191. Will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, signifies that truths from good from the Lord, with those in whom they abide, sustain the Lord's church in heaven. By "temple" the church is signified, and by "the temple of my God," the Lord's church in heaven; hence it is evident, that by "pillar" is signified that which sustains the church and makes it firm, and this is the Divine truth of the Word. By "temple," in the supreme sense, the Lord is signified as to the Divine Human, in particular as to the Divine truth; but, in the representative sense, by "temple" is signified the Lord's church in heaven, and likewise the Lord's church in the world. That "temple," in the supreme sense signifies the Lord as to the Divine Human, and in particular as to the Divine truth, is evident from these passages:
Jesus said to the Jews, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up; He spoke 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 the temple of it (Rev. 21:22).
Behold, the Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, and the angel of the covenant whom ye seek (Mal. 3:1).
I will bow down towards the temple of Thy holiness (Ps. 138:2).
Yet I will again look to the temple of Thy holiness and my prayer shall come to Thee, to the temple of Thy holiness (Jonah 2:4, 7; Hab. 2:20).
"The temple of holiness of Jehovah," or the Lord, is His Divine Human, for that is bowed down to, looked to, and prayed to, and not to the temple only, for the temple in itself is not holy. It is called "the temple of holiness," because holiness is predicated of the Divine truth (n. 173). The temple which sanctifieth the gold (Matt. 23:16, 17) means nothing else than the Lord's Divine Human.
[2] That by "temple" in a representative sense, is signified the Lord's church in heaven, appears from these passages:
The voice of Jehovah from the temple (Isa. 66:6).
There came a great voice out of the temple of heaven (Rev. 16:17).
The temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in the temple the ark of His covenant (Rev. 11:19).
The temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened; and the seven angels came out of the temple; and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God (Rev. 15:5-6, 8).
I called upon Jehovah, and cried unto my God; He heard my voice out of His temple (Ps. 18:6).
I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and His train filled the temple (Isa. 6:1).
[3] That temple signifies the church in the world is manifest from these passages:
Our house of holiness has become a conflagration (Isa. 64:11).
I will shake all nations, that I may fill this house with glory: the glory of the latter house shall be greater than of the former (Hag. 2:7, 9).
The church to be established by the Lord is described by the "new temples in Ezek. 40 to 48; and is meant by "the temple which the angel measured" (Rev. 11:1); and so in other places; as Isa. 44:28; Jer. 7:2-4, 9-11; Zech. 8:9.
The disciples came to Jesus, to show Him the buildings of the temple; and Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, there shall not be left stone upon stone, which shall not be thrown down (Matt. 24:1, 2; Mark 13:1-5; Luke 21:5-7).
By "the temple" here is signified the church at this day; and by its dissolution that "there is not one stone upon another," is signified the end of this church, in that no truth whatever would then be left. For when the disciples spoke to the Lord concerning the temple, the Lord foretold the successive states of this church even to its end, or "the consummation of the age," and by "the consummation of the age" is meant its last time, which is at this day. This was represented by that temple being destroyed to its foundation.
[4] "The temple" signifies these three, namely the Lord, the church in heaven, and the church in the world, because these three make one, and cannot be separated, consequently one of them cannot be meant without the other. Therefore he who separates the church in the world from the church in heaven, and these from the Lord, is not in the truth. The reason why the church in heaven is here meant by "the temple," is because the church in the world is treated of afterwards (n. 194).