897. [verse 11] 'Having the glory of God, and the light thereof like a most precious stone as it were a jasper stone shining crystal clear' signifies that in that Church the Word will be understood, because it will be transparent by virtue of its spiritual sense. By 'the glory of God' is signified the Word in its Divine light, concerning which [something] follows. By 'the light thereof' is signified the Divine Truth there, for this is understood by 'light' in the Word (n. 796*). By 'like a most precious stone as it were a jasper stone shining crystal clear' is signified this [Word] shining and transparent by virtue of its spiritual sense, concerning which also [something] follows. By those words there is described the understanding of the Word with those who are in the doctrine of the New Jerusalem and in a life in accordance therewith. With them the Word shines as it were when it is being read. It shines from the Lord by means of the spiritual sense, because the Lord is the Word, and the spiritual sense is in the light of heaven that proceeds from the Lord as the Sun. And the light that proceeds from the Lord as the Sun is in its essence the Divine Truth of His Divine Wisdom. That in the details of the Word there is the spiritual sense in which the angels are and from which their wisdom is, and that the Word is transparent by virtue of the light of that sense with those who are in genuine truths from the Lord, has been shown in THE DOCTRINE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM CONCERNING THE SACRED SCRIPTURE. [2] That by 'the glory of God' is understood the Word in its Divine light can be established from these passages:-
The Word was made flesh, and we saw His glory as the glory of the Only begotten by the Father John i 14.
That by 'the glory' is understood the glory of the Word or the Divine Truth in Himself is plain, since it is said 'the Word was made flesh'. The like is understood by 'the glory' in the words following, where it is said:-
The glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb (verse 23).
A similar thing is understood by:-
The glory in which they are going to see the Son of Man when He comes in the clouds of heaven Matt. xxiv 30; Mark xiii 26;
as may be seen above (n. 24, 642, 820). Nor is anything else understood by:-
The throne of glory upon which the Lord will sit when He comes to the last judgment Matt. xxv 31;
because He is going to judge everyone in accordance with the truths of the Word; and therefore it is also said that He is going to come 'in His glory'. When the Lord was transformed, it is also said that:-
Moses and Elijah were seen in glory Luke ix 30, 31.
By 'Moses and Elijah' is signified the Word there. The Lord Himself also permitted the seeing of Himself before the disciples as the Word in its glory. That 'glory' signifies Divine Truth may be seen many times out of the Word above (n. 629). [3] The reason why the Word is compared to 'a most precious stone as it were a jasper stone shining crystal clear' is because 'a most precious stone' signifies the Divine Truth of the Word (n. 231, 540, 726, 823), and 'a jasper stone' signifies the Divine Truth of the Word in the sense of the letter transparent by virtue of the Divine Truth in the spiritual sense. This is signified by 'a jasper stone' (Exod. xxviii 20; Ezek. xxviii 53), and in the things following in this chapter, where it is said:-
That the construction of the wall of the holy Jerusalem was of jasper (verse 18);
and because the Word in the sense of the letter is transparent by virtue of its spiritual sense, it is said 'a jasper shining crystal clear'. All the enlightenment which those have who are in Divine Truths from the Lord is therefrom. * The Original Edition has n. 796, 799; but 799 cannot be correct. Perhaps it should be 920 or 940.