26
Ja tämä on sen selitys: mene merkitsee: Jumala on laskenut sinun valtakuntasi luvun ja on tehnyt siitä lopun.
Daniel 5:26
Apocalypse Revealed #914
914. 21:19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. This symbolically means that all of the doctrines of the New Jerusalem taken from the Word's literal sense will, among the people in that church, be seen in a state of light, in accordance with their reception of it.
The twelve foundations symbolize all of the church's doctrines (no. 902). The wall symbolizes the Word in its literal sense (no. 898). The holy city Jerusalem symbolizes the Lord's New Church (nos. 879, 880). Precious stones symbolize the Word in its literal sense with its spiritual sense shining through (nos. 231, 540, 726, 911). And because this depends on its reception, therefore the symbolic meaning is that all of the doctrines from the Word among the people in that church will be seen in a state of light in accordance with their reception of it.
People who fail to think rationally cannot believe that everything connected with the New Church can be seen in a state of light. But I assure them that it is possible, for everyone has an outer thought and an inner one. The inner thought thinks in the light of heaven and is called perception, while the outer thought thinks in the light of the world. Moreover the intellect in everyone is so formed that it can be raised even into the light of heaven, and also is raised if it is moved by some delight to wish to see a truth. The reality of this is something I have been given to know through long experience, and marvelous things as a result of it may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Providence, and still more in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom. For the delight of love and wisdom elevates the thought to see that something is so, as though in a state of light, even if it had not heard it before. This light that enlightens the mind flows in from no other source than the Lord and heaven. And because people who will be those of the New Jerusalem will turn directly to the Lord, this light will flow in in the orderly way, namely through the will's love into the intellect's perception.
[2] On the other hand, people who entrench in themselves this dogma, that the intellect in theological matters is not going to see anything, but that people must believe blindly whatever the church teaches - people like that cannot see any truth in a state of light, for they have blocked up the path of the light in themselves.
The Protestant Reformed church has retained this dogma from the Roman Catholic religion, which holds that no one but the church - by which they mean the Pope or Papal Consistory - is to interpret the Word, and that anyone who does not embrace with faith all of the doctrines handed down by the church is to be regarded as a heretic and as an anathema or one accursed. The fact of this is clear from the concluding session of the Council of Trent, which established all the dogmas of that religion, where it says toward the end:
Then... Morone, the... President, ...said, ."..go in peace."
There followed acclamations, and among them those of the Cardinal of Lorraine and the Fathers:
[The Cardinal:] We all thus believe; we all think the very same; we all, consenting and embracing [them], subscribe. This is the faith of blessed Peter, and of the Apostles: this is the faith of the Fathers: This is the faith of the Orthodox....
[The Fathers:] So be it... Amen, Amen.
[The Cardinal:] Anathema to all heretics.
[The Fathers:] Anathema, anathema.
The decrees of that Council are those we presented in summary previously at the outset of this work, and they contain, indeed, scarcely one truth.
[3] We have cited this to make known that the Protestant Reformed have retained this blind faith, that is, a faith without understanding, from the Roman Catholic religion, and those who continue to hold onto it cannot be enlightened by the Lord in Divine truths.
As long as the intellect is held captive in obedience to faith, or as long as the intellect is set aside so as not to see the church's truths, theology becomes nothing but a matter of the memory; and a matter of the memory alone fades away, like any matter disconnected from a judgment concerning it, and it perishes from its own lack of clarity. People like that are therefore "blind leaders of the blind," and when "the blind leads the blind, both fall into a ditch" (Matthew 15:14).
They are blind also because they do not enter by the door, but in some other way. 1 For Jesus said:
I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture. (John 10:9)
To find pasture means to be instructed, enlightened, and nourished in Divine truths.
All those who do not enter by the door, that is, by the Lord, are in that same chapter called "thieves and robbers." But those who enter by the door, that is, by the Lord, are called "shepherds of the sheep" (John 10:1-2).
Therefore turn to the Lord, my friend, refrain from evils as being sins, and reject faith alone. And then your intellect will be opened, and you will see marvels and be affected by them.
Fotnoter:
Revelation 20
1
And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.
2
And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,
3
And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.
4
And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
5
But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6
Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
7
And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
8
And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
9
And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
10
And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
12
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
13
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
14
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
15
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
