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

 

Arcana Coelestia #44

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44. Verses 24-25 And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds, beasts and creeping things and wild animals of the earth according to their kinds; and it was so. And God made wild animals of the earth according to their kinds, and beasts according to their kinds, and everything that creeps along the ground according to its kind; and God saw that it was good.

Man, like the earth, can produce nothing good unless the cognitions of faith have already been sown in him enabling him to know what to believe and do. It is the function of the understanding to hear the Word, and of the will to do it. A person who hears the Word and does not do it is one who claims to believe, but he does not live according to it. Such a person separates hearing and doing, and splits his mind in two directions; and by the Lord he is called 'a foolish man',

Everyone who hears My words and does them I liken to a wise man who built his house upon the rock; but everyone who hears My words and does them not I liken to a foolish man who built his house upon the sand. Matthew 7:24, 26.

Matters of the understanding, as has been shown, are meant by 'creeping things which the waters produce', and by 'birds over the earth and over the face 1 of the expanse'. Matters of the will are here meant by 'living creatures which the earth brings forth', and by 'beasts and creeping things', and also by 'the wild animals of the earth'.

Footnotes:

1. literally, the faces

  
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Thanks to the Swedenborg Society for the permission to use this translation.

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Apocalypse Explained #870

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870. Having an eternal gospel. That this signifies concerning His Advent, and concerning the salvation of those who believe in Him, is evident from the signification of gospel, as denoting the Advent of the Lord, and, in such case, the salvation of those who then believe in Him. That the Advent of the Lord has taken place, and also is about to take place, at the Consummation of the Age, that is, at the end of the old church and the beginning of the new; and that at the same time, also, the Last Judgment, may be seen above (n. 612); and from the signification of eternal, as denoting the Divine as to Manifestation (existere). There are two universals by which the Divine is expressed - "Infinite" and "Eternal." Infinite is the Divine as to its Being (esse); and eternal is the Divine as to its Manifestation (existere); and each is to be understood apart from space and time. He who thinks from space and time of the infinite and eternal falls into errors; for space and time are proper to nature, in which man's ideas are, while he lives in the natural world. But this is not the case when he leaves this world and comes into heaven. Spaces and times appear, indeed, in heaven, in a way quite similar to their appearance in the world; but they are only appearances of the states of the angels; for the states of their affection and thought therefrom takes on the appearances before their external senses of spaces and as times; yet they are not spaces and times such as pertain to the natural world. The nature of spaces and times in heaven will be evident from two articles in the work concerning Heaven and Hell, where this subject is treated of.

Because the Divine is infinite and eternal, therefore in all things in general and particular which come from the Divine, there is the Infinite and Eternal. This is why the gospel, by which is signified the Advent of the Lord and the salvation of the faithful, is called eternal. That "infinite and eternal" are said of the Lord alone may be seen above (n. 23, 286).

That the gospel signifies the Advent of the Lord, and the salvation of the faithful which then takes place, is clear from the passages in both Testaments where it is mentioned; these have been adduced above (n. 612). But as to the Advent of the Lord, it is believed by some that the Lord will come again in person, and, indeed, to carry out the Last Judgment, because it is said in Matthew:

The disciples drew near, saying unto Jesus, "Tell us what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the consummation of the age" (24:3).

And after the Lord had foretold to them the states of the church, successively decreasing even to its devastation and consummation, He said,

"Then shall appear the sign of the Son of man; and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. Watch therefore, because ye know not the hour in which your Lord will come" (Matthew 24:30, 39, 42). Also in John (21:22).

His Advent does not there mean His Advent in person; but that He will then reveal Himself in the Word, that He is Jehovah, the Lord of heaven and earth; and that He alone is to be worshipped by all who shall belong to His New Church, which is meant by the New Jerusalem. To this end also He has now opened the internal or spiritual sense of the Word, in which sense the Lord is everywhere treated of. This is also what is meant by His coming in the clouds of heaven with glory;

See Matthew 24:30; 26:64; Mark 13:26; 14:62; Luke 21:27.

That the clouds of heaven signify the Word in the letter, and the glory its spiritual sense, may be seen above (n. 36, 594). Because He Himself is the Word, as He is called in John (1:1, 2, 14); therefore the revelation of Himself in the Word is His Advent.

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