The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 At the first God made the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was waste and without form; and it was dark on the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God was moving on the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

4 And God, looking on the light, saw that it was good: and God made a division between the light and the dark,

5 Naming the light, Day, and the dark, Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a solid arch stretching over the waters, parting the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the arch for a division between the waters which were under the arch and those which were over it: and it was so.

8 And God gave the arch the name of Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven come together in one place, and let the dry land be seen: and it was so.

10 And God gave the dry land the name of Earth; and the waters together in their place were named Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let grass come up on the earth, and plants producing seed, and fruit-trees giving fruit, in which is their seed, after their sort: and it was so.

12 And grass came up on the earth, and every plant producing seed of its sort, and every tree producing fruit, in which is its seed, of its sort: and God saw that it was good.

13 And there was evening and there was morning, the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the arch of heaven, for a division between the day and the night, and let them be for signs, and for marking the changes of the year, and for days and for years:

15 And let them be for lights in the arch of heaven to give light on the earth: and it was so.

16 And God made the two great lights: the greater light to be the ruler of the day, and the smaller light to be the ruler of the night: and he made the stars.

17 And God put them in the arch of heaven, to give light on the earth;

18 To have rule over the day and the night, and for a division between the light and the dark: and God saw that it was good.

19 And there was evening and there was morning, the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters be full of living things, and let birds be in flight over the earth under the arch of heaven.

21 And God made great sea-beasts, and every sort of living and moving thing with which the waters were full, and every sort of winged bird: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God gave them his blessing, saying, Be fertile and have increase, making all the waters of the seas full, and let the birds be increased in the earth.

23 And there was evening and there was morning, the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth give birth to all sorts of living things, cattle and all things moving on the earth, and beasts of the earth after their sort: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after its sort, and the cattle after their sort, and everything moving on the face of the earth after its sort: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.

27 And God made man in his image, in the image of God he made him: male and female he made them.

28 And God gave them his blessing and said to them, Be fertile and have increase, and make the earth full and be masters of it; be rulers over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing moving on the earth.

29 And God said, See, I have given you every plant producing seed, on the face of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit producing seed: they will be for your food:

30 And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the air and every living thing moving on the face of the earth I have given every green plant for food: and it was so.

31 And God saw everything which he had made and it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

True Christian Religion #46

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46. (vi) THESE PROPERTIES OF THE DIVINE LOVE WERE THE REASON THE UNIVERSE WAS CREATED, AND ARE THE REASON IT IS PRESERVED IN EXISTENCE.

A thorough scrutiny and examination of these three essentials of the Divine Love can lead us to see that they were the reason for creation. That the first, loving others than itself, was a cause is clear from the universe being other than God, as the world is other than the sun, and something to which His love could extend and on which it could be exercised and so come to rest. We read too that, after God had created heaven and the earth, He rested, and this was the origin of the Sabbath (Genesis 2:2-3).

[2] The second essential, wishing to be one with them, was also a cause as is clear from the creation of man in the image and likeness of God. By this is meant that man was made as a form to receive love and wisdom from God, that is, to be someone with whom God could unite Himself, and on his account with every single thing in the universe, since these are nothing but means to the end. For being linked to a final cause involves also being linked to mediate causes. It is clear from the Book of Creation or Genesis (Genesis 1:28-30) that all things were created on account of man.

[3] The third essential, devoting oneself to their happiness, was also a cause, as is clear from the heaven of angels, which has been provided for every human being who receives the love of God; all there are made happy by God alone. These three essentials of God's love are also the reason why the universe is preserved, because preservation is perpetual creation, just as remaining in existence is a perpetual coming into existence; and the Divine Love is from eternity to eternity the same. So as it was in the creation of the world, such too it remains in the created world.

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.