Apocalypse Revealed # 898
898. 21:12 It had a great and high wall. This symbolizes the Word in its literal sense from which the doctrine of the New Church comes.
Since the holy city Jerusalem means the Lord's New Church in respect to its doctrine, its wall can only mean the Word in its literal sense, from which its doctrine comes; for the literal sense protects the spiritual meaning that lies within, as a wall protects a city and its inhabitants.
That the literal sense is the foundation, containing vessel, and buttress of the Word's spiritual meaning may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 27-36; and that the literal sense serves as a safeguard to keep the Divine truths within from being injured - truths which constitute the Word's spiritual meaning - may be seen in no. 97 of the same work. Also, that the church's doctrine is to be drawn from the Word's literal sense and verified by it, in nos. 50-61 there.
The wall is said to be great and high because it means the Word in respect to its Divine goodness and Divine truth, for greatness is predicated of goodness, and height of truth, as in no. 896 above.
[2] A wall symbolizes something that protects, and when mentioned in reference to the church, it symbolizes the Word in its literal sense, as it does also in the following places:
I have set watchmen on your walls, O Jerusalem; they shall not keep silent day or night, who make mention of Jehovah... (Isaiah 62:6)
They shall call you the City of Jehovah, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel... And you shall call your walls salvation, and your gates praise. (Isaiah 60:14, 18)
(Jehovah) will be a wall of fire all around her, and... the glory in her midst. (Zechariah 2:5)
Men of Arvad... were on your walls..., and the men of Gammad... hung their shields on your walls all around, and made your beauty perfect. (Ezekiel 27:11)
The last is said of Tyre, which symbolizes the church in respect to its concepts of truth from the Word.
Run about through the streets of Jerusalem, and see... if there is anyone who... seeks the truth... Go up on her walls and cast them down. (Jeremiah 5:1, 10)
Jehovah has purposed to destroy the wall of the daughter of Zion... ...He has caused the rampart and wall... to lament, to languish together... The Law and her prophets are no more... (Lamentations 2:8-9)
They will run about in the city, they will run on the wall; they will climb up into the houses, they will enter through the windows... (Joel 2:9)
These passages refer to falsifications of truth.
Day and night (the impious) go around (in the city) on its walls... Destructions are in their midst. (Psalms 55:10-11)
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 22:5; 56:5; Jeremiah 1:15; Ezekiel 27:11; Lamentations 2:7.
That a wall symbolizes the Word in its literal sense is clearly apparent from the following verses in the present chapter, which describe at some length the wall of the city and its gates, foundations and dimensions. That is because the doctrine of the New Church, which the city symbolizes, comes only from the Word's literal sense.
Isaiah 51
1
"Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh: look to the rock you were cut from, and to the hold of the pit you were dug from.
2
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.
3
For Yahweh has comforted Zion; he has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4
"Attend to me, my people; and give ear to me, my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples.
5
My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the peoples; the islands shall wait for me, and on my arm shall they trust.
6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in the same way: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7
"Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; don't fear the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their insults.
8
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation to all generations."
9
Awake, Awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh; Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn't it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
10
Isn't it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
11
The ransomed of Yahweh shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; [and] sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12
"I, even I, am he who comforts you: who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass;
13
and have forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
14
The captive exile shall speedily be freed; and he shall not die [and go down] into the pit, neither shall his bread fail.
15
For I am Yahweh your God, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar: Yahweh of Armies is his name.
16
I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, 'You are my people.'"
17
Awake, Awake, stand up, Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18
There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.
19
These two things have happened to you. Who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you?
20
Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.
21
Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
22
Thus says your Lord Yahweh, and your God who pleads the cause of his people, "Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; you shall no more drink it again:
23
and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, 'Bow down, that we may walk over you;' and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over."
