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

 

Arcana Coelestia #9399

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9399. 'And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it over the people' means making a person well-adapted to receive it. This is clear from the meaning of 'the blood of the sacrifice' as Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, dealt with above in 9393; and from the meaning of 'sprinkling over the people' as making a person well-adapted to receive it, for 'sprinkling' means flowing into something, that is, adapting it. Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord is flowing unceasingly into a person and composing his understanding; indeed, if you are willing to believe it, without that unceasing inflow of God's truth emanating from the Lord he can see and learn nothing. For the Divine Truth emanating from the Lord is the light which enlightens the human mind and composes inner sight, which is the understanding. And since that light flows in unceasingly, it makes every person well-adapted to receive it. Those who do receive it however are people who lead a good life, whereas those who do not receive it are people who lead a bad life. Even so, the latter have the ability, just as the former do, to see and learn Divine Truth, and also to receive it to the extent that they depart from evil ways. This is what the half of the blood sprinkled over the people by Moses served to mean.

[2] Regarding Divine Truth emanating from the Lord, that it is the Light which enlightens the human mind and composes its inner sight, which is the understanding, see 2776, 3167, 3195, 3636, 3643, 3993, 4405, 5400, 8644, 8707.

This Divine Truth is also meant in John,

He was the true light which enlightens every person coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, but the world did not know Him. John 1:9-11.

This refers to the Word, which is Divine Truth emanating from the Lord.

[3] Every person in the world who is sound in mind has the ability to learn God's truth, and consequently has the ability to receive it to the extent that he departs from evil ways, as considerable experience has enabled me to know. For all without exception in the next life, the evil as well as the good, are able to learn what is true and what is false, also what is good and what is bad. But the evil, though they can see what truth or good is, have no wish to see it; for their will, and the evil there, finds it repugnant. When left alone to themselves therefore the evil fall back to the falsities accompanying their evil, in detestation of the truth or good they have come to see. The same applied to such people when they were in the world, where they refused to accept truths which they were able to see. From this it has been evident to me that Divine Truth emanating from the Lord flows constantly into human minds and makes them well-adapted to receive it, and that it is indeed received by people to the extent that they depart from the evil ways that go with self-love and love of the world.

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