The Bible

 

Ámos 9

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1 Viděl jsem Pána, an se postavil na oltáři a řekl: Udeř v makovici, až se zatřesou ty veřeje, a rozetni je všecky od vrchu jejich, ostatek pak mečem zmorduji. Neutečeť žádný z nich, aniž kdo z nich bude, ješto by toho znikl.

2 Byť se pak do země zakopali, i odtud by je ruka má vzala; pakli by vstoupili do nebe, i odtud bych je strhl.

3 A jestliže by se schovali na vrchu Karmele, vyhledám a vezmu je odtud; pakli by se skryli před očima mýma na dně moře, přikáži hadu, aby je i odtud vyhryzl.

4 Pakliť by šli v zajetí před nepřátely svými, i tam přikáži meči, aby je zmordoval; obrátím zajisté oko své proti nim k zlému, a ne k dobrému.

5 Nebo Panovník Hospodin zástupů když se jen dotkne země, rozplývá se, a kvílí všickni přebývající na ní, a vystupuje všecka jako potok, a zatopena bývá jako potokem Egyptským,

6 Kterýž vzdělal na nebesích paláce své, a zástup svůj na zemi sšikoval, kterýž může zavolati vody mořské, a vyliti ji na svrchek země, jehož jméno jest Hospodin.

7 Zdaliž nejste podobni synům Mouřenínů přede mnou, ó synové Izraelovi? dí Hospodin. Zdaliž jsem Izraele nevyvedl z země Egyptské, tak jako Filistinské z Kaftor, a Syrské z Kir?

8 Aj, oči Panovníka Hospodina proti království tomuto hřešícímu, abych je vyhladil se svrchku země, a však nevyhladím docela domu Jákobova, dí Hospodin.

9 Nebo aj, já přikázal jsem, a budu zmítati domem Izraelským mezi všemi národy, tak jako zmítáno bývá na říčici, tak že ani kameníčko nepropadne na zem.

10 Mečem zbiti budou všickni hříšníci z lidu mého, kteříž říkají: Nepřiblížíť se, aniž potká nás to zlé.

11 V ten den zdvihnu stánek Davidův, kterýž klesá, a zahradím mezery jeho, a zbořeniny jeho opravím, a vzdělám jej jako za dnů starodávních,

12 Aby dědili s ostatky Idumejských a se všechněmi národy, nad kterýmiž jest vzýváno jméno mé, dí Hospodin, kterýž to učiní.

13 Aj, dnové jdou, dí Hospodin, že postihati bude oráč žence, a ten, kdož tlačí hrozny, rozsevače, hory pak dštíti budou mstem, a všickni pahrbkové oplývati.

14 Přivedu také zase zajatý lid svůj Izraelský, a vystavějí města zpuštěná, aby v nich bydlili; a budou štěpovati vinice, a píti víno jejich, nadělají i zahrad, a jísti budou ovoce jejich.

15 A tak je štípím v zemi jejich, že nebudou vykořeněni více z země své, kterouž jsem dal jim, praví Hospodin Bůh tvůj.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #238

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238. Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. (4:6) This symbolizes a new heaven formed of Christians who possessed general truths taken from the literal sense of the Word.

Atmospheres are seen in the spiritual world, and also bodies of water, as in our world - ethereal atmospheres seemingly where angels of the highest heaven dwell, airy atmospheres seemingly where angels of the intermediate heaven dwell, and watery ones seemingly where angels of the lowest heaven dwell. These watery atmospheres, moreover, are seas that are seen at the borders of heaven, and the inhabitants there are people who possess general truths taken from the literal sense of the Word. To be shown that waters symbolize truths, see no. 50 above.

As the place where waters terminate and are collected, a sea therefore symbolizes Divine truth in its terminal expressions.

Accordingly, since the One sitting on the throne means the Lord (no. 230), and since the seven lamps which are the seven spirits of God before the throne mean a new church which will possess Divine truth from the Lord (no. 237), it is apparent that the sea of glass that was before the throne means the church with people who are at its peripheries.

[2] Seas at the borders of the heavens are something I have been granted to see, and it has been given me to speak with the inhabitants there and so to learn the truth of this matter through personal experience. The inhabitants appeared to me to be living in a sea, but they said that they did not live in a sea but in an atmosphere. It was apparent to me from this that a sea is an appearance of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord in its terminal expressions.

The existence of seas in the spiritual world is clearly apparent from the fact that they were often seen by John, as in the present instance, and in 5:13 verses; 7:1-3; 8:8-9; 10:2, 8; 13:1; 14:7; 15:2; 16:3; 18:17, 19, 21; 20:13.

The sea is called a sea of glass like crystal owing to the translucence of the Divine truth emanating from the Lord.

[3] Since Divine truth in its terminal expressions produces the appearance of a sea in the spiritual world, therefore a sea elsewhere in the Word has a similar symbolic meaning, as in the following passages:

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, part of them to the eastern sea and part of them to the western sea. (Zechariah 14:8)

Living waters from Jerusalem are the church's Divine truths from the Lord. The sea is consequently where they terminate.

(Jehovah,) Your way was in the sea, and Your path in many waters. (Psalms 77:19)

Thus said Jehovah, who made a way in the sea, and a path through the many waters... (Isaiah 43:16)

(Jehovah) has founded (the world) on the seas, and established it on the rivers. (Psalms 24:2)

(Jehovah) set the earth on its foundations, so that it should not be moved to eternity. You covered it with the deep (or sea) as with a garment. (Psalms 104:5-6)

The earth was "founded on the sea" because the church, which is meant by the earth, is founded on general truths. For these are its footings and foundations.

[4] I will dry up (Babylon's) sea and make her spring dry... The sea will come up over Babylon; she will be covered with the multitude of its waves. (Jeremiah 51:36, 42)

To dry up Babylon's sea and make her spring dry means, symbolically, to extinguish all the church's truth from the firsts to the lasts of it.

They shall walk after Jehovah..., and His sons shall come with honor from the sea. (Hosea 11:10)

The sons from the sea are people who possess general truths or truths in their terminal expressions.

(Jehovah,) who builds His ascents in the heavens..., who calls the waters of the sea and pours them over the face of the earth... (Amos 9:6)

By the word of Jehovah the heavens were made... He gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap, putting the depths in storehouses. (Psalms 33:6-7)

...by My rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness. (Isaiah 50:2)

And so likewise in other places.

[5] Since a sea symbolizes Divine truth with people who live on the borders of heaven, therefore Tyre and Sidon, which were on the seacoast, symbolized the church in respect to its learned concepts of goodness and truth. And therefore "the islands of the sea" 1 likewise symbolize people engaged in a relatively remote Divine worship (no. 34).

For the same reason, too, the word used for the sea in Hebrew is "the west," that is, the direction in which the sun's light turns into its evening state, or truth into haziness.

We will see in subsequent discussions that a sea also symbolizes the natural component of a person divorced from his spiritual one, thus also hell.

Footnotes:

1. Also called "the isles of the sea" and "the coastlands of the sea." See Isaiah 11:11; 24:15

  
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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.