933. 22:2 In between the street and the river on the one side and the other was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits. This symbolically means that inmostly present within the doctrinal truths and consequent life in the New Church is the Lord in His Divine love, from whom flow all the goods that a person in that church does, apparently as though of himself.

In between means, symbolically, in the inmost, and so in everything round about (nos. 44, 383). The street symbolizes the church's doctrinal truth (nos. 501, 917). The river symbolizes an abundance of Divine truth (nos. 409, 932). On the one side and the other symbolizes to the right and to the left, and truth to the right is truth seen clearly, and truth to the left is truth seen dimly. For in heaven the south is to the right, which symbolizes truth seen clearly, while the north is to the left, which symbolizes truth seen dimly (no. 901). The tree of life symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine love (no. 89). Fruits symbolize the goods of love and charity that are called good works, as will be seen in the next number. The number twelve symbolizes all and is predicated of the goods and truths of the church (no. 348). If we gather all of this into a single meaning, it follows that the statement, "in between the street and the river on the one side and the other was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits," symbolically means that inmostly present within the doctrinal truths and consequent life in the New Church is the Lord in His Divine love, from whom flow all the goods that a person does, apparently as though of himself.

[2] This is the case with people who turn directly to the Lord and refrain from evils because they are sins, thus with people who will be in the Lord's New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. For people who do not turn directly to the Lord cannot be conjoined with Him, thus not with the Father either, and therefore they cannot possess the love that comes from the Divine. Indeed, it is sight that conjoins - not an intellectual sight alone, but a sight of the intellect that springs from an affection of the will. And an affection of the will is present only if a person keeps the Lord's commandments. Consequently the Lord says,

He who... keeps (My commandments,) it is he who loves Me... And...(I) will come to him and make (My) abode with him. (John 14:21-24)

[3] We say "inmostly present within the doctrinal truths and consequent life in the New Church" because in spiritual matters everything comes from and emanates from what is inmost, as from a fire and its light in the center extending into the peripheries; or as from the sun, which is also in the center, come warmth and light throughout the solar system. Thus the case in the least of things is as it is in the greatest of things. Because the inmost of every truth is symbolized, therefore we say in between the street and the river, and not on either side of the river, even though that is what is meant. ¹

When the Lord is inmostly present, all goods of love and charity come from and emanate from Him, as is apparent from the Lord's own words in John:

(Jesus said,) "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-6)

脚注:

501. And their bodies will lie in the street of the great city. (11:8) This symbolically means that these two essential elements of the New Church have been utterly rejected by people inwardly caught up in the doctrinal falsities connected with justification by faith alone.

The bodies of the two witnesses symbolize the two essential elements of the New Church, namely, an acknowledgment of the Lord as the only God of heaven and earth, and conjunction with Him by a life in accordance with the Ten Commandments (nos. 490ff.). The street of the great city symbolizes doctrinal falsity connected with justification by faith alone - the street symbolizing falsity, as we shall see next, and the city symbolizing doctrine (no. 194). It is called a great city because the doctrine is the prevailing doctrine throughout the Protestant Reformed Christian world among the clergy, though not in the same way among the laity.

Streets in the Word have almost the same symbolic meaning as ways, because streets are a city's ways. Still, streets symbolize doctrinal truths or falsities, because a city symbolizes doctrine (no. 194), while ways symbolize a church's truths or falsities, because the earth symbolizes the church (no. 285).

[2] That streets symbolize doctrinal truths or falsities can be seen from the following passages:

Justice has been rejected, and righteousness stands afar off, for truth has stumbled in the street, and rectitude cannot enter. (Isaiah 59:14)

The chariots raced madly in the streets, they rushed in every direction in the town squares. (Nahum 2:4)

In the days of Jael, the ways were deserted... The town squares were deserted... in Israel... (Judges 5:6-7)

How the glorious city is forsaken...! Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets... (Jeremiah 49:25-26, cf. 50:30)

Those who ate delicacies are devastated in the streets... Darker than black is the appearance (of the Nazirites); they go unrecognized in the streets... They wandered blind in the streets... They tracked our steps so that we could not go into our streets. (Lamentations 4:5, 8, 14, 18)

I will cut off nations, their corners will be devastated; I will make their streets desolate... (Zephaniah 3:6)

(After) sixty-two weeks, the street (of Jerusalem) shall be built again..., but in distressful times. (Daniel 9:25)

...the street of the city (New Jerusalem) was pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21)

In the middle of its street... on this side and that, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits... (Revelation 22:1-2)

And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 15:3; 24:10-11; 51:20.

As streets symbolize the church's doctrinal truths, therefore they taught in the streets (2 Samuel 1:20). And we are told,

We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets. (Luke 13:26)

For this reason also hypocrites prayed on street corners (Matthew 6:2, 5). And for this reason the master of the house in Luke 14:21 ordered his servants to go out into the streets and squares and bring people in.

For the same reason, too, anything false or falsified is called mire, filth and excrement in the streets (Isaiah 5:25; 10:6, Micah 7:10, Psalms 18:42).

Prophets who prophesied falsely were cast out into the streets of Jerusalem, and no one buried them (Jeremiah 14:16).