The reason the New Church is meant by the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, Rev. xxi, is that Jerusalem was the metropolis of the land of Canaan. The temple and the altar were there; there also sacrifices were offered. Thus, Divine worship itself was performed there, and every male throughout the land was commanded to come to this worship three times a year. A further reason is that the Lord was in Jerusalem and taught in its temple; afterwards glorifying His Human there; thence it is that Jerusalem signifies the Church. That the Church is meant by Jerusalem is clearly evident from the prophecies in the Old Testament concerning a New Church to be established by the Lord, and which is there called Jerusalem.

[2] The following passages only shall be cited, from which anyone possessed of interior reason may see that by Jerusalem is there meant the Church. Let these passages alone be taken from the prophets:

Behold, I create a new heaven and a new earth, and the former shall not be remembered. . . . I wilt create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy; that I may rejoice over Jerusalem and be joyful over My people. Then the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. . . they shall do no evil in all the mountain of My holiness. Isa. lxv 17, 18, 19, 25.

For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof goes forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. Then the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory; and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name. And thou shalt be a crown of beauty.. . and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God... Jehovah shall be well pleased in thee, and thy land shall be married . . . Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, His reward is with Him . . . and they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of Jehovah and thou shalt be called, sought out, a city not forsaken. Isa. lxii 1-4, 11, 12

Awake awake put on thy strength, O Zion; put on the garments of thy beauty, O Jerusalem, the holy city for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. Shake thyself from the dust arise, sit down, O Jerusalem . . . The people shalt know My name in that day, for I am He that doth speak behold, it is I. . .. Jehovah hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem. Isa. lii 1, 2, 6, 9.

Shout with joy, O daughter of Zion; be glad with all thy heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. . .. The King of Israelis in the midst of thee; fear not evil any more . . . He will be glad over thee with joy He will rest in thy love; He will exult over thee with joyful shouting. . . will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth. Zeph. iii 14-17, 20.

Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer . . . saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be inhabited. Isa. xliv 24, 26.

Thus saith Jehovah, I am returned to Zion, and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem; whence Jerusalem shall be called the city of truth, and the mountain of Jehovah Zebaoth, the mountain of holiness. Zech. viii 3.

Then shall ye know that I am Jehovah your God, dwelling in Zion, the mountain of holiness; and Jerusalem shall be holiness... .And it shall come to pass in that day that the mountains shall drop new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk... and Jerusalem shall abide from generation to generation. Joel iii 17, 18, 20.

In that day shall the branch of Jehovah be beauty and glory. . . And it shall come to pass that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy; everyone that is written unto life in Jerusalem. Isa. iv 2, 3.

In the last days the mountain of the house of Jehovah shall be established in the head of the mountains ... for out of Zion shall go forth doctrine, and the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem. Micah iv. 1, 2.

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of Jehovah, and all nations shall be gathered to Jerusalem because of the name of Jehovah; neither shall they go any more after the confirmation of their own evil heart. Jer. iii 17.

Look upon Zion, the city of our appointed feasts; let thine eyes see Jerusalem, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; the stakes thereof shall never be removed, and the cords thereof shall not be broken. Isa. xxxiii 20.

Other passages are: Isaiah xxiv 23; xxxvii 32 lxvi 10-14; Zechariah xii 3, 6-10; xiv 8, 11, 12, 21; Malachi iii 2, 4; Psalms cxxii 1-7; cxxxvii 4, 5, 6.

[3] That by Jerusalem in the above passages is meant a Church to be established by the Lord, and not the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, is plain from every detail of its description therein; as that Jehovah God was about to create a new heaven and a new earth, and Jerusalem also at the same time; that this Jerusalem would be a crown of beauty, and a royal diadem; that it is to be called holiness, and the city of truth, the throne of Jehovah, a quiet habitation, a tabernacle that shall not be taken down; that the wolf and the lamb shall feed together there; that there the mountains shall drop with new wine, and the hills flow with milk; that it should abide from generation to generation; besides many other things respecting the people therein, that they should be holy, all written unto life, and should be called the redeemed of Jehovah. [4] Moreover, all those passages treat of the Lord's Advent, particularly of His Second Advent, when Jerusalem shall be such as is there described. For before this she was not married, that is, made the bride and wife of the Lamb, as the New Jerusalem is said to be in the Revelation. The former, or present-day Church, is meant by Jerusalem in Daniel, and its commencement is described there in these words:

Know, therefore, and understand that from the going forth of the Word unto the restoring and building of Jerusalem, even unto Messiah the Prince, shall be seven weeks; afterwards in sixty and two weeks it shall be restored, and the street and the ditch shall be built but in distress of times. Dan. ix 25.

But its end is described by these words:

At length upon the bird of abominations shall be desolation, and even to the consummation and decision it shall drop upon the devastation. Dan. ix 27.

This last passage is alluded to in the following words spoken by the Lord in Matthew:

When ye shall see the abomination of desolation foretold by Daniel the prophet, standing in the holy place, let him that readeth note it well. Matt. xxiv 15.

That by Jerusalem in the above passages is not meant the Jerusalem inhabited by the Jews, appears from those places in the Word where it is said of that city that it entirely perished, and that it was to be destroyed; as in Jeremiah v 1; vi 6, 7; vii 17, 18, etc.; viii 6, 7, 8, etc.; ix 10, 11, 13, etc.; xiii 9, 10, 14; xiv 16; Lamentations i 8, 9, 17 Ezekiel iv 1-end v 9-end; xii 18, 19; xv 6, 7, 8; xvi 1-63; xxiii 1-40; Matthew xxiii 37, 38; Luke xix 41-44; xxi 20-22; xxiii 28-30 besides many other such passages; also where it is called Sodom, as in Isaiah iii 9; Jeremiah xxiii 14 Ezekiel xvi 46, 48; and in other places.