The Bible

 

Revelation 21

Study

   

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

   

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #1189

Study this Passage

  
/ 1232  
  

1189. And the voice of the bridegroom, and of the bride, shall be heard in thee no more.- That this signifies no joy from the conjunction of good and truth, is evident from the signification of a bridegroom, as denoting, in the highest sense, the Lord; and from the signification of a bride, as denoting in the highest sense, the church. And because the Lord enters into man by influx from the Divine Good of Divine Love, and is conjoined to the man of the church in Divine Truth, therefore by bridegroom and bride is meant the conjunction of the Lord with the church, and also the conjunction of good with truth. As all spiritual joy springs from that conjunction, it follows, that by the voice of the bridegroom and the bride is signified joy therefrom. The angels also have all their wisdom and intelligence, and consequently all their joy and happiness, from and according to that conjunction. Because this is signified by the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride, therefore heavenly joy is described also by the bridegroom and bride in other parts of the Word.

As in Jeremiah:

"I will take away from them the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of the millstones, and the voice of the lamp" (25:10).

Again:

"Behold I will cause to cease out of this place the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride" (16:9).

And again:

"I will cause to cease from the cities of Judah, and from the streets of Jerusalem, the voice of joy and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride" (7:34).

In Joel:

"Let the bridegroom go forth out of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet" (2:16).

In Jeremiah:

"As yet shall be heard in this place the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, of them that say, confess ye Jehovah Zebaoth" (33:10, 11).

In these passages the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride signifies joy and gladness from the conjunction of the Lord with the church, and therefore from the conjunction of good and truth; for the subject there is the state of the church, and it is also said plainly, joy and gladness, joy from good and gladness from truth.

[2] Similarly in Isaiah:

"I will be glad in Jehovah, my soul shall exult in my God; as the bridegroom putteth on the mitre (eidaris), and as the bride adorneth herself with her vessels (vasis suis)" (61:10).

To put on the mitre is to put on wisdom, and to adorn herself with vessels, means with the knowledges of truth.

Again:

"As the joy of the bridegroom over the bride, thy God shall rejoice over thee" (62:5).

That the Lord is meant in the highest sense by the bridegroom, and the church by the bride, is evident in the Evangelists. When the disciples of John enquired concerning fasting, Jesus said,

"So long as the bridegroom is with them, the sons of the nuptials cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then shall they fast" (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19, 20; Luke 5:34, 35).

There the Lord calls Himself the bridegroom, and the men of the church the sons of the nuptials; fasting signifies mourning on account of a deficiency of truth and good.

In Matthew:

"The kingdom of the heavens is like unto ten virgins, who, taking their lamps, went forth to meet the bridegroom" (25:1, 2, and following verses).

There also the bridegroom means the Lord, the virgins mean the church, and the lamps the truths of faith.

In John:

"He who hath the bride is the bridegroom, but the friend of the bridegroom, who standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth with joy because of the bridegroom's voice" (3:29).

John the Baptist spoke these words concerning the Lord, He being meant by the bridegroom, and the church by the bride.

That the church is meant by the bride, is evident from the following passages in the Apocalypse:

"I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband" (21:2).

By the New Jerusalem is meant a new church.

Again:

"Come, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife; and he shewed me the city Jerusalem" (21:9, 10).

And again:

"The Spirit and the bride say Come, and he that heareth, let him say Come" (22:17).

By the spirit and the bride is signified the church as to good and as to truth.

[3] Continuation.- Since the love of rule and the love of wealth universally prevail in the Christian world, and these loves at the present day are so deeply inrooted, that their power of leading astray is not recognised, it is therefore of importance that their nature should be known. They lead every man astray who does not shun evils because they are sins; for he who does not shun evils on this ground does not fear God, and therefore remains natural. And because the loves proper to the natural man are the love of rule and the love of wealth, therefore he does not see with interior acknowledgment the quality of those loves in himself. He does not see it unless he is reformed, and he is reformed only by combat against evils. It is believed that reformation is effected by means of faith; but the faith of God does not exist in man previous to his combat against evils. When man is reformed in this way, then light enters by influx from the Lord through heaven imparting to him the affection and also the faculty to see what the nature of those loves is, whether they rule in him, or are subservient, thus whether they are in the first place, and form as it were the head, or are in the second place, and form as it were the feet. If they rule and are in the first place, they then lead astray, and become curses; if they are subservient and in the second place, then they do not lead astray, but become blessings.

[4] I can solemnly declare that all those with whom the love of rule occupies the first place, are inwardly devils. This love is known from the gratification that it affords, which surpasses every other in man's life. It is continually breathed forth from hell, and this exhalation appears like the fire of a great furnace, and it inflames the hearts of those men whom the Lord does not protect. The Lord protects all who are reformed. Still the Lord leads even the former, but it is in hell, though it is only by means of outward restraints, such as fear of the penalties of the law, fear for the loss of reputation, of honour, of gain, and of the pleasures which these afford; and also by means of rewards. He cannot lead them out of hell, because the love of rule does not admit of internal restraints, which are the fear of God, and the affections for good and truth, these being the means by which the Lord leads to heaven and in heaven all who follow.

  
/ 1232  
  

Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.