the truth. As a result, whenever precious stones are named in the Word, in
the spiritual meaning they stand for truths. We are told that the founda-
tions of the wall around the city, the New Jerusalem, were constructed of
precious stones. These stones mean the true teachings in the new church,
since the New Jerusalem means the new church in relation to its teachings
from the Word. Its wall and the foundations of its wall, then, can have no
other meaning than the outside of the Word, its literal meaning. The lit-
eral meaning is the source of what is taught; and through its teachings the
literal meaning is the source of the church. It is like a wall with founda-
tions that surrounds and protects a city.
We read the following statements in the Book of Revelation about
the New Jerusalem and its foundations:
The angel measured the wall of the city of Jerusalem at 144 cubits,
which was the measure of a human being, that is, of an angel. The wall
had twelve foundations adorned with every precious stone. The first
foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the
fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sard, the seventh chryso-
lite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the
eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. (Revelation 21 : 17 – 20 )
The twelve foundations of the wall were made of the same number of
precious stones because the number twelve means everything true that
comes from something good; therefore it also means all the church’s
teachings. For a detailed explanation of these verses (along with verses
before and after them in that chapter) corroborated with parallels in the
prophetic Word, see my Revelation Unveiled[ 909 – 915 ].
2. The Urim and Thummim on Aaron’s ephod mean the things that are 218
good and true in the Word’s literal meaning.There were Urim and Thum-
mim on Aaron’s ephod. Aaron’s priesthood represented the Lord’s divine
goodness and his efforts to save us. The clothes of Aaron’s priesthood and
sacred office represented divine truths from the Lord. The ephod repre-
sented divine truth in its outermost form, and therefore it represented
the Word’s literal meaning, since this is divine truth in its outermost
form. The twelve precious stones called the Urim and Thummim along-
side the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, then, represented all the
divine truths combined that come from divine goodness.
In Moses we read the following about these stones:
[The artisans] are to make an ephod out of [gold,] blue, and purple
threads, interwoven with double-dyed scarlet and cotton threads. Then
§218 sacred scripture 295