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 Revealed #414

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414. So that a third of the day did not shine, and likewise the night. This symbolically means that they no longer have in them any spiritual truth or natural truth from the Word serviceable for doctrine and life.

The day's not shining means that they had no light from the sun, and "likewise the night" means that they had no light from the moon and stars. Light in general symbolizes Divine truth, which is truth from the Word. The light of the sun symbolizes spiritual Divine truth, and the light of the moon and stars symbolizes natural Divine truth, both acquired from the Word. Divine truth in the spiritual sense of the Word is like the light of the sun during the day, and Divine truth in the natural sense of the Word is like the light of the moon and stars at night. The spiritual sense of the Word, moreover, flows into its natural sense, as the sun does with its light to the moon, and this reflects the light of the sun indirectly.

In this way also does the spiritual sense of the Word enlighten people, even people who know nothing of that sense, when they read the Word in its natural sense. However, it enlightens a spiritual person as light from the sun does his eye, but a natural person as light from the moon and stars does his eye. Everyone is enlightened in accordance with his spiritual affection for truth and goodness, and at the same time in accordance with the genuine truths by which he has opened his rational faculty.

[2] Day and night also have this meaning in the following places:

God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night...." Then God made two great lights: the greater light to rule by day, and the lesser light to rule by night. He made the stars also. And God set them in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth, and to rule by day and by night, and to divide the light from the darkness. (Genesis 1:14-19)

(Jehovah) made great lights..., the sun to rule by day..., the moon and stars to rule by night... (Psalms 136:7-9)

The day is Yours, (O Jehovah,) the night also is Yours; You have prepared the light and the sun. (Psalms 74:16)

...Jehovah... gives the sun for a light by day, the ordinances of the moon and the stars for a light by night... (Jeremiah 31:35)

If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant also may be broken with David My servant... If I have not appointed My covenant with day and night, the ordinances of heaven and earth, I also will reject the offspring of Jacob and David... (Jeremiah 33:20-21, 25-26)

I cite these passages to make known that the darkening of both kinds of light is meant.

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Revealed #812

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812. 19:7 "Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come." This symbolizes the angels' joy of soul and heart and consequent glorification of the Lord, that from now on a full marriage of the Lord with the church is possible.

To be glad and rejoice symbolizes a joy of soul and heart. Joy of the soul is a joy of the intellect or joy in response to truths of faith, and joy of the heart is a joy of the will or joy springing from goods of love. Both of these are mentioned because of the marriage of truth and goodness in every particular of the Word, as explained in nos. 373 and 689 above. To give Him glory means, symbolically, to acknowledge and confess that all truth is from the Lord (no. 629), and to acknowledge that the Lord is God of heaven and earth (no. 693). Here it therefore symbolizes to glorify, because this involves both acknowledgments.

"For the marriage of the Lamb has come" means, symbolically, that from now on a full marriage of the Lord and the church is possible. For this to be symbolized, the Lord is therefore called the Lamb, and by the Lamb is meant the Lord in respect to His Divine humanity (nos. 269, 291).

[2] It is when the Lord's humanity is acknowledged to be Divine that a full marriage of the Lord and the church is possible, and this can be seen almost without explanation. For in the Christian world of the Protestant Reformed, people know that the church is a church because of the marriage of the Lord with it, inasmuch as the Lord is called the Lord of the vineyard, 1 and the vineyard is the church. Moreover, the Lord is also called the bridegroom and husband, and the church is called the bride and wife. That the Lord is called the bridegroom and the church the bride may be seen in no. 797 above.

That there is a full marriage of the Lord and the church when His humanity is acknowledged to be Divine is plain. For then God the Father and the Lord are acknowledged to be one, like soul and body. And when this is acknowledged, people do not turn to the Father for the sake of the Son, but they turn then to the Lord Himself, and through Him to God the Father, because the Father is present in Him like a soul in its body, as we have said.

Before people acknowledge the Lord's humanity to be Divine, there is indeed a marriage of the Lord with the church, but only in those who turn to the Lord and think of His Divinity, and not at all of whether His humanity is Divine or not. This is what the simple in faith and heart do, but rarely the learned and erudite.

Besides, one wife cannot have three husbands, nor can one body have three souls. Consequently, unless people acknowledge one God in whom is the Trinity, and that that God is the Lord, no marriage is possible.

[3] We say that this marriage is possible from now on, because it was not possible fully until after the adherents of the Roman Catholic religion were separated in the spiritual world by the Last Judgment, and the adherents of the Protestant Reformed faith too, who are those who professed faith alone. It is because the separation of these is described in the preceding chapters that we say from now on.

That there is a wedding of the church with the Lord can be seen from the following:

Jesus said..., "The wedding guests cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them." (Matthew 9:15, cf. Mark 2:19)

The kingdom of heaven is like a certain king who arranged a marriage for his son, and sent out his servants to (invite people) to the wedding. (Matthew 22:1-14)

The kingdom of heaven (is like) ten virgins who... went out to meet the bridegroom..., five of (whom)...were ready and went in with (the bridegroom) to the wedding. (Matthew 25:1-12)

That the Lord meant Himself here is apparent from the verse that follows next, in which He says,

Watch..., for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man will come. (Matthew 25:13)

And elsewhere:

Let your loins be girded and your lamps lit, and you yourselves be like people who are waiting for their lord, when he will return from the wedding... (Luke 12:35-36)

Footnotes:

  
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Many thanks to the General Church of the New Jerusalem, and to Rev. N.B. Rogers, translator, for the permission to use this translation.