8891. For in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth and the sea. That this signifies the regeneration and vivification of those things which are in the internal and in the external man, is evident from the signification of “six days,” as being states of combat (of which (8888) just above, n. 8888), and when predicated of Jehovah, that is, the Lord, they signify His labor with man before he is regenerated (n. 8510); and from the signification of “heaven and earth,” as being the church or kingdom of the Lord in man, “heaven” in the internal man, and “earth” in the external man (n. 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535), thus the regenerate man, that is, one who has found the new life and has thus been made alive; and from the signification of “the sea,” as being the sensuous of man adhering to the corporeal (n. 8872).

[2] In this verse the subject treated of is the hallowing of the seventh day, or the institution of the Sabbath, and it is described by the words, “In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested in the seventh day; wherefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and hallowed it.” They who do not think beyond the sense of the letter cannot believe otherwise than that the creation which is described in the first and second chapters of Genesis, is the creation of the universe, and that there were six days within which were created the heaven, the earth, the sea and all things which are therein, and finally man in the likeness of God. But who that takes into consideration the particulars of the description cannot see that the creation of the universe is not there meant; for such things are there described as may be known from common sense not to have been so; as that there were days before the sun and the moon, as well as light and darkness, and that herbage and trees sprang up; and yet that the light was furnished by these luminaries, and a distinction was made between the light and the darkness, and thus days were made.

[3] In what follows in the history there are also like things, which are hardly acknowledged to be possible by anyone who thinks interiorly, as that the woman was built from the rib of the man; also that two trees were set in paradise, of the fruit of one of which it was forbidden to eat; and that a serpent from one of them spoke with the wife of the man who had been the wisest of mortal creatures, and by his speech, which was from the mouth of the serpent, deceived them both; and that the whole human race, composed of so many millions, was in consequence condemned to hell. The moment that these and other such things in that history are thought of, they must needs appear paradoxical to those who entertain any doubt concerning the holiness of the Word, and must afterward lead them to deny the Divine therein. Nevertheless be it known that each and all things in that history, down to the smallest iota, are Divine, and contain within them arcana which before the angels in the heavens are plain as in clear day. The reason of this is that the angels do not see the sense of the Word according to the letter, but according to what is within, namely, what is spiritual and celestial, and within these, things Divine. When the first chapter of Genesis is read, the angels do not perceive any other creation than the new creation of man, which is called regeneration. This regeneration is described in that history; by paradise the wisdom of the man who has been created anew; by the two trees in the midst thereof, the two faculties of that man, namely, the will of good by the tree of life, and the understanding of truth by the tree of knowledge. And that it was forbidden to eat of this latter tree, was because the man who is regenerated, or created anew, must no longer be led by the understanding of truth, but by the will of good, and if otherwise, the new life within him perishes (see n. 202, 337, 2454, 2715, 3246, 3652, 4448, 5895, 5897, 7877, 7923, 7992, 8505, 8506, 8510, 8512, 8516, 8539, 8643, 8648, 8658, 8690, 8701, 8722). Consequently by Adam, or man, and by Eve his wife, was there meant a new church, and by the eating of the tree of knowledge, the fall of that church from good to truth, consequently from love to the Lord and toward the neighbor to faith without these loves, and this by reasoning from their own intellectual, which reasoning is the serpent (see n. 195-197, 6398, 6399, 6949, 7293).

[4] From all this it is evident that the historic narrative of the creation and the first man, and of paradise, is a history so framed as to contain within it heavenly and Divine things, and this according to the received method in the Ancient Churches. This method of writing extended thence also to many who were outside of that Church, who in like manner devised histories and wrapped up arcana within them, as is plain from the writers of the most ancient times. For in the Ancient Churches it was known what such things as are in the world signified in heaven, nor to those people were events of so much importance as to be described; but the things which were of heaven. These latter things occupied their minds, for the reason that they thought more interiorly than men at this day, and thus had communication with angels, and therefore it was delightful to them to connect such things together. But they were led by the Lord to those things which should be held sacred in the churches, consequently such things were composed as were in full correspondence.

[5] From all this it can be seen what is meant by “heaven and earth” in the first verse of the first chapter of Genesis, namely, the church internal and external. That these are signified by “heaven and earth” is evident also from passages in the prophets, where mention is made of “a new heaven and a new earth,” by which a new church is meant (see n. 82, 1411, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118, 3355, 4535). From all this it is now plain that by, “In six days Jehovah made heaven and earth and the sea,” is signified the regeneration and vivification of those things which are in the internal and in the external man.

8701. Thou art not able to do it, thou alone. That this signifies without the influx of truth from good ¹ from some other source, is evident from the signification of “doing it alone,” when said of the truth Divine represented by Moses, as being the influx of truth from it alone, and not at the same time from some other source. How the case herein is can be seen from what was said above (n. 8685) concerning the immediate influx of truth Divine, and concerning its influx immediate and at the same time mediate; namely, that the influx of truth Divine is immediate in the first state of man when he is being regenerated; but that the influx is immediate and mediate in the second state, that is, when he has been regenerated. When the influx is immediate, the Lord indeed flows in with good and truth, yet the good is not then perceived, but truth; therefore the man is then led by means of truth, not so much by good. But when the influx is at the same time mediate, then good is perceived, for mediate influx is into the man’s external sensuous; hence it is that the man is then led by the Lord by means of good. In general be it known that a man has not been regenerated until he acts from the affection of good; for he then wills good, and it is delightful and blessed to him to do it. When he is in this state, his life is the life of good, and he is in heaven, for what universally reigns in heaven is good; the truth which is of faith, however, leads man to good, thus to heaven, but does not place him in heaven. The reason of this is that in the other life all are associated together according to the life of the will, not according to the life of the understanding; for where the will is, there the understanding is, but not the reverse: it is so in heaven, and it is so in hell. They who are evil are not sent into hell until they are in the evil of their life; for when they are in this, they are also in the falsity of their evil; in like manner they who are in good are, in heaven, in the truth of their good. In the other life all are reduced to the state of having one mind, namely, that what they will they also think, and they do not think differently from what they will. But in the world it is otherwise, for in the world a man can think differently, and even understand differently, from what he wills; but this in order that he may be reformed, that is, may understand good though he wills evil, and thus may be led by his understanding to will good; but in the other life everyone is led according to his will which has been acquired in the world.

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