268. (Verse 3) And he that sat was in aspect like a jasper and a sardius. That this signifies the appearance of the Lord as to Divine truth translucent from the Divine good of the Divine love is evident from the signification of one sitting upon the throne, as being the Lord as to the Last Judgment, which was treated of just above (n. 267); and from the signification of in aspect like, as being appearance; also from the signification of a jasper stone, as being the spiritual love of truth, of which we shall treat in what follows; and from the signification of a sardine stone, as being the celestial love of good, thus by a jasper and a sardius, to which the Lord appeared like, is signified Divine truth translucent from the Divine good of the Divine love.

[2] That a jasper signifies the Divine love of truth, or Divine truth proceeding is evident from those passages in the Word where it is mentioned, as in Exodus 28:20, and in Ezekiel 28:13; also in the Apocalypse:

"The light" of the holy Jerusalem "was like unto a stone most precious, like to a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (21:11.).

By the light of the holy Jerusalem is signified the Divine truth of the church shining, and by the light truth itself shining, by Jerusalem the church as to doctrine; this is likened to a jasper stone, because jasper has a similar signification. And in another place:

"The building of the wall" of the holy Jerusalem "was of jasper, and the city was pure gold like unto pure glass" (21:18).

The wall of the holy Jerusalem is said to be of jasper, because by wall is signified Divine truth defending; and on account of this signification of wall, the first stone of its foundation is said to be jasper (verse 19), foundation signifying the truth upon which the church is founded.

[3] The sardius is also mentioned, because by that stone is signified good, here Divine good, because it is said of the Lord. It is this stone which is called pyropus; and since it shines as it were from fire, by both is signified the translucence of truth from good. (That all precious stones signify the truths of heaven and of the church derived from good, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 114, 9863, 9865, 9868, 9873. This is why in the breast-plate of Aaron, which is called the Urim and Thummim, were set twelve precious stones, and by them responses were given, and this by their shining forth, and at the same time by perception of the thing inquired about, or by a living voice.)

108. Whenever the most ancient people compared man to a garden they would also compare wisdom and everything connected with it to rivers. Yet they did not merely compare but actually called them such since it was characteristic of their speech to do so. At a later time the Prophets in a similar way sometimes compared them, and sometimes actually called them, by these names, as in Isaiah,

Your light will rise in the darkness, and your thick darkness will be as the daylight; and you will be like a watered garden and like a spring of waters whose waters fail not. Isaiah 58:10-11.

This refers to people who receive love and faith. Also,

Like valleys that are planted, like gardens beside a river, like aloes ¹ Jehovah has planted, like cedars beside the waters. Numbers 24:6.

This refers to people who are regenerate. In Jeremiah,

Blessed is the man who trusts in Jehovah. He will be like a tree planted beside the waters, which will send out its roots above the stream. Jeremiah 17:7-8.

An instance of regenerate people not being compared to, but actually being called, a garden and a tree beside the rivers occurs in Ezekiel,

The waters caused it to grow, the depth of the waters made it grow tall, the river leading around the place of its planting, and he sent out his lines of water to all the trees of the field. It became beautiful in its greatness, in the length of its branches, for its root was towards many waters. The cedars did not overshadow it in the garden of God, the fir trees were not equal to its branches, and the plane trees were not like its boughs. No tree in the garden of God was equal to it in its beauty. I made it beautiful in the mass of its branches, and all the trees of Eden which are in the garden of God envied it. Ezekiel 31:4, 7-9.

From these quotations it is clear that when the most ancient people likened man, or what is the same, the things that are in man, to a garden, they also added the waters and rivers by which it was watered, and that by 'waters and rivers' they understood the things which would cause growth.

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