Jerusalem
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])
The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Teachings #59
59. There are two kinds of love that generate all that is good and true, and two kinds of love that generate all that is evil and false. The two kinds of love that are the source of everything good and true are love for the Lord and love for our neighbor; the two kinds of love that are the source of everything evil and false are love for ourselves and love for this world.
The latter two kinds of love are the exact opposites of the former two kinds of love. 1
Fußnoten:
1. This principle-that love for oneself and the world are the opposite of love for the Lord and one's neighbor-will be qualified in New Jerusalem 97-99, where the point is made that we do need to take care of ourselves first if we are to be of any use to others. Compare the discussion in note 1 in New Jerusalem 21, and see also Secrets of Heaven 7819: "People with a goodness born of charity and faith also love themselves and worldly advantages, but only the way one loves the means to an end. " As mentioned in New Jerusalem 61, and expanded upon in True Christianity 403-405, it is when the love for oneself and the world are in control rather than serving the other two loves that they are their opposites, and become the source of everything evil and false. [GFD, LSW]
