220. But it shall also be explained what is signified in the Word by temple. Temple, in the highest sense, signifies the Divine Human of the Lord, and in the relative sense, heaven; and because it signifies heaven, it also signifies the church, for the church is the Lord's heaven upon earth. And whereas temple thus signifies heaven and the church, it also signifies the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord: the reason is, that this makes heaven and the church; for those who receive Divine truth in soul and heart, that is, in faith and love, constitute heaven and the church. Such being the signification of temple, it is therefore said, the temple of my God; and by my God, when said by the Lord, is meant heaven, and the Divine truth therein, which also is the Lord in heaven. The Lord is above the heavens, and appears to its inhabitants as a Sun, and from the Lord as a Sun proceed heat and light; heat which in its essence is Divine good, and light which in its essence is Divine truth; those two constitute heaven in general and in particular. Divine truth is that which is meant by my God; this is why in the Word of the Old Testament the Lord is called Jehovah and God, - Jehovah where the subject treated of is the Divine good, and God where it is the Divine truth. This also is the reason why angels are called gods, and that God in the Hebrew tongue is in the plural Elohim. From these considerations it is evident what is here meant by the temple of my God.

(That the Lord is called Jehovah where the Divine good is treated of, but God where the Divine truth is treated of, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 709, 732, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4283, 4402, 7010, 9167. That He is called Jehovah from Being (esse), and thus from essence, but God from Manifestation (existere), and thus from existence, n. 300, 3910, 6905; that the Divine as Being (esse) also is Divine good, and that the Divine as Manifestation (existere) is Divine truth, n. 3061, 6280, 6880, 6905, 10579; and in general that good is the being, (esse), and truth the manifestation (existere) thence, n. 5002. That angels are called gods from their reception of Divine truth from the n. 4295, 4402, 7268, 7873, 8301, 8192. That the Divine of the Lord in the heavens is Divine truth united with Divine good, may be seen in the work, Heaven and Hell 13, 133, 139, 140. That the light in the heavens is in its essence Divine truth, and the heat there Divine good, both from the Lord, may be seen in the same work, n. 126-140, 275.)

[2] That temple in the Word signifies the Divine Human of the Lord, and in the relative sense, heaven and the church, consequently also Divine truth, is evident from the following passages. In John:

To the Jews who asked, "What sign showest thou unto us, that thou doest these things? Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body" (John 2:18-21).

That temple signifies the Lord's Divine Human is here plainly declared; for by destroying the temple and raising it up in three days is meant His death, burial and resurrection.

[3] In Malachi:

"Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord shall suddenly come to his temple, and the angel of the covenant whom ye seek" (3:1).

Here also by temple is meant the Lord's Divine Human; for the subject treated of is the Lord's advent, therefore coming to His temple signifies assuming the Human.

[4] Again, in the Apocalypse:

"I saw no temple" in the new Jerusalem, "for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it" (21:22).

The subject here treated of is the new heaven and the new earth, when they will be in internals, and not in externals; hence it is said that there was seen no temple, but the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. The Lord God Almighty is the very Divine of the Lord, and the Lamb is His Divine Human; whence also it is evident, that His Divine Human in the heavens is meant by temple.

[5] Again, in Isaiah:

"I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his skirts filling the temple" (6:1).

By the throne, high and lifted up, upon which the Lord was seen to sit, is signified the Lord as to Divine truth in the higher heavens; but by His skirts is signified His Divine truth in the church. (That skirts when said of the Lord, signify His Divine truth in ultimates, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 9917. That the veil of the temple being rent into two parts from the top to the bottom, after the Lord suffered (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45), signified the union of the Lord's Divine Human with the Divine itself, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 9670.)

[6] That by temple is signified the Lord's Divine Human, and at the same time heaven and the church, is evident in the following passages. In David:

"I will bow myself down toward thy holy temple, and I will confess thy name" (Psalms 138:2).

In Jonah:

"I said I am cast out from before thine eyes, but yet will I add to look back to the temple of thy holiness, and my prayer came to thee to the temple of thy holiness" (2:4, 7).

In Habakkuk:

"Jehovah in the temple of his holiness" (2:20).

In Matthew:

"Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! Ye fools and blind; for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?" (23:16, 17).

In John:

Jesus said unto them that sold in the temple, "Take these things hence; make not my Father's house an house of merchandize. Whence his disciples remembered that it was written, The zeal of thine house hath eaten me up" (2:16, 17).

[7] Besides the above, there are many passages in the Word where temple is mentioned, which I wish to adduce, in order that it may be known that heaven and the church are thereby meant, as also the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, lest the mind should adhere to the idea, that the temple alone is meant instead of something more holy; for the holiness of the temple of Jerusalem arose from the fact that it represented and signified what is holy.

