Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. Jerusalem first comes to our attention in 2 Samuel 5, when King David takes the city from the Jebusites and makes it his capital. In the next chapter he brings the Ark of the Covenant there, and later it is where Solomon builds the temple, and his own palace. From then on Jerusalem is the center of worship of the Israelitish church. It is the place where the Lord was presented in the temple as a baby, where He tarried to talk to the priests at age twelve, where He cleansed the temple, had the last supper, was crucified and then rose. It is a central place in both the old and new Testaments. The city was built on Mount Zion, the highest point of the mountains of Judea. A city, in the Word, represents doctrine, the organized knowledge of the truths of the church. Mountains represent love of the Lord and the consequent worship. If you put those things together, Jerusalem on Mount Zion signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. This is why David was led to make Jerusalem the most important city of the land, and why all worship was conducted there. And this is also why Jeroboam was condemned for introducing idol worship in Samaria. In the Book of Revelation, John's vision of the city New Jerusalem descending from God is a prophecy of a new dispensation of doctrine coming from the Lord.

(Verweise: Arcana Coelestia 4539, 8938; The Apocalypse Explained 365 [35-38])

6834. “荆棘却没有烧毁” 表属世层中联结于神性良善的神性真理. 这从 “荆棘” 和 “没有被火烧毁” 的含义清楚可知: “荆棘” 是指真正的记忆知识, 或记忆知识的真理, 如前所述 (6832, 6833节), 在此因论及主, 故表示属世层中的神性真理 (之所以是指属世层, 是因为真理在那里以记忆知识的形式出现); “没有被火烧毁” 是指没有被神性之爱的良善消散或化为乌有, “火” 是指神性之爱的良善 (参看6832节). 因此, 它被联结于它, 即在属世层中神性真理被联结于神性良善. 这就是这些话在论述主的至高意义上的含义. 此中情形是这样: 在来世, 神性之爱的神性良善是真正的太阳之火. 这火如此炽热, 以致如果它的热真的落到某个人身上, 哪怕落到至内层天堂的一位天使身上, 中间没有一个缓和的防护物, 那么他会丧失所有意识感觉, 从而被毁灭. 主的神性之爱就是如此炽热. 但当主在世, 并将人身本质与神性本质联结起来时, 祂在自己的人身里面接受这爱之火, 并将它与当祂将祂自己变成神之律法时的真理相联结. 这就是属世层中神性真理被联结神性良善的意思.