64. Jerusalem, in the Word, means the church in respect to doctrine, because the Temple, the Altar, the offering of sacrifices, thus Divine worship itself were there, in the land of Canaan, and nowhere else. The three annual feasts were therefore also celebrated there, and every male throughout the land was commanded to go to them. For that reason Jerusalem symbolizes the church in respect to its worship, and so also the church in respect to its doctrine. For worship is prescribed in doctrine, and is conducted in accordance with it. In addition, the Lord was active in Jerusalem and taught in its Temple, and afterward glorified His humanity there.

Furthermore, in the Word in its spiritual sense a city symbolizes doctrine. The Holy City therefore symbolizes a doctrine of Divine truth from the Lord. ¹

[2] That Jerusalem means the church in respect to its doctrine is apparent also from other passages in the Word. For example, from the following:

In Isaiah:

For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as a radiance, and her salvation as a burning lamp. Then the nations shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah will utter. You shall also be a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.... ...Jehovah will be well pleased by you, and your land shall be married.... Behold, your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him.... And they shall call them a holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and you shall be called a city sought, not forsaken. (Isaiah 62:1-4, 11-12)

This whole chapter deals with the Lord’s advent and a new church to be established by Him. The new church is the one meant by Jerusalem, which will be called “by a new name which the mouth of Jehovah will utter, ” which will be “a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of God, ” by which Jehovah will be “well pleased, ” and which will be called “a city sought, not forsaken.”

This cannot mean the Jerusalem inhabited by Jews when the Lord came into the world, for it was altogether of an opposite character. Rather it deserved to have been called Sodom, as it is in fact called in Revelation 11:8, Isaiah 3:9, Jeremiah 23:14, and Ezekiel 16:46, 48.

[3] Elsewhere in Isaiah:

...behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth; the former shall not be remembered.... ...be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; ...behold, I will create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem, and be glad over My people.... (Then) the wolf and the lamb shall feed together.... They shall not do harm...in all My holy mountain.... (Isaiah 65:17-19, 25)

The subject in this chapter as well is the Lord’s advent and the church that He will establish — a church that was not established among the inhabitants of Jerusalem, but among surrounding peoples. Consequently it is this church that is meant by Jerusalem, which will be for the Lord a rejoicing, and whose people will be for Him a joy, and where the wolf and the lamb will feed together and not do harm.

Here, too, we are told, as we are in the book of Revelation, that the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, where they have a similar meaning. And we are also told that He will create Jerusalem.

[4] Elsewhere in Isaiah:

Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come into you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down, O Jerusalem! ...My people shall know My name...in that day, for I am He who speaks. Behold, it is I.... ...Jehovah has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. (Isaiah 52:1-2, 6, 9)

In this chapter also the subject is the Lord’s advent and a church to be established by Him. Consequently the Jerusalem into which the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come, and which the Lord has redeemed, means the church; and Jerusalem, the holy city, means the church in respect to its doctrine received from the Lord.

[5] In Zephaniah:

Sing, O daughter of Zion! ...Be glad...with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ...The King of Israel...is in your midst; fear evil no more.... He will be glad over you with joy, He will rest in your love, He will rejoice over you with jubilation.... ...I will give you fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth.... (Zephaniah 3:14-17, 20)

Here, likewise, the subject is the Lord and the church to be established by Him, over which the King of Israel, namely the Lord, will be glad with joy and rejoice with jubilation, in whose love He will rest, and to whom He will give fame and praise among all the peoples of the earth.

[6] In Isaiah:

Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer, and He who formed you..., who says to Jerusalem, “You shall be inhabited, ” and to the cities of Judah, “You shall be built.” (Isaiah 44:24, 26)

And in Daniel:

Know and understand that from the going forth of the word to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks.... (Daniel 9:25)

Jerusalem here, too, means the church, as is apparent, since the Lord restored and rebuilt the church, but not Jerusalem, the capital city of the Jews.

[7] Jerusalem means a church established by the Lord in the following places as well.

In Zechariah:

Thus said Jehovah: “I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. (Therefore) Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of hosts, the Holy Mountain.” (Zechariah 8:3, cf. 8:20-23)

In Joel:

Then you shall know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. And Jerusalem shall be holy.... And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk.... And...shall abide...Jerusalem from generation to generation. (Joel 3:17-20)

In Isaiah:

In that day the offshoot of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious.... And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy — everyone who is recorded for life in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 4:2-3)

In Micah:

...at the end of days the mountain of Jehovah’s house shall be established on top of the mountains.... For out of Zion the doctrine shall go forth, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.... ...to you...the former kingdom shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2, 8)

In Jeremiah:

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall be gathered..., because of the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. No more shall they follow the confirmation of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17)

In Isaiah:

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feast; let your eyes behold Jerusalem, a tranquil home, a tabernacle that will not go away. Its stakes will never be removed, nor will any of its cords be torn away. (Isaiah 33:20)

And so on also elsewhere, as in Isaiah 24:23, 37:32, 66:10-14; Zechariah 12:3, 6, 8-10, 14:8, 11-12, 21; Malachi 3:2, 4; Psalms 122:1-7, 137:4-6.

