1057. Whose names have not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, signifies that there are those who do not acknowledge the Divine authority of the Lord over heaven and earth, but regard it as transferred to a certain vicar, and from him to his vicars. This is evident from the signification of "names not written in the book of life," as being those who are not received in heaven (See n. 199, 222, 299); and as those are not received into heaven who do not acknowledge the Lord's Divine authority over heaven and earth, such are here meant. Also from the signification of "from the foundation of the world," as being from the establishment of the church. In the sense of the letter or the natural sense "the foundation of the world" means the creation of the world; but in the internal spiritual sense it means the establishment of the church; for the spiritual sense treats of spiritual things, while the natural sense treats of natural things which pertain to the world. For this reason the creation of the heaven and the earth in the first chapter of Genesis describes in the spiritual sense the new creation or establishment of the first and Most Ancient Church on this earth. (That this is described by the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis may be seen in the Arcana Coelestia, where the contents of that chapter are explained.) Moreover, "to create" signifies in the Word to reform; and "the Creator" means the Lord as Reformer and Savior. (That "to create" signifies to reform, and that the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis in the spiritual sense describes the establishment of the Most Ancient Church can be seen above, n. 294, 739.)

[2] The establishment of the church is meant by "the foundation of the world" in these passages in the Word:

The king shall say to them on the right hand, Come and possess as an inheritance the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world (Matthew 15:34).

Jesus praying said, Father, for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24).

Jesus said, The blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world shall be required of this generation (Luke 11:50).

That the establishment of the church is meant by "the foundation of the world" is evident from passages in the Word where mention is made of "founding the earth," "the founding of the earth," and "the foundation of the earth," which do not mean the founding or creating of the earth, but the establishment or creation of the church upon the earth. As in Zechariah:

Jehovah spreadeth abroad the heavens, and foundeth the earth, and formeth the spirit of man in the midst of him (Zechariah 12:1).

Here "spreading abroad the heaven and founding the earth," does not mean the spreading abroad of the visible heaven and the founding of the habitable earth, but the church as to its internals, which are called spiritual, and as to its externals, which are called natural. "To found" this and "to spread abroad" that means to establish; and therefore it is added, "and formeth the spirit of man in the midst of him," which signifies his reformation and regeneration.

[3] In Isaiah:

Hearken unto Me, O Jacob and Israel, My hand hath founded the earth, and My right hand hath spanned the heavens (Isaiah 48:12-13).

"Founding the earth with the hand, and spanning the heavens with the right hand," has a similar signification here as above, as can be seen from what precedes and what follows in this chapter where the establishment of a New Church by the Lord is treated of. In the same:

Thou hast forgotten Jehovah thy Maker, that stretcheth forth the heavens and foundeth the earth (Isaiah 51:13).

Here again, "the heavens and the earth" signify the church as to its internal or spiritual things and its external or natural things; and "to stretch forth and found" signifies to establish.

[4] In the same:

I will put My words in thy mouth, and will cover thee with the shadow of My hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth, and to say unto Zion, Thou art My people. Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem (Isaiah 51:16-17).

Here "to plant the heavens and to found the earth" evidently stands for the establishment of the church; for this is said to the prophet, that "the word should be put in his mouth, and that he should be covered with the shadow of the hand, to plant the heavens and to found the earth;" and a prophet cannot found the earth, but he can found a church; therefore it is also added, "to say unto Zion, Thou art my people. Awake, awake, arise, O Jerusalem," "Zion and Jerusalem," in the Word, meaning the church. In David:

The heaven is Thine and the earth is Thine; the world and the fullness thereof Thou hast founded them (Psalms 89:11).

Here too, "heaven and earth" signify the church; "the world" signifies the church as to good, and "the fullness thereof" signifies all the goods and truths of the church.

[5] In the same:

The earth and the world Jehovah hath founded upon the seas, and established upon the rivers. Who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in the place of His holiness? (Psalms 24:2-3).

