The Bible

 

Genesis 1

Study

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 Revealed #562

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562. Where she might be nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the face of the serpent. This symbolically means, because of the cunning of those leading astray, to provide vigilantly for the New Church to spread among more people, until it grows to its appointed state.

To nourish, when mentioned in connection with the New Church, means, symbolically, to provide that it spread among more people, as we said in no. 547 above. "A time and times and half a time" means, symbolically, to the end and a new beginning, thus until it grows from a few people to many more, till it reaches its appointed state, as we said also in no. 547 above. The face of the serpent symbolizes the cunning of those leading astray - the face symbolizing the cunning, and the serpent those who lead astray.

That a serpent symbolizes people who lead astray is apparent from these words in this chapter:

The great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old..., which leads the whole world astray. (Revelation 12:9)

And elsewhere:

He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old..., and he cast him into the bottomless pit..., so that he should lead the nations no more astray... (Revelation 20:2-3)

The meaning here is the same as that of the serpent which led Eve and Adam astray, of which it is said,

Now the serpent became more cunning than any beast of the field... And the woman said (to Jehovah), "The serpent led me astray...." (Genesis 3:1, 13)

[2] A face in the Word symbolizes what lies within a person, because the face reflects his character, its expression being formed in correspondence with it. The face of a serpent, therefore, symbolizes anger, hatred and cunning.

"A time, times and half a time" here has the same symbolic meaning as the one thousand two hundred and sixty days in verse 6, which says,

Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they may feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Revelation 12:6)

An explanation of the meaning may be seen in no. 547 above.

The same is also the meaning of the three and a half days in Revelation 11:9, 11, and of the three years and six months of famine in Luke 4:25.

It is also the meaning of the appointed time of appointed times and a half in Daniel, "when they shall completely disperse the hands of the holy people" (Daniel 12:7).

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.