The Bible

 

Ezekiel 45

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1 And when you shall begin to divide the land by lot, separate ye firstfruits to the Lord, a portion of the land to be holy, in length twenty-five thousand and in breadth ten thousand: it shall be holy in all the borders thereof round about.

2 And there shall be for the sanctuary on every side five hundred by five hundred, foursquare round about: and fifty cubits for the suburbs thereof round about.

3 And with this measure thou shalt measure the length of five and twenty thousand, and the breadth of ten thousand, and in it shall be the temple and the holy of holies.

4 The holy portion of the land shall be for the priests the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to the ministry of the Lord: and it shall be a place for their houses, and for the holy place of the sanctuary.

5 And five and twenty thousand of length, and ten thousand of breadth shall be for the Levites, that minister in the house: they shall possess twenty store chambers.

6 And you shall appoint the possession of the city five thousand broad, and five and twenty thousand long, according to the separation of the sanctuary, for the whole house of Israel.

7 For the prince also on the one side and on the other side, according to the separation of the sanctuary, and according to the possession of the city, over against the separation of the sanctuary, and over against the possession of the city: from the side of the sea even to the sea, and from the side of the east; even to the east. And the length according to every part from the west border to the east border.

8 He shall have a portion of the lead in Israel: and the princes shall no more rob my people: but they shall give the land to the house of Israel according to their tribes:

9 Thus saith the Lord God: Let it suffice you, O princes of Israel: cease from iniquity and robberies, and execute judgment and justice, separate your confines from my people, saith the Lord God.

10 You shall have just balances, and a just ephi, and a just bate.

11 The ephi and the bate shall be equal, and of one measure: that the bate may contain the tenth part of a core, and the ephi the tenth part of a core: their weight shall be equal according to the measure of a core.

12 And the sicle hath twenty obols. Now twenty sides, and five and twenty sides, and fifteen sides make a mna.

13 And these are the firstfruits, which you shall take: the sixth part of an ephi of a core of wheat, and the sixth part of an ephi of a core of barley.

14 The measure of oil also, a bate of oil is the tenth part of a core: and ten bates make a core: for ten bates fill a core.

15 And one ram out of a flock of two hundred, of those that Israel feedeth for sacrifice, and for holocausts, and for peace offerings, to make atonement for them, saith the Lord God.

16 All the people of the land shall be bound to these firstfruits for the prince in Israel.

17 And the prince shall give the holocaust, and the sacrifice, and the libations on the feasts, and on the new moons, and on the sabbaths, and on all the solemnities of the house of Israel: he shall offer the sacrifice for sin, and the holocaust, and the peace offerings to make expiation for the house of Israel.

18 Thus saith the Lord God: In the first month, the first of the month, thou shalt take a calf of the herd without blemish, and thou shalt expiate the sanctuary.

19 And the priest shall take of the blood of the sin offering : and he shall put it on the posts of the house, and on the four corners of the brim of the altar, and on the posts of the gate of the inner court.

20 And so shalt thou do in the seventh day of the month, for every one that hath been ignorant, and hath been deceived by error, and thou shalt make expiation for the house.

21 In the first month, the fourteenth day of the month, you shall observe the solemnity of the pasch: seven days unleavened bread shall be eaten.

22 And the prince on that day shall offer for himself, and for all the people of the land, a calf for sin.

23 And in the solemnity of the seven days he shall offer for a holocaust to the Lord, seven calves, and seven rams without blemish daily for seven days: and for sin a he goat daily.

24 And he shall offer the sacrifice of an ephi for every calf, and an ephi for every ram: and a hin of oil for every ephi.

25 In the seventh month, in the fifteenth day of the month, in the solemn feast, he shall do the like for the seven days: as well in regard to the sin offering, as to the holocaust, and. the sacrifice, and the

   

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.