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 #9336

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9336. 'Little by little I will drive them out from before you' means a removal effected gradually according to order. This is clear from the meaning of 'little by little' as gradually, thus slowly; and from the meaning of 'driving out' - when it has reference to falsities and evils, meant by the nations of the land of Canaan - as a removal, dealt with just above in 9333. The words 'gradually according to order' are used because everything with a person who is being regenerated is rearranged in accordance with heavenly order. For a person who has been regenerated is a miniature heaven, 9276, and therefore also within that person order exists akin to that which obtains in heaven.

[2] When a person is born he is, so far as his hereditary evils are concerned, a miniature hell. He also becomes an embodiment of hell to the extent that he draws on hereditary evils and adds his own to them. This being so, the order of a person's life which exists by reason of what he receives at birth, and by reason of his own acts in life, is the opposite of heavenly order. For what is a person's own leads him to love self more than the Lord and to love the world more than heaven, whereas the life of heaven consists in loving the Lord above all things and the neighbour as oneself. From this it is evident that the first life, which is that of hell, must be completely destroyed, that is, evils and falsities must be removed, in order that the new life, which is that of heaven, may be implanted, see 4551, 4552, 4839, 6068. This cannot possibly be done hurriedly, for every deep-rooted evil, together with its falsities, is interconnected with all other evils and their falsities. Such evils and falsities are countless, and their interconnection is so complex that it cannot be comprehended, not even by angels, only by the Lord. From this it is evident that the life of hell with a person cannot be destroyed suddenly; for if it were destroyed suddenly the person too would perish. Nor can the life of heaven be implanted suddenly, for if this were implanted suddenly the person would again perish.

[3] There are thousands and thousands of hidden ways, scarcely a single one of which is known to mankind, by which the Lord leads a person from the life of hell to the life of heaven. I have been informed from heaven that this is so, and it has also been corroborated for me by many things that I have been made aware of. Since mankind knows scarcely anything at all about these things many have fallen into errors concerning human deliverance from evils and falsities, which is the forgiveness of sins. They think that the life of hell with a person can be changed to the life of heaven with him in an instant, by mercy. But in actual fact mercy lies in the whole act of regeneration; and none undergo regeneration apart from those who receive the Lord's mercy in faith and life while they are in the world, in keeping with the Lord's words in John,

As many as received Him, to them He gave power to be sons of God, to those believing in His name, who were born, not of blood 1 , nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man (vir), but of God. John 1:12-13.

What 'blood', 'the will of the flesh', and 'the will of man', also 'born of God' mean, see 5826.

[4] The proper way to understand 'a removal from evils and falsities, effected gradually according to order' must also be stated briefly. Divine Truth which emanates from the Lord's Divine Good arranges all things into order in heaven; consequently this Divine Truth, holding good from the Lord within it, is order itself, see 1728, 1919, 2247, 2258, 5703, 6338, 8700, 8988. In accordance with that order all things there come into being, and in accordance with that same order they remain in being; for remaining in being is a constant coming into being. Therefore to enable heaven to come into being in a person, it is necessary for him to receive Divine Truth in the good he has from the Lord. This can be brought into effect only gradually, according to the order similar to that which governs the way the Lord arranges heaven; for if the essential nature of the thing is the same, then the situation on the smaller scale is the same as on the larger scale. This arranging step-by-step is what should be understood here by order brought into effect gradually. From all this it is also evident that the new creation of a person, which is his regeneration, resembles the creation of heaven and earth. For this reason also in the Word a new heaven and a new earth is used to mean a new Church, 1733, 1850, 2117, 2118 (end), 3355 (end), 4535; and the creation of heaven and earth in the first chapter of Genesis serves to mean the new creation of a celestial Church, called Man, dealt with in the explanations of that chapter.

