Apocalypse Revealed # 50
50. And His voice as the sound of many waters. This symbolizes natural Divine truth.
A voice, when coming from the Lord, symbolizes Divine truth, as may be seen in no. 37 above. Waters symbolize truths, and specifically natural truths, which are concepts from the Word, as follows from many passages in the Word, of which we cite only the following:
...the earth is full of the knowledge of Jehovah, as the waters cover the sea. (Isaiah 11:9)
With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)
He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly...: bread will be given him, (and) his water will be constant. (Isaiah 33:15-16)
The poor and needy seek water, but there is none; their tongue fails for thirst... I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of the valleys; I will turn the wilderness into a pool of water, and the dry land into springs of water..., that they may see, know, consider and understand... (Isaiah 41:17-18, 20)
I will pour out water on him who is thirsty, and streams on the dry ground; I will pour out My Spirit... (Isaiah 44:3)
...your light shall rise in the darkness..., that you may be like a watered garden, and like an issue of water, whose waters do not deceive. (Isaiah 58:10-11)
...My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns... that hold no water. (Jeremiah 2:13)
Their great ones have sent their young ones for water. They went to the cisterns and found no water. Their vessels came back empty. (Jeremiah 14:3)
...they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:13)
They shall come with weeping, and with prayers I will lead them. I will lead them to a fountain of waters, in the way of rectitude... (Jeremiah 31:9)
...I will break the staff of bread... and they shall drink water by measure and with astonishment..., so that... they waste away because of their iniquities. (Ezekiel 4:16-17; cf. 12:18-19, Isaiah 51:14)
Behold, the days will come... when I will send hunger on the land, not a hunger for bread, nor a thirst for water, but for hearing the words of Jehovah. They shall wander from sea to sea, and... shall run to and fro, to hear the word of Jehovah, but shall not find it. In that day the... young women and the young men shall faint for thirst. (Amos 8:11-13)
In that day... living waters shall flow from Jerusalem... (Zechariah 14:8)
Jehovah is my shepherd..., He leads me to still waters. (Psalms 23:1-2)
They did not thirst...; He caused waters to flow from the rock for them, and He split the rock, so that waters gushed out. (Isaiah 48:21)
O God..., in the morning will I seek You; My soul thirsts...; ...(I am) weary, without water. (Psalms 63:1)
(Jehovah) sends out His word...; He causes (the) wind to blow, so that the waters flow. (Psalms 147:18)
Praise (Jehovah), you heavens of heavens, and you waters from above the heavens! (Psalms 148:4)
(Jesus sitting by Jacob's well said to the woman,) "Everyone who drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will not thirst to eternity. And the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life." (John 4:7-15)
(Jesus said,) "If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture says, out of his belly will flow rivers of living water." (John 7:37-38)
To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)
He showed (him) a... river of the water of life..., proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. (Revelation 22:1)
And the Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" And let him who thirsts come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)
Waters in these passages mean truths, and it is apparent from this that the sound of many waters means the Lord's Divine truth in the Word, as also in the following places:
Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was illumined by His glory. (Ezekiel 43:2)
I heard a voice from heaven, like the sound of many waters... (Revelation 14:2)
The voice of Jehovah is on the waters...; Jehovah is on many waters. (Psalms 29:3)
When it is known that waters in the Word mean truths in the natural self, it can be seen what washings in the Israelite Church symbolized, and also what baptism symbolizes, and moreover what is symbolically meant by these words of the Lord in John,
Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)
"Of water" means, symbolically, "by truths," and "of the Spirit" means, symbolically, "by a life in accordance with them."
In an opposite sense, waters symbolize falsities, as we will see in subsequent explanations.
Amos 9
1
I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said, "Strike the tops of the pillars, that the thresholds may shake; and break them in pieces on the head of all of them; and I will kill the last of them with the sword: there shall not one of them flee away, and there shall not one of them escape.
2
Though they dig into Sheol, there my hand will take them; and though they climb up to heaven, there I will bring them down.
3
Though they hide themselves in the top of Carmel, I will search and take them out there; and though they be hidden from my sight in the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it will bite them.
4
Though they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it will kill them. I will set my eyes on them for evil, and not for good.
5
For the Lord, Yahweh of Armies, is he who touches the land and it melts, and all who dwell in it will mourn; and it will rise up wholly like the River, and will sink again, like the River of Egypt.
6
It is he who builds his rooms in the heavens, and has founded his vault on the earth; he who calls for the waters of the sea, and pours them out on the surface of the earth; Yahweh is his name.
7
Are you not like the children of the Ethiopians to me, children of Israel?" says Yahweh. "Haven't I brought up Israel out of the land of Egypt, and the Philistines from Caphtor, and the Syrians from Kir?
8
Behold, the eyes of the Lord Yahweh are on the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the surface of the earth; except that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob," says Yahweh.
9
"For, behold, I will command, and I will sift the house of Israel among all the nations, as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet not the least kernel will fall on the earth.
10
All the sinners of my people will die by the sword, who say, 'Evil won't overtake nor meet us.'
11
In that day I will raise up the tent of David who is fallen, and close up its breaches, and I will raise up its ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old;
12
that they may possess the remnant of Edom, and all the nations who are called by my name," says Yahweh who does this.
13
"Behold, the days come," says Yahweh, "that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the one treading grapes him who sows seed; and sweet wine will drip from the mountains, and flow from the hills.
14
I will bring my people Israel back from captivity, and they will rebuild the ruined cities, and inhabit them; and they will plant vineyards, and drink wine from them. They shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15
I will plant them on their land, and they will no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them," says Yahweh your God.
