2. Someone who thinks in this way, however, does not reflect that Jehovah Himself, the God of heaven and earth, spoke the Word through Moses and the prophets, and that it must therefore be Divine truth itself. For whatever Jehovah Himself utters is such truth. Nor does that person reflect that the Lord, who is the same as Jehovah, spoke the Word reported by the Gospel writers, much of it in person, and the rest by the breath of His mouth, which is the Holy Spirit. Consequently what He Himself says is, in His own words, life, and He is the light that enlightens, and truth personified.

[2] That Jehovah Himself spoke the Word through the prophets is something we showed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 52-53.

That the words the Lord Himself spoke, as reported by the Gospel writers, are life, is something He said in John:

The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. (John 6:63)

Again in John, Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s spring:

If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, “Give Me a drink, ” you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.... Whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:6, 10, 14)

Jacob’s spring symbolizes the Word, as in Deuteronomy 33:28 as well. That, too, is why the Lord sat there and spoke with the woman. And the water symbolizes the Word’s truth.

[3] Again in John:

...Jesus...(said), “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:37-38)

And again:

...Peter (said to Jesus), “...You have the words of eternal life.” (John 6:68)

Therefore the Lord says in Mark:

Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away. (Mark 13:31)

The Lord’s words are life because He is the life and the truth, as He tells us in John:

I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)

And again in John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word.... In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. (John 1:1, 4)

The Word there means the Lord in relation to Divine truth, in which alone there is life and light.

[4] It is on this account that the Word, being from the Lord and embodying the Lord, is called “a fountain of living waters” (Jeremiah 2:13, 17:13), “a fountain of salvation” (Isaiah 12:3), “a fountain” (Zechariah 13:1). Also “a river of the water of life” (Revelation 22:1). And we are told that “the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters” (Revelation 7:17).

There are in addition many other places where the Word is called the sanctuary and the tabernacle in which the Lord dwells with mankind.

46. The Word’s literal sense is symbolized by the curtains and veils of the Tabernacle. The Tabernacle represented heaven and the church. Its form was therefore shown by Jehovah on Mount Sinai. Consequently everything in the Tabernacle — the lampstand, the golden altar for incense, and the table with showbread on it — represented and so symbolized the sanctities of heaven and the church. Moreover, the most holy place, where the Ark of the Covenant was, represented and so symbolized the inmost constituent of heaven and the church; and the Law itself, written on two tables of stone and contained in the ark, symbolized the Lord in relation to the Word.

Now because outward manifestations take their essence from inner components, and both of these from the inmost one, which in this case was the Law, therefore the holy qualities of the Word were also represented and symbolized by all the constituents of the Tabernacle.

It follows from this that the outmost constituents of the Tabernacle, which were its curtains and veils, thus its coverings and enclosures, symbolized the outmost constituents of the Word, which are the truths and goods of its literal sense.

[2] Because they symbolized these outmost constituents, therefore the curtains and veils were made “of fine woven linen, and blue, purple, and scarlet double-dyed, with...cherubim” (Exodus 26:1, 31, 36).

What the Tabernacle and everything found in it represented and symbolized, in general and in particular, is something we explained in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), in our treatment of this chapter in Exodus. And we showed there that the curtains and veils represented the outer constituents of heaven and the church, thus also the outer constituents of the Word. We showed, too, that the linen, or fine linen, symbolized truth from a spiritual origin; the blue, truth from a celestial origin; the purple, celestial goodness; the scarlet double-dyed, spiritual goodness; and the cherubim, protections for the Word’s inner constituents.

4. Lest people remain in doubt, therefore, that such is the nature of the Word, the Lord has revealed to me the internal meaning of the Word, one that in its essence is spiritual, which is present in the outward, natural meaning, like a soul in its body. That meaning is the spirit which gives life to the letter. Consequently it is that meaning which can testify to the Divinity and holiness of the Word, and convince even the natural man, if he is willing to be convinced.

The Word Contains a Spiritual Meaning, One Previously Unknown

[4 repeated.] This will be discussed according to the following outline:

1. What the spiritual meaning is.

2. The presence of this meaning in each and every particular of the Word.

3. That this is what causes the Word to be Divinely inspired and holy in every word.

4. That this meaning has been previously unknown.

5. And that it is granted after this only to someone who possesses genuine truths from the Lord.