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Exodus 25

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1 And Jehovah speaketh unto Moses, saying,

2 `Speak unto the sons of Israel, and they take for Me a heave-offering; from every man whose heart impelleth him ye do take My heave-offering.

3 `And this [is] the heave-offering which ye take from them; gold, and silver, and brass,

4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and linen, and goats' [hair],

5 and rams' skins made red, and badgers' skins, and shittim wood,

6 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the perfume of the spices,

7 shoham stones, and stones for setting for an ephod, and for a breastplate.

8 `And they have made for Me a sanctuary, and I have tabernacled in their midst;

9 according to all that which I am shewing thee, the pattern of the tabernacle, and the pattern of all its vessels, even so ye do make [it].

10 `And they have made an ark of shittim wood; two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height;

11 and thou hast overlaid it [with] pure gold, within and without thou dost overlay it, and thou hast made on it a ring of gold round about.

12 `And thou hast cast for it four rings of gold, and hast put [them] on its four feet, even two rings on its one side, and two rings on its second side;

13 and thou hast made staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them [with] gold,

14 and hast brought the staves into the rings on the sides of the ark, to bear the ark by them,

15 in the rings of the ark are the staves, they are not turned aside from it;

16 and thou hast put unto the ark the testimony which I give unto thee.

17 `And thou hast made a mercy-seat of pure gold, two cubits and a half its length, and a cubit and a half its breadth;

18 and thou hast made two cherubs of gold, beaten work dost thou make them, at the two ends of the mercy-seat;

19 and make thou one cherub at the end on this side, and one cherub at the end on that; at the mercy-seat ye do make the cherubs on its two ends.

20 `And the cherubs have been spreading out wings on high, covering the mercy-seat over with their wings, and their faces [are] one towards another -- towards the mercy-seat are the faces of the cherubs.

21 `And thou hast put the mercy-seat on the ark above, and unto the ark thou dost put the testimony which I give unto thee;

22 and I have met with thee there, and have spoken with thee from off the mercy-seat (from between the two cherubs, which [are] on the ark of the testimony) all that which I command thee concerning the sons of Israel.

23 `And thou hast made a table of shittim wood, two cubits its length, and a cubit its breadth, and a cubit and a half its height,

24 and hast overlaid it [with] pure gold, and hast made for it a crown of gold round about,

25 and hast made for it a border of a handbreadth round about, and hast made a crown of gold to its border round about.

26 `And thou hast made to it four rings of gold, and hast put the rings on the four corners, which [are] to its four feet;

27 over-against the border are the rings for places for staves to bear the table;

28 and thou hast made the staves of shittim wood, and hast overlaid them with gold, and the table hath been borne with them;

29 and thou hast made its dishes, and its bowls, and its covers, and its cups, with which they pour out; of pure gold thou dost make them;

30 and thou hast put on the table bread of the presence before Me continually.

31 `And thou hast made a candlestick of pure gold, of beaten work is the candlestick made; its base, and its branch, its calyxes, its knops, and its flowers are of the same;

32 and six branches are coming out of its sides, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the second side;

33 three calyxes made like almonds in the one branch, a knop and a flower, and three calyxes made like almonds in one branch, a knop and a flower; so for the six branches which are coming out from the candlestick.

34 `And in the candlestick [are] four calyxes made like almonds, its knops and its flowers;

35 and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, [are] to the six branches which are coming out of the candlestick;

36 their knops and their branches are of the same, all of it one beaten work of pure gold;

37 and thou hast made its seven lamps, and [one] hath caused its lights to go up, and it hath given light over-against its front.

38 `And its snuffers and its snuff dishes [are] of pure gold;

39 of a talent of pure gold he doth make it, with all these vessels.

40 And see thou and do [them] by their pattern which thou art shewn in the mount.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed # 43

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43. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands. This symbolizes a new church, which will have an enlightenment from the Lord from the Word.

We are told in the last verse of this chapter that the seven lampstands are the seven churches, and it may be seen in no. 10 above that the seven churches mean all in the Christian world who turn to the church - and this in every case according to each one's state of reception (no. 41).

The seven lampstands mean a new church because the Lord is in it and in the midst of it. For we are told that in the midst of the seven lampstands John saw one like the Son of Man, and the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word.

The lampstands appeared golden, because gold symbolizes goodness, and every church is a church by virtue of the goodness that is formed through truths. That gold symbolizes goodness will be seen in subsequent explanations.

[2] These lampstands were not next to one another or placed so as to touch each other, but stood at some intervals forming a kind of circle, as it apparent from this statement in the following chapter,

These things says He who... walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. (Revelation 2:1)

We are not told anything about the lamps on the lampstands, but later it is said that the Holy Jerusalem, which is to say, the New Church, "has no need of the sun or of the moon," because "its lamp is the Lamb, and the nations that are saved shall walk in its light" (Revelation 21:23-24). And furthermore,

They need no lamp..., for the Lord God gives them light. (Revelation 22:5)

For those people who will be constituents of the Lord's New Church are the only "lampstands" that will shine with light from the Lord.

[3] The golden lampstand in the Tabernacle represented nothing else than the church in relation to its enlightenment by the Lord. Regarding this lampstand, see Exodus 25:31-40; 37:17-24; 26:35, Numbers 8:2-4. That it represented the Lord's church as to Divine spiritual love, which is love for the neighbor, see Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), nos. 9548, 9555, 9558, 9561, 9570, 9783. See also no. 493 below.

The lampstand in Zechariah 4 also symbolizes a new church to be established by the Lord, since it symbolizes a new house of God or temple, as is apparent from what follows there; and a house of God or temple symbolizes the church, and in the highest sense, the Lord's Divine humanity, as He Himself teaches in John 2:19-21, 1 and elsewhere.

But we will say what in turn is symbolically meant in Zechariah 4, when the lampstand appeared to him:

The particulars contained in verses 1-7 symbolize the Lord's enlightenment of a new church from the goodness of love by means of truth. The olive trees there symbolize the church in regard to the goodness of love.

The particulars from 8-10 verse there mean, symbolically, that the enlightenment comes from the Lord. Zerubbabel there, who is to build the house, thus the church, represents the Lord.

The particulars from verse 11-14 mean, symbolically, that that the church will also have in it truths from a heavenly origin.

This explanation of that chapter was given to me by the Lord through heaven.

Poznámky pod čarou:

1. Jesus answered and said to them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Then the Jews said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?" But He was speaking of the temple of His body.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.