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.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #1093

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1093. Having great power.- That this signifies to whom belongs Omnipotence, both in the heavens and on earth, is evident from the signification of great power, when said of the Lord, as denoting Omnipotence. Omnipotence here signifies great power, because the term "great power," but not "Omnipotence," can be applied to an angel, which is according to the idea that man has of angels; but when by an angel is meant the Lord as to His proceeding Divine, then great power means Omnipotence. Omnipotence is also the Lord's because He is the God of heaven and of earth, and both heaven and earth were created by means of the Divine that proceeds from Him as a Sun, and by it also heaven and earth are maintained in existence and subsist. The proceeding Divine is what is called in John, "The Word, which was with God, and which was God," by which all things were made that were made, and by which also the world was made (chap. 1:1, 2, 10). The Omnipotence of the Lord both in the heavens and on earth is meant by the great power of the angel, because it is afterwards said that the earth was lightened with His glory; for when the Last Judgment was accomplished upon those who are meant by the harlot of Babylon, then the darkness was removed which had gathered between heaven and earth. But more will be said upon this subject below.

[2] Continuation concerning the Athanasian Creed.- It is evident from what has been said, that the thoughts of man are extensions into societies either heavenly or infernal, and that unless they were extensions they would have no existence. Man's thought is like the sight of his eyes, and, unless this had extension beyond itself, there would be either no sight, or blindness. But it is man's love that gives his thoughts their determination into societies, good love into heavenly societies, and evil love into infernal societies. For the whole heaven is arranged into societies, according to all the varieties of the affections that belong to love, generally, specifically, and in particular; while hell is arranged into societies according to the lusts (cupiditates) of the love of evil, opposite to the affections of the love of good.

[3] Man's love is comparatively like fire, and his thoughts are like the rays of light from it; if the love is good, then the thoughts, which are like rays, are truths; if the love is evil, the thoughts which go forth like rays are falsities. Thoughts from good love, which are truths, tend towards heaven; but thoughts from evil love which are falsities, tend towards hell, and are so completely conjoined with, and as it were ingrafted upon homogeneous societies, that is, such as are in similar love, that a man becomes entirely one with them.

[4] Man, by means of love to the Lord, is an image of Him. The Lord is Divine Love, and He appears as a Sun before the angels in heaven. Light and heat go forth from that Sun, light being the Divine Truth, and heat the Divine Good; the whole heaven, and all the societies of heaven, are from these. The Lord's love with a man who is an image of him, is as fire from that Sun, from which fire, light and heat similarly go forth; the light is the truth of faith, and the heat is the good of love, each of them being from the Lord, and each implanted in the societies with which such a man's love acts in unison. That man from creation is an image and likeness of God, is evident from Genesis (1:26); and He is an image and likeness of the Lord by means of love, because by means of love man is in the Lord and the Lord in him (John 14:20, 21). In a word, the very least thought that can exist is received in some society, not by the individuals or angels of the society, but by the affection of love from which and in which that society is; for this reason the angels are not conscious of the influx, neither does that influx disturb the society in any way.

[5] From these considerations the truth is evident that man is in conjunction with heaven while he lives in the world, and also in consociation with angels, although both men and angels are ignorant of it. They know nothing of this is because a man's thought is natural, and an angel's thought spiritual, and these make one only by correspondence. Since man by means of the thoughts of his love, is inaugurated into societies either of heaven or hell, therefore, on his entrance into the spiritual world, which takes place immediately after death, his character is known merely from the extension of his thoughts into societies, and in this way every one is explored. Man is also reformed by the admission of his thoughts into the societies of heaven, and he is condemned by the immersion of his thoughts in the societies of hell.

