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.
Mark 3
1
He entered again into the synagogue, and there was a man there who had his hand withered.
2
They watched him, whether he would heal him on the Sabbath day, that they might accuse him.
3
He said to the man who had his hand withered, "Stand up."
4
He said to them, "Is it lawful on the Sabbath day to do good, or to do harm? To save a life, or to kill?" But they were silent.
5
When he had looked around at them with anger, being grieved at the hardening of their hearts, he said to the man, "Stretch out your hand." He stretched it out, and his hand was restored as healthy as the other.
6
The Pharisees went out, and immediately conspired with the Herodians against him, how they might destroy him.
7
Jesus withdrew to the sea with his disciples, and a great multitude followed him from Galilee, from Judea,
8
from Jerusalem, from Idumaea, beyond the Jordan, and those from around Tyre and Sidon. A great multitude, hearing what great things he did, came to him.
9
He spoke to his disciples that a little boat should stay near him because of the crowd, so that they wouldn't press on him.
10
For he had healed many, so that as many as had diseases pressed on him that they might touch him.
11
The unclean spirits, whenever they saw him, fell down before him, and cried, "You are the Son of God!"
12
He sternly warned them that they should not make him known.
13
He went up into the mountain, and called to himself those whom he wanted, and they went to him.
14
He appointed twelve, that they might be with him, and that he might send them out to preach,
15
and to have authority to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons:
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Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter;
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James the son of Zebedee; John, the brother of James, and he surnamed them Boanerges, which means, Sons of Thunder;
18
Andrew; Philip; Bartholomew; Matthew; Thomas; James, the son of Alphaeus; Thaddaeus; Simon the Zealot;
19
and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed him. He came into a house.
20
The multitude came together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
21
When his friends heard it, they went out to seize him: for they said, "He is insane."
22
The scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, "He has Beelzebul," and, "By the prince of the demons he casts out the demons."
23
He summoned them, and said to them in parables, "How can Satan cast out Satan?
24
If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand.
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If a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand.
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If Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he can't stand, but has an end.
27
But no one can enter into the house of the strong man to plunder, unless he first binds the strong man; and then he will plunder his house.
28
Most certainly I tell you, all sins of the descendants of man will be forgiven, including their blasphemies with which they may blaspheme;
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but whoever may blaspheme against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin"
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--because they said, "He has an unclean spirit."
31
His mother and his brothers came, and standing outside, they sent to him, calling him.
32
A multitude was sitting around him, and they told him, "Behold, your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside looking for you."
33
He answered them, "Who are my mother and my brothers?"
34
Looking around at those who sat around him, he said, "Behold, my mother and my brothers!
35
For whoever does the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother."
