16. The state of the church founded on the Word and represented in the prophets was what bearing the iniquities and sins of the people means. The reality of this is apparent from what we are told about the prophet Isaiah, that he went naked and barefoot for three years as a sign and a wonder (Isaiah 20:3); and about the prophet Ezekiel, that he made containers for departure and covered his face so as not to see the ground, so that he was thus a sign to the house of Israel. He also said, “Behold, I am a sign to you” (Ezekiel 12:6, 11).

[2] That they regarded this as bearing iniquities is clearly apparent in the case of Ezekiel when he was ordered to lie for a period of three hundred days and a period of forty days on his left and right sides facing Jerusalem, and to eat a barley cake made with cow dung, in a passage where we also read the following:

Lie on your left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it. For the number of the days that you lie on it, you shall bear their iniquity. For I will lay on you the years of their iniquity reflected in the number of the days, three hundred and ninety, that you may bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. Then, when you have completed them, lie again on your right side, that you may bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. (Ezekiel 4:4-6)

[3] By bearing in this way the iniquities of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, the prophet did not take away those iniquities or thereby atone for them, but only represented and portrayed them, as is apparent in the same chapter from the following:

“Thus, ” says Jehovah, “shall the children of Israel eat their unclean bread among the nations where I will drive them.... Behold, I am breaking the staff of bread in Jerusalem..., that they may lack bread and water, and be left desolate, each man and his brother, and waste away because of their iniquity.” (Ezekiel 4:13, 16-17)

[4] So, too, when the same prophet showed himself and said, “I am a sign to you, ” saying also, “As I have done, so shall it be done to them” (Ezekiel 12:6, 11).

The same thing is therefore meant where we are told regarding the Lord, “He has borne our diseases.” “He has carried our sorrows.” “Jehovah has laid on Him the iniquities of us all.” “By His knowledge He shall justify many by His bearing their iniquities.” (Isaiah 53:4, 6, 11) This in a chapter whose subject throughout is the Lord’s suffering.

[5] That the Lord, as the grand prophet, represented the state of the church in relation to the Word, is apparent from the particulars of His suffering, as for example, that He was betrayed by Judas; that the chief priests and elders arrested Him and condemned Him; that they struck Him blows; that they struck Him on the head with a reed; that they put on it a crown of thorns; that they divided His garments, and for His tunic cast lots; that they crucified Him; that they gave Him vinegar to drink; that they pierced His side; that He was entombed, and on the third day rose again.

[6] The Lord’s being betrayed by Judas symbolized His betrayal by the Jewish nation, who had the Word; for Judas represented that nation.

The Lord’s being arrested and condemned by the chief priests and elders symbolized His having been so treated by the whole Jewish Church.

His being whipped, spat upon in the face, struck blows, and struck on the head with a reed symbolized the Jews’ treatment of the Word in a similar way in respect to its Divine truths, all of which have to do with the Lord.

His having a crown of thorns put on Him symbolized the Jews’ falsification and adulteration of those truths.

Their dividing the Lord’s garments and casting lots for His tunic symbolized their having done away with all the Word’s truths, but not its spiritual sense — the Lord’s tunic symbolizing that level of meaning in the Word.

Their crucifying the Lord symbolized their destruction and profanation of the entire Word.

Their offering Him vinegar to drink symbolized nothing but truths falsified and falsities, which is why He did not drink it, and why He then said, “It is finished.”

Their piercing His side symbolized their complete extinction of every truth in the Word and every goodness in it.

His being entombed symbolized His rejection of any remaining human quality received from His mother.

His rising again on the third day symbolized His glorification.

[7] The same things are symbolized by those passages in the Prophets and Psalms where they are foretold.

As a consequence, after the Lord had been whipped and brought out wearing the crown of thorns and a purple garment that the soldiers put on Him, He said, “Behold, the man!” (John 19:1, 5). He said this because “the man” symbolizes the church, inasmuch as the Son of man symbolizes the truth of the church, thus the Word.

It is apparent from this now that to bear iniquities means to represent and portray in person sins against the Word’s Divine truths.

We shall see later that the Lord endured and suffered these things as the Son of man, and not as the Son of God; for the Son of man symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word.