  
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Translation by Isaiah Tansley. Many thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #10336

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10336. 'And I have put wisdom in the heart of everyone wise in heart' means all those who will and do what is good and true for goodness and truth's sake. This is clear from the meaning of 'heart' as the inmost part of a person, which is called his will, and since that which composes a person's love constitutes his will, 'heart' also means love (for the meaning of 'heart' as love, see 3635, 3883-3896, 9050, and for the meaning of it as the will, 2930, 3888, 7542, 8910, 9113, 9300, 9495); from the meaning of 'the wise in heart' as one who wills and loves what is good and true for goodness and truth's sake, for it is the mark of someone 'wise', and it is wisdom, to be moved by love to put truths into practice, 10331, and the mark of someone 'wise in heart' and wisdom of heart to be moved by love to put good into practice; and from the meaning of 'putting wisdom in the heart' as being moved by the Lord, and so by the good of love, to do those things, for the good of love originates in the Lord. All such people will and do what is good and true for goodness and truth's sake, because good and the truth that goes with good are the Lord as He exists with them; for those things which originate in Him, and so which are His, are also He Himself.

[2] This is the reason for saying that the Lord is Goodness itself and Truth itself. It is clear from the Lord's own words that He is Goodness itself,

Why do you call Me Good? Nobody is Good except the one God. Matthew 19:16-17; Luke 18:18-19.

And where the good deeds of love and charity are listed,

Insofar as you did it to one of the least of these My brothers you did it to Me. Matthew 25:40.

The word 'brothers' describes those who are governed by good, and so describes varieties of good, see 2360, 3803, 3815, 4121, 5409; thus 'the Lord's brothers' are those who are governed by good that originates in Him, 4191, 5686, 5692, 6756. It is likewise clear from the Lord's words that He is Truth itself,

Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. John 14:6.

And elsewhere,

When the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth; He will not speak from Himself. He will take from what is Mine and declare it to you. John 16:13-15.

From all this it is evident what 'putting wisdom in the heart' means.

[3] 'Writing the law on the heart' in Jeremiah is also used to mean much the same thing,

I will put My law in the midst of them, and will write it on their heart. No more will every man teach his companion, or every man his brother 1 , saying, Know Jehovah. For they all will know Me. Jeremiah 31:33-34.

'Writing the law on the heart' means entering Divine Truth into the will, thus in a person's love. When this is done the person no longer has to draw Divine Truth out of store in his memory; instead the good itself belonging to love causes him to perceive intuitively. This is why it says, 'No more will every man teach his companion, or every man his brother, saying, Know Jehovah. For they all will know Me'. This is what celestial angels inhabiting the inmost heaven are like, see in the places referred to in 9277.

[4] What it is to will and do what is good and true for goodness and truth's sake, meant here by 'putting wisdom in the heart of everyone wise in heart', must be stated briefly. All who love the Lord above all things and their neighbour as themselves do what is good and true for goodness and truth's sake. For as has been stated above, goodness and truth are the Lord Himself; therefore since they love what is good and true, that is, since they are moved by love to will and do it, they love the Lord. Those too who love their neighbour as themselves will and love what is good and true for goodness and truth's sake, for in the universal sense that which is good and true constitutes the neighbour. The neighbour is one's fellow citizen, the [local] community, one's country, the Church, and the Lord's kingdom; and loving the neighbour consists in goodwill towards these, that is, in desiring their good, and therefore their good is what must be loved. And when this is loved the Lord is loved, since He is the source of this good.

[5] From all this it is evident that love towards the neighbour, which is called charity, holds love to the Lord within itself. If this love is not held within it, fellow citizens, community, country, Church, and the Lord's kingdom are loved for selfish reasons, and so not from a desire that is good but from one that is bad; for whatever a person does for the sake of self as the end in view springs from a desire that is bad. Loving the neighbour for the sake of self consists in loving him for the sake of gain and important positions as the ends in view. The end in view is what determines whether something springs from a desire that is good or one that is bad. The end in view is identical with the love; for what the person loves, that he has as his end. The end in view is also identical with the will; for what a person wills, that he loves. Consequently the end for the sake of which someone acts, or his intentions, constitutes the real person; for a person's character is determined by the character of his will and of his love.

Footnotes:

1. literally, Nor will they teach any longer a man (vir) his companion, or a man (vir) his brother

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