814. 19:8 And it was granted her to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. This symbolically means that those who will belong to the Lord's New Church are being instructed through the Word by the Lord in truths that are genuine and pure.

Being granted to her means to the wife, who symbolizes the Lord's New Church, namely, the New Jerusalem, as in no. 813 just above. To be arrayed means, symbolically, to be instructed in truths, inasmuch as garments symbolize truths (no. 166), and white garments genuine truths (no. 212). Fine linen, clean and bright, symbolically means glistening as a result of goodness, and pure as a result of truths. And because there is no pure truth from any other source than from the Lord through the Word, therefore this, too, is symbolically meant.

The fine linen is said to be clean and bright because cleanliness symbolizes something that is free of evil, thus something that glistens as a result of goodness, and brightness symbolizes something that is free of falsity, thus something pure as a result of truth.

Fine linen, or something made of fine linen, symbolizes genuine truth also in the following passages:

I clothed you (O Jerusalem) in embroidered cloth..., I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk... Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk... (Ezekiel 16:10, 13)

Fine linen with embroidery from Egypt was your sail. (Ezekiel 27:7)

The latter is said of Tyre, which symbolizes the church in respect to concepts of truth and goodness.

The hosts in heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)

Pharaoh's clothing Joseph "in garments of fine linen" (Genesis 41:42) has the same symbolic meaning.

Truth from the Word in their possession, though not internalized by them, is symbolized by the fine linen in Babylon in Revelation 18:12, 16, and by that possessed by the rich man in Luke 16:19.

Fine linen is also called cotton, so that this, too, symbolizes genuine truth, in the following:

You shall make (for Aaron) a checkered tunic of cotton, and you shall make the turban of cotton... (Exodus 28:39)

They made tunics of cotton... for Aaron and his sons... (Exodus 39:27)

You shall make the tabernacle... cotton interwoven with blue, purple, and scarlet double-dyed. (Exodus 26:1, cf. 36:8)

You shall make... hangings for the court of woven cotton... (Exodus 27:9, cf. 27:18; 38:9)

Also the screen... of the court...(with) woven cotton. (Exodus 38:18)

213. "'That the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed.'" This symbolically means, so as not to profane and adulterate the goodness of heavenly love.

No one can know the symbolic meaning of the shame of nakedness unless he knows that the reproductive organs in both sexes, called also the genitalia, correspond to celestial love.

To be shown that the human body and all its constituents have a correspondence with the heavens, see the book Heaven and Hell, published in London in , nos. 87-102. And to be shown that the reproductive organs correspond to celestial love, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), also published in London, nos. 5050-5062.

Now because these organs correspond to celestial love, which is the love found in the third or inmost heaven, and because a person is born of his parents into loves contrary to that love, it is apparent that if he does not acquire for himself the goodness of love and the truth of wisdom from the Lord, which are symbolically meant by gold refined in fire and white garments, he will be seen to be impelled by a contrary love, which in itself is profane.

[2] This latter circumstance is symbolically meant by uncovering nakedness and manifesting the shame of it, in the following places:

Blessed is he who watches and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and his private parts be seen. (Revelation 16:15)

...daughter of Babylon (and of the Chaldeans), sit on the ground... Uncover your hair..., uncover the thigh, pass through the rivers. Let your nakedness be uncovered; yes, let your shame be seen. (Isaiah 47:1-3)

Woe to the bloody city! ...Because of the multitude of (her) harlotries... I will uncover your skirts in front of you, and I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your disgrace. (Nahum 3:1, 4-5)

Contend with your mother... lest I strip her naked... (Hosea 2:2-4)

When I passed by you... I covered your nakedness... Then I washed you... and... I clothed you... But you... played the harlot... not remembering your youth, when you were naked and bare... (Therefore) your nakedness was uncovered... (Ezekiel 16:6ff.)

Jerusalem has sinned gravely; therefore... all... despise her, because they have seen her nakedness. (Lamentations 1:8)

Jerusalem, of which these things were said, means the church; and to play the harlot means, symbolically, to adulterate and falsify the Word (no. 134).

Woe to him who makes his neighbor drink..., making him drunk, that you may look on his nakedness! ...Drink, you too, that your uncircumcised foreskin may be exposed! (Habakkuk 2:15-16)

[3] Someone who knows what nakedness symbolizes can understand what is symbolically meant by the statement that when Noah was drunk from drinking wine he lay uncovered inside his tent, and Ham saw and laughed at his nakedness, but Shem and Japheth covered his nakedness, turning their faces away so as not to see it (Genesis 9:21-23). He can understand also why it was decreed that Aaron and his sons should not go up by steps to the altar, that their nakedness might not be exposed (Exodus 20:26). And so, too, why it was decreed that they should make for them linen trousers to cover their naked flesh, that they should have these on when they came near the altar, and that otherwise they would bear their iniquity and die (Exodus 28:42-43).

Nakedness in these places symbolizes the evils into which a person is born, which, because they are contrary to the goodness of celestial love, are in themselves profane and are removed only by truths and by living in accordance with those truths. Linen also symbolizes truth (no. 671[1-2]).

[4] Nakedness in addition symbolizes innocence, and also ignorance of goodness and truth. Innocence is symbolized by the statement, "they were both naked, the man and his wife, and they had no cause for shame" (Genesis 2:25). Ignorance of goodness and truth is symbolized by the following:

...this... fast that I choose: ...to break bread with the hungry..., and... when you see the naked man, to cover him. (Isaiah 58:6-7)

He gives his bread to the hungry man, and covers the naked one with clothing. (Ezekiel 18:7)

...I was hungry and you gave Me food...; I was naked and you clothed Me. (Matthew 25:35-36)