[8] Jerusalem in these places means a church which the Lord will establish, and also one that He has established, and not the Jerusalem in the land of Canaan inhabited by Jews; and this can be seen as well from places in the Word where we are told that it has been utterly ruined, or that it will be destroyed. As, for example, in Jeremiah 5:1, 6:6-7, 7:17-18ff, 8:6-8ff, 9:11-12, 14ff, 13:9-10, 14, 14:16; Lamentations 1:8-9, 17; Ezekiel 4:1-17, 5:9-17, 12:18-19, 15:6-8, 16:1-63, 23:1-49; Matthew 23:37, 39; Luke 19:41-44, 21:20-22, 23:28-30. And many other places.

Notas de rodapé:

2447. 'From Jehovah out of heaven' means from the laws of order in regard to truth, because they separate themselves from good. This does not become clear except from the internal sense, by means of which the truth of the matter regarding forms of punishment and condemnation is disclosed, namely that the author of these is in no sense Jehovah or the Lord, but man, evil spirit, or devil himself; and this is so from the laws of order in regard to truth because they separate themselves from good.

[2] All order begins in Jehovah, that is, in the Lord, and it is in accordance with that order that He rules over every single thing. But there is much variation to His rule; that is to say, it may be His Will, or His Good Pleasure, or His Consent, or His Permission from which He rules. Things that have their origin in His will or in His good pleasure are products of laws of order which have regard to what is good, as also do many things that exist by His consent, and even some that do so by His permission. But when a person separates himself from good he subjects himself to the laws of order which are those of truth separated from good and which are such as condemn. For all truth condemns a person and casts him down into hell; but out of good, that is, out of mercy, the Lord rescues him and raises him up into heaven. From this it is clear that it is a person himself who condemns himself.

[3] Things that are the result of permission are for the most part of this nature - for example, besides countless others, the fact that one devil punishes and torments another. These things are from the laws of order in regard to truth separated from good, for there is no other way in which such devils could be kept under control and prevented from rushing on all the good and upright and destroying them eternally. The prevention of their doing this is the good which the Lord has in view. This is similar to what happens on earth where a benign and compassionate ruler exists who intends and does nothing but good. If he did not allow his laws to punish evil and criminal persons - though he himself punishes nobody but instead grieves that those people are such that their evils must punish them - he would leave his kingdom itself open to plunder by such people; and this would be a manifestation of a complete lack of benignity and compassion.

[4] From these considerations it is evident that Jehovah in no way rained down brimstone and fire, that is, condemned to hell, but that those subject to evil and to falsity which arises out of this did so, the reason being that they separated themselves from good and in so doing put themselves under the laws of order deriving from truth alone. From all this it follows that such is the internal sense of these words.

[5] In the Word, evil, punishment, cursing, condemnation, and many other things are attributed to Jehovah or the Lord, similar to the attribution here that He rained brimstone and fire: in Ezekiel,

I will dispute with him with pestilence and blood; fire and brimstone will I rain on him. Ezekiel 38:22.

In Isaiah,

The breath of Jehovah is like a stream of burning brimstone. Isaiah 30:33.

In David,

Jehovah will rain on the wicked snares, fire and brimstone. Psalms 11:6.

In the same author,

Smoke went up out of His nose, and fire out of His mouth devoured; glowing coals flamed forth from Him. Psalms 18:8-9.

In Jeremiah,

Lest My wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it. Jeremiah 21:12.

In Moses,

Fire has flared up in My anger, and will burn right down to the lowest hell. Deuteronomy 32:22.

Similar attributions occur in many other places besides these. Why in the Word such things are attributed, as has been stated, to Jehovah or the Lord has been explained in Volume One, in 223, 245, 589, 592, 696, 735, 1093, 1683, 1874. The idea that such things come from the Lord is as remote from the truth as good is from evil, or heaven from hell, or what is Divine from what is of the devil. Evil, hell, and the devil do those things, and in no way the Lord who is mercy itself and good itself. But because those things do seem to come from Him, for reasons presented in the paragraphs just quoted, they are attributed to Him.

[6] From the wording of this verse, 'Jehovah rained from Jehovah out of heaven', it seems in the sense of the letter as though there were two of Them - one on earth, and one in heaven. But the internal sense teaches how this matter is to be understood, namely as follows: The Jehovah mentioned first means the Lord's Divine Human and His Holy proceeding, which in this chapter are meant by 'the two men', while the Jehovah mentioned second means the Divine itself, called the Father, who is referred to in the previous chapter. The internal sense also teaches that this Trinity exists within the Lord, as He Himself says in John,

He who has seen Me has seen the Father. Believe Me that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me. John 14:9-11.

And referring to the Holy proceeding He says in the same gospel,

The Paraclete will not speak from Himself. He will receive it from what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-15.

Thus there is but one Jehovah even though two are mentioned here. Two are mentioned because all laws of order spring from the Lord's Divine itself, Divine Human, and Holy proceeding.