Doctrine of Holy Scripture - Swedenborg Foundation

DOCTRINE OF HOLY SCRIPTURE 148This is why, as he himself says, there is life in his words, that he isthe light which enlightens, and that he is the truth. 20[2] That the words which the Lord himself spoke in the gospelsare life, is declared in John:The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life (John6:63).Jesus said to the woman at Jacob’s well, If thou knewest the gift of God,and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, thou wouldest have askedof him, and he would have given thee living water. Whosoever drinketh of thewater that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall givehim shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life (John 4:6,10, 14).“Jacob’s well” signifies the Word, as also in Deut. 33:28, for whichreason the Lord sat there and conversed with the woman. And“water” signifies the truth that is in the Word.[3] Again in John:If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth me,as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water(John 7:37–38).Peter said unto Jesus, Thou hast the words of eternal life (John 6:68).And therefore the Lord says in Mark:Heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away (Mark13:31).The reason the Lord’s words are “life” is that he himself is the “life”and the “truth,” as he teaches in John:20. That Jehovah himself spoke the Word through the prophets has been shownin the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem concerning the Lord (n. 52–53).