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

 

De Verbo (The Word) #20

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20. XX. The Word

All the holiness of the Word is in its literal sense, and there is no holiness in the spiritual sense without the literal sense. This would be like a house without a foundation, so like a house in the air. It would be like a human body with no skin, which would entirely disintegrate. All the inner parts of the body 1 are connected with the peritoneum, pleura, and skin; so is the spiritual sense with the literal sense. The spiritual sense without the literal sense would be like contents with no container, so like wine with no vessel to hold it. The spiritual with no natural is much the same, or the heaven of angels and their wisdom without the human race and the church among them, and the intelligence it derives from the literal sense. The literal sense of the Word brings about that connexion and that linking with a person. This too was the reason why the Lord came into the world. For everything in the literal sense was falsified by the Jews, to such an extent that there was no longer an ultimate stage in mankind. The Lord therefore came into the world and put on the Human, so that He might also become the Word in the literal sense, or Divine truth at its ultimate level. This is why the Word is said to have become flesh (John 1:14).

[2] It is the same with the power of Divine truth. All power in the spiritual world belongs to Divine truth proceeding from the Lord. Many expressions can be quoted to illustrate the nature of the power of Divine truth there (a number of these experiences are to be inserted). All the power of Divine truth lies in the literal sense of the Word; the spiritual sense without the literal sense has no power, but the literal sense containing the spiritual sense has. When therefore spirits bring forward anything from the literal sense, it is evident that there is communication with heaven; but not if they bring forward anything from the spiritual sense without the literal sense.

[3] Thus all responses from heaven have been and are made by means of things in the literal sense. This is why the literal sense was represented by the Urim and Thummim on Aaron's ephod; that was his outermost garment. This is why in the Book of Revelation the foundations of the New Jerusalem are listed as composed of twelve precious stones, as well as of pearls; these too meant the literal sense. Likewise the Cherubim upon the Mercy-seat; this is why Moses and Aaron received responses by that means.

[4] The arrangement adopted by the inner levels of Divine truth, the source of the wisdom of the angels; this is a simultaneous arrangement, so the literal sense is their container.

[5] All the details of the church's teaching are therefore to be supported from the literal sense of the Word, and no point of teaching which cannot be so supported has any force. A point of teaching which is supported by the literal sense as regards real truth has force. Even the appearance of Divine truth has force, though less so, as if it could agree with real truth. But if the literal sense of the Word is falsified, it has no force; it shuts off instead of opening up heaven.

Footnotes:

1. The manuscript has 'of the Word', but this must be a slip for 'of the body'. -Translator

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