Apocalypse Revealed # 208
208. "'And do not know that you are miserable.'" This symbolically means that they do not know that nothing at all of what they know and think about the truths and goods of the church has any coherence, and that these are its walls.
Misery here symbolizes a lack of coherence; thus to be miserable symbolizes someone who thinks incoherently about matters connected with the church. The reason is that the people who are the subject here at times deny the reality of God, heaven, eternal life, the holiness of the Word, and at other times acknowledge them. Consequently what they build with one hand, they destroy with the other. Thus they are like people who build a house and then tear it down. Or they are like people who dress themselves in beautiful garments and then rend them. Their houses are consequently rubble and their garments in pieces.
Such is the nature of everything these people think regarding heaven and the church, although they are not aware of it.
This is the meaning of misery also in the following passages:
Your wisdom and your knowledge led you astray, when you said in your heart, "I am, and there is no one else besides me." ...Therefore... misery shall fall upon you... (Isaiah 47:10-11)
Misery will come upon misery... The king will mourn, and the prince will be clothed with insensibility... (Ezekiel 7:26-27)
The king who will mourn and the prince who will be clothed with insensibility are people who are impelled by the truths of the church.
...there is no rectitude in their mouth; in their inward part is misery. (Psalms 5:9)
Walls have a similar symbolic meaning in Jeremiah 49:3, Ezekiel 13:10-13, and Hosea 2:6.
Job 40
1
Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
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Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
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Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
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Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
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Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
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Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
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Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
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Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
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Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
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Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
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Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
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Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
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Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
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Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
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Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
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Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
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He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
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His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
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He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
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Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
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He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
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The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
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Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
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He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.
