879. 21:2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. This symbolizes the New Church to be established by the Lord at the end of the previous one, which will be affiliated with the New Heaven and possess Divine truths in its doctrine and in its life.

John mentions himself by name here, saying "I, John," because as an apostle he symbolizes the goodness of love toward the Lord and the attendant goodness of life. Consequently he was more loved than any of the rest of the apostles, and at the Last Supper he reclined on the Lord's breast (John 13:23; 21:20). And this church, which is the subject here, has a similar symbolism.

That Jerusalem symbolizes the church will be seen in the next number. It is called a city and described as a city because of its doctrine and its life in accordance with that doctrine. For a city in the spiritual sense symbolizes doctrine (nos. 194, 712). It is called a holy city owing to the presence of the Lord, who alone is holy, and owing to the Divine truths from the Word that it has in it from the Lord, which are called holy (nos. 173, 586, 666, 852). And it is called new, because He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:5). It is also said to be coming down from God out of heaven because it descends from the Lord through the New Christian Heaven, as said in no. 876 in the exposition of verse 1 in this chapter. For the church on earth is formed by the Lord through heaven, in order that heaven and the church may be in harmony and affiliated.

666. "For You alone are holy." This symbolically means that the Lord embodies the Word, truth, and enlightenment.

That the Lord alone is holy may be seen in no. 173 above, and that He is the Divine truth called holy, in nos. 173, 586. Moreover, because the Word is Divine truth, and the Lord embodies Divine truth, and because Divine truth enlightens spiritually, being the light in heaven, but emanating from the Lord, therefore the declaration, "For You alone are holy," symbolically means that the Lord embodies the Word, truth, and enlightenment.

Since the Word is Divine truth, and Divine truth enlightens spiritually, therefore people say that Jehovah dictated the Word through the agency of the Holy Spirit, and that the Holy Spirit enlightens a person and instructs him. But who does not know that God is omnipresent, and that holiness emanates from Him and enlightens wherever it is received? Who, then, cannot but conclude that the Holy Spirit is not God per se, distinguishable from Jehovah or the Lord as one person is from another, but that it is Jehovah Himself or the Lord? Anyone who acknowledges the Divine omnipresence must also acknowledge this.

That the Holy Spirit in the Word means the Lord's Divine life, thus Himself, and in particular the life of His Divine wisdom called Divine truth, may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 50-53 where we demonstrated this from the Word.

That the Lord embodies the Word may be seen in John 1:1, 14. That He embodies the truth, John 14:6. That He embodies the light and thus enlightenment, John 12:34-36.