The Bible

 

Ezekijel 45

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1 Kad budete zemlju ždrijebom dijelili u baštinu, prinesite kao prinos pridržan Jahvi jedan sveti dio zemlje, dugačak dvadeset i pet tisuća lakata, širok deset tisuća; to neka bude sveto područje uzduž i poprijeko.

2 Od toga neka bude za Svetište četvorina od pet stotina lakata i čistina od deset lakata uokolo.

3 Od toga područja izmjeri u dužinu dvadeset i pet tisuća lakata, a u širinu deset tisuća: tu neka bude Svetište - Svetinja nad svetinjama.

4 Taj sveti dio zemlje pripada svećenicima koji služe u Svetištu i koji pristupaju k Jahvi da mu služe: tu neka im bude mjesto za kuće; i to neka je sveto mjesto koje pripada Svetištu.

5 Dvadeset i pet tisuća u dužinu i deset tisuća u širinu neka bude levitima koji služe Domu: neka ondje sagrade gradove u kojima će stanovati.

6 Za posjed gradu dodijelite pet tisuća lakata u širinu i dvadeset i pet tisuća lakata u dužinu usporedo sa svetim područjem: to će pripadati svemu domu Izraelovu.

7 Knezu pripada dio s obje strane svetoga područja i gradskoga posjeda - duž svetoga područja i duž gradskoga posjeda - od zapadne strane prema zapadu i od istočne strane prema istoku, a dužina neka bude jednaka svakom tom dijelu, od zapadne do istočne granice.

8 To neka bude njegova zemlja, posjed u Izraelu, da knezovi više ne tlače narod moj i da zemlju dadu domu Izraelovu po plemenima.'

9 Ovako govori Jahve Gospod: 'Dosta je, knezovi Izraelovi! Okanite se nasilja i pljačke i vršite zakon i pravdu; izbavite narod moj od svojih tražbina - riječ je Jahve Gospoda.

10 Mjerite pravom mjerom: pravom efom i pravim batom.

11 Efa i bat neka jednako hvataju: bat neka iznosi desetinu homera i efa desetinu homera - neka im mjera bude prema homeru.

12 Šekel neka bude dvadeset gera; mina neka vam bude dvadeset šekela, dvadeset i pet šekela i petnaest šekela.

13 Ovo je prinos koji ćete prinositi: šestinu efe od svakoga homera pšenice i šestinu efe od svakoga homera ječma.

14 A za ulje ova je uredba: desetina bata od svakoga kora - deset bata jedan je kor.

15 Od svakoga stada od dvije stotine ovaca sa sočnih izraelskih pašnjaka po jednu ovcu za žrtvu prinosnicu, paljenicu i pričesnicu - vama za pomirenje - riječ je Jahve Gospoda.

16 Sav narod zemlje duguje ovaj prinos knezu Izraelovu.

17 A knez je dužan davati žrtve paljenice, prinosnice i ljevanice za svetkovine i za mlađake, za subote i blagdane doma Izraelova: on neka se postara za okajnicu, za pomirnicu, prinosnicu, paljenicu i pričesnicu za pomirenje doma Izraelova.'

18 Ovako govori Jahve Gospod: 'Prvoga mjeseca, prvoga dana u mjesecu, uzmi june bez mane i okaj njime Svetište.

19 Svećenik neka uzme krvi te žrtve okajnice i neka njome pomaže dovratnike Doma i sva četiri ugla pojasa žrtveničkoga i dovratnike vrata unutrašnjega predvorja.

20 Tako neka učini i sedmoga dana istoga mjeseca za svakoga koji je sagriješio iz slabosti i neznanja. Tako ćete dovršiti pomirenje Doma.

21 Prvoga mjeseca, četrnaestoga dana u mjesecu, svetkujte Pashu, sedmodnevni blagdan, kad se blaguju beskvasni hljebovi.

22 Toga dana neka knez za se i za sav puk zemlje prinese june za okajnicu.

23 Sedam dana blagdana neka prinosi za paljenicu Jahvi Sedam junčića i Sedam ovnova bez mane - svaki dan tih Sedam dana - i svaki dan jarca kao okajnicu.

24 A kao prinosnicu neka prinese efu po svakom juncu i efu po ovnu i hin ulja na svaku efu.

25 Sedmoga mjeseca, petnaestoga dana u mjesecu, neka o blagdanu isto toliko prinosi sedam dana: isto toliko okajnica, paljenica, prinosnica i ulja.'

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #191

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191. "'I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God.'" This symbolically means that the truths they possess, springing from goodness derived from the Lord, sustain the Lord's church in heaven.

A temple symbolizes the church, and the temple of My God symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven. It is apparent from this that a pillar symbolizes what sustains and stabilizes the church, and that is the Divine truth in the Word.

In the highest sense, a temple symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, particularly in respect to Divine truth. In a representative sense, however, a temple symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven, and so also the Lord's church in the world.

That a temple in the highest sense symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and particularly in respect to Divine truth, is apparent from the following passages:

(Jesus said to the Jews,) "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." ...He was speaking of the temple of His body. (John 2:19, 21)

I saw no temple in (the New Jerusalem), for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22)

Behold..., the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire. (Malachi 3:1)

I will bow myself toward Your holy temple... (Psalms 138:2)

...I will look again toward Your holy temple... And my prayer went to You, to Your holy temple. (Jonah 2:4, 7)

Jehovah is in His holy temple. (Habakkuk 2:20)

The holy temple of Jehovah or of the Lord is His Divine humanity, for it is to this that people bow, look to, and pray, and not to the temple merely, as the temple is not, in itself, holy. It is called a holy temple, because holiness is predicated of Divine truth (no. 173).

"The temple that sanctifies the gold" in Matthew 23:16-17 means nothing else than the Lord's Divine humanity.

[2] That a temple in a representative sense symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven, is apparent from the following passages:

(The) voice (of Jehovah) from the temple...! (Isaiah 66:6)

...a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven... (Revelation 16:17)

The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. (Revelation 11:19)

...the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels... And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God... (Revelation 15:5-6, 8)

I called upon Jehovah, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple... (Psalms 18:6)

I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and His skirts filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)

[3] That a temple symbolizes the church in the world is apparent from these passages:

Our holy... temple... has become a conflagration... (Isaiah 64:11)

I will shake all nations..., that I may fill this house with glory... The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former... (Haggai 2:7, 9)

The new temple in Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48 describes a church to be established by the Lord. A church is also meant in Revelation 11:1 by the temple that the angel measured. So likewise elsewhere, as in Isaiah 44:28, Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11, Zechariah 8:9.

...the disciples (of Jesus) came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ."..Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left... upon another, that shall not be demolished." (Matthew 24:1-2)

The temple here symbolizes the church today; and its demolition means, symbolically, that not one stone would be left upon another. This symbolizes the end of that church, when not any truth would remain. For when the disciples spoke with the Lord about the temple, the Lord foretold the consecutive states of this church, even to its last one, or the end of the age; and the end of the age means the final period of the church, which is the one that exists today. This was represented by the destruction of that temple to its foundations.

[4] A temple has these three symbolic meanings, namely the Lord, the church in heaven, and the church in the world. Because these three are bound up together, they cannot be separated. Consequently one cannot be meant without the other. Therefore anyone who divorces the church in the world from the church in heaven, or the one or the other from the Lord, is without the truth.

The temple here means the church in heaven, because reference to the church in the world follows after this (no. 194).

  
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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.