879. 21:2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. This symbolizes the New Church to be established by the Lord at the end of the previous one, which will be affiliated with the New Heaven and possess Divine truths in its doctrine and in its life.

John mentions himself by name here, saying "I, John," because as an apostle he symbolizes the goodness of love toward the Lord and the attendant goodness of life. Consequently he was more loved than any of the rest of the apostles, and at the Last Supper he reclined on the Lord's breast (John 13:23; 21:20). And this church, which is the subject here, has a similar symbolism.

That Jerusalem symbolizes the church will be seen in the next number. It is called a city and described as a city because of its doctrine and its life in accordance with that doctrine. For a city in the spiritual sense symbolizes doctrine (nos. 194, 712). It is called a holy city owing to the presence of the Lord, who alone is holy, and owing to the Divine truths from the Word that it has in it from the Lord, which are called holy (nos. 173, 586, 666, 852). And it is called new, because He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:5). It is also said to be coming down from God out of heaven because it descends from the Lord through the New Christian Heaven, as said in no. 876 in the exposition of verse 1 in this chapter. For the church on earth is formed by the Lord through heaven, in order that heaven and the church may be in harmony and affiliated.

9487. 'Two cubits and a half shall be its length' means all so far as good is concerned. This is clear from the meaning of 'two and a half' as much and as what is complete, and as all when this number has reference to something Divine (the reason why 'two and a half' means much and what is complete is that this number is similar in meaning to five, ten, a hundred, and a thousand, since twice two and a half makes five, twice five makes ten, and ten times ten makes a hundred; for doubles and multiples have a similar meaning to the simple numbers of which they are the products, 5291, 5335, 5708, 7973. For the meaning of 'five' as much and completeness, see 5708, 5956, 9102; likewise 'ten', 3107, 4638; also 'a hundred', 2636, 4400; and a thousand, 2575, 8715. So it is that when these numbers are used in reference to something Divine they mean all); and from the meaning of 'length' as good, dealt with in 1613, 8898.

[2] To say that 'length' in the Word means good and 'breadth' truth may seem to be like nonsense; nevertheless this is indeed what they mean. The reason why they do so is that all things without exception in the Word mean realities such as belong to heaven and to the Church, and so such as are connected with the good of love and with the truth of faith. No spatial dimensions such as 'length' and 'breadth' imply can be attributed to these; but instead of spatial dimensions the state of their essential being (esse), which is a state of good, and the resulting state of manifestation (existere), which is a state of truth, can be attributed to them. Furthermore in heaven spatial dimensions are appearances produced by those states, 4882, 9440. From all this it becomes clear that spiritual realities are meant by the measurements and dimensions given in Chapters 40-48 of Ezekiel, where a new temple and a new land are the subject. They are consequently meant here in Exodus, where the ark, the dwelling-place, the court, the tables there, and the altars are the subject. Such realities are in a similar way meant where the temple in Jerusalem is the subject, also when it says that the holy Jerusalem coming down from heaven was square, its breadth being as great as its length, Revelation 21:16; Zechariah 2:1-2. For 'Jerusalem' means a new Church, the character of its good being meant by the measurement of its length, and the character of its truth by that of its breadth.

[3] The fact that 'breadth' or 'broad place' means truth is plainly evident in David,

In distress I called on Jah; He answered me in a broad place. Psalms 118:5.

In the same author,

You have made my feet stand in a broad place. Psalms 31:8.

In Isaiah,

The outstretchings of Asshur's wings will fill the breadth of the land. Isaiah 8:8.

In Habakkuk,

I am rousing the Chaldeans, a bitter and hasty nation, marching ¹ into the breadths of the earth. Habakkuk 1:6.

'Marching into the breadths of the earth', when said of the Chaldeans, means destroying the truths of faith.

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