24. Verse 6 And God said, Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters.

After the Spirit of God, which is the Lord's mercy, has brought out into the daylight cognitions of truth and good, and has shed the light of dawn to reveal that the Lord does exist, and that He is good itself and truth itself, and that no good or truth exists except from the Lord, a distinction is at that point made between the internal man and the external man, and so between cognitions which reside with the internal man and the facts which belong to the external man. The internal man is called 'an expanse, and the cognitions residing with the internal man are called 'the waters above the expanse', while the facts belonging to the external man are called 'the waters below the expanse'.

[2] Until his regeneration starts a person is not aware of even the existence of the internal man, let alone the identity of the internal man. Submerged in bodily and worldly concerns he imagines there is no difference between the two. Furthermore he has submerged in those same concerns the things that belong to the internal man and has made one thorough obscurity out of things that are distinct and separate. For this reason it is first said, 'Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters', and then, 'Let there be a distinguishing of the waters from the waters', and not a distinguishing of the waters. But this is followed immediately by the statement, Verses 7-8, And God made the expanse and He made a distinction between the waters that were under the expanse and the waters that were above the expanse; and it was so. And God called the expanse Heaven.

[3] The second thing therefore that a person notices when being regenerated is that he is starting to become aware of the existence of the internal man, or that what reside in the internal man are goods and truths which are the Lord's alone. And since the external man during regeneration is such as still imagines that he is the source of the good deeds he performs, or of the truth he utters, and since such a person, by means of them, is led by the Lord to do good and to speak truth as if they were his own, therefore the identification of those under the expanse comes first, and the identification of those above the expanse follows. It is also a heavenly arcanum that the Lord uses those things that are man's own - both his illusions of the senses and his desires - to lead and direct him towards the things that are goods and truths. Every single movement of regeneration is accordingly a progression from evening to morning - from external man to internal, that is, from earth to heaven. This is why the expanse, or internal man, is now called 'heaven'.

8765. 'And brought you to Myself' means thus to the good of love existing in heaven. This is clear from the consideration that Jehovah, who says that they were drawn to Himself, is the Divine Good of Divine Love, 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921 (end), 4402, 7010, 7268, 7873, 8301, 8760, at this point the Divine Good of Divine Love as it exists in heaven, 8761. In what way these things link together with those that come immediately before them is self-evident. The words in what comes immediately before, bore you on eagles' wings', mean that they were raised by means of truths to heavenly light, while the words here, 'brought you to Myself', mean to the Divine Good of love as it exists in heaven; for the truths of faith are the means by which a person is brought to good, and so into heaven, and to the Lord there. A person is not in heaven, nor thus with the Lord, until he is governed by good, that is, by charitable affection.

[2] People who suppose that salvation lies in faith alone, and not at the same time in the life of faith, that is, in the life of charity, believe that anyone can enter heaven and come to the Lord, irrespective of the life he has led. They do not know what the life of man is; and not knowing what this is they imagine that the life is of no importance at all. Consequently if they are asked whether a bad person is able to be among the good, they say that by God's mercy he can be, since it is the work of an almighty power. Indeed if they are asked whether the devil is able to become an angel of heaven, they say Yes, provided that he wishes to receive faith. Nor are they in any doubt about his ability to receive it. But if they are told that evil is not able to be turned into good, nor thus hell into heaven with a person, and that such a conversion is impossible because it is contrary to order, therefore contrary to God's truth, and so contrary to God Himself who is order, they reply that such ideas are false reasonings about salvation that do not interest them. All these and countless other considerations go to show how great a blindness regarding salvation and eternal life is caused by teachings about faith alone.