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

 

True Christian Religion #198

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198. Where the Lord speaks in the presence of His disciples about the ending of the age, meaning the last stage of the church, He says towards the end of the predictions of its successive changes of state:

Immediately after the affliction of those days the sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then will the sign of the Son of Man appear in the sky, and all the tribes of the earth will wail; and they will see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send forth angels with a loud blast of the trumpet, and they will gather His chosen from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other, Matthew 24:29-31.

In the spiritual sense this does not mean that the sun and the moon will be darkened, stars will fall from the sky, and the Lord's sign will appear in the skies, and that they will see Him in the clouds accompanied by angels with trumpets. All the expressions here have spiritual meanings referring to the church; and they describe its state at its end. In the spiritual sense the sun, which will be darkened, means love to the Lord. The moon, which will not give its light, means faith in Him. The stars which will fall from the sky, mean items of knowledge concerning truth and good. The sign of the Son of Man in the sky means the Divine truth given by Him in the Word being made visible. The tribes of the earth, who will wail, means the failure of all truth to do with faith and of all good to do with love. The coming of the Son of Man in the clouds of heaven with power and glory means the Lord's presence and His revelation in the Word. The clouds of heaven mean the literal sense of the Word, the glory the spiritual sense of the Word. The angels with the loud blast of the trumpet mean heaven from which Divine truth comes. Gathering the chosen from the four winds from one end of the heavens to the other means the new heaven and the new church, composed of those who have faith in the Lord and live in accordance with His commandments. It is quite plain that the darkening of the sun and the moon is not meant, nor the falling of stars to earth, because of the Prophets, where similar statements are made about the state of the church at the time the Lord was to come into the world. For instance, in Isaiah:

Behold the fierce day of Jehovah will come and the blaze of His anger. The stars of the skies and their constellations will not shine with their light, the sun will be darkened in its rising, and the moon will not cause its light (lumen) to shine, I shall visit upon the world its wickedness. [Isaiah 13:9-11]; Isaiah 24:21, 23.

In Joel:

The day of Jehovah is coming, a day of darkness and murk. The sun and the moon will be turned black, and the stars will abate their shining, Joel 2:1-2, 10; 3:15.

In Ezekiel:

I shall cover the heavens and make the stars black. I shall cover the sun with a cloud and the moon will not cause it light to shine. I shall darken all the luminaries that give light, and make darkness upon the earth, Ezekiel 32:7-8.

The day of Jehovah means the Lord's coming, which took place when there was no more good of love and truth of faith left in the church, nor any knowledge of the Lord. That is why it is called a day of darkness and murk.

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

The Bible

 

Isaiah 13:10

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10 For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine.