1. ON THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH, AND THE MEANING OF 'THE NEW JERUSALEM'

In Revelation we read:

I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. The city had a great, high wall, which had twelve gates, and twelve angels on the gates, and the names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, on which were the twelve names of the apostles of the Lamb. The city lay square, its length the same as its breadth. And he measured the city with a rod, making twelve thousand furlongs; and its length and its breadth and its height were equal. And he measured its wall as a hundred and forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, which is that of an angel. Its wall was of jasper, but the city itself pure gold, like pure glass; and the foundations of the wall were of every precious stone. The twelve gates were twelve pearls; and the street of the city pure gold like transparent glass. The glory of God gave it light, and its lantern was the Lamb. The nations which have been saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring to it their glory and honour. Revelation 21:1-2, 12-24.

Anyone reading these words can only understand them in their literal sense. That is, that the sky and the earth will perish, and a new heaven will come into existence; the holy city Jerusalem will come down upon a new earth, and will agree in its measurements with the description. But the angels understand these words quite differently. They understand spiritually what human beings understand naturally. The real meaning is what the angels understand, and that is the internal or spiritual sense of the Word.

A new heaven and a new earth means, in the internal or spiritual sense understood by angels, a new church both in the heavens and on earth. (I shall speak about the church in both places later on.) The city of Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven means its heavenly teaching. Its length, breadth and height, which are equal means everything good and true in its teaching taken as a whole. Its wall means the truths which protect it. The measurement of the wall, which was a hundred and forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, which is that of an angel, means all the truths that protect it taken together, and what they are like. The twelve gates made of pearls mean the truths which lead into it, and the twelve angels on the gates likewise. The foundations of the wall which were of every precious stone mean the items of knowledge on which that teaching is based. The twelve tribes of Israel mean everything belonging to the church in general and in particular; likewise the twelve apostles. The gold like pure glass, of which the city and its street are made, mean the good of love which makes the teaching with its truths shine through. The nations who are saved, and the kings of the earth who will bring to it glory and honour, mean all the people in the church who possess good and truth. God and the Lamb mean the Lord as regards His Divinity and His Divine Humanity.

Such is the spiritual sense of the Word; the natural or literal sense serves as its foundation. But still the two senses, the spiritual and the natural, make one by their correspondence. There is not room here to show that all these statements contain that spiritual meaning; that is not the purpose of this book. But they can be seen demonstrated in my ARCANA CAELESTIA.

7831. 'On the tenth of this month' means the state of the initiation of the interiors. This is clear from the meaning of 'the tenth' - day, that is to say - as the state of the interiors. For 'day' means state, 23, 487, 488, 493, 576, 893, 1738, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 5672, and 'ten' means remnants, 576, 1906, 2284, that is, the truths and forms of good stored away by the Lord in a person's interiors, 1050, 1906, 2284, 5135, 5897, 7560, 7564. And since the remnants reside in his interiors, and they are used to prepare the person for and initiate him into receiving goodness and truth from the Lord, 'the tenth day' here means the state of the initiation of the interiors. With regard to a person's being regenerated by means of remnants, and so to his being initiated by means of them into receiving the inflow of goodness and truth from the Lord, see 5342, 5898, 6156, and with regard to his contact with heaven through them, 7560, for those forms of good and truths originate in the Lord, not in man, 7564. 'Month' is used to mean a whole state from start to finish, 7814, thus the complete state of deliverance, which the Passover in its entirety means. From all this it is evident that 'on the tenth of this month' means the state of the initiation of the interiors. This state - of the initiation of the interiors - lasted from the tenth day of that month through to the fourteenth day of it, between which days the Passover animal was to be held in safe keeping. 'The Passover animal' means the good of innocence, which is inmost; thus this good which is inmost, together with the interiors in which it resides, was in the meantime to be isolated and kept away from such things as defile it. This state is the state of the initiation of the interiors, that is, of being made ready to receive the inflow of goodness and truth from the Lord. This is the holy meaning contained in the words under consideration, for without that holy meaning deeply concealed within them no command would have been given for the Passover animal to be taken on the tenth of the month and held in safe keeping until the fourteenth day, or for it to be slaughtered after that between the evenings, and to be eaten roasted with fire and not boiled in water. Nor would they have been commanded not to leave any of it till morning, to burn with fire what remained, not to break a bone of it, and much else. These regulations, as anyone who ponders on them may recognize, have to do with things of a holy nature which no one is as yet acquainted with; and these holy things are spiritual ones that belong to the Church and heaven, and that are concerned with the Divine from whom every detail of the Word has come down.

7215. 'And Moses spoke in this way to the children of Israel' means an exhortation from the law of God to those who belonged to the Lord's spiritual kingdom. This is clear from the meaning of 'speaking' as an exhortation, for he spoke to them what Jehovah had commanded him; from the representation of 'Moses' as the law of God, dealt with in 6723, 6752; and from the representation of 'the children of Israel' as the Lord's spiritual kingdom, dealt with in 6426, 6637.