Apocalypse Revealed # 137
137. Behold, I will cast her into a bed, and those who commit adultery with her into great tribulation. (2:22) This symbolically means that therefore they must be left to their doctrine with its falsifications and be sorely infested by falsities.
A bed symbolizes doctrine, as we will see momentarily. Those committing adultery mean, symbolically, falsifications of truth (see nos. 134 and 136 above). And tribulation symbolizes an infestation by falsities (nos. 33, 95, 101), thus a great tribulation a severe infestation.
A bed symbolizes doctrine because of its correspondence; for as the body rests in its bed, so the mind rests in its doctrine. The doctrine symbolized by a bed, however, is the kind that each person acquires for himself, either from the Word or from his own intelligence. For it is in this that his mind finds repose and, so to speak, sleeps.
The beds that people rest in in the spiritual world come from just such an origin. For everyone there has a bed in keeping with the character of his knowledge and intelligence - the wise having magnificent beds, those without wisdom having humble beds, and falsifiers having squalid beds.
[2] This is the symbolic meaning of a bed in Luke:
I tell you, in that night there will be two men in one bed: the one will be taken and the other will be left. (Luke 17:34)
The subject is the Last Judgment. The two men in one bed are two who share the same doctrine, but not the same life.
In John:
Jesus said to (the sick man), "Rise, take up your bed and walk." And... he took up his bed, and walked. (John 5:8-12)
And in Mark:
...(Jesus) said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." (And to the scribes He said,) "Which is easier, to say..., 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, '...take up your bed and walk'?..." (Then He said,) "Rise, take up your bed (and walk.)" And... he took up the bed and went out (from their presence). (Mark 2:5, 9, 11-12)
It is apparent that a bed has some symbolic meaning here, because Jesus said, "Which is easier, to say, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Take up your bed and walk'?" To carry one's bed and walk means, symbolically, to meditate on doctrine. That is how it is understood in heaven.
[3] A bed symbolizes doctrine also in Amos:
As a shepherd rescues from the mouth of a lion..., so shall the children of Israel be rescued who dwell in Samaria at the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch. (Amos 3:12)
At the corner of a bed and on the edge of a couch means relatively removed from the truths and goods of doctrine.
A bed or a couch has the same symbolic meaning elsewhere, as in Isaiah 28:20; 57:2, 7-8.
Because Jacob in the prophecies of the Word symbolizes the church in respect to its doctrine, therefore it is said of him that "he bowed himself on the head of the bed" (Genesis 47:31), that when Joseph came, "he sat up on the bed" (Genesis 48:2), and that "he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last" (Genesis 49:33).
Since Jacob symbolizes the church's doctrine, therefore at times, when thinking of Jacob, I have seen at a height before me a man lying on a bed.
以賽亞書 21
1
論海旁曠野的默示:有仇敵從曠野,從可怕之地而來,好像南方的旋風,猛然掃過。
2
令人悽慘的異象已默示於我。詭詐的行詭詐,毀滅的行毀滅。以攔哪,你要上去!瑪代啊,你要圍困!主說:我使一切歎息止住。
3
所以,我滿腰疼痛;痛苦將我抓住,好像產難的婦人一樣。我疼痛甚至不能聽;我驚惶甚至不能看。
4
我心慌張,驚恐威嚇我。我所羨慕的黃昏,變為我的戰兢。
5
他們擺設筵席,派人守望,又吃,又喝。首領啊,你們起來,用油抹盾牌。
7
他看見軍隊,就是騎馬的一對一對地來,又看見驢隊,駱駝隊,就要側耳細聽。
8
他像獅子吼叫,說:主啊,我白日常站在望樓上,整夜立在我守望所。
9
看哪,有一隊軍兵騎著馬,一對一對地來。他就說:巴比倫傾倒了!傾倒了!他一切雕刻的神像都打碎於地。
10
我被打的禾稼,我場上的穀啊,我從萬軍之耶和華─以色列的神那裡所聽見的,都告訴你們了。
11
論度瑪的默示:有人聲從西珥呼問我說:守望的啊,夜裡如何?守望的啊,夜裡如何?
12
守望的說:早晨將到,黑夜也來。你們若要問就可以問,可以回頭再來。
13
論亞拉伯的默示:底但結伴的客旅啊,你們必在亞拉伯的樹林中住宿。
15
因為他們逃避刀劍和出了鞘的刀,並上了弦的弓與刀兵的重災。