Apocalypse Revealed # 902
902. 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations. This symbolically means that the Word in its literal sense contains all of the doctrines of the New Church.
The wall of the city symbolizes the Word in its literal sense (no. 898), and its twelve foundations symbolize all of the doctrines of the church - its foundations symbolizing doctrines, and the number twelve all. The church, moreover, is founded on doctrine, for it teaches how a person is to believe and live, and its doctrine is to be drawn only from the Word. That it is to be drawn from the Word's literal sense may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 50-61.
Since the twelve foundations of the wall of the city New Jerusalem symbolize all of the church's doctrine, and the church is a church by virtue of its doctrine, therefore its foundations are described in more detail in verses 19 and 20 below.
The foundations of the earth are mentioned a number of times in the Word, and they do not mean the foundations of the earth, but the foundations of the church, inasmuch as the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285). And the foundations of the church are only ones that come from the Word and are called doctrines. For it is the Word itself that provides a foundation for the church.
[2] Doctrines drawn from the Word are symbolized by foundations also in the following passages:
Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)
I will put My words in your mouth... to plant the heavens and found the earth... (Isaiah 51:16)
They do not acknowledge, they do not understand, they walk in darkness, all the foundations of the earth shake. (Psalms 82:5)
...the Word of Jehovah... who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. (Zechariah 12:1)
Jehovah... kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations. (Lamentations 4:11)
The impious... shoot in darkness the upright in heart, because the foundations are being destroyed... (Psalms 11:2-3)
Hear, O mountains, Jehovah's quarrel, you strong foundations of the earth; for Jehovah has a quarrel with His people... (Micah 6:2)
...the floodgates on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken... (Isaiah 24:18-20)
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 14:32; 48:13; 51:13; Psalms 24:2; 102:25; 104:5-6; 2 Samuel 22:8, 16.
Whoever does not think that the earth symbolizes the church cannot help but think only naturally, even materially, when he reads in these places about the foundations of the earth. So it would be also if he were not to think of the city Jerusalem here as symbolizing the church when he reads about its wall, gates, foundations, streets, dimensions, and more, which are described in this chapter as features of a city, when in fact they are features of the church and so must be interpreted not materially, but spiritually.
Isaiah 51
1
"Listen to me, you who follow after righteousness, you who seek Yahweh: look to the rock you were cut from, and to the hold of the pit you were dug from.
2
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, and I blessed him, and made him many.
3
For Yahweh has comforted Zion; he has comforted all her waste places, and has made her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of Yahweh; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody.
4
"Attend to me, my people; and give ear to me, my nation: for a law shall go forth from me, and I will establish my justice for a light of the peoples.
5
My righteousness is near, my salvation is gone forth, and my arms shall judge the peoples; the islands shall wait for me, and on my arm shall they trust.
6
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look on the earth beneath; for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax old like a garment; and those who dwell therein shall die in the same way: but my salvation shall be forever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished.
7
"Listen to me, you who know righteousness, the people in whose heart is my law; don't fear the reproach of men, neither be dismayed at their insults.
8
For the moth shall eat them up like a garment, and the worm shall eat them like wool; but my righteousness shall be forever, and my salvation to all generations."
9
Awake, Awake, put on strength, arm of Yahweh; Awake, as in the days of old, the generations of ancient times. Isn't it you who cut Rahab in pieces, who pierced the monster?
10
Isn't it you who dried up the sea, the waters of the great deep; who made the depths of the sea a way for the redeemed to pass over?
11
The ransomed of Yahweh shall return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy shall be on their heads: they shall obtain gladness and joy; [and] sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
12
"I, even I, am he who comforts you: who are you, that you are afraid of man who shall die, and of the son of man who shall be made as grass;
13
and have forgotten Yahweh your Maker, who stretched forth the heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth; and fear continually all the day because of the fury of the oppressor, when he makes ready to destroy? and where is the fury of the oppressor?
14
The captive exile shall speedily be freed; and he shall not die [and go down] into the pit, neither shall his bread fail.
15
For I am Yahweh your God, who stirs up the sea, so that its waves roar: Yahweh of Armies is his name.
16
I have put my words in your mouth, and have covered you in the shadow of my hand, that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and tell Zion, 'You are my people.'"
17
Awake, Awake, stand up, Jerusalem, that have drunk at the hand of Yahweh the cup of his wrath; you have drunken the bowl of the cup of staggering, and drained it.
18
There is none to guide her among all the sons whom she has brought forth; neither is there any who takes her by the hand among all the sons who she has brought up.
19
These two things have happened to you. Who will bemoan you? Desolation and destruction, and the famine and the sword; how shall I comfort you?
20
Your sons have fainted, they lie at the head of all the streets, as an antelope in a net; they are full of the wrath of Yahweh, the rebuke of your God.
21
Therefore hear now this, you afflicted, and drunken, but not with wine:
22
Thus says your Lord Yahweh, and your God who pleads the cause of his people, "Behold, I have taken out of your hand the cup of staggering, even the bowl of the cup of my wrath; you shall no more drink it again:
23
and I will put it into the hand of those who afflict you, who have said to your soul, 'Bow down, that we may walk over you;' and you have laid your back as the ground, and as the street, to those who walk over."
