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?”

12. The sixth chapter of the book of Revelation says that when the Lamb opened the first seal of the book, a white horse went out and that he who sat on it had a bow, and a crown was given him. That when He opened the second seal, a fiery red horse went out, and that he who sat on it was given a great sword. That when He opened the third seal, a black horse went out, and that he who sat on it had a scale in his hand. And that when He opened the fourth seal, a pale horse went out, and that the name of him who sat on it was Death.

The symbolic meanings of these images can be laid open only by knowing the spiritual sense, and they are fully laid open when one knows what opening the seals symbolizes, what a horse symbolizes, and all the rest. They describe the successive states of the church in respect to its understanding of the Word, from its beginning to its end. The Lamb’s opening the book’s seals symbolizes an exposure of these states of the church by the Lord. A horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word. A white horse symbolizes an understanding of truth from the Word in the church’s first state. The bow of him who sat on the horse symbolizes a doctrine of charity and faith fighting against falsities. The crown symbolizes eternal life, the reward of victory. The fiery red horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word extinguished as to goodness in the church’s second state. The great sword symbolizes falsity fighting against truth. The black horse symbolizes an understanding of the Word extinguished as to truth in the church’s third state. The scale symbolizes a regard for truth so little as to be almost nonexistent. The pale horse symbolizes no understanding of truth owing to evil practices and consequent falsities in the church’s fourth and last state. And Death symbolizes eternal damnation.

That this is what these images symbolize in the spiritual sense is not apparent in the literal or natural sense. Consequently, if the spiritual sense were not at some time revealed, the Word would remain closed in respect to this chapter and everything else in the book of Revelation, to the point that at last no one would know in what the Divine holiness in it lies. Neither would anyone know the symbolic meaning of the four horses in Zechariah 6:1-8 and the four chariots coming from between two mountains of bronze.

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).