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Zechariah 8

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1 And the word of Jehovah of Armies was to me, saying,

2 Thus says Jehovah of Armies: I was·​·zealous for Zion with great zeal, and with great fury I was·​·zealous for her.

3 Thus says Jehovah: I have returned to Zion, and will reside in the midst of Jerusalem; and Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah of Armies the holy mountain.

4 Thus says Jehovah of Armies: Old men and old women shall still dwell in the avenues of Jerusalem, and a man with his staff in his hand from many days;

5 and the avenues of the city shall be·​·full of boys and girls playing in her avenues.

6 Thus says Jehovah of Armies: That which will be wonderful in the eyes of those who·​·are·​·left of this people in these days, will it even be wonderful in My eyes, says Jehovah of Armies?

7 Thus says Jehovah of Armies; Behold, I will save My people from the land of the sunrise, and from the land of the going·​·in of the sun.

8 and I will bring them, and they shall reside in the midst of Jerusalem; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in truth and in justice.

9 Thus says Jehovah of Armies: Let your hands be·​·firm, you who hear in these days these words from the mouth of the prophets, who were in the day that the house of Jehovah of Armies was founded, that the temple might be built.

10 For before these days there was not a wage for mankind, and there was no wage for the beast; and for him who went·​·out and for him who came·​·in there was no peace from the adversary; for I sent·​·out all mankind, a man against his companion.

11 But now I will not be to what·​·is·​·left of this people as in the first days, says Jehovah of Armies.

12 For the seed shall be of peace; the vine shall give her fruit, and the land shall give her produce, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause what·​·is·​·left of this people to inherit all these things.

13 And it shall be, that as you were a curse among the nations, O house of Judah, and house of Israel, so I will save you, and you shall be a blessing; fear not; let your hands be·​·firm.

14 For thus says Jehovah of Armies: As I purposed to do·​·evil to you when your fathers enraged Me, says Jehovah of Armies, and I repented not,

15 so returning I have purposed in these days to do·​·good to Jerusalem and to the house of Judah; fear ye not.

16 These are the words that you shall do; Speak ye the truth, a man with his companion; judge the truth and the judgment of peace in your gates;

17 and think not evil, a man against his companion, in your hearts, and love not a false promise; for all these are things that I hate, says Jehovah.

18 And the word of Jehovah of Armies was unto me, saying,

19 Thus says Jehovah of Armies: The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be for the house of Judah for joy and for gladness, and for good, solemn festivals; therefore love the truth and the peace.

20 Thus says Jehovah of Armies: There shall yet come peoples and those who dwell in many cities;

21 and they who dwell in one city shall go to another one, saying, Going, let us go to implore the faces of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of Armies; I also will go.

22 And many peoples and numerous nations shall come to seek Jehovah of Armies in Jerusalem, and to implore the faces of Jehovah.

23 Thus says Jehovah of Armies: In those days it shall be that ten men from all the tongues of the nations shall hold·​·firm, and they shall hold·​·firm on the wing of the garment* of a man, a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.

   


Thanks to the Kempton Project for the permission to use this New Church translation of the Word.

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Apocalypse Revealed #883

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883. "And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. And He Himself will be with them their God." This symbolizes their conjunction with the Lord, which is of such a nature that the people are in Him and He in them.

His dwelling with them symbolizes a conjunction of the Lord with them, as we will see below. The people's being His people, and His being with them their God, symbolically means that they are the Lord's, and that He is their Lord. Moreover, because dwelling with them symbolizes conjunction, it symbolically means that they will be in the Lord and have the Lord in them. Otherwise there is no conjunction. That this is the nature of the conjunction is clearly apparent from the Lord's words in John:

Abide in Me, and I in you... I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. (John 15:4-5)

And elsewhere:

At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. (John 14:20)

He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. (John 6:56)

[2] The Lord's assuming a humanity and uniting it with the Divinity He had in Him from birth, which is called the Father, had as its goal a conjunction with people, as is apparent also in John:

For their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they also may be sanctified in the truth..., that they may be one as We are one: I in them, and You in Me. (John 17:19, 21-23, 26)

It follows from this that the conjunction is formed with the Lord's Divine humanity, that it is a reciprocal one, and that this is the only means of conjunction with the Divine called the Father.

[3] The Lord also teaches that the conjunction is formed by the Word's truths and by living in accordance with them (John 14:20-24; 15:7).

This, then, is what is meant by the Lord's dwelling with them and their being His people, and His being with them their God. So, too, elsewhere where the same words occur: Jeremiah 7:23; 11:4; Ezekiel 14:11; Jeremiah 24:7; 30:22; Ezekiel 11:20; 36:28; 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8; Exodus 29:45.

[4] To dwell with them symbolizes a conjunction with them because to dwell symbolizes conjunction out of love, as may be seen from many passages in the Word. It may be seen also from the abodes of angels in heaven. Heaven is distinguished into countless societies, all of them different from each other in accordance with the differences in their love's affections, in general and in particular. Each society embodies one particular variety of affection, and the people in it have dwellings distinct from each other, depending on how close or akin they are within that variety of affection, and those who are the most closely related dwell together in the same house. Dwelling together, therefore, when said of married partners, symbolizes in the spiritual sense conjunction by love.

It should be known that conjunction with the Lord is not the same as His presence. Conjunction with the Lord is possible only with people who turn to Him directly, His presence with everyone else.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.