25. THE FIRST STATE OF THIS MOST ANCIENT CHURCH, OR ITS RISE AND MORNING, is described in the first chapter of Genesis by these words:

God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them (Gen. 1:26-27);

and also by these in the second chapter:

Jehovah God formed man dust of the earth, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of lives; and man became a living soul (Gen. 2:7).

That its rise, or morning, is described by his being made, or created, "in the image of God," is because every man, when he is first born, and while an infant, is an "image of God" interiorly; for the faculty of receiving and of applying to himself those things which proceed from God, is implanted in him; and since he is also formed "dust of the earth" exteriorly, and there is thence in him an inclination to lick that dust like the serpent (Gen. 3:14), therefore, if he remains an external or natural man, and does not become at the same time internal, or spiritual, he destroys the "image of God," and puts on the image of the serpent which seduced Adam. But, on the other hand, the man who strives and labours to become an "image of God," subdues the external man in himself, and interiorly in the natural becomes spiritual, thus spiritual-natural; and this is effected by a new creation, that is, regeneration by the Lord. Such a man is an "image of God," because he wills and believes that he lives from God and not from himself: on the contrary, man is an image of the serpent as long as he wills and believes that he lives from himself and not from God. What is man but an "image of God" when he wills and believes that he is in the Lord and the Lord in him (John 6:56; 14:20; 15:4-5, 7; 17:26), and that he can do nothing of himself (John 3:27; 15:5)? What is a man but an "image of God" when, by a new birth, he becomes a "son of God" (John 1:12-13)? Who does not know that the image of the father is in the son? The rise, or morning, of this Church is described by Jehovah God's "breathing into his nostrils the breath of lives," and by his thus "becoming a living soul," because by "lives," in the plural, are meant love and wisdom, which two are essentially God; for, in proportion as a man receives and applies to himself those two essentials of life, which proceed continually from God, and continually flow into the souls of men, in the same proportion he becomes "a living soul"; for "lives" are the same as love and wisdom. Hence it is evident, that the rise and morning of the life of the men of the Most Ancient Church, who taken collectively are represented by Adam, is described by those two shrines of life.

3705. 'The land on which you are lying I will give to you' means that the good on which the Natural rested was His own in origin. This is clear from the meaning of 'the land' here as the good of the natural, dealt with below; from the meaning of 'on which you are lying' as on which it rested; and from the meaning of 'giving it to you' as His own in origin, also dealt with below. The reason 'the land' means the good of the natural, which Jacob will represent from now on, is that 'the land of Canaan' means the Lord's kingdom, 1413, 1437, 1585, 1607, 1866. And since it means the Lord's kingdom it also means in the highest sense the Lord, 3038 - for the Lord is the All in all of His kingdom, and anything there which does not originate in Him and have regard to Him is not part of His kingdom. The Lord's kingdom is also meant in the Word by 'heaven and earth', ¹ 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), though in this case the interior of that kingdom is meant by 'heaven' and the exterior by 'earth', 82, 1411, 1733, 3355 (end). Consequently 'heaven' in the highest sense means the Lord as regards His Divine Rational and 'earth' as regards His Divine Natural. Here therefore 'the land on which you are lying' means the Good of the Natural on which the Natural, represented by 'Jacob', rested. For 'Jacob' represents the Lord's Divine Natural, as stated many times above.

[2] Furthermore the word 'land' has various meanings, see 620, 636, 1066, 2571, 3368, 3379, the reason being that Canaan, which is called the Holy Land, means the Lord's kingdom in general; and when 'heaven' is mentioned together with 'earth', 'heaven' in that case means, as has been stated, that which is interior, 'earth' that which is exterior. This being so it also means the Lord's kingdom on earth, that is, the Church; and having that meaning, it also means a person who is the Lord's kingdom or who is the Church. With that person 'heaven' accordingly means that which is interior, 'earth' that which is exterior; or what amounts to the same, 'heaven' is the rational and 'earth' the natural since the rational exists more interiorly with man and the natural more exteriorly. And since 'land' [or 'earth'] has all these meanings it also means that which a person puts into effect - namely the good of love which he receives from the Divine - so that he may become the Lord's kingdom. From this it is evident in what way the meaning of 'land' in the Word varies.

[3] 'I will give to you' means that in origin it was His own. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'giving' in the Word when used in reference to the Lord, for as shown just above, the Lord is Divine Good and also Divine Truth, the former being called 'the Father' and the latter 'the Son'. Now because Divine Good is His and consequently that which is His own, it follows that 'giving to you', when spoken by Jehovah and used in reference to the Lord, means that which was His own in origin. From this one may see what is meant in the internal sense by the Lord's frequent reference to the Father's having given to Him - that is to say, to Himself, the Lord - as in John,

Father, glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You, as You have given Him power over all flesh, in order that all You have given Him, to them He may give eternal life. I have glorified You on earth; I have accomplished the work which You gave Me to do. I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world; Yours they were, and You gave them to Me. Now they know that everything which You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave Me I have given to them. I am praying for those whom You have given Me, for they are Yours; for all things that are Mine are Yours, and Yours are Mine. John 17:1-2, 4, 6-10.

Each reference here to the Father's giving means originating in the Divine Good that was His, and so in that which was His own.

[4] From this one may see how great an arcanum lies within the particular words spoken by the Lord, and also how greatly different the sense of the letter is from the internal sense, and more so from the highest sense. The Lord spoke in this fashion in order that mankind which at that time had no knowledge at all of any Divine truth might nevertheless be enabled in its own way to grasp and so accept the Word, while angels did so in theirs, for the angels knew that Jehovah and He were one and that the Father was Divine Good. For this reason also they knew that when He spoke of the Father giving to Him He would be giving to Himself and so drawing on what was His own.

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