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Ezekiel 13

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1 And the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

2 Son of man, be a prophet against the prophets of Israel, and say to those prophets whose words are the invention of their hearts, Give ear to the word of the Lord;

3 This is what the Lord has said: A curse on the foolish prophets who go after the spirit which is in them and have seen nothing!

4 O Israel, your prophets have been like jackals in the waste places.

5 You have not gone up into the broken places or made up the wall for the children of Israel to take your place in the fight in the day of the Lord.

6 They have seen visions without substance and made use of secret arts, who say, The Lord has said; and The Lord has not sent them: hoping that the word would have effect.

7 Have you not seen a vision without substance and have you not falsely made use of secret arts, when you say, The Lord has said; though I have said nothing?

8 So this is what the Lord has said: Because your words are without substance and your visions are false, see, I am against you, says the Lord.

9 And my hand will be against the prophets who see visions without substance and who make false use of secret arts: they will not be in the secret of my people, and they will not be recorded in the list of the children of Israel, and they will not come into the land of Israel; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

10 Because, even because they have been guiding my people into error, saying, Peace; when there is no Peace; and in the building of a division wall they put whitewash on it:

11 Say to those who put whitewash on it, There will be an overflowing shower; and you, O ice-drops, will come raining down; and it will be broken in two by the storm-wind.

12 And when the wall has come down, will they not say to you, Where is the whitewash which you put on it?

13 For this reason, the Lord has said: I will have it broken in two by a storm-wind in my passion; and there will be an overflowing shower in my wrath, and you, O ice-drops, will come raining angrily down.

14 So I will let the wall, which you were covering with whitewash, be broken down; I will have it levelled to the earth so that its base is uncovered: it will come down, and destruction will come on you with it; and it will be clear to you that I am the Lord.

15 So I will let loose my passion on the wall in full measure, and on those who put whitewash on it; and I will say to you, Where is the wall, and Where are those who put whitewash on it?

16 Even the prophets of Israel who say words to Jerusalem, who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord.

17 And you, son of man, let your face be turned against the daughters of your people, who are acting the part of prophets at their pleasure; be a prophet against them, and say,

18 This is what the Lord has said: A curse is on the women who are stitching bands on all arms and putting veils on the heads of those of every size, so that they may go after souls! Will you go after the souls of my people and keep yourselves safe from death?

19 And you have put me to shame among my people for a little barley and some bits of bread, sending death on souls for whom there is no cause of death, and keeping those souls living who have no right to life, by the false words you say to my people who give ear to what is false.

20 For this cause the Lord has said: See, I am against your bands with which you go after souls, and I will violently take them off their arms; and I will let loose the souls, even the souls whom you go after freely.

21 And I will have your veils violently parted in two, and will make my people free from your hands, and they will no longer be in your power for you to go after them; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

22 Because with your false words you have given pain to the heart of the upright man when I had not made him sad; in order to make strong the hands of the evil-doer so that he may not be turned from his evil way and get life:

23 For this cause you will see no more foolish visions or make false use of secret arts: and I will make my people free from your power; and you will be certain that I am the Lord.

   

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Measure

  

'To measure' signifies knowing and exploring the quality of something.

(Odkazy: Apocalypse Revealed 486, 904)

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Apocalypse Revealed # 486

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486. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." This symbolizes the Lord's presence and His command to see and learn the state of the church in the New Heaven.

The Lord is meant by the angel, here as in nos. 5, 415, and elsewhere, since an angel does nothing of himself but is impelled by the Lord. That is why the angel said, "I will give power to my two witnesses" (verse 3), when they were the Lord's witnesses. The angel's standing by symbolizes the Lord's presence, and his speaking symbolizes the Lord's command. To rise and measure means, symbolically, to see and learn. We will see below that to measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a state.

The temple, altar, and those who worship there symbolize the state of the church in the New Heaven - the temple symbolizing the church in respect to its doctrinal truth (no. 191), the altar symbolizing the church in respect to the goodness of its love (no. 392), and those who worship there symbolizing the church in respect to its formal worship as a result of those two elements. Those who worship symbolize here the reverence that is a part of formal worship, since the spiritual sense is a sense abstracted from persons (nos. 78, 79, 96), as is apparent here also from the fact that John is told to measure the worshipers. These three elements are what form the church: doctrinal truth, goodness of love, and formal worship as a result of these.

[2] That the church meant is the church in the New Heaven is apparent from the last verse of this chapter, where we are told that "the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple" (verse 19).

This chapter begins with the measuring of the temple in order that the state of the church in heaven might be seen and learned before its conjunction with the church in the world. The church in the world is meant by the court outside the temple, which John was not to measure, because it had been given to the gentiles (verse 2). The same church is then described by the great city called Sodom and Egypt (verses 7, 8). But after that great city fell (verse 13), it follows that the church became the Lord's (verses 15ff.).

It should be known that the church exists in the heavens just as on earth, and that the two are united like the inner and outer selves in people. Consequently the Lord provides the church in heaven first, and from it, or by means of it, then the church on earth. That is why the New Jerusalem is said to come down from God out of the New Heaven (Revelation 21:1-2).

The New Heaven means a new heaven formed from Christians, as described several times in the following chapters.

[3] To measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a thing because the measure of something symbolizes its character or state. All the measurements of the New Jerusalem (chapter 21) have this symbolic meaning, as does the statement there that the angel who had the gold reed measured the city and its gates, and that he measured the wall to be one hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man which is that of an angel (verses 15, 17). Moreover, because the New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church, is it apparent that to measure it and its component parts means, symbolically, to learn its character.

Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in Ezekiel, where we read that an angel measured the house of God: the temple, the altar, the court, and the chambers (Ezekiel 40:3-17; 41:1-5, 13-14, 22; 42:1-20, and 43:1-27). Also that he measured the waters (47:3-5, 9). Therefore the prophet is told:

...show the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the pattern... and... its exits and its entrances, and all its patterns..., so that they may keep its whole design... (Ezekiel 43:10-11)

Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in the following places:

I raised my eyes..., and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem...." (Zechariah 2:1-2)

He stood and measured the earth. (Habakkuk 3:6)

(The Lord Jehovih) has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and gauged heaven with a span... and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. (Isaiah 40:12)

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ...Who determined its measurements? ...Or who stretched the line upon it? (Job 38:4-5)

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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