384. "And lead them to living fountains of waters." This symbolically means, and lead them by the truths in the Word to conjunction with Him.

Since a living fountain of waters symbolizes the Lord and also the Word, and waters symbolize truths (no. 50), and because when Divine truths in the Word are applied to life, which happens when a person lives in accordance with them, they bring about a conjunction with the Lord, therefore to lead people to living fountains of waters means, symbolically, to lead them by the truths in the Word to conjunction with the Lord.

That a fountain or fountains symbolize the Lord and also the Word is clear from these passages:

All my fountains are in You (Jehovah). (Psalms 87:7)

...they have forsaken Jehovah, the fountain of living waters. (Jeremiah 17:13)

(The people) have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters... (Jeremiah 2:13)

...You give them drink from the river of Your delights, for with You is the fountain of life. (Psalms 36:8-9)

On that day a fountain shall be opened... for the inhabitants of Jerusalem... (Zechariah 13:1)

Israel dwelt alone in safety at the fountain of Jacob. (Deuteronomy 33:28)

(When the Lord sat by Jacob's well, He said to the woman,) "The water that I shall give... will become... a fountain of water springing up into eternal life." (John 4:5-20)

Joseph is a fruitful son... by a fountain. (Genesis 49:22)

Bless... the Lord, from the fountain of Israel. (Psalms 68:26)

Then with joy you will draw waters from the fountains of salvation. (Isaiah 12:3)

To him who thirsts I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely. (Revelation 21:6)

I will lead them to fountains of waters by a straight way... (Jeremiah 31:9)

Words like these here and just above in the book of Revelation are found also in Isaiah:

They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither shall heat... strike them; for He who has mercy on them will lead them, even to springs of waters... (Isaiah 49:10)

44. And in the midst of the seven lampstands one like the Son of Man. (1:13) This symbolizes the Lord in relation to the Word, from whom that church originates.

People know from the Word that the Lord called Himself the Son of God and also the Son of Man. By "the Son of God" He meant Himself in respect to His Divine humanity, and by "the Son of Man" He meant Himself in relation to the Word. This we fully demonstrated in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, nos. 19-28 and since we confirmed it thoroughly from the Word there, we refrain from confirming it further here.

Now because the Lord presented Himself to John as the Word, therefore in His appearance to him He is called the Son of Man.

The Lord presented Himself as the Word because the subject is the New Church, which is a church founded on the Word, according to its understanding of it. To be shown that the church is founded on the Word, and that its character is such as its understanding of the Word, see The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 76-79.

Since the church is a church from the Lord by means of the Word, therefore the Son of Man appeared in the midst of lampstands. "In the midst" means, symbolically, in the inmost, from which those things that are round about or exterior to it draw their essence, in this case their light or intelligence.

That the inmost is everything in the things that are round about or exterior to it is something we showed many times in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom. It is like a light or flame at the center, in consequence of which all the peripheries shine with light and are warm.

[2] "In the midst" has the same symbolic meaning in the following passages in the Word:

Cry out and shout, O inhabitant of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel in your midst! (Isaiah 12:6)

God is my King..., working salvation in the midst of the earth. (Psalms 74:12)

...God...(working) lovingkindness in the midst of (the) temple.

God stands in the congregation of God; in the midst of the gods He will judge. (Psalms 82:1)

Gods are what those people who possess Divine truths from the Lord are called, and in an abstract sense, the truths themselves.

Behold, I am sending an angel before you... Beware of his presence...; for My name is in the midst of him. (Exodus 23:20-21)

The name of Jehovah means everything Divine. In the midst means in the inmost and so in every part.

In the midst or within symbolizes the inmost and so every part in many other places in the Word, even where the subject is evils, as in Isaiah 24:13, Jeremiah 23:9, Psalms 5:9, Jeremiah 9:5-6, and Psalms 36:1; 55:4; 62:4.

We have cited these places to make known that "in the midst of the lampstands" means, symbolically, in the inmost of the church, from which the church and everything connected with it originates; for the church and everything connected with it comes from the Lord through the Word.

To be shown that the lampstands symbolize a new church, see no. 43 just above.