Apocalypse Explained #1045
1045. Having a golden cup in her hand full of the abominations and uncleanness of her whoredoms. That this signifies doctrine from goods and truths profaned, is evident from the signification of a cup, as denoting falsity from hell. For the signification of a cup is the same as that of wine; and by wine is signified truth from heaven, and, in the opposite sense, falsity from hell (see (n. 887, 960, 1022). And because a cup signifies truth or falsity; and the doctrine of every church is either that of truth or of falsity - for all the truth or falsity of the church is contained in doctrine - therefore by a cup is also signified doctrine, and by a golden cup, the doctrine of falsity from evil.
[2] Similarly in Jeremiah:
"A golden cup is Babel in the hand of Jehovah, making drunken the whole earth" (51:7).
It is called a golden cup for the same reason that the woman is said to be clothed in crimson and scarlet, and decked with gold, precious stones, and pearls, namely, from appearance in externals, although, in internals, it is as a cup full of abominations and uncleanness. For it is as the Lord says of the externals and internals with the scribes and Pharisees:
"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, who make clean the outside of the cup and platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. And ye make yourselves like to whitened sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but within are full of bones of the dead and all uncleanness" (Matthew 23:25-27).
It is also evident from the signification of abominations, as denoting the profanations of good, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of the uncleanness of whoredom, as denoting the profanation of truth. For whoredom signifies the falsification of truth, as above, hence the uncleanness thereof signifies profanation.
[3] As to the profanations signified by abominations, they are the perversions of the holy things of the church; thus, the turning of its goods into evils, and its truths into falsities. They are called abominations, because the angels abominate them; for so far as they were the holy things of the church, from goods and truths from the Word, they ascend into heaven; but so far as they were applied to evils, and thus profaned, they carry with them that which is infernal, concealed within. Consequently, they are perceived as things dead, in which there once was a living soul, and therefore heaven abominates and detests them.
[4] That such things are meant by abominations in the Word, is evident from the account of the abominations of Jerusalem. Thus in Ezekiel:
As that she took off the garments of her adorning which were given to her, and made herself variegated lofty places, and played the harlot upon them.
That of the gold and silver given to her, she made herself images of a male, with which she also committed whoredom.
That the oil, the incense, the bread, fine flour, and honey, which were given to her, she made into an odour of rest.
That they sacrificed their sons and their daughters.
That she committed whoredom first in Egypt, and afterwards with the sons of Asshur, and lastly with the Chaldeans. Besides several other things which are there called abominations (16:2-63).
By all these things are signified the profanations of the Word, of the church, and of worship. Similarly in other passages where abominations are either recounted or spoken of:
As Jeremiah 7:9, 10; 16:18; 32:35; Ezekiel 5:11; 7:19, 20; 8:6-18; 11:21; 14:6; 20:7, 8; Deuteronomy 7:25, 26; 12:31; 18:9, 10; Matthew 24:15; Mark 13:14; Dan. 9:27; 11:31; and elsewhere.
Jeremiah 7
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The word that came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
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"Stand in the gate of Yahweh's house, and proclaim there this word, and say, 'Hear the word of Yahweh, all you of Judah, who enter in at these gates to worship Yahweh.
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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel, Amend your ways and your doings, and I will cause you to dwell in this place.
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Don't trust in lying words, saying, The temple of Yahweh, The temple of Yahweh, The temple of Yahweh, are these.
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For if you thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if you thoroughly execute justice between a man and his neighbor;
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if you don't oppress the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widow, and don't shed innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your own hurt:
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then will I cause you to dwell in this place, in the land that I gave to your fathers, from of old even forevermore.
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Behold, you trust in lying words, that can't profit.
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Will you steal, murder, and commit adultery, and swear falsely, and burn incense to Baal, and walk after other gods that you have not known,
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and come and stand before me in this house, which is called by my name, and say, We are delivered; that you may do all these abominations?
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Is this house, which is called by my name, become a den of robbers in your eyes? Behold, I, even I, have seen it, says Yahweh.
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But go now to my place which was in Shiloh, where I caused my name to dwell at the first, and see what I did to it for the wickedness of my people Israel.
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Now, because you have done all these works, says Yahweh, and I spoke to you, rising up early and speaking, but you didn't hear; and I called you, but you didn't answer:
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therefore will I do to the house which is called by my name, in which you trust, and to the place which I gave to you and to your fathers, as I did to Shiloh.
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I will cast you out of my sight, as I have cast out all your brothers, even the whole seed of Ephraim.
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Therefore don't pray for this people, neither lift up a cry nor prayer for them, neither make intercession to me; for I will not hear you.
17
Don't you see what they do in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem?
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The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead the dough, to make cakes to the queen of the sky, and to pour out drink offerings to other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
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Do they provoke me to anger? says Yahweh; [do they] not [provoke] themselves, to the confusion of their own faces?
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Therefore thus says the Lord Yahweh: Behold, my anger and my wrath shall be poured out on this place, on man, and on animal, and on the trees of the field, and on the fruit of the ground; and it shall burn, and shall not be quenched.
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Thus says Yahweh of Armies, the God of Israel: Add your burnt offerings to your sacrifices, and eat meat.
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For I didn't speak to your fathers, nor command them in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, concerning burnt offerings or sacrifices:
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but this thing I commanded them, saying, Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.
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But they didn't listen nor turn their ear, but walked in [their own] counsels [and] in the stubbornness of their evil heart, and went backward, and not forward.
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Since the day that your fathers came forth out of the land of Egypt to this day, I have sent to you all my servants the prophets, daily rising up early and sending them:
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yet they didn't listen to me, nor inclined their ear, but made their neck stiff: they did worse than their fathers.
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You shall speak all these words to them; but they will not listen to you: you shall also call to them; but they will not answer you.
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You shall tell them, This is the nation that has not listened to the voice of Yahweh their God, nor received instruction: truth is perished, and is cut off from their mouth.
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Cut off your hair, [Jerusalem], and cast it away, and take up a lamentation on the bare heights; for Yahweh has rejected and forsaken the generation of his wrath.
30
For the children of Judah have done that which is evil in my sight, says Yahweh: they have set their abominations in the house which is called by my name, to defile it.
31
They have built the high places of Topheth, which is in the valley of the son of Hinnom, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire; which I didn't command, nor did it come into my mind.
32
Therefore, behold, the days come, says Yahweh, that it shall no more be called Topheth, nor The valley of the son of Hinnom, but The valley of Slaughter: for they shall bury in Topheth, until there be no place [to bury].
33
The dead bodies of this people shall be food for the birds of the sky, and for the animals of the earth; and none shall frighten them away.
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Then will I cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride; for the land shall become a waste.
