which is in the church of the Reformed " (S. S. 110).With regard to the first heading, however, I would note that the teaching that the Lord came into the world to become the Word in ultimates, involves that He also came as the Word in His second coming. In the Gospels He reveals himself as a Divine Man fulfilling the Word; in the Writings He reveals himself as the Divine Human Glorified. Note here a statement made in the text. It reads: " Few understand how the Lord is the Word; for they think that the Lord can enlighten and teach men by the Word, and yet cannot from this be called the Word. But let them know that every man is his own love, and thus his own good and his own truth. A man is not man from anything else. . . . But the Lord is the Divine Good itself and the Divine Truth itself, and thus is the man from whom every man is a man " (S. S. 100; see also D. P. 172). The evident import of this teaching is to show that in thinking of the Lord as the Word, we are not to think of the mere letters; that is to say, in the case of the First Coming, of the letters and words of the Greek Gospels. These are taken from the minds of men, and in themselves are a mere body. The Lord as the Word is the Lord appearing as Love and Wisdom in the sense of the letter of the Gospels. To the man who reads the latter with the desire to learn of the Lord, it is the Lord Jesus Christ whom he sees appearing in the sense of the letter. There the Lord reveals himself, unfolding the Scriptures and giving instruction in a manner adapted to the comprehension of his hearers and of the church they were to be the means of establishing. In the Second Coming, the Lord appears with power and great glory, that is to say, He reveals himself openly as the Divine Man glorified. It is not the Latin letters and words of the Writings that are the Lord as the glorified Word, for these were taken from Swedenborg's mind and in themselves are dead. It is in the sense of their letter that the Lord appears. There, it is He who is the Word, He who speaks, He who instructs, He who enlightens. Yet the letter and the sense of the letter, being natural, serve as a guard lest those should behold the Lord who would profane. For man can see the letter, he can also see the sense of the letter, and yet not see the Divine Love and Wisdom of God Man. Only those see this who are in the love of truth for the sake of truth. |
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