19
Και οταν εξερχωνται εις την αυλην την εξωτεραν, εις την αυλην την εξωτεραν προς τον λαον, θελουσιν εκδυεσθαι τα ενδυματα αυτων, με τα οποια ελειτουργουν, και θετει αυτα εις τους αγιους θαλαμους, και θελουσιν ενδυεσθαι αλλα ενδυματα· και δεν θελουσιν αγιαζει τον λαον με τα ενδυματα αυτων.
191. "'I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God.'" This symbolically means that the truths they possess, springing from goodness derived from the Lord, sustain the Lord's church in heaven.
A temple symbolizes the church, and the temple of My God symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven. It is apparent from this that a pillar symbolizes what sustains and stabilizes the church, and that is the Divine truth in the Word.
In the highest sense, a temple symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, particularly in respect to Divine truth. In a representative sense, however, a temple symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven, and so also the Lord's church in the world.
That a temple in the highest sense symbolizes the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity, and particularly in respect to Divine truth, is apparent from the following passages:
(Jesus said to the Jews,) "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." ...He was speaking of the temple of His body. (John 2:19, 21)
I saw no temple in (the New Jerusalem), for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22)
Behold..., the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, and the messenger of the covenant, whom you desire. (Malachi 3:1)
I will bow myself toward Your holy temple... (Psalms 138:2)
...I will look again toward Your holy temple... And my prayer went to You, to Your holy temple. (Jonah 2:4, 7)
Jehovah is in His holy temple. (Habakkuk 2:20)
The holy temple of Jehovah or of the Lord is His Divine humanity, for it is to this that people bow, look to, and pray, and not to the temple merely, as the temple is not, in itself, holy. It is called a holy temple, because holiness is predicated of Divine truth (no. 173).
"The temple that sanctifies the gold" in Matthew 23:16-17 means nothing else than the Lord's Divine humanity.
[2] That a temple in a representative sense symbolizes the Lord's church in heaven, is apparent from the following passages:
(The) voice (of Jehovah) from the temple...! (Isaiah 66:6)
...a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven... (Revelation 16:17)
The temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. (Revelation 11:19)
...the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened. And out of the temple came the seven angels... And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God... (Revelation 15:5-6, 8)
I called upon Jehovah, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple... (Psalms 18:6)
I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lofty, and His skirts filled the temple. (Isaiah 6:1)
[3] That a temple symbolizes the church in the world is apparent from these passages:
Our holy... temple... has become a conflagration... (Isaiah 64:11)
I will shake all nations..., that I may fill this house with glory... The glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former... (Haggai 2:7, 9)
The new temple in Ezekiel 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48 describes a church to be established by the Lord. A church is also meant in Revelation 11:1 by the temple that the angel measured. So likewise elsewhere, as in Isaiah 44:28, Jeremiah 7:2-4, 9-11, Zechariah 8:9.
...the disciples (of Jesus) came up to show Him the buildings of the temple. And Jesus said to them, ."..Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left... upon another, that shall not be demolished." (Matthew 24:1-2)
The temple here symbolizes the church today; and its demolition means, symbolically, that not one stone would be left upon another. This symbolizes the end of that church, when not any truth would remain. For when the disciples spoke with the Lord about the temple, the Lord foretold the consecutive states of this church, even to its last one, or the end of the age; and the end of the age means the final period of the church, which is the one that exists today. This was represented by the destruction of that temple to its foundations.
[4] A temple has these three symbolic meanings, namely the Lord, the church in heaven, and the church in the world. Because these three are bound up together, they cannot be separated. Consequently one cannot be meant without the other. Therefore anyone who divorces the church in the world from the church in heaven, or the one or the other from the Lord, is without the truth.
The temple here means the church in heaven, because reference to the church in the world follows after this (no. 194).
1
I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, "Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!"
2
The first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth, and it became a harmful and evil sore on the people who had the mark of the beast, and who worshiped his image.
3
The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became blood as of a dead man. Every living thing in the sea died.
4
The third poured out his bowl into the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood.
5
I heard the angel of the waters saying, "You are righteous, who are and who were, you Holy One, because you have judged these things.
6
For they poured out the blood of the saints and the prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve this."
7
I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments."
8
The fourth poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was given to him to scorch men with fire.
9
People were scorched with great heat, and people blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They didn't repent and give him glory.
10
The fifth poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was darkened. They gnawed their tongues because of the pain,
11
and they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. They didn't repent of their works.
12
The sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates. Its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings that come from the sunrise.
13
I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, something like frogs;
14
for they are spirits of demons, performing signs; which go forth to the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of that great day of God, the Almighty.
15
"Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn't walk naked, and they see his shame."
16
He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Megiddo.
17
The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"
18
There were lightnings, sounds, and thunders; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since there were men on the earth, so great an earthquake, so mighty.
19
The great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell. Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give to her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20
Every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
21
Great hailstones, about the weight of a talent, came down out of the sky on people. People blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for this plague is exceedingly severe.
