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 #896

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896. 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. This symbolizes John's being transported into the third heaven and his sight opened there, and the Lord's New Church in respect to its doctrine being presented to him in the form of a city.

John's being carried away in the spirit onto a great and high mountain means, symbolically, that he was transported into the third heaven, where those people dwell who are impelled by love from the Lord and possess a doctrine of genuine truth from Him. Greatness is also predicated of goodness, and height of truths.

His being carried away onto a mountain symbolically means into the third heaven, because he is said to have been in the spirit, and someone who is in the spirit is as to his mind and sight in the spiritual world. Moreover, in the spiritual world angels of the third heaven dwell on mountains, angels of the second heaven on hills, and angels of the lowest heaven in valleys between the hills and mountains. Consequently, when someone is carried away in the spirit onto a mountain, it symbolically means into the third heaven. This carrying away takes place in a moment, because it is achieved by a change in the person's state of mind.

The angel's showing to John symbolizes his sight being opened then and a revelation. The great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God symbolizes the Lord's New Church, as in nos. 879, 880 above, where we also explained why it is called a holy city, and why it is said to be coming down out of heaven from God. It was seen in the form of a city because a city symbolizes doctrine (nos. 194, 712), and a church is a church by virtue of its doctrine and its living in accordance with that doctrine. It was also seen as a city in order that its whole character might be described, and this is described by the city's walls, gates, foundations, and various dimensions.

The church is similarly described in Ezekiel, where we are also told that the prophet was taken in the visions of God onto a very high mountain, where he saw a city to the south, whose wall and gates an angel also measured, together with its various widths and heights (Ezekiel 40:2ff.).

The following passage in Zechariah has a similar meaning:

I said (to the angel), "Where are you going?" He said..., "To measure Jerusalem, to see how great its width is and how great its length." (Zechariah 2:2)

  
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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.