Apocalypse Explained, Vol. 3

CHAPTER 7, VERSE 1 — NUMBER 417[b] (Continued)

"The corners of all the people presented themselves in the assembly of the people of God" signifies all people from every side or from every quarter. This is clearly evident because the text states that "all the sons of Israel and all the tribes went out, and the congregation was assembled from Dan to Beersheba" Judges 20:1-2. "From Dan to Beersheba" is a biblical idiom meaning the entire extent of the land, from the far north to the far south.. However, in the spiritual sense The underlying symbolic meaning that relates to the soul and inner life, rather than just historical facts., "the corners of all the people" signify all the goods and truths of the church. In the same way, "all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba," signify all these elements from the last to the first, and "the assembly of the people of God" signifies the consideration of matters concerning the church.

In the historical accounts of the Word, just as in the prophecies, there is everywhere a spiritual sense. Therefore, in the historical sense, "corners" signify the geographical quarters North, South, East, and West. as they exist in the spiritual world; but in the spiritual sense, they signify all truths and goods of the church for the reasons given previously.

[12.] From all this, the significance of the "corner-stone" in the following passages becomes evident. In Isaiah:

"I will lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, of a well-founded foundation" (28:16).

In Jeremiah:

"They shall not take from you a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations" (51:26).

In Zechariah:

Out of Judah "the corner, out of him the nail, out of him the bow of war" (10:4).

In David:

"The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner" (Psalm 118:22; see also Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10, 11; Luke 20:17, 18).

"The stone of the corner" signifies all Divine truth upon which heaven and the church are founded—essentially, every foundation. Just as the foundation is the lowest part upon which a house or temple rests, the "corner-stone" signifies all things of that structure. Because the "stone of the corner" signifies everything upon which the church is founded, the scripture says: "I will lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone of a well-founded foundation." It is also called "a stone for a corner" and "a stone of foundations."

Furthermore, because "the stone of the corner" signifies all Divine truth upon which the church is founded, it also signifies the Lord in respect to His Divine Human The concept that God’s nature is essentially human—not in a physical sense, but in the sense of being the source of all human love and wisdom—made infinite and divine., because all Divine truth proceeds from Him. "The builders" (or architects) who rejected that stone, as mentioned in the Gospels, are those of the church—specifically the Jewish church at that time—which rejected the Lord and, along with Him, the goods and truths of the church. Consequently, they are outside of these truths and are considered "the cut off of the corner."