The creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis represents the new creation of the celestial church called 'Man'.

(Референци: Arcana Coelestia 9336, Genesis 1)

407. It generally happens with the passage of time that the Church reaches a state when it retreats from true faith and at length ends up with no faith at all. And when faith is no more the Church is said to be vastated. This was what happened to the Most Ancient Church among those called Cainites. It was also what happened to the Ancient Church which came after the Flood, and to the Jewish Church too, which had been so vastated by the time of the Lord's Coming that they did not even know anything about the Lord's coming to save them, still less anything about faith in Him. It was what happened yet again to the Primitive Church - the Church established after the Lord's Coming - which at the present time has been so vastated that there is not any faith there. Nevertheless some nucleus of the Church always remains, although those who have been vastated as to faith do not acknowledge that nucleus, as with the Most Ancient Church, a remnant of which remained up to and survived beyond the Flood. That remnant of the Church is called Noah.