Apocalypse Revealed #880
880. Jerusalem in the Word means the church because the Temple and altar were there in the land of Canaan and nowhere else, and sacrifices were made there. Thus it was the focus of Divine worship. The three annual feasts were accordingly also celebrated there, and every male throughout the land was commanded to attend them. For that reason Jerusalem symbolizes the church with respect to worship, and so also the church with respect to doctrine, inasmuch as worship is prescribed by doctrine and is conducted in accordance with it.
Jerusalem means the church, too, because the Lord was there and taught in its temple, and later glorified His humanity there.
That Jerusalem means the church with respect to its doctrine and consequent worship is apparent from many passages in the Word. As for example, from these verses in Isaiah:
For Zion's sake I will not keep silent, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until her righteousness goes forth as a radiance, and her salvation as a burning lamp. Then gentiles shall see your righteousness, and all kings your glory. You shall also be called by a new name, which the mouth of the Lord will proclaim. And you shall be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal jewel 1 in the hand of your God... ...Jehovah will delight in you, and your land shall be married.
Behold, your salvation is coming; behold, His reward is with Him... And they shall call them a holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah; and you shall be called a city sought out, not forsaken. (Isaiah 62:1-4, 11-12)
[2] The subject in that chapter is the Lord's advent and a new church to be established by Him. This new church is the church meant by Jerusalem, which shall be called by a new name that the mouth of Jehovah will proclaim; which will be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah and a royal jewel 1 in the hand of God; in which Jehovah will delight; and which shall be called a city sought out and not forsaken. This does not mean the Jerusalem inhabited by Jews when the Lord came into the world, for that Jerusalem was of a totally opposite character. It was rather to be called Sodom, as it also is called in Revelation 11:8, Isaiah 3:9, Jeremiah 23:14, and Ezekiel 16:46, 48.
[3] Elsewhere in Isaiah:
...behold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth; the former shall not be remembered... Be glad and rejoice forever in what I am creating. ...behold, I am creating Jerusalem to be an exultation, and her people a joy, that I may exult over Jerusalem and rejoice over My people... Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together... They shall not do evil... in all My holy mountain... (Isaiah 65:17-19, 25)
In this chapter, too, the subject is the Lord's advent and a church to be established by Him, one that was not established among the people in Jerusalem but among people elsewhere. Consequently that church is the one meant here by Jerusalem, which will be an exultation to the Lord and whose people will be a joy to Him, where the wolf and lamb will feed together, and the people will not do evil.
As in the book of Revelation, we are told here also that the Lord will create a new heaven and a new earth, and that He will create Jerusalem, which have similar symbolic meanings.
[4] Elsewhere in Isaiah:
Awake, awake! Put on your strength, O Zion; put on your beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city! For the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come to you. Shake yourself from the dust, arise; sit down, O Jerusalem! ...Therefore My people shall know My name... in that day; for it is I who speaks: behold, it is I. ...Jehovah has comforted His people, He has redeemed Jerusalem. (Isaiah 52:1-2, 6, 9)
The subject in this chapter is also the Lord's advent and the church to be established by Him. Therefore the Jerusalem into which the uncircumcised and the unclean shall no longer come, and which the Lord will redeem, means the church, and Jerusalem, the holy city, means the church with respect to doctrine from the Lord and concerning the Lord.
[5] In Zephaniah:
Shout, O daughter of Zion! Be glad... with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem! ...The King of Israel... is in your midst; fear evil no longer! ...He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will rest in your love, He will exult over you with exultation... ...I will give you a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth... (Zephaniah 3:14-17, 20)
Here likewise the subject is the Lord and a church established by Him, over which the King of Israel, namely the Lord, will rejoice with gladness and exult with exultation, and in whose love He will rest, who will give them a name and praise among all the peoples of the earth.
[6] In Isaiah:
Thus said Jehovah, your Redeemer and your Former..., who says to Jerusalem, "You shall be inhabited," and to the cities of Judah, "You shall be rebuilt."... (Isaiah 44:24, 26)
And in Daniel:
Know and perceive: from the going forth of the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks... (Daniel 9:25)
It is apparent that Jerusalem here also means the church, since it was the church that the Lord restored and rebuilt, and not Jerusalem, the Jewish capital.
