1. The Sacred Scripture, or Word, Is Divine Truth Itself

Everyone says that the Word comes from God, is Divinely inspired, and so is holy. But even so, no one has known before this wherein the Divinity in it lies. For in its letter the Word appears as though written in the ordinary way, in a foreign style, neither as sublime or nor as lucid as writings of the present age seem to be.

As a result, a person who worships nature as God, or in preference to God, and so thinks prompted by self and his own self-interest, and not prompted by heaven in response to the Lord, may easily fall into error regarding the Word, and into scorning it, and when reading it, saying to himself, “What is this? What is that? Is this Divine? Can God, whose wisdom is infinite, speak so? Where is the holiness in it, and what makes it holy, other than some teaching of religion and so conviction?”

62. The Word’s Literal Sense Makes Possible a Conjunction with the Lord and Affiliation with Angels

The Word makes possible a conjunction with the Lord because the Word has the Lord as its only subject, and the Lord is as a consequence the totality of it, and is called the Word, as we showed in The Doctrine Regarding the Lord.

Conjunction lies in the literal sense because in that sense the Word is in its fullness, in its holiness, and in its power, as we showed in its own section above.

The conjunction is not apparent to a person, but it is present in his affection for truth and in his perception of truth, thus in the love of Divine truth and faith in that truth that he possesses.

99. As a result of the Lord’s becoming also the Word in outmost expressions, the state of the church was entirely changed. The churches prior to the Lord’s advent were all representational churches, and they could see only a shadow of Divine truth. But after the Lord’s advent into the world, a church was established by Him that saw Divine truth in a state of light. The difference is as the difference between evening and morning. The state of the church before His advent is also called evening [in the Word], while the state of the church after His advent is called morning.

Before His advent into the world the Lord was indeed present with people of the church, but indirectly through heaven. But ever since His advent into the world He is present with people of the church directly. For in the world He put on also a natural Divinity in which He is present with people.

The Lord’s glorification is a glorification of His humanity, the humanity He assumed in the world. And the Lord’s glorified humanity is His natural Divinity.