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

 

Divine Wisdom #4

  
/ 12  
  

4. [84.] IV. THERE IS A LIKENESS AND ANALOGY BETWEEN MAN'S FORMATION IN THE WOMB AND HIS REFORMATION AND REGENERATION

The way man is reformed is altogether similar to the way he is formed in the womb, the only difference being that the man to be reformed has Will and Understanding, whereas in the womb he has not. Still, this difference does not in any way prevent there being this likeness and analogy. For, in reforming and regenerating a man, the Lord similarly leads his Will and Understanding, but because of the Will and Understanding being given him, the appearance is that the man himself is leading himself, that is, that he wills and acts from himself, and from himself thinks and speaks. Nevertheless he knows from the Word, and from doctrine derived from the Word, that it is not himself that does this, but the Lord: and consequently that it is only how it appears; and he may know, too, that the purpose of its so appearing is that he may be able to receive and appropriate; for if it did not so appear, there would be nothing reciprocal in him, so that he may love the Lord as the Lord loves him, and may as from himself love the neighbour, and as from himself believe in the Lord. Without this reciprocal a man would be like an automaton, and in an automaton the Lord could not be present; for the Lord desires to be loved, and therefore gives to man to desire it, from which it is clear that neither Will nor Understanding is the man's, but that both of them, considered in themselves, are just as they were in him while he was in the womb, when namely they were not his, these two faculties being bestowed upon man so that he may will and think and also do and speak, as from himself, while nevertheless knowing, understanding and believing that they are not from himself. By this means, a man is reformed and regenerated, and takes into his Will the love, and into his Understanding the wisdom, from which also he was formed in the womb. [2] By this means, moreover, the two higher degrees of the man's life, which, as said above, were dwelling-places of the Lord while he was being formed, are opened in him, while in addition the lowest degree which, as also stated, was inverted and bent back, is reformed.

From this analogy and likeness it is clear that, in the process of regeneration, a man is as it were newly conceived, formed, born and brought up; and this, to the end that he may become a likeness of the Lord in respect of love, and an image of Him in respect of wisdom; and, if only you will believe it, a man does in fact become new by that means; not only is he given a new Will and a new Understanding, but his spirit is given a new body as well. The things that were there, are not indeed entirely effaced but only put aside so as not to appear, and the new things are, by the love and wisdom which are the Lord, formed in the regenerated man as in a womb. For such as is a man's Will and Understanding, such also is he in each and all things, for each and all things in a man, from head to foot, are productions from them, as shown above.

  
/ 12  
  

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