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Revelation 22

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1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.

2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:

4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

6 And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to shew unto his servants the things which must shortly be done.

7 Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.

9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

10 And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.

11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

12 And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be.

13 I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

14 Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.

15 For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.

16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst Come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

18 For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book:

19 And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

20 He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

   

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Apocalypse Revealed #900

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900. And over the gates twelve angels, with names written on them, which are those of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. This symbolizes the Divine truths and goods of heaven in those concepts, which are also the Divine truths and goods of the church, and at the same time safeguards to keep someone from entering into them unless he does so from the Lord.

The twelve angels symbolize here all the truths and goods of heaven, since in the highest sense angels symbolize the Lord, in a more general sense heaven, which is composed of angels, and in a more particular sense the truths and goods of heaven from the Lord. See nos. 5, 170, 258, 344, 415, 465, 647, 648, 657, 718. Here they symbolize the truths and goods of heaven, because the statement follows, "with names written on them, which are those of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel," and these symbolize all the truths and goods of the church (no. 349).

Being over the gates means, symbolically, in those concepts, inasmuch as "over" in the Word symbolically means "within." The reason is that the highest component in sequential order becomes the inmost in concurrent order. Consequently the third heaven is called both the highest heaven and the inmost heaven. That is why "over the gates" symbolically means in the concepts of truth. The names written on the angels symbolize their whole character, thus also the character within them, for every quality in outward expressions originates from inner attributes.

It is apparent that the same words symbolize safeguards to keep someone from entering the church without having those concepts from the Lord, because the angels were seen standing over the gates, and the names of the tribes of Israel were also written on them.

We say that the truths and goods of heaven and the church are present in the concepts coming from the Word that serve to introduce into the church, because when concepts of truth and good from the Word have in them a spiritual quality from heaven from the Lord, they are called not concepts, but truths. But if those concepts do not have in them a spiritual quality from heaven from the Lord, they are nothing more than articles of knowledge.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

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Apocalypse Revealed #170

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170. "'But I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.'" This symbolically means that those people are to be accepted who are governed by Divine good and Divine truths from the Lord, thus who have in them the life of heaven.

It follows from the symbolism of a name, explained in nos. 81 and 122 above, that to confess someone's name is to acknowledge his character or his being of this or that character. My Father means Divine good, and His angels mean Divine truths, both of which originate from the Lord.

In the Gospels the Lord often mentions His Father, and He everywhere means Jehovah, from whom and in whom exists all else, and who was present in Him. Never did He mean any separate Divinity apart from Him. The reality of this is something we showed many times in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, and also in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence, nos. 262, 263.

To be shown that the Father is the Lord Himself, see nos. 21 and 962 in the present work.

The Lord mentions His Father, because a father symbolizes, in the spiritual sense, goodness, and God the Father symbolizes the Divine goodness of the Divine love. Angels never understand the Father to mean anything other than the Lord when the term is encountered in the Word, nor can they understand it to mean anything else, because no one in heaven knows his father, the one from whom they are said to have been born, and whose children and heirs they are called. This is the meaning of the Lord's words in Matthew 23:9. 1

It is apparent from this that to confess someone's name before the Father means, symbolically, that he is to be accepted among those who are governed by Divine good from Him.

Angels mean people who are governed by Divine truths from the Lord, and abstractly Divine truths themselves, because angels are recipients of Divine good in the Divine truths that they have among them from the Lord.

Notes de bas de page:

1. "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven."

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.