Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. Jerusalem first comes to our attention in 2 Samuel 5, when King David takes the city from the Jebusites and makes it his capital. In the next chapter he brings the Ark of the Covenant there, and later it is where Solomon builds the temple, and his own palace. From then on Jerusalem is the center of worship of the Israelitish church. It is the place where the Lord was presented in the temple as a baby, where He tarried to talk to the priests at age twelve, where He cleansed the temple, had the last supper, was crucified and then rose. It is a central place in both the old and new Testaments. The city was built on Mount Zion, the highest point of the mountains of Judea. A city, in the Word, represents doctrine, the organized knowledge of the truths of the church. Mountains represent love of the Lord and the consequent worship. If you put those things together, Jerusalem on Mount Zion signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. This is why David was led to make Jerusalem the most important city of the land, and why all worship was conducted there. And this is also why Jeroboam was condemned for introducing idol worship in Samaria. In the Book of Revelation, John's vision of the city New Jerusalem descending from God is a prophecy of a new dispensation of doctrine coming from the Lord.

(Odkazy: Arcana Coelestia 4539, 8938; The Apocalypse Explained 365 [35-38])

2589. 出生于教会之外的各个民族和人民在来世的状态和命运.

一个常见的观点是: 那些出生于教会之外, 被称为异教徒和外邦人的人无法得救, 因为他们没有圣言, 因而不认识主, 而没有主就没有救恩. 但外邦人也能得救, 这一点单单从以下考虑就能得知: 主的怜悯是普世的, 也就是说, 针对每一个人. 外邦人同样生而为人, 和那些相对较少的教会中人一样平等; 不认识主并非他们的过错. 所以, 蒙主怜悯, 他们在来世的状态和命运向我显明了.