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 #53

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53. And His countenance as the sun shining in its power. This symbolizes the Divine love and wisdom which are the Lord and which emanate from Him.

The fact that the face of Jehovah or of the Lord means the Divine itself in its essence, which is Divine love and wisdom, thus Himself, will be seen in explanations below where the face of God is mentioned. "The sun shining in its power" has the same symbolic meaning.

In the sight of angels the Lord is seen as the sun in heaven, and it is His Divine love accompanied by Divine wisdom that so appears. This may be seen in the book Heaven and Hell (London, 1758), nos. 116-125 and in Angelic Wisdom Regarding Divine Love and Wisdom, 83-172.

[2] It remains here simply to confirm from the Word that when the subject is the Lord, the sun is His Divine love and at the same time His Divine wisdom. This can be seen from the following passages:

...in (that) day... the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be sevenfold, as the light of seven days... (Isaiah 30:25-26)

That day is the Lord's advent, when the old church has been destroyed and a new one is about to be established. The light of the moon is faith arising from charity, and the light of the sun is intelligence and wisdom arising from love emanating then from the Lord.

Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane; for Jehovah will be your everlasting light... (Isaiah 60:20)

The sun that will not go down is love and wisdom from the Lord.

...the Rock of Israel spoke to me... like the light of the morning when the sun rises... (2 Samuel 23:3-4)

The Rock of Israel is the Lord.

...his throne (shall be) as the sun... (Psalms 89:36-37)

This is said in reference to David, but David there means the Lord.

They shall fear You as long as the sun endures... In His days the righteous shall flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon is no more... Before the sun He will have the name of Son, and all nations shall be blessed in Him... (Psalms 72:5, 7, 17)

These statements, too, are made in reference to the Lord.

[3] Because the Lord appears in heaven to angels as the sun, therefore when He was transfigured,

His face shone like the sun, and His garments became... as the light. (Matthew 17:1-2)

Moreover, in Revelation 10:1 it is said of the mighty angel coming down from heaven that he was "clothed with a cloud," and "his face was like the sun," and of the woman in Revelation 12:1 that she appeared "clothed with the sun." The sun there is love and wisdom emanating from the Lord. The woman there is the church called the New Jerusalem.

[4] Since the sun means the Lord with respect to love and wisdom, it is apparent what the sun symbolizes in the following places:

Behold, the day of Jehovah is coming, cruel... The sun will be darkened at its rising, and the moon will not cause its light to shine. I will visit upon the world its wickedness, and upon the impious their iniquity. (Isaiah 13:9-11)

...Jehovah will visit [punishment] in the high place upon the host of the high place, and on the earth upon the kings of the earth... Then the moon will blush and the sun be ashamed. (Isaiah 24:21, 23)

When I put out your light, I will cover the heavens, and make their stars dark; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not cause its light to shine... and I will... bring darkness upon your land. (Ezekiel 32:7-8)

...the day of Jehovah is coming..., a day of darkness... The sun and moon (will not cause their light to shine), and the stars have diminished their brightness. (Joel 2:1-2, 10)

The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the coming of the great... day of Jehovah. (Joel 2:31)

...the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision. The sun and moon have grown dark... (Joel 3:14-15)

The fourth angel sounded: and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars..., and a third of the day did not shine... (Revelation 8:12)

...the sun became as black as sackcloth of goat's hair, and the moon became as blood... (Revelation 6:12)

...the sun was... darkened because of the smoke of the pit. (Revelation 9:2)

The sun in these places does not mean the world's sun, but the sun of the angelic heaven, which is the Lord's Divine love and wisdom. These are said to be obscured, darkened, covered, or become black when falsities and evils are present in a person.

[5] It is apparent, therefore, that something similar is meant by the Lord's words when speaking of the end of the age, which is the final period of the church:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven... (Matthew 24:29, cf. Mark 13:24-25)

So, too, in the following places:

The sun shall go down on the prophets, and the day shall be dark for them. (Micah 3:6)

...in that day... I will make the sun go down at noon, and I will darken the earth in broad daylight. (Amos 8:9)

She... who has borne seven... will breath her last; her sun will go down while it is yet day. (Jeremiah 15:9)

The subject here is the Jewish Church, which will breathe its last or perish. The sun's going down means that there will no longer be any love or charity.

[6] It is said in Joshua that the sun stood still in Gibeon, and the moon in the valley of Aijalon (Joshua 10:12-13). This seems to be an historical statement, but in fact it is prophetic, for it comes from the book of Jasher, which was a prophetic book; for in verse 13 it says, "Is this not written in the Book of Jasher?" The same book is called a prophetic one by David in 2 Samuel 1:17, 18.

A similar statement is found in Habakkuk:

The mountains... were shaken... The sun and moon stood still in their habitation. (Habakkuk 3:10-11)

[In Isaiah:]

Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon wane. (Isaiah 60:20)

For to cause the sun and moon to stand still would be to destroy the universe.

[7] Since the sun means the Lord with respect to Divine love and wisdom, therefore in their holy worship ancient peoples turned their faces to the rising sun, and their temples also, a practice that continues to this day.

That the sun in these passages does not mean the world's sun is clear from the fact that it was profane and an abomination for people to worship the world's sun and moon (see Numbers 25:1-4, Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3, 5, Jeremiah 8:1-2; 43:10, 13; 44:17-19, 25). For the world's sun means self-love and a conceit in one's own intelligence, and self-love is diametrically opposed to Divine love, while a conceit in one's own intelligence is opposed to Divine wisdom. To worship the world's sun is also to accept nature as the creator of all things and one's own prudence as the effecter of all things, which entails a denial of God and a denial of Divine providence.

  
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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.

The Bible

 

Jeremiah 15:8-9

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8 Their widows are increased to me above the sand of the seas: I have brought upon them against the mother of the young men a spoiler at noonday: I have caused him to fall upon it suddenly, and terrors upon the city.

9 She that hath borne seven languisheth: she hath given up the ghost; her sun is gone down while it was yet day: she hath been ashamed and confounded: and the residue of them will I deliver to the sword before their enemies, saith the LORD.