904. 21:15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. This symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.

He who spoke with me symbolizes the Lord speaking from heaven, because it was an angel speaking, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls mentioned in verse 9, who means the Lord speaking from heaven (no. 895). A reed symbolizes a power or ability springing from the goodness of love - a reed symbolizing power or ability (no. 485), and gold the goodness of love (nos. 211, 726). To measure means, symbolically, to learn the character of a thing, thus to understand and know it (no. 486). The city, the holy Jerusalem, symbolizes the church in respect to its doctrine (nos. 879, 880). Its gates symbolize concepts of truth and goodness from the Word's literal sense, which are truths and goods owing to the spiritual life in them (no. 899). And the wall symbolizes the Word in its literal sense from which the doctrine and concepts come (no. 898).

It is apparent from this that "he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall," symbolically means that to people who possess the goodness of love, the Lord grants a faculty for understanding and knowing the nature of the Lord's New Church as regards its doctrine and its introductory truths, and as regards the Word from which they are drawn.

[2] These symbolic meanings cannot be seen at all in the literal sense, for one sees in it only that an angel speaking with John had a gold reed with which to measure the city and its gates and wall. But even so, that these words contain another meaning, a spiritual meaning, is clearly apparent from the fact that the city Jerusalem does not mean a real city, but the church. Consequently everything said about Jerusalem as a city symbolizes such things as have to do with the church, and everything having to do with the church is, in itself, spiritual.

Such a spiritual meaning is present also in what is said in chapter 11 above, where we are told the following:

I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." (Revelation 11:1)

A similar spiritual meaning is present, too, in everything that the angel measured with a reed in Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48. Also in these verses in Zechariah:

I raised my eyes and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see what its width is and what its length." (Zechariah 2:1-2)

Indeed, such a spiritual meaning is present in everything connected with the Tabernacle and in everything connected with the Temple in Jerusalem, whose measurements we are told, and also in the measurements themselves. And yet nothing of this can be seen in the literal sense.

8192. 'And the angel of God travelled on' means rearrangement by Divine Truth. This is clear from the meaning here of 'travelling on' as rearrangement, the reason why 'travelling on' means rearrangement being that the pillar of cloud, which was a group of angels, which had previously gone ahead of the children of Israel, now took itself round between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel, thereby bringing darkness among the Egyptians and light among the children of Israel (since these conditions were arranged by the Lord, by means of the angel of God or the pillar travelling round and placing himself between the two camps, 'travelling' here means rearrangement); and from the meaning of 'the angel of God' as Divine Truth, which is likewise the meaning of 'God'. For in the Word when truth is the subject the name 'God' is used, but when good is the subject the name 'Jehovah' appears, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4402, 7010, 7268, 7873.

[2] As regards 'angels', it should be recognized that in the Word they serve to mean the Lord, 1925, 3039, 4085, which is why the Lord Himself is called 'the angel', 6280, 6831. This being so, Divine Truth is meant by 'angels', for Divine Truth emanating from the Lord makes heaven. It therefore also makes the angels who constitute heaven, for they are angels in the measure that they receive Divine Truth coming from the Lord. This may also be recognized from the consideration that angels altogether refuse to entertain, indeed they loathe the idea of attributing to themselves any truth or goodness, since this is the Lord's with them. That also is why the Lord is said to be the All-in-all of heaven, and why those in heaven are said to be 'in the Lord'. By virtue of Divine Truth which they receive from the Lord angels are also called 'gods' in the Word, 4295, 7268; and the word for God in the original language is for this reason plural.

[3] In addition to all this it should be recognized that in the Word the singular 'angel' may be used when in fact very many are meant. That is so here, where the expression 'the angel of God' is used, meaning the pillar going before the children of Israel, which was composed of very many angels. The Word also refers to angels by name, such as Michael, Raphael, ¹ and others. People unacquainted with the internal sense of the Word think that Michael or Raphael is one particular angel who is chief among those who are with him. But none of these names is used in the Word to mean one particular angel; instead some actual function performed by angels is meant, and so also the Lord's Divine Nature in respect of that function.

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