The establishment of the church is described by "founding the earth and the world upon the seas, and establishing them upon the rivers," as can be seen above (n. 304, 518, 741). That the establishment of the church is signified is evident from what here follows, namely, "Who shall ascend into the mountain of Jehovah, and who shall stand in the place of His holiness?" "The mountain of Jehovah" means Zion, which signifies where the Lord reigns by means of the Divine truth, and "the place of His holiness" means Jerusalem, where the temple was, which signifies the church as to doctrine. All this makes clear that "the founding of the world" signifies the establishment of the church. For the "world" has a similar meaning as "heaven and earth;" and the expression "to found the earth" is used because the "earth" signifies the church on earth, and upon this heaven as to its holy things is founded. This also makes clear the signification of "the foundations of the earth" in the following passages. In Isaiah:

Do ye not know, do ye not hear, hath it not been declared to you from the beginning, do ye not understand the foundations of the earth? (Isaiah 40:21).

In the same:

The foundations of the earth are corrupted (Isaiah 24:18; likewise Isaiah 63:12; Jeremiah 31:37; Micah 6:2; Psalms 18:7, 15; 82:5).

(Continuation respecting the Second Kind of Profanation)

[6] Profaners of this kind are stupid and foolish in spiritual things, but are crafty and keen in worldly things, because they make one with the devils in hell; and because, as has been said above, they are merely sensual, and are therefore in what is their own [proprium], which draws its delight of life from the unclean effluvia that exhale from waste matters in the body, and that are emitted from dunghills; and these cause a swelling of their breasts when their pride is active and the titillation of these causes delight.

[7] That such is the source of their delight is made evident by their delights after death when they are living as spirits; for then more than the sweetest odors do they love the rank stenches arising from the gases of the belly and from outhouses, which to their smell are more fragrant than thyme. The approach and touch of these close up the interiors of their mind, and open the exteriors pertaining to the body, from which comes their quickness in worldly things, and their dullness in spiritual things. In a word, the love of having dominion by means of the holy things of the church corresponds to filth, and its delight to a stench indescribable by words, and at which angels shudder. Such is the exhalation from their hells when they are opened; but they are kept closed because of the oppression and occasional swooning which they produce.

"Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created: and thou renewest the face of the ground." Psalm 104:30

Additional readings: Isaiah 45:11-25, John 1:1-14, Psalm 104

Some today think of the universe as self-created, that its life is from itself, and that man is a product of the forces of nature. This is, in brief, the materialist's explanation of nature and of human life.

If this were true, the knowledge of nature and of its laws should solve all our problems. But there are qualities in man that are not found in nature. There is no morality in nature, nor is altruism to be found there. Nature's first law is the law of self-preservation, but among men—even the lowest of them—there is the feeling that they should not always seek to please themselves, that it is truly manly to try to save another at the risk of one's own life, that it is right to protect the weak, to help the neighbor.

Nature knows of no power above itself nor of any life after death. Likewise the materialists are unable to conceive of anything supernatural; they can acknowledge no supreme Being or Creator; they do not believe that they live after death. It should be obvious that nature cannot reveal anything that lies beyond its realm.

Yet in order that any finite thing may live there must be an infinite and uncreated source of life. If there were nothing to begin with, then plainly nothing could result. The forms of life which we see about us, and which we ourselves are, must derive their existence from One who is life itself. This is the meaning of the name Jehovah—the "I Am"—He who is in and of Himself. Such is the true conception which lies at the foundation of all intelligent thinking concerning Him. "Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Greater of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?" (Isaiah 40:28). Creation is but the effect of the outpouring of life from Him. This life is called in the Scriptures His breath or spirit. Accordingly we have such statements as that of our text: "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created."

But He who sends forth His life-giving spirit is hidden from our natural sight. Yes, even spirit itself is outwardly invisible. And so those who do not lift up their thoughts above nature are tempted to deny His existence. There are higher things than those that can be seen. The spirit of God and all else that is spiritual lie within and above the plane of the senses. Life flows from within outwards. What we see is its external effects; we do not see life itself. Our own spiritual natures are concealed from outward view. We cannot see the souls of those about us. The soul is within the body but is distinct from it. When it is withdrawn, the body dies. In like manner all life is internal and spiritual. He from whom it proceeds is the inmost fountain of all being. "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created."

