879. 21:2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. This symbolizes the New Church to be established by the Lord at the end of the previous one, which will be affiliated with the New Heaven and possess Divine truths in its doctrine and in its life.

John mentions himself by name here, saying "I, John," because as an apostle he symbolizes the goodness of love toward the Lord and the attendant goodness of life. Consequently he was more loved than any of the rest of the apostles, and at the Last Supper he reclined on the Lord's breast (John 13:23; 21:20). And this church, which is the subject here, has a similar symbolism.

That Jerusalem symbolizes the church will be seen in the next number. It is called a city and described as a city because of its doctrine and its life in accordance with that doctrine. For a city in the spiritual sense symbolizes doctrine (nos. 194, 712). It is called a holy city owing to the presence of the Lord, who alone is holy, and owing to the Divine truths from the Word that it has in it from the Lord, which are called holy (nos. 173, 586, 666, 852). And it is called new, because He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new" (Revelation 21:5). It is also said to be coming down from God out of heaven because it descends from the Lord through the New Christian Heaven, as said in no. 876 in the exposition of verse 1 in this chapter. For the church on earth is formed by the Lord through heaven, in order that heaven and the church may be in harmony and affiliated.

8780. 'And Jehovah said to Moses' means an influx of the Divine through the truth from God, regarding revelation. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying', when it refers to revelation coming from God, as influx. 'Saying' in other places besides this means influx, see 5743, 7291, 7381, 8221, 8262, 8660; 'Jehovah' is plainly the Divine, the source from which the revelation comes; and 'Moses' is the truth from God, the means through which it comes, 6771, 6827, 7014. The fact that it is an influx regarding revelation is clear from what follows, that is to say, from the declaration that Jehovah is going to come to them in the thickness of a cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak to you, and also will believe in you forever, words meaning revelation and the essential nature of it.

[2] Revelation here does not mean in the internal sense the kind of revelation made to the Israelite people from Mount Sinai, that is to say, when the Lord spoke with an audible voice and the people standing round heard it. Rather it means a revelation that is not made with an audible voice but is received by a person inwardly. This revelation is made through enlightenment of inner sight, which is the understanding, when a person with an affection for truth springing from good reads the Word. That enlightenment is brought about by the light of heaven, which flows from the Lord as the Sun there. That light enlightens the understanding in much the same way as outward sight, which is that of the eye, is enlightened by the light which flows from the sun in the world. When the understanding is enlightened by that Divine light it perceives that to be the truth which is the truth, inwardly acknowledges it, and so to speak sees it. This is what the revelation is like which is received by those with an affection for truth springing from good, when they read the Word.

[3] But those with an affection for truth springing from evil - that is, those who wish to know truths solely for the sake of important positions, monetary gain, reputation, and the like - do not see truths. All they see are corroborations of things taught by their Church, whether those things are true or false. The light which enlightens them then is not Divine light from heaven; instead it is the light belonging to the senses, such as those in hell also possess, a light which becomes complete and utter darkness at the presence of heavenly light. When these people read the Word they are altogether blind to truth if it does not make one with their religious teachings. When for example those who make salvation consist in faith alone read the Word they pay no attention whatever to the things said there about love and charity; they do not even see them since those things fall within the obscured parts of their field of vision, like objects well off to the side or behind one's back. It is much the same with the Jewish nation, which sets itself up above all others in the whole world. They do not see that the Lord is the One who is meant in the Prophets, no matter how plainly this may be stated.

[4] The reason why is that they see nothing except corroborations of their teachings about the Messiah, which are that He is going to come as a mighty hero, perform greater miracles than Moses, and lead them into the land of Canaan, at which time they are all going to proceed in grandeur, listening to the appeals made by gentiles taking hold of the hem of their garments to let them join their company. Since these are the ideas that compose what they teach they see nothing whatever regarding the Lord; anything regarding Him is to them as thick darkness. The situation is the same with all other errors. All this goes to show what the situation is so far as the revelation of truth from the Word is concerned.