The Bible

 

Hesekiel 15

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1 Und das Wort Jehovas geschah zu mir also:

2 Menschensohn, was ist das Holz des Weinstocks mehr als alles andere Holz, die ebe, welche unter den Bäumen des Waldes war?

3 Wird Holz davon genommen, um es zu einer Arbeit zu verwenden? oder nimmt man davon einen Pflock, um irgend ein Gerät daran zu hängen?

4 Siehe, es wird dem Feuer zur Speise gegeben. Hat das Feuer seine beiden Enden verzehrt und ist seine Mitte versengt, wird es zu einer Arbeit taugen?

5 Siehe, wenn es unversehrt ist, wird es zu keiner Arbeit verwendet; wieviel weniger, wenn das Feuer es verzehrt hat und es versengt ist, kann es noch zu einer Arbeit verwendet werden! -

6 Darum, so spricht der Herr, Jehova: Wie das Holz des Weinstocks unter den Bäumen des Waldes, welches ich dem Feuer zur Speise gebe, also gebe ich die Bewohner von Jerusalem dahin;

7 und ich werde mein Angesicht wider sie richten: aus dem Feuer kommen sie heraus, und Feuer wird sie verzehren. Und ihr werdet wissen, daß ich Jehova bin, wenn ich mein Angesicht wider sie richte.

8 Und ich werde das Land zur Wüste machen, weil sie Treulosigkeit begangen haben, spricht der Herr, Jehova.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #881

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881. Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This symbolizes the New Church conjoined with the Lord through the Word.

We are told that John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, and now that he saw the city prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This makes it apparent that Jerusalem means the church, which John saw first as a city and then as a virgin bride - seeing it as a city representatively, and as a virgin bride spiritually. Thus he had two images, one within the other or above the other, even as angels do when they see, hear or read in the Word about a city, perceiving it in the conception of their lower thought as a city, but in the conception of their higher thought as doctrine. And if they desire it and pray to the Lord, they see the latter as a maiden, having a beauty and apparel commensurate with the character of the church. I, too, have been given to see the church in this way.

[2] The bride's being prepared symbolizes her being attired for betrothal, and the church is made ready for betrothal and then for conjunction or marriage in no other way than by the Word; for the Word is the one and only means of conjunction or marriage, inasmuch as the Word originates from the Lord and is about the Lord, and thus embodies the Lord. It is also called a covenant therefore, and a covenant symbolizes spiritual conjunction. Moreover it was for this reason that the Word was given.

That the husband is the Lord is apparent from verses 9 and 10 in this chapter, in which the Jerusalem is called the bride, the Lamb's wife.

To be shown that the Lord is called a bridegroom and husband, and the church His bride and wife, and that their marriage is like the marriage between goodness and truth, and takes place through the Word, see no. 797 above.

It can be seen from this that Jerusalem's being prepared as a bride adorned for her husband symbolizes the New Church conjoined with the Lord through the Word.

  
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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.

The Bible

 

Isaiah 33:20

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20 Look at Zion, the city of our appointed festivals. Your eyes will see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tent that won't be removed. Its stakes will never be plucked up, nor will any of its cords be broken.