That the temple signified heaven is clear from these passages. In David:

"I called upon Jehovah, and cried unto my God; he heard my voice out of his temple" (Psalms 18:6).

Again:

"A day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather stand at the door in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of wickedness" (Psalms 84:10).

Again:

"The just shall flourish like the palm-tree; he shall grow like the cedar in Lebanon. They who are planted in the house of Jehovah shall flourish in the courts of our God" (Psalms 92:12, 13).

Again:

"One thing have I desired of Jehovah, that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Jehovah, and to visit his temple in the morning" (Psalms 27:4).

Again:

"I shall be at rest in the house of Jehovah for length of days" (Psalms 23:6).

[8] In John:

Jesus said: "In my Father's house are many mansions" (14:2).

That heaven and the church are meant in these passages by the house of Jehovah and of the Father is clear. The church is also meant in the following passages. In Isaiah:

"Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire" (64:11).

In Jeremiah:

"I have forsaken my house, I have left mine heritage" (12:7).

In Haggai:

"I will stir up all nations, that the choice of all nations may come; and I will fill this house with glory. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than that of the former" (Haggai 2:7-9).

In Isaiah:

"He shall say to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid" (44:28).

The subject here treated of is the coming of the Lord, and the New Church to be then established. In Zechariah:

"The house of Jehovah was founded, that the temple may be built" (8:9).

Similarly in Daniel:

"Belshazzar commanded to bring the golden and silver vessels which his father Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem, that they might drink therein; and they drank wine, and praised the gods of gold, and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone and then writing appeared on the wall" (5:2-4).

By the golden and silver vessels which were brought from the temple of Jerusalem are signified the goods and truths of the church; by their drinking wine out of them, and praising the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and stone, is signified the profanation of them, on which account the writing appeared on the wall, and the king was changed from a man into a beast.

[9] In Matthew:

"His disciples came to him for to show him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said unto them, See ye all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be dissolved" (24:1, 2; Mark 13:1, 2; Luke 21:5, 6, 7).

That there should not be left of the temple one stone upon another which should not be dissolved, signifies the total destruction and vastation of the church; for stone signifies the truth of the church; and it therefore follows that the successive vastation of the church is treated of in those chapters in the Evangelists. In the Apocalypse:

"The angel stood, saying, Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar, and them that worship therein" (11:1).

By the temple here also is signified the church, and by measuring it, is signified to explore its quality. The signification of the new temple and its measurements, mentioned in Ezekiel, is similar (Ezekiel 40-47).

[10] That by temple is signified the Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, is evident from the following passages in Ezekiel:

"The glory of Jehovah went up from above the cherub over the threshold of the house; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the glory of Jehovah" (10:4).

By the house is here meant heaven and the church, and by the cloud and glory Divine truth. (That cloud denotes Divine truth may be seen above, n. 36; and that glory signifies the same, n. 33.)

[11] In Micah:

"Many nations shall go, and say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, and to the house of" our "God, that he may teach us of his ways, and that we may go in his paths; for from Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the word from Jerusalem" (4:2).

The mountain of Jehovah and the house of God signify the church, and similarly Zion and Jerusalem; to be taught of His ways, and to go in His paths, is to be instructed in Divine truths; therefore it is also said,

"From Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the word from Jerusalem."

[12] In Isaiah:

"The voice of the tumult from the city, the voice of Jehovah from the temple" (66:6).

By the city is meant the doctrine of truth, by temple, the church, and by the voice of Jehovah from the temple, Divine truth. In the Apocalypse:

"There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying" (16:17).

Here voice also denotes Divine truth. Again:

"The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of his covenant: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings" (11:19).

By lightnings, voices, and thunderings in the Word are signified Divine truths from heaven (see Arcana Coelestia 7573, 8914). And again:

"The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And the seven angels went out of the temple having the seven plagues. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power" (15:5, 6, 8).

The seven angels are said to go out of the temple in heaven, because by angels are signified Divine truths, as may be seen above (n. 130, 200). What is signified by smoke from the glory of God will be seen in the explanation of those words in the following pages. Moreover, it must be known that by the temple which was built by Solomon, as also by the house of the forest of Lebanon, and by each particular thing pertaining to them, as recorded in the first book of Kings (6 and 7), are signified spiritual and celestial things pertaining to the church and to heaven.

