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 #849

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849. (Verse 1) And I saw. That this signifies a manifestation concerning the future separation of the good from the evil before the Last Judgment, is evident from the signification of I saw, as denoting the things which now follow, seen by John; and which, when seen in the spiritual sense, treat of the assembly and congregation of the faithful, and of their separation from the evil before the Last Judgment, according to what is meant also by these words of the Lord in Matthew:

"They shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory; and he shall send his angels and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other" (24:30, 31).

The subject of that chapter is also the Last Judgment, which is there meant by the Consummation of the Age and the Coming of the Lord. The gathering together and separation of the good from the evil is then described in the above words, as in this chapter of the Apocalypse (vers. 14, 16), by what is said concerning the Son of man sitting upon a white cloud, and by the sickle in his hand with which he reaped the earth.

Similar things are also meant by these words of the Lord in Matthew:

"The kingdom of the heavens is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field; but while men slept, the enemy came and sowed tares among them, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares. And the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn" (13:24-30).

The separation of the good from the evil, which should take place at the time of the Last Judgment, is there also foretold by the Lord, and is meant by the words, "Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together the tares to burn them; but gather the wheat into my barn." By the tares are meant the evil, who shall then be cast into hell, and by the wheat are meant the good, who, being separated from the evil, will be raised up into heaven. These things are similar to those mentioned in this chapter (vers. 15 and 16) where it is said,

"The time is come for thee to reap; for the harvest is ripe. And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped."

The various reasons why the good were not separated from the evil before the time of the Last Judgment, and the good raised up to heaven, and the evil cast into hell, may be seen in the small work concerning the Last Judgment, and also above, n. 391, 392, 394, 397, 411, 413, 418, 419, 426, 489, 493, 497, 668, 669, 670, 674, 675, 676, 754.

  
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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.