Apocalypse Explained #256
256. It was said above, that by the seven churches here written to, are not meant seven churches, but all those who belong to the church, and, in the abstract, all things of the church; that this is the case is evident from the consideration, that by seven are signified all, and all things, and that by the names are signified things. That all who belong to the church, or all things of the church, are meant by what is written to those seven churches is also evident from the explanation of those things. For all things of the church have reference to the following four general principles, doctrine, life according to it, faith according to life. These are treated of in what is written to six of the churches - doctrine, to the churches in Ephesus and Smyrna; life according to doctrine, to the churches in Thyatira and Sardis; and faith according to life, to the churches in Philadelphia and Laodicea. And because doctrine cannot be implanted in man's life and become a matter of faith unless he fights against the evils and falsities which he possesses from heredity, therefore that combat is also treated of in what is written to the church in Pergamos; for the subject there treated of is temptations; and temptations are combats against evils and falsities.
(That temptations are treated of in what is written to the church in Pergamos may be seen above, n. 130; that doctrine is the subject treated of in what is written to the churches in Ephesus and Smyrna may be seen above also, n. 93, 95, 112; that a life according to doctrine is treated of in what is written to the churches in Thyatira and Sardis, (n. 150, 182, and that faith according to life is treated of in what is written to the churches of Philadelphia and Laodicea, n. 203 and 227.) Because in what is written to this last church, namely, that in Laodicea, those who are in the doctrine of faith alone are treated of, and also, at the end, the nature of faith originating in charity, to what has already been said, it is here to be added, that love constitutes heaven; and because it does so, it also forms the church. For all the societies of heaven, which are innumerable, are arranged according to the affections of love, and also all within each society; so that it is affection, or love, according to which all things are arranged in the heavens, and not in any case faith alone. Spiritual affection, or love, is charity. It is therefore clear that no one can ever enter heaven unless he is in charity.
Numbers 19
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And the LORD spake unto Moses and unto Aaron, saying,
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This is the ordinance of the law which the LORD hath commanded, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring thee a red heifer without spot, wherein is no blemish, and upon which never came yoke:
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And ye shall give her unto Eleazar the priest, that he may bring her forth without the camp, and one shall slay her before his face:
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And Eleazar the priest shall take of her blood with his finger, and sprinkle of her blood directly before the tabernacle of the congregation seven times:
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And one shall burn the heifer in his sight; her skin, and her flesh, and her blood, with her dung, shall he burn:
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And the priest shall take cedar wood, and hyssop, and scarlet, and cast it into the midst of the burning of the heifer.
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Then the priest shall wash his clothes, and he shall bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp, and the priest shall be unclean until the even.
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And he that burneth her shall wash his clothes in water, and bathe his flesh in water, and shall be unclean until the even.
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And a man that is clean shall gather up the ashes of the heifer, and lay them up without the camp in a clean place, and it shall be kept for the congregation of the children of Israel for a water of separation: it is a purification for sin.
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And he that gathereth the ashes of the heifer shall wash his clothes, and be unclean until the even: and it shall be unto the children of Israel, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among them, for a statute for ever.
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He that toucheth the dead body of any man shall be unclean seven days.
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He shall purify himself with it on the third day, and on the seventh day he shall be clean: but if he purify not himself the third day, then the seventh day he shall not be clean.
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Whosoever toucheth the dead body of any man that is dead, and purifieth not himself, defileth the tabernacle of the LORD; and that soul shall be cut off from Israel: because the water of separation was not sprinkled upon him, he shall be unclean; his uncleanness is yet upon him.
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This is the law, when a man dieth in a tent: all that come into the tent, and all that is in the tent, shall be unclean seven days.
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And every open vessel, which hath no covering bound upon it, is unclean.
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And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days.
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And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel:
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And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave:
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And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even.
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But the man that shall be unclean, and shall not purify himself, that soul shall be cut off from among the congregation, because he hath defiled the sanctuary of the LORD: the water of separation hath not been sprinkled upon him; he is unclean.
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And it shall be a perpetual statute unto them, that he that sprinkleth the water of separation shall wash his clothes; and he that toucheth the water of separation shall be unclean until even.
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And whatsoever the unclean person toucheth shall be unclean; and the soul that toucheth it shall be unclean until even.
