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 Revealed #523

Study this Passage

  
/ 962  
  

523. "Because You have taken Your great power and entered Your kingdom." This symbolizes the New Heaven and New Church, where people will acknowledge the Lord alone as God, as He is and as He was.

Because You have taken Your great power symbolizes the Divine omnipotence that the Lord possesses, and which He has possessed from eternity. Because You have entered Your kingdom means, symbolically, that heaven and the church are now His possession, as they were before. His kingdom means here the New Heaven and New Church, as described in Revelation 21 and 22.

The book of Revelation from beginning to end has as its sole subject the state of the previous heaven and church and their termination, and after that the New Heaven and New Church and their establishment, in which the people will acknowledge one God having the Trinity in Him, and that the Lord is that God. This is what the book of Revelation tells us from beginning to end; for it tells us that the Son of man, who is the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the First and the Last, who is, was and is to come, the Almighty (no. 522). And finally it tells us that the New Church, which is the New Jerusalem, will be the Lamb's church, that is, a church belonging to the Lord's Divine humanity, thus at the same time to His Divinity from which all else springs, as is clearly apparent from the following verses:

Let us be glad and rejoice..., for the time for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. (Revelation 19:7)

One of the seven angels... came... and said to me..., "Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he... showed me the... city, the holy Jerusalem... (Revelation 21:9-10)

I, Jesus... am the Root and the Offspring of David, the Bright and Morning Star. The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" And let him who hears say, "Come!" (Revelation 22:16-17)

To (the Son of man) was given dominion and glory and a kingdom... His dominion is an everlasting dominion..., and His kingdom the one which shall not perish. (Daniel 7:14)

  
/ 962  
  

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

 

Jeremiah 25:30

Study

       

30 Therefore prophesy thou against them all these words, and say unto them, The LORD shall roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he shall mightily roar upon his habitation; he shall give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth.