Apocalypse Revealed # 49
49. His feet were like fine brass, as though fired in a furnace. (1:15) This symbolizes natural Divine good.
The Lord's feet symbolize His natural Divinity. Fire or being fired symbolizes goodness. And fine brass symbolizes the natural goodness of truth. Consequently the feet of the Son of Man like fine brass, as though fired in a furnace, symbolize natural Divine good.
His feet have this symbolic meaning because of their correspondence.
Present in the Lord, and so emanating from the Lord, are a celestial Divinity, a spiritual Divinity, and a natural Divinity. His celestial Divinity is meant by the head of the Son of Man; His spiritual Divinity by His eyes and by His breast girded with a golden girdle; and His natural Divinity by His feet.
[2] Because these three elements are present in the Lord, therefore the same three are also present in the angelic heaven. The third or highest heaven exists on the celestial Divine level, the second or middle heaven on the spiritual Divine level, and the first or lowest heaven on the natural Divine level. The like is the case with the church on earth. For the whole of heaven is, in the Lord's sight, like a single person, in which those who are governed by the Lord's celestial Divinity form the head, and those who are governed by His spiritual Divinity form the trunk, while those who are governed by His natural Divinity form the feet.
For this reason, too, every person, having been created in the image of God, has in him the same three degrees, and as they are opened he becomes an angel either of the third heaven, or of the second, or of the last.
It is owing to this also that the Word contains three levels of meaning - a celestial one, a spiritual one, and a natural one.
The reality of this may be seen in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, particularly in Part Three, in which we discussed these three degrees.
To be shown that feet, the soles of the feet, and heels correspond to natural attributes in people, and that in the Word, therefore, they symbolize natural attributes, see in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), published in London, nos. 2162 and 4938-4952.
[3] Natural Divine good is also symbolically meant by feet in the following passages. In Daniel:
I lifted my eyes and looked; behold, a... man clothed in linen garments, whose loins were girded with the gold of Uphaz! And his body was like beryl, and... his eyes like torches of fire, his arms and his feet like the sheen of burnished bronze. (Daniel 10:5-6)
In the book of Revelation:
I saw... an angel coming down from heaven, ...his feet like pillars of fire. (Revelation 10:1)
And in Ezekiel:
(The feet of the cherubim) sparkled like the sheen of burnished bronze. (Ezekiel 1:7)
Angels and cherubim so appeared for the reason that the Lord's Divinity was represented in them.
[4] Since the Lord's church exists below the heavens, thus under the Lord's feet, it is therefore called His footstool in the following places:
The glory of Lebanon shall come to you..., to beautify the place of My sanctuary; ...I will make the place of My feet honorable. And... they shall bow themselves at the soles of your feet. (Isaiah 60:13-14)
Heaven is My throne and the earth is My footstool. (Isaiah 66:1)
(God) does not remember His footstool in the day of His anger. (Lamentations 2:1)
...worship (Jehovah) in the direction of His footstool. (Psalms 99:5)
Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah (Bethlehem).... We will go into His dwelling places, we will bow ourselves at His footstool. (Psalms 132:6-7)
That is why worshipers fell at the Lord's feet (Matthew 28:9, Mark 5:22, Luke 8:41, John 11:32), and why they kissed His feet and wiped them with their hair (Luke 7:37-38, 44-46, John 11:2; 12:3).
[5] Because feet symbolize the natural self, therefore the Lord said to Peter, when He washed Peter's feet,
He who is washed needs only to have his feet washed, and he is completely clean. (John 13:10)
To wash the feet is to purify the natural self. When it has been purified, the whole self also is purified, as we showed many times in Arcana Coelestia (The Secrets of Heaven), and in The Doctrines of the New Jerusalem. 1 The natural self, which is also the outer self, is purified when it refrains from the evils which the spiritual or inner self sees to be evils and ones to be shunned.
[6] Now because the feet mean the natural component of a person, and this perverts everything if it is not washed or purified, therefore the Lord says,
If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than to have two feet and be cast into hell, into the unquenchable fire... (Mark 9:45)
The foot here does not mean the foot, but the natural self.
The like is meant by treading down the good pasture with the feet and troubling waters with the feet (Ezekiel 32:2; 34:18-19, Daniel 7:7, 19, and elsewhere).
[7] Since the Son of Man means the Lord in relation to the Word, it is apparent that His feet mean the Word in its natural sense as well, which we dealt with at length in The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, and also that the Lord came into the world to fulfill everything in the Word and to become thereby an embodiment of the Word, even in its outmost expressions (The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, nos. 98-100). But this is a secret for people who will be in the New Jerusalem.
[8] The Lord's natural Divinity was also symbolized by the bronze serpent that Moses was commanded to set up in the wilderness, so that all who had been bitten by serpents were healed by looking at it (Numbers 21:6, 8-9). That this symbolized the Lord's natural Divinity, and that those people are saved who look to it, the Lord Himself teaches in John:
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:14-15)
The serpent was made of bronze because bronze, like fine brass, symbolizes the natural self in respect to good, as may be seen in no. 775 below.
Mga talababa:
1. Perhaps The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Lord, The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding the Sacred Scripture, The Doctrine of Life for the New Jerusalem, and The Doctrine of the New Jerusalem Regarding Faith (Amsterdam, 1763). But perhaps The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine (London, 1758).
Mark 9
1
And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
2
And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
3
And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
4
And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.
5
And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
6
For he wist not what to say; for they were sore afraid.
7
And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
8
And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.
9
And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead.
10
And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean.
11
And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come?
12
And he answered and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.
13
But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.
14
And when he came to his disciples, he saw a great multitude about them, and the scribes questioning with them.
15
And straightway all the people, when they beheld him, were greatly amazed, and running to him saluted him.
16
And he asked the scribes, What question ye with them?
17
And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;
18
And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.
19
He answereth him, and saith, O faithless generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him unto me.
20
And they brought him unto him: and when he saw him, straightway the spirit tare him; and he fell on the ground, and wallowed foaming.
21
And he asked his father, How long is it ago since this came unto him? And he said, Of a child.
22
And ofttimes it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters, to destroy him: but if thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us.
23
Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth.
24
And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.
25
When Jesus saw that the people came running together, he rebuked the foul spirit, saying unto him, Thou dumb and deaf spirit, I charge thee, come out of him, and enter no more into him.
26
And the spirit cried, and rent him sore, and came out of him: and he was as one dead; insomuch that many said, He is dead.
27
But Jesus took him by the hand, and lifted him up; and he arose.
28
And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out?
29
And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
30
And they departed thence, and passed through Galilee; and he would not that any man should know it.
31
For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day.
32
But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him.
33
And he came to Capernaum: and being in the house he asked them, What was it that ye disputed among yourselves by the way?
34
But they held their peace: for by the way they had disputed among themselves, who should be the greatest.
35
And he sat down, and called the twelve, and saith unto them, If any man desire to be first, the same shall be last of all, and servant of all.
36
And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them: and when he had taken him in his arms, he said unto them,
37
Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name, receiveth me: and whosoever shall receive me, receiveth not me, but him that sent me.
38
And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.
39
But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.
40
For he that is not against us is on our part.
41
For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.
42
And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
43
And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
44
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
45
And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
46
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
47
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
48
Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
49
For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
50
Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.
