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])

781. 第9节 这就是启示录所描述的“新天新地”, 以及由此降临的“新耶路撒冷”的含义。

在启示录中, 我们读到:

我看见一个新天新地, 因为先前的天地都过去了。 我约翰又看见圣城, 新耶路撒冷, 由神那里从天而降, 预备好了, 就如新妇妆饰整齐, 等候丈夫。 (启示录21:1-2)

象这样的事在以赛亚书中也有记载:

看哪, 我造新天新地; 你们当因我所造的永远欢喜快乐! 因我造耶路撒冷为人所喜, 造其中的居民为人所乐。 (以赛亚65:17-18)

我在本章前面已说明, 如今主正在建造一个新天堂, 由那些在世时承认, 或离世后能承认主就是天地之神的基督徒组成, 如祂在马太福音 (马太福音28:18) 中所说的那样。