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.

142. The SECOND difference is that to the angels the east is always facing them, the west behind, the south to the right and the north to the left. But since this can scarcely be comprehended in the world, because man turns his face to every quarter, it will, therefore, be explained. The entire heaven turns to the Lord as to its common centre, thus all the angels turn to Him. It is known that also on the earth there is a directing of all things towards a common centre. But there is this difference between the directing in the world and in heaven, that in heaven the front parts are turned to their common centre, but in the world the lower parts. In the world this directing is called centripetal force and also gravitation. The interiors of the angels are indeed actually turned forwards; and since the interiors manifest themselves in the face, therefore it is the face that determines the quarters. ¹

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