Apocalypse Revealed # 492
492. "Clothed in sackcloth." This symbolizes the grief experienced meanwhile over the truth's not being accepted.
Being clothed in sackcloth symbolizes grief over the destruction of truth in the church, for garments symbolize truths (nos. 166, 212, 328, 378, 379). Consequently to be clothed in sackcloth, which is not a garment, symbolizes grief over the lack of truth, and where there is no truth, there is no church.
The children of Israel represented grief in various ways, which, because of their correspondence, were symbolic. For example, they would put ash on their heads, roll around in the dust, sit on the ground for a long time in silence, shave themselves, beat their breasts and wail, rend their garments, and also clothe themselves in sackcloth, and so on. Each action symbolized some evil in the church among them for which they were being punished. Then, when they were being punished, they put on a representation of repentance in these ways, and because of their representation of repentance, and at the same time then of their humbling themselves, they were heard.
[2] That putting on sackcloth represented grief over the destruction of truth in the church may be seen from the following passages:
The lion has come up from his thicket... He has gone forth from his place to make your land desolate... For this, clothe yourself with sackcloth, lament, wail. (Jeremiah 4:7-8)
O daughter of my people, gird yourself in sackcloth and roll about in ashes! ...For the destroyer will suddenly come upon us. (Jeremiah 6:26)
Woe to you, Chorazin (and) Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented... in sackcloth and ashes. (Matthew 11:21, Luke 10:13)
After the king of Nineveh heard the words of Jonah, he "laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes." Moreover, he proclaimed a fast and ordered that "man and beast be covered with sackcloth." (Jonah 3:5-8)
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 3:24; 15:2-3; 22:12; 37:1-2; 50:3; Jeremiah 48:37-38; 49:3; Lamentations 2:10; Ezekiel 7:17-18; 27:31; Daniel 9:3; Joel 1:8, 13; Amos 8:10; Job 16:15-16; Psalms 30:11; Psalms 35:13; 69:10-11; 2 Samuel 3:31; 1 Kings 21:27; 2 Kings 6:30; 19:1-2.
Psalms 30
1
I will extol you, Yahweh, for you have raised me up, and have not made my foes to rejoice over me.
2
Yahweh my God, I cried to you, and you have healed me.
3
Yahweh, you have brought up my soul from Sheol. You have kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.
4
Sing praise to Yahweh, you saints of his. Give thanks to his holy name.
5
For his anger is but for a moment. His favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
6
As for me, I said in my prosperity, "I shall never be moved."
7
You, Yahweh, when you favored me, made my mountain stand strong; but when you hid your face, I was troubled.
8
I cried to you, Yahweh. To Yahweh I made supplication:
9
"What profit is there in my destruction, if I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise you? Shall it declare your truth?
10
Hear, Yahweh, and have mercy on me. Yahweh, be my helper."
11
You have turned my mourning into dancing for me. You have removed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness,
12
To the end that my heart may sing praise to you, and not be silent. Yahweh my God, I will give thanks to you forever! For the Chief Musician. A Psalm by David.
