Apocalypse Explained, volume 1 - Swedenborg Foundation

APOCALYPSE EXPLAINED 412The two pillars that Solomon set up in the porch of the temple,and that are described in the first book of Kings. He fashioned twopillars of brass, eighteen cubits was the height of each pillar; and a lineof twelve cubits compassed the second pillar. And he made twochapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars; sevenchains for the one chapiter, and seven chains for the other chapiter. Andhe set up the pillars in the porch of the temple; and he set up the rightpillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillarand called the name thereof Boaz (1 Kings 7:15–21).Since “the temple” signified heaven (as will be shown presently),therefore all things of the temple signified such things as are ofheaven, thus of Divine truth there; for, as said above, heaven isheaven from the Divine truth that proceeds from the Lord;therefore “the porch of the temple” signified the things pertainingto the ultimate heaven, and as this sustains the two higher heavens,those two pillars were placed in the porch.220a. But it shall be told also what “temple” signifies in theWord. In the highest sense, “temple” signifies the Lord’s DivineHuman, and in the relative sense, heaven; and as it signifies heaven,it also signifies the church, for the church is the Lord’s heaven onearth; and as “temple” signifies heaven and the church it alsosignifies Divine truth proceeding from the Lord, for the reason thatthis makes heaven and the church; for those who receive Divinetruth in soul and heart, that is, in faith and love, are they whoconstitute heaven and the church. As such is the signification of“temple,” it is said, “the temple of My God;” “My God,” when saidby the Lord, meaning heaven and Divine truth there, which also isthe Lord in heaven. The Lord is above the heavens, and to thosewho are in the heavens He appears as a sun. From the Lord as a sunlight and heat go forth. Light in heaven is in its essence Divinetruth, and heat in heaven is in its essence Divine good; these twomake heaven in general and in particular. Divine truth is what ismeant by “My God;” therefore in the Word of the Old Testamentthe Lord is called both “Jehovah” and “God;” “Jehovah” whereDivine good is treated of, and “God” where Divine truth is treatedof; for the same reason also angels are called “gods,” and the wordGod in the Hebrew is used in the plural, Elohim. This shows whyit is said, “the temple of My God.” (That the Lord is called