Again it has often been imagined by people who do believe in a personal God that He created the world and then let it go on by itself according to a system of laws provided for its government. This belief is in part due to the fact that God keeps Himself out of sight and in part to the fact that men think that His way of doing things would be like theirs. A man builds a house, and he may go away and never see it again. But we must remember that man does not create; he only makes use of materials at hand, reforming them to serve his immediate purpose. The Lord, because He creates, is never absent from any part of His creation. By His presence He keeps the universe alive, just as He originally called it into being. Were He to separate Himself from the things which He has made, they would all perish. This is what our text declares in saying, "Thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created." We are not told that the Lord did send out His spirit at some time many years ago, but that He is sending it out now. The language is not that things were created once upon a time, but that they are created. "Existence is perpetual creation." The present tense transforms the statement into a universal law.

It is so too with the second phrase of the text, "Thou renewest the face of the ground." Allusion is obviously made, in the sense of the letter, to the changes continually going on in nature—the succession of one generation by another and the endless alternation of the seasons. Mother earth is just as fresh and young and productive today as she was in most ancient times. She is in the constant reception of new life. Not a moment passes without the face of the ground being renewed.

There is a lesson for us in this. It should teach us of the nearness of our Heavenly Father and of His constant provision for us. He is present in the heat and light of the sun, in the fields, forests, and mountains, in the rivers, lakes, and seas, in the winds and skies. All tell of His majesty and power, and especially of His constant presence. If we can see this, nature becomes more beautiful and wonderful to us. We see in nature His spirit renewing the face of the ground.

How strange it is that study of nature should lead men to disbelief in God. If the universe did not have order, if its parts were disconnected, without relation or use to one another and to the service and enjoyment of men, we might perhaps believe that it was not designed or created by an intelligent Being. But as the case stands, love and wisdom could not have written themselves more plainly in living characters before our eyes. And what are love and wisdom but the essence of a perfect personality? They cannot possibly exist as mere abstractions: they must be embodied in a person. Love is the inmost vital principle, and wisdom is the means whereby love accomplishes its purposes.

The Lord alone has life in Himself. He needs must be the Source of all creation. "All things were made by him, and without him was not anything made that was made" (John 1:3). And of the creation of the earth it is written, "He created it not in vain; he formed it to be inhabited” (Isaiah 45:18). The purpose of the creation of the world was that there might be people upon it, that we might here be formed into God's own image and likeness and find happiness in heaven to eternity. For this reason, however long our life here may be, we are never completely satisfied with it. There has always been among all people a conviction that there is an afterlife. This conviction is not an idle dream but a perception that the goal of life cannot be reached here—that there is more which the Lord has prepared for us.

And just as the Lord is ever present in His creation, sustaining and controlling it from moment to moment, so He is ever present with us, giving us life, and guiding us if only we will be guided—for it is contrary to the Divine love to compel men—to our heavenly home. The Divine Providence is concerned with our spiritual and eternal life, and with bodily and temporal things only as they affect this. "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Matthew 16:26).

This view of the relationship between God and His creation gives us a concept of God that is both rational and also satisfactory to our affectional nature. The Bible starts with the words "In the beginning God. created the heaven and the earth" (Genesis 1:1) to teach us that there is a Divine Being with a purpose supremely beneficent, and that there is an Intelligence altogether equal to the attainment of that purpose, and the rest of the Scriptures tell us of the Lord's operation in history to the accomplishment of His purposes. Knowledge of Him and of His purposes enables us to realize that there are better times ahead for us and happier times for the human race upon the earth, to which all lovers of mankind may look forward.

Moreover the Lord Himself came into the world as the Redeemer and Savior of men. In our own struggles we are not alone. The God of Battles is fighting for us. We are not cogs in a universal mechanism. The Lord is present everywhere in the universe. He comes to us outwardly in all the beneficent influences of nature, in the warmth and light of the sun and in all its other bounties. He is present in our souls, seeking to gladden us with the warmth of His love and to enlighten our minds with His wisdom, redeeming us from our iniquities and creating us anew into His own image and likeness.