16. The state of the Church from the Word, as represented in the Prophets, is what is meant by their bearing the iniquities and sins of the people. This is evident from what is said of the prophet Isaiah,

That he went naked and barefoot three years, for a sign and a wonder. Isaiah 20:3; and of the prophet Ezekiel,

That he brought out the stuff for removing ... and covered his face that he might not see the ground. That thus he was a sign to the house of Israel, and

Also said, I am your sign. Ezekiel 12:3-11.

[2] That this was bearing their iniquities, manifestly appears in Ezekiel, when he was commanded to lie three hundred and ninety days on his left side, and forty days on his right side, against Jerusalem, and to eat a cake of barley made with cow's dung; where we read thus:

Lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it; according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I will give thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days: that thou mayest bear the iniquity of the house of Israel.

And when thou hast accomplished them, thou shalt lie again upon thy right side, that thou mayest bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days. Ezekiel 4:4-6.

[3] It is evident from what follows in the same chapter that the prophet, by thus bearing the iniquities of the house of Israel and the house of Judah, did not take them away and so expiate them, but only represented and demonstrated them:

Jehovah said, Even thus shall the Children of Israel eat their defiled bread among the nations, whither I will drive them ...

Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem ...

That they may lack bread and water, and be desolate, a man (vir) and his brother, and waste away for their iniquity. Ezekiel 4:13, 16-17.

[4] So when the same prophet showed himself, and said,

Lo, I am your sign, it is also added, As I have done, so shall it be done unto them. Ezekiel 12:6, 11.

The meaning is similar where it is said of the Lord,

He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows.

... Jehovah hath laid on Him the iniquities of us all....

By His knowledge He hath justified many, because He hath borne their iniquities. [Isaiah 53:4, 6, 11].

[5] Here the passion of the Lord is treated of throughout the whole chapter.

That the Lord Himself, as the Greatest Prophet, represented the state of the Church as to the Word, appears from the particulars of His passion, as: He was betrayed by Judas: He was taken and condemned by the chief priests and elders: they buffeted Him and smote Him on the head with a reed: they put a crown of thorns (upon His head): they divided His garments and cast lots for His vesture: they crucified Him: they gave Him vinegar to drink and pierced His side: He was buried and rose again on the third day.

[6] His being betrayed by Judas signified that He was betrayed by the Jewish nation, with whom the Word then was; for Judas represented that nation. His being taken and condemned by the chief priests and elders signified that He was taken and condemned by the whole of that Church. Their scourging Him, spitting in His face, buffeting Him and smiting Him on the head with a reed, signified that they did the like to the Word, with respect to its Divine truths, which all treat of the Lord. Their putting a crown of thorns (on His head), signified that they had falsified and adulterated those truths. Their dividing His garments and casting lots for His vesture, signified that they had dispersed all the truths of the Word, but not its spiritual sense: for the vesture of the Lord signified this sense of the Word. Their crucifying Him signified that they had destroyed and profaned the whole Word. Their offering Him vinegar to drink signified that all was utterly falsified and false and therefore He did not drink it, and then said It is finished. Their piercing His side signified that they had completely extinguished all the truth of the Word and all its good. His being buried signified the rejection of what still remained of the Human derived from the mother.

[7] His rising again on the third day signified His glorification. Such also is signified by the same things in the Prophets and in the Psalms where they are foretold.

On this account also, after He had been scourged and led out wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe was put on Him by the soldiers, He ¹ said: Behold the Man! (John 19:1-5). This was said because by man is signified the Church, for by the Son of Man is signified the truth of the Church, and consequently the Word. Now it is evident from these things that by bearing iniquities is meant to represent and portray in Himself sins against the Divine truths of the Word.

That the Lord endured and suffered such treatment as the Son of Man, and not as the Son of God, will be seen in what follows; for the Son of Man signifies the Lord as to the Word.

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