启示录 21
1
我又看见一个新天新地；因为先前的天地已经过去了，海也不再有了。
2
我又看见圣城新耶路撒冷由神那里从天而降，预备好了，就如新妇妆饰整齐，等候丈夫。
3
我听见有大声音从宝座出来说：看哪，神的帐幕在人间。他要与人同住，他们要作他的子民。神要亲自与他们同在，作他们的神。
4
神要擦去他们一切的眼泪；不再有死亡，也不再有悲哀、哭号、疼痛，因为以前的事都过去了。
5
坐宝座的说：看哪，我将一切都更新了！又说：你要写上；因这些话是可信的，是真实的。
6
他又对我说：都成了！我是阿拉法，我是俄梅戛；我是初，我是终。我要将生命泉的水白白赐给那口渴的人喝。
7
得胜的，必承受这些为业：我要作他的神，他要作我的儿子。
8
惟有胆怯的、不信的、可憎的、杀人的、淫乱的、行邪术的、拜偶像的，和一切说谎话的，他们的分就在烧着硫磺的火湖里；这是第二次的死。
9
拿着七个金碗、盛满末後七灾的七位天使中，有一位来对我说：你到这里来，我要将新妇，就是羔羊的妻，指给你看。
10
我被圣灵感动，天使就带我到一座高大的山，将那由神那里、从天而降的圣城耶路撒冷指示我。
11
城中有神的荣耀；城的光辉如同极贵的宝石，好像碧玉，明如水晶。
12
有高大的墙，有十二个门，门上有十二位天使；门上又写着以色列十二个支派的名字。
16
城是四方的，长宽一样。天使用苇子量那城，共有四千里，长、宽、高都是一样；
17
又量了城墙，按着人的尺寸，就是天使的尺寸，共有一百四十四肘。
19
城墙的根基是用各样宝石修饰的：第一根基是碧玉；第二是蓝宝石；第三是绿玛瑙；第四是绿宝石；
20
第五是红玛瑙；第六是红宝石；第七是黄璧玺；第八是水苍玉；第九是红璧玺；第十是翡翠；第十一是紫玛瑙；第十二是紫晶。
21
十二个门是十二颗珍珠，每门是一颗珍珠。城内的街道是精金，好像明透的玻璃。
22
我未见城内有殿，因主神─全能者和羔羊为城的殿。
23
那城内又不用日月光照；因有神的荣耀光照，又有羔羊为城的灯。
24
列国要在城的光里行走；地上的君王必将自己的荣耀归与那城。
25
城门白昼总不关闭，在那里原没有黑夜。
Apocalypse Revealed #176
176. "'See, I have set before you an open door.'" (3:8) This symbolically means that to those who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord, heaven is opened.
An open door clearly symbolizes an entryway. The door is said to be open for people who belong to the church in Philadelphia because people governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord are meant by that church, and to them the Lord opens heaven.
But on this subject we will say something previously not known: The Lord alone is God of heaven and earth (Matthew 28:18), 1 and consequently people who do not go to Him directly do not see the way to heaven and therefore do not find the door. If by chance they are permitted to approach it, it is closed, and if someone knocks, it is not opened.
In the spiritual world there are actually paths that lead to heaven, and here and there one finds gates. People who are being led by the Lord to heaven go along paths that lead to it, and they enter through the gates. The existence of paths in that world may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell, nos. 479 534, 590, and also gates, nos. 429, 430, 583, 584. For everything seen in the heavens is a correspondent form, and so, too, are paths and gates. Paths, indeed, correspond to truths and consequently symbolize them, and gates correspond to an entryway and so symbolize it.
[2] Since the Lord alone leads a person to heaven and opens the door, therefore He calls Himself the way and also the door - the way in John,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. (John 14:6)
And in the same gospel the door,
I am the door of the sheep... If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved... (John 10:7, 9)
Since both ways and doors exist in the spiritual world, and angelic spirits actually travel along those ways or paths and enter through doors when they enter into heaven, therefore doors and gates are often mentioned in the Word, and they symbolize an entryway, as in the following passages:
Lift up your heads, O you gates! Lift up, you doors of the world! That the King of glory may come in. (Psalms 24:7, 9)
Open the gates, that the righteous nation which exercises faithfulness may enter in. (Isaiah 26:2)
(The five wise virgins) went in... to the wedding, and the door was shut. (Then the five foolish virgins came and knocked, but it was not opened.) (Matthew 25:10-12)
(Jesus said,) "Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many... will seek to enter and will not be able. (Luke 13:24-25)
And so also elsewhere.
Because a door symbolizes an entryway, and the New Jerusalem symbolizes a church formed of people who are governed by truths springing from goodness derived from the Lord, therefore the New Jerusalem is described also in respect to its gates, with angels upon them, and they are said to be not shut (Revelation 21:12-13, 25).
Fusnotat:
1. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, "All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth." (Matthew 28:18
