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.

Commentary

 

Resurrection, the first

  

'The first resurrection,' mentioned in Revelation 20:5, 6, does not mean a first resurrection, but the essence and primary part of resurrection, which is salvation and eternal life. There is only one resurrection to life. A second does not happen, and is not mentioned anywhere in the Bible.

(References: Apocalypse Explained 6; Apocalypse Revealed 851; Revelation 20:5-6)

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #708

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708. And the moon under her feet.- That this signifies faith with those who are natural and in charity, is plain from the signification of the moon, as denoting faith in which there is charity, of which we shall speak presently; and from the signification of feet as meaning things natural, of which see above (n. 69, 600:1, 632), - here, therefore, those who are natural, because it is said of the woman, who signifies the church, and the sun with which she was encompassed signifies love to the Lord from the Lord and love towards the neighbour, as shown in the preceding article. The woman encompassed with the sun therefore signifies the church with those who are celestial and thence spiritual, and the moon under her feet signifies the church with those who are natural and sensual, and at the same time in the faith of charity; for the goods and thus the truths of heaven and the church have an orderly succession, like the head, the body, and the feet in man. In the head of the Grand Man (Maximus Homo), which is heaven, are those who are in love to the Lord from the Lord, and these are called celestial; but in the body, from the breast even to the loins of that Grand Man, which is heaven, are those who are in love towards the neighbour, and they are called spiritual. But in the feet of the Grand Man, which is heaven, are those who are in the faith of charity obscurely, and these are called natural.

[2] But in order that this may be clearly apprehended, it must be understood that there are two kingdoms into which the heavens are divided, one called the celestial, and the other the spiritual; also that there are three heavens, the highest called the celestial, the middle called the spiritual, and the lowest the celestial-spiritual-natural.

But besides these divisions of the heavens, there is also the further distinction that there are those who receive light, that is, intelligence, from the Lord as a sun, and those who receive light and intelligence from the Lord as a moon. Those who receive the light of intelligence from the Lord as a sun, are those in whom the Intellectual and its Rational have been opened, and who have thence thought rationally concerning things that should be believed from a spiritual affection for truth. But those who receive light from the Lord as a moon, are those in whom the Intellectual and Rational have not been interiorly opened, but only the natural, and who in consequence have thought from the memory about what should be believed; and to think of those things from the memory is to think only about such things as have been heard from a master or preacher, which are called truths, and are also believed to be truths, although they may be falsities, for they are not seen from any further ground. If such had been in the faith of charity during their abode in the world, they, in the heavens, are under the Lord as a moon, for the light (lumen), which is the source of their intelligence, is like the light (lumen) of the moon at night, while the light (lux), which is the source of the intelligence of those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a sun, is like the light (lux) of day. What the difference is can be seen from the difference between the light of the sun in the day and that of the moon at night. The difference also is such that those who are under the Lord as a moon can see nothing in the light of those who are under the Lord as a sun, because their light (lux) is not genuine, but reflected light, which is capable of receiving falsities as well as truths, provided good appears in the falsities. Since all those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a moon are natural and sensual, and have nothing in common with those in the heavens who are under the Lord as a sun, and since they also are in falsities, in which, however, there is good, therefore the moon was seen under the feet of the woman, which means the faith of those who are natural.

[3] So far concerning the faith of those in heaven who are under the Lord as a moon; we will also speak briefly of their affection, from which faith derives its life. Their desire to know truth and do good, is, like themselves, natural, deriving more or less from the glory of learning, and from reputation, which looks to honours and gain as rewards, differing in this from the spiritual desire to know truth and do good, which those have who in heaven are under the Lord as a sun; with these this affection is so separated from natural affection, that the latter is under the feet. This also is the reason why the moon, which signifies not only faith, but also its affection, was here seen under the feet. But a more complete idea of these things may be obtained from what is said and shown in Heaven and Hell under the following heads: "Heaven is divided into two kingdoms" (n. 20-28); "The Sun and Moon in Heaven," "Light and Heat in the Heavens" (n. 116-140); "The Correspondence of Heaven with all things of Man" (n. 87-102); also in the Doctrine of the New Jerusalem, concerning those who are in falsities from good (n. 21). That the sun signifies the Lord as to Divine Love, and thence love to the Lord from the Lord, and that the moon signifies the truth of faith, may be seen above (n. 401); moreover, concerning the heavens which are under the Lord as a sun, and those under the Lord as a moon, see also above (n. 411e, 422:3, 527). To this it may be added, that those heavens which are under the Lord as a moon are also three, a higher, a middle, and a lower, or, what is the same, an interior, a middle, and an exterior; still all in these heavens are natural. The reason why they are interior, middle, and exterior, is because the Natural is divided into three degrees in the same manner as the Spiritual; the exterior Natural communicates with the world, the interior with heaven, while the middle is conjunctive. Nevertheless, those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a moon cannot enter into the heavens that are under the Lord as a sun, because their interior sight or understanding is formed to receive the lunar light there, and not to receive the solar light. They are, comparatively, not unlike those birds that see in the night and not in the day time, consequently when they come into the solar light, which those have who are under the Lord as a sun, their sight is darkened. Those who are in these heavens are such as were in charity according to their religion, or according to their faith; but those who are natural, and not in the faith of charity, are in the hells under those heavens. From these things it is evident that the moon here means faith with those who are natural and in charity; and that the moon was seen under the feet, because those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a moon have nothing in common with those who are in the heavens under the Lord as a sun, even to the extent of not being able to ascend up to them.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.