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.

33. In the tribulation and kingdom and patient awaiting of Jesus Christ. This symbolically means, which in the church have been infested by evils and falsities, but which will be removed by the Lord when He comes.

The state of the church is meant by tribulation, when there are no longer any goods of charity and truths of faith, but evils and falsities instead. The church is meant by kingdom. And the patient awaiting of Jesus Christ means the Lord's advent. Consequently these words, "in the tribulation and kingdom and patient awaiting of Jesus Christ," when condensed into a single meaning, symbolically mean, when the goods and truths of the church have been infested by evils and falsities, but ones which the Lord will remove when He comes.

That tribulation means the state of the church when it has been infested by evils and falsities is apparent from the following statements:

(At the end of the age) they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you... ...there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world..., nor shall be... ...after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:9, 21, 29, cf. Mark 13:19, 24)

We will see in subsequent explanations that a kingdom symbolizes the church.