คร่ำครวญ 1:3
Many thanks to Philip Pope for the permission to use his 2003 translation of the English King James Version Bible into Thai. Here's a link to the mission's website: www.thaipope.org
Apocalypse Revealed # 879
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.
Heaven and Hell # 142
142. A second difference is that for angels, the east is always in front of them, the west behind them, south on the right, and north on the left. However, since this is hard to understand in this world, because we turn our faces in all different directions, it needs to be explained.
All heaven turns toward the Lord as its common center, so all angels turn in the same direction. It is recognized that everything points to a common center on earth as well, but the orientation in heaven is different from that on earth. In heaven, it is the forward parts that are turned toward the common center, while on earth it is the lower parts. This orientation in our world is what we call centripetal, and also gravitational. The deeper levels of angels are effectively turned forward; and since these deeper levels manifest themselves in the face, it is the face that determines the orientation. 1
Notas de rodapé:
1. [Swedenborg's footnote] All the people in heaven turn toward the Lord: 9828, 10130, 10189, 10219. Still, angels do not turn themselves toward the Lord; rather, the Lord turns them toward himself: 10189. There is no presence of angels with the Lord, but there is a presence of the Lord with angels: 9415.
