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Isaiah 2

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1 The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem.

2 And it shall come to pass in the latter days, that the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

3 And many peoples shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.

4 And he will judge between the nations, and will decide concerning many peoples; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

5 O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah.

6 For thou hast forsaken thy people the house of Jacob, because they are filled [with customs] from the east, and [are] soothsayers like the Philistines, and they strike hands with the children of foreigners.

7 And their land is full of silver and gold, neither is there any end of their treasures; their land also is full of horses, neither is there any end of their chariots.

8 Their land also is full of idols; they worship the work of their own hands, that which their own fingers have made.

9 And the mean man is bowed down, and the great man is brought low: therefore forgive them not.

10 Enter into the rock, and hide thee in the dust, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty.

11 The lofty looks of man shall be brought low, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.

12 For there shall be a day of Jehovah of hosts upon all that is proud and haughty, and upon all that is lifted up; and it shall be brought low;

13 and upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan,

14 and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up,

15 and upon every lofty tower, and upon every fortified wall,

16 and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant imagery.

17 And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be brought low; and Jehovah alone shall be exalted in that day.

18 And the idols shall utterly pass away.

19 And men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake mightily the earth.

20 In that day men shall cast away their idols of silver, and their idols of gold, which have been made for them to worship, to the moles and to the bats;

21 to go into the caverns of the rocks, and into the clefts of the ragged rocks, from before the terror of Jehovah, and from the glory of his majesty, when he ariseth to shake mightily the earth.

22 Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils; for wherein is he to be accounted of?

   

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Apocalypse Revealed #657

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657. Seven angels having the seven last plagues. This symbolizes the evils and falsities that exist in the church in its last state exposed in their entirety by the Lord.

Seven angels symbolize the whole of heaven. However, because heaven is heaven owing not to the angels' own inherent qualities, but to the Lord, therefore the seven angels symbolize the Lord. Moreover, only the Lord can expose the evils and falsities that are present in the church. That angels symbolize heaven, and in the highest sense the Lord, may be seen in nos. 5, 258, 344, 465, 644, 647, 648 above.

Plagues symbolize evils and falsities - evils that are matters of love, and falsities that are matters of faith. For these are what are described in the following chapter, symbolized by the foul and noxious sore; by the blood as though of someone dead, causing every living creature to die; by the blood into which the waters of the rivers and springs were turned; by the heat of the fire that scorched people; by the unclean spirits looking like frogs, which were demons; and by the great hail.

The evils and falsities symbolized by all of these are the plagues here. Last plagues symbolize evils and falsities in the church's last state. Seven means, symbolically, all (nos. 10, 390). However, because the evils symbolized by the plagues in the following chapter are not all evils in particular, but all evils in general, seven here symbolically means all universally; for a universal entity embraces all of its constituents in particular.

It is apparent from this that John's seeing seven angels having the seven last plagues means symbolically that the evils and falsities that exist in the church and their character in its last state were exposed in their entirety by the Lord.

[2] That plagues symbolize spiritual plagues, which afflict people with respect to their souls and destroy them, and that these plagues or afflictions are evils and falsities, can be seen from the following passages:

From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness..., but a fresh wound not lanced; neither has it been bound up or softened... (Isaiah 1:6)

(Jehovah) is striking the peoples wrathfully with an incurable plague... (Isaiah 14:6)

(Jehovah,) remove Your plague from me; I am consumed by the blow of Your hand. (Psalms 39:10)

Your fracture is beyond hope...; for I have struck you with the affliction of an enemy... for the multitude of your iniquities; your sins have become many... But I will... heal you of your afflictions... (Jeremiah 30:12, 14, 17)

If you do not carefully keep all the words of (the Law)..., Jehovah will bring upon you... extraordinary plagues - great and prolonged plagues - (and) every plague... which is not written in this book of the Law... until you are destroyed. (Deuteronomy 28:58-59, 61)

No evil shall befall you, nor shall any plague come near your tent. (Psalms 91:10)

Edom shall become a desolation. Everyone who goes by... will hiss at all its plagues. (Jeremiah 49:17)

...she shall be a desolation. Everyone who passes by Babylon shall be dumbfounded, and hiss over all her plagues. (Jeremiah 50:13)

...plagues will come (upon Babylon) in one day... (Revelation 18:8)

(The two witnesses will) strike the earth with every plague... (Revelation 11:6)

The plagues in Egypt, which were in part like the plagues described in the following chapter, symbolized nothing else but evils and falsities. You may find the plagues in Egypt enumerated in no. 503 1 above. They are also called plagues in Exodus 9:14; 11:1.

It is apparent from this that plagues and afflictions mean, symbolically, nothing other than spiritual plagues and afflictions, which afflict people with respect to their souls and destroy them. So also in Isaiah 30:26; Zechariah 14:12, 15; Psalms 38:5, 11; Revelation 9:20; 16:21; Exodus 12:13; 30:12; Numbers 11:33; Luke 7:21; and elsewhere.

Fußnoten:

1. No. 503:4.

  
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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.

Die Bibel

 

Numbers 11:33

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33 While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of Yahweh was kindled against the people, and Yahweh struck the people with a very great plague.