The Bible

 

Genesis 1

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1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

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

4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first Day.

6 And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.

7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

10 And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.

11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.

12 And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

13 And the evening and the morning were the third day.

14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:

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

16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.

17 And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,

18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

19 And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.

20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

22 And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth.

23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

24 And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so.

25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

28 And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

29 And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

31 And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

The Bible

 

Psalms 33:9

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9 For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Coronis (An Appendix to True Christian Religion) #21

  
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21. VII. THIS DIVINE WORK IS LIKEWISE CALLED REDEMPTION, WITHOUT WHICH NO MAN CAN BE SAVED, BECAUSE HE CANNOT BE REGENERATED. That the redemption accomplished by the Lord when He was in the world was a subjugation of the hells, an arrangement of the heavens in order, and by these means a preparation for a new spiritual Church, may be seen in the work, THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION (n. 115-117; and the following nos., 118-133). But inasmuch as this is new, and has lain hidden for ages, like the wreck of a ship with its precious cargo at the bottom of the sea, and nevertheless the doctrine of redemption is as it were the treasure-house of all the spiritual riches, or tenets, of the New Church, therefore, in the last section of this volume, the Mystery of Redemption shall be treated of, where the following propositions will be unfolded and elucidated:

[2] I. Deliverance from enemies is what in the Word is called Redemption.

II. Consequently, it is deliverance from evils and falsities, which, since they are from hell, are spiritual enemies; for they kill souls, as natural enemies do bodies.

[3] III. Hence it becomes evident that the first purpose of the Redemption accomplished by the Lord was the separation of the evil from the good, and the raising of the good to Himself into heaven, and the removal of the evil from Himself into hell; for thus are the good liberated from the evil. This first thing of Redemption is the Last Judgment (which has been treated of above, n. 10-13).

[4] IV. The second purpose of Redemption was the co-ordination of all things in the heavens, and the subordination of all things in hell, by which the good were still more distinctly separated and liberated from the evil; and this is the new heaven and the new hell (which has been treated of above, n. 14-17).

[5] V. The third purpose of Redemption was a revelation of truths from the new heaven, and thereby the raising up and establishment of a new Church on earth; by which means the good were further separated and liberated from the evil, and are separated and liberated for the future (this third cause has also been treated of above, n. 18-20).

[6] VI. The final purpose of Redemption was to make it possible for the Lord, by virtue of His Divine omnipotence, to regenerate man, and thus save him; for, unless man be regenerated he cannot be saved (John 3:3).

[7] VII. The regeneration of a man, inasmuch as it is a separation and deliverance from evils and falsities, is a particular redemption by the Lord, proceeding from His general Redemption.

[8] VIII. With those who are being regenerated, evils are first of all separated from goods, and this is like Judgment; afterwards, goods are collected into one, and arranged into a heavenly form, and this is like a new heaven; and, lastly, a new Church is thereby implanted and produced, the internal of which is heaven; and the external from the internal, consequently both together, with man, is what is called the Church.

[9] IX. All are redeemed, since all who reject the falsities of the former Church, and receive the truths of the new Church, are able to be regenerated; but still the regenerated are, properly, the redeemed.

[10] X. The goal of redemption, and the prize of the redeemed, is spiritual peace.

[11] XI. A redemption has also been accomplished by the Lord at this day, because the present day is His Second Coming according to prophecy; by which, having been an eye-witness thereof, I have been convinced of the truth of the foregoing arcana.

But these are only general statements, which must be unfolded in detail, and set forth in both spiritual and natural light, at the end of this volume, where the Mystery of Redemption is to be treated of.

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