Stones in the Bible in general represent truths, or things we know concerning the Lord and what He wants from us and for us in life. This is why the people of Israel built altars of stone, and is also why stoning was a principal form of capital punishment (using truth to destroy falsity, or in the negative sense using falsity to destroy truth). It is also why precious stones are described in such detail on Aaron's breastplate and ephod, and also in the New Jerusalem in Revelation; precious stones represent true ideas directly from the Lord with the various colors showing various forms of love. Stones are not alone in representing truth, of course -- it sometimes seems that almost everything in the Bible represents either true ideas or desires for good. But that makes sense, since our thoughts and our desires together are everything we are in life, and the interplay between them is what life is all about. The many ways they are represented in the Bible reflect the incredible variety in our feelings and thoughts, though we can only distantly understand how those representations work. In the case of stones, in their weight, strength and permanence they tend to represent true ideas that come from a desire for good, the understanding we can have if we are truly good and loving -- and in the highest sense the exalted ideas that come from the Lord's love. Those ideas are ones that are not easily moved or changed, and make wonderful foundations for the things we want to build in our spiritual lives.

897. 21:11 Having the glory of God, and its light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal. This symbolically means that in that church the Word will be understood, because its spiritual sense will come shining through.

The glory of God symbolizes the Word in its Divine light, as will be seen next. Its light symbolizes the Divine truth in it, for this is the meaning of light in the Word (no. 796). "Like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal," symbolizes the Word shining and translucent because of its spiritual sense, as will also be seen next.

These words describe the understanding of the Word among people who possess the doctrine of the New Jerusalem and live in accordance with it. In their case the Word seems to shine when they read it. It shines because of the Lord's presence in the midst of the spiritual sense, because the Lord embodies the Word, and the spiritual sense exists in the light of heaven that emanates from the Lord as its sun. Moreover, the light that emanates from the Lord as a sun is in its essence the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom.

Every single thing in the Word contains a spiritual meaning, which angels see and from which they have their wisdom, and the light of that spiritual sense comes shining through with people who possess genuine truths from the Lord, as we showed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.

[2] That the glory of God means the Word in its Divine light can be seen from the following passage:

The Word became flesh..., and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father... (John 1:14)

That the glory is the glory of the Word, or the Divine truth in the Lord, is plain, since it says, "The Word became flesh."

Glory has the same meaning in verse 23 below, where it says, "the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp" (Revelation 21:23).

The same is meant by the glory in which people will see the Son of Man when He comes in the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30, Mark 13:26). See nos. 22, 642, 820 above.

Nor is anything else meant by the throne of glory on which the Lord will sit when He comes to execute the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31), because He will judge everyone in accordance with the Word's truths. Therefore we are told as well that He will come in His glory.

We are, moreover, told that after the Lord was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared in glory (Luke 9:30-31). Moses and Elijah there symbolize the Word. The Lord Himself also then caused Himself to appear to the disciples as the Word in its glory.

To be shown that glory symbolizes Divine truth, more citations from the Word may be seen in no. 629 above.

[3] The Word is likened to a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal, because a precious stone symbolizes the Divine truth in the Word (nos. 231, 540, 726, 823), and a jasper stone symbolizes the Divine truth in the spiritual sense shining through the Divine truth in the literal sense. This is the symbolic meaning of jasper stone in Exodus 28:20, Ezekiel 28:13, and in the following verses in the present chapter, where we are told that the construction of the wall of the holy Jerusalem was of jasper (verse 18). Moreover, because the Word's spiritual sense shines through in its literal sense, we are told that the jasper stone was as bright as crystal. All enlightenment that people have who possess Divine truths from the Lord comes from that.