Jerusalem, on Mount Zion, signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. Jerusalem first comes to our attention in 2 Samuel 5, when King David takes the city from the Jebusites and makes it his capital. In the next chapter he brings the Ark of the Covenant there, and later it is where Solomon builds the temple, and his own palace. From then on Jerusalem is the center of worship of the Israelitish church. It is the place where the Lord was presented in the temple as a baby, where He tarried to talk to the priests at age twelve, where He cleansed the temple, had the last supper, was crucified and then rose. It is a central place in both the old and new Testaments. The city was built on Mount Zion, the highest point of the mountains of Judea. A city, in the Word, represents doctrine, the organized knowledge of the truths of the church. Mountains represent love of the Lord and the consequent worship. If you put those things together, Jerusalem on Mount Zion signifies the doctrine of love to the Lord, and how it governs your life. This is why David was led to make Jerusalem the most important city of the land, and why all worship was conducted there. And this is also why Jeroboam was condemned for introducing idol worship in Samaria. In the Book of Revelation, John's vision of the city New Jerusalem descending from God is a prophecy of a new dispensation of doctrine coming from the Lord.

(Izinkomba: Arcana Coelestia 4539, 8938; The Apocalypse Explained 365 [35-38])

7873. “又要审判埃及一切的神明” 表他们那即将受到诅咒的虚假. 这从 “神明” 和 “审判” 的含义清楚可知: “神明” (gods) 是指虚假, 如下文所述; “审判” 是指受到诅咒, 因为审判或作出审判要么指向生命, 要么指向死亡, 指向生命的审判表示拯救, 指向死亡的审判表示诅咒. 在圣言中, 经上经常提到 “神明”. 当天使被称为 “神明” 时, 所表示的是真理 (参看4295, 4402, 7268节); 因此, “列族的神明” 表示虚假 (4402, 4544节). 真理之所以被称为 “神明”, 是因为真理是从神自己发出的, 本身就是属神 (God) 的. 因此, 那些接爱这真理的人被称为 “神明”. 倒不说他们是神明, 而是说与他们同在的真理是属神的. 这解释了为何在原文, 神被称为复数形式的 “耶洛因”. 神本身是神性良善, 但从发祂发出的, 是充满整个天堂的神性真理. “神明” 因表示真理, 故在反面意义上表示虚假.