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'.

286. Lord God Almighty, who was, and who is, and who is to come. That this signifies who is the Infinite and the Eternal is evident from the signification of Almighty, as denoting that He is the Infinite, of which we shall speak presently, and from the signification of, who was, who is, and who is to come, as denoting that He is the Eternal (concerning which see above, n. 23). There are two things which can be predicated of Jehovah alone, that is, of the Lord - infinite and eternal; infinite, of His Being (esse), which is the Divine good of His Divine love; eternal, of His manifestation (existere) from that Being (esse), which is the Divine truth of His Divine wisdom. These two are Divine in themselves. From these the universe was created; therefore also all things in the universe have reference to good and truth, and good is everywhere the being (esse) of a thing, and truth is the manifestation (existere) therefrom; but these two in all things of the universe are finite. This is why it is here said "Lord God"; for Lord signifies the Divine good of the Divine love, and God the Divine truth of the Divine wisdom. (That Jehovah in the Word is called Lord from Divine good, may be seen, Arcana Coelestia 4973, 9167, 9194; and that He is called God from Divine truth, n. 2586, 2769, 2807, 2822, 3921, 4287, 4402, 7010, 9167). From these considerations it is clear that Almighty signifies the Infinite, and that who was, who is, and who is to come signifies the Eternal.