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 #641

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641. And if any one shall desire to hurt them.- That this signifies the protection of them by the Lord, lest they should be in any way injured, is evident from what follows; for it is said, "if any one shall desire to hurt them, fire shall go forth out of their mouth, and shall devour their enemies"; also, "if any one shall desire to hurt them, he must thus be killed." From these words, and those also which immediately follow, it is evident that the words "if any one shall desire to hurt them" signify protection by the Lord, lest they should be in any way injured. This is said of the two witnesses, who signify the doctrine of the good of love to the Lord and of the good of charity towards the neighbour; and this is the doctrine of life, to which the doctrine of faith will be subservient; these doctrines will be proclaimed about the time of the end of the church.

[2] What the words that follow in these two verses involve, has indeed been said above, but because they are among things that are unknown, it shall be repeated. When the end of the church is at hand, then the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, are revealed and taught. The reason is that the good may be separated from the evil; for the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, which are celestial and spiritual, are received by the good, but rejected by the evil, separation being the result. Besides, also, the interior things of the Word, which are revealed at the end of the church, are serviceable to the new church, which is then also being formed, in proportion to doctrine and life. That this is the case is clear from this, that when the end of the Jewish church was at hand, the Lord Himself opened and taught the interior things of the Word, and especially revealed those which had been predicted in the Word concerning Himself, and these being opened and revealed, the external things of the church were abrogated; these consisted principally of sacrifices, rituals, and statutes that shadowed forth the Lord, and represented and thence signified the interior things of the church which were revealed by Him. That this would come to pass was also predicted in various passages in the prophets.

[3] The case is the same at this day, for it has now pleased the Lord to reveal various arcana of heaven - especially the internal or spiritual sense of the Word - which have been till now entirely unknown, and He has also taught the genuine truths of doctrine. This revelation is meant by the "Coming of the Lord" in Matthew (24:3, 30, 37). The reason of this revelation at the end of the church is, as said above, that by means of it the separation of the good from the evil may be accomplished, and also a new church formed, and this not only in the natural world where men are, but also in the spiritual world where spirits and angels are. For the church is in both worlds, and revelation takes place in both, and separation by means of it, as also the formation of a new church. From these things it is evident that by the above words protection from the Lord is signified, lest they should be injured.

[4] If the successive states of the churches on our earth are considered, it is evident that they have been like the successive states of a man who is being reformed and regenerated; for in order that he may become a spiritual man, he is first conceived, afterwards born, then he grows up, and is subsequently led on further and further into intelligence and wisdom. The church from the most ancient times, even to the end of the Jewish church, increased in the same way as a man who is conceived and born, and who grows up, and is instructed and taught. But the successive states of the church after the end of the Jewish church, or from the Lord's time to the present day, have been like those of a man who grows in intelligence and wisdom, or is being regenerated. For this end the interior things of the Word, of the church, and of worship, were revealed by the Lord when He was in the world; and now, again, things still more interior are [revealed]; and in proportion as things interior are revealed, so far a man may become wiser, for to become interior is to become wiser, and to become wiser is to become interior.

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

The Bible

 

Matthew 24:30

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30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.