[7] Jerusalem means a church established by the Lord also in the following passages. In Zechariah:
Thus said Jehovah, "I will return to Zion and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called a city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah Zebaoth a holy mountain." (Zechariah 8:3, cf. 8:20-23)
In Joel:
Then you shall know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. Then Jerusalem shall be holy... And it will come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drip with new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk..., and Jerusalem (shall abide) from generation to generation. (Joel 3:17-21)
In Isaiah:
In that day the offshoot of Jehovah shall be beautiful and glorious... And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion and remains in Jerusalem will be called holy - everyone recorded among the living in Jerusalem. (Isaiah 4:2-3)
In Micah:
...in the latter days the mountain of Jehovah's house shall be established on top of the mountains... For out of Zion doctrine shall go forth, and the Word of Jehovah from Jerusalem... ...to you... the former kingdom shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2, 8)
In Jeremiah:
At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all the nations shall be gathered..., because of the name of Jehovah, to Jerusalem. No more shall they go after the justification of their evil hearts. (Jeremiah 3:17)
In Isaiah:
Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; let your eyes see Jerusalem, a tranquil habitation, a tabernacle that will not vanish; its stakes will never be removed, nor any of its cords be broken. (Isaiah 33:20)
And so on elsewhere, as in Isaiah 24:23; 37:32; 66:10-14; Zechariah 12:3, 6, 8-10; 14:8, 11-12, 21; Malachi 3:2, 4; Psalms 122:1-7; 137:4-6.
[8] Jerusalem in these places means a church which the Lord would establish, and not Jerusalem in the land of Canaan inhabited by Jews. This can be seen from passages in the Word which say that Jerusalem was completely ruined and would be destroyed, as in Jeremiah 5:1; 6:6-7; 7:17-18; Luke 19:41-44; 21:20-22; 23:28-30; and in many other places.
Примітки:
1. The word translated as "jewel" here means a diadem or crown in the original Greek and Latin, but the writer's definitions of the term elsewhere make plain that he regularly and consistently interpreted it to mean a jewel or gem.
Isaiah 66
1
Thus says Yahweh, "Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: what kind of house will you build to me? and what place shall be my rest?
2
For all these things has my hand made, and [so] all these things came to be," says Yahweh: "but to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and who trembles at my word.
3
He who kills an ox is as he who kills a man; he who sacrifices a lamb, as he who breaks a dog's neck; he who offers an offering, [as he who offers] pig's blood; he who burns frankincense, as he who blesses an idol. Yes, they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delights in their abominations:
4
I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears on them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spoke, they did not hear: but they did that which was evil in my eyes, and chose that in which I didn't delight."
5
Hear the word of Yahweh, you who tremble at his word: "Your brothers who hate you, who cast you out for my name's sake, have said, 'Let Yahweh be glorified, that we may see your joy;' but it is those who shall be disappointed.
6
A voice of tumult from the city, a voice from the temple, a voice of Yahweh that renders recompense to his enemies.
7
"Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she delivered a son.
8
Who has heard such a thing? who has seen such things? Shall a land be born in one day? shall a nation be brought forth at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.
9
Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth?" says Yahweh: "shall I who cause to bring forth shut [the womb]?" says your God.
10
"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her: Rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn over her;
11
that you may nurse and be satisfied at the comforting breasts; that you may drink deeply, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory."
12
For thus says Yahweh, "Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the nations like an overflowing stream: and you will nurse. You will be carried on her side, and will be dandled on her knees.
13
As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem."
14
You will see [it], and your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like the tender grass: and the hand of Yahweh shall be known toward his servants; and he will have indignation against his enemies.
15
For, behold, Yahweh will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire.
16
For by fire will Yahweh execute judgment, and by his sword, on all flesh; and the slain of Yahweh shall be many.
17
"Those who sanctify themselves and purify themselves [to go] to the gardens, behind one in the midst, eating pig's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, they shall come to an end together," says Yahweh.
18
"For I [know] their works and their thoughts: [the time] comes, that I will gather all nations and languages; and they shall come, and shall see my glory.
19
"I will set a sign among them, and I will send such as escape of them to the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, who draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the islands afar off, who have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
20
They shall bring all your brothers out of all the nations for an offering to Yahweh, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says Yahweh, as the children of Israel bring their offering in a clean vessel into the house of Yahweh.
21
Of them also will I take for priests [and] for Levites," says Yahweh.
22
"For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me," says Yahweh, "so your seed and your name shall remain.
23
It shall happen, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me," says Yahweh.
24
"They shall go forth, and look on the dead bodies of the men who have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they will be loathsome to all mankind."
