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

 

A Brief Exposition of New Church Doctrine #78

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78. BRIEF ANALYSIS

In the prophetic parts of the Word, statements similar to the one in Matthew 24:29, occur concerning the sun, moon and stars. Thus it is written in Isaiah:

Behold the cruel day of Jehovah cometh . . . the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light; the sun shall be darkened at his rising and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. Isaiah 13:9-10.

In Ezekiel:

When I shall extinguish thee, I will cover the heavens and darken the stars thereof; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon shall not give her light; . . . and I will set darkness upon thy land.Ezekiel 32:7-8.

In Joel:

The day of Jehovah cometh, ... a day of darkness, . . . the sun and moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining.Joel 2:1-2, 10.

The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood before the great and the terrible day of Jehovah cometh. Joel 2:31.

The day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision, the sun and moon shall be darkened. Joel 3:14-15.

In the Revelation:

The fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, . . . and the day shone not for a third part of it. Revelation 8:12.

The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood. Revelation 6:12.

All these passages treat of the last time of the Jewish Church, when the Lord came into the world. The meaning here is similar in Matthew and the Revelation, but they refer to the last time of the Christian Church, when the Lord would come again in the Word which is Himself, and in which He is. Wherefore, immediately after those words in Matthew 24:29, it is said:

And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man . . . coming in the clouds of the heavens.Matthew 24:30.

By the sun in the above passages is meant love, by the moon faith, and by the stars the cognitions of good and truth. By the powers of the heavens are meant those three essentials as the supports and foundations of the heavens where the angels are, and of the Churches where men are. Therefore, by the foregoing passages collected into one idea is meant that neither love nor faith, nor any cognitions of good and truth remain in the Christian Church, in the last time thereof when it draws to its end. That the sun signifies love has been shown in THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 53-54, 413, 796, 831, 961; that the moon signifies faith, THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 53, 332, 413, 423, 533; and that stars signify cognitions of good and truth, THE APOCALYPSE REVEALED 51, 74, 333, 408, 419, 954.

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

The Bible

 

Isaiah 13:9

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9 Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.