Footnotes:

1. literally, bloods

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

From Swedenborg's Works

 

Arcana Coelestia #6426

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6426. 'From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel' means that from this springs all the goodness and truth which the spiritual kingdom possesses. This is clear from the meaning of 'the shepherd' as one who leads to the good of charity by means of the truth of faith, dealt with in 343, 3795, 6044 (here in the highest sense, since it has reference to the Lord, goodness and truth themselves are meant); from the meaning of 'the stone' as truth, dealt with in 1298, 3720, 3769, 3771, 3773, 3789, 3798; and from the representation of 'Israel' as the spiritual Church, dealt with in 3305, 4286, for 'Israel' is spiritual good or the good of truth, 4286, 4598, 5801, 5803, 5806, 5812, 5817, 5819, 5826, 5833. And since the good of truth is the essential element of the spiritual Church, 'Israel' means the spiritual Church, and in the highest sense the Lord's spiritual kingdom. From all this it is evident that 'from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel' means that from this springs all the goodness and truth which the Lord's spiritual kingdom possesses.

[2] The reason why in the highest sense 'the stone of Israel' means the Lord with respect to the truth that His spiritual kingdom possesses is that in general 'the stone' means the temple, and specifically the foundation on which it stands. 'The temple' in turn means the Lord's Divine Human, as is clear in John 2:19, 21, and so does its 'foundation' in Matthew 21:42, 44, and in Isaiah 28:16. This meaning of 'the stone' in the highest sense - the Lord in respect to Divine Truth which His spiritual kingdom possesses - is evident in David,

The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. This has been done by Jehovah; it is marvellous in our eyes. Psalms 118:22-23.

'The stone' here is the Lord, as is made clear in Luke,

It is written, The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner. Whoever falls onto that stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder. Luke 20:17-18.

These things are spoken by the Lord regarding Himself. In Isaiah,

He is your fear, and He is your dread; for He will be a sanctuary, though He will be a stone to strike against and a rock to stumble over 1 for both houses of Israel. Many among them will trip, and fall, and be broken to pieces. Isaiah 8:13-15.

Here the Lord is referred to. In the same prophet,

The Lord Jehovih said, Behold I [am He who] will lay in Zion a stone for a foundation, a tested stone, a precious corner-stone, surely founded. He who believes will not be hasty. Isaiah 28:16.

In Zechariah,

Jehovah Zebaoth will visit His flock, the house of Judah, and will place them as His glorious horse 2 in battle. From Him comes the corner-stone, from Him the tent-peg, from Him the battle-bow. Zechariah 10:3-4.

[3] In Daniel,

You were watching, until a stone was cut out, not by means of hands, and it struck the statue on its feet, which were iron and clay, and smashed them to pieces. The stone that struck the statue became a great rock and filled the whole earth. The God of heaven will cause a kingdom to arise that will never be destroyed, and His kingdom will not be left to other people; it will crush and consume all those kingdoms, but will itself stand for ever. Inasmuch as you saw that the stone was cut out of the rock, not by means of hands, and it smashed the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver, and the gold . . . Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45.

Here 'the stone' is used in the highest sense to mean the Lord, and in the relative sense to mean His spiritual kingdom. When it says that 'the stone was cut out of the rock' the meaning is that it came out of the truth of faith, for the truth of faith is meant in the Word by 'rock'. And because the truth of faith is meant by 'the stone' and 'the rock', the Lord's spiritual kingdom is also what is meant, since the truth of faith and good ensuing from this truth prevail in that kingdom. Something similar is also meant by 'the stone' on which Jacob slept and which he afterwards set up as a pillar, described as follows,

Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, Surely Jehovah is in this place and I did not know it. And he was afraid and said, How awesome is this place! This is nothing other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven. And in the morning Jacob rose up early, and took the stone which he had placed as his headrest, and placed it as a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He said, This stone which I have placed as a pillar will be God's house. Genesis 28:16-18, 22.

The fact that by 'the stone' the ancients understood the Lord in the highest sense and His spiritual kingdom in the relative sense is also plain to see in Joshua,

Joshua erected the stone under the oak which was in Jehovah's sanctuary. And Joshua said to all the people, Behold, this stone will be a witness to us, for it has heard all the sayings of Jehovah which He spoke to us. And it shall be a witness against you, lest you deny your God. Joshua 24:26, 17.

Footnotes:

1. literally, a stone of striking and a rock of stumbling

2. literally, the horse of His glory

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