4545. 'And be purified, and change your garments' means the holiness that was to be put on. This is clear from the meaning of 'being purified' or being cleansed as being made holy, dealt with below, and from the meaning of 'changing one's garments' as putting on, in this case putting on holy truths, for in the internal sense of the Word truths are meant by 'garments'. It is quite evident that 'changing one's garments' was an accepted representative within the Church, but what that custom represented no one can know unless he knows what 'garments' means in the internal sense - namely truths, see 2576. Because in the internal sense the casting aside of falsities and the arrangement by good of truths within the natural is the subject here, it is therefore recorded that Jacob commanded them to change their garments.

[2] 'Changing their garments' was representative of the need to put on holy truths, as may also be seen from other places in the Word, as in Isaiah,

Awake, awake, put on your strength, O Zion, put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city, for there will no more come into you the uncircumcised and the unclean. Isaiah 52:1.

Since 'Zion' means the celestial Church and 'Jerusalem' the spiritual Church, and the celestial Church is that which dwells in good by virtue of its love to the Lord, and the spiritual Church in truth by virtue of its faith and charity, 'strength' is therefore used in reference to Zion, and 'garments' in reference to Jerusalem. And when clothed with these the two are 'clean'.

[3] In Zechariah,

Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and so stood before the angel. And [the angel] answered and said to those standing before him - he said - Remove the filthy garments from upon him. And he said to him, See, I have caused your iniquity to pass away from upon you, by putting on you a change of garments Zechariah 3:3-4.

From this place too it is evident that 'removing garments' and 'putting on a change of garments' represented purification from falsities, for the words 'I have caused your iniquity to pass away from upon you' are used. This also explains why people had changes of garments - which they called simply 'changes', an expression occurring in various places in the Word - because different representations were set forth by means of those changes.

[4] Because the kinds of things mentioned here were represented by changes of garments it is therefore said in Ezekiel, in the description of the new Temple, which in the internal sense means a new Church,

When the priests enter they shall not go out of the holy place to the outer court, but there shall lay aside their garments in which they have ministered, for these are holy, ¹ and they shall put on other garments and go near the things which are for the people. Ezekiel 42:14.

And in the same prophet,

When they go out to the outer court, to the people, they shall put off their garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers, and they shall put on other garments, and they shall not sanctify the people in their own garments. ² Ezekiel 44:19.

[5] Anyone may see that a new temple and the holy city and land which are referred to by the prophet in this chapter, and in the chapters before and after it, are not used to mean any new temple, new city, or new land. For reference is made to sacrifices and religious ceremonies being introduced anew, when in fact these had to be brought to an end; and mention is also made of how the tribes of Israel, referred to by name, were to divide the land among themselves into inheritances, when in fact they were dispersed and never returned to the land. From this it is evident that the religious ceremonies referred to in those chapters mean the spiritual and celestial things constituting the Church. Much the same is meant by Aaron's change of garments when he was going to minister, to offer a burnt offering; in Moses,

He shall put on his linen robe, and linen breeches. He shall place the ashes at the side of the altar. After he takes off his own garments and puts on other garments he shall carry away the ashes to a clean place outside the camp. Leviticus 6:9-12.

This was what he had to do when offering the burnt offering.

[6] As regards 'being cleansed' meaning being made holy, this may be seen from the cleansings that were commanded, such as the command to wash their flesh and their garments, and the command to be sprinkled with the waters of separation. Everyone who knows anything about the spiritual man may also recognize that nobody is made holy by carrying out commands such as these. For what does iniquity or sin have to do with the garments a person is wearing? Yet it is stated several times that after people had cleansed themselves they would be holy. From this it is also evident that such rituals which the Israelites were commanded to carry out were in no way holy except by virtue of their representation of holy things, and that as a consequence people who served as representers did not on that account become holy persons. It was the holiness they represented, quite apart from them as actual persons, that stirred the affections of the spirits present with them, and through these the affections of the angels in heaven, 4307.

[7] For in order that the human race may be kept in being, human beings must of necessity live in communication with heaven; and that communication is effected through the Church. Otherwise human beings would become like animals, lacking any restraints internally or externally, so that all would plunge unchecked into the destruction of others and would annihilate one another. And because in the time of the Israelites no communication through any Church was possible, the Lord therefore provided in an amazing way for a communication to be effected by means of representatives. It is evident from many places in the Word that being made holy was represented by the ritual observance of washing and cleansing, as when Jehovah came down on Mount Sinai and then said to Moses,

Make them holy today and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments and be ready on the third day. Exodus 19:10-11.

In Ezekiel,

I will sprinkle clean water over you, and you will be cleansed from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit will I give in the midst of you. Ezekiel 36:25-26.

Here it is plain that 'sprinkling clean water' represented purification of the heart, so that 'being cleansed' means being made holy.

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