16. The state of the church from the Word thus represented in the Prophets, is what is meant by bearing the iniquities and sins of the people. That such is the case is evident from the things said of Isaiah the prophet:
That he went naked and barefoot three years, for a sign and a wonder (Isa. 20:3).
Of the prophet Ezekiel:
That he brought forth vessels of wandering, and covered his face so that he should not see the earth, and that so he was for a portent to the house of Israel, and also said, I am your portent (Ezek. 12:6, 11).
[2] That this was for them to bear iniquities, is plainly evident in Ezekiel, where that prophet is commanded to lie three hundred and ninety days, and forty days, upon his left side and upon his right, against Jerusalem, and to eat a barley cake made with cow's dung: As we read:
Lie thou upon thy left side, and lay the iniquity of the house of Israel upon it, according to the number of the days that thou shalt lie upon it, thou shalt bear their iniquity. For I have laid upon thee the years of their iniquity, according to the number of the days, three hundred and ninety days, that thou bear the iniquity of the house of Israel. And when thou hast accomplished them, thou shalt lie upon thy right side, so that thou bear the iniquity of the house of Judah forty days (Ezek. 4:4-6).
[3] That by his having thus borne the iniquities of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, the prophet did not take them away, and thus expiate them, but only represented and showed them, is evident from what there follows:
Thus saith Jehovah, The sons of Israel shall eat their unclean bread among the nations whither I will drive them. Behold, I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem, that they may lack bread and water, and be desolate a man and his brother, and consume away for their iniquity (Ezek. 4:13, 16-17).
[4] So when the same prophet showed himself, and said,
Behold, I am your portent, it is added, as I have done, so shall it be done unto them (Ezek. 12:6, 11).
The meaning is therefore the same where it is said of the Lord:
He hath borne our diseases, and carried our sorrows Jehovah hath made to light on Him the iniquities of us all by His knowledge hath He justified many, in that He hath borne their iniquities (Isa. 53:4, 6, 11);
where, in this whole chapter, the Lord's passion is treated of.
[5] That the Lord Himself, as the Grand Prophet, represented the state of the church in respect to the Word, is evident from all things of His passion; as that He was betrayed by Judas; that He was taken and condemned by the chief priests and elders; that they buffeted Him; that they smote Him on the head with a reed; that they put on Him a crown of thorns; that they divided His garments, and cast lots for His under vesture; that they crucified Him; that they gave Him vinegar to drink; that they pierced His side; that He was buried; and that He rose again the third day.
[6] That He was betrayed by Judas, signified that He was betrayed by the Jewish nation, among whom at that time was the Word, for Judas represented that nation. That He was taken and condemned by the chief priests and elders, signified that He was so treated by the whole Jewish Church. That they scourged Him, spat in His face, buffeted Him, and smote Him on the head with a reed, signified that they had done the like to the Word in respect to its Divine truths, all of which treat of the Lord. That they put on Him a crown of thorns, signified that they had falsified and adulterated those truths. That they divided His garments, and cast lots for His under-vesture, signified that they had dispersed all the truths of the Word, but not its spiritual sense, which His under-vesture signified. That they crucified Him, signified that they had destroyed and profaned the whole Word. That they offered Him vinegar to drink, signified that everything had become falsified and false; and therefore He did not drink it, and then said, It is finished. That they pierced His side, signified that they had completely extinguished all the truth of the Word, and all its good. That He was buried, signified the rejection of the residue of the maternal human. That He rose again the third day, signified His glorification.
[7] Similar things are signified by these things as foretold in the Prophets and in David. And it was for the same reason that, after He had been scourged and brought out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe put on Him by the soldiers, He said, Behold the Man! (John 19:1, 5). This He said because by "man [hominem]" is signified the church; for by "Son of man" is signified the truth of the church, thus the Word. It is evident then from these things, that to bear iniquities means to represent and effigy in one's self sins against the Divine truths of the Word. That the Lord endured and suffered such things as the Son of man, and not as the Son of God, will be seen in what follows; for "the Son of man" signifies the Lord in respect to the Word.