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Joel 3

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1 For in those days and in that time, when I let the fate of Judah and Jerusalem be changed,

2 I will get together all the nations, and make them come down into the valley of Jehoshaphat; and there I will take up with them the cause of my people and of my heritage Israel, whom they have sent wandering among the nations, and of my land which has been parted by them.

3 And they have put the fate of my people to the decision of chance: giving a boy for the price of a loose woman and a girl for a drink of wine.

4 And further, what are you to me, O Tyre and Zidon and all the circle of Philistia? will you give me back any payment? and if you do, quickly and suddenly I will send it back on your head,

5 For you have taken my silver and my gold, putting in the houses of your gods my beautiful and pleasing things.

6 And the children of Judah and the children of Jerusalem you have given for a price to the sons of the Greeks, to send them far away from their land:

7 See, I will have them moved from the place where you have sent them, and will let what you have done come back on your head;

8 I will give your sons and your daughters into the hands of the children of Judah for a price, and they will give them for a price to the men of Sheba, a nation far off: for the Lord has said it.

9 Give this out among the nations; make ready for war: get the strong men awake; let all the men of war come near, let them come up.

10 Get your plough-blades hammered into swords, and your vine-knives into spears: let the feeble say, I am strong.

11 Come quickly, all you nations round about, and get yourselves together there: make your strong ones come down, O Lord.

12 Let the nations be awake, and come to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there I will be seated as judge of all the nations round about.

13 Put in the blade, for the grain is ready: come, get you down, for the wine-crusher is full, the vessels are overflowing; for great is their evil-doing.

14 Masses on masses in the valley of decision! for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision.

15 The sun and the moon have become dark, and the stars keep back their shining.

16 And the Lord will be thundering from Zion, and his voice will be sounding from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth will be shaking: but the Lord will be a breastplate for his people and a strong place for the children of Israel.

17 And you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, living in Zion, my holy mountain: and Jerusalem will be holy, and no strange person will ever again go through her.

18 And it will come about in that day that the mountains will be dropping sweet wine, and the hills will be flowing with milk, and all the streams of Judah will be flowing with water; and a fountain will come out from the house of the Lord, watering the valley of acacia-trees.

19 Egypt will be a waste and Edom a land of destruction, because of the evil done to the children of Judah, because they have let blood be drained out in their land without cause.

20 But Judah will be peopled for ever, and Jerusalem from generation to generation.

21 And I will send punishment for their blood, for which punishment has not been sent, for the Lord is living in Zion.

   

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A Brief Exposition of New Church Doctrine # 100

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100. BRIEF ANALYSIS

The reason the New Church is meant by the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, in Revelation 21, is that Jerusalem was the metropolis of the land of Canaan. The temple and the altar were there; there also sacrifices were offered. Thus, Divine worship itself was performed there, and every male throughout the land was commanded to come to this worship three times a year. A further reason is that the Lord was in Jerusalem and taught in its temple; afterwards glorifying His Human there; thence it is that Jerusalem signifies the Church. That the Church is meant by Jerusalem is clearly evident from the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning a New Church to be established by the Lord, and which is there called Jerusalem.

[2] The following passages only shall be cited, from which anyone possessed of interior reason may see that by Jerusalem is there meant the Church. Let these passages alone be taken from the prophets:

Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered. . . . I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy; that I may rejoice over Jerusalem and be joyful over My people. . . Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. . . they shall do no evil in all the mountain of My holiness.Isaiah 65:17-19, 25.

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. Then the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name. And thou shalt be a crown of beauty.. . and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God... Jehovah shall be well pleased in thee, and thy land shall be married . . . Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him . . . and they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and thou shalt be called, sought out, a city not forsaken.Isaiah 62:1-4, 11-12.

Awake! awake! put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem . . . The people shalt know My name in that day, for I am He that doth speak; behold, it is I. . .. Jehovah hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem.Isaiah 52:1-2, 6, 9.

Shout with joy, O daughter of Zion; be glad with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. . .. The King of Israel is in the midst of thee; fear not evil any more . . . He will be glad over thee with joy; He will rest in thy love; He will exult over thee with joyful shouting. . . will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth.Zephaniah 3:14-17, 20.

Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer . . . saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited. Isaiah 44:24, 26.

Thus saith Jehovah, I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; whence Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah Zebaoth, the mountain of holiness. Zechariah 8:3.

Then shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion, the mountain of holiness; and Jerusalem shall be holiness... .And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk... and Jerusalem shall abide from generation to generation. Joel 3:17-18, 20.

In that day shall the branch of Jehovah be beauty and glory. . . And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy; everyone that is written unto life in Jerusalem. Isaiah 4:2-3.

In the last days the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established in the head of the mountains ... for out of Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. Micah 4:1-2.

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all nations shall be gathered to Jerusalem because of the name of Jehovah; neither shall they go any more after the confirmation of their own evil heart. Jeremiah 3:17.

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; let thine eyes see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; the stakes thereof shall never be removed, and the cords thereof shall not be broken. Isaiah 33:20.

Other passages are: Isaiah 24:23; 37:32; 66:10-14; Zechariah 12:3, 6-10; 14:8, 11-12, 21; Malachi 3:2, 4; Psalms 122:1-7; 137:4-6.

[3] That by Jerusalem in the above passages is meant a Church to be established by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, is plain from every detail of its description therein; as that Jehovah God was about to create a new heaven and a new earth, and Jerusalem also at the same time; that this Jerusalem would be a crown of beauty, and a royal diadem; that it is to be called holiness, and the city of truth, the throne of Jehovah, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; that the wolf and the lamb shall feed together there; that there the mountains shall drop with new wine, and the hills flow with milk; that it should abide from generation to generation; besides many other things respecting the people therein, that they should be holy, all written unto life, and should be called the redeemed of Jehovah.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.