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.

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.

98. The Lord Came into the World to Fulfill Everything in the Word, and to Become as a Consequence Divine Truth, or the Word, Also in Outmost Expressions

That the Lord came into the world to fulfill everything in the Word may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord 8-11. That He became as a consequence Divine truth, or the Word, also in outmost expressions — this is what is meant by these words in John:

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14)

To become flesh is to become the Word in outmost expressions.

What the Lord was like as the Word in outmost expressions — this He showed His disciples when He was transfigured (Matthew 17:2ff., Mark 9:2ff., Luke 9:28ff.). And we are told in Luke that Moses and Elijah appeared in glory. Moses and Elijah mean the Word, as may be seen in no. 48 above.

The Lord is also described as the Word in outmost expressions by John in the book of Revelation, in chapter one, verses 13-16, where everything in the description of Him symbolizes the outmost expressions of Divine truth or of the Word.

The Lord, indeed, had embodied the Word before, but in its first origins. For we read:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. It was in the beginning with God. (John 1:1-3)

But when the Word became flesh, then the Lord became also the Word in outmost expressions. It is because of this that the Lord is called the First and the Last (Revelation 1:8, 11, 17, 2:8, 21:6, 22:13).