897. 21:11 Having the glory of God, and its light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal. This symbolically means that in that church the Word will be understood, because its spiritual sense will come shining through.

The glory of God symbolizes the Word in its Divine light, as will be seen next. Its light symbolizes the Divine truth in it, for this is the meaning of light in the Word (no. 796). "Like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal," symbolizes the Word shining and translucent because of its spiritual sense, as will also be seen next.

These words describe the understanding of the Word among people who possess the doctrine of the New Jerusalem and live in accordance with it. In their case the Word seems to shine when they read it. It shines because of the Lord's presence in the midst of the spiritual sense, because the Lord embodies the Word, and the spiritual sense exists in the light of heaven that emanates from the Lord as its sun. Moreover, the light that emanates from the Lord as a sun is in its essence the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom.

Every single thing in the Word contains a spiritual meaning, which angels see and from which they have their wisdom, and the light of that spiritual sense comes shining through with people who possess genuine truths from the Lord, as we showed in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture.

[2] That the glory of God means the Word in its Divine light can be seen from the following passage:

The Word became flesh..., and we beheld His glory, the glory as though of the only begotten of the Father... (John 1:14)

That the glory is the glory of the Word, or the Divine truth in the Lord, is plain, since it says, "The Word became flesh."

Glory has the same meaning in verse 23 below, where it says, "the glory of God illuminated it, and the Lamb is its lamp" (Revelation 21:23).

The same is meant by the glory in which people will see the Son of Man when He comes in the clouds of heaven (Matthew 24:30, Mark 13:26). See nos. 22, 642, 820 above.

Nor is anything else meant by the throne of glory on which the Lord will sit when He comes to execute the Last Judgment (Matthew 25:31), because He will judge everyone in accordance with the Word's truths. Therefore we are told as well that He will come in His glory.

We are, moreover, told that after the Lord was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared in glory (Luke 9:30-31). Moses and Elijah there symbolize the Word. The Lord Himself also then caused Himself to appear to the disciples as the Word in its glory.

To be shown that glory symbolizes Divine truth, more citations from the Word may be seen in no. 629 above.

[3] The Word is likened to a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, bright as crystal, because a precious stone symbolizes the Divine truth in the Word (nos. 231, 540, 726, 823), and a jasper stone symbolizes the Divine truth in the spiritual sense shining through the Divine truth in the literal sense. This is the symbolic meaning of jasper stone in Exodus 28:20, Ezekiel 28:13, and in the following verses in the present chapter, where we are told that the construction of the wall of the holy Jerusalem was of jasper (verse 18). Moreover, because the Word's spiritual sense shines through in its literal sense, we are told that the jasper stone was as bright as crystal. All enlightenment that people have who possess Divine truths from the Lord comes from that.

896. 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. This symbolizes John's being transported into the third heaven and his sight opened there, and the Lord's New Church in respect to its doctrine being presented to him in the form of a city.

John's being carried away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain means, symbolically, that he was transported into the third heaven, where those people dwell who are impelled by love from the Lord and possess a doctrine of genuine truth from Him. Greatness is also predicated of goodness, and height of truths.

His being carried away onto a mountain symbolically means into the third heaven, because he is said to have been in the spirit, and someone who is in the spirit is as to his mind and sight in the spiritual world. Moreover, in the spiritual world angels of the third heaven dwell on mountains, angels of the second heaven on hills, and angels of the lowest heaven in valleys between the hills and mountains. Consequently, when someone is carried away in the spirit onto a mountain, it symbolically means into the third heaven. This carrying away takes place in a moment, because it is achieved by a change in the person's state of mind.

The angel's showing to John symbolizes his sight being opened then and a revelation. The great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God symbolizes the Lord's New Church, as in nos. 879, 880 above, where we also explained why it is called a holy city, and why it is said to be coming down out of heaven from God. It was seen in the form of a city because a city symbolizes doctrine (nos. 194, 712), and a church is a church by virtue of its doctrine and its living in accordance with that doctrine. It was also seen as a city in order that its whole character might be described, and this is described by the city's walls, gates, foundations, and various dimensions.

The church is similarly described in Ezekiel, where we are also told that the prophet was taken in the visions of God onto a very high mountain, where he saw a city to the south, whose wall and gates an angel also measured, together with its various widths and heights (Ezekiel 40:2ff.).

The following passage in Zechariah has a similar meaning:

I said (to the angel), "Where are you going?" He said..., "To measure Jerusalem, to see how great its width is and how great its length." (Zechariah 2:2)