486. And the angel stood by, saying, "Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there." This symbolizes the Lord's presence and His command to see and learn the state of the church in the New Heaven.

The Lord is meant by the angel, here as in nos. 5, 415, and elsewhere, since an angel does nothing of himself but is impelled by the Lord. That is why the angel said, "I will give power to my two witnesses" (verse 3), when they were the Lord's witnesses. The angel's standing by symbolizes the Lord's presence, and his speaking symbolizes the Lord's command. To rise and measure means, symbolically, to see and learn. We will see below that to measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a state.

The temple, altar, and those who worship there symbolize the state of the church in the New Heaven - the temple symbolizing the church in respect to its doctrinal truth (no. 191), the altar symbolizing the church in respect to the goodness of its love (no. 392), and those who worship there symbolizing the church in respect to its formal worship as a result of those two elements. Those who worship symbolize here the reverence that is a part of formal worship, since the spiritual sense is a sense abstracted from persons (nos. 78, 79, 96), as is apparent here also from the fact that John is told to measure the worshipers. These three elements are what form the church: doctrinal truth, goodness of love, and formal worship as a result of these.

[2] That the church meant is the church in the New Heaven is apparent from the last verse of this chapter, where we are told that "the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple" (verse 19).

This chapter begins with the measuring of the temple in order that the state of the church in heaven might be seen and learned before its conjunction with the church in the world. The church in the world is meant by the court outside the temple, which John was not to measure, because it had been given to the gentiles (verse 2). The same church is then described by the great city called Sodom and Egypt (verses 7, 8). But after that great city fell (verse 13), it follows that the church became the Lord's (verses 15ff.).

It should be known that the church exists in the heavens just as on earth, and that the two are united like the inner and outer selves in people. Consequently the Lord provides the church in heaven first, and from it, or by means of it, then the church on earth. That is why the New Jerusalem is said to come down from God out of the New Heaven (Revelation 21:1-2).

The New Heaven means a new heaven formed from Christians, as described several times in the following chapters.

[3] To measure means, symbolically, to learn and investigate the character of a thing because the measure of something symbolizes its character or state. All the measurements of the New Jerusalem (chapter 21) have this symbolic meaning, as does the statement there that the angel who had the gold reed measured the city and its gates, and that he measured the wall to be one hundred and forty-four cubits, the measure of a man which is that of an angel (verses 15, 17). Moreover, because the New Jerusalem symbolizes the New Church, is it apparent that to measure it and its component parts means, symbolically, to learn its character.

Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in Ezekiel, where we read that an angel measured the house of God: the temple, the altar, the court, and the chambers (Ezekiel 40:3-17; 41:1-5, 13-14, 22; 42:1-20, and 43:1-27). Also that he measured the waters (47:3-5, 9). Therefore the prophet is told:

...show the temple to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities; and they shall measure the pattern... and... its exits and its entrances, and all its patterns..., so that they may keep its whole design... (Ezekiel 43:10-11)

Measuring has the same symbolic meaning in the following places:

I raised my eyes..., and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem...." (Zechariah 2:1-2)

He stood and measured the earth. (Habakkuk 3:6)

(The Lord Jehovih) has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, and gauged heaven with a span... and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance. (Isaiah 40:12)

Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? ...Who determined its measurements? ...Or who stretched the line upon it? (Job 38:4-5)

902. 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations. This symbolically means that the Word in its literal sense contains all of the doctrines of the New Church.

The wall of the city symbolizes the Word in its literal sense (no. 898), and its twelve foundations symbolize all of the doctrines of the church - its foundations symbolizing doctrines, and the number twelve all. The church, moreover, is founded on doctrine, for it teaches how a person is to believe and live, and its doctrine is to be drawn only from the Word. That it is to be drawn from the Word's literal sense may be seen in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 50-61.

Since the twelve foundations of the wall of the city New Jerusalem symbolize all of the church's doctrine, and the church is a church by virtue of its doctrine, therefore its foundations are described in more detail in verses 19 and 20 below.

The foundations of the earth are mentioned a number of times in the Word, and they do not mean the foundations of the earth, but the foundations of the church, inasmuch as the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285). And the foundations of the church are only ones that come from the Word and are called doctrines. For it is the Word itself that provides a foundation for the church.

[2] Doctrines drawn from the Word are symbolized by foundations also in the following passages:

Have you not understood the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21)

I will put My words in your mouth... to plant the heavens and found the earth... (Isaiah 51:16)

They do not acknowledge, they do not understand, they walk in darkness, all the foundations of the earth shake. (Psalms 82:5)

...the Word of Jehovah... who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundations of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him. (Zechariah 12:1)

Jehovah... kindled a fire in Zion, which has devoured its foundations. (Lamentations 4:11)

The impious... shoot in darkness the upright in heart, because the foundations are being destroyed... (Psalms 11:2-3)

Hear, O mountains, Jehovah's quarrel, you strong foundations of the earth; for Jehovah has a quarrel with His people... (Micah 6:2)

...the floodgates on high are open, and the foundations of the earth are shaken. The earth is violently broken, the earth is split open, the earth is shaken... (Isaiah 24:18-20)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 14:32; 48:13; 51:13; Psalms 24:2; 102:25; 104:5-6; 2 Samuel 22:8, 16.

Whoever does not think that the earth symbolizes the church cannot help but think only naturally, even materially, when he reads in these places about the foundations of the earth. So it would be also if he were not to think of the city Jerusalem here as symbolizing the church when he reads about its wall, gates, foundations, streets, dimensions, and more, which are described in this chapter as features of a city, when in fact they are features of the church and so must be interpreted not materially, but spiritually.