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 #981

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981. (Verse 8) And the fourth angel poured out his vial into the sun. That this signifies the state of the church manifested as to love to God, thus to the Lord, is evident from the signification of the angel pouring out his vial, as denoting the state of the church manifested, as above (n. 969). And from the signification of the sun, as denoting love to God, thus to the Lord (concerning which see above, n. 401, 412, 422, 525, 527, 708). The reason why the sun signifies love to God, thus to the Lord is, that the Lord appears before the angels in the heavens as a Sun, and His appearance as a Sun is from Divine love. For all love in the spiritual world corresponds to fire and flame, and because it corresponds it is also representatively shown by fire and flame, therefore the Lord's Divine love appears as a Sun. Hence it is that the sun, in the Word, signifies the Lord, as to love towards all who are in heaven and in the world, and, in a reciprocal sense, love to the Lord.

By love to the Lord is signified the love or affection of doing His commandments, thus, the love of keeping the precepts of the Decalogue. For in proportion as a man from love, or from affection, keeps and does them, in the same proportion he loves the Lord. The reason is, that they are the Lord with man.

[2] Thus far five precepts of the Decalogue have been explained. The Sixth Precept, which is, "Thou shalt not commit adultery," must now be explained.

Who is there at this day capable of believing that the delight of adultery is hell with man, and that the delight of marriage is heaven with him; consequently, that so far as a man is in the one delight, so far he is not in the other; because so far as a man is in hell, so far he is not in heaven? Who is there at this day who is capable of believing that the love of adultery is the fundamental love of all hellish and devilish loves, and that the chaste love of marriage is the fundamental love of all loves, heavenly and Divine; consequently, that so far as a man is in the love of adultery, so far he is in every evil love, if not in act, yet in endeavour? On the other hand, so far as a man is in the chaste love of marriage, so far he is in every good love, if not in act, yet in endeavour? Who is there at this day who is capable of believing that he who is in the love of adultery has no belief at all in the Word, consequently, none in the church, indeed, that in his heart he denies God? And, on the other hand, that he who is in the chaste love of marriage is in charity and faith and in love to God? Or who is capable of believing that the chastity of marriage makes one with religion, and the lasciviousness of adultery makes one with naturalism?

[3] The reason why these things are at this day unknown is, because the church is at its end, and devastated as to truth and good; and when the church is in such a condition, then the man of the church, by influx from hell, comes into the persuasion that adulteries are neither detestable nor abominations. And hence also he comes into the belief that marriages and adulteries do not differ in their essence, but only as to order, when, nevertheless, the difference between them is such as that between heaven and hell. That there is this difference between them will be seen in what follows. Hence it is that in the Word, in the spiritual sense, heaven and the church are meant by nuptials and marriages; and that hell and the rejection of all things of the church are meant in the Word, in the spiritual sense, by adulteries and whoredoms.

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