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])

4328. 我还曾被指示心智的意愿或意志部分和理解部分总体上是何情形. 构成主的属天教会的上古之人 (参看1114-1123节) 就具有包含良善的意愿或意志和包含源自那良善的真理的理解; 对他们来说, 这二者合而为一. 然而, 形成主的属灵教会的古人具有完全被摧毁的意愿或意志, 但仍具有完好无损的理解, 主通过使人重生在这理解里面形成一个新的意愿或意志, 并通过这新的意愿或意志也形成一个新的理解 (参看863, 875, 895, 927, 928, 1023, 1043, 1044, 1555, 2256节).

就良善而言, 属天教会是何情形, 可通过从天而降的蓝柱来说明; 蓝柱的左侧充满光明, 就像太阳放射的炽热火光. 这代表那些人的第一个状态; 蓝色代表他们的意愿或意志, 也就是良善; 炽热火光代表他们的理解. 后来, 这个柱子的蓝色变得暗红, 这代表他们的第二个状态; 在这种状态下, 他们的两种生命, 即意愿的生命和理解的生命, 仍行如一体, 只是就来自意愿的良善而言, 更为暗淡了. 因为蓝色表示良善, 而炽热的火光表示源自良善的真理.

此后, 柱子完全变黑了; 柱子周围有一道通过某种闪光事物而斑驳并呈现出各种颜色的亮光; 这些变化表示属灵教会的状态. 黑色柱子表示意愿或意志完全被毁, 无非是邪恶; 通过某种闪光事物而斑驳的亮光表示主在理解中提供了一个新的意愿或意志; 因为在天上, 理解由亮光来代表.