17
até que lhes falte o pão e a água, e se espantem uns com os outros, e se definhem na sua iniqüidade.
Ezequiel 4:17
A Brief Exposition of New Church Doctrine #100
100. BRIEF ANALYSIS
The reason the New Church is meant by the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, in Revelation 21, is that Jerusalem was the metropolis of the land of Canaan. The temple and the altar were there; there also sacrifices were offered. Thus, Divine worship itself was performed there, and every male throughout the land was commanded to come to this worship three times a year. A further reason is that the Lord was in Jerusalem and taught in its temple; afterwards glorifying His Human there; thence it is that Jerusalem signifies the Church. That the Church is meant by Jerusalem is clearly evident from the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning a New Church to be established by the Lord, and which is there called Jerusalem.
[2] The following passages only shall be cited, from which anyone possessed of interior reason may see that by Jerusalem is there meant the Church. Let these passages alone be taken from the prophets:
Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered. . . . I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy; that I may rejoice over Jerusalem and be joyful over My people. . . Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. . . they shall do no evil in all the mountain of My holiness.Isaiah 65:17-19, 25.
For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. Then the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name. And thou shalt be a crown of beauty.. . and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God... Jehovah shall be well pleased in thee, and thy land shall be married . . . Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him . . . and they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and thou shalt be called, sought out, a city not forsaken.Isaiah 62:1-4, 11-12.
Awake! awake! put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the holy city; for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust; arise, sit down, O Jerusalem . . . The people shalt know My name in that day, for I am He that doth speak; behold, it is I. . .. Jehovah hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem.Isaiah 52:1-2, 6, 9.
Shout with joy, O daughter of Zion; be glad with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. . .. The King of Israel is in the midst of thee; fear not evil any more . . . He will be glad over thee with joy; He will rest in thy love; He will exult over thee with joyful shouting. . . will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth.Zephaniah 3:14-17, 20.
Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer . . . saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited. Isaiah 44:24, 26.
Thus saith Jehovah, I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; whence Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah Zebaoth, the mountain of holiness. Zechariah 8:3.
Then shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion, the mountain of holiness; and Jerusalem shall be holiness... .And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk... and Jerusalem shall abide from generation to generation. Joel 3:17-18, 20.
In that day shall the branch of Jehovah be beauty and glory. . . And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy; everyone that is written unto life in Jerusalem. Isaiah 4:2-3.
In the last days the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established in the head of the mountains ... for out of Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. Micah 4:1-2.
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all nations shall be gathered to Jerusalem because of the name of Jehovah; neither shall they go any more after the confirmation of their own evil heart. Jeremiah 3:17.
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; let thine eyes see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; the stakes thereof shall never be removed, and the cords thereof shall not be broken. Isaiah 33:20.
Other passages are: Isaiah 24:23; 37:32; 66:10-14; Zechariah 12:3, 6-10; 14:8, 11-12, 21; Malachi 3:2, 4; Psalms 122:1-7; 137:4-6.
[3] That by Jerusalem in the above passages is meant a Church to be established by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, is plain from every detail of its description therein; as that Jehovah God was about to create a new heaven and a new earth, and Jerusalem also at the same time; that this Jerusalem would be a crown of beauty, and a royal diadem; that it is to be called holiness, and the city of truth, the throne of Jehovah, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; that the wolf and the lamb shall feed together there; that there the mountains shall drop with new wine, and the hills flow with milk; that it should abide from generation to generation; besides many other things respecting the people therein, that they should be holy, all written unto life, and should be called the redeemed of Jehovah.
Jeremiah 23
1
Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD.
2
Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.
3
And I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all countries whither I have driven them, and will bring them again to their folds; and they shall be fruitful and increase.
4
And I will set up shepherds over them which shall feed them: and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall they be lacking, saith the LORD.
5
Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
6
In his days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely: and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS.
7
Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that they shall no more say, the LORD liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;
8
But, The LORD liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country, and from all countries whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land.
9
Mine heart within me is broken because of the prophets; all my bones shake; I am like a drunken man, and like a man whom wine hath overcome, because of the LORD, and because of the words of his holiness.
10
For the land is full of adulterers; for because of swearing the land mourneth; the pleasant places of the wilderness are dried up, and their course is evil, and their force is not right.
11
For both prophet and priest are profane; yea, in my house have I found their wickedness, saith the LORD.
12
Wherefore their way shall be unto them as slippery ways in the darkness: they shall be driven on, and fall therein: for I will bring evil upon them, even the year of their visitation, saith the LORD.
13
And I have seen folly in the prophets of Samaria; they prophesied in Baal, and caused my people Israel to err.
14
I have seen also in the prophets of Jerusalem an horrible thing: they commit adultery, and walk in lies: they strengthen also the hands of evildoers, that none doth return from his wickedness: they are all of them unto me as Sodom, and the inhabitants thereof as Gomorrah.
15
Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.
16
Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Hearken not unto the words of the prophets that prophesy unto you: they make you vain: they speak a vision of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the LORD.
17
They say still unto them that despise me, The LORD hath said, Ye shall have peace; and they say unto every one that walketh after the imagination of his own heart, No evil shall come upon you.
18
For who hath stood in the counsel of the LORD, and hath perceived and heard his word? who hath marked his word, and heard it?
19
Behold, a whirlwind of the LORD is gone forth in fury, even a grievous whirlwind: it shall fall grievously upon the head of the wicked.
20
The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye shall consider it perfectly.
21
I have not sent these prophets, yet they ran: I have not spoken to them, yet they prophesied.
22
But if they had stood in my counsel, and had caused my people to hear my words, then they should have turned them from their evil way, and from the evil of their doings.
23
Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?
24
Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him? saith the LORD. Do not I fill heaven and earth? saith the LORD.
25
I have heard what the prophets said, that prophesy lies in my name, saying, I have dreamed, I have dreamed.
26
How long shall this be in the heart of the prophets that prophesy lies? yea, they are prophets of the deceit of their own heart;
27
Which think to cause my people to forget my name by their dreams which they tell every man to his neighbour, as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal.
28
The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD.
29
Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces?
30
Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour.
31
Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith.
32
Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.
33
And when this people, or the prophet, or a priest, shall ask thee, saying, What is the burden of the LORD? thou shalt then say unto them, What burden? I will even forsake you, saith the LORD.
34
And as for the prophet, and the priest, and the people, that shall say, The burden of the LORD, I will even punish that man and his house.
35
Thus shall ye say every one to his neighbour, and every one to his brother, What hath the LORD answered? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
36
And the burden of the LORD shall ye mention no more: for every man's word shall be his burden; for ye have perverted the words of the living God, of the LORD of hosts our God.
37
Thus shalt thou say to the prophet, What hath the LORD answered thee? and, What hath the LORD spoken?
38
But since ye say, The burden of the LORD; therefore thus saith the LORD; Because ye say this word, The burden of the LORD, and I have sent unto you, saying, Ye shall not say, The burden of the LORD;
39
Therefore, behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you, and I will forsake you, and the city that I gave you and your fathers, and cast you out of my presence:
40
And I will bring an everlasting reproach upon you, and a perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.
