is is done mediately through preaching does not take away its
immediacy.

[2] First: _The Lord is the Word because it is from Him and about Him._
No one in the church denies that the Word is from the Lord, but that it
is about Him alone, while not denied, is not known. This was shown in
_Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Lord,_ nn. 1-7, 37-44, and in
_Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 62-69,
80-90, 98-100. Inasmuch as the Word is from the Lord alone and treats of
Him alone, a man is taught by the Lord when he is taught from the Word,
for it is the divine Word. Who can communicate what is divine and implant
it in the heart except the Divine Himself from whom it is and of whom it
treats? Therefore, in speaking of His union with His disciples He says
that they are to abide in Him and His words in them (Jn 15:7 ), that His
words are spirit and life (Jn 6:63), and that He makes His abode with
those who keep His words (Jn 14:20-24). To think from the Lord therefore
is to think from the Word, and as it were, through the Word. It was shown
in _Doctrine of the New Jerusalem about the Sacred Scripture_ from
beginning to end that all things of the Word have communication with
heaven, and as the Lord is heaven, this means that all things of the Word
have communication with the Lord Himself. The angels of heaven indeed
have communication; this, too, is from the Lord.

[3] Second: _The Lord is the Word because it is divine truth together
with divine good._ The Lord teaches that He is the Word by these words in
John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word
was God . . . and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us (1:1, 14).

This passage has been understood hitherto to mean only that God teaches
men through the Word and has been explained as an hyperbole, with the
implication that the Lord is not the Word itself. This is because
expositors did not know that the Word is divine truth together with
divine good or, what is the same, divine wisdom together with divine
love. That these are the Lord Himself was shown in the treatise _Divine
Love and Wisdom,_ Part I, and that they are the Word in _Doctrine of the
New Jerusalem about the Sacred Scripture,_ nn. 1-86.

[4] We will say briefly in what way the Lord is divine truth together
with divine good. Each human being is human not because of face and body
but from the good of his love and the truths of his wisdom; and