814. 19:8 And it was granted her to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright. This symbolically means that those who will belong to the Lord's New Church are being instructed through the Word by the Lord in truths that are genuine and pure.
Being granted to her means to the wife, who symbolizes the Lord's New Church, namely, the New Jerusalem, as in no. 813 just above. To be arrayed means, symbolically, to be instructed in truths, inasmuch as garments symbolize truths (no. 166), and white garments genuine truths (no. 212). Fine linen, clean and bright, symbolically means glistening as a result of goodness, and pure as a result of truths. And because there is no pure truth from any other source than from the Lord through the Word, therefore this, too, is symbolically meant.
The fine linen is said to be clean and bright because cleanliness symbolizes something that is free of evil, thus something that glistens as a result of goodness, and brightness symbolizes something that is free of falsity, thus something pure as a result of truth.
Fine linen, or something made of fine linen, symbolizes genuine truth also in the following passages:
I clothed you (O Jerusalem) in embroidered cloth..., I clothed you with fine linen and covered you with silk... Thus you were adorned with gold and silver, and your clothing was of fine linen and silk... (Ezekiel 16:10, 13)
Fine linen with embroidery from Egypt was your sail. (Ezekiel 27:7)
The latter is said of Tyre, which symbolizes the church in respect to concepts of truth and goodness.
The hosts in heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. (Revelation 19:14)
Pharaoh's clothing Joseph "in garments of fine linen" (Genesis 41:42) has the same symbolic meaning.
Truth from the Word in their possession, though not internalized by them, is symbolized by the fine linen in Babylon in Revelation 18:12, 16, and by that possessed by the rich man in Luke 16:19.
Fine linen is also called cotton, so that this, too, symbolizes genuine truth, in the following:
You shall make (for Aaron) a checkered tunic of cotton, and you shall make the turban of cotton... (Exodus 28:39)
They made tunics of cotton... for Aaron and his sons... (Exodus 39:27)
You shall make the tabernacle... cotton interwoven with blue, purple, and scarlet double-dyed. (Exodus 26:1, cf. 36:8)
You shall make... hangings for the court of woven cotton... (Exodus 27:9, cf. 27:18; 38:9)
Also the screen... of the court...(with) woven cotton. (Exodus 38:18)
