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

 

Arcana Coelestia #4724

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4724. 'And before he drew near to them they plotted against him, to put him to death' means that they desired to annihilate the Divine Spiritual which proceeded from the Lord's Divine Human. This is clear from the meaning of 'plotting' as desires resulting from ill-intent, for that which they desire because of ill-intent is the object of their plotting; from the meaning of 'putting to death' as annihilating; and from the representation of 'Joseph' as the Divine Spiritual or Divine Truth, dealt with above several times. Because Divine Truth proceeds from the Lord's Divine Human it is therefore referred to as the Divine Spiritual that proceeds from His Divine Human.

[2] The implications of this are as follows: All Divine Truth in the whole of heaven proceeds from no other source than the Lord's Divine Human. That which proceeds from the Divine itself, since this is Infinite, cannot possibly flow directly to any angel, only indirectly through the Lord's Divine Human. This is also what the following words spoken by the Lord mean,

Nobody has ever seen God; the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known. John 1:18.

This also explains why as to His Divine Human the Lord is called the Mediator.

[3] This Human has existed even from eternity, for unless the Divine Being flowed through heaven, and in so doing became the Divine Manifestation, that Being could not have been communicated to any angel, still less to any spirit, and least of all to any man. For as regards the Divine itself the Lord is the Divine Being, and as regards the Divine Human He is the Divine Manifestation, see 4687. Yet the Lord's Human could not have received any influx from the Divine Being if the Human within Him had not been made Divine, for that which is to receive the Divine Being must itself be Divine.

[4] From these few observations it may be seen that Divine Truth does not proceed directly from the Divine itself but from the Lord's Divine Human. What is more, those who champion faith alone within themselves and do not lead the life of faith annihilate that Divine Human, for they believe that the Lord's Human is purely human, not unlike the human of any other person. Many of these people as a consequence also deny the Lord's Divinity, even though they confess Him with their lips. But those who lead the life of faith worship the Lord, on bended knees and with humble hearts, as their God and Saviour. As they do so the teaching that His Divine Nature is distinct and separate from His Human Nature does not enter their heads, as is likewise the case with them during the Holy Supper. From this it is evident that in their case the Lord's Divine Human has a place in their hearts.

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