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

 

Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture #87

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87. The case is the same with all other such instances. Take, for example, places where joy is mentioned and also gladness, as in the following:

Behold, joy and gladness, the slaying of oxen.... (Isaiah 22:13)

They shall obtain joy and gladness; sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isaiah 35:10, 51:11)

...cut off...from the house of our God [are] joy and gladness. (Joel 1:16)

(Taken from them will be) the sound of joy and the sound of gladness.... (Jeremiah 7:34, 25:10)

...the fast of the tenth [month] shall be for the house of Judah an occasion of joy and gladness.... (Zechariah 8:19)

...that we may rejoice...all our days! Make us glad.... (Psalms 90:14-15)

Be glad in Jerusalem; rejoice in her.... (Isaiah 66:10)

Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom.... (Lamentations 4:21)

The heavens will be glad, the earth will rejoice. (Psalms 96:11)

(They) will make me hear joy and gladness.... (Psalms 51:8)

Joy and gladness will be found in (Zion), confession and the sound of singing. (Isaiah 51:3)

(There will be) gladness, and many will rejoice at His birth. (Luke 1:14)

I will cause to cease...the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride. (Jeremiah 7:34, 16:9, cf. 25:10)

Again there shall be heard in this place...the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride.... (Jeremiah 33:10-11)

And elsewhere.

[2] Both joy and gladness are mentioned together because joy has to do with goodness and gladness with truth; or to put it another way, because joy is connected with love and gladness with wisdom. For joy is an expression of the heart, and gladness an expression of the soul; or to put it another way, joy is a matter of the will, and gladness of the intellect.

That a marriage of the Lord and the church is present in these expressions as well is apparent from the declaration, “the sound of joy and the sound of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride” (Jeremiah 7:34, 16:9, 25:10, 33:10-11), in which the Lord is the bridegroom and the church is the bride. That the Lord is the bridegroom may be seen in Matthew 9:15, Mark 2:19-20, and Luke 5:34-35; and that the church is the bride, in Revelation 21:2, 9 and 22:17. That is why John the Baptist says of Jesus, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:29).

  
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Thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.