The Bible

 

Revelation 21

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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 #933

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933. 22:2 In between the street and the river on the one side and the other was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits. This symbolically means that inmostly present within the doctrinal truths and consequent life in the New Church is the Lord in His Divine love, from whom flow all the goods that a person in that church does, apparently as though of himself.

In between means, symbolically, in the inmost, and so in everything round about (nos. 44, 383). The street symbolizes the church's doctrinal truth (nos. 501, 917). The river symbolizes an abundance of Divine truth (nos. 409, 932). On the one side and the other symbolizes to the right and to the left, and truth to the right is truth seen clearly, and truth to the left is truth seen dimly. For in heaven the south is to the right, which symbolizes truth seen clearly, while the north is to the left, which symbolizes truth seen dimly (no. 901). The tree of life symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine love (no. 89). Fruits symbolize the goods of love and charity that are called good works, as will be seen in the next number. The number twelve symbolizes all and is predicated of the goods and truths of the church (no. 348). If we gather all of this into a single meaning, it follows that the statement, "in between the street and the river on the one side and the other was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits," symbolically means that inmostly present within the doctrinal truths and consequent life in the New Church is the Lord in His Divine love, from whom flow all the goods that a person does, apparently as though of himself.

[2] This is the case with people who turn directly to the Lord and refrain from evils because they are sins, thus with people who will be in the Lord's New Church, which is the New Jerusalem. For people who do not turn directly to the Lord cannot be conjoined with Him, thus not with the Father either, and therefore they cannot possess the love that comes from the Divine. Indeed, it is sight that conjoins - not an intellectual sight alone, but a sight of the intellect that springs from an affection of the will. And an affection of the will is present only if a person keeps the Lord's commandments. Consequently the Lord says,

He who... keeps (My commandments,) it is he who loves Me... And...(I) will come to him and make (My) abode with him. (John 14:21-24)

[3] We say "inmostly present within the doctrinal truths and consequent life in the New Church" because in spiritual matters everything comes from and emanates from what is inmost, as from a fire and its light in the center extending into the peripheries; or as from the sun, which is also in the center, come warmth and light throughout the solar system. Thus the case in the least of things is as it is in the greatest of things. Because the inmost of every truth is symbolized, therefore we say in between the street and the river, and not on either side of the river, even though that is what is meant. 1

When the Lord is inmostly present, all goods of love and charity come from and emanate from Him, as is apparent from the Lord's own words in John:

(Jesus said,) "As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-6)

Footnotes:

1. In fact that is not what is meant. The text interprets the meaning correctly, namely, that the tree of life stood between the street and the river. The failure of translators to interpret the meaning correctly may be assigned to their failure to understand the literal "in the middle" ([Greek]) as meaning "in between." Moreover, in the Greek, what has been taken to mean "on either side" - more literally, "on this side and that" - is a phrase that follows "street" and "river" and applies to both, so that the meaning is, not "in the middle of the street and on either side of the river," but "between the street and the river on the one side and the other." I.e., "between the street on the one side and the river on the other." The construction reflects Hebrew and Aramaic grammar.

  
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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

 

Revelation 1:12

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12 And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks;