28
Peres: sinun valtakuntasi on pirstottu ja annettu meedialaisille ja persialaisille."
Apocalypse Revealed # 913
913. Gold symbolizes the goodness of love because metals, like everything else found in the natural world, have a correspondence - gold to the goodness of love, silver to truths of wisdom, copper or bronze to the goodness of charity, and iron to truths of faith. For that reason these metals are found also in the spiritual world, since everything found there has a correspondence, inasmuch as they all correspond to the angels' affections and thoughts, which in themselves are spiritual.
That gold, owing to its correspondence, symbolizes the goodness of love, may be seen from the following passages:
I urge you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be enriched... (Revelation 3:18)
How dim the gold has become! How changed the finest gold! The stones of the sanctuary are scattered at the head of every street. The precious sons of Zion, valuable as pure gold... (Lamentations 4:1-2)
He will... save the souls of the poor... And He will give them some of the gold of Sheba. (Psalms 72:13, 15)
Instead of bronze I will bring gold, instead of iron, silver, instead of wood, bronze, and instead of stones, iron. I will also make your registration peaceful, and your tax gatherers righteous. (Isaiah 60:17)
Behold, you are wise...! No secret has been hidden from you! With your wisdom and your intelligence you have gained for yourself... gold and silver in your treasuries... You were in Eden, the garden...; every precious stone was your covering..., also gold. (Ezekiel 28:3-4, 13)
The multitude of camels shall cover you...; all those from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense, and they shall proclaim the praises of Jehovah. (Isaiah 60:6, cf. 60:9, Matthew 2:11)
...I will fill this house with glory... The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine... The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former... (Haggai 2:7-9)
Kings' daughters are among Your precious ones. At Your right hand stands the queen in the finest gold of Ophir... Her clothing is woven with gold. (Psalms 45:9, 13, cf. Ezekiel 16:13)
You have taken vessels for your adornment from My gold and My silver that I had given you, and made for yourself male images... (Ezekiel 16:17)
...you have taken My silver and My gold, and have carried My valuable possessions into your temples. (Joel 3:5)
[2] Since gold symbolized the goodness of love, therefore when Belshazzar with his great men was drinking wine from vessels of gold taken from the temple in Jerusalem, and at the same time was praising gods of gold, silver, bronze and iron, writing appeared on the wall, and that night he was slain (Daniel 5). And so on in many other places.
Since gold symbolized the goodness of love, therefore the Ark that contained the Law was overlaid inside and out with gold (Exodus 25:11). Therefore the mercy seat and the cherubim over the Ark were also of made of pure gold (Exodus 25:17-18).
[3] Since gold symbolized the goodness of love, silver the truth of wisdom, bronze the goodness of the natural love called charity, and iron the truth of faith, therefore people in ancient times called the succeeding periods of time from the most ancient period to the concluding one the golden, silver, bronze and iron ages. A similar symbolism is exhibited by the statue that Nebuchadnezzar saw in a dream, whose head was fine gold, its breast and arms silver, its belly and thighs bronze, its lower legs iron, and its feet part iron and part clay (Daniel 2:32-33). This symbolizes the succeeding states of the church in this world, from most ancient times to the present day. The state of the church today is described in this way:
As you saw iron mixed with miry clay, they will mingle with the seed of men; but they will not adhere to one another, just as iron does not mix with clay. (Daniel 2:43)
Iron symbolizes the truth of faith, as we have said, yet when there is no truth of faith, but faith without truth, then it is iron mixed with miry clay, the two of which do not bond together. The seed of men with which they will mingle symbolizes the truth in the Word. This is the state of the church today. What it will be hereafter is briefly described in Daniel 2:45, but at more length in chapter 7, verses 13-18, 27.
Isaiah 60
1
Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
2
For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
3
And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.
4
Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side.
5
Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee.
6
The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come: they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall shew forth the praises of the LORD.
7
All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory.
8
Who are these that fly as a cloud, and as the doves to their windows?
9
Surely the isles shall wait for me, and the ships of Tarshish first, to bring thy sons from far, their silver and their gold with them, unto the name of the LORD thy God, and to the Holy One of Israel, because he hath glorified thee.
10
And the sons of strangers shall build up thy walls, and their kings shall minister unto thee: for in my wrath I smote thee, but in my favour have I had mercy on thee.
11
Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought.
12
For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; yea, those nations shall be utterly wasted.
13
The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious.
14
The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel.
15
Whereas thou hast been forsaken and hated, so that no man went through thee, I will make thee an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations.
16
Thou shalt also suck the milk of the Gentiles, and shalt suck the breast of kings: and thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.
17
For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness.
18
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
19
The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory.
20
Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended.
21
Thy people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified.
22
A little one shall become a thousand, and a small one a strong nation: I the LORD will hasten it in his time.
