John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, descending from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband (Apoc. 21:2). By "the holy city, New Jerusalem," is meant the doctrine of the New Church, thus the church as to doctrine; and, by "Jerusalem descending from God, out of the new heaven," is meant that the true doctrine of the church is from no other source. That the doctrine descended, is because a church is a church from doctrine and according to it; without it, a church is no more a church than a man is a man without members, viscera and organs, or from the cutaneous covering alone, which only defines his external shape; nor any more than a house is a house without bed-chambers, dining rooms, and furniture within, thus from the walls and arched roof alone. It is similar with the church without doctrine. That "Jerusalem" signifies the church as to doctrine, may be seen proved from the Word in the work itself, The True Christian Religion (n. 782). From these things, it is manifest that the church on the earth is derived and produced by the Lord through the angelic heaven.