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.

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

801. 对大洪水前的这些人的描述表明了上古之人所采用的风格的性质, 因而表明了预言风格的性质. 此处直到本章末尾都在描述这些人. 本节描述了他们的信念, 接下来的23节描述了他们的欲望, 也就是说先描述了其觉知之物的状态, 之后描述了其意愿之物的状态. 尽管他们里面没有正确的觉知和意愿之物, 但他们里面的事物, 也就是这些事物的反面, 必须仍被称为觉知和意愿之物. 虚假的信念绝非觉知之物, 但必须这样称呼, 因为它们是思维和推理之物. 这同样适用于绝非意愿之物的欲望. 就象我说的, 首先描述的是这些人的虚假信念, 之后描述的是他们的欲望. 这就是为何接下来的23节重复的原因, 只是21节所提及之物的顺序有所不同.

这也是预言的风格, 原因在于, 人有两种生命 (觉知和意愿), 第一种属于觉知之物, 第二种属于意愿之物, 它们截然不同, 彼此分离. 人是由这二者构成的, 尽管如今它们在人内的是分离的, 但它们仍是一个流入另一个, 并且绝大部分结合起来. 可以用很多方式来证实和说明它们结合起来, 以及如何结合的事实. 因此, 由于人是这两部分构成的, 即觉知和意愿, 并且一个流入另一个, 故当描述人时, 圣言就分别描述每个部分, 这是重复的原因, 否则这种描述是有问题的. 一切其它事物, 如同这里的意愿和觉知, 也是如此. 正是它们的主体使得事物恰如它们所是的样子. 它们是其主体的产物, 因此是这些主体的属性. 从其主体, 即从其实体分离之物什么都不是. 这就是为何圣言描述某个事物时, 会描述这两个方面的原因. 只有这样, 对每个事物的描述才能全面.