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])

33.“在耶稣基督的患难, 国度, 忍耐期待里”表在教会中那些被邪恶与虚假侵扰的事物, 但当主到来时, 祂要除去这些邪恶与虚假. “患难”表教会不再存留仁之良善与信之真理, 取而代之的是邪恶与虚假时的状态. “国度”表教会, “耶稣基督的忍耐期待”表主的到来. 因此, 这些话, 即“在耶稣基督的患难, 国度, 忍耐期待里”合为一个意思就表示当教会的良善与真理被邪恶与虚假所侵扰时, 主到来时必清除这些邪恶与虚假. “患难”表教会被邪恶与虚假所侵扰时的状态, 这一点从以下经文明显可知:

在时代的末了, 他们要把你们陷在患难里, 也要杀害你们. 因为那时必有大灾难, 从世界的起头直到如今, 没有这样的灾难, 后来也必没有. 那些日子的灾难一过去, 日头就变黑了, 月亮也不放光, 众星要从天上坠落. (马太福音 24:9, 21, 29; 马可福音 13:19, 24)

“国度”是指教会, 这一点可见于下文.