Doctrine of the Lord # 64
64. Jerusalem, in the Word, means the church in respect to doctrine, because the Temple, the Altar, the offering of sacrifices, thus Divine worship itself were there, in the land of Canaan, and nowhere else. The three annual feasts were therefore also celebrated there, and every male throughout the land was commanded to go to them. For that reason Jerusalem symbolizes the church in respect to its worship, and so also the church in respect to its doctrine. For worship is prescribed in doctrine, and is conducted in accordance with it. In addition, the Lord was active in Jerusalem and taught in its Temple, and afterward glorified His humanity there.
Furthermore, in the Word in its spiritual sense a city symbolizes doctrine. The Holy City therefore symbolizes a doctrine of Divine truth from the Lord. 1
[2] That Jerusalem means the church in respect to its doctrine is apparent also from other passages in the Word. For example, from the following:
In Isaiah:
For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as a radiance, and her salvation as a burning lamp. Then the nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will utter. You shall also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.... ...Jehovah will be well pleased by you, and your land shall be married.... Behold, your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him.... And they shall call them a holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and you shall be called a city sought, not forsaken. (Isaiah 62:1-4, 11-12)
This whole chapter deals with the Lord’s advent and a new church to be established by Him. The new church is the one meant by Jerusalem, which will be called “by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah will utter, ” which will be “a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of God, ” by which Jehovah will be “well pleased, ” and which will be called “a city sought, not forsaken.”
This cannot mean the Jerusalem inhabited by Jews when the Lord came into the world, for it was altogether of an opposite character. Rather it deserved to have been called Sodom, as it is in fact called in Revelation 11:8, Isaiah 3:9, Jeremiah 23:14, and Ezekiel 16:46, 48.
[3] Elsewhere in Isaiah:
...behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth; the former shall not be remembered.... ...be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; ...behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem, and be glad over My people.... (Then) the wolf and the lamb shall feed together.... They shall not do harm...in all My holy mountain.... (Isaiah 65:17-19, 25)
The subject in this chapter as well is the Lord’s advent and the church that He will establish — a church that was not established among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but among surrounding peoples. Consequently it is this church that is meant by Jerusalem, which will be for the Lord a rejoicing, and whose people will be for Him a joy, and where the wolf and the lamb will feed together and not do harm.
Here, too, we are told, as we are in the book of Revelation, that the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, where they have a similar meaning. And we are also told that He will create Jerusalem.
[4] Elsewhere in Isaiah:
Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come into you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down, O Jerusalem! ...My people shall know My name...in that day, for I am He who speaks. Behold, it is I.... ...Jehovah has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. (Isaiah 52:1-2, 6, 9)
In this chapter also the subject is the Lord’s advent and a church to be established by Him. Consequently the Jerusalem into which the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come, and which the Lord has redeemed, means the church; and Jerusalem, the holy city, means the church in respect to its doctrine received from the Lord.
[5] In Zephaniah:
Sing, O daughter of Zion! ...Be glad...with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ...The King of Israel...is in your midst; fear evil no more.... He will be glad over you with joy, He will rest in your love, He will rejoice over you with jubilation.... ...I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth.... (Zephaniah 3:14-17, 20)
Here, likewise, the subject is the Lord and the church to be established by Him, over which the King of Israel, namely the Lord, will be glad with joy and rejoice with jubilation, in whose love He will rest, and to whom He will give fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth.
[6] In Isaiah:
Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you..., who says to Jerusalem, “You shall be inhabited, ” and to the cities of Judah, “You shall be built.” (Isaiah 44:24, 26)
And in Daniel:
Know and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks.... (Daniel 9:25)
Jerusalem here, too, means the church, as is apparent, since the Lord restored and rebuilt the church, but not Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jews.
[7] Jerusalem means a church established by the Lord in the following places as well.
In Zechariah:
Thus said Jehovah: “I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. (Therefore) Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, the Holy Mountain.” (Zechariah 8:3, cf. 8:20-23)
In Joel:
Then you shall know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy.... And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk.... And...shall abide...Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:17-20)
In Isaiah:
In that day the offshoot of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious.... And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy — everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 4:2-3)
In Micah:
...at the end of days the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on top of the mountains.... For out of Zion the doctrine shall go forth, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.... ...to you...the former kingdom shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2, 8)
In Jeremiah:
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall be gathered..., because of the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the confirmation of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17)
In Isaiah:
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feast; let your eyes behold Jerusalem, a tranquil home, a tabernacle that will not go away. Its stakes will never be removed, nor will any of its cords be torn away. (Isaiah 33:20)
And so on also elsewhere, as in Isaiah 24:23, 37:32, 66:10-14; Zechariah 12:3, 6, 8-10, 14:8, 11-12, 21; Malachi 3:2, 4; Psalms 122:1-7, 137:4-6.
[8] Jerusalem in these places means a church which the Lord will establish, and also one that He has established, and not the Jerusalem in the land of Canaan inhabited by Jews; and this can be seen as well from places in the Word where we are told that it has been utterly ruined, or that it will be destroyed. As, for example, in Jeremiah 5:1, 6:6-7, 7:17-18ff, 8:6-8ff, 9:11-12, 14ff, 13:9-10, 14, 14:16; Lamentations 1:8-9, 17; Ezekiel 4:1-17, 5:9-17, 12:18-19, 15:6-8, 16:1-63, 23:1-49; Matthew 23:37, 39; Luke 19:41-44, 21:20-22, 23:28-30. And many other places.
Poznámky pod čarou:
1. [Swedenborg’s Footnote] To be shown that a city in the Word symbolizes the doctrine of a church and its religion, see the Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), nos. 402, 2449, 2943, 3216, 4492, 4493. That the gate of a city symbolizes the doctrine by which one enters the church, nos. 2943, 4477, 4478. That the elders therefore sat at the gate of the city in judgment, ibid. That to go out of the gate is to depart from the doctrine, nos. 4492, 4493. That representational cities and palaces in heaven appear when angels are engaged in discussing doctrinal matters, no. 3216 there.
Published by the General Church of the New Jerusalem, 1100 Cathedral Road, Bryn Athyn, Pennsylvania 19009, U.S.A. A translation of Doctrina Novae Hierosolymae de Domino, by Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772. Translated from the Original Latin by N. Bruce Rogers. ISBN 9780945003687, Library of Congress Control Number: 2013954074.
Luke 19
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He entered and was passing through Jericho.
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There was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector, and he was rich.
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He was trying to see who Jesus was, and couldn't because of the crowd, because he was short.
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He ran on ahead, and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see him, for he was to pass that way.
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When Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for today I must stay at your house."
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He hurried, came down, and received him joyfully.
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When they saw it, they all murmured, saying, "He has gone in to lodge with a man who is a sinner."
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Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor. If I have wrongfully exacted anything of anyone, I restore four times as much."
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Jesus said to him, "Today, salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham.
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For the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost."
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As they heard these things, he went on and told a parable, because he was near Jerusalem, and they supposed that the Kingdom of God would be revealed immediately.
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He said therefore, "A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
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He called ten servants of his, and gave them ten mina coins, and told them, 'Conduct business until I come.'
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But his citizens hated him, and sent an envoy after him, saying, 'We don't want this man to reign over us.'
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"It happened when he had come back again, having received the kingdom, that he commanded these servants, to whom he had given the money, to be called to him, that he might know what they had gained by conducting business.
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The first came before him, saying, 'Lord, your mina has made ten more minas.'
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"He said to him, 'Well done, you good servant! Because you were found faithful with very little, you shall have authority over ten cities.'
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"The second came, saying, 'Your mina, Lord, has made five minas.'
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"So he said to him, 'And you are to be over five cities.'
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Another came, saying, 'Lord, behold, your mina, which I kept laid away in a handkerchief,
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for I feared you, because you are an exacting man. You take up that which you didn't lay down, and reap that which you didn't sow.'
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"He said to him, 'Out of your own mouth will I judge you, you wicked servant! You knew that I am an exacting man, taking up that which I didn't lay down, and reaping that which I didn't sow.
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Then why didn't you deposit my money in the bank, and at my coming, I might have earned interest on it?'
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He said to those who stood by, 'Take the mina away from him, and give it to him who has the ten minas.'
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"They said to him, 'Lord, he has ten minas!'
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'For I tell you that to everyone who has, will more be given; but from him who doesn't have, even that which he has will be taken away from him.
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But bring those enemies of mine who didn't want me to reign over them here, and kill them before me.'"
28
Having said these things, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem.
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It happened, when he drew near to Bethsphage and Bethany, at the mountain that is called Olivet, he sent two of his disciples,
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saying, "Go your way into the village on the other side, in which, as you enter, you will find a colt tied, whereon no man ever yet sat. Untie it, and bring it.
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If anyone asks you, 'Why are you untying it?' say to him: 'The Lord needs it.'"
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Those who were sent went away, and found things just as he had told them.
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As they were untying the colt, its owners said to them, "Why are you untying the colt?"
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They said, "The Lord needs it."
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They brought it to Jesus. They threw their cloaks on the colt, and set Jesus on them.
36
As he went, they spread their cloaks in the way.
37
As he was now getting near, at the descent of the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works which they had seen,
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saying, "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest!"
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Some of the Pharisees from the multitude said to him, "Teacher, rebuke your disciples!"
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He answered them, "I tell you that if these were silent, the stones would cry out."
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When he drew near, he saw the city and wept over it,
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saying, "If you, even you, had known today the things which belong to your peace! But now, they are hidden from your eyes.
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For the days will come on you, when your enemies will throw up a barricade against you, surround you, hem you in on every side,
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and will dash you and your children within you to the ground. They will not leave in you one stone on another, because you didn't know the time of your visitation."
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He entered into the temple, and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it,
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saying to them, "It is written, 'My house is a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of robbers'!"
47
He was teaching daily in the temple, but the chief priests and the scribes and the leading men among the people sought to destroy him.
48
They couldn't find what they might do, for all the people hung on